taehyung, of course, made for the wood.

and there he was now, out on the great grouse-moors, heather, and bog and rock, stretching away and up to the very sky. at least he came to a dip in the land, and went to the bottom of it, and then up to the moor;for he knew he had put a hill between him and his castle where his evil mother was.

so taehyung went on, and on, he hardly knew where. what would have taehyung done, if he had seen, walking over the moor behind him, the very same queen who he desperately ran off from?

and now he began to get a little hungry, and very thirsty; but he could see nothing to eat anywhere, and still less to drink.

to his left rose moor after moor, hill after hill, till they faded away into the black sky.

and finally, taehyung had gone on far into the lone lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. everything seemed gloomy, for the weather had taken a nasty turn; it was cold and wet.

the poor boy splashed in a very muddy track. it was pouring with rain, and had been since his escape; his hair was dripping into his eyes, his dress was full of water; he was tired and stumbled on stones.

still he jogged on, never turning round with determination. somewhere behind the grey clouds the moon must have gone up as he went down into a deep valley with a river at the bottom. the wind got up, and willows along its banks bent and sighed. fortunately the road went over an ancient stone bridge, for the river, swollen with the rains, came rushing down from the hills and mountains in the north.

it was most probably nearly midnight when he had crossed over. the wind broke up the grey clouds, and a wandering moon appeared above the hills between the flying rags. then taehyung stopped.

"there's a light over there!" he mumbled to himself. there was a hill some way off with trees on it, pretty thick in parts. out of the dark mass of the trees he indeed could now see a light shining, a reddish comfortable-looking light, as it might be a fire or torches twinkling. he was freezing and a little of help from hopefully a kind stranger sounded the most tempting right now.

so he made off in the direction of the light, coming to the hill and were soon in the wood. up the hill he went; yet there was no proper path to be seen, such as might lead to a house or a farm (of course, what would he have expected of this deep, deathly valley). he made a deal of rustling and crackling and creaking (and a good deal of grumbling), as he went through the trees in the pitch dark.

suddenly the red light shone out very bright through the tree-trunks not far ahead.

as for taehyung walking primly towards the red light, he got right up to the fire. and what he saw sent a chilling shudder through his lithe, drenched body.

two very large mountain trolls sitting round a very large fire of pine-logs. they were toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gravy off their fingers.

"mutton again today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer 'm gonna chop on that tiny little human the queen asked to hunt," said one of the trolls.

"she will kill yer," said a second. "what the 'ell were yer thinkin' of goin' into these parts at all, beats me—tiny human is probably dead now," he said jogging the elbow of the first troll, who was taking a pull at his jug.

the first troll choked. "shut yer mouth!" he said as soon as he could.

the other spoke up. "yer can't expect that boy to stop here just to be et by yer. and time's been up yer way, when yer'd have said 'thank yer' for a nice bit o' fat valley mutton before the evil killed ye." he took a big bite off a sheep's leg he was roasting, and wiped his lips on his sleeve.

taehyung knew it. he had read of a good many things about trolls and he was very much alarmed, as well as disgusted; he wished himself a hundred miles away. but if he moved, he would certainly apprise the trolls about his whereabouts. listening to their conversation, it was sure that the trolls would want him as their food if not to bring him to his mother. so he stood and hesitated in the shadows.

unfortunately, tonight was not on taehyung's side as he accidentally stepped on a log, creating a loud crackle in the midst of the tranquil night. the trolls looked up in his directions, he gasped with the horrifying sight.

"well, well, if it ain't true the little boy came to us himself," the troll showed his grimly teeth in a poorly made horrible grin. taehyung was not moving, too scared to run whilst the trolls were moving closer to him, small yellow eyes glaring all thorough his trembling body.

"he wouldn't make above a mouthful," said one of the trolls, "not when he was skinned and boned."

"Here you, sneakin' in these woods, yer nasty little human," said he looking at the taehyung.

"queen must be pleased, she'll give us more than mutton." the trolls started approaching taehyung, cornering him into a beech tree.

❋❋❋

the stars were coming out behind him in a pale sky barred with black when jeongguk crept through the door and went into another room. he stopped where he could still see the faint outline of the door, and by a trick of the echoes of the passage hear the rustle of the whispering voices of the others just outside the room. he crept noiselessly down, down, down into the dark. the cottage seemed to be way more opulent than it ought to be. he loosened his dagger in its sheath, tightened his belt, and went on.

there he saw a row of stairs and descended after lighting another torch. the stairs led to another sumptuous dining room and walls decorated with gold ornaments and pictures. jeongguk then lighted up a set of candles.

almost arriving on the bottom, he tripped over his pants. "bloody hell, why are these clothes so big, I wonder, it always gets on my way!" he yelled angrily, finding his balance quite easily.

there was a huge portrait of a family right on the wall behind the head of the dining table, jeongguk made his way over there to observe.

it was a royal family, indeed, looking by their clothes and crowns. the eldest looking man with wise looking face, long beard, and expression that was full of authority was sat on a decorated resplendent chair with a very beautiful woman on his side, in clothes as extravagant as the elder man's. they must be the king and the queen, jeongguk thought, scrutinising the king's doe eyes and huge nose.

there were more people in the portrait as he noticed were surrounding the king and queen as they stood gallantly. jeongguk looked up to see the man that stood by the right side of the king. then his breath hitched. it was the very same man he met a few hours ago in this forest, with the same dimpled smile. namjoon.

the man looked younger but taller than jeongguk thought he ought to be.

jeongguk then moved to see another two young men that stood just next to the queen. one was taller with darker hair and a bunny smile painted on his face.

