Alright, time to get this plot moving-

3 days later...

In the early morning on the fourth day that Hongjoong had been there, he had woken up before dawn, which was something he was used to because of school. He'd always get up before dawn to get ready because he did take a while to actually get up out of bed anyway.

However, this time he felt a little more obligated to get up and out of the bed he had been sleeping on the past four days because they were starting their journey to the Fairy Mountains that day. For some odd reason, he felt his stomach bubbling with nerves as he exited the house to find San on the balcony.

"Yunho and Mingi aren't coming with us" San explained, "they're gonna stay back and look after the place. Don't worry; at least Hwa knows where Jongdae is located"

Hongjoong just nods, pouting a little. Over the last three days, Hongjoong had actually started to enjoy Mingi's company so it was a little disappointing that the red haired Pixie wasn't going with them. However, another thing that had transpired over the last three days was Seonghwa and Hongjoong's friendship. The Elf Prince was definitely quirky, if Hongjoong were to be completely honest, although he had a feeling that if Seonghwa's father was around, that would be an entirely different story.

Seonghwa was quite energetic and talkative once you got to know him enough, but he was like that with everyone. However, even though he was a social butterfly, he still kept his guard up about certain things. In all honesty, Seonghwa sort of reminded Hongjoong of his own mother; the Elf Prince had a sweet, motherly nature, and around the young child Pixies, that was very clear.

"Just a word of warning, we might stop by the Lake of Aurora as well" San said.

"Oh right, because of uh, Jongho's lover right?" Hongjoong asked.

"Yeah. I hope you don't have a problem with that though" San looks back at Hongjoong and frowns, "I know you want to get back to your world as soon as possible"

"No, it's fine. Either way, I've heard a couple of things about that underwater kingdom so I'd like to see that for myself" Hongjoong grins, "how long will it take us to get there?"

"Three days at the least, four, maybe five if we run into trouble. There's a vast open space between here and the lake, and not all evil hides in the Outer Shade Forest" San speaks with a low voice, staring down at the ground below.

Hongjoong gulped, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, taking a deep breath in and out as he silently prays to whatever God or Goddess is listening that they don't run into too much trouble.

"The horses are all saddled up!" San and Hongjoong hear Seonghwa shout from down on the ground.

"Alright! I'll take Joongie down!" San shouts back at Seonghwa, turning to Hongjoong, "can you ride a horse?"

"Nope. I've never ridden one, but I know my step dad has. There's a first time for everything though" Hongjoong shrugs.

He was actually pretty excited, because from what his step dad said, horse riding was pretty fun.

"I'm just gonna warn you now, but you're gonna be going on Yunho's horse Elya (pronounced EL-EE-YA) and she doesn't take too well to strangers" San smirked.

'Oh great' Hongjoong internally sighed, 'so we're gonna start off this journey with a horse kicking me in the face...very nice'

:::

What San didn't tell him about the horses, Hongjoong found as he and Jongho were carefully dropped onto the ground by San was the fact that they had six legs, had ears like an Elf's and had the most unnaturally coloured eyes Hongjoong had ever seen. Elya's was a striking blue; so blue that they looked like sapphires and a mane the brightest colour of metallic silver that it nearly blinded him. The rest of her coat was pure white and the saddle was a midnight blue colour.

"Walk up to her slowly" Seonghwa instructed, "who knows? She might like you. If she doesn't, you can ride with me"

Hongjoong nods, slowly walking up to the horse. He made sure not to look too scared, but he didn't actually feel very scared. He was more so intrigued and enraptured with the horse. He stared at Elya straight in the eyes, and at first it seemed as if the horse was gonna charge at him. However, what surprised all of them was the fact that Elya walked up to Hongjoong and nuzzled him.

"What the..." San muttered.

Seonghwa frowned thoughtfully, watching the interaction.

'There is definitely something different about Hongjoong. Elya doesn't even like me; she's enchanted to only trust sorcerer's like Yunho and Jongdae...wait, that could only mean...' Seonghwa came to a sudden realisation, looking to San and motioning him to go over to him as Jongho helped Hongjoong get onto Elya.

"We need to keep an eye on Hongjoong" Seonghwa speaks loud enough for only San to hear, "I think Hongjoong might be from this world. Either that, or his real father was"

San nods, "I knew there was something odd about him...you think he might be half sorcerer?"

Seonghwa nods in agreement, looking over at Hongjoong who was kind of struggling to keep himself upright on the horse before looking back to San, "and if his father was a sorcerer, he must have been a very powerful one for Elya to have that kind of reaction to him"

All of a sudden, they hear Jongho laugh loudly and a loud thump. They quickly look over to Jongho and Hongjoong, the latter on his butt on the ground.

"Stop laughing at me! It's not funny! It huuuurts" Hongjoong complains, pouting.

"Sorry, sorry" Jongho giggles, helping Hongjoong back up onto Elya.

"Hurry up you two" Seonghwa sighs, shaking his head, "we need to get going as soon as possible!"

Aaaaaand another chapter done UwU