He huffed out a heavy sigh as he put the booklet manual back on top of the fire system control panel.

“Finally,” he said to himself as he looked at the now disabled control system. With all the quakes and the shakes, it was hard for Chanyeol to punch in the code without messing up. He had to reset the codification three times just to get it right.

Chanyeol looked through the glass door from the inside of the subsidiary room. There were no boggers or doggers in sight, which was a relief because being alone against those monsters was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

He picked up the discarded backpack Sehun had dropped when he ran away with Kai. He hoped that whatever the hell was happening for Kai to urgently need Sehun turned out well and that they were all safe.

Pushing the door open, Chanyeol exited the room and walked through the corridor heading to the main staircase at the middle of sector F. Stretching out his legs as far as they could go, he gained speed quickly as he ran through the empty corridors. He didn’t notice at first, since his body was moving, that another quake shook the building. He was running through a narrow corridor when he forcefully stumbled to the side, hitting his body against the wall.

“,” he said through gritted teeth as he tried to stabilize himself, supporting his body upward with his hands against the wall. But it wasn’t enough, his feet could barely stay put, his knees hardly could support his weight. He had to crouch down to keep himself from falling. The walls creaked and trembled, and Chanyeol felt as if they were caving in on him. He feared they might crack and fall inwards on top of him. The red lights twinkled on and off, as dust began to fall from the roof. He heard some glass shatter at the other end of the hall.

“Stop, stop,” he pleaded out loud as he covered his head with his arms. “Please stop.”

Gradually the walls began to still. The red lights shined without wavering. Dust stopped falling, the quake had subsided. Chanyeol tried to stand up, but he felt the floor still oscillate. Or maybe it was just him believing that, feeling a little motion sickness. He tried to step forward but his knee buckled under his weight and he fell down. As he did he heard a sharp object graze against the wall he had used as support. And when his side hit the floor, his eyesight was at the same level of the black shadow before him.

!

Quickly sensing the danger, Chanyeol the floor to face the cadaverous creature with sword blades as claws. Extending his hand, he aimed flames towards the shadow bogger’s feet. Igniting the oil secreted from his hands by manipulating the kinetic energy of its particles, Chanyeol combusted flames hot enough to burn through the monster’s flesh.

Using his other hand to support his body up, Chanyeol scooted backwards as fast as he could, despite the hindrance of the backpack. The black bogger shuddered as it screeched a nearly imperceptible hiss –wide eyelid-less eyes perked out in pain. Chanyeol noticed it was suffering and, strangely, it seem to be weaker and die faster than any other black bogger he faced. The shadow at its feet had shrunk in superficial area as the flames lighted its perimeter. In less than a minute, the burns were so deep that the shadow bogger disintegrated.

As fast as he could, Chanyeol got up and ran down the corridor, ignoring the rapid beating of his heart. Reaching the staircase, he decided to take the elevator next to it, believing it would be safer to hide in there from the shadow boggers.

They aren’t supposed to phase through doors, he reassured himself as he clicked the button to close the metal box. After pressing number five, he took the scarce minutes of peace and solitude to calm his labored breathing. He had been running around fighting boggers like crazy. If it wasn’t because he didn’t rest much after the group trial, he wouldn’t feel this tired so soon.

Should’ve accepted Kai’s offer, he thought as he believed that maybe a whole mug of somniferous tea would’ve been better than just the lasts sips of Kai’s cup. After the latter had fallen asleep, Chanyeol stayed awake in the dark, letting worries eclipse his sleep.  

At the indicative sound of arriving to the wanted destination, Chanyeol hurriedly pressed the button to maintain the doors closed. Breathing deliberately and rhythmically, he counted to ten before letting the doors slide open. Hands up prepared to attack, he cautiously left the elevator, scanning the hall for any boggers lurking about. Fortunately, the place looked empty.

He took the left and walked towards a reception area. He went straight, passing through desolated conference rooms and offices. Then reaching a corner he turned to the left and something black stood before him. He screamed out in surprise and lifted his hands to fire at the dark presence.

“Don’t!” it yelled.

Recognizing the voice, he rapidly closed his hands, extinguishing the chain of fire.

“Kai?” said person was hard to see in his intangible state. “What a relief,” Chanyeol smiled.

“Relief? You nearly burned me!” Kai exasperated after materializing back to his solid form.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol rubbed his arm. “I kind of confused you with a shadow bogger,” he pointed at the other’s black clothing.

