Chapter 6

All four witches regrouped the next day in Felix’s bakery after it closed. They made sure all of the curtains on the windows were closed, and they locked the door in case someone tried to walk in during closing hours.

Felix (his cat ears fully gone by now) brought over some cups of water and plates with slices of strawberry cheesecake for everyone. Of course, Jisung immediately scarfed his dessert down.

“Alright, both of my employees just left. Now we can finally talk about what’s going on,” Felix said excitedly.

“You wanna do the honors?” Seungmin gestured to Jeongin.

“Wait, you were in on this the whole time? Minnie! I was dying to know what was going on all day. And you kept saying you didn’t know either. You’re supposed to be honest with me as your friend. I thought what we had was special-“ Jisung was cut off when Seungmin shoved a piece of his cheesecake in his mouth to shut him up.

“Anyways, I guess I should tell you two everything from the beginning,” Jeongin started.

The divination witch explained what happened when he meditated yesterday. How he felt four energies and could sense that they were in danger. And Jeongin expressed how he wanted to help them out.

“Well if you’re going out to find them, then we’re coming with you! I need to know if my soulmate is actually cute or not,” Jisung said.

“For the last time, they are not your soulmate. I just see them in your future. That could literally mean anything,” Jeongin grumbled.

“They say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I should make something for him! I need to create the best dish in history. Wait what if he has any allergies? Eh, I don’t think my soulmate would be weak like that,” Felix rambled.

“Anyways,” Seungmin said in a sharp tone, “What this means is that we’re gonna have to find these witches. But according to Jeongin, they’re far away from here. We don’t even think that they live in this realm.”

“I think I remember Jeongin saying the other day that the boy in my future has a deep hatred for humans. You don’t think...” Felix paused.

“Yup. We think they’re in the danger realm,” Jeongin said.

For those who lived in the safe realm, they understandably called the other side of the portal the danger realm. It was taken over by humans, and no sane mythical creature would ever want to go over there.

“It’s a lot to take in and I know you guys are willing to help me, but please think about this. Going out to find them is definitely going to put us in danger, but the other witches might be in even more danger if no one tries to help them. Just think it over, yeah? You guys are my friends and I would hate to force any of you into something,” Jeongin said.

“Dang Jeongin, that’s very mature coming from our maknae,” Jisung said, following a low whistle.

“I’m not mature because I want to be. I’ve just met a lot different people. Lots and lots of people,” Jeongin shuttered.

They all decided to change the subject in the meantime, stretching their conversation from some things around the bakery that Felix wanted to change to Seungmin talking about a book he recently read.

“Well since it’s nearly dusk I think we should move back into the more serious conversation,” Jisung commented while checking the time on his phone.

The others all nodded in agreement. “Well I for one am definitely going,” Felix said.

“Me too. I’ll have to momentarily take a leave from my work but I’m pretty sure Renjun will manage without me,” Seungmin added.

“And I’m still in too. It’s not like I do anything with my life really,” Jisung shrugged with a smile on his face.

“Okay then,” Jeongin said, “When do you think we should leave?”

“I still have a few special orders I need to get done but probably by Saturday I’ll be ready to leave things to my employees. Today’s Wednesday, right?” Felix asked. Seungmin gave him a nod.

“Should we bring anything special for this journey? How long will it even take?” The art witch brought up.

Jeongin furrowed his brows at that one, taking a bite of cheesecake while he thought about it. “I would say just bring your standard essentials and magical items. Best case scenario, we come back in about a week.”

“Well I’ll take those chances!” Jisung beamed.

“Is it weird I’m kind of excited to go to the danger realm? I mean, what if they have some materials and ingredients over there that they don’t have here! The possibilities,” Felix grinned and let out a quiet, but maniacal laugh.

“I’m not sure how well our phones will work over there so make sure to let some people know that we’ll be gone. Don’t tell them any specifics like where or why, but just say if we don’t come back in two weeks then to maybe let the authorities know. Two weeks should give us enough cushion if we have any complications over there,” Jeongin explained.

Jisung yawned and checked his phone again for the time. “I should probably get going before I fall asleep in here.”

“Good idea, I’ll walk with you,” Seungmin said.

Jeongin lived on the opposite side from the two so he’d be walking alone. And Felix had to stay and take care of a few more things.

“Let’s all meet back at my place ready to go on Sunday morning. I’ll text you if anything else comes up,” Jeongin said.

They all said goodnight to each other before going to their respective places.

On Sunday morning, Jisung was the first to knock on Jeongin’s door. The older was extremely chipper like he always was during the day. Luckily, Jeongin had been getting ready since early in the morning so he wasn’t too bothered by Jisung’s hyperactive energy.

