03: Intruders 

   “Chanyeol, get out of the way!”

   The front of a large residential apartment crashed down, narrowly missing Chanyeol by inches. Dust billowed up, making it difficult to breathe. Baekhyun ran ahead and kicked open the door to a small building, dragging a disorientated Chanyeol behind him. He slammed the door shut behind them and they fell down, coughing and panting in what looked like an old warehouse. The multiple explosions outside was enough to knock the dust from the rafters above. The two men breathed heavily, finally managing to catch a few seconds rest amid all the chaos.

   Just twenty minutes had passed since the Human Liberation Vanguard (HLV) had infiltrated Central with a sizeable force, but it hadn’t gone to plan. The teams behind Operation Behemoth had been ambushed, and now they had half the soldiers they came with. Chanyeol leaned against the front door and listened intently, he could hear footsteps crashing back and forth outside, voices screeching and people dying.

   Humans dying.

   “We have to do something!” he cried out, hand on the door, ready to leave, “Those are our teammates!”

   Baekhyun pulled down the carbon steel mesh guard that protected the lower part of his face and lowered his rifle. He glared at Chanyeol with eyes that could burn like the sun, and pulled Chanyeol’s hand away from the door roughly. He wanted to help them as well, but there was nothing they could do.

   “Do you want to die too?” shouted Baekhyun. He pulled the mask back up and began searching the room for another way to escape, “Because that’s what will happen if you open that door! We will die, just like half of the teams that came with us!”

   Grabbing his radio, he shouted for help, but the static replies were too hectic to understand. He cursed out loud and punched the wall in anger. The ambush had been too perfect, the demons knew that they were coming. Someone in the HLV had sold them out, and now so many had died as a result. Livid and upset, he didn’t even care that his knuckles were bleeding all over. That pain was nothing compared to the grief he was trying to ignore. He didn’t have time to think about anything other than the mission. Soon, the demons would find them, and they had to escape.

   On the other side of Central, two tall and handsome men stood side by side, perched on top of the church. It was on the only church within Central, an old memento left to stand as a relic of time. It was a slightly ironic place for the two men to be, given the telltale red glow behind their irises but it was the only place close enough to the royal palace with a good view of the city.

   They were both unusually beautiful with matching ash blonde hair, just another telltale sign of what they were. Both donned dark trousers and dark, crisp shirts; one had round charming eyes and an innocent face, the other taller and more masculine, his expression cold. They stood in silence, facing the carnage that was unfolding in the distance. Plumes of smoke were steadily multiplying and the flicker of flames lit vast areas in a deep orange glow.

   “We should get going, Luhan hyung,” said Sehun, the taller one of the two. He looked g