“Tell me where they are, right now.” It wasn’t a plead, it was a command.

Fei squirmed in pain. He coughed up a few globs of blue blood. His face was disheveled and finally showed the signs of his age. His bones jutted out of his skin. Only the little magic he had embedded in his body was sustaining his life. There seemed to be an invisible force making him suspend in the air.

“I know you told them about the weapon,” the dark one shrugged off the hood that covered his face. It fell down on the ground, and revealed a heavily scarred face, that seemed no older than fifty years old. “But it’s too late now. It is in my possession.” And with that, he slid out a ring from his cloak sleeve. A shot of monstrous green flame mixed with water, shaped as a dragon, charged for Fei. Fei summoned one last scream of agony, and then collapsed on the cold, rocky floor of the cave. The sound reverberated and seemed alive, dancing on the rocks. Eifhalkum, the nurse, gave a laughing shriek, and Fei’s body engulfed in flames. A white wisp of air arose from Fei’s body and contacted the ring. The ring glowed red, then reverted back to black.

“Now we just need to get rid of that old hag. Why don’t we summon her son?” A sound that was supposed to sound like a laugh erupted from the dark one’s mouth. It was a crackle, and the mountain seemed to shake with him. It was a horrible sound.

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It was in the middle of the last hour of resaptitude that Hyun Joong felt a weight lift off his head. It wasn’t part of the training, or he would have felt it before.

“Di… Why do I feel like a weight is lifted off my head? It’s like… some file is missing.”

“…Are you serious? This is worse than I thought,” Di’s face paled.

“What? He suddenly lost some IQ from resisting too long?” Jung Min laughed.

“Check who’s missing from your files. Check each one of us, your family, and Fei. I think one should be ripped,” Di started pacing back and forth, murmuring to herself. All training was forgotten.

Hyun Joong felt the urgency in Di’s voice. He quickly scanned his files. Everybody seemed to be there: Kyu Jong, Hyung Joon, Young Saeng, Jung Min, Sang Hee, Mi Cha, even Mi Kum, Di… Where was Fei?

“Fei!” He shouted, “Fei, Fei, Fei!!” Fei’s file was ripped and burnt, and hidden under a pile. He tried viewing his file, and a flashback of events showered over him. Meeting Fei for the first time, training with him, saving Young Saeng…

Before he knew it, Hyun Joong was down to tears. Kyu Jong, seeing Hyun Joong’s tears, started bawling. Hyung Joon as well. Young Saeng was silent, and Jung Min’s laughing grin disappeared.

“H-h-his f-file is rip-ped! B-b-burnt as w-well,” Hyun Joong said between sobs.

“Fei fell,” Di stated.

“I think I saw this before. If I knew it was him, I would have… rescued him. But I was too busy trying to save Jung Min…” Hyun Joong was blaming himself.

“Okay, we can’t stay here moping all day. Fei is gone, even though I hated, despised his guts, to lose him to the dark one just makes me FURIOUS! I wanted to see him off myself so I could laugh at his face. The dark one has guts, messing with me. We are increasing our training NOW. No rest until you are all perfect.” Di snapped her fingers and her hair flailed out in all directions. Her eyes were glowing blue.

Magma shot out from the floor again.

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“I wonder what the guys are up to,” Mi Kum sighed. After the initial amazement of the magics in Di’s house, it got boring. After all, there was no technology in this world of Di’s. They were sitting in the foyer of Di’s house, the centre of the tree. The stairs spiraled up throughout the trunk.

“It seems like you’re asking that more often. Who caught your eye?” Mi Cha asked. It wasn’t new, Mi Kum seemed to like a new boy every week.

“Well, that Jung Min seems pretty confident, and I like confidence. It makes them more hot.” Mi Kum smiled.

Stephie overheard her, and laughed, “That Jung Min, he’s shy as a fickle, and hot? Get your eyes checked.”

Sang Hee added in, “Yeah, Hyun Joong is hotter than Jung Min.”

“Kyu Jong isn’t bad looking neither.”

There was a knock on the door that interrupted their girlish patter.  “Oh, maybe they’re back!” Mi Kum ran to the door, and flung it wide open.

It was too late when Stephie pointed out that Di would have had keys. Or wouldn’t need to knock.

Mi Kum screamed. She was lifted up by her neck by a strong arm. It was burnt, and through the door frame, a charred head popped in. Hot boys were soon forgotten. Out in the woods, they could hear Di’s ritual screaming. The backdrop emphasized the horrifying scene unfolding. Mi Kum was flailing as she was struggling for air.

“Where is Di?” The man asked. There was no hint of warmth, or life in his voice. He looked around the same age as Hyun Joong and them. The remnants of his teeth were bared menacingly.

Stephie let out a gasp. “Cousin?”

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Well, sorry for the short chapter. I will probably update more frequently now that it's summer, so please stay tuned and comment!