My first real shock came when we arrived at the foot of the stairs after walking in silence for more than half an hour. Xiumin and Tao tried to warn us but it didn’t come soon enough.

                “Uhm, Mi Yeon…” I remember Tao saying with a note of hesitation and slight fear in his voice. “I think going down here is not a very good idea…”

                “Yeah?” I responded but it was too late because Luhan and I already went down the last step.

               The fact that the path is broader and flatter compared to the stairway we just passed through which looked like it’s about to squeeze the life out of the people who dared use it, was not the first thought that crossed my mind. It also isn't the fact that there are more balls of light floating around the area like some creepy Halloween decorations. No. It was the smoky figures, greyish yet also bluish. And the longer you look at them, you’ll realize they are people, and they are staring back at us as if telling us we don’t have the right to be here.

                I would have let out a short scream if the pain in my back already subsided. I was examining one a while ago when I realized I’ve been fighting a staring contest with it. I gripped Luhan’s arm harder at the discovery.

                There were a lot of this smoke figures, spirits if you could call them, on both sides of the pathway. And they were all staring at us like we’re pieces of meat they haven’t tasted for a hundred decades.

                We stood there, just watching them watch us. They were not attacking. That’s some sort of relief. Can ghosts even touch?

                “Should we continue?” Xiumin was the first one to speak.

                “Yes,” I answered though I’m kind of not as brave as when we first entered. Testing out things, I took one step forward. All of the eyes of those spirits suddenly turned to me, but they still didn’t move from where they are standing. “I don’t think they will kill us. At least, not yet.”

                “Yet," Sehun repeated my last word. "What a relieving thought."I didn’t try to let out a witty comment to shut him up because I was sure if I was in his place, I would answer that way, maybe even nastier. 

                “Let’s just stay close…” I suggested and continued walking amidst the hundred--no, thousand pairs of eyes boring onto every part of my body. Luhan didn't take a minute caught up to me. The others also followed, now stuck closely to each other and bumping shoulders once in a while.

                The path started to get brighter and  much warmer. From a distance, I could hear the drone of dripping water. Though those spirits were see through, I dare not look at all. I knew doing so would only give me this weird feeling in my stomach I usually get whenever I’m nervous.  Such pain wouldn't need to add to the burden I’m already feeling in my back. It doesn't even make sense to me why I'm feeling like this. The back pain seems altogether different and separate from the fact that I’m controlling their duires to not come out. Although the heaviness may truly be atrributed to that,  the pain seemed to imply something more...

                Could it be that I'm burning up like what D.O. insituated before as a possible side effect? 

                My breath is faltering the longer we walk.

                “Mi Yeon…” Luhan whispered so only I can hear. “I think we should rest…” He’s definitely implying that he knows my condition.

                “At this place?” I said, letting out a small smile. “No way.”

                “But…”

                “I’m fine…” I assured, holding his arm. “Let’s just keep going.”

                “What are these things…?” Chanyeol asked in a voice that is almost inaudible. “It’s like they come from different eras…”              

                Though I’d rather not, I found myself giving the spirits a small glimpse. I didn’t dare catch their faces once more because I would just get haunted by those sunk eyes, but just from looking at what they wore, I understood what Chanyeol meant. Some were wearing fine clothes, some, like they were soldiers from World War II. There were even ones who looked like they could have belonged to medieval royalties. There are also those whse clothes looked very foreign, to my eyes at least, but a lot are wearing warrior get-ups. I’d catch a sword once in a while tied on a body, even bows and arrows slung on their shoulders. And though it’s silent, I can hear faint whispers and murmurs like someone is scratching and making that background noise on a radio session. It makes me feel sick. I don’t even like horror movies.

                “Duireans…” Kyungsoo suddenly declared. “They are duireans of the old.”

                “Good or bad?” Kris asked, probably wanting some sort of consolation to hold on to.

                “We have no ways of knowing that,” Kyungsoo sighed. “I’d feel much better if we reach the end of this passageway.”

                My thoughts exactly.

