The ghastly silhouette gradually grew larger, a dauntingly looming presence. I blinked rapidly and groaned as I attempted to shift away, but my body was fighting madly against my brain’s strict orders. My movements were torpid and futile, robotic as I wiggled awkwardly towards the other three, who were slowly flickering back into consciousness and noticing the impending doom. Yixing was healing himself and therefore regained control of his actions relatively quickly, shakily hopping to his feet and attending to each of us. He ran to me first, his hands shooting about in a panic as he tried to restore my abilities, the terrifying figure sluggishly moving closer and closer. Eventually, it felt as though the pain in my body had been out. I could wriggle my toes and fingers, and the joints in my body were no longer aching so horribly. As I expressed my gratefulness towards Yixing, we surged towards Luhan and Jongin. Though virtually paralysed, the two still had fully functioning mouths and were digging into one another as per usual.

Yixing fixed the younger of the two with utmost celerity, but something stopped him from proceeding on to Luhan. He froze, eyes widening considerably and mouth creakily dropping open. His pupils continued to waver, flicking back and forth, but his hands were stuck in the air and his body was entirely rigid. I tilted to prod at him, when I felt my own body ceased by some invisible force, like oversized fingers wrapping tightly around my chest, squashing my lungs. I opened my mouth, wanting to inhale air, but nothing came in.

My focus moved to linger on Jongin’s horrified facial expression. He was staring at the monstrosity behind us, chest heaving in fear and figure trembling crazily. He didn’t back way, didn’t retreat even as his face was darkened under the eerie shadow of the creature.

Suddenly, I was sent flying to the side, the hold on me finally released as I collided with a bed of jagged stones. Gasping, I clutched at my stomach. Everything inside me came pouring out, burning my throat with its acidity and ultimately making my sensitive eyes water, tears silently trickling down my flushed cheeks. The simple emptying of my stomach was excruciatingly painful, like someone was stabbing me repeatedly with a gigantic razor-edged blade. Spitting out the remnants swimming around my mouth, I desperately breathed in, filling my crumbling lungs.

A cacophonous howl sounded out and I slipped, startled by the loudness of it. Once it had died down I dared to peer to the side.Yixing was on his stomach, obviously having been tossed carelessly aside just as I had been. He was trying to crawl, but his arms were quivering and weak, his knees and palms harshly scraped from the impact. With an audible huff, he toppled and smashed his chin against the uneven ground. From that moment, he was motionless, but still breathing. That latter fact was the only reassuring thing about the entire situation.

I looked over to Jongin, expecting to see that he had been handled recklessly as well. Instead, he was backed up against the cave’s wall, petrified. There was no other presence lingering around him, no frightening shadows or teeth-gnashing monsters. There was no annoying older Chinese boy either. The space that Luhan had once occupied was wholly empty, save for the warm, sticky puddle of fresh blood. I screamed.

I didn’t stop, just kept going with the same strength and tone, face scrunching up hideously. I never fell breathless, but my sight started to blur once more, blackness quickly eating me up. Yet, I continued to screech boisterously, even as my vision was stolen away from me, even as firm hands started to shake my shoulders.

‘It’s okay, Junmyeon. You’re safe, you’re safe.’

‘Wake up!’

‘Open your God damn eyes, you idiot!’

‘Guys, step back and give him some space. I think he’s coming to.’

My ears were ringing. The sound of my own piercing ululation echoed through my head, as though it was a hollow space. I cringed inwardly and brought my hands up to my face, fingers reaching out to massage my earlobes until the abysmal sensation began to fade away. Then, my fingers shifted to my eyes, prying them open forcefully. I blinked, gazing up into multiple concerned faces.

Kris bent and helped me into a seated position, brushing some dust off my shirt. My appearance wasn’t important, but I appreciated it and tenderly patted his knee. I was so confused, my thoughts completely jumbled as I sat there, examining my surroundings, fingers splayed over Kris’ thick thigh.

