No one was counting. As long as Kris kept spotting boggers from the sky, they had to fight them off.

“Remember, don’t overdo it. Conserve your energy for the shadow boggers,” Suho had instructed. “Those bastards are going to send them out once they run out of the normal ones.”

That’s a given.

Whatever the hell Lay did to him, it was working wonders. Kai lost the initial fear of screwing up. He was filled with confidence, warping through space-time and taking others with him without fearing he might lose them or send them away. The elixir might have enhanced all his abilities, but Lay was the reason why it worked perfectly.

After dealing with three doggers, Kai spotted a bogger heading towards Chanyeol from his blind spot. He warped near it, careful to not appear inside a tree. Kai leaped forward and touched the bogger’s back, feeling the sickeningly flaccid skin as he induced a space-time jump. He didn’t hold the monster and it disappeared to a sub-dimension, one where Kai knew it wouldn’t survive.

“Bye, ugly white hairless er,” he smirked.

He looked back at Chanyeol. Three boggers were approaching him. Chanyeol lifted his hands towards two of them, Kai knew he threw something at them but he couldn’t see what it was. A spark shined when the nearly invisible thing touched the bogger’s skin. Immediately the monsters began to combust.

What the hell? Kai warp jumped next to Chanyeol. The fire bender was busy throwing the weird invisible thing at the third bogger and it spontaneously combusted when the spark ignited against its skin.

“What the is that?”

“Kai?” Chanyeol turned surprised to see him. “Oh, it’s inflammable oil.”

“Nice,” Kai nodded and reached up to high five the taller boy. Chanyeol happily accepted but Kai noticed his oily hands and quickly made his hand intangible.

Chanyeol nearly lost his balance when he swung his arm. “The heck?”

“Your hand!” Kai pointed out.

Chanyeol looked at his palm. “Oh, sorry” he smiled embarrassedly and lit his hand on fire. Kai’s eyes widened as he realized that flame could’ve burned him. The flames extinguished, consuming the oil. Chanyeol lifted his now clean hand with a toothy grin, expecting a high five.

“No way dude.”

Chanyeol’s grin shifted into a pout, “You’re mean.”

“You’re dangerous.”

“Aren’t we all,” Chanyeol smirked, but his voice felt sad.

Kai shook his head defeated. He was right after all. We are all dangerous.

“How’s the new guy,” Chanyeol asked as he loosened his wrists in a circle motion. “Anything to report?”

“No, he’s been,” Kai paused as he remembered seeing D.O use his abilities for the first time, “impressive.”

“Really?

“Yeah,” he smiled. “Suho’s keeping an eye on him too, helping him fight as well. He’s good with teamwork.”

“So he’s not another Luhan?” Kai shook his head. “What a relief,” Chanyeol smiled contently, but then frowned. “I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore, Kai.” Chanyeol huffed and rested his hands on his hips. “Is she telling the truth or just messing with us?”

Kai remained silent. He’d rather not answer such question, for he felt confused as well. One part of him truly believed Mama had been giving them authentic information. That she finally was helping them out and giving them hints - however cryptic they may be. But the other part screamed bull at everything she ever said. It was a constant feeling of confusion and frustration.

“I got to go.”

“Another round check? Gonna spy on the new guy again?”

“Yeah.”

“Send my regards to the dearest,” Chanyeol joked.

Kai laughed before teleporting away.

 

He seemed fine. With Suho’s help he was managing quite well, more than well. Kai learned early on that first impressions didn’t mean around here, so he knew he shouldn’t be so surprised by the new guy’s abilities. But still he was awestruck. He never imagined someone with a small build could be so strong and powerful.

But, Xiumin’s small too. He reasoned with himself. Kai leaned against a tree, hidden in the shadows as he rambled through ideas. Maybe great forces are stored in smaller bodies. Or smaller bodies have denser energy. Like when a star collapses into a singularity, something so small and dense that creates a gravitational pull so strong that even photons can’t escape, creating this lightless sphere in space; a black hole.

I should check on Xiumin.

He felt the ground shake mildly and then he heard a bogger shriek. He looked and saw D.O throw a big chunk of earth on top of a bogger, smashing it to death.

 

He will be fine, he thought as he looked at D.O before teleporting away.

 

He appeared behind Xiumin, who was busy holding the front, and could instantly feel the temperature drop. Kai watched in awe as he managed to freeze a whole pack of doggers with one strike. They were at least half a dozen and all Xiumin had to do was freeze the surrounding humidity into a huge wave of ice.

“Five boggers nearing your right!”

Kai looked up and saw Kris over them.

Who’s right? He looked back at Xiumin and saw the smaller boy slow the boggers moving towards him by reducing their body temperature. Kai shivered and rubbed his arms feeling as if he was inside a freezer. Two huge icicles grew from the ground, impaling two boggers in the chest. Xiumin formed a film of ice on the grass and formed two sharp knives with dense blue ice. He slid along the ice path and stabbed two boggers in the way, leaving the knives inside them. For the last bogger, he simply stood in front of it as the damn creature turned into an ice block.

Xiumin turned and ran back. “Hey Kai. What’s up?” he looked concerned.

“Honestly?” he scratched his head and Xiumin nodded expectantly. “I feel useless around you. You’re too damn good.”

