Iola shivered, fearful anxiety constricting her chest. Everything was too confusing, jumbled all over her mind in a big puzzle.

Glasnant looked her up and down. “Are you cold? Forgive me; I forgot that most people are not accustomed to Teima’s coldness.”

Iola realized with a jolt that she was indeed, cold. The air here seemed lower in temperature and her breath came out in slight wisp of white air.

A dark, heavy fur coat was draped on her shoulder and she looked up to see the Teima’s ruler hovering above her, coatless. She flinched and shrugged the clothing off.

“W-who are you? Why am I here?”

The man frowned, before picking the coat she had shrugged off and put it around her again, pressing down on her shoulders firmly to keep the coat in place. “You should wear this, it’s colder here than where you were before.’

“W-what? Where…where am I?”

Glasnant opened his mouth to answer but a harsh cough from the side turn his attention away and Iola followed his line of sight to the four men she hadn’t noticed before. The three men she was already familiar with; they were the one who kidnapped her here, after all. But the fourth one kneeling by the small lake was someone she’d never seen before, panting hard as if he’d run a long way. When he looked up Iola saw that he had a skinny built, with a rather gaunt cheeks and sharp chin. The most shocking thing about him would be his hair, though; his left scalp was shaved neatly close to the skin while long, luxurious looking red-orange hair flowed freely by the top of his head down to his right shoulder.

Glasnant’s eyebrows scrunched in worry seeing the other man’s condition and he quickly strode over, kneeling beside him. “Are you alright, Vadim?”

The man called Vadim nodded weakly before coughing hard again, blood trickling from one of his nose. Glasnant frowned even more and laid a hand on Vadim’s shoulder.

“You need a healer. Go to your chamber, your work here is done.”

The one called Vadim tried to protest but one glare from Glasnant quieted him. The ruler’s expression turned gentle then and rather remorseful as he helped Vadim to his feet. “I am sorry I asked you to do this, my friend; I know how exhausting this must be for you.”

Vadim only smiled tiredly and bowed. “Anything to help you, my lord.”

Glasnant nodded, before turning to the other three men. “Alik, take Vadim to his chamber and bring a healer to check on him.” He looked Alik up and down, shaking his head slowly at the numerous cuts and bruises littering the other man’s body. “And make sure the healer also check you too.”

Alik, the boy-faced man with many piercings shook his head. “We do not need a healer, my lord. At least, I do not.”

Glasnant glared and his underlings flinched slightly. “You will not argue my words, Alik. And what have I said before about calling me that, when it’s only us?”

Alik bowed. “Yes, my lord.” He quickly corrected his words when the taller man continued to glare. “I mean….Glasnant.”

Glasnant nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “Good then. Now go, both of you. I will take the Chosen Soul myself.”

The ruler waited until the two men had stumbled away from them before turning around. Iola drew back when those piercing eyes turned her way. “W-what do you want from me?”

Glasnant took a step forward, frowning when she immediately flinched back. “That will come soon enough. For now, I think it’s better that we continue this somewhere you’ll be more comfortable.”

Iola stepped back with each step forward the man took. “N-no…stay away from me!”

The man frowned some more, before turning to the tattooed man. “Itzal?”

The latter nodded and thin, shadow ropes shot out from underneath him to quickly bounded Iola’s feet and hands. She yelped, quickly losing her balance before Glasnant deftly caught her and carried her in his arms. He hauled her up as if she weighed nothing, pulling her close to his chest as his arms found secure grip around her back and bended knees.

“W-what the…? Hey, let me go!”

Glasnant cringed at her loud voice. “No. This way it’s easier for everyone. And don’t be so loud, or I’ll ask Itzal to bind your mouth also.”

Iola opened , before wisely closing them again. Glasnant nodded with a small smirk at her obedience as he began to walk away from the lake. They edged around the cave until they reached a set of stone steps carved into the wall.

“Can you untie me now? I promise I’ll be quiet.”

Glasnant tightened his grip on her as he climbed up the steps. “No. This cave is dark and slippery and you do not know your way around here; I’d prefer to not have you stumbled around and hurt yourself.”

Iola kept quiet, knowing it would be futile to protest and took a look at her surroundings as they continued to climb up the steps to emerge in a dark and dank stone basement. The room was small and had several tunnels coming out of it, with only a few torches lighting the way. The gloomy atmosphere made her shiver; the whole place reminded her of prison cells she’d seen on movies.

