A groan echoed through the space as Minhyun sat up and held his head, looking around to see that he was sitting in a meadow that continued for miles and miles, continuing over rolling green hills. He looked a head of himself and saw one large tree that grew out and up towards the sun, it’s leaves were a beautiful golden color and it’s trunk was a goldish-brown, as the boy sat there staring at it he saw something pulsating in the tree and saw a liquid flowing through it since the tree was slightly transparent.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” asked a feminine voice suddenly.

Minhyun stood up, clenching his fists and spun around trying to find the possibly threat. He heard a girl giggle and looked back at the tree, where a golden haired and eyed girl stood before him. She smiled at him and floated up to a branch suddenly, sitting on it.

“Who are you?” asked the male, looking at the girl.

“I’m Eve, the soul of this, I am the first light user,” Said the girl, smiling widely, cutting Minhyun off as he opened his mouth to introduce himself, “You are Park Minhyun, the son of the fire user Park Sungmin and Kim Eunji. You are the last light user who remains, now that you’ve taken the grand superior’s, Kim Jong Sook, powers away…”

“I-I took them away?”

The girl nodded, smiling. “Don’t worry; it happens every time, when the grand superior is defeated, the challenger automatically gets their powers. The previous grand superior gets their kei gates closed for good…it’s one of those things that make us light users unique.”

Minhyun looked at the beautiful girl, or should he say spirit of the tree gliding slowly to the ground.

“Come here boy.”

Minhyun nodded and walked to the girl, who sat down and made him sit down in front of her, his legs crossed and his arms resting on his legs.

“As you can tell I am not in the physical world anymore…the tree is, however I’m not there…the tree’s spirit isn’t there anymore…Reason being, when you ran away all those years ago and your city was attacked, the minions attacked the temples…While the guardians and the other sages were able to defend their temple I was unable to because my sage had vanished years before and I was stuck there as a lonely tree which was then later caught on fire, but that is beside the point. The thing that matters is that you are here now and you are here to do a very painful process of opening the final three kei-gates that reside in your body.” Said Eve, “Minhyun, do you know where people’s kei-gates are located?”

Minhyun nodded.

“Where are they?”

“There is one in your stomach that opens with time, there is one in your neck that opens when you realize your responsibility and job in the world, then the other three are located along your spine, in your head, and in your heart.”

The girl smiled and nodded, “Do you know what open them all up in light users?”

“The one in your stomach opens up as you grow older, the one in your neck grows up when you notice responsibility, as for the other three they vary for each person…”

The girl nodded, smiling widely, “You really were taught well…but that is expected from the grand superior’s best old pupil. Anyway, unlocking your kei-gates will take a while…it’ll seem like three days here but it’ll honestly be weeks outside of here. Anyway, it’ll take a while since your kei-gates have built up quite big and thick. You’re going to feel a lot more pain in this world that you will in the physical word, ok?”

The boy nodded.

“It’ll be painful, but the pain will help you grow stronger,” Said the girl, Minhyun smiled at her, “The first key-gate we’ll be working on is the one in your spine, it might paralyze you for a while in here, but it will not in the physical world, ok?”

I nodded.

“Anyway, the kei-gate there opens up to weakness…” said the girl, “Admit to your weaknesses, things that you’ve been sad about…things you’re guilty about.”

The boy nodded and began to name things off, “Weaknesses…there are a lot of them…my cold attitude around others is my greatest weakness and my inability to trust others because of the past…” As the boy said that, his spine began to prickle from pain, he clenched his fists knowing that the gate had cracked open, “Things I’m sad about…my biological family’s deaths…my adoptive father’s death…letting Minhyuk down all the time…” He felt like something snapped in his back and clenched his teeth, closing his eyes tightly from pain, “Guilty? I feel guilty for tons of things...far too many things to list…”

“Name some my boy, I guarantee that once you name the things you feel guilty for, the kei-gate in your spine will open up, it’ll hurt like hell, but it’ll also be a big accomplishment for you…” muttered Eve, shifting beside the boy, his back as she made him lay back in the tall grass that acted as a bed to him.