Xiumin frowned and Kai knew why, he knew the other hated compliments, especially about his fighting skills.

“Go,” he said and pointed towards Sehun’s general direction.

 

Obediently Kai contorted space-time and appeared next to the wind blower. With Luhan they were guarding the left, further than Chanyeol. Luhan had five doggers trapped in a telekinetic hold and Sehun compressed air to slice them.

Kai saw a sudden movement and quickly warp jumped eleven meters to Luhan’s left. He appeared next to a tree and clumsily stepped on a rock. He saw three boggers approaching. He picked up the stupid rock and another one, then teleported behind them and made himself intangible. He jumped and phased his hand inside the head of one bogger, inserting the rock in its brain and letting go. It shrieked in pain and held its head before disintegrating. He did the same with the second bogger, leaving the solid rock inside its head.

The last bogger was blindly slashing around, its sharp black claws passed through Kai without harming him. Kai focused on triggering a teleportation and touched the bogger’s gnarly back with his materialized hand, sending the bogger into a lifeless dimension.

Kai materialized. “How did Xiumin guess there would be some here?” he furrowed his brows as he placed his hands on his hips. He shook his, “So ing creepy.”

‘Sehun!’

Kai looked up in surprise, his heartbeat strong against his chest as he heard Luhan’s voice in his mind. Quickly he teleported back where Luhan and Sehun were fighting.

‘… you idiot! You scared me.’

Sehun held his injured arm and looked up apologetically at Luhan. Kai scanned the area; there were no doggers in sight.

“What happened?” he heard Kris yell from above. “I heard your scream,” he said landing by Luhan.

“Me too,” Kai added as he approached the rest.

Luhan raised his brows confused, “I didn’t call for you.”

“Yes you did,” they answered at the same time.

“It hurts,” Sehun complained. He glanced at Sehun’s arm and unconsciously held onto his right arm, faintly remembering how painful it was when he was slashed by a bogger.

Luhan scratched his head, “No I didn’t. I’m sure of it.”

“We heard you,” Kai stated while Kris nodded.

“It hurts,” Sehun whined.

His brows frowned, “That’s so weird. How could you both hear me?”

“Beats me,” Kris shrugged

“Projection, maybe?” Kai suggested.

“That would be really bizarre,” Luhan mulled.

“It hurts,” Sehun strained his voice to get their attention.

Kai huffed and held Sehun’s good arm securely while visualizing where Lay was at. He pulled Sehun through the space-time warp, making sure to never let go. They appeared in front of Tao, who was sitting on the floor drinking water while Lay was massaging his shoulders. They were at the mid-south, away from all the danger and where they kept their supply bags. Upon seeing them arrive, Lay shuffled to heal Sehun.

“The new guy is doing pretty good,” Kai commented, stretching his arms.

“I’m not surprised,” Tao said dully as he capped the bottle. “I have high expectations of him.” He tossed the water bottle at him.

“You don’t seem to suspect of him like Suho,” he said as he caught the bottle. “I’ve been keeping an eye on him.”

“He told you to spy on him?” Kai nodded as he uncapped the bottle. Tao chuckled lowly before speaking again. “I haven’t seen him do anything worth worrying. If anything, I’ve seen us needing him. More than you could ever imagine.”

Kai frowned and drank some water. “Why do you have to be so secretive? Why can’t you just tell us what you know?”

“I don’t know everything, only glimpses. And I don’t even know when happens,” he took out an energy bar from a backpack. “Besides, I’d spoil the surprise,” he smiled slyly and then munched on the energy bar. “Oh,” he spoke with his mouth full.

“What?”

“I said you have to go help Chanyeol.”

“Again? It’s your turn,” he drank some more. “Just freeze time and waltz your way over there.”

“No way, too much effort,” Tao rubbed his shoulder. “Besides, you can get there faster. You just jump through space. You don’t have to waste energy in manipulating the strings.”

“I bend them,” Kai mumbled and tossed the bottle back.

“Whatever.” Tao shrugged and looked to the side, “But you’re going to need me when those shadow boggers appear, you know.” He munched off the snack.

Shadow boggers, Kai clenched his jaw. It made him feel sick and used to know they created those monsters based on his abilities. For all he knew, they could have mutated his power to them, used his genes to design those damned boggers. My genes, he balled his hands.

He felt a light touch on his shoulder and all his frustration eased. He looked at Lay smiling softly at him.

“Will you be okay?” he asked caringly.

“Yeah, it’s nothing to worry about,” Kai smiled back. Lay nodded and let him leave.

Sehun stood with his arms opened. “Just take me away,” he said moodily.

Kai chuckled as he walked up to Sehun. He hugged him tightly and triggered a warp jump.

 

Luhan had his arms outstretched towards four boggers levitating in a telekinetic hold. Kai watched horrified as he kept hugging Sehun, whose back was turned at Luhan.. Kai watched as Luhan closed his hands into fists and the bogger’s were compressed and smashed into irregular balls. The audible sound of bones crushing was perturbing

“What’s that?” Sehun asked, but Kai didn’t move. “Kai? Kai let go. What’s going on?” Sehun had to push him away. “Luhan!”

Kai felt scared and feared the worst as said boy turned around. Luhan’s eyes were completely fine, his face remained normal.

