“We’re going to do what now?" Mark quickened his steps to keep up with Somin who was walking at a fast pace ahead of him.

“We’re breaking him out. But if you don’t want to, it’s fine with me because I can go by myself.” Somin spoke with determination in her voice. Mark’s eyes widened at the idea and shook his head rapidly.

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous this sounds? You could get in trouble for breaking him out,” said Mark as he grabbed onto her arm to stop her. “This is too dangerous and risky. What if you end up getting caught?”

“I’ll just have to not get caught then,” Somin said as she pushed off Mark’s hand. She her heel and headed to the center square.

“What are you going to do after you get him out? You can’t go anywhere.”

“We’ll just have to get off Thyslao then. You got here from Crestha, right? We’ll take the boat you came on over and hide out there. And even if Crestha doesn’t work out for us, we got two more continents to go to. They won’t be able to chase after us forever.”

Mark pursed his lips. Nothing he could think of would persuade Somin to do otherwise so he shut his mouth and followed her back to her place. Somin stormed in, completely ignoring Bambam and Yugyeom who were fighting on the kitchen floor. She went straight to her room and slammed the door behind her. Mark sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“What’s going on?” Yugyeom asked.

Mark looked down at him, frowning slightly. He was looking up at him while calmly holding down a shirtless, pleading Bambam who had various bite and scratch marks along his shoulders and chest. “Uh...Her dad is being executed in a couple days. She wants to go break him out.”

“She wants to what?!” Both the cat and mouse demons jumped up to their feet and ran to Somin’s room door and pounded on it.

“Noona! You can’t! It’s too dangerous!” Bambam yelled.

“Noona, part of the reason you’re living here is so the phae don’t get to you! You can’t leave! They’ll kill you!” Yugyeom shouted.

Mark frowned. “Phae? What are phae?”

Bambam stared at Mark in wonder. “Wow. They don’t teach you much over on Crestha, huh?”

Yugyeom nudged Bambam’s side. “Don’t be rude. He’s a foreigner. He doesn’t know any better.” He looked up at Mark who seemed to be offended by what the both of them had just said. “They’re these nasty, things-of-nightmares creatures controlled by Aogrei. They’re been chasing after Somin noona ever since her mom and sister died.”

“Aogrei? Jinyoung said something about her dad trying to send out a letter to him,” Mark recalled.

“Eh? Her dad was trying to send out a letter to him? No wonder they’re executing him,” Bambam mumbled.

“What are phae exactly?” Mark asked.

“They’re manifestations of Aogrei’s dark energy. He’s the only shadow demon alive so you can imagine where phae come from,” Somin answered as she stepped out of her room. She wore black pants, a plain black t-shirt, black boots, and a black belt that had a holster attached to it that held her dagger. “You ever tried to kill a shadow, Mark? It’s not easy and god forbid you get some of its blood inside of you. It’ll eat you from the inside out.”

“And...these...things are after you? And you still want to go out there?”

Somin shrugged. “I’ve been running from them a long time. It’ll be no different from when before. Besides, it’s for my dad. If it were your mom, you’d do the same thing.” She turned, headed for the door. “So, are you coming or not?”

Mark bit his bottom lip and glanced over at Yugyeom and Bambam. They both looked at him with concern. He knew they didn’t want Somin to go alone and he could tell they both would rather stay where it was safe for them.

He sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

“Good. I hope you can fight because I’m not going to be saving your the whole time.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *~

The king supressed a cough with his hand as the servants finished dressing him. He waved his hand to dismiss them and looked at himself in the mirror. He was growing sicker and sicker everyday, it showed in his eyes and on his face. His face was flushed pale, the whites of his eyes colored a pale yellow, and the dark circles under his eyes were evident that he could hardly sleep.

He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed. He pulled back the piece of cloth and groaned at the sight of blood. “Damn…”

He made his way out of his room and spotted one of the servants carrying sheets down the hall. “You! Tell Mark to come down to breakfast. I have a lot of discuss with him.”

The servant bowed and kept his head down as the king passed by. Mark hadn’t shown up at dinner so they didn’t get to discuss the wedding. The king assumed he had spent dinner over at Taehyung’s place and came back to the castle late.