“Shadow boggers?” Chanyeol nodded in response. “,” he seethed while brushing his hair backwards.

“You haven’t seen any?” Chanyeol questioned the obvious. He quickly changed questions as the other gave no indication of answering. “Where’s Sehun? What happened?”

“Luhan lost his ,” Kai shrugged, “They’re all fine. I just got to get Lay.”

“Who’s hurt?” Chanyeol asked concerned.

“Luhan’s just a bit,” he paused and scratched his head, “passed out. We’re all fine, seriously.” looking down and placing his hands on his hips. Chanyeol could tell the other was tired by the slouch of his back.  

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just tired,” he smiled sadly.

Chanyeol took off the backpack and searched inside. “Take it, you need it,” he offered him an energy bar.

“No, those are our survival stock,” Kai stepped back.

“Come on, you’ve been running around like mad. Take it,” he insisted.

“I shouldn’t.”

Chanyeol let out a frustrated grunt, before ripping open the wrapper and tossing the bar. Kai frowned as he caught the food, broke half of it and tossed the rest back.

“You’re too kind,” Chanyeol commented before eating the other half of the snack.

“Why’d you have the backpack?” Kai asked.

“Sehun dropped it when he ran away with you,” he explained.

“Oh, I should… you know,” Kai looked apologetic.

“Yeah take it. It’s safer with anyone else but me,” he said poignantly as he handed over the backpack.

Kai rubbed his arm with his free hand and then reached inside his pocket. “I think you’ll need this for when you find him,” he handed him the key card. “I should get going now. I’ll come back for you, okay?” he adjusted the straps of the bag. “Stay safe.”

“You too.”

 

Chanyeol explored the floor, feeling lighter without the backpack in his care. He turned right, walked forward through the many corridors, passing by deserted waiting areas, offices and conference rooms. He hated how the glass walls and doors trembled every now and then, it frightened him that they might shatter, like the fallen glass desks he had found. Reaching the wall separating sector F from D, he turned right and walked down the abandoned place. He came across a familiar corridor and realized he had just walked in a circle.

“For s sake,” he gritted his teeth as he looked at the elevator at the middle of the corridor.

This time he took the right side of the hall, which led down towards the delimitation with sector E. Now this area, the mid back of sector F, looked much more familiar. Desolated and dark, with red luminous lights, he recognized test rooms. He knew he had to be closer.

Forced to turn to his right, he walked down the long hall and finally spotted the door he was searching.

“X one point two,” he read the door’s code.

Taking out the keycard Kai handed him, he passed it over the scanner. After an audible click, Chanyeol pushed open the door. Ivory walls, the outline of a tree and a bathroom door to the right –just like his old room. But this one was completely white, it didn’t have the striking red like his old bedroom. Chanyeol stealthily walked inside, closing the door behind him in case a shadow bogger decided to creep by, but the room was empty.

“What the…” he drifted off as he looked around the room confused. Like his old bedroom, there were no windows to escape from. The only window he knew was the one in Kris’ room.

He stepped on a fallen book. He noticed there were more books and papers scattered on the floor near the bookshelf. The clock on the desk had toppled over as well.

He looked at the empty space between the nightstand and the bed, with his back towards the entrance. “Hmm… Guess I was the only one,” he thought as he noticed the lack of fire extinguishers in the room. He used to need them all the time, because he would wake up in flames with a burning mattress and carbonized sheets.

He heard a small creaking noise behind him and then a warm pressure on his back. Like a hot rod touching him in a specific point.

“Don’t move,” he heard a voice say behind him.

Chanyeol lifted his arms up to show he was unarmed and meant no harm. “Is-is that a gun?” he stammered as he feared what the foreign sensation on his back could be.

“Possibly,” the voice replied.

“Good grief,” he breathed out and let his arms drop to his sides, “I thought it was a gun.”

“I said it could be one!” Chanyeol immediately lifted his arms again. “Actually, it’s even worse than a bullet,” he threatened.

Chanyeol noticed the voice sounded young, he knew it was one of the missing members. But he’d never imagine being captured as he tried to free the other, much less by the same person he was trying to rescue.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?”

“I used the door.”

“No ,” he spat back. “How’d you open the door?”

“I’ve got the key,” Chanyeol answered truthfully.

“So you’re one of them,” he assumed.

“Wait, what?”

“Give me the key.”

“No.”

“Give me the ing key,” he ordered deepening his voice.

“No,” he bit back.