What a relief.

“I’ve got it under control,” Luhan said proudly.

“For now,” Kai said and felt a sharp pain on his side. “The , Sehun!” he complained as he rubbed his side where Sehun elbowed him.

“Chanyeol,” he simply said and walked towards Luhan.

 

Kai sighed and teleported further north and a bit to the right. He appeared in front of a tree. He turned to go around the trunk and came face to face with a bogger.

!

Quickly, he made himself intangible and the monstrous claws passed through him. Kai projected his intangibility to the bogger and shoved it into the tree. Then he canceled the ability, making the creature materialize with the trunk stuck into it. It was piercing through its body and the bogger disintegrated.

Kai looked for Chanyeol. The taller boy was surrounded by three doggers and five boggers. Chanyeol had encircled himself in a thick ring of fire, keeping the monsters from attacking him. He was quick in throwing flames at the doggers that tried to jump over the fire ring.

Kai visualized standing behind Chanyeol. Kai immediately felt the heat of the fire when he appeared there. He held onto Chanyeol’s shoulders and teleported them both further back south.

“Finally,” Chanyeol exasperated. He turned his head as far as he could to see, “Thanks,” he smiled broadly.

“No problem,” Kai patted his shoulder and let go.

“Kris said he’d send Tao,” he sounded confused.

“Tao’s being a jerk,” Kai grumbled.

“There’s nothing new about that,” Chanyeol joked. He walked towards the boggers, “I’ll get the B’s, you go for the D’s,” he said and continued throwing flames until the creatures scorched to death

“Sure.”

Kai made himself intangible and teleported towards the front, in between the doggers. He moved as fast as he could to get to each of them and send them off to a sub-dimension. He’d teleport next to one and then would make his hand tangible to touch and teleport the dogger away.

Kai was two meters away from the boggers burning to death, their painful shrieks and cries were deafening. Watching their skin burn and the flesh expose was disturbing. And the smell of them scorching was nauseating. One by one the boggers died and disintegrated.

Kai teleported away.

 

Cold enveloped him when he appeared. He saw Kris flying above, attacking boggers with high speed propulsion whenever he had a chance.

“Hi,” he made his presence known.

“We’re fine,” Xiumin said as he killed another bogger by freezing its head.

“Geez,” Kai teleported.

 

As soon as Kai’s feet touched the floor, he stumbled forwards. He managed to not fall and saw D.O lifting a massive chunk of earth and throwing it at a three boggers. He managed to smash two. The third ran towards him and pounced, Kai teleported behind the smaller boy and saw as a wall of rock formed in front of them. The bogger crashed against the elevated earth and then D.O kicked from the other side, breaking the wall and pushing the bogger backwards as it crumbled. Sprawled on the floor with broken bones poking at unnatural angles, the abdominal creature cried horribly. Its loud shrieks pierced through the commotion, leaving Kai nearly deaf. D.O cupped his ears and stomped the floor. Kai fell backwards as the ground shook. A crack formed under the bogger and opened up, causing it to fall inside the gap. D.O struggled to join his hands as the land shook and the hole began to close. Kai watched in awe as he literally made the earth engulf the bogger.

Kai stayed silent as he heard D.O’s laborious breathing, he watched as the other’s slim shoulders rose and fell with each breath.

He’s amazing. Kai felt a sense of pride, adoration towards D.O’s prowess. Suddenly a thought struck him. He could get us out! Break a hole in the earth and help us escape.

Kai stood up and was about to inform him his presence, but he noticed D.O’s legs tremble and his hands twitch.

“Catch me,” he struggled to say.

Kai never managed to ask how the other knew he was behind him, because he quickly reacted to catch D.O from falling. Kai frowned as he felt the smaller boy tense against his chest and arms. Kai felt the blood drain from his face as D.O began to convulse.

!

Carefully Kai laid him down, he held onto D.O’s shoulder and hip to turn him to his side. Kai bit his bottom lip as he restrained himself from trying to hold D.O still, he didn’t want to cause any more harm. He felt useless as he watched D.O helplessly convulse on the floor. His heart pounded like mad when he saw blood drip out of the corner of his mouth. Kai felt it was an eternity to watch D.O’s unconscious face contort. But the seizure only lasted fifteen seconds.

After the episode, he remained still. So still Kai feared he was dead. The tanned boy placed two fingers onto the fallen boy’s neck.

Still beating, he breathed out in relief.

Kai slid his hand around D.O’s neck to hold his nape and delicately placed his head to rest on his lap. His eyes roamed across the pale skin, sweat b at the edges of his nose, lips and hairline. His brows furrowed slightly as he lay unconscious.

“What happened to you?” Kai whispered even though he knew his question wouldn’t be answered.

Kai moved his hand from under D.O’s nape to the side of his face, cupping his cheek. He used his thumb to lightly wipe the red contrast at the side of his lips. He grazed the blood off, trying to not smear it onto D.O’s fair skin. He cleaned his thumb against his black pants.

He didn’t know what to do. D.O was breathing and would probably fine. Should I take him to Lay?

