-Baekhyun’s POV-

‘Baekhyun-ssi?’

I shook my head, trying to think straight. I’ve been hearing things since early that morning, mostly the voice of a woman, but I do not know who was trying to talk to me. I didn’t recognize the voice at all although it seemed familiar. It was like someone was near me, though I couldn’t see the person, whispering things to me. I just ignored it anyway since I had to think straight. Shinhye was still missing. D.O. was back. It was a good thing that he arrived safely and of course, when he heard the news, he was distraught. Though we’ve all insisted for him to stay behind, he insisted on coming with us to scour the whole of Pyria to get to her, his reason being the fact that he’s one of her protectors, too. No one can argue with logic like that.

We were walking through the woods where Kai had teleported us, too. We were headed southward. Kai insisted that he felt her life force stronger around there when he was scouring area. I was wondering why he didn’t just follow it when it was stronger. Now he seemed lost, walking and standing around the place, trying to feel it. I couldn’t either, but I was sure we were close.

“I know this place. This is the exact spot! Why can’t I…I can’t…” He shook his head in frustration. “I can’t feel her anymore.” He looked at us then, his gaze lingering at Sehun and Chan Yeol. “Do you think –”

“NO!” Sehun growled and fog started to form around our feet. He looked at Chan Yeol then. “You heard her, didn’t you? Nothing’s over until she says so.” He glared at all of us then turned away, walking far ahead.

“Sehun, please stay close!” Suho hyung hollered.

“I’m not going to wander off!” he answered without looking back.

‘Light Noble!’ that voice said again.

I turned around, but I didn’t see anyone. Where could that voice be possibly coming from? It was as if it was around me, transferring from one place to the other as if to mock me. I stood stock still, listening to it again while the others followed Sehun forward.

“Who’s there?” I asked.

‘Finally!’ the voice said, annoyed and relieved at the first time.

I looked around me. “W-where are you?”

“Baekhyun hyung!” D.O. hollered. “Hurry!”

“Coming,” I murmured then paid attention to the voice. “I asked you a question.”

‘You’re looking for someone.’

What? “How did you –”

‘You don’t have to speak aloud to answer me, you know.’  The voice laughed. ‘How are you?’

‘Who are you?’ I answered with my thoughts, walking towards the others.

‘I’m your friend and trust me.’

‘How can you ask me to trust you when you introduce yourself that way?’

“What are you scowling for?” Kai asked me.

“Nothing,” I muttered. ‘Well?’

‘I’m Shinhye’s…friend.’

I stopped dead on my tracks. "Sh-shinhye?” I blinked slowly and noticed that everyone faced me.

“What did you say?” Chan Yeol asked me.

‘You’re really talkative, aren’t you?’ the voice said then giggled again.

‘Jinhae…are you her?’

‘Guilty as charged,’ she answered.

I laughed like a happy fool. “Really?” I chuckled. “I mean, I’ve only heard about you in her stories. Where are you?”

“Yah!” That would be Kai. “Who are you talking to?”

“Wait. Shut up,” I said to him. ‘It’s nice to meet you, by the way.’

‘Shin-Shin is missing, right?’

‘Yes. Do you know where she is?’

‘Yes, but…’

‘But what?’

‘Why the hell are you moving just now? She’s in a lot of trouble. The purists are torturing her trying to get to you. I can’t even communicate with her anymore.’

“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “We all are. We just didn’t know where to start looking for her…”

They all exchanged glances. “Baekhyun-ah, are you okay?” hyung asked.

‘I understand that. Do you know where Hwajae is?’

“Hwajae?”

Chan Yeol arched a brow at me. “What about Hwajae?”

I looked at him then. ‘What is that?’

‘The Flame Noble should know. It’s a place in the south of Pyria.’

My breath caught. “Hwajae…”

“What?” Kai muttered, getting more and more impatient by the moment.

“That’s the island nation off the coast down south,” Chan Yeol explained. “I’ve been there once, but there’s nothing but ruins.”

“Is Shinhye there?” I asked Jinhae.

Suho hyung placed a shoulder on my arm. “Are you talking to someone about Shinhye?”

I nodded slowly. “Her friend…”

“Ji Hye?” Sehun asked.

“It’s Jinhae…”

They all exchanged looks.

“She’s in the human world. How can…” Suho hyung’s voice trailed off.

‘She talked to me to channel through your thoughts. She says she’s in Hwajae and they haven’t killed her…yet.’

“Shinhye’s alive? Are you certain?”

‘Affirmative. Now you have to move fast. They’ve been torturing her and she said something about being their ally. I don’t know. She’s very weak and talking gibberish, but can you get to her as fast as you can?’  She paused. ‘Of course you can. I won’t take no for an answer.’

“What did she say?” Sehun asked.

“She is alive, but they are torturing her. She’s in Hwajae.”

‘…with Hyo, the purist leader.’

“…with the leader of the purists.”

‘Please get her back as fast as you can,’ Jinhae pled.

‘We will. Thank you.’ I looked at the others, phasing as I did. “Let’s move.”

-Taemin’s POV-

The time has come.

The maiden would be brought up to the main palace for Hyo’s proposal. I chose not to speak as he said his plans to everyone in the main hall. He had been talking about since the previous night when I gave Shinhye the flask. He wanted to make her their ally, but he was to make sure that she will do it without creating any kind of trouble for anyone and especially not for him. He wanted to use her to kill the nobles since she was the only one powerful enough to do so.

