It’s dark. Unlike any dark hallways, this doesn’t have a light at the end. It’s only pure dark, no windows and doors and definitely zero visibility. I feel like walking blind.

I fumble my way through the hallway. If it’s a dream—which I’m sure is as I’m with Donghae the Wolf as far as I remember—then it won’t end until I reach the end. It’s a good thing there were walls to help me fumble my way.

“Oh.” I gasp when I feel an open passageway on my right. I was about to turn and walk that way when someone pulled me in, dragging me through my hand.

It’s still dark inside but I still blink as if I’m adjusting to a light. Soon enough the light turns on and I blink rapidly.

“Long time no see.”

My eyes adjust and quickly widens—in perplexity. I whisper, “G-GD.”

We’re standing in a room, maybe the size of a regular classroom with no windows and doors—and I realize this is really a dream. There’s no chance the passageway will disappear in an instant. GD snickers and takes a seat on the chair in front of his desk. “How are you?” He asks, his voice too cold and distant, as if we never met often. GD quickly opens a drawer from his desk and takes out a piece of paper. “And the others too. CR, Top, Seungri—who you saved magnificently—“ He laughs momentarily. “—YG and my father. I heard he’s alive. What a ing retard.”

“Stop.” I plead, sighing. “You’re not GD.”

“Saying that,” He turns at me. “Is just the same as me telling that you’re not Dara.”

GD shakes his head and turns back to the paper he’s holding. I can’t see what it is or what it contains. I’m too far away to see. He continues, “Like Superman who’s also Clark Kent, and Spiderman who’s Peter Parker. There can be two existing in one body. The other, Kwon Jiyong and the other, GD.”

Then he places the paper on the desk and starts writing. GD’s too focused that my curiosity brought me to him—or maybe that was my heart missing him. Even though I’m scared and broken. He’s writing on a piece of paper and the words are repeating. Kill everyone who gets in the way.

What way? I don’t know. But from the looks of it, he meant the way of the president. His eyes are dull and in fury, as if all it can do is kill. The whiteboard beside him were counting all the lives he killed. All of them are mundane.

Then he sharply turns his head at me.

“Dara.” He whispers under his breath harshly, as if me getting close is a curse. The love it once hold whenever he whisper my name now gone. I’m back to the old plain Dara. GD stands up from his seat and leans against the table, snickering at me. “You think you won? You think gaining the favor of the Minus and the Werewolves is enough? The Goblins have offered their help. Soon enough the wizards will too. And I’ll make sure when you come here in Opimae, I’ll be the one to welcome you.” He smirks. “With a nice, painful death.”

Then he walks towards me, his hand now raised with a sword—the sword we once laughed about for being dusty because it was unused. It’s still dusty but the image of my blood being with the dust scares me.

GD slices and I gasp. I’m back to Locum Defunctorum. I can feel sweat on my forehead and hands. CL turns her head at me and raises an eyebrow. “Why are you sweating a—“

 I cut her off with a hug—an immediate reaction after the horrible dream. CL pats my back, and I am glad she only consoles me, without asking what happened. I want to stay in her arms for the whole day, but Top coughs from in front of us as if the display of affection is enough.

“We’re now crossing the border of the goblins. And then travel all the way to the Magic side, or land. I don’t know what they call their land. Anyways, we take the train from there to Opimae. Since the goblins have traveled to Opimae already yesterday, it’s safe to cross the border.” Top informs me from the front of the carriage. It’s moving with the help of horses, which CL whispered the werewolves bargained for us. They are moving behind us in werewolf form, which is a cost-cutter according to the leader of the pack. “You’ve been sleeping for almost the whole day. I had to carry you inside.”

“Speaking of,” CL starts, turning her head towards me. “What were you doing with Donghae? And why is your cardigan wrapped around his arm?”

I recall the incident last night, and decided to keep it a secret. “He’s just cold.” I lied, shrugging.

“Then why it’s wrapped around his arm?” CL asks, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

I shrug. “Well, I wrapped it around him and his paws. Maybe when he changed back it got tangled up around his arm.”

“He told me he likes you.” CL says again, pressing me with her voice. “As a person.”

I scoff, as person is not the right adjective to describe Donghae. “I told him I don’t like him but he told me to let him be.”

“I don’t like how every leader of a group likes you.” She says, shaking her head. “I need to cover your face up with something. Like a sack, or maybe a plastic bag.”

I snort. “I’m not infidel.”

CL rolls her eyes. “The call of love doesn’t know anything about morals. Even if you don’t, the call of love might make you.”

“I told you I won’t. What’s the matter with you?”

“Well, I don’t trust the people liking you so please, can you just—you know—change your face?”