D.O moaned softly and slightly moved his head towards Kai. The latter felt his heart stop. An unknown fuzzy feeling hummed in his abdomen. He felt rather nervous if the other woke up. He wouldn’t know what to say. But D.O didn’t wake up. Kai reached over his face to smooth his dark bangs to the side, off of his closed eyes. Kai noticed his eyebrows weren’t straining anymore. Those bushy thick eyebrows didn’t look troubled anymore; those dark eyebrows over his closed eyes, with thick black eyelashes. D.O was purely black and white, contrasting his unique face with his pink plump heart shaped lips.

What am I thinking? He scolded himself for noticing too much of the others features. I should look away, he tried but the glimpse of red kept his attention on the unconscious boy.

He thought he had gotten rid of it all, but there was a droplet of blood on D.O’s lower lip that he hadn’t seen before. Thoughtlessly he pressed his forefinger onto D.O’s bottom lip and, as soft as possible, he wiped the blood away. As he did, Kai pushed his lip down a little and something red showed. He pressed down again, keeping his finger in place to hold the lip and saw teeth marks on the inside of his lip.

Probably bit himself during the seizure.

D.O made a sound, causing Kai to immediately remove his hand. He was awake. His round eyes looked up at Kai confused, furrowing his eyebrows into a small glare.

“What? What are you…?” he trailed off.

“B-blood,” Kai held up his finger. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous, why his heart beat strong against his chest and his face felt hot. But he knew the look D.O gave him made him feel intimidated. “You, umm, fainted and had a, a seizure.”

“I know,” he breathed out, his expression turned softer. Kai helped him sit up, lingering his hand onto D.O’s back while the other rubbed his forehead with the balls of his hands. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” he said annoyed. He let his hands fall onto his lap and looked at Kai. “Don’t tell the others about this.”

“What?”

D.O’s round eyes squinted very slightly as his dark orbs gazed into Kai’s. “Just keep it between us, please.”

“Alright,” he couldn’t even think of not agreeing. “Does it happen often?”

D.O looked down at his hands, “I’ll explain later. You should go help Suho.”

Kai looked around, no bogger in sight since the incident and Suho wasn’t near. Should I really leave him alone?

“No, I won’t leave you.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to rest a little. I’ll be there later,” D.O reassured with a small smile. “Seriously go.”

Kai stood up, his legs felt a bit shaky. “We will talk about this later,” he stated with confidence.

D.O looked up and nodded. “Suho is further north.”

Kai nodded back before teleporting away.

 

What he saw, after teleporting twice to get close to Suho, made him wish he would’ve stayed with D.O.

Kai felt shaken by the uncanny resemblance Suho’s attack had with his ability to swiftly remove water off wet clothes. He remembered the first time he met him, Suho had dried his clothes that way. But now he wasn’t merely drying clothes, no, now he was dehydrating boggers into dried up corpses.

Dehydrated, dead, disintegrated. One by one, the boggers began to disappear.

Kai stayed hidden in the shadows, too afraid to come out. That wasn’t the same Suho he grew to know as a brother. That wasn’t the same bright and ever-curious Suho. That was a stranger who looked like Suho, but killed with an ease only a psychopathic murderer could savor.

With no more boggers to kill, Kai made his presence known. He walked closer the water bender, greeting him like he normally would, except he couldn’t fake the astonishment in his voice.

“You saw it?” Suho stated more than questioned. He looked to the ground and Kai knew he wasn’t proud of what he’d done.

“Is it easy?” he asked, fearing Suho might go nuts like Luhan.

“No,” he shook his head and bit his lip. “No, it’s not easy and it’s not…” he trailed off.

“It’s excessive?”

“Yeah, horribly excessive.” Suho sighed, “I hate it.”

For a moment Kai was able to feel somewhat glad, despite the circumstances. For a moment he knew his friend hadn’t turned into a murderous person. For a moment he felt foolish hope. And in a second Suho changed.

“Kai!”

Immediately he made himself intangible and looked behind him. The black cadaverous shadow bogger stood tall behind him. It wasn’t moving, though. It was struggling to move. I looked like it was caught in a telekinetic grip. Kai glanced back at Suho who had one hand towards the bogger, invisibly holding something. With his free hand he repetitively made an outward motion with his fingers, spreading them from his palm to the air. Kai watched the bogger’s horrific eyes begin to expand and redden. Blood began to gush out of the rims of its eye sockets and out of the skull-like nose. It didn’t even make a damn noise as it disintegrated.

“What the was that?” Kai exclaimed after materializing his body.

Suho’s expression hardened and he looked to the side. “I don’t just control water anymore, Kai.”

“You mean you can control blo- look out!”

Kai visualized himself next to Suho, immediately out of the warp jump he grabbed Suho’s arm and projected his intangibility to him. The bogger’s sword like claw passed through them.

Just in time, he thought in relief.

A rock hit against the bogger’s chest. Its round eyes shifted to the side before disappearing into its mist. Kai saw the mist appear five meters south, its dark eerie body popped out and covered Kai’s visual of D.O. In a second the bogger was sent backwards and, as soon as it fell on the ground, a sharp pointed rock formed under its back and pierced through its chest.

“You guys okay?” D.O asked as he got closer to them.

Kai stared dazed. Just a while ago he saw him weak and vulnerable, and now he just walked right in and saved their asses without ever hesitating.

“Yes,” Suho answered for them. “We’ve got to warn the others.”