                We continued walking until we saw a mass of bright light protruding at the end of the pathway. There was this tingling sensation in me and I knew then that the medallion lies beyond that blinding light. I started to sprint towards the direction. The spirits in the area begun to lessen, the ceiling getting higher, my burden getting heavier, but I still headed there because that’s what I’m supposed to do. I didn’t care about the floating balls of light flickering and dying out all so suddenly, nor the murmurs behind and scraping of metal and iron reaching a notch higher. I didn’t care that there were two spirits guarding the entrance who looked like they were Roman soldiers. I just want to get to the medallion and I’m pretty sure the others felt the same way.

                When we reached the place where the light is coming from, we were completely astounded. Right before us was a big hall, so huge that you could fit the whole of Seijira Academy. Massive ionic pillars lined up on either side to keep the ceiling from collapsing. The ground is no more than just brown rock, but of marble. Water cascaded beautifully in the right and left walls. I have no idea where it was coming from since we are underground. Strangely, the sound of it is muted. It just hits the ground directly and falls to the huge canal beneath it that’s lining the whole side of the wall. Meanwhile, to the opposite end of the hall was a huge statue of a dragon, fierce and scary-looking, its eyes glinting a deepest shade of blue like it's more than alive. There was, however, a hole in the middle of the statue. I could see that’s there’s something in it, not because I can see it from this far. That is just impossible. I just know it because something sparkled which completely captured my attention. It couldn't be anything else but the medallion. 

                I started to sprint forward again. I wanted to get there as soon as possible despite the numb feeling that is starting to spread through my back. For some reason, I started to feel like my bones are cracking. I was so focused on reaching the dragon figure that I barely noticed myself staggering. I felt so heavy. It all just came to me when I fell on the floor with a loud thud. 

                “Mi Yeon!” I heard Luhan’s voice calling from somewhere to my back.

                I bet the others tried to follow me but he only thing I heard after that unfortunate fall were cries of pain and loud banging sounds. I turned my head to look at them, wondering what on earth they were doing, when I realized they couldn’t come after me. They were barred from doing so, just like it was with Kai. Ripples showed here and there from where the impact came from. Another invisible gate, I assume, and only I was able to enter this time.

                I stood up though I was feeling really crappy as it is and tried to head back to them. Tao and Kris were pounding on the barrier while the others were trying to recover. I was about to pass through it but it was as solid as a rock. That’s it. I can’t go back. It was completely sealed. My eyebrows  furrowed at the discovery. I tried to knock my way through just as how the others were doing it, but the invisible seal still wouldn’t budge. The red light surrounding me grew more intense in desperation.

                “Welcome Seijira’s heir,” I heard a male voice said.

                I quickly turned around, only to see another spirit, clearer than the others, standing in front of the statue. He too was wearing a warrior’s suit. He was lean and tall with defined muscles in his arms. The look in his eyes was distant, like he would not recognize a friend or a foe. He looked so much like someone determined to protect the medallion from anyone and I know right there, that this is the spirit of Han Yoo Jin, the greatest duirean the school ever had.

                Facing him, I felt threatened. Even at this distance, I can feel his power.. Power that is ancient, as Kyungsoo said, power almost equal to what I felt when I entered Seijira’s lair. I could tell this was the power of the dragon, Amnyunae. Even in his death, he withholds it. So this is how it works then. His spirit remains here. He’s duty to protect the medallion cannot be hindered by a withered body. How loyal.

                “I know what you seek,” he said in that voice that seems to reverberate from every corner of the room. “What everyone seeks.”

                I waited for him to speak more or even approach me, but he didn’t do either of those things. I looked at my back, the others were still pounding on the barrier. They didn’t seem to hear what he just said but I could see that they too figured out who it is. So, then, I turned my head back to its original position and mustered my courage to respond.

                “The medallion,” I said in my normal speaking voice, eyeing the hole that is just being slightly hindered from full sight by his smoky figure. I figured out I didn’t have to shout for him to hear me. “I need it. Seijira needs it.”

                He remained silent then, just looking at me, like his peering through my soul. Still, I stood my ground. Something about him makes me think that I should be brave, even if it is only an act. My legs are feeling a bit jelly now, there’s a ringing in my head, and I don’t know where it is coming from. The red glow around me kept going