Remember, I update every two weeks for long chapters! Enjoy Guys!

“Well, the birds are back.” Key said as he looked up at the trees.

The two had been walking through the forest for a good minute now, both scrunching up their shoulders, both a little on edge though neither one wanted to say anything. Small birds chirped in the crevices of the woods, hidden from view but bleakly heard through vast echoes. The ground beneath them was soft and invited a slow comfort that at least eased them for a minute or two. It was near noon now. Min-seo, Onew’s mother, told them to make sure to be back before nightfall. No need to ask why.

Onew’s parents, in fact, had argued for a little while before mutually deciding that the boys would be okay out there. Min-seo assured her husband that the creature wasn’t going to come back. It just didn’t seem like it. Then he argued that there needs to be more than “seeming” to get him to agree. After a long explanation of how the boys really needed to develop their “true selves” at a faster rate in order to protect themselves, Onew’s father finally caved in. Of course, there was no word from Aunt Kim, she was still unconscious, though doing well according to Onew’s mom. The boys were caught in the middle of a crossfire though, watching at the archway that leads to the living room as his parents went back and forth for a while.

Needless to say, Onew’s father was still less than happy to see them leaving. At least there was still light outside this time. But to be honest, the look on his face when they left with their backpacks and more sandwiches that Min-seo had made, made Key a little weary about the whole ordeal after all. As they walked, however, Onew smiled and patted him on the shoulder, a simple gesture of reassurance. And just like that a huge weight was lifted…for a second that is. Actually being in the forest again brought a chill down his spine—the events of that night, flashing through his mind like some tv trailer.

Unconsciously, his hand grasped onto the end of Onew’s t-shirt. The touch startled his friend, but he looked and saw the furrowed brows and quivering lip in Key’s expression. He stopped walking and turned his best friend around to face him.

“Key…it’s gonna be alright. Okay?”

Key blinked a couple of times before answering. His mind blanked for a minute.

“Y-Yeah.” He stuttered. “I-I know. It’s just…strange. Being back here. Ya know. I’m supposed to feel safe because this is the same place that protected me when I was little but….”

It was slowly becoming hard to do so, considering the situation they’ve been under every time they’ve had to enter the forest.

“Key, you had a traumatic experience a night ago with some huge creature that hurt your aunt.” He grabbed the boy’s shoulders. “It’s okay to be scared.”

“Terrified?” He asked.

Onew nodded with a smile.

“That too.”

Key nodded his head as well and let out a long, heavy breath. They both smiled this time, and continued on, Key leading the way. Just for a second, there was silence, but soon afterward Onew asked a question that had been looming over his mind for a while.

“Key?” He pondered.

“Hm?”

“The man…that you brought up to my mom earlier. Do you think he really was dangerous?” It seemed like a stupid question when it finally came out, but deep down he started to feel a little guilty. He remembered the day after all. The way Key panicked when he met Onew at the stairs of the school. The way he pointed behind him only to see that there was no one there. And the way he had passed it off as his friend having had some sort of delusion.

Now that his mom had confirmed it and everything they could possibly configure as a ‘secret’ was out, the guilt was definitely starting to eat him up. Key could see it in his features; the way Onew bit his lower lip and fidgeted his fingers while they walked.

“I guess it’s my turn to say it’s alright Onew.” He shrugged. “I mean, the way I was talking that day, I would think I was tripping too. And to answer your question…I think so. I’m not sure.”

The words stumbled out of his mouth in an attempt to describe the exact feelings that emerged when the mysterious man began to follow him.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be scared of and what I’m supposed to consider ok. So yeah…I guess I do or…did think he was dangerous. He didn’t seem like an entirely good person, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Mmmmaybe we should change the subject.” Onew suggested after watching Key’s confused yet uncomfortable expression twist and turn his features. “Do you know where we’re going exactly? I know you told my mom you found a spot but…”

“Oh…yeah, I do. I’m going to that place I took you before. The second time I came here. Ya know, the place where the flowers grew.”

“That’s your safe spot? Key, I hate to remind you but…the last time we were actually there, the Cerberi gang followed us and saw what you could do. What exactly makes you think that’s a safe zone?”

Key looked down towards the soft dirt and crisp grass as they walked and pulled his lip to the side. He scratched his right temple. How could he explain it?

“I don’t know how.” He stated.