Kai held onto Suho and reached out his hand towards D.O. The other boy might be small, but Kai noticed his hands were squared and rough.

“It will feel weird and you have to hold your breath, okay?” Kai informed. D.O nodded and squeezed Kai’s hand a bit tighter. “Alright, let’s go.”

 

Teleporting a person with him was one thing, teleporting two was another. It took much more effort and energy to trigger a space-time contortion and jump through sub-dimensions without losing his companions. The trip through space-time bending was in an instant to the outside, but to Kai it felt much longer inside the fabrics of space-time. He had to concentrate in keeping a mental visualization of the specific place he wanted to be at, find and bend the strings of the space-time events and then project himself and the others through the sub-dimensions to appear back at the right dimension, all without ever letting go of Suho’s arm and D.O’s hand.

They appeared at the middle of the area the group was at. Just under Kris while he was flying. Suho went to speak with the latter, while Kai kept holding onto D.O.

The smaller boy breathed in deep. “That felt so weird,” he said amused.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined,” he smiled and Kai swore he was having a mild anxiety attack. The rapid beating of his heart, the fuzzy pressure in his chest and the slight light headedness made him consider asking for Lay’s help.

Kai looked up as he heard Kris yell orders to regroup as he flew around.

“You can let go now,” D.O said so softly that Kai almost thought he imagined the other speak. But he complied.

Sehun and Luhan were the first to appear followed by Chanyeol. Then Lay and Tao came back too. When Xiumin wasn’t showing up Kai didn’t think twice before teleporting towards him.

 

He felt his blood boil at the sight of three shadow boggers trying to break into a dome of dense blue ice.

Xiumin’s inside.

Kai teleported over one of them and aimed a descending kick to its head. He teleported back before his feet touched the ground. He saw the shadow-like mist in front of him and saw that further back a second bogger jumped into its shadow. Kai teleported to the side to stall some time for both boggers to catch up to him. When both shadows got near him, he knew it was only a matter of time. The black boggers popped out, one in front and one at the back, Kai counted three seconds before making himself intangible. The stupid monsters attacked at the same time, impaling one another with their long sword claws.

Kai would’ve smirked at his ingenuity, but he had one last bogger to kill.

Locking eyes with the monster, he knew it was going to be a display of abilities. The one who could teleport better would win and Kai was not going to let a half experiment believe it was capable of beating him. If the monster had eyelids, then Kai wouldn’t have given it the chance to blink. He warp jumped so quickly that the shadow bogger didn’t react when Kai stood in front of it. Its eyes looked down at him just as he touched its gnarly ragged black skin and sent it off to a lifeless sub-dimension, one so far away that Kai knew the mist could never teleport out of.

“Because you’re nowhere near as damn good as me,” he smirked at the nearly effortless victory.

He turned towards the blue ice dome and made himself intangible to phase through the thick walls.

Kai felt his heart break when he saw Xiumin trying to stand up off the floor, one hand supporting his body up and the other pressing onto his wound. Blood, so much blood, gushed out from his abdomen; so red and dark against his light blue clothes and fair skin. His almond eyes looked back at him frightened as he struggled to breathe. Face pale, lips blue and shivering with blood slipping out.

“K-Kai,” Xiumin said weakly before fainting and that was all he needed to snap out of staring.

He knelt down next to him, wrapped an arm around his shoulders and the other under his knees. Kai hoisted unconscious Xiumin up and with perfect concentration, Kai teleported quickly, back to the safe zone where the rest were.

“Lay!” he yelled upon arriving while gently settling Xiumin on the ground, keeping his arm around his shoulder to hold him up. “Lay hurry! Hurry up!”

He looked up and wanted to disappear. There were shadow boggers around and the group was busy fighting them. They worked together as best as they could to keep them back. Kai felt his heart pound forcefully as he couldn’t spot Lay. But suddenly there he was, kneeling over Xiumin with Tao letting go of his shoulder.

“You’ve got five minutes,” Tao warned.

“Lift up his shirt please.”

Kai did as told, wondering how Lay could keep his manners under such horrific situations. He wished he hadn’t looked though, he wished he would’ve lifted his shirt without looking at the hole near his stomach.

Kai looked up at Tao rubbing his temples and the background was still; too still and too silent. All the other members were frozen in place, no black boggers appearing here and there.

He stopped time, Kai thought amazed.

Kai looked back at Lay and saw how he focused on diligently healing Xiumin’s wound as fast as he could. He was regenerating tissue much faster than when he healed Kris’ burnt arm. He looked at Xiumin’s head resting against his chest. His skin looked better, less pale. His lips were pink again and weren’t shivering.

“2 minutes 36 seconds,” he heard Tao say with difficulty.

Kai felt Xiumin’s head shift, his almond eyes opened and looked at him. He blinked before looking at Lay then back at Kai.

“Thanks,” he said softly with a teary smile.

Kai smiled back, relieved that he was going to be fine. He had the urge to hug him and hold him close, but he didn’t want to disturb Lay. So he placed his forehead against Xiumin’s.

“You look well,” he repeated Xiumin’s words from long back.

“I am,” Xiumin answered the answer he once uttered and smiled wider. Tears fell down his cheek.

Kai pressed his cheek against the top of Xiumin’s head and pulled him closer in a half hug.

