Taemin stared at the Book in his hands, his eyebrows knitted together as he re-read the pages. Nothing new came to mind as he stared at the pages he read. Even when he looked between the words and the lines during the era of when the woman was pregnant with Lucifer’s child.

“The heck,” he gave up with a pout on his face as he closed the Book, failed to have found any more clues. She really did put her last words in that Book and it did not provide any more for him to found out the secrets of the two Kingdoms and their actions of how the Rule came to be—was it really just because their hatred for each other?

He recalled Joon’s memory, when he noted that the Rule came to be when an Angel killed a person whom he and the Goddess cared for deeply.

Piecing it together and reminiscing the picture of that girl—Taeyeon, so he now knew—who looked shockingly like him, he knew that she was the one whom they killed.

However, how? Who was she and why did they kill her?

Well, just that alone was not enough to help him, and he doubt he could ask Minho for help this time. This type of matter held secrets of him. Who knows what would happen if he knew?

He would probably think he did not trust him.

That is not true, Taemin thought to himself. I do trust him. If I did not, why would I love him in the first place?

The brunet smiled weakly to himself, his finger twisted the ring on his ring finger as he thought of the softhearted Demon who caressed his face every afterschool when they laid together in the courtyard, the angel sleeping in his lap and hugging closely whilst Minho sung to him softly.

For a deep voice, he has good vocals for singing. He smiled at the thought of requesting to sing him to sleep him – it has never sounded more alluring to his ears.

The angel shook his head, his cheeks flushed embarrassingly for himself, distracted by his love thoughts of Minho and his divine fondness. Whereas it is nice to contemplate about their overwhelming adoration for each other from time to time, he ought to be focusing onto his real topic.

Either way, just thinking about it would get nowhere. He has to do it for that to happen. So he has found about Joon’s past, and he yet have to get his friends to do rest, his targets aiming at Onew and Jonghyun for the timebeing.

Minho and Key are…another matter involved with himself and the Rule. He is also trying to figure out himself and the sealing of his powers, in spite of everything.

Sigh, he sighed in his mind, multitasking has never been hard before in my life!

If he completed what he listed above on time, then the only one left is…

Taemin looked out the window, scanning past the landscapes of houses and snow into the far distance, making out a dark, fuzzy piece of shadowness from the area. It was clearly too far for him to see the detailed features of the Castle.

He let out a sigh before looking at the brown fluff on his bed, smiling to see his pet Adam sleeping peacefully—as always. That poor dog just love to sleep around. Maybe he should ask Krystal to play with him sometimes, perhaps go out on an adventure occasionally. That would keep Krystal away from work and keep Adam busy.

Taemin averted his eyes towards the mirror and stared at his own reflection for a while. He examined his every features, his high-bridged nose and his lips that creased naturally, whenever he smiled, along with the way his eyes curved into crescents.

He can almost understand why every Angels would prefer to be around him.

Minho included.

Yet, the more he stared, the more his reflection seems to add minor changes to his appearance. The angel blinked wide at the change of his eye color, the light cerise shining in his irises. He looked away for a mere moment, rubbing his eyes before looking back at his reflection.

All he saw was his normal brown eye color.

“Bizarre,” he murmured to himself before shaking his head disbelief as he swung his legs over the bed. “Maybe I’d start advancing out of the castle for the time being…”

Taemin winced as he held his left shoulder, moving it up and down as he moved around his bedroom. “My shoulder hurt… Why is it hurting? Must have gotten a muscle cramp from leaning forward too much while reading the Book,” he assumed with a slight shrug.

He does not know that the black feathers are currently increasing its speed.

Taemin rubbed his arms as he first took step outside, standing out in front of the gates. He was dressed in thick, beige coat, with a warm beanie hat to top it off. After all, it is snowing, so might as well get warm.

Heck, even the guards at the gate are wearing thick coats. Probably everyone else who are outside will be wearing them as well.

The angel dug his hand into his pockets before looking at the small brown fluff who stood next to his leg with a smile. “Come on Adam! We’re going out on an adventure today!”

Adam barked happily, spinning around once before crouching playfully, his furry wings out in the open.

The brunet felt bad that he hardly played enough with Adam, and when he does, all he does is pet him while reading the Book or doing his schoolwork. Minho did not give him away as a present for this. The poor pup deserves more than that.

They passed through the gates (not without warnings from the guards and Taemin slyly saying that he would take care of himself) and entered the outside world.

He shivered as the cold roughly burst upon him, engulfing him with ice and snow all over as he managed to take a step into the ankle-deep snow. He would open his wings, but now that the wind has grew stronger, it would probably be too much for his wings to bear.

He glanced at Adam who seems perfectly fine and looked up at him with those shining brown orbs.

Sigh, he smiled softly as he tucked himself into his hat and scarf to contain as much body heat as possible. I wish I were you. You have such fluffy fur…

Taemin looked down from the view as he walked, growing further away from the kingdom and getting close to…well, nowhere. His eyes are fixated on the cave that had been bothering him for quite some time.

Perhaps…

He found him smirking as he looked at the puppy that looked back up at him, his head tilted as Adam stared at him curiously.

“Hey, Adam,” he spoke, his tone different from what he used earlier. The angel glanced at the cave in the distance before smiling. “Wanna race all the over there? Winner gets a big hug!”

Adam barked, as if he is happy with the bet. He gave him a playful growl as he crouched down, wings open with no problem in the snow.