My eyes fell upon Jongin’s contorted face at the same moment his fell upon mine. His mouth twisted and he let out a wail, flinging his body at me, embracing my slender figure in loving arms. He pressed his face into my knotted hair, nose nuzzling against the disorderly strands and soon enough, the top of my head was drenched in salty tears. For some reason, my own waterworks commenced. I shoved my face into the crook of his neck, sobbing manically. We were like babies; once one started crying, so did the rest of them.

When I pulled away, realising that the others were still circling us both, I cocked my head to look at each of them. ‘Where is Luhan?’

‘He’s right here’, Tao stated, turning to point but stiffening upon observing an absence.

‘He was here just a second ago! He was, I swear!’ Kyungsoo exclaimed.

Kris scratched his chin, eyes narrowing. ‘He must have disappeared while we were focussing on you three’, he commented, gesturing to Jongin, Yixing and me, ‘we wouldn’t have been able to hear him sneaking off over the shrillness of your screaming. What the hell just happened?’

‘You didn’t see it?’ Yixing questioned hurriedly, tugging his knees up to his chest as he began rocking.

‘See what?’

Jongin hiccupped, hiding by sticking himself to me, and Yixing was on the verge of a breakdown, so I cleared my throat to answer. Something was immediately wrong though, my voice caught, not making itself known. I cupped my palm over my cracked lips and coughed roughly. When I drew my hand away, blood had painted it a deep red. Moments later, the other two horrified men followed, blood dripping from their mouths.

Yixing whimpered and crawled speedily over to us, tangling his limbs with mine. His broad chest pressed against my back, but I could barely feel his chest rising and falling, because I was tumbling into a state of numbness. Jongin must have been the same, because he was limp in my arms, not able to move anything but his dilated pupils. He moaned, but that was the extent of his ability to communicate. All other words were trapped, left unsaid as the three of us were overwhelmed by gelid blackness.

When I resurfaced, the other members had disappeared again. I was able to stand much swifter this time, because the pain was non-existent, my body feeling light and agile. I took a step and it felt as though I was floating, drifting effortlessly throughout the cave. Yixing and Jongin bounced around too, their expressions bent and befuddled.

Jongin reached a rocky wall and placed his hand against it to steady himself, but the light touch pushed him away, fluctuating through the dark space until he smacked against Yixing. The two, as though moving through space, curved around one another and leisurely flew to the other side of the compact cave, flinging away once they came into contact with another wall. I frowned as I peered down, realising that my feet were not attached to the ground as I advanced onwards.

‘What the is happening?’ Jongin squealed, finally disconnecting from Yixing and drifting off, ricocheting off the ground.

‘I have no bloody idea’, I responded, hitting the roof with a soft slap, ‘but it can’t be good!’

My eyes detected a fast flash of movement and darted down to catch the culprit. Luhan looked up at us all, his hands outstretched. He was controlling us, keeping us from touching the ground, though it was obvious he couldn’t hold out much longer. A significant amount of blood dirtied his shirt and his face was pale, sickly.

‘What are you doing? Let us down!’ I shouted, flailing.

He shook his head stubbornly. ‘I can’t let you down until it leaves.’

‘What the hell are you talking about? Luhan, I’m going to beat your the second I can walk again!’

‘Keep quiet!’ he snapped, voice dropping into a whisper.

The air became rancid quite spontaneously as the shadowed monstrosity approached again. It was just darkness and iridescent eyes, watching, searching. It made no sound and its movements were swift, graceful. Gliding across the span of the cave, it didn’t seem to notice Luhan’s presence, and continued, vanishing into another space. That was when Luhan dropped us. There was no warning, just the ground quickly coming to meet my unprotected face as I plummeted down.

It took me a moment to regain enough motivation to check on Luhan, but when I did, his condition did not look encouraging. I called Yixing over instantly and though the terrified healer darted over so quickly that his legs couldn’t even be seen moving, I dreaded that it was too late. Luhan’s eyes had already rolled into the back of his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wha-what!? What is happening? 
That's a good question.
Which I don't have a solid answer to.

Anywaaaaaaays ~ it's time for the deadly, saddening stuff to happen so prepare yourselves. 
The best way to figure out how freaky and strange and magical this is going to get, is by yet again, remembering the last line of chapter one.

Thanks, as always, for reading :3 x