“Done!” Lay beamed.

“Good grief,” Tao exasperated and Kai felt movement and noises around him again.

“Rest a few minutes,” Lay ordered and caressed Xiumin’s arm.

“Okay,” he said as he wiped his tears.

“We’ll take care of this ,” Tao nodded towards some boggers.

Kai let go and they all stepped away from Xiumin. He formed another ice dome around himself.

“Will that work?” Tao asked pointing at the mini dome.

“Yes, he’ll be safe,” Kai answered before teleporting near Kris.

 

“Xiumin?” Kris asked flying away from a black bogger as Kai picked up two rocks.

“He’s fine,” he said before making himself intangible as a shadow bogger teleported in front of him.

Kai phased his hand into the creature’s chest and left the rock inside, right where the heart should be. He teleported and did the same to the bogger chasing Kris.

The volitant boy landed next to him as they watched the cadaverous bogger rasp against its chest with wild eyes, before disintegrated.

“That is terrifying,” Kris said.

“I know,” Kai nodded as he looked towards where the shadow bogger used to be.

“I mean that thing you did,” Kris clarified.

“Oh,” Kai bit his lip, “At least it’s effective.”

Kris nodded a bit warily before flying away.

 

“Guys! We’ve got to hurry before it gets dark and we can’t see these things!” he heard Chanyeol say.

“Sehun to your left! Chanyeol two behind you! Lay your right!” Kris kept helping them spot the boggers that popped out everywhere.

 

‘Kai.’

Luhan?

‘Suho says there are lamps in a backpack.’

Got it, Kai teleported towards the bags settled in the middle of the natural arena.

He made his body intangible, except for his hands, just in case a bogger decided to sneak up behind him. He ped the backpack and saw five crystal balls of 30cm diameter. They weren’t perfect spheres, for they had a flat bottom with a grill and propeller. There was a note inside the bag, a small piece of paper with beautiful cursive handwriting.

 

-Triggered by motion detection. Tap twice to function.-

-PS: They’re the closest things to a sun you’ll ever see in here.-

 

Kai suppressed the urge to punch something as he felt his inside boil with anger. How dare she toy with us like that?

Knowing there wasn’t any time to waste, Kai tapped the crystal twice. Bright yellow light illuminated nearly blinding his sight and the propeller began to spin. The illuminative crystal ball hovered up and elevated high in the sky.

It’s beautiful.

Contrasting against the darkening twilight, the yellow ball shined bright in the sky. True, it looked just as he imagined the sun would be like. But the fact that she pointed out that it’s the closest they would get to the real thing pissed him off. Knowing that he didn’t have time to ogle at the marvelous light, Kai teleported the other four spheres in a quadrant, making sure they were distanced enough to illuminate as much as possible. They shined so bright that it seemed as if it were midday.

 

Kai maintained his intangible state as he looked around. Suho quickly reacted whenever a shadow bogger appeared near him and Tao. He would dehydrate them in one strike, guarding Tao who was regaining his energy. Kris would occasionally propel himself in a fast dive, kicking and shoving boggers away. But his main importance was to be the point guard and keep the group informed. Sehun was enhancing Chanyeol’s fire with his wind. Together they were burning shadow boggers faster than they could attack. Luhan would easily snap their necks the second they appeared, or hold them still for Lay to kill. Everyone was working together as hard as they could, fighting off the ever spawning monsters.

A shadow mist appeared next to him, the black bogger popped out and stood through him. Kai didn’t move as the creature jumped back into its mist and teleported away. He turned around and saw D.O lifting a wall of rock to defend himself from a bogger’s sword like claw. Kai saw a black mist behind him as D.O punched the wall, hitting the bogger in front with a chunk of rock.

D.O!

Kai teleported behind the smaller boy and projected his intangibility to him as he wrapped his arms around his waist. Kai could see the white sharp claw pass through them from over D.O’s head. He teleported them both to the side. When he canceled the intangibility, D.O accidentally stepped on his foot making him lose his balance and fall backwards, pulling D.O with him.

The black mist appeared in front of them. Kai quickly let go of D.O and teleported behind the mist. He triggered a warp jump and sent the bogger away as soon as it popped out of its mist.

Kai watched the boy on the floor amusedly. D.O’s eyes were wide as he touched his chest. “It went right through me,” he said flabbergasted.

“I know,” Kai smirked and walked closer, offering his hand to help him stand.

“Thanks,” D.O said as he stood. But then his brows furrowed and he pushed Kai to the side. Before the black bogger lifted its arm, D.O punched its solar plexus with great force, sending the creature three meters backwards. Then he stomped his foot and a sharp rock raised, piercing through the fallen bogger’s body.

“Damn,” Kai said. “I wouldn’t want to ever be punched by you.”

D.O chuckled. “Don’t piss me off then,” he said with a playful glare.

 

‘Lay!’

Kai looked to his right and teleported towards Luhan.

‘No, no, no, no, no!’

Kai saw Luhan staring in shock, as Lay’s body was lifted in the air with a long bloodied claw piercing through him.

‘You ing piece of ! Let him go!’ Luhan raised his arms towards the bogger and began to choke it. It staggered backwards and dropped Lay to the ground.

‘I’ll kill you.’

