Jae Ren finished unpacking, putting her grandmothers notebook and Seomins diary under the mattress of her bed.

She couldn’t open Seomins diary anymore. She felt sick whenever she tried to read it. Not emotionally, but physically. It was like it exuded an odorless poison. She tried to wear a mask once, but it didn’t work. She decided to just hide it and keep it safe, instead.

"Are you done?" Right on cue, Onew appeared by her door. "I need to show you how communication works here to the outside world."

"Is it that complicated?" Jae Ren asked. "Can... Can we call my other guardians?" Onew shook his head with a small smile. "It's not hard. And that's good. We can use that as example."

‘Even though the shadow realm was secretive and secluded, communication outside was possible’ Onew explained later.

Jae Ren went to the older hyung's room. Consisting of N and Leo. Ken was just there to get the things he accidentally put in N's bag. (Long story.) "Hey. Are you guys settled?" Ken was lying on bed while Leo was probably in the other room. N was staring out the window.

"We're fine. Are we calling Topp Dogg?" Ken asked, sitting up. Of course he'd hear. Jae Ren nodded. "We haven't told them yet..."

"But I think they already know this place." N said. "I mean, Topp Dogg has been to many places already. I wouldn't be surprised if they've been to other shadow realms."

"I want to talk to them!" Hyuk yelled. Jae Ren chuckled. Maybe she should get sound-proof walls?

"It's ready!" Onew yelled too.

Maybe I can learn a sound-proof spell in college... "Let's go, guys." Jae Ren said. She was sure everyone heard her anyway.

"You need to type in the number or any form of contact here. The Television is touch screen anyway. Phones aren't famous here because the television is more widely used. Video chatting is more convenient." Onew explained. "It's connecting." Onew said as the television showed a loading sign. "May I ask where they are?"

"We don't know either." Ravi shrugged. "Last time though, they were in Japan..."

Onew nodded. Just then the screen showed Kidoh, Seogoong, Sangdo, Nakta and a soaking wet Jenissi, warmingthemselves over a crackling fire.

"Where are you?" Jae Ren narrowed her eyes at them, noting how there were only 5. "And, we tried to call you yesterday. Why didn't you answer?"

"Hi Jae! Hi VIXX! And hello…?" Kidoh's eyes settled on Onew who was standing behind the couch. "Long time no see, Jinki-ssi." The enthusiasm faded from his face and was replaced by a guarded and blank expression.

They know him? Jae Ren asked herself. "Hey. Answer my question." She was curious why their background looked like some sort of tropical forest. And since it was night time there too, that meant that they were probably not that far. Or not at the other side of the planet, at least.

Nakta sighed. "We're in The Hundred Islands." He answered. "In the Philippines.  And we couldn't answer your calls because we ran into trouble."

Jae Ren's eyes widened. "Trouble?" There were only 5 of them. Breathing in deep, she carefully asked, "Where are the others...?"

"You're scaring her." Seogoong elbowed Nakta. "It's nothing big. We just settled here on one of the islands. We didn't know there were... inhabitants. But we can handle it!" He quickly added.

"What did you run in to?" N asked. Though judging from the water surrounding the islands there, he had a clue.

"Sirens." Sangdo said. "While we were swimming, Jenissi hyung accidentally broke one of their caves.” He said while giving the man in question a pointed look.

"Jenissi!" Jae Ren scolded. “How do you even break a cave?!”

"I didn't mean to!" Jenissi defended, raising his hands in defeat. "And it's not my fault their queen fell in love with Xero and B-Joo!"

"WHAT?!" Jae Ren's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Kidoh chuckled. "Relax. We can handle it. The others are down there right now in the water cave below this island. They're negotiating with the queen. And you can see how relaxed we are. So there's nothing to worry about." He explained. That did make Jae Ren relax a little. "So... Can you tell us why the great Warlock Lee Jinki is in your living room? Wait-that isn't your living room..." He squinted his eyes at the screen. "Where are you?"

"Long time no see." Onew greeted with a wave. "You've probably guessed by now that Jae Ren and VIXX are in Shadow Realm Sanctuary."

"That explains a lot." Seogoong nodded. "What district?"

