Somin hummed lightly as she walked along the busy streets of the Lost District. Festivals usually weren’t her thing so she had no desire on joining everyone. She placed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and stopped in her tracks. She her heel and tilted her head.

“Don’t you have a place to go to, Mark? Why are you following me,” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

    Mark cleared his throat awkwardly as his hand rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh…don’t know where to go. I’m new here…”

    “Well, if you need help, I recommend going to see Jinyoung. He runs everything here and I’m sure he’ll find a place for you.” Somin pointed up to the castle. “He’ll be there by now. And if you’re worried about running into those losers again, just remember there are worse things you could run into here.”

    She turned back around only for Mark to grab onto her arm.

    “Hey, wait...um…”

    Somin looked at his hand and up at him with a glare.

    Mark twitched and let go quickly. “Sorry… I just… I’m curious about something. You have fire powers… Are you from Crestha?”

    “Nope. Born and raised here on Thyslao.”

    Mark frowned. “But I thought—”

    “That only the royals had elemental powers?” Somin finished Mark’s question with a sigh. “Some special few are cursed with powers too. And when I say few, I mean only me. I’ve never met another person like me and it’s pretty ty.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Not that you know what that feels like hailing from Crestha and all.”

    Mark nodded awkwardly. “Right… Crestha…”

    Somin examined Mark for a moment and sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you what. I have to go see Jinyoung anyway so we can go together. We just have to stop by my place first.” She started forward, looking back at Mark to make sure he was following. “Don’t mind my roommates, by the way. They’re a huge handful and may come off as annoying at first, but I promise they’re literally the best friend’s you could ever have. So long as you push past the fact that they’re always fighting with each other.”

    “Always? How come?”

    Somin pursed her lips together. “Mm...well, you’ll see.”

    Somin led Mark down an alleyway to her place. It was the second door to the end of the alley. Across was a woman with sky blue skin watering her flowers. Mark stared in awe. He had noticed many people around the district with different skin colors but the color of this woman’s skin was mesmerizing. Growing up on Trinsa Island, he never saw people with strange colored skin like this. It was magnificent.

    Somin smiled at the woman and spoke in a language Mark had never heard before. He guessed she must have said hello because the woman smiled and waved at her.

Somin pushed open the door to her place. “I hope you two are decent. I have a guest.”

Mark followed Somin inside and stared at the two males who were wrestling each other. They both looked up at Mark, the animal ears on their heads perking up. One had grey cat ears while the other had white mouse ears. Their tails were tangled together while they were wrestling.

‘A cat and a mouse demon...Now I get it,’ Mark thought.

Somin rolled her eyes and yanked them away from each other. “Geez, you two, be a little civilized while we have a guest over. Introduce yourselves.” She glanced over at Mark. “I’ll be back.” She headed off to her room and the other two just stared at Mark.

“Um, hi. I’m Mark,” he said. He took a step back when both of them cautiously approached him. Mark gulped. He had never felt more awkward in his life.

“You smell funny,” the boy with the cat ears said.

“Why are your hands so cold?” the mouse demon asked as he tugged on Mark’s fingers.

Mark yanked his hand away quickly. “I’m, uh… from Crestha. I have ice powers…”

“Ice powers?! That’s so cool,” the mouse demon exclaimed. “You’re opposite of Somin noona! Oh, I’m Bambam, by the way.”

“Hi! I’m Yugyeom!” The cat demon grinned. “Can you show us your powers? I mean, I’m not the biggest fan of snow and the cold, but I wanna see~”

Mark chuckled lightly. He felt so overwhelmed by their excitement. “Okay, I’ll show you.”

Yugyeom grinned and yanked Bambam by the tail. “Follow us over here!”

Bambam whined pulling his tail back from Yugyeom’s grip and curled it up until it was hiding under his shirt. Mark sat on the floor of the living room and the other two watched him intently. He rubbed his hands together and snow started to fall to the floor.

“Whoa!” they both exclaimed.

Mark cupped his hands together and a ball of ice formed. He held it out in front of him and tapped it once. It changed from solid ice to snow making the cat and mouse even more amazed. Yugyeom was quick to grab the ball of snow and threw it into Bambam’s face, cackling evilly. Bambam groaned wiping the snow from his face, kicking Yugyeom’s side.