“I dreamt of GD last night.” Top suddenly says, cutting our banter off quickly. CL’s jaw tightens and she says, “Y-You too?”

Them too?!

Top shakes his head. “It’s not entirely pleasing.”

“What did he said?” CL asks, her voice in its lowest point. Top continues, “He’s not pleased meeting me. GD asked why I betrayed them by taking off my Esurient. He told me I was the reason why he became a true monster.”

“But I—“

“I know Dara. I did it because of you. But it’s not your fault that I took it off even though it’s against the rules. It’s mine.” Top chuckles. “And besides, if I was there fighting against you, I would definitely regret it my whole life.”

CL heavily sighs. “Well, he told me he knew I was his sister. The president told him.”

She pauses for a moment, her head brought down. “I told him I’m sorry for lying. He told me that I was the reason why he wants revenge—on us. Because I am one of the persons he can’t trust. Do you think the president played with his memories and twisted it for his own benefit?”

Top agrees. “Most likely.”

“Well, I—“ I pause to sigh. “He told me he’d kill me.”

“What the ?” CL exclaims, her tone more of anger than shock. “Why would he say that? I could’ve accept it if it was me. Why you?”

I shrug, melancholy. It’s not even defined in the level of sadness or crestfallen but pure melancholy. “Of course I’m hurt. Who wouldn’t? But his eyes were telling me he’s serious. He never told a reason. He’s just feeling pure hatred.”

I feel miserable. More than the misery Top feels. If only I knew that the love he once showed me will be gone in an instant, I should’ve told him I love him many times. I should have told him to keep his Esurient off at night. I should’ve done the things I now regret—but I didn’t and they stay as regrets.

The carriage suddenly stops midway, only a few feet from the border. Seunghoon peers from the driver’s side and says, “Um, there’s a hovercraft parked in front. We can’t move.”

Top heaves a sigh and gets out, to check the hovercraft. After a few minutes, he lifts the windows and orders, “Everyone get out. Now.”

We take turns in getting out and once we are all looking at the same hovercraft, Mino cracks, “So, do we fly over?”

“We get inside.” Top says, walking towards it. The hovercraft is about 300 to 350 feet wide, which can maybe hold up to 800 people all seated. There’s three small sticker logos near the tail but I can’t see them clearly.

Mino whispers, “I’m scared of the hovercraft but Hyung’s so nonchalant. Has he gone crazy?”

When Top’s not worried, we don’t also. But apparently, the idea of seeing a large hovercraft blocking your way made us—yes, including me—panic. Top’s not worried, which is why we’re worried. “Follow me.” He shouts when he feels we’re not following him. Seunghoon’s the first one to move his legs, and so we follow him from behind. The door of the hovercraft opens and Top steps inside. We follow him closely.

He walks as if he knows the interior very well. After a turn, we find ourselves in the heart of the hovercraft. “Oh, so you’re here.” Someone says coming from above, and we all look up.

YG flashes us a smile as he leans against the railings. “Well, hello there. It took us three days to repair this hovercraft. Hope you liked it all.”

Top briefly fills us in a hushed tone. “This hovercraft got destroyed when YG used it as the training ground for the final test on my year. GD destroyed it accidentally while trying to kill the programmed enemies.”

YG rolls his eyes and says, “Yeah, it took me five years to get this repaired. Happy now? Yah, Top, do you want to die?”

Suddenly, Chanhyuk appears with a woman following him from behind. She’s wearing emerald green off-shoulder gown, a black silky robe draped over her like a cape, and a simple tiara on her head. On her hands is a long wooden staff. Her long hair is blonde and her eyes as blue as the Arctic Ocean. She turns around and sees us. The woman flashes us a smile and I thought that for a moment, there’s no war going on. She’s the epitome of peace.

YG turns his head and Chanhyuk bows to leave. The former nods and says, “Esmeralda, it’s a pleasure.”

Esmeralda smiles. “Yes.” Her eyelashes flutter as she blinks. “I am here to give you my greetings and inform my alliance.”

YG turns towards us and says, “Top, go to the control room.”

Top nods and we follow him, but my head looks back again to Esmeralda, who winks at me.

Seungri greets us as soon as we enter, and he immediately hugs CL. The rest of us decide to leave them be and walk further inside. I stop in the center and look up at the wide screen showing Opimae Forrest. There is nothing happening above ground—chaotic, I mean. The ecosystem is in perfect harmony.

“What the ?”

I turn my head at Soohyun, who’s keeping his arm away from Chanhyuk. Donghae shakes his head and says, “Four eyes, listen to me. That guy won’t let you get his blood so I suggest you just tango out.”

