Baekhyun and Kyungsoo reached the end of the stairs and were walking on flat ground. Here or there, stones would be protruding from the ground and occasionally trip them. As they went, the torches continued to light themselves, but the corridor became smaller. Baekhyun almost singed his hair because of his proximity to the fire. After that, they opted for crouching. Walking was becoming more difficult as they went. Eventually, their shoulders were brushing the walls. 

As sense of being trapped overcame Baekhyun’s mind. He couldn't move his arms very well and going forward only made the squeeze tighter. Eventually he had to carry the backpack in his right hand. Behind him, Kyungsoo kept chugging along while comforting the Prince. Once another torch was lit, Baekhyun was able to see a light. He turns sideways and began shimmying his way between the walls. Kyungsoo followed suit, and reminded Baekhyun to steer clear of the fire. Baekhyun had nodded and crouched as far as the walls would let him. 

At one point, Baekhyun was unable to bend down and shimmied with his back and chest being pressed to the walls. By now, he was heaving and crying. He felt utterly trapped and helpless. If the walls got any closer, he might get stuck, and that terrified him. The only thing that was keeping him from going back was the fact that Kyungsoo was holding his hand and trying his best to speak. Even though kyungsoo’s lisp was heavy, Baekhyun understood what he was trying to say and squeezed his guard's hand tighter as a silent thank you. 

A few times, the bag became stuck and they had to hold some of the larger contents. 

After what felt like an eternity of being crushed by walls, Baekhyun’s arm bent around a corner and his body followed. Suddenly he was in an open area. Kyungsoo appeared next to him and they watched the torches light themselves around a gigantic, circular room. A wooden sign was posted in the middle. Small text text could be seen and it seemed to have been written in gold, shining ink. Kyungsoo was about to go over to it when Baekhyun collapsed in relief. In a short time, his breathing calmed and he wiped the tears. 

Baekhyun stood up in shaky legs, grasping Kyungsoo’s arm until he could balance. He restrapped the backpack on. Then he and Kyungsoo walked over to the sign. When they got closer, the letter glowed brighter, illuminating their faces with a warm glow. 

The sign read: For those who are, you don't have to go far. For those who are not, this is your spot. 

“What could that possibly mean?” Baekhyun said, but just as he did so, he noticed three tunnels that weren't there before. He patted Kyungsoo’s arm and pointed at them. 

“What?”

“The tunnels, Kyungsoo, the tunnels. They weren't there before, right?”

“What tunnels?”

“Kyungsoo, this is not the time.”

“I don't see any tunnels, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun groans and hurries over to the middle tunnel. He stands inside and waves his arms. “See?”

“Baekhyun, I can't see you.”

Baekhyun stepped out of the tunnel. He walked over to Kyungsoo and grabbed his hand. He then proceeded to drag the guard over to the mouth of the opening. When he was halfway inside, Kyungsoo signed with his free hand. The sentence came out wacky, but Baekhyun understood. 

“I no see.” 

Baekhyun dropped Kyungsoo’s hand and walked out of the tunnel. It was obvious they would either separate or have to find another way, which was unlikely. The sign flashed gold behind Kyungsoo, and the wheels began to turn. Whatever Baekhyun is, he is the only one who can proceed. But he couldn't leave Kyungsoo who had helped him even this far. Kyungsoo had given Baekhyun the support he needed. He couldn't possibly progress without his guard. 

Kyungsoo put his hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Baekhyun, you should go. I think I know what the sign means.”

“Me too, but I can't just leave you. We just started.”

“Baekhyun, you have to. I'll find another way. There has to be one.”

“Then I'll find it with you.”

Kyungsoo frowned and shook his head. “No, you need to find Chanyeol. I'm going to be fine.”

“But Kyungsoo…”

“Go, now.” Kyungsoo said, urgency in his voice. Baekhyun heaved a sigh. Whenever Kyungsoo spoke, it was a sign that he was no longer messing around. 

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun began to plead, but Kyungsoo turned him around and shoved him in the direction of the center tunnel. Torches came to life as he stumbled in. When he looked behind him, a wall had mysteriously appeared. He ran to it and pounded his fists on the dusty brick. Kyungsoo’s name rang out until Baekhyun remembered the guard was deaf. He dropped his arm and leaned against the wall. Now he was really alone. 

Baekhyun looked as far as he could. It seemed the tunnel stretched on for a while. Who knew when he'd get out. What if there wasn't an end? Maybe the man had come up with an elaborate lie to kidnap him and hold him ransom. He could demand quite a large sum of money for the Prince. Plus, Baekhyun didn't check to see if Chanyeol had been kidnapped.Chanyeol could be sitting at home cooking and Baekhyun was trapped because he had believed such a silly letter. He mentally scolded himself. Perhaps, though, he was lucid dreaming, which didn't sound at all plausible, but was still a possibility. Baekhyun grabbed his cheek and pinched it, just to make sure. He hissed in pain. Not dreaming. 