Taemin envied him once again. He let out a sigh as he crouched down along with the pup, his eyes still on the blurry sight of the cave. Right next to it was the forest he had been to before. He looked at Adam with a grin.

“Game plan,” he said, “From here, we have to go through the forest and came out of the other end in order to reach the cave. There will be no cheating and we will play this race fairly. OK?”

Adam barked. Taemin began to wonder as he looked at his pet with a curious expression.

Sometimes, I wonder if you really understood everything I said…

The brunet shook his head and ran his fingers through his black hair, combing them back before getting back into position.

“On your mark,” he started, still in his position. Both of them stood still until the male signaled the next sign. “Get set,” said the angel, as he rose up slightly, his wings coming out fully in the snow, surprisingly warm from behind underneath his skin. It will not be long before the cold hits him hard. His eyes focused through the forest, his vision on the cave.

As he counted down, there was a glisten of red behind his brown irises as they shone with delight.

“Go!”

They were off, taking off with such power that the snow flew back as they were gone with a blur. This surprised the guards who watched from the distance, astonished by the sudden speed that they have gathered up from nowhere.

I suppose they could say that they envy their unknown speed.

Taemin squinted his eyes as he tried to see admist the falling snow. It was all white, white, white, until he felt him burst into a bush of leaves. He shook his head and looked around his blurry surroundings from the flying, knowing that he is in the forest.

He looked to his right and saw his pet, Adam from the distance. He was surprised to see that the pet had almost the exact same speed as him, despite his small appearance. The angel chuckled. I guess I should not judge people who are small now! Even the small animals have strength.

However, he did not create the race for fun. He created the race as a cover-up to get closer to the cave that had mocking him during the days of him staring out of his window. It was there for a reason, and the cave have a history of how they created it.

So why use a race as an excuse? It is better than having people find out that he is going there just for the mysteries. After all, the woman only came to him, out of all people, so this would mean that he would have solve the mysteries alone.

With the help of Jonghyun, of course, since he is also involved.

His wings shivered, causing the angel to drop down slightly but quickly regained his balance as he flapped his wings.

Suddenly, I regret this. Why did I make very good idea to start racing in the goddamn snow? Taemin thought with a groan, almost annoyed that he will probably freeze to death in the unbearably cold weather before he makes it to the cave. He looked again to check if Adam had caught up, but to his wonder, he was not there.

Taemin halted to a stop and looked around the forest, the scenery all green around, with tall trees sticking right up that, they almost looked like they could touch the sky. Currently, very little snow entered this mosh forest, but it will not be long before the green turns to white.

“Adam,” he meekly calls out, his eyes searching for the brown animal. The sound of his wings flapping echoed in his ears as he scanned around. “Adam?”

There was no reply. Taemin assumed that perhaps that it was a very big forest, but he should still be able to find him somehow, right?

Right?

An uneasy feeling clutched onto his heart as he resumed flying. Maybe I would find him waiting for me at the other end. He is probably faster than I am, right? It was a doubtful thought that he could not help but think. Maybe Adam did not know his way out of the forest as if he does.

It was weird, flying alone in the forest while pondering on these type of things. He should not be worrying too much about it and focus on getting to the cave. Who knows? Maybe Adam had already reached to the cave after all!

A small whisper caused him to a stop, making him look back once more with wide, brown eyes. His eyes scanned the forest once again, but strangely enough, there was nothing.

“Weird,” he thought to himself as he slowly picked up the pace as he hovered his way out of the forest.

Then it came again.

“Taemin.”

The young angel froze as a sudden chill ran down his spine.

“Taemin.”

The eerie voice sounded gentle and calm, yet hauntingly distorted.

“Hurry to the end. Don’t look back.”

The more she told him not to, the more he wanted to. He turned around.

“I said, don’t look back!”

Taemin screamed and flew away, letting his wings carrying him as fast as it could. It was horrifying, he would think, but his mind was in a cluttered state.

He saw a grostesque view of a woman, brown hair tangled in a mess and skin so unnaturally pale. While her hair was covering one side of her side, the other side show what should looked like a doll’s face. The only difference is that the eye was missing, leaving a big and gaping black hole in its wake.

The brunet could still hear her, his whispers strangely getting closer. He could have sworn that his heart would pop out of his chest from terror. He made a mistake of looking back once again, because the spirit was much closer than before.

She was in his face, right in front of him.

Taemin let out a scream and used his arms to protect himself as he lost his balance, driving straight into the branches of the trees. He managed to come out, covered in leaves before his wings gave in, slithering back into his skin. He collapsed headfirst into the snow, the cold engulfing his small body. His head rung like bells, and there was still no barking from Adam.

“Taemin.”

It is still here. The angel could not move, for he felt so numb for some odd reason. He tried to open his eyes, but his head pounded heavily, nausea overcoming him. He only saw a blurry vision of a silhouttee hovering above him.

“Don’t…” he whispered out, in fear of what would happen to him. “Don’t kill me, please…”

Would he die like this? By some unknown spirit that he does not know of? Why is that here? What purpose did it have?

Those were questions unanswered as he saw an outstretched hand reaching out towards him. He felt those ghastly fingers smoothing over his face, softly touching his eyelids. It felt… strange. They should be cold and ghostly, but instead they felt warm and human, almost motherlike. The fingers gently slithered down to his lips that was red in color. Taemin could have sworn he heard a chuckle from this woman.

The minute her hand covered his eyes, everything went black.

Yeah, okay, bye lols.