He sat at his place at the table where the food had already been set out and waited. He waited and waited but Mark didn’t come in. The servant he had told to get Mark hurried into the dining room with a concerned look on his face.

“Where’s Mark?” the king asked.

The servant didn’t dare look up at the king as he spoke. “He’s not in his room, sir…”

The king tensed, clenching his fist. “Then where is he?”

“I don’t know, sir. But he...left his crown…”

The king’s fist began to spark lightning making the servant flinch and run out of the dining room in a hurry.

“Where is he?!” The king yelled as he knocked down the door into Taehyung’s house with a lightning bolt.

Taehyung frowned. “Who?”

“Mark! Where is he? Is he here? Are you hiding him? If you are—”

“Highness, calm down,” the head of the royal guard, Minjun said as he stepped through the doorway. “He doesn’t know where Mark is.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened. “Mark hyung is missing?”

“No, not missing. We know exactly where he is. He ran away to Thyslao. We received intel from someone in the Lost World District.” Minjun turned to Taehyung and spoke calmly. “Did he tell you anything about running away when he was here yesterday?”

Taehyung shook his head. “No, not at all. He just complained about having to get married.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

Minjun placed a hand onto the king’s shoulder. “I’ve already sent a few men off to bring him back. You can rest easy. We’ll have him back in time for the wedding. Unless you’re going to cancel?”

The king shook his head. “No. The wedding is still happening. He has to get married.”

“Right then.” Minjun bowed apologetically to Taehyung. “Sorry for the intrusion. Highness, let’s get you back to the castle.”

Minjun led the king out and Taehyung watched as they disappeared. He turned his attention to the door laying on the floor with a burn mark in the middle of it from the king's lightning and groaned. “They’re definitely related,” he muttered.

“Taehyung,” he heard Jinyoung’s voice pop up in his head, “are you alright?”

“Fantastic,” he said sarcastically as he picked the door off of the floor and carefully put it back into place.

“I met Mark,” said Jinyoung. “He’s exactly how you described him as.”

“Is he alright?”

“He was when he left, but I don’t know how much longer he will be. He’s tagging along with someone on a dangerous journey. Now that he’s got royal guards after him, it’s potentially life threatening for him.”

“Being raised in that castle all his life, anything is life threatening for him.” Taehyung sighed as he leaned against the wall. “Is there anything you can do for him?”

“You know there isn’t,” Jinyoung said.

“Who is this someone he’s going with? Can he trust them?”

“A girl, Choi Somin. He can trust her one hundred percent, but I fear there’s someone in her life that he can’t trust. I’m a bit worried though. She’s got phae after her.”

“Phae?! What? Mark can’t go up against phae and the royal guard! I have to help—”

“No, you won’t. Mark chose this journey himself. He has to learn.”

“But he could die!”

“And you can’t even leave the island. How do you expect to help him?”

Taehyung groaned and hit the wall lightly with his fist out of frustration. Part of the punishment for being banished from Heaven was to remain in the place where the angel disobeyed their orders. In Taehyung’s case, the girl he fell in love with lived and still lives on Trinsa Island. Just as Mark was stuck on Trinsa Island, Taehyung was stuck as well, but at least Mark could leave. Taehyung can never leave unless something were to happen to Jinyoung.

Jinyoung himself is never able to leave the Lost District. As chart keeper, you must remain to keep things in check within the district as well as keeping up with the judgments on people’s lives when their charts stop writing. Jinyoung was originally trapped within the Demon district before he became chart keeper. The person he was banished from Heaven for left him for someone else so he was forcefully removed from the Demon district and made apprentice for the precious chart keeper.

“Is there really nothing you can do for him?” Taehyung asked.

“All I can really do is send a message to the high warlock to inform the other district leaders about him.”

“Do it. I can’t have him dying.”

“Are you sure? They’ve all expressed their hatred for his father. They might want to kill him.”

“Please, just tell them. Make sure to include that he’s nothing like his dad. He might be Thyslao’s hope for recovering from all of his dad’s mistakes.”

Jinyoung sighed. “Fine. I’ll send out a message to him. But I can’t guarantee their cooperation.”