Kim Soohyun glares at Donghae and hands his arm to Chanhyuk. “Get all my blood if you want.” He says while gritting his teeth and still glaring at Donghae. Lee Soohyun appears, holding a small box and asks for Donghae’s arm. He gives it without hesitation. Soon enough, the whole control room looks like a medical mission. Donghae tells Soohyun that he only brought a hundred from the pack and the remaining 2 million are on backup. Soohyun told Chanhyuk that only the three of them went and the other Minus are on standby too.

“Dara.”

I turn around and see Tablo standing beside me. He gives me a smile and I return it quickly. He points at one of the monitors and says, “Let me show you something.”

I nod and follow him to the monitor. We both sit on the swiveling chairs in front of it as Tablo types a code. It shows a camera overlooking a part of Opimae. Sitting on the ground is someone wearing a leather jacket, his bright fiery red hair standing out. He’s hugging his knees close to him.

Tablo zooms in and I gasp—immediately. The man looks up as if knowing where the camera is and I thought I was going to cry. GD snorts and turns into a smug position. Tablo shakes his head. “He can feel your presence.”

“W-What?” I ask, not taking my eyes off at GD, who kept on giving the camera smug looks.

“Chanhyuk and I have been watching him in that position since you went out for the mission. On times you’re successful, he gives us that smug look. On times you’re not, he stands up and looks p at the sky to curse.” Tablo shakes his head. “All I can say is, he’s programmed to kill you Dara. And the more successful you are, the more you get closer to him—the more he’s happy.”

“Why?” I breathe out, my voice shaking in fear.

Tablo heaves a sigh. “Esurients are programmed to make you kill the person you love the most. It makes you turn your love into hatred. Look at this,” Tablo closes the screen and opens a program. The screen flashes a beating heart. “This is the normal heart. When an Esurient is activated, it attaches to your body and long metal hands enters your blood circulation. Then it wraps around both your heart and mind, to control your memories and actions—either erase your memories completely or alter it—depending which will benefit the cause most. Without Seungri, well, we couldn’t have known.”

I close my eyes when the long metal hands attach themselves around the heart. Tablo continues, “The only way to save him is to kill the president.”

“I-I—“ I stutter. “I’m scared.”

“Me too.” He says, heaving a sigh. “My wife also had her Esurient activated.”

I look at Tablo immediately. He changes the screen to a camera overlooking a pregnant woman. She looks up and shows the camera her middle finger. Tablo shakes his head and says, “She’s not a Pax. If I knew they will activate her Esurient too, I should’ve saved her. But it happened in an instant.”

He closes the screen as if in pain and it returns to GD, who’s still looking at the camera proudly.

Tablo suddenly stands up from his seat and runs while sobbing—but only I get to hear it.

I was about to stand up when someone sits beside me, and I notice it to be Esmeralda. Her eyes and hair giver her too much away. “Hello.” She greets, smiling at me and my heart is at peace for a brief moment.

“I heard you were the reason for the war.” She starts. I immediately apologize, bowing my head continuously.

Esmeralda chuckles and says, “Would there be peace without war? I think no one will wish for peace if there is no war.”

“I-I think so.” I reply, biting my lower lip.

“I’m not going to participate. Neither are the other habitants of the magical world.” Esmeralda says. “But I wish for peace and I only give help to people who have the same goals as mine.”

She gives me two crystal bottles—one pink and the other green—and I accept it with both hands. Esmeralda then proceeds, “I know the reason of the war more than any other participating in it but I can’t tell YG himself. I want you to know it and tell them yourself. Drink the pink crystal bottle tonight before you go to sleep. And you’ll wake up when you arrive to Opimae. You need to arrive to Opimae to wake up.”

“But—“

“Before drinking the liquid, fill the green bottle with your blood. It will transform into a syringe when needed. Your heart needs to need it before it transforms. Only when you drink the pink bottle would you know the purpose, my dear.” Esmeralda says and reaches up to touch my cheek. Warmth spreads all throughout my face, and she looks at me straight in the eye. “Promise me child. Fight for peace. Fight for my ancestors.”

“Que—“

“I need to go.” She takes her black robe off and wraps it around my shoulder. “I will help in time. Magic is there in the times your heart needs it the most. Believe, my dear and I will be there.”

Esmeralda quickly stands up and runs away.

I fill the green crystal bottle with my blood and wrap it around my neck like a necklace. CL looks at me curiously but didn’t dare to ask. I’m wearing Esmeralda’s black robe, hoping it’d do me good. I open the pink crystal bottle and it smells like a cinnamon roll, freshly baked from the oven.

“You need to tell them to reach Opimae no matter what happens.” I tell CL. She crosses her arms and says, “Of course we’d go there. What’s with that strange bottle? Why does it smell like a stinky sock?”

I breathe out and say, “Bottoms up.”

Then I drink the liquid inside the crystal bottle.