“Look, I don’t want to be forced to hurt you,” he strained his voice. “Just give me the ing key.”

“Not happening,” Chanyeol retorted. This is getting ridiculous, he thought as he attempted to turn around.

“Don’t ing move!” Chanyeol froze his movements. “I swear I’ll shoot you,” his voice trembled. “I swear I’ll ing shoot you,” he said with more conviction.

Furrowing his brows, Chanyeol could guess the boy hadn’t ever shot anyone before -with whatever weapon he was holding.

“Look,” he said calmly, “you don’t have to worry. I’m here to help you.”

“I don’t believe you,” he cut in.

“It’s true!” Chanyeol exasperated. The guy’s skepticism was killing his patience. “I’m not part of the company. I’m like you.”

“What, what do you mean?”

“Look,” Chanyeol ignited fire onto his raised palms.

“! How’d you do that?” the other’s voice said surprised.

“I can combust things and control fire,” Chanyeol briefly explained as he extinguished the fire. “That’s my ability.”

“You serious?” he could swear the other was in awe.

“Pretty much,” he shrugged his shoulders to emphasize.

“How?” his voice drifted. “I thought I was the only one,” he said softly, Chanyeol almost didn’t hear him.

Feeling empathetic towards the feeling of the other’s versatile voice, Chanyeol tried to be more comprehensive as he explained. “There are more like us; guys with unique abilities, each different from one another. We’ve all been through the first trials. I’m guessing that’s what you’re in now.”

“Yes, that’s what they said.”

“They? Do you know who Mama is?”

“Of course I know Mama,” he answered offended. “She’s my mother.”

Chanyeol couldn’t help but chuckle. It felt like such a long time ago when he was just as convinced as the new guy that his mother was Mama. But after everything he’s gone through with the group, he knew now that that couldn’t be further from the truth. Whoever Mama truly was, a scientist, a guardian, a mother, it didn’t matter anymore.  As long as they were far away from this damn place, he didn’t care to find out the truth.

“She’s not,” he said.

“What?”

“She’s not your mother,” Chanyeol stated and moved to turn.

“Don’t!” he threatened again. “Don’t you dare,” he sounded angered.

“Oh, come on,” Chanyeol huffed out. “Can I at least see who I’m talking to? This is ing ridiculous.”

“What do you mean she’s not my mother?” the boy’s voice wavered ever so slightly. “I mean,” he paused, “I mean I know she’s not my real mother, mother. But she’s my mother. She’s my Mama, right?”

Chanyeol could hear this high tone hitch in his voice, a sound that made his heart clench like he never imagined he could ever feel. Amidst the whole situation, Chanyeol couldn’t stop from admiring the emotions within the versatile voice of his capturer.

“She’s,” Chanyeol paused as he took a deep breath. “She’s not who she says she is. But somehow, despite being in charge of the trials, she’s like our guardian.”

The room remained silent. Chanyeol chewed on his lip as he waited for the other to respond or show any sign of following the conversation. The boy was so silent, that the only indication that he wasn’t alone in the room was the strange warmth poking onto his back -the supposed weapon aimed at him.

Not being fond of the silence, Chanyeol spoke again as sympathetic as possible. “Look, I don’t know how far you are in the trials. But I’m guessing that you’ve noticed the subtle signs by now,” he waited but received no reply.

“I mean, maybe you’ve noticed that Mama doesn’t care for you as much as she used to,” he paused as he searched through his own memories of his first trials. Recollections that evoked emotions of longing, feeling unwanted, feeling the high expectations of the tests, all the emotional storm he endured from her cold treatment. “She doesn’t spend time with you as she used to, right?” he steadied his voice, containing the emotions inside and not letting the scars show. “She stopped smiling lovingly, right? Now Mama only calls you dear when she’s proud, when you’ve succeeded a test. She gives you cold stares when you can’t meet her high expectations. She just cares about results, tests, data and barely has time to visit you anymore. Am I right?” Chanyeol waited, he could feel the poking warmth lower down his back. “I bet she hasn’t hugged you in so long,” he provoked.

“She used to love me,” his voice trembled in the saddest way possible. Chanyeol felt as if something inside ripped apart. “She used to love me so much. I, I,” he audibly gulped, “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Chanyeol couldn’t feel the object against his back anymore. Taking advantage he slowly turned around. “You’ve done nothing wrong,” he said with compassion. “I swear you’ve done nothing to deserve this.”