He pushed himself from the wall. There was no other option. Either he could sit and rot away or he could walk and hope for the best. The latter option sounded the best. He began walking, clutching the straps of his backpack so hard his knuckles turned white. 

As usual, the torches ignited themselves, and Baekhyun realized they were seemingly floating off the wall when he had checked. He had even passed his hand between the wall and the torch, thinking it was clear holder, but nothing. There wasn't a. mechanism inside that allowed it to light itself. The torches were too small. Eventually, he stopped trying to figure it out and continued along. 

Nothing attacked Baekhyun along the way, nor did he stumble across a trap. The walk was relatively safe, aside from the uneven ground. It didn't take him too long to find a staircase. At first he was hesitant to go up. Maybe this time around it was a trap. However, when nothing happened when he rested his foot on the step, he concluded that no one was trying to kidnap him. If they were, they could've done it by now, and they didn't even have to go to such extreme lengths. Now, with a sense of relief, he began climbing the stairs. 

As he went, there were no windows and the torches continued to light themselves. Silence swallowed his conscience. He thought about Kyungsoo. If only the guard were there. At least they could talk about unimportant topics to pass the time. Then he thought about his parents. No doubt, they were sending out search parties for him. The city was on high alert, and the old man from the shop, if questioned, would lie right through his rotting teeth. He was reminded of the time he had spent with Chanyeol in the town. 

Chanyeol. 

His thoughts always came back to the peasant boy. He was the reason Baekhyun was walking up a flight of stairs. Because of the urge to save Chanyeol, Baekhyun fled the palace and left his guard behind. It was all because Chanyeol was Baekhyun’s only friend. Baekhyun’s bitter laugh reverberated in the stone staircase. His father was much too strict, and even prevented him from making friends with princes and princesses from other kingdoms. If the emperor knew that Kyungsoo was another of Baekhyun friend, the guard would be hung. 

Eventually, he reached a small landing. There was a small archway, and through it were two, metal torch holders -- for once, they weren’t floating -- and a strange looking door. It was obviously glass, judging from the reflective surface. Baekhyun could see an object on the other side, but it was a blurry blob of black. He moved towards it and looked for a handle. This can’t be the end, Baekhyun thought when he couldn’t find a way to open the door. The torches wouldn’t be hot enough to melt the glass. Maybe he could break it instead.

He took the torch out of one of the holders and leaned it against the wall. Then he picked up the metal and examined it. The bottom seemed to be the thickest. Before lifting the metal, he shed his robes so he was just in his undergarments. He pulled out a spare shirt and pants from his backpack. After shoving his robes into the pack, he lifted the metal rod. He stepped back as far as he could and took a deep breath. Then he ran at the door. When the metal came in contact with door, it bounced back and Baekhyun fell to the ground. The metal clattered to the ground, split in half. He looked at it, eyes wide. 

The glass wasn’t breaking, he knew that, but how was he supposed to get through? He couldn’t go back, the pathway was blocked. The only thing he could do was go forward, if there wasn’t a glass door. Baekhyun stood up and dusted himself off. Maybe there was something on the door he could press that would open it, a secret mechanism of sorts. He walked up to the door and put his hands on the door. The minute his hands made contact with the glass, they sunk in. He pulled his hands away and stared at the handprints he left that were disappearing. He did it again, and this time left his palm there. The door glowed underneath his hand and suddenly he was standing in front of an empty archway. 

He looked at his hand and then back at the archway. What is going on, Baekhyun thought as he grabbed his backpack and stepped into the next room. The moment his body passed through, the archway disappeared completely, leaving a concrete wall, and the torches lit themselves. Now he stood in a circular room with many bookshelves. One bookshelf, however, held odd objects such as bones and herbs. On the ground, there was a crescent moon surrounded by stars. He walked over to one of the shelves, interest now piqued. The spines had glossy blue lettering on it. He chose a book at random and opened it up. He skimmed the page. It seemed to be talking about the history of witches and wizards, two types of magic and certain supernatural races. A few pages were about some Grand Wizard and his descendants and how they could harness magic that was extremely rare.

He flipped through a few more pages before shutting the book and returning it to its spot on the shelf. Reading about magic no longer seemed so farfetched to Baekhyun, he realized, after seeing a glass door bend and disappear under his hands. He paced around the room. There weren’t any ways out that he could see. The glass door had disappeared and all he saw was bookshelves. He stopped walking and looked around. What if he had to trigger something to reveal a door? Maybe there was a certain incantation in one of the books on the shelves.

Baekhyun began to walk around and inspect the spines. So far, all he saw were history books, prophecy books, and fairy tales. As he went, he also pulled the books slightly, hoping something else would happen. Nothing happened, though. As he reached the last shelf, he saw a book that stood out from the others. It was the only gold book in the whole room. The lettering was a matte black and stood out against the shiny spine. He reached a hand out to it and was about to grab it when a voice stopped him.

“I advise that you do not touch that book yet.”