"Why is everyone staring at me?" Jae Ren hid behind N.

"Leo dueled with the coach.” Ravi informed.

"YOU WHAT?!" Jae Ren gaped at Leo and immediately examined him "Broken Bones? Bruises? Or are you a ghost?!" She paced around him and paled, "Oh my god. Are you an entity of some sort?"

"He won." Ken blankly said.

Jae Ren's eyes widened at Leo, who just looked down shyly. "Really?! I'm so proud of you!" She patted his arm, causing the other VIXX members to stare jealously for her praise.

"Wait-why did you duel in the first place?" She let go and gave Leo a look.

"Because he was just wearing a poker face." N said. *I should've done the same too... but then again... Leo is the most physically capable among us.* He pouted.

“And his prize was to skip a P.E period.” Hyuk added with a pout.

"What?!" Jae Ren laughed. "I still can’t believe you beat the coach-"

"Okay everyone! Find a partner! We'll be doing partner excercises, including jogging through the Schools Enchanted forest!" The coach hollered, with his bandaged nose. He seems to have heard Jae Ren about to make fun of him because he gave her a look before turning around.

"Can you be my partner Jae Ren?" Hyuk tugged on her hand.

"No. She's my partner~" Ravi stuck his tongue out and pulled Jae Ren to him.

"Jae Ren is my partner!" Hongbin pulled Jae Ren to him and hugged her possessively, making some fangirls growl.

"Nu uh. She's my partner." N sternly said and was about to grab her when Leo beat him to it and started pulling her away quietly.

"No. You guys are partnering with each other." Jae Ren said as she wriggled away from Leo’s tight grasp. "Bye~" She walked off and disappeared into the crowd.

"What?! Nooooooo." Hyuk whined.

"You can partner with me, hyung." Gongchan smiled sweetly at Jinyoung.

"Nope. He's partnering with me."

Jinyoung's eyes widened and he turned around eagerly. "Jae? I thought you'd be partnering with one of VIXX." He pouted.

"Of course not. We're always partners at everything, remember, FRIEND?" Jae Ren poked his side with a small smile.

Jinyoung warmly smiled back and nodded.

"You ditch me for anyone." Gongchan huffed at Jinyoung and turned to Jae Ren with a big smile. "Hi Jae Ren sshi~ Dont be afraid to ditch him for me!" He winked, making Jinyoung push him away.

"Go to CNU hyung." Jinyoung said, not taking his eyes of Jae Ren.

"Psh. See?" Gongchan said to Jae Ren. "He's bossy." And walked away to CNU.

Jae Ren was biting back her smile as Jinyoung scrutinized her.

"What?" She innocently asked.

"I'm not bossy." Jinyoung pouted 

"I never said you were." She grinned. "But I never said you weren't either." "What is that supposed to mean-"

"Everyone! Line up with your partners!" The coach blew his whistle to catch everyone’s attention. "Once I open the gates, the portal to the Forest will open. Now, there were slight changes, but I'm sure you'll cope."

"Slight changes?" Jae Ren furrowed her eyebrows when Jinyoung squeezed her hand.

"Scared?" He smirked.

"As if." She snorted. *But still... VIXX hasn't even gone there once.*

"On your marks," The Lycan coach yelled and the students lined up into rows, "Get set, GO!" He pressed a remote that opened one of the Gymnasiums walls, showing a cluster of trees that looked like a wall, but any creature that had super sight could see the small water-like ripples on it.

And with a blink of an eye, the Vampires  already zoomed past, and soon the Were creatures turned to their forms and followed, the winged creatures stretched before taking off, and the non-athletic human borns just jogged with normal speed, while the other creatures who were faster than them zoomed past too.

Jinyoung already turned to his form, with Jae Ren getting on his back, and zoomed past too.

They were actually the only different species partners there. Everyone else hung on to their own kind or went by themselves.

They already went past through the portal and Jinyoung started to run to wherever Jae Ren pointed.

The changes mentioned were spotted already.

There were fresh water lakes now-probably enchanted to make them clean-and there were more portals. And the portals seemed to rotate, so you can’t go to the same place twice.

Back then, the portals stayed put and showed you where it led, now, it just reflected back, holding the mystery of where it leads. And there seemed to be more places too. The first area Jinyoung and Jae Ren entered had trees that were thin, and the next had vines around thick trees, and the third...

The two seemed to be having fun, while VIXX...

"Where the heck are we?"

"I think we're in a different area now. The 8th, I think." Hongbin informed Ravi. "Maybe we should've split up. We're the only group of 6 here." Ken suggested. "No. We might get lost, and you guys bring trouble with you everywhere." N commented.

Their pairings ended with N being with Leo, Ken with Ravi, and Hongbin with Hyuk.

"Yeah, and N hyung has the best fighter with him so I don’t want to separate." Hyuk said and clung to Leo's arm, making the latter uncomfortable with unnecessary skin ship. He doesn't mind when it comes to Jae Ren though.

"Jae Ren should've explained first before she went to her boyfriend." Ravi frowned.

"He's not her boyfriend!" N, Leo, Ken, Hongbin and Hyuk chorused together, making Ravi jump.

"Okay. Okay. Geez. It was a joke I learned from earlier." Ravi backed away.

"Anyway, don't you guys feel weird?" Ken asked.

"What do you mean?" Hyuk furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, it's just been a few minutes and we're already getting tired." Ken said, and that's how the others noticed they were losing energy too.

"Now that you mention it..." N sat down at the foot of a tree, resting between two large roots. "We used to be able to run for 10 hours straight without breaking a sweat."

"And we haven't ran into the other creatures..." Hongbin noticed. "I can't smell them either."

"That's odd..." Ravi furrowed his eyebrows. "I can’t sense other creatures from a 3 mile radius... every area is just as big as half a mile. It's impossible NOT to sense at least one other creature..."

"There were more than a hundred students in that gymnasium when we left." Hyuk said. "And I can’t sense anyone either."

"Something's wrong..." Ravi widened his eyes. Panic surged through him. "We have to find Jae Ren."

The rest nodded and followed N's lead, who was heading towards another portal.

*Be safe...* N prayed.