“How what?”

“To explain to you that I think it’s a safe spot. I think if we go a little further like I had planned when I first came here and saw the flowers, that we might find something.”

“Is it your Gumiho senses tingling?” Onew arched a brow in curiosity.

Key chuckled.

“Sure. Why not. I can’t shake the feeling so maybe it is.”

Again, Onew nodded, what felt like the thousandth time today.

“Then I’ll continue to follow without any further questions.”

***

They kept at a good pace. Key looked straight ahead, his fears from minutes ago almost nonexistent. It seemed as though they were getting close, or at least he was almost sure of it. Bringing up his concerns of not really remembering the path wasn’t something he planned on doing, given the fact that he was walking with Onew; the sole person in the world who would drive the whole situation out of proportion. The trees…seemed familiar at least and if Onew was right, something was telling him to go this route. He wasn’t the best forest navigator as he slowly remembered the more they passed a tree that looked exactly the same as the last. Still, he kept his attention forward with a determined expression as not to deter his friend.

“Key….” Onew breathed out the words after a couple more minutes had come and gone.

There was a lingering, unsteady feeling the way he called his best friend and Key rolled his eyes. He knew what was coming next. How long was it going to take for them to get there, were they close, did he really know where they were going. They’ve only been walking for a couple of minutes, the least Onew could do was give him some kind of credibility.

“Key…” He ushered out again, but this time with an added tap on the shoulder.

The boy huffed and stopped in his tracks.

“Onew, I thought you said you weren’t going to ask me anything else. I mean, I know we’ve been walking for a minute but the least you could do is have some faith in my navigation-“

Onew raised his hand, then pointed a single finger up towards the sky.

“It’s not that I’m worried about.” He whispered.

Key followed his friend’s finger up towards the clouds, only…there were none. The sky…in fact…was…bright and clear? Not the bright they’d walked into when stepping out of the house about ten or fifteen minutes ago, but the kind of bright you only saw in the morning. The sky was a crisp cerulean that washed above them; so pigmented Key wondered how the sight went unnoticed by him while they were walking.

“What the…actual hell?” He muttered.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Onew added. “Key, exactly how long have we been walking?”

The boy dug into his pocket and pulled out his small black cellphone. According to his clock, they’ve only been walking a few minutes, but the sky change made no sense. He turned around to look behind them and the sky was still bright.

“We’ve only been walking for a couple of minutes since last you said something. I don’t…let’s just keep walking and see what we get?” It came out more as a question than a statement.

Onew tilted his head in indifference. He was usually the one to halt the adventure when things became too questionable….but…he was curious too—a fact that was hard to deny.

“I guess…I’m just gonna assume this is okay as we haven’t encountered a monster of sorts yet?” His, too, came out as a question, but given a minute after staring at the environment around them, a sense of familiarity washed over him.

In fact, the trees that surrounded them were ‘cleaner’ if you will, then those seen in the forest. They looked fresh with strong, new bark. Their roots weren’t overgrown by weeds. The grass was a lush olive and a soft wind blew from the east. The sound of the birds and insects had not entirely disappeared but definitely dissipated.

“I mean, I’m not a genius like you Onew, but I’m definitely starting to feel as though we’re not in the forest……but we are in the forest……if that makes sense?”

“Oddly enough, it does.” Onew moved over to one of the trees in its staggering build. Here, they seemed taller, their leaves, thicker but more vibrant. It was like being in a 3D movie where you could touch and smell everything around you.

His hand caressed the strange alluring bark with its horizontal ring lines around the sides.

“I feel like…we’ve been here before.” He muttered.

“I think you’re right. Look!” Key shouted.

He pointed towards the ground. The two watched as ivory flowers grew from the roots of Key’s feet, their petals emitting a vibrant hue like before, creating their own light. They opened up as if inviting them to observe, and one by one they aligned themselves in front of the other, slowly creating a single, elongated path that curved and slithered across the forest floor. They looked at each and shrugged their shoulders. This was the most decent place they’ve seen since ever being in the forest, even better than the caves that Minho and Taemin lead them into. What was the worst that could happen, that hadn’t happened already? In unified strides, they followed the strange flowers, neither one whispering or uttering a word. It was almost as if, if they said anything, the magic would disappear or they would, quite literally, be lost.