“I’m guilty for lying to the eight I lead here…” he hissed out in pain and felt tears prick his eyes as the gate in his back shattered.

“Keep going…” muttered eve.

“I’m guilty for not being able to protect JeBim back in the meadow when I promised Myungsoo not to allow anything to happen to the him and his brother…” muttered Minhyun, suddenly arching his back in pain and not noticing the tears that fell from his eyes as his nerves fell numb. The only thing he could feel wasn’t pain but a burning sensation flowing around his stomach up to his neck. His guess was that he was feeling the Key flow.

“Sleep,” muttered Eve, caressing the boy’s forehead. The boy nodded and slipped into a slumber, or so he thinks he did, he wasn’t too sure.

 “Hyung, are you ok?” asked Minseok, worriedly looking at his twin, his own ankle was aching as he looked at how swollen his brother’s ankle was.

The boy nodded, “It’s probably just a sprain…”

“There is no way that is just a sprain, from the looks of it, it’s a fracture, but then again it could be from swelling, but then again this much swelling isn’t caused by a sprain alone…” muttered the old grand superior, setting the boy on the bed beside the bed Minhyun was in, he had the curtains drawn around the older male who was still very much unconscious. They all heard the pained pants coming from the covered bed and heard that the older was having issues breathing.

“Is he going to be okay?” asked JeBim, motioning his head towards Minhyun’s bed, which was hidden by the curtains.

“Why does he have to be so loud?” complained Minseok.

“He’s unconscious, Minnie, it’s not like he knows how loud he’s being…” muttered JeBim.

“Actually that whimpering and the pained gasps mean that another gate has been opened…from the sounds of it’s the one in his spine…which will hurt and keep him physically paralyzed for at most four weeks, well that’s what happened to me when I was eight…” muttered the man, continuing to examine JeBim’s injured ankle, “Minseok, go get a glass of water for me Minhyun is going to be awake for a short while and he’s going to be dying of pain…and thirst…”

“Do I have to?” whined the boy, pulling out an aegyo card, both JeBim and the old man who had been training them for the past week looked at him, the youngest pouted and left the room quickly to get a cup of water, knowing that if he didn’t he’d have to deal with not only the old man, but his older brother as well.

The man looked at JeBim, “Why do you care about what he does when it comes to Minhyun?”

JeBim stayed silent thinking about why exactly he cared about the older male, “He helped me three times…the first was with bullies…the second time was in the meadows…third was when he healed my wound…”

“Son, he’s done more than that…” muttered the man, “He’s been watching over you all far longer than you all realize, reason being your father has hired him to do so…”

“So he was doing all that to get paid?”

The man shook his head, “JeBim-sshi, he didn’t even get paid…”

“Then why did he watch over us?”

“He didn’t want to return here…” said the man, looking at JeBim after wrapping the younger’s foot up in a cast.

The boy pouted.

“Over time he started to develop the need to protect you all…He grew attached to you all even if he didn’t show it and even if you didn’t know him, you all hold a place in his heart that you don’t even know about.” muttered the man, smiling at the boy who looked at him in shock.

“How do you know all this?” asked JeBim, “How do I know you’re not just making this up to cover for him?”

“JeBim, ask Minhyuk about this, he’s the one who told me that information…” muttered the man, “However, you’re going to have to wait until Minhyuk comes back.”

They both heard a low pain filled moan, the man stood up after instructing JeBim not to get up. The younger watched as the older man pulled the curtains back, looking at the eighteen year old, his eyes were half-lidded and glazed over, the pain he felt was written all over his face. Suddenly the man sat down on the bed and began to move the eighteen-year-old earning a groan from the injured and exhausted male as the pain shot up his spine again.