I felt nervous. I knew she didn’t trust me after I rendered her unconscious and brought her back to her cell to go through all the things she had to under the mercy of Hyo. She was strong and powerful. I believed in her, but her actions always surprise me. She would be angry one time, silent and then she would talk about something rather unexpected. The previous night, when I visited her, she revealed another side of her which I wasn’t expecting. Her ways, her clothes as well as her manner of speaking were otherworldly. It was no wonder then.

“What do you plan to do now?” I asked my adopted brother who stood at his full height, staring out at the horizon before the labyrinth that was enchanted. Had Shinhye escaped, it wouldn’t have been easy for her. Hyo placed things in there that were beyond what the imagination could take. He was ruthless. Yes. That’s it. He was a heartless bastard that never took pity on the most helpless creatures in the world. He would never stop until he got what he wanted and it’s just too bad that he wanted the nobles and Shinhye…especially her. He was a power-hungry overlord to everyone around him and to anyone who didn’t know of his existence.

It was quite an amazing thing watching Shinhye bend him to her will. He gets utterly infuriated with her disobedience and recalcitrance, considering that she was a prisoner with her life on the line. She didn’t even quiver in the least bit when Hyo ordered the guards to hurt her or when he screams his lungs out at her. Nothing scared Ahn Shinhye. She was a rock in a raging river, unmoving and resistant. I wondered how the Lake Guardian raised her. I doubted it that the nobles trained her. It was unlikely. They wouldn’t have allowed her to fight. I was convinced that she was influenced greatly by what she had learned in the human world, very organized when it comes to her tactics and her words just hit where they should enough to send the bravest man cringing while staring at his broken pride before him.

I was wondering how she lived with the nobles. I’ve never met one of them, but I knew it was a lie when she said she didn’t think highly of them. I could see it in her eyes. She loves them and I knew that deep down, she was hoping for them to come and get her. She was homesick. I started to hate the fact that I was given the task to check on her from time to time. It was because she killed seven more guards, making them drop down on the floor once they were near enough. They’d all end up with blue lips and open eyes. If it was a plague she was casting on them then Hyo better watch his back. She was dangerous, but not if one is kind to her. What other reason is there for her reluctance to kill me? She wasn’t cold-blooded or wicked. She’s just angry…all the time.

“We will see what her decisions are,” he answered briefly.

“There are only two possibilities though. Which one corresponds for what?” I said, following his gaze.

“If she agrees and drinks the potion then I’ll spare her, but if she doesn’t, there will be no prophecy. I will slit at the first sign of resistance I get from her.”

I swallowed and pretended to smirk. “That’s good.”

“They’re bringing her up.” He turned away when he heard the clinking shackles being dragged across the room, a sound he seemed to find pleasure in while it was the sound that made me feel dread from the pits of my stomach. A lot of times, I’ve fought the urge to kill the ones handling her, pulling and dragging her around the floor like she was an animal. My utter abhorrence for Hyo became more pronounced especially when I saw him strike her across her face, making her double-over.

I turned to face the guards who were handling her. I in air through my clenched teeth as I looked at her. She was, opposite to when I caught her from falling off the roof, disheveled. Her hair was a mess while her arms and her clothes were soiled. Now, she was barefoot and her cheekbones protruded as well as her collarbones. Her bruises and lashes were still fresh. I could only imagine what kind of pain she was going through. I owed the nobles an apology for not being able to protect her from Hyo. We’d both die if I did. In a way, I was keeping her safe.

She glanced at me then looked down the floor, looking tired. She’d had a beating the previous night when she killed the seventh guard with her own hands. She neither spoke nor did she express any kind of expression. She just stared blankly at the floor, her green eyes lacking its natural glimmer.

“I’ve broken her,” Hyo murmured beside me then walked towards her. He crouched down in front of her lifted her chin up. “So you’ve finally learned your lesson.”

She looked down.

Hyo laughed evilly, his voice booming across the room and back. “What did I tell you?” He stood up and moved a chair towards her direction. “Offer our guest a seat, will you?”

They forced her to sit down on the chair in front of the table where the defusing potion was. I just hoped she drank the one I gave her. As if on cue, she nodded slightly and looked up at Hyo. “What do you want this time?” she asked in a hoarse voice. She was deprived of water for the rest of the day since last night.

Hyo took the brass pitcher and poured himself some water and drank leisurely in front of Shinhye. “Now you want to listen?”

She merely smirked. “You can’t get anything from me because I don’t know anything. That’s why I can’t speak. The nobles keep everything from me afraid that I might do something like what I did to your troop in the capital some months ago.” She shrugged, her usual self coming back. “Do you remember that?”

“Vividly,” Hyo murmured. “It’s monstrous!”

“That’s it.”

“You’re just saying that, but I have an offer to make you.”

She looked at me then. “I’ve heard. Your guards are a bunch of gossipmongers.” She became sullen then, looking beat again as she leaned on the chair, her head tilted backwards so that she was looking at the high arches of the ceiling. “I’m listening.”

Hyo sat on the table in front of her. “You have remarkable abilities,” he murmured.

“I already know that,” Shinhye said.

“I’d like to make use of them on your favor.”

“Like how? Kill the nobles?”

“That’s one, but together, we can be a great force.” He smiled at her. If one didn’t know better, they would have been deceived by its charm, but Shinhye and I knew better. “You can choose to be on my side and we can rule over Korinthia together.”

Shinhye chuckled. “First, I can’t kill the nobles until my abilities are fully realized. I’