A boy, much shorter than him, looked up at him with brown almond shaped eyes and brows arched upwards in a crestfallen expression. His gaze resembled a sad puppy and Chanyeol felt as if someone kicked him in the side. Brown fluffy hair, fringe swept to the side, adorned his oval face. His broad shoulders matched with his squared hips, complementing his petite figure.

Chanyeol noticed he wasn’t holding any foreign object in his dainty hands, making him question where the other hid the weapon.

“Why should I believe you?” he spoke softly.

Chanyeol wetted his lips before speaking, “Because I’ve gone through the same. We all have.”

And just then, the earth decided to shake again. Or more like D.O decided to cause another earthquake. The walls creaked as they shook forcefully. The bed, desk and bookshelf trembled with fierce -no wonder books had fallen. Chanyeol crouched down next to the bed and covered his head with his arms, even though there was nothing that could fall over him.

“Stop, stop, stop,” he chanted under his breath. And eventually it did. It was a short but strong quake.

“Why does that keep happening?”

Chanyeol looked up. The boy was standing next to the closet, with his hands placed against the wall for support.

“It’s one of us actually,” he said as he stood. He took a few steps to the sides to balance out the shaky feeling. “One of the guys of the group,” he clarified.

“He’s doing that? Shaking the out of this place?” he asked with exasperation. “For what?”

“An escape route,” Chanyeol replied as he walked up to him with a grin. “We’re escaping this place. Care to join us?” he offered his hand.

The boy looked attentively at his extended hand before pointing at it with his slim finger. “You’re not going to burn me if I touch you, right?”

Chanyeol’s smile faltered, “Um, no. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

The boy’s eyes widened and then he gave Chanyeol a dubious look, “Anymore?” he repeated. “You can just lead the way, mister with the key,” he pointed towards the door.

Chanyeol scratched his head but agreed anyway. “I have a name, though,” he uttered as he took out the keycard from his pocket.

“Yeah? Cool I do too,” the smaller boy quipped. Chanyeol looked back at him miffed at his response. The other lifted his hands and uttered a quick apology. “I’m Baekhyun,” he added.

“Chanyeol,” the fire bender said and opened the door, just to quickly close it again. “.”

“Hey, what the hell?” Baekhyun said confused.

“Shadow boggers. Damn shadow boggers in the hall,” he answered.

“What are shadow boggers?” Baekhyun quirked his eyebrows in chagrin.

“Damn it,” he mumbled as he realized that dealing with the boggers was going to be more complicated with the newbie. “They’re these creepy monsters that can teleport and stab you with their swords, I mean claws.”

“You’re joking, right?” Baekhyun looked incredulously at him.

“No, they are real and they’re ing dangerous,” he explained.

“Shadow boggers?” Chanyeol nodded in response. “They have swords or claws?” he sounded doubtful.

“Claws that are long and sharp like swords.”

“And they teleport?” he questioned with disbelief.

“Yes, but small distances. They’re not as good at it as Kai,” he clarified.

“Kai?”

“He’s part of the group. He’s a teleporter,” Chanyeol replied.

“Hmm,” Baekhyun frowned as he rubbed his mouth with his hand and thought. “Are you completely mad or just overly imaginative?”

Chanyeol clenched his jaw. “What?” he irked.

“I’m hoping it’s the latter,” he said to himself.

“They are real!” he exasperated.

“, you’re completely nuts, aren’t yeah?”

“I am not,” Chanyeol spat back.

“Just give me the key,” Baekhyun barked.

“No!”

“I said give it!”

A blinding light appeared out of nowhere. Or at least he didn’t see where it came from. All Chanyeol could do was cover his eyes from the blinding brightness. He felt as the keycard was tugged out of his grasp.

“Don’t!” he tried to warn. The light had died out, but his eyes held an incandescent after image, impeding him from seeing clearly.

“Holy ing !” he heard the door shut. “What the is that?” Baekhyun shouted.

“A shadow bogger,” Chanyeol grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“What the is wrong with its eyes?”

“It’s got no eyelids,” he replied as he repetitively blinked his eyes. “It would probably go blind if it ever gets flashed like I did. Where the hell did that light come from anyway?”

“That could work,” Baekhyun perked up.

“What?”

“Close your eyes,” he warned and opened the door.

“Wait-” Chanyeol quickly closed his eyes when he perceived the brightness reappearing.

“Alright, let’s go,” he felt Baekhyun tug his arm.