The eighteen year old looked over his shoulder seeing that the man had lifted his shirt to examine the damage done. The man bit his lip, “You might be temporarily paralyzed for a bit when you’re fully awake again…”

The eighteen year old shook his head and croaked out, “I will not…I might not be able to move from pain, but other than that there is nothing wrong…I’m not going to temporarily paralyzed.”

The man sighed and looked at the blue racing down and up his back, “The gate burst pretty badly this time.”

The younger nodded, “Roll me onto my back again…please…”

The man did so and Minhyun looked at JeBim and down to his ankle, which had a cast on it, “Come over here.”

“JeBim, don’t…” hissed the man, “He’s going to try to heal your ankle….he doesn’t need any more injuries, ok?”

The younger nodded and stayed away.

The older of the two teens sighed and soon slipped into slumber yet again, without a drink. As soon as he was asleep, Minseok entered the room with Seungjun and both watched as the old man pulled the blanket up to the now sleeping peacefully eighteen year old’s chin.

“Two more weeks left of this…” muttered the man, “Then a week of recovery…” He looked at the two who just walked in and said, “You two are too late…we shouldn’t have even made you go get it…Minhyun didn’t need any water because he fell asleep again before you all got back.”

Minseok bowed his head, “I’m sorry sir…”

“Don’t worry about it, let’s resume training,” Minseok groaned, but Seungjun and JeBim followed him downstairs into the courtyard happily.

In the court yard the other four were sitting around, all covered in sweat and panting as they caught their breath after they finished all the drills the man had ordered them to do as he went to fix the injured JeBim. They all sat there, Min Jun and sat beside Youngwon silently, both boys had been talking to each other quietly but weren’t anymore. Min Jun had given Youngwon some pointers and Youngwon had asked for some advice about why he couldn’t put enough power behind some of his punches. On the other side of the court yard, Soohyun and Kris spoke to each other quietly.

“According to the old man, Daehyun should be coming back sometime later this week,” Said Soohyun, “It’s really weird without him around…I mean we were together the two nights we were here and then he had to leave and it just feels weird…”

“I know what you mean…” muttered Kris, “Daehyun is coming back earlier than Minhyuk, so be happy. Minhyuk isn’t predicted to come back until his brother wakes…they’re even saying that he might not come until after that…”

Soohyun looked at him in shock, “Wow…all of this is hard to believe isn’t it?”

The older male nodded, “It’s hard to believe…but it’s reality and our lives now…”

The younger nodded, “That it is…”

“The old man’s back…” muttered Soohyun, nudging Kris’s shoulder and standing up the older stood up and looked at Min Jun and Youngwon, seeing that both of them had fallen asleep on the patch of grass they were sitting on.

The old man looked at the two sweat drenched boys and then at the two sleeping ones, he smiled, “I guess it won’t hurt if I let you have the night off…After all I have to go keep an eye on Minhyun…”

The boys nodded and watched as the old man left them all alone.

“So, we’re free for the night…” muttered Kris, “What do you want to do? What should we do about the two laying over there?”

Soohyun looked at the sleeping duo on the ground, “Ah, let’s let them sleep…they seem to be enjoying each other’s presence.”

“Alright.” Muttered the others, Minseok looked at the others and then moved towards the building he just exited.

“Where are you going?” asked JeBim.

“I’m going to sleep…” muttered Minseok, “I’m too tired to do anything else…this training is just too hard…”

“But it’s making you stronger, isn’t it?” asked Seungjun, smiling at the magnae, the boy nodded and entered the building, “I’m going to go make sure he gets to the room safely…he seems to be half asleep…”

“What about you JeBim?” asked Kris, looking at the second youngest.

The younger man looked up, “I kind of want to sleep as well. I’m pretty tired.”

“Then we’ll come in and sleep as well, since there really isn’t anything to do here,” Said Soohyun and Kris, smiling at the younger male.

The boy smiled and said, “Alright…”

The three then entered the academy and moved to their rooms where they laid in bed and slipped into slumber, all three were worn out from the intensive training they were forced to go through.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.^^