The sound of water soon invited itself in distance of their hearing. Key arched his brow and looked over to Onew for a second, who seemed so engrossed in the moment, but without him even saying anything, Onew followed the water sound as well— the two forgetting about the flowers. The sound led them to something neither were expecting. Jagged rocks that glistened with a turquoise tint and overgrown with bits of moss that gave it a thick beautiful emerald presence, clumped together near a space of trees, creating an alluring stone wall. And out of it, an overflow of water came pouring out with a fascinating hue of blue, so unique in color, it was hard to call it such. A waterfall. The leaves from the trees lingered over large sections of the stone wall, casting a heavy shadow that made the water glow as it hit the small pool underneath and flowed only to the rocks that surrounded the forest floor.

Their mouths went agape. The sight was unlike anything they’ve seen before, and that was saying something, considering the ‘adventure’ they’ve been on in the past couple of days. The rushing water that hit the pool bed was the sound of an ocean floor hitting the hard edges of a beach. The wistful winds the danced in this area, carried some splashes of the waterfall that sprayed soft particles on their exposed skin. It was something quite mesmerizing and peaceful to witness and listen to. For a minute, the two forgot what they were doing until Key looked down and saw that the flower path was nowhere to be found. Just as they had appeared—like so many times before—they had vanished. He checked behind and around him, but of course there was no sign they had even existed.

When he looked back up, Onew was walking away from the waterfall and searching near another area of the environment. Not far, but he’d definitely moved fast while Key was preoccupied.

“What do you think the flowers were leading us to?!” Key called as Onew walked a little further down.

“I don’t know!” He yelled back. “Try to use your fox senses again! Maybe that will help!”

Key rolled his eyes. Fox senses. Yeah right. Min-seo told them that coming here would help them discover who they were but all it did was raise more questions— like everything else about the constant roller coaster they’d been sent on. He sighed and kicked some dirt around and through slow strides, moved towards Onew. His head tilted down, thoughts about ever becoming the powerful creature his parents were, gathered in his mind. Did he even want to become like them? He didn’t even remember either of them…but then…

That woman from his dreams. The one who reached out her hands to touch his face. He squinted his eyes in an attempt at a memory, but nothing came to surface. The woman’s face, even her body was blurred. He still remembered the soft touch of her skin from her long delicate fingers. Was it his mother? How did he remember her, if it was? Where was she? Was she really gone? If it was her, then that meant there was a possibility of finding her right? But why would she be away for so long if she was alive?

He grimaced.

“Key!” Onew hollered. “I think you need to see this!”

He ran over immediately to the sound of his name and found Onew standing in front of a spectacular piece of art. An embodiment of bark and beauty. A tall, thick statue whose roots could act as weapons. Leaves so vibrant in a green hue that the color was hypnotic. A tree. But not just any tree.

“The Tree.” Onew muttered. He turned his head to the back of him where Key stood awe-strucked as well. “You think-“

“I am definite that this is it.” Key interrupted. He walked up to it and hovered his hand over massive, rugged bark. “The tree you found me in.” He whispered.

“Y-You’re the one connected to it.” Onew stuttered, gesturing towards the tree. “Maybe you should touch it. Maybe you’ll remember something or get some kind of powers…or something.”

“But what if I don’t. M-Maybe we should touch it together.”

“I-It’s just a tree.” Onew shrugged. Yet, it was quite intimidating.

Key closed the distance between them and lifted Onew’s arm up.

“Please?” He begged.

“Sure.” His friend murmured.

It was like a climactic scene in a movie as they reached their hands out, slowly hovering it over the bark before finally touching its surface. They gasped. Their mouths widened. Their eyes turned into a deer in headlights. The wind blew. The water sounded from far away.

But…

Nothing happened.

Key frowned and took his hand off, then touched it again. And again. And again. Until Onew arched his brow, sighed, and took his hand off completely.

“Just a tree I guess? Maybe it’s not the right one. My mom never mentioned a waterfall when she told us about-”

“Just a tree my !” Key slapped his hand again and again on the bark, but all it was doing was causing a bruise to form in the middle of his palm.

He grunted and tried again.

“Out of all the majestic we’ve been through! We find the damn tree…and nothing! No, no no!” With each no, he slapped his hand against it again.

Onew finally caught his arm in midair and shook his head.