Yugyeom laughed and looked at Mark. “Hey! Mark hyung! Is it okay if I call you hyung? You have ice powers and noona has fire powers, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Mark. “And?”

“Well, you see…noona has a hard time keeping a boyfriend because she’s so....fiery and since you have ice powers, maybe you could cool down her—”

“Are you two trying to set me up with him?” Somin asked. Her voice sounded angry.

Bambam flinched and ducked behind Mark for protection. Yugyeom looked up at her innocently. “But, noona, he’s perfect. He’s handsome. He doesn’t seem to be a creep. And he has ice powers! You two are perfect!”

Somin rolled her eyes. “Come on, Mark. Jinyoung won’t be waiting all day.”

Bambam gasped peeking out from behind Mark. “You two are going together? Ooh~ Maybe you could ask Jinyoung hyung to bless the both of your marriage seeing as your dad is in j—”

Yugyeom smacked his hand over Bambam’s mouth. “Shh! Don’t say it out loud! She’s still sensitive about that!”

Bambam quickly bowed to the floor. “I’m so sorry, noona. I didn’t mean—”

Somin glared at Bambam. “Hey, Yugyeom. You remember how I said you couldn’t eat him? I’ve changed my mind.” She turned, heading for the door ignoring Bambam’s pleas to save him as Yugyeom dragged him by the tail across the room. Somin stopped by the door, glancing back at Mark. “You coming or not?”

Mark jumped up to his feet and peered in the direction Bambam and Yugyeom disappeared to. “He’s not really going to eat him, is he?”

Somin shrugged. “Not my problem.”

“They’re really something, huh?”

Somin snorted as she stepped out of her place with Mark following behind her. “Yeah, just imagine living with that for the past three years.”

“You’ve only lived here for three years? Where are you from?”

“Lindres. I was a hunter,” Somin replied.

“Was? What happened?”

“Mm...things got...complicated with my dad and I had to leave. I really don’t want to talk about it right now. You’ll probably hear about it when I talk with Jinyoung.”

“Why do you have to talk to Jinyoung about it though?”

“He’s helping me to prove my dad’s innocence.”

Mark frowned. “Innocence? So your dad committed a crime? Wouldn’t he be living here?”

“It’s true that criminals live here but not if they’ve committed murder.”

Mark’s eyes widened. “Murder?”

“Like I said, it’s complicated… Can we just… talk about something else?”

Mark sighed, nodding slightly. “You must really love your dad.”

“Don’t you love yours?” She looked over at him curiously.

Mark looked down. He always wondered if he loved his dad. He was constantly ordering him around and never once sat down to read him a bedtime story when he was young. It was always his mom. When she died, his dad became even more strict on Mark and even beat him for disobedience.

“I loved my mom more. She was great,” Mark said simply. He looked up at the sky, squinting as the sun shined brightly. “Why is it still daytime here? When I was out there, it was night and in here—”

“Jinyoung’s magic keeps it daytime in here to protect everyone who lives here. There are creatures out there and even creatures who live here who prefer the night,” Somin explained. “Because they’re dangerous, Jinyoung made it so it’s always day so people can go about their lives without fearing for death ahead of their time.”

“But don’t people come here to be judged by the chart keeper?”

“Everyone who lives here and has committed a crime knows they have to pay for it eventually, Jinyoung makes them realize that and lets them live normally before their passing. They don’t mind living here.”

So everyone here isn’t truly happy, Mark thought. They’ve simply accepted their fate and chose to live here quietly.

As he and Somin approached the castle, Mark felt an involuntary bubble of anxiety build up in his stomach. This chart keeper is supposedly all-knowing. He would know who Mark was. And since he would know, would he tell everyone who he was? All the negative possibilities ran through Mark’s head as he walked into the castle.

He trailed after Somin down a long hallway that was mostly bare, save for the red carpet and countless paintings of angels on the walls. They reached the end of the hall at a huge wooden door. Mark took a cautious step back as Somin pulled the door open. His anxiety hadn’t subsided and now that he was so close to coming in contact with Jinyoung, his stomach twisted. He felt like throwing up but forced himself to hold it down and followed Somin into the large room. In this room, the walls were lined from ceiling to floor with shelves. Most shelves were filled with books while others had numerous scrolls.