"oh, blimey, h-how am I there?" jeongguk stuttered out, looking up right at his own face. indeed, it was himself.

much to his shock, he bravely turned to see the shorter prince on his self-portrait's right, eager to unveil the mystery that was hidden inside this cottage and his lost memories. he was not as surprised as before when he saw yoongi looking back at him, holding the queen's shoulders with his delicate, long fingers.

there was a call of his name from the door where he entered the room, the very same man that was supposed to be his brother, walking heedfully towards him upon seeing his shocked face.

"what did you find, jeongguk?" asked namjoon. immediately, pure astonishment was painted on his face. he gulped in fear and awe.

there were so many questions lingering in his mind, there was a headache coming, but jeongguk was too restless and numb to care about anything. where were their memories? what happened to their parents? who were seokjin, jimin, and hoseok? just, who were they?

jeongguk's hand sneaked to hold his sword out of nervousness. there was a comforting feeling that made him feel grounded upon doing it. suddenly, he felt a slip of rusty texture of a paper from his pocket pants. a letter was perched half-out, he grabbed it to read.

a silent tear made its way to jeongguk's cheek as namjoon splintered out of his stupor and turned to face jeongguk. his father--no, their father, the king, currently dying, his last message was for jeongguk to come before his last breath.

a lump was formed in the deepest of his stomach.

and before namjoon could call him, jeongguk already ran out from the cottage into the wood.

❋❋❋

there was a gorgeous row. taehyung had just enough wits left, when the trolls scrambled out of the way of their feet, before they were clambering like dogs, and calling him all sorts names in very loud voices. soon they were locked in one another's arms, and rolling nearly into the fire kicking and thumping, as taehyung hid behind the bust before they could grab him, and that of course only made them madder than ever.

"there's more to come yet," said the troll, "if yer don't show up, prince."

dying was the only thing taehyung can think of. he died if he continued his path, and he would also die when he came back. what choice did he have?

a burning branch was thrown a few meters away from taehyung's hiding place, he let out a shriek and jumped before the fire could catch his dress. "that'll teach 'em," said the troll.

crying and so close to giving up, taehyung cradled his head into his chest protectively. too shaken and out of wits, had he not heard a sound of horse's neigh and a slight of distinct metal scrape sound from sword slicing into things. then a horrifying scream of the monsters disconcerted taehyung out of his consternation.

a group of men were valiantly fighting with the trolls. huge swords, parched on their hand, were persistently pushed and slashed the body of the giant trolls, making them cornered and let out infuriated growls manically.

the trolls were unprepared, leaving them to fight with only bare hands and their frivolous strength. the men were skilled enough to hold against them, slashing with swords while the other two kept aiming their arrows to the trolls from behind.

taehyung stared with wide eyes and shock to the men's indiscernible faces. all he knew was that the man with black ebony hair had the most overbearing atmosphere surrounding him, he fought with irrevocably uncontrollable gallant, pushing through and through until lots of blood permeate onto the trolls' clothes and to the ground. the unbridled cacophony they made reverberated all through the forest ground.

a pale man jumped forward to the fire, before one of the troll could leap on him. he caught up a big branch all on fire at one end; and the troll got that end in his eye before he could step aside. that put him out of the battle for a bit before the black haired man stabbed the troll right on his heart, a strident scream and gouging sound before the impromptu fall of the troll.

the conquest was perspicuous on which side.

yet the other troll, drenched in blood, had gone haywire. his insatiable strikes, punches, and kicks were almost inescapable to the group of men. his atrocious retaliation was deathly and feral, creating havoc and maelstrom to his surroundings. the bush taehyung hid behind was torn and destroyed after he scrambled away just a few seconds away. his attacks successfully dispersed the men.

there was nothing the men could do but retreat, as the detriment of the besotted troll was too much to handle. when the men had back up, the troll turned to run towards taehyung's direction.

maybe taehyung was really going to perish, as his step mother wished.

then a gravelly shout was heard from above the stone: "dawn take you all, and be stone to you!"

for just at that moment the incandescence came over the hill.

the troll never growled back from where he stood. and there he turned to stone as he stooped, glaring at taehyung; for trolls must be underground before dawn, or they went back to the stuff of the mountains they were made of, and never moved again.

"excellent!" said a man with dimpled smile, as he stepped from behind a tree, and helped his friends to climb down out of a thorn-bush. then taehyung understood. it was the man's shout his doing to make an end of the monster. the others smiled at him appreciatively and stood up as if they didn't finish two giant mountain trolls just now.

taehyung was still left aghast on his position on the ground, jittery and awry. the men would approach him soon yet he had already forgotten to stand on his own two feet, let alone thanking them for saving his dear life. although, he wanted to enunciate his gratefulness, the menace that was left from the battle was still there and taehyung wouldn't dare to stare right onto the men's eyes for who knows long. the trembling was unstoppable and he was put in another dismay.

a shriek came out unceremoniously as taehyung felt a tap on his delicate shoulder. he insignificantly turned to look up to the dark haired man that fought most coarsely. he glared at taehyung condescendingly, sending taehyung's heart to plummet pathetically inside as he beseechingly stared back.

"who bloody hell are you?! and what were you doing inside this forest alone with those trolls?!"

the clarity of the nefarious tone was enough to send taehyung crumpling in fear. still, as taehyung thought; of all things that happened on this devastating night, the most anomalous one was how his brittle heart was so wrecked just to hear those harsh words coming from the male on the first time they met.

phew, it's honestly so hard to write this chapter. im really sorry you had to wait so long... *hides in the corner* i'd had this draft from a few months ago, but i really write at a snail's pace.

the plan was to make this story as classic as a folk tale was, but it's clear i messed it up lol are you still enjoying this?? siGH

Anywayyy, what's your MBTI personality type?

I'm an INTP!