"Forest District. You've been here before?" Hongbin asked. They nodded. None of VIXX were surprised, but Jae Ren was. She was giving Onew an accusing look for not telling her. But he replied with an innocent shrug.

"Seomin ordered us to go there once. We were only 20 years old that time." Nakta remembered. "So it's a little hazy... But we ran into Onew there."

"But I hadn't known they were Seomins guardians at the time and regarded them as passerby's." Onew explained. "How are you and your brothers doing?"

"8 underwater, 5 cooking dinner."

"That's not funny." Jae Ren huffed at the grinning Nakta.

Just then, they heard the sound of water splashing.

"Jae Ren! VIXX!" A very wet Xero greeted with wide eyes and a charming smile. "How are you doing? Is that...?" His eyes flickered to Onew. “Huh… I should’ve expected that.”

"Yes." Jae Ren nodded. "And don't try to hide this from me! Where's B-Joo?!"

Xero lightly chuckled. "He's fine. We gave up negotiating. They could handle it so I just went back up here. I didn't want to smell like fish." Despite their situation, he looked happy and relaxed. He even looked more care-free compared to back when he rivalled with Leo's stoicness.

"What a wild bunch you are." Onew chuckled. "Sirens don't naturally look for long-term relationships. I'm sure they just wanted to mate with y-"

"We don't need to know that." Jae Ren stopped Onew mid-sentence. She didn't want the old Warlock to taint their probably innocent minds. "I'm glad you're okay. Feel free to visit us any time here, okay? Do you know a way in?"

Sangdo nodded. "There are passage ways to that shadow realm all over the world. We can manage."

"But do inform me first. I do not want to alarm the council here." Onew smiled at Topp Dogg.

"Jae Ren. When you're there, be careful." Xero said.

"Why?" Hyuk asked. "I thought this place was sanctuary?"

Xero shook his head. "We were bad guys, remember? And we got in. Easily." He added. "Be cautious and don't trust just anyone you meet. Though I'm sure you can trust Onew and his brothers. You should still try to be alert."

A loud bubbly screech was heard and the Topp Dogg members looked at something behind the phone.

"What was that?" Jae Ren's eyes were wide with nervousness and fear for the 6 members. Especially for the other 7 members who were still nowhere to be seen.

"Nothing! Gotta go!" Kidoh held the phone nearer to him, cutting the other members off from vision. He started to walk backwards, still cutting their vision. "Bye! Take care! We'll tell the others you said hi!"

The call went dead.

"I'm sure they're fine." N patted Jae Ren's head. "Don't worry too much. They have Xero with them."

"Topp Dogg is a strong pack of beasts." Onew added. "They're known throughout this realm."

"Really? How?" Jae Ren blinked at the Warlock.

"You see, there's this magazine sent to every occupied house every week. It's called Sanctum monthly. It features Warlocks, Witches, Guardians, and other creatures in this realm. About a month ago, Topp Dogg was featured there. It must've been hard for the editors to get live footage of them, since they are a secretive bunch. But one of them caught a video of three members fighting a steel wyrm. I believe they were Seogoong, P-Goon and Hojoon. Up until now, no one knew their real numbers. It was actually thought was 12 because Xero was never caught in any of the footage." Onew explained.

"What do you mean 'up until now'?" Ravi suspiciously asked.

Onew coughed and looked away. "... They're going to be featured next month..."

"They're kilometers of sea away, how the heck would someone get even a blink of them?" Ken furrowed his eyebrows. "And how come they're so famous?"

"Oh. You're famous too." Onew chuckled. "You were featured just two months ago. And besides, there are many ways of travel for our kind. The newest is teleportation."

"We were featured?" Hongbin's eyes widened. "How?"

Onew took out a magazine from under his coat.

"Why would you keep a magazine under your coat...?" Hyuk gave him a weird look, but took the magazine anyway.

"Page 28." Onew said.

Jae Ren flipped the pages and there VIXX were.

"It's magic, as you can see. Since it's playing a video of VIXX going to school with you." Onew elaborated. "It's common magic. Used even outside this realm."

"I didn't even feel them..." Ravi whispered. They were laughing at something and teasing Jae Ren in the clip.