Jinyoung was standing by one of the shelves opposite them holding a book. “I was wondering when you’d show up, Somin. You’re late,” he said as the book he was holding burst into flames. He turned to look at Somin and seemed surprised to see Mark beside her.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m late. Had to save this guy from those idiots I keep telling you about and then Yugyeom and Bambam were trying to set him up with me. It was a mess.” Somin walked forward, moving to Jinyoung’s side. “Is there anything new on my dad?”

Jinyoung kept his gaze on Mark for a while as he spoke. “There’s really no good way to say this…” He looked at her and sighed. “He’s going to be executed in a few days.”

“What?!” Somin’s eyes widened. “But he had a whole year left. What happened?”

“He assaulted a guard and tried to escape. And then he was caught trying to send out a letter to Aogrei to attack the Hunter’s district,” explained Jinyoung. “His behavior hasn’t exactly been the best lately either. I mean, bad behavior they could handle easily but, conspiring with a demon to kill everyone in an entire district isn’t something to be taken lightly.”

Somin ran her fingers through her hair frustrated. “Geez…” She leaned against the shelf, swearing under her breath. “And...have you found anything to prove his innocence?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “There are parts of his chart that are out. I don’t know why maybe he conspired with the previous chart keeper to erase that part of his past. I’ve tried everything to get the writing back but nothing I do works.” He sighed heavily. “I read everything in his chart as well and there’s nothing. The out writing seems suspicious and might even be what we need to prove his guilt or innocence.”

Somin growled and her fists began to flame up. “!”

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung apologized. “But please, if you’re going to get angry, go to the other room. Everything in here is important and I can’t have anything happening to them.” He gestured to the metal door wedged between two large shelves.

Somin rolled her eyes and stormed off to the room. When the door closed behind her, Jinyoung’s eyes shifted to Mark.

“What are you doing here, prince? Did the king send you?”

Mark shook his head quickly. “No. He doesn’t even know I’m here.”

Jinyoung rose an eyebrow. “Then you ran away? Why would you want to run away from such a perfect life?”

“I...wanted to live a real life. Being locked up and raised in secret is far from perfect. It’s not even a life.” Mark looked down. “My dad wants me to marry, but I want to be in love with the person I marry. So, yeah, I ran away.”

“You? Be in love?” Jinyoung snorted. “Taehyung has told me how you are with girls, ice prince.”

Mark looked at Jinyoung curiously when he mentioned his friend’s name. “You know Taehyung?”

“Yeah, we grew up together,” Jinyoung said as he picked off a large white book from the shelf. It had a gold spine and a red jewel on the front cover.

Mark frowned. “You’re a fallen angel, too?”

“Yeah. Fallen angels are tasked to become the chart keeper when they’re banished from heaven. Taehyung will probably be the next one when I die.” Jinyoung flipped the book open as he hummed softly. “Well, Mark, it seems your father just woke up and will soon find out you’re gone.” He turned the book for Mark to see.

The prince approached slowly and watched amazed seeing words appear on the page as if they were being written. His dad was having the servants dress him right now. It would only be about another hour until he finds out Mark was gone.

“I sure hope you’re prepared for what he will do when he sees you’re not there anymore,” Jinyoung said as he snapped the book shut. “Oh, and by the way, sorry to hear about his health. He doesn’t have much longer you know. And I have no intentions of keeping him alive any longer after the things he’s done.”

Mark huffed and glanced to the side. “I know…”

Jinyoung set the book back on the shelf and glanced at the door Somin disappeared behind. “Take care of her, will you? She’ll do things on a whim. She’s a bit dangerous; to herself and others because of her powers. She also has a bit of a temper problem, but I promise you, she’s got a good heart. She might need someone like you to cool her down. Literally.”

As Jinyoung stopped speaking, Somin emerged from the other room. “Mark, we’re going,” she said and hurried to the exit.

Mark frowned and sprinted after her. “What? Why? Where are we going?”

“We’re going to break out my dad.”