Yet Glasnant kept walking, taking the slightly bigger tunnel on the right side and continue on until they reached another spiral stone staircase at the end of it. Another trip up and she gasped at the sight that welcomed her when they emerged.

It was another stone cavern, but as large and majestic as a cathedral that Iola had trouble processing what she saw. Every side of the walls was stairways and balustrades carved on the stone itself, filled with people, reaching higher and higher until at the very top.

The ceiling was so high that she couldn’t quite see where it ends, though she’d estimated that the height was probably around a twenty stories high building. Even though the vast space was enclosed there were countless burning torches bolted on the wall, giving enough light to brighten up the whole place.

Iola looked around her with widened eyes, realizing in amazement that she was in a city built ingeniously inside a stone mountain.

Glasnant continued to walk on, ignoring people’s stares and bows as he passed them by, climbing up many more staircases until Iola lost count of how many they took. The cold wind didn’t abate here and more than once she was grateful to have the thick fur coat around her.

Finally after reaching almost the very top of the cavern did Glasnant turned down a hallway, going deep inside the side of the mountain before stopping in front of a wooden door, which the blonde man who had been following them silently opened up.

Walking inside he put her gently on the bed in the middle of the room, making sure she was comfortable before he nodded and immediately the ropes that bound her disappeared. Iola scrubbed her wrists even though there was no cut there; the knots haven’t been tied deeply enough to cut her skin.

She took a look at her surroundings. The room was large and airy with comfortable necessities, though it wasn’t richly decorated. “What is this?”

“This will be your room during your stay here.”

Iola quickly whirled back at Glasnant. “What? My...my room? I…I thought that-“

He raised an eyebrow in question and she mumbled rather sheepishly. “I thought that I’m your prisoner, and that...”

She didn’t finish her words but it was enough for Glasnant. “That I would put you in the dungeon, is that what you think?” The blue-haired man scoffed derisively. “I do not know what those Zolorian Guardians tell you, but I do not put women in my dungeons.”

He began to walk to the door, before turning back. “But you are still put on watch. Zeev here,” he waved a hand and Iola noted the platinum blonde man she hadn’t noticed before. “He will watch over you, so please don’t do anything foolish.”

Glasnant bowed slightly before leaving, the door shut firm behind him. Iola stared back at the empty space the tall man just evacuated for a few seconds, before quickly jumping out of the bed. She scanned the area, perking up when she saw the huge windows at the other side of the room, covered with heavy wooden blinds. She quickly opened them up, only to screamed in terror and almost stumbled from her hurry to stepped back inside the room.

Cautious with her heart still in , she took a hesitant step towards the window again, peeking her head over it and immediately felt dizzy at the height that welcomed her. It was an almost vertical drop down a sheer stone cliff, the surface slick and smooth all the way down to hundreds of meters to the ground.

Just beneath the cliff’s shadow, in a low valley in front of it was a town. She could see houses with smokes rising lazily from its chimneys, almost like a toy city because of the height and distance from where she was now.

“You couldn’t get out that way.”

The soft voice startled her and she quickly turned around to see Zeev, standing still just besides the door. The blonde man regarded her curiously before nodding.

“You are in Greystone Fort. This whole fort was built on the inside of the mountain cliff, and you are in one of the highest room there is. You can’t escape from the window.”

Iola balled her hands into fists until her palms hurt, anger flaring inside her. “What do you guys want from me? You kidnapped me from my friends, you locked me up in this place, so what are you going to do to me now?”

Zeev was silent, before turning back to the door. Just when Iola thought the man wouldn’t speak he paused, hand hovering on the doorknob.

“That would be Lord Glasnant’s place to answer. For now, I suggest you take a rest.”

Iola fumed at the closed door, screaming in frustration. She ransacked the room, searching for another way out but quickly discovered that Zeev was right. The only door of the room was the one Zeev just exited from that lead to the hallway outside and she was sure that the blonde man will be standing guard outside and she didn’t want to risk escaping by him. The man might be short and seemingly calmer than the others, but his build was stocky with bulging muscles and Iola was sure he would have no qualms in using it to prevent her escape. Escaping from the windows was also not an option, not if she doesn’t want to fall to her death.

She was trapped in this place with no way of escape.

Feeling a sudden exhaustion from the grim realization, she threw herself on the bed. Closing her eyes, the memories of her friends engulfed in flames came back unbidden and she shuddered in fear.

