Ruk was a ghost town, albeit a small one. The city limits were hardly a mile long, the rest of the district being farmland or open countryside. In town was only a train station, marketplace, bank, city hall, a quaint little library that could hardly hold 50 people at a time, two gas stations, and a barber shop. Just on the outskirts of town was an auto-body shop, and past there, only miles and miles of empty fields. If you looked hard enough, you could see the treeline blocking the shores of Dragonfire Ocean. And if you turn your attention Westward, you’d see the blue mountains.

It was hard for him to see his hometown so desolate. Gray dust swept over the farm-fields where bright yellow wheat used to grow. The warm sun was blotted out by dark, billowing clouds, and the treeline was bare. Luhan wondered if Sehun could remember how beautiful their home used to be, if he would be just as hurt by the vision as he was now.

The boys overlooked the horizon, a cool breeze tickling their faces, mussing their hair and catching in their hoods. Chen’s cloak was holey, practically useless by now. Suho peered down the main street, noticing the shattered windows the lined the curb. The train station looked the most ominous, and he had a sinking suspicion there was trouble waiting there. “Well, Sehun… this is your jurisdiction, now. Where to?”

Sehun had been prying at his memory as best he could between the questions that flooded his mind about Kris and his whereabouts. He hadn’t been particularly close to Kris, but maybe that was what had bothered him even more about his disappearing. Like he’d shirked his responsibilities. It was almost insulting. Though none of that mattered to the others in this moment. Sehun had been the only one who spoke with Jaejoong’s ghost. It was because of his warning that they even made their way out here.

He shook his head, still in thought. “I don’t think he said where. Just to come to Ruk, that was it. I guess… he thought we’d just stumble across whatever it was.”

“We’d just better hope it’s not near the shoreline. That could take us a few hours unless we’re lucky enough to find a working vehicle again,” Luhan added, walking through the streets aimlessly. He was distracted.

“Then I guess we’d better start looking around. Go in groups in case there’s Wraiths lurking around,” Suho instructed, he and Xiumin making their way in one direction, being as their Forces worked together fluidly.

Tao took Chen in another direction, D.O. and Kai their own way, Baekhyun and Lay in another with Sehun and Luhan naturally left to group together.

It was D.O. and Kai who made their way towards the train station, Suho looking over his shoulder as he watched them grow near. Tao also had his eye on the city hall building at the end of the road.

As the ten of them walked the streets, the sound of clicking glass could be heard as they stepped on the remains of shattered windows. The howling wind whipped against the buildings through the street. Each of the boys grew quiet, listening. Waiting for something dangerous. Waiting for an unwanted surprise. Waiting for disappointment.

D.O. made his way inside the train station first, hands already balled into fists in the event a Wraith was prowling around the corner. Waiting to swallow them up. Still and silent. Dust was even settled on the floors. “This place has been empty a while,” Kai mumbled, looking around the station from behind his hood. Though everything in Ruk was small, that station was actually quite large inside. There was even a few offices lining the near wall opposite the boarding station, a few ticket booths waiting at the other end. Staring them down, almost.

The two walked towards the ticket booths, peering through each of the office doors on the way. Kai grew more and more anxious, suspecting there was something waiting for them beyond one of the doors. Something savage, most likely.

First door, D.O. opened slowly and poked his head inside, hands still in fists. Nothing. Second door, nothing. He and Kai had tried to hush their breaths now, anticipation rising. It was that third door that left them tense. Expectant. Nearly unable to breathe. Had the Red Force really made them so paranoid?

And then a crash from somewhere else in town, Kai and D.O. turning their heads near the double doors of the train station entrance. Their hearts had nearly stopped, and as they began to make their way back to the main street, the third office door swung open at the force of a limp body plowing through. D.O. went first, Kai’s heart pounding as he saw the rot consuming the flesh. The Strength Force planted his feet in the ground, unaware that the limp body was rising to stand yet again. “What the !?” Kai shouted, fingers shaking. This couldn’t be what Chen and Sehun had been seeing, could it?

D.O. didn’t have time to turn his head before a chair was kicked his way, wild eyes wide and violent staring back at him. The chair slammed against his knee, but the adrenalin cancelled any pain it might have inflicted. Instead, he grabbed the back of the chair and tossed it to his side, staring hard at the sight before him. His face was angular, hair dark and messy. He was just a teenager, but what really struck him as odd was the handcuffs that held him to the desk bolted to the office floor.

In the main lobby, Kai found himself horrified at the rotting, living body that advanced towards him. He wanted to call out for D.O. to help, too frightened to snap his fingers in an attempt at escape. The tragedy from before still left him crippled as a Force, still too shaken to use it again. The only thing Kai could do was stare in horror at the gray flesh that hung from bones, the lower jaw that hung, dislocated. What was even worse were the chunks of meat missing; Wraiths had eaten this body before.