His words sounded so terrifying in Kai’s mind that he knew before he looked backwards that Luhan had lost control.

“Get Sehun,” Tao said appearing next to him.

Without word, Kai quickly found said boy. Sehun was running towards the scene as Chanyeol distracted the boggers.

“I heard him too,” he said quickly and reached to grab Kai’s hand.

Once they got back, Tao was trying to calm Luhan as Kris tried to take Lay’s body away from him. But they were both pushed away as Luhan kept hugging Lay.

“Three minutes,” Tao said before closing his eyes to meditate.

Sehun quickly nodded before protecting himself with his wind armor. Kai noticed that they were the only ones moving as the rest of the area had gone completely still.

Sehun held onto Luhan’s shoulders. “Luhan you have to let go so he can get help.”

‘He’s dying. I can barely hear him,’ he sounded distraught.

“Sehun, tell him Lay’s not going to die,” Kai yelled. “Tell him he’s immortal and can’t die!”

“You heard that? He’s immortal Lu. He can’t die,” Sehun said lifting Luhan’s face with his hands. He frowned and thinned his lips. Kai knew that meant he was communicating telepathically with Luhan.

“He’s immortal?” Kris asked astounded.

‘He is?’

“Yes. Elixir,” Kai answered laconically, his eyes never leaving the scene before him.

‘I… I’m sorry.’ Luhan’s face pacified, his eyes went back to normal.

“Can you hear him too?” Kai asked.

‘I didn’t mean to.’

“Yeah,” Kris said with furrowed brows.

‘He’s breathing!’

Kai watched them help Lay sit up. His pink shirt was torn and stained with red. Lay placed a hand on the healed wound of his abdomen.

“Ouch,” he said with small frown.

“Ouch? You nearly died and all you can say is ouch?” Tao sassed, walking towards them. He broke his concentration. Movement and noise manifested at their surroundings.

“Damn boggers,” Lay said but it came out more like a question.

“That’s more like it,” Tao laughed and helped him and Luhan stand up.

Kai felt a gust of wind pass by him. He saw Sehun take a few steps forward as the black bogger was pushed back. Sehun made a strange movement with his hands and the bogger bent over and struggled. But then it fell into its mist and fled.

“Damn it,” Sehun cursed.

“I think we should regroup and attack together,” Kris said and flew away.

‘Everybody regroup.’

“So you really can project your telepathy,” Tao said raising his eyebrow.

“Seems like it,” Luhan nodded.

Chanyeol ran towards the group, heaving a bit as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “There’s too many of them.”

Luhan snapped the neck of the shadow bogger that appeared behind Chanyeol.

Kris came back with Suho on his back. He landed softly and let Suho get off and sit on the floor. He looked utterly exhausted.

“Where’s D.O?” Kris asked.

“I can’t reach him,” Luhan frowned.

“It’s your turn,” Tao quickly said to Kai.

Kai sighed before teleporting to the last place he remembered D.O was. Three black boggers were pushed together and had their legs crushed by rocks clasping around them. The ground shook as D.O opened a hole and swallowed them whole, burying the boggers into a quick death.

“You idiot,” Kai huffed and teleported next to him.

He kneeled on the floor and held him to his side as his body shook uncontrollably.

“Why does this keep happening to you?” he asked as he watched heavy heartedly as D.O had a seizure.

He projected his intangibility to both of them as a mist appeared next to them. The damn bogger couldn’t harm them and left.

Kai canceled the intangibility when D.O woke up and helped him sit up. The smaller boy rubbed his forehead and didn’t seem surprised to see Kai with him.

“How would you ever survive without me?”

“Maybe I can’t,” he answered with a small smile.

“Let’s go,” Kai said and teleported them away.

 

The group was surrounded. Masses of black covered the area around them.

“Finally!” Tao exasperated when they appeared. “Six minutes guys, that’s all I can give. You’re too many.”

The boggers were still and everyone ran into action. Sehun sliced and pierced them with compressed air. Chanyeol threw his flames. Suho dried their body fluids. Luhan crushed bodies and snapped heads. D.O smashed with rocks and fists. Lay death-touched them. Kris lifted them and let their bodies crash on the ground. Kai teleported them away.

On and on they attacked the immobile monsters as fast as they could.

“One minute!” Tao yelled painfully.

Kai noticed there were mists frozen in place without a bogger standing in them. He knew it meant there were still more to defeat, but he felt too exhausted to even imagine fighting some more.

“Everyone regroup!”

Kai teleported with his last effort and fell on the ground near Tao. He breathed tiredly as he lay sprawled on the floor.

Please let this be over.

“I hope so,” he heard Luhan say. Kai looked up and accepting his offer to help him stand.

Everyone was back and they all looked terribly exhausted. Tao suddenly fainted and the boggers began to disintegrate, like bubbles bursting and disappearing in the sky.

“ there’s still more,” Kris said as black bodies moved around the dying ones.

The ice dome at their left broke and Xiumin stepped out, a cold mist enveloped him like dry ice.

“Cover them,” he ordered looking at D.O straight in the eyes. “Now.”

Kai heard D.O huff out in effort as the ground shook and a dome made of earth formed around them. The last thing Kai saw was Xiumin turning towards the shadow boggers with an intense glare. Then everything was dark.