“I’m so excited! But trying to slip past my brother this morning was almost impossible. Brian kept asking me so many questions,” Jisung rambled.

“Doesn’t he want to be called Young K nowadays though?” Jeongin asked.

“Yeah but no one calls him that.”

It didn’t take long for Seungmin and then Felix to walk in. They all assessed their belongings again. They tried traveling light, each person having their own backpack with the exception of Seungmin that just carried his art bag around with him everywhere. They all packed only one set of clothes, but Seungmin could always use his magic to clean them.

“I think that’s everything,” Jeongin spoke after organizing some things.

“What about your fortune telling service?” Seungmin asked.

“I announced on my page that I’m taking a vacation,” He said.

All four witches walked down the paved road, trying their best to not draw any unwanted attention to themselves as they walked out of town. The safe realm had multiple towns inside for those who chose to live in more densely populated areas. There were the three main ones like JYP, SM, and YG, but there were also smaller towns that creatures could live in. In terms of who lived where, one could live in any town they really wanted.

The four witches snuck around through some trees when they were far away from JYP. Since this area was near the cave that held the portal, it was heavily guarded. It wasn't easy for just anyone to get in or get out.

“Alright, we need to come up with a plan,” Felix whispered, “Seungmin, give me a pencil and paper. We might be here for a while.”

“Don’t you have an invisibility potion in your bag or something that we could use?” Jeongin asked.

Felix rolled his eyes. “Well that was gonna be plan Z but I wanted to go through plans A through Y first. Otherwise it would’ve been too easy. You’re no fun Innie~”

“Felix, we’re trying to get back here in one week with the other witches, not one year,” Seungmin whisper-shouted.

Felix pulled out a small vial from his backpack and poured a few drops on everyone’s skin, clothes, and items they were carrying so nothing would be visible. Since Felix had to travel light, he brought a variety of emergency potions in small containers versus the usual bigger ones he preferred, meaning he didn’t have much of the invisibility potion left afterwards.

They all quietly sneaked around and approached the cave where probably five guards were standing. The witches walked in a line, trying their best to walk through a gap between two guards. They almost got passed but then one of the guards sneezed.

“Bless you,” Jisung said.

“Thank you-“ The guard said before pausing. She looked over in the witches’ direction but obviously didn’t see them. They all froze in terror as the guard looked their way, but then shortly she turned her gaze.

“Yeji unnie, did you hear anyone just now?” The guard asked over to the one standing in the middle.

“No. But it’s pretty hot today so maybe you’re just dehydrated,” Yeji shrugged.

Both guards went back to facing forward and the witches decided to move again, getting deeper and deeper into the cave. Once they all approached a wall of vines, they pushed past the plants and let out a breath they didn’t realize they were still holding.

“You just had to say bless you,” Seungmin growled.

Jisung pouted. “Well I didn’t want to be rude. Do you know how much it hurts to sneeze and no one says bless you?”

“Guys, look,” Jeongin interrupted.

They were standing before a pool of water. It was an unusually bright aquamarine and it definitely did not look shallow.

“You know it’s really annoying that I still can’t see you guys,” Felix commented.

“How long is the potion supposed to last?” Seungmin asked.

“I don’t know, a few hours? I made all my potions really potent just in case. Maybe I should’ve diluted the invisibility one now thinking about it...”

“Uh yeah, you should’ve,” Seungmin mocked.

“Should we jump in now or wait until the invisibility wears off?” Jisung asked.

“That’s a good question,” Jeongin said, “while we could wait a few hours I don’t know if the guards go inside to check in here or not. Plus the more daylight we have, the better. If the safe realm is basically a parallel of the danger realm, then I’m guessing that the times would be the same too. Felix, do you have anything on you to reverse the potion?”

“Sorry mate, I didn’t carry an antidote for the invisibility potion this time,” He said.

“Well then I guess we’ll have to jump in. Permission to go in first?” Jisung questioned brightly.

“Yeah, but please be careful. The last thing we want is to get separated,” Jeongin warned.

The invisible diurnal witch did a run up and cannon-balled into the pool. The water made his skin tingle, and he felt himself sinking, but he didn’t drown under the water. Felix soon followed after him, getting excited over the huge splash Jisung had made. The kitchen witch did his own cannon-ball but this time bigger, making some water splash on Jeongin and Seungmin. The two remaining witches just got in the pool normally and soon began to sink with the others. While looking down, they all saw a bright white glow at the bottom of the water.

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