“Key, let it go. Maybe we need to find our answers some other way.”

“What other way Onew! Just what?!” He tilted his head back and opened his mouth, an agonizing moan escaping his lips. “I’m so tired of hunting for answers. How could this not be it? The flowers led us here~” He whined.

“I know, I know, but maybe-“

He stopped.

They both stopped, in fact.

There were soft sounds coming from the left of them. Talking. No way. Though they were only walking for a little bit, there was no way someone followed them. Even the least two qualified supernatural creatures in the world would have gotten a chill down their spines or goosebumps if that were the case. Onew quickly placed his finger up to his lips in a shushing motion and the two squatted together, slowly moving towards the left where the voices were coming from. They found themselves going around the tree, then behind it and straight back. Every once in a while—meaning every second—they looked down to check their footing to make sure they weren’t making any loud sounds. The possibility of who the voices originated from either had to be human or creature, and as no human in town liked going in these woods, there was only one option.

Key almost yelped at how close they were until Onew swiftly slapped his hand over his friend’s mouth.

Two strangers lingered only a few feet away from them, on the opposite side.

One was tall with a deep-rooted smirk etched at the edge of his lips. His hair seemed black and wisped towards the back of his head, gelled perhaps. He seemed tall from where they were, aesthetically built. His stance was firm and his hands hidden in the pockets of his suit pants. From what they could tell, he had a faded beard. Human or not, dressing for the outdoors didn’t seem like his goal today. He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, but it was as if something was telling him not to go any further because he paused and looked towards their direction only to shake his head.

He didn’t see them.

How?

The man next to him made a ‘humpf’ sound with his throat and leaned back as well when the first stranger did. He was shorter than the other but not by much. Slimmer indeed but with a ruffled hairstyle that appeared as though he just woke up. He wore a long sweater that reached down to his knees, which made no sense in this weather. The color was hard to see. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his skinny jeans as well and there was a small glint in the rounded glasses he took a moment to push back on his face as they slipped off.

But something else occurred to Key and Onew. Just how hard it was to see them. Key looked down at his feet again and as if they’d never left Paradise, the grass was still luscious, the wind was still gently blowing and there was still a beautiful light but a little dimmer than before. It was almost like the area they were in now had a different time of day. The sudden orange hue that began to emit from where they stood insinuated that this place was just now starting to become dark. It insinuated that the sun—wherever it was—was just now starting to set. But on the other side, just a few feet away, it was dark. The forest had been taken over by the shadow of the night.

The crickets and insects were louder and the moon shined up above in a crescent shape on their right. Onew appeared to notice the considerable difference as well.

“We should have made our subordinates do this.” The sweater-man complained as he moved back.

The sharper dressed one continued to smirk and moved back as well.

“Don’t talk like that when they’re around, all we need is them giving the Elders or their uncles something to complain about. We were ordered out here to surveillance so might as well.”

The sweater-man scoffed.

“It was more fun when we were battling the Mounts. It’s boring here and this place is small.”

The sharp-dressed laughed.

“True. We just have to play their game for a little while longer and we and our pack will take over, I’m sure of it. You can tell they’re unskilled.”

Uncles. Pack. Elders. Were Minho and Taemin back? And if so, who were these people?

“Well, we’ve been out here for a whole hour, I’m going back. It’s bedtime after all. What could happen in this ty town.” The sweater-man complained.

The other shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess you’re right.” But he turned and narrowed his eyes again in their direction—this time they held a beryl iridescent glow.

Right…at their direction. But again, he couldn’t see them?

“Fine.” He stated, let’s go.

By now Onew had taken his hand off Key’s mouth as Key watched them disappear into the night. When it was clear they were a good distance away, even for Cerberi, he sighed and snapped his attention towards Onew who was scrolling on his phone.

“What the hell is going on again?” He whispered-yelled. “Why the hell is it at night on one side, how could they not see us, and who exactly are they to begin with?”

His hand waved in the air in confused circles as he talked.

“I think we have a bigger problem right now.” Onew pegged, turning his phone around to show the screen of missed calls from his mother. “It’s night time and somehow I’ve missed every call from my mom.”

Key rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently against the ground.

“Great. Missed calls from your mom, night on one side, skipped time while we were here, and new Cerberi…all while we’re still stuck in the forest. And so…the plot thickens.” He sighed.