It wasn’t until he stepped on broken glass did he realize he’d be able to defend himself against the nightmare creature. Clasping it tightly in his right hand, heart now beating against his heaving chest, Kai charged after the zombie. He didn’t even know if the blood streaming through his hand was his own or leftover pooling from the creature in front of him, but he decided it was the latter. He ripped through it’s neck, adrenalin moving his arm like a shark-tooth saw. He hardly relaxed as its head toppled to the ground at his feet, waiting for it to stand yet again and charge. But it didn’t. It remained still. It remained dead.

Kai fell to his knees, “What in the hell was that?” His voice was more like a whistle, throat raw from heavy breathing.

D.O. still stared at the teenage boy before him, dark circles under his eyes and legs swinging erratically around him. Desperate to catch something to kick D.O.’s way, he assumed. “Who are you?”

“That’s a cloak from the Capitol, I’m not gonna in’ tell you !” the boy spat, growling and hissing beneath his breath. Looking even harder, D.O. could see how thin the boy was. How long had he been chained up in the train station?

Kai stumbled into the room, eyes now locked on the boy struggling at the floor. “Who in the hell…” his voice trailed off, removing the hood from his head.

The teenage boy hissed and growled even louder, struggling to pull himself up from the floor with cuffed hands. “Stay away from me, you motherers! Stay away from me!” There was a hatred there, burning ferociously. One that D.O. wondered if it might even be possible to douse out.

“Who put you in here?” He wanted to reason with him, though he still seemed violent and unpredictable. It was obvious he was starving and probably thirsty.

“ YOU!”

He sighed, Kai leaning closer to him to speak in his ear. “What should we do with him?” Honestly, D.O. didn’t know either.

“Turn around, I need in your bag.” He reached into the backpack slung around Kai’s shoulders, grabbing a water bottle that had been have filled. It should do more than enough to get the kid to calm down, he thought. “Here,” he began to unscrew the top, “I’ll give you some of this if you chill the out.”

The boy stopped for a second, glancing back and forth at the water bottle in D.O.’s hands, mouth agape.

“You’re thirsty, right? Don’t worry, I’ll feed it to you, given the circumstances. Just promise you won’t kick your legs around again. If you talk to me I’ll get you something to eat, too. I’m assuming you’ve been here a pretty long time, right?” Kai was actually surprised at how naturally D.O. seemed to be handling the situation. He was never good at comforting people, never had people skills at all. Though, he supposed, this type of situation is a little different.

Slowly, hesitantly, the boy began to nod. “Alright. Just give me the damn water, I’m dying.” The boy sat upright, wincing as the cuffs rubbed against the cuts they’d left against his wrists.

D.O. made his way towards the boy, holding the water bottle to his lips and helping him drink the water down. He let him drink until the water was completely gone. The skinny boy gasped for air, chest heaving as he used a shoulder to wipe the leftover liquid from the corners of his mouth.

“I’ve got a handful of merry berries in the bag. I’ll free one of your hands, because I’m not about to feed you. But only if you’ll actually talk to us,” D.O. stood again, feeling more authoritative with the difference in height. Kai kept his eyes on the young man, still wondering what it was that he’d just fought in the lobby. He’d never seen anything like it. Not even Wraiths looked that horrifying.

“Sure, I’ll tell you whatever,” the boy replied, eyes still glaring. Untrusting. He must have been pretty hungry, because Kai and D.O. both could tell the kid was probably a stubborn little in any other circumstance.

D.O. d around in Kai’s backpack again, pulling out a baggy full of merry berries before he returned to the boy’s side. “You could start will telling us your name. Name first,” he demanded, holding the food hostage only inches from the kid’s face.

He grimaced back. “Taeyong. Will you uncuff me now?”

Kai raised a brow, wishing he could be more useful. It was ridiculous how weak he felt without his left hand. D.O. did just as he promised, only freeing one of his hands, though before he left Taeyong’s hand go free, he gripped the boy’s wrist. Tightly. “No surprises or I’ll kick your .” He clenched his jaw at the end of his warning, looking directly back into Taeyong’s eyes as he held his grip tight over the boy’s tender wrist.

Taeyong winced, squirming beneath D.O.’s grip. “Alright, ! Let me go, !”

D.O. tossed the baggy in Taeyong’s lap, freeing his hand as he stood hardly a foot away from the kid. He and Kai watched as the skinny boy nearly inhaled the merry berries. It must have been the first food he’d seen in days.

“So,” Kai started, voice low, “what are you doing cuffed up in a train station in Ruk, Taeyong? Who put you here?”

His lips were already stained by the juices from the berries. Poking his tongue around his teeth, seeds from between his gums, he shot Kai a crooked smile, taking his time before answering. “Same ers that killed my dad.”

The Legends stopped, staring in confusion at the boy before them. And then Kai understood it. He knew exactly who he has. A Necromancer. The son of Jaejoong.

Author's Note: Another short chapter, though it's definitely much longer than last chapter. Got some crazy going on here! Next chapter, there'll be two MORE new characters! Please upvote or comment if you liked it! Please tell me what you think of the story so far!