“I hope you are alright,” she whispered, a tear finally trailing down her cheek.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yixing looked on with barely concealed worry as Joonmyun shuddered with effort, trying to keep the water stream from his palms steady. It was fortunate that at the nick of time, the leader saw through the Teiman’s plan and quickly pulled Minseok, both of them forming a thick wall of ice that engulfed the Guardians in a dome that protected them from the glaistigs’ flames.

It wouldn’t be long before his energy would run out though; besides Joonmyun Minseok also trembled and Yixing knew the latter was almost as depleted as the former.

“Guys!” he bellowed. “You better think of another plan, I don’t think Minseok and I can hold it for much longer!”

Kyungsoo stomped his feet hard and immediately a wall of earth rose up, strengthening the dome of ice that covered them.

“We need to get out here, fast!” Wufan yelled.

Tao stepped forward, his eyes hard and determined. “Leave it to me.” He nodded to the three Guardians that kept their dome up. “When I said so, drop the dome section by section and I’ll freeze the time around the glaistigs. Then Luhan, Jongdae, help me get rid of them.”

Luhan’s mouth pressed into a thin, grim line, the complete opposite of the cheerful man he usually was. “My pleasure.”

The others quickly got into position. Tao take a quick glance around before nodding. “NOW!”

Joonmyun, Minseok and Kyungsoo lowered their arms and the dome opened. Tao immediately spun around and shot at each of the glaistigs, holding them motionless in the air. Luhan threw the beasts on the right of him with his telekinetic, as they hurled through the air. Lightning strikes at the rest of the glaistigs as Jongdae threw the spark from his palms. Tao continued to keep his time freeze, before Luhan took over and flung the beasts somewhere else.

Yixing quickly ran, eyes darting everywhere even though he knew it was futile. “Iola! Iola!!”

A puff of black smoke appeared beside him and Jongin stepped out, face scrunched in worry. “She’s not here. I’ve teleported to a few kilometers around here but there’s no sign of her.”

“Seven hells!” Yixing cursed loudly, earning the surprised looks from his brothers who rarely, if ever, saw him cursing. “We have to get her back, now!”

Before anyone can answer Sehun suddenly fell on his knees with a soft groan, the hilt of Alik’s dagger still protruded from his shoulder.

“Sehun!” Baekhyun quickly ran to the younger man, lowering him gently on the ground.

Sehun tried to get up even as his face grimaced in pain. “I’m alright. We need to search for Iola right away.”

Yixing quickly strode over, examining the younger man’s injury. “It isn’t too deep. I can fix you, but someone needs to pull the dagger out.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sehun protested. “We need to leave now.”

Yixing took a look around. Joonmyun, Minseok and Kyungsoo were pale and had staggered to their knees, panting hard. Wufan and Tao had bloodied cuts all over them, and he knew his other brothers were also injured in some way or another.

“No. I need to heal all of you first before we can even begin to search for Iola.”

“But Yixing-"

“No buts, Sehun!” Yixing gritted his teeth as he began to heal the latter’s wound. “No one wants to go after Iola more than I do, but it won’t make any use if we couldn’t rescue her at the end.”

Sehun kept quiet; either because he reluctantly agreed with him or because his wound hurt, Yixing wasn’t sure. It took several minutes for him to heal his younger brother and he quickly made a round to the other Guardians.

Wufan grunted as Yixing heal his broken bones. “Seven hells, that hurts!”

Joonmyun plopped down beside the blonde Guardian once Yixing stood up to heal the rest, though he kept his ears on the conversation between them.

“Did you see that black void, the one that appeared just before the glaistigs tried to burn us up?”

“It’s a dimension portal, isn’t it?” Jongdae quipped from where he sat. “I didn’t know there’s anyone in Teima who had the ability to conjure that.”

“I’ve heard talk that their current High Priest is actually quite gifted magically.” Minseok supplied with a thoughtful frown.

“Whoever conjured it, one thing is sure.” Tao’s face was hard. “They took Iola, and we are going to take her back.”

The other Guardians nodded their agreement. “If that is the dimension portal,” Sehun mused. “That means they must’ve taken her back to Teima. The question now is how do we get there? Their land is far; it could take us weeks before we even reached their borders.”

“Perhaps I could, you know, teleported us there?” Jongin suggested unsurely, to which Kyungsoo quickly objected.

“No, Jongin. You know that you can not teleport all twelve of us together; it’ll deplete your energy too much a