We ran for our lives. It was the only thing we could do. We ran and ran and ran. We didn’t stop until we saw the grey building in the distance. I heaved a sigh of relief. It still stood.

We skidded to a stop in front of the metal gates and stared at the crowd of students standing in a circle in the courtyard. We pushed through frozen bodies of students to force our way to the front. I had to see this.

I reached the front of the circle and I glanced around, my eyes locking on a dark figure in a black cloak. The figure turned around and met eyes with me. A cruel smirk lit his features and suddenly he was in front of me. I was dragged out into the middle of the circle. My eyes widened as I stared into the dark eyes of the figure.

“Eun Mi!” The alarmed shouts of my mates, my brother, Infinite, B.A.P, and So Hee reached my ears but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

“Noona! Don’t look into his eyes!” But I can’t look away…

“Look away now!” I can’t.

“Noona!” Who is that?

“NOONA!” I felt my body land on the hard ground and I groaned, holding my head dazedly. I glanced to my right and I saw the figure on the ground with smoke rising from his chest. I snapped my head to the front. Min Ki stood in a tense position, his hands glowing a bright blue and his eyes a cyan hue.

I scrambled to my feet and noticed that everyone in the circle had dazed looks in their eyes. As if they were hypnotized. My eyes widened. Hypnotized…

“Eun Mi!” My mates crashed into the circle and rushed to me. I felt movement in the corner of my eye and snapped my head to the figure moving on the ground. Dark green energy radiated from his palm and it was directed at EXO.

“Watch out!” I screamed and dashed for the figure. However, I was too late as the figure released the energy at my confused mates. No… I thought in panic as I watched in horror as the dark green energy was getting closer and closer to them.

But suddenly the dark green energy dispersed as it hit a translucent barrier. Min Ki. Min Ki stood in front of EXO with his arms held out holding on to the barrier. The barrier flickered and it disappeared as Min Ki retracted his arms.

“Aron hyung, don’t do this. It’s not you.” Min Ki usually soft and gentle voice was hard and firm as he directed his words to the cloaked figure. The black hood fell off and revealed a handsome young man with a wicked smirk on his face. His eyes were a dark green, the same ones that tried to hypnotize me.

“It’s not me?” He spoke hoarsely as he cocked his head to the side.

“It’s not you, hyung.” Min Ki affirmed.

“And how the hell would you know, Ren?” Aron spat. Min Ki flinched yet he took a brave step forward.

“Because I’ve known you ever since forever. This isn’t you. You wouldn’t do this. The real Aron hyung wouldn’t do this. It’s the machine in you talking and doing all of this.” Min Ki continued.

Aron let out a bitter laugh. “I’ve warned you, didn’t I? If you didn’t do your job, I will take over. And it looks like you’ve let yourself stray from your original purpose, Ren.” His eyes traveled to me. “It’s time for me to step in.” He smirked and Min Ki’s eyes widened.

“No, you don’t have to do this.” Min Ki shook his head desperately. “Do what?” Aron teased cockily.

“Don’t destroy the school. You’ve destroyed one. Don’t destroy another.” Min Ki pleaded.

Aron raised an amused eyebrow at Min Ki. “Don’t destroy another?” He chuckled emotionlessly. “Destroy another? Who said I was going to destroy another?” Min Ki furrowed his eyebrows at him.

“I’ll give you a day. One day to figure out what you need.” He laughed when he noticed all of our confused looks. “I’ll give you a hint. Twelve guardians have been found and have been awakened a long time ago. The last guardian is among you and I know who it is. The last guardian has not been awakened yet but soon the last guardian will awaken. My goal…” He grinned menacingly.

“To kill the last guardian by destroying everything it loves.”

After Aron’s hint, he disappeared like the wind and everyone who was hypnotized snapped out of their state. Everyone was as confused as heck. I solely believed that the answer laid in the mysterious writings on the wall.

“That’s what I feel too.” Seems like I wasn’t the only one. Jong In agreed as well. Most of my mates and my friends were making sure everyone was alright. Infinite left to report this news to their boss and gather more evidence.

So Hee sat down next to me. “You alright?” Her eyes searched my skin for any sign of a wound and I nodded. “I’m fine.”

“I agree as well. Those writings aren’t normal. It’s like a prophecy or something.” So Hee mused.

“Do you think we could find some students who could read their own ancient script?” I turned to So Hee and she nodded deep in thought.

“That was what I was thinking but reading ancient script is meant for royals and first born children. How are we going to find one of each from each race in our limited amount of time?”

I paused. She’s right. Even with so many students, the chances of having one royal and first born child from each race were quite rare.

“Well, first of all, we know that Min Ji’s dad can read ancient script. Didn’t you take some pictures of the script before? We could ask Min Ji or Yong Guk hyung to show it to them.” Jong In suggested. That’s right, the photos! I thought in realization.

“Right, I’ll do that right now.”

“Wait, wouldn’t the library have some student records? We can find them that way.” So Hee suggested and we agreed altogether.

“Great, we can all do that.” So Hee and Jong In left quickly to do their jobs when Ren sat down next to me with a concerned expression.

“Noona…” I turned to him with a smile. “Yeah, Min Ki?”

He glanced at me surprised. “You’re…not mad at me?” He whispered in bewilderment. I chuckled incredulously. “Why would I be mad at you?” He averted his gaze shamefully. “Because I know the person who destroyed your old school.”

I laug