“Chanyeol can you light a fire?” Sehun said tiredly.

“Just a small one,” flames appeared on top of his palms, in front of him. “I don’t want to consume all the oxygen.”

“Let me check on him” Lay said as he sat next to Kris. The taller boy had rested Tao’s head on his leg as he sat with him. “He’ll be fine.”

“What do you think he’s doing out there?” Suho wondered.

“He’s freezing them to death,” Luhan answered.

“Are you hearing him?” Kai asked.

“Yeah. Even his thoughts seem cold,” he chuckled softly.

“Will he be fine?” D.O asked to no one in particular.

“It’s Xiumin, he will always manage,” Sehun said proudly.

Will he? Kai felt his heart clench as he remembered just hours ago Xiumin had almost died. He remembered how horrible he looked and the injury, that awful injury that made his stomach sick. Kai rubbed his arms as he felt cold.

“The walls are freezing,” Kris pointed out.

Kai noticed everyone else was shivering and the walls were turning into ice. D.O knelt down and softly pounded the floor twice before leaving his palm against it.

“They’re all gone,” he said as he stood up. He walked to the front and kicked a hole through the wall.

Cold, Kai felt freezing cold. He stepped out with the rest and saw everything was covered in ice. The whole area had frozen solid, trees, rocks, grass, everything. And there were no more boggers in sight. The only figure standing out was Xiumin, kneeling on the floor with his back towards them, covered in ice.

No one dared to move as they watched his frozen figure remain still. Everyone’s mind thought the same thing. They all feared Xiumin turned into ice as he had worried about before. That Xiumin froze his body without being able to turn back.

“Is he going to be alright?” D.O asked.

No one answered as they just stared in utter shock. Chanyeol made his way towards him with slippery steps. He kneeled in front of Xiumin and placed his hands on his frozen shoulders. Steam began to rise as the ice melted slowly.

He fisted his hands, letting his fingernails dig deep into his skin and he shivered with fear. Please, please, please let it work, Kai pleaded as he felt his eyes water. He didn’t want to cry, he didn’t want to give up on hope. He didn’t want to give up on Xiumin.

Soon enough Xiumin moved.

Kai felt a wave of relief as Xiumin began to move his arms again.

“I knew he could do it,” Sehun said on the verge of tears, with Tao holding onto his arm silently crying.

Chanyeol hugged Xiumin and Kai saw the smaller boy react and hold onto Chanyeol tightly.

 

“Finally this is over,” Kai smiled and wiped the tear that dared to fall.

 

It was earlier than the break of dawn when they reached the clearing after an hour of resting and refueling. It was still dark, the lights of the building and Luhan moving the hovering lamps were their source of light. Kai didn’t feel as exhausted as he knew he should be. He figured it was an effect of the elixir.

“Kai,” Suho called. He turned and saw him with Kris. Xiumin and Luhan were close behind as the rest were already entering the building.

He appeared in front of them.

“What do you think of the new guy?” Kris asked.

Kai felt slightly flustered by the sudden question. “Why?”

“We told you to keep an eye on him for a reason. We’re not sure if Mama was serious about her warning,” Suho clarified.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I’m just a bit… tired I guess,” Kai scratched his head. “He’s a great fighter and all. He doesn’t lose control like Luhan. You’ve seen how good he is.”

Suho nodded.

“So nothing suspicious to report?” Kris questioned.

Kai remembered the seizure. He remembered feeling completely helpless as he watched D.O lose control of his body. Don’t tell the others about this, he remembered his low voice say.

“No,” Kai lied and shook his head to emphasize, “Nothing at all.”

“Okay,” Kris nodded, slightly narrowing his eyes.

‘You’re lying.’

Kai looked away to hide his surprise as Luhan’s voice spoke in his head.

‘Why are you lying to them?’ Kai saw Luhan frown at him as he walked with Xiumin further in front.

I want to figure it out first. Kai walked silently by Kris and did his best to appear normal.

‘Figure what out?’

I can’t tell you.

‘Kai,’ he reprimanded.

Just give me some time and I’ll tell everyone after I understand it.

‘You’ve got until midnight.’

Why so little time?

Luhan stopped walking at the entrance. ‘Because I don’t trust him.’ He turned around and looked back at him. ‘I can’t read his mind.’

What? Why?

‘I don’t know yet,’ Luhan entered the building.

Kai rubbed his face tiredly. When will all this end?

 

 

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A/N: Sorry, not sorry for leaving a mysterious ending again.

Thank you to lilnugget, kimmysenpai, jongkey4evr, TOP12BOM, kwonsungyoung951210 and JinxSk for subscribing. 

And before you ask if D.O helps the group escape, let me enlighten you with the hints I left –if you haven’t figured it out already:

A Series of Wind II :

1) “Unless you break a hole in the earth, then no. Because there’s no ing way we can break through the ventilation system.” Kris reasoned. “There’s no way out of here.”

2) “Sehun,” Tao held onto his arm, “I think the way we get out has to do with the new guy.”

 

A Series of Teleportation I :

3) “You can’t open a wall without a door with a key. You need a sledgehammer,” she patted the new guy’s shoulder.

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The question now is: Are they going to be able to escape?

 

Have a great week guys!

Annyeong,

-Blackie.