The huge cat almost flew through the forest, the trees flying by at a high speed. Ryeowook wasn’t sure the cat’s paws actually hit the forest ground under them, so little noise did it make. The rider he was with, Tao, seemed competent in steering the animal as he soon caught up with the other three riders and took his place in the elliptic formation. The rough looking male that had approached Ryeowook was in front while Tao and Ryeowook were in the back. Ryeowook tried to keep his heart from beating out of his chest as they rode deeper into the forest. He didn’t know who these men were or where they were leading him, but he was scared out of his mind, his thoughts running from different ritual sacrifices to cannibalism. Never the less he clung to Tao in an attempt to stay seated on the large animal; he had no interest in falling off when the cat ran as fast as it did. He tried to focus on something else, anything to keep his fear from throwing him into a panic attack. He soon noticed how the riders and the animals seemed to move in a unit. Not only did each rider and each cat seem to be completely in sync, but all four riders and their animals seemed to move as one, as if they followed wordless orders on where and how to move. He wondered how they did it; not even King Rubion’s personal life guards were that much in sync with each other and Ryeowook knew those men had practiced together since they could walk.

The trees seemed to be thinning out until the group suddenly broke through the line and the cats began the descent into a small valley. There were still lonely trees standing tall all the way down the hill. Ryeowook could see a river cutting across the valley, running beside a mansion-like house that seemed to be the centre of the small village they had come to. The big cats slowed down, allowing him to be able to register more of his surroundings. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes; there were little cottages here and there, built from the trees of the forest. A few people were wandering around, one herding a group of black and orange birds that Ryeowook had never seen the likes of before. If he hadn’t been so scared of what would happen to him when they reached their destination, he would have felt the curiosity build inside him; what was this place? Who were these people?

The riders came to a halt when they reached the courtyard of the mansion Ryeowook had seen earlier, the other three quickly jumping off their steeds. The leader began walking inside whereas the other two came to help Ryeowook and Tao down before taking a hold on each of Ryeowook’s arms and leading him after the leader. He was led through a door and down a wide hallway with dark wooden double doors at the end. The leader turned around by the doors to see if Ryeowook and the other riders had kept up, before he opened the doors and entered the huge room behind them. The room was light and the high ceiling gave a feeling of even more space. At the other end of the room on a raised podium stood three large wooden chairs with intricate cuttings that formed swirling designs all over the chairs. Ryeowook thought they seemed familiar, but he didn’t have time to examine them closer before his attention was drawn to the left side of the room. All along the sides of the room were plants and flowers, beautifully taken care of. A male stood by a fragile looking orchid, his hands held over the plant, just like Ryeowook did whenever he practiced his magic, but instead of the plant growing faster, little droplets of water seemed to drip from the male’s hands and into the soil of the plant. He blinked once, not knowing if his fantasy was playing a trick on him or if he had actually just seen someone else perform magic.

“Teukie-ah, you shouldn’t be up in your condition!” the leader scolded, hurrying to the male’s side, apparently forgetting all about Ryeowook and the other riders. The male turned and sent the leader of the group a bright smile. Suddenly Ryeowook could see the tell tale bump on the male’s stomach that indicated that he was pregnant. The leader of the group had now placed his hands on his hips and was scowling at the beautiful male who just giggled at him.

“Both Lay and Xiumin say it’s okay that I am up and about, love,” the male replied fondly, stepping closer to the bulky man in front of him and placing a kiss on his cheek. Ryeowook guessed that the leader was the other father of the baby the male was carrying. He felt some of his fear diminish and his curiosity taking over; the leader had said he needed to see ‘Leeteuk’ and if this gentle looking male was said man, which his pet name indicated, he felt somewhat less afraid.

“Xiumin is your best friend, he would tell you anything just to keep you happy,” the bulky man huffed, but none the less Ryeowook noted that some of the tension seemed to seep out of his shoulders at the mention of those two names.

“You,” the smaller man, ‘Teukie’, tapped the leader’s nose, “are a worry wart. Now, who is this?” he asked, casting a glance over the man’s shoulder to inspect Ryeowook. The bigger man turned and looked at Ryeowook as well and then back at the smaller male.

“Leeteuk-ah, I need you to summon Kris and Hyukjae and I really need you to sit down for this,” the man instructed with a frown. Leeteuk wrinkled his brows in confusion for a second and then closed his eyes.

“They’ll be here in a minute. What is this, Kangin-ah?” he asked, voice filled with worry. Instead of answering him, the leader, Kangin Ryeowook thought, began manoeuvring the pregnant male to the three chairs on the podium and helping him to sit down in the middle one. When he sat down and Kangin stepped aside Ryeowook suddenly got a very strong feeling that it wasn’t Kangin who was the leader here, it was Leeteuk. He didn’t have much time to think about this, though, as a door to the right of the podium with the three chairs opened to reveal three males.

“What’s the matter, hyung? Is it the baby?” a skinny man with blue hair asked worriedly. He hurried to Leeteuk’s chair, standing to the left, while a very tall male with brown hair hurried to his right. The last male followed the blue haired and stood by his side. They all looked at the male in the chair with concern written in their every feature.

“No no, the baby is fine. Kangin asked me to summon you. I don’t know what’s going on, but I expect he will be telling us soon now that you are here,” Leeteuk answered and looked at Kangin with a cocked eyebrow for answers. The blue haired and the tall man both turned and faced Kangin with worry in their eyes while the black haired one took a few steps back, leaving the three men at the centre of the podium with the three c