"They are called Shadow Spirits." Onew said. "It is a magic that allows the user to send their shadow as a watcher or informant. It's easy and can be done by anyone. But it's basically useless because the shadow can only dwell on dark places and why would you need an informant or watcher anyway?" He shrugged.

"But it was morning. How did the shadow even get close to us?" N asked. From the angle the footage was taken, the shadow was on the opposite side of the sun. Which meant there were no shadows for it to hide under on.

"The caster specialized in Shadow Magic. You should meet him. He's a brother of mine." Onew proudly grinned. "Lee Minho. Shadow Warlock."

This world is far bigger than I thought... I haven't even heard of someone specializing in Shadow magic... Jae Ren thought.

"I'm going to my balcony." Jae Ren said. "I didn't get to go there earlier."

"Okay then. We'll make dinner." N smally smiled at her, understanding she wanted to be alone.

Onew stood up. "I'll go talk to her for a while."

N shook his head. "Shouldn't you leave her alone for some time? I mean-" He turned around, but Onew was no longer there.

"Don't worry. I didn't feel him too." Ravi chuckled. "Just let him. He understands her most, right now. I guess."

N merely sighed.

Jae Ren sat on the lawn chair on her balcony. The stars looked unnatural and the constellations were different.

I'm really in a different place, aren't I? She sighed.

She missed her old life already. Things, for her, were much simpler. Even for someone like her, she experienced the dreaded home-sickness.

"It's hard to cope, isn't it?" Onew had been watching her the whole time. She blinked. "I know it might be hard to adjust, because there were so many things you didn't know, correct? I have felt it too. During my time, when humans ruled this world, it was frightening to even talk about magic. They will torch you and kill you." Onew sighed. "I have never felt more alone, then. Because I still haven't met my brothers." He explained. "The New Age only started a few hundred years ago. Which meant that before that, it was either hide or get experimented on by humans."

"I didn't know that..." Junri whispered.

"There are a lot of things you still don't know, child," Onew wistfully smiled at her. "During the New Age, humans had practically erased that in almost all history books. Just as a small action for an apology. No one held a grudge, though. It was sort of even because a lot of creatures killed humans too." He chuckled without a hint of humour. "And they also killed creatures like the mermaids and others." He frowned. "The first brother I met was Key. I met him during the 1880's, I think. Still the Joseon Dynasty. But I was already supposed to be in my 70's, so I had fled to smaller villages, escaping from the big cities."

"How do Warlocks meet their brothers?" Jae Ren curiously asked. She had never heard of ‘Brotherhoods’ before. In fact, she had never even thought of meeting male versions of her kind. She believed in the stereotypes about her kind from books, which was really stupid of her admittedly,

Onew looked up at the stars. "You find them. Even though we have magic inside our DNA, we are still bound by the theory the humans had. Fate. There are a lot of things we don't know, but in my own opinion, that is the only theory that has come close to explaining everything." He held his hand up and played with the air, twirling a small gust on his fingers. "It's beautiful, don't you think?"

"The wind?"

"No, child." Onew shook his head with a chuckle, letting the mini tornado he made dissolve. "Life. It is balanced. Sequenced in a way no one will understand. But yes. I do think the wind is beautiful too."

Jae Ren nodded. "I guess so..." She was trying not to ask how he did that. She could never do something outside her own magic… Maybe he willed the gravity to create shafts of wind in the air…?

"You are very lucky, you know that?" Onew glanced at her, seeing her confused look. "You had companions at a very young age. I understand what happened to your parents," Jae Ren flinched. "Because my parents died protecting me, too. But being alone for 60 years, thinking I was an abnormality, drove me to the very edge of my sanity."

He looked lonely, still.

"It's a good thing your brothers were there to save you then."

His face brightened up at her comment. "Indeed." He checked his watch and stood up immediately. "I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot join your evening meal. I have to go and do some business at the west. Tomorrow, you can freely roam around." He said. "Have a good evening."

"You too." Jae Ren smiled, and he nodded before leaving.

She thought about what Onew had said, and she smiled. I really should stop acting like I'm alone... It is a bit eccentric.

She brought her hand up into the air, just like Onew, but nothing happened.

How’d he do that?

Note: I will not mention who's having the italicized thoughts.