This time he wasn’t left with a hindering after image. This time he was able to see as they walked out into the hall. Three shadow boggers to their left and two towards their right. They were all stumbling about, hissing and whining as their eyes were red.

“How did you do that?” Chanyeol asked in awe.

“I can control light,” he said nonchalantly.

“Awesome,” Chanyeol smiled. “Now, we’ve got to get rid of them,” he turned serious as he walked closer to the trio of boggers. He threw oil at them and manipulated a spark to ignite the fuel. The boggers began to burn in flames as if they had spontaneously combusted. It didn’t take long for them to disintegrate under the infernal heat.

Baekhyun gave him a disapproving look, “That’s horrible.”

“It’s either us or them,” Chanyeol shrugged and flamed the remaining boggers.

“Where do they go?” Baekhyun asked behind him.

“They just disappear when they die,” he answered.

“They vanish in the air just like that?” Baekhyun questioned as they watched the boggers disintegrate.

“Just like that,” he said and then led the way through the corridor.

They needed to get to sector C and then go up to the roof to meet the rest. But as they turned to the left, two halls further away, they crossed paths with two shadow boggers.

“Stay back,” Chanyeol warned as he began to fire at the boggers. He caught one within his range and quickly heated the flames to burn it faster. The second one had dove into its shadow and teleported away.

“Be careful, it can appear anywhere in any second,” Chanyeol said as he stood closer to Baekhyun, cautiously looking about and prepared to attack.

“!”

He heard Baekhyun gasped. Quickly he turned around and saw the black bogger a meter away from Baekhyun. Extending his long arm as fast as possible, he grabbed the other from the back of the collar of his shirt and pulled him backwards out of the monster’s claws range. Two flashes of violet sparked towards the anomalistic creature, like short beams of light. They were so fast that Chanyeol barely managed to perceive them. The dark bogger hissed and disintegrated before them.

“Wow,” Baekhyun breathed out astonished. “That was so close. Did you see that?” he said excited as he fixed his shirt.

“I think I did,” Chanyeol scrunched his brows.

“I, I killed it,” he smiled with confused eyes as he held his head between his hands. “I can’t believe I killed it.”

“Why are you excited about it?” Chanyeol asked concerned, but Baekhyun shook his head.

“It’s the adrenaline rush,” Baekhyun said and extended his hands, they were visibly shivering. “See?” Chanyeol nodded in response and then Baekhyun fisted his hands. “I can hardly stay still,” he muttered as he fidgeted his feet.

“That thing you did. Was that light?”

“Oh yeah,” he nodded feverishly. “I shot it with laser.”

“Laser?” his voice hitched two octaves higher as he realized something. “The, the gun point –the thing you aimed at me, before. It was laser?” Baekhyun’s grin vanished from his lips. “It was laser?” he yelled.

“Uh…”

“You were going to shoot laser at me?”

“No, no, not at all,” Baekhyun stammered. “I just… umm…”

“Oh ,” Chanyeol tried to touch the spot on his back where he felt the strange heat, but his arms were too inflexible to bend and reach between his shoulder blades. “Do I have a hole?”

“Oh no, you’re completely fine,” Baekhyun waved off at his exaggeration. “I just marked you with light in case I needed to use the laser.”

Chanyeol stared back at him in disbelief. His facial expression must’ve been priceless for Baekhyun did his best to hold his amusement in and look away.

“We, umm, we should go,” Baekhyun suggested.

“Uh huh,” was all he could muster in reply.

 

Walking down the corridor, Chanyeol planned on heading back towards the main hall, where the elevator was, and then continue from there to sector C. But in mere minutes they were confronted by shadow boggers again. This time Baekhyun was courageous enough to fight against them –or maybe it was the adrenaline. He’d extend his arms and aim with his hands as if they were guns, with two fingers extended and his thumb held upwards, Baekhyun would shoot at them with rapid laser beams. And man, that guy had the upper hand against the shadow boggers. His attacks were as fast as the speed of light and he would shoot them down before the monsters were able to react and teleport away.

Chanyeol stood behind him, assisting and waiting to intervene whenever Baekhyun struggled. But of course, things were never easy for them. Chanyeol wondered where the hell all the shadow boggers spawned from when the building began to shake aggressively. The movement was so violent, that he immediately lost balance and slammed his back against the wall. Cursing out in pain, he felt his heart skip a beat as he saw Baekhyun stumbled forwards while a misty dark shadow appeared behind him. Chanyeol concentrated all his strength onto his legs and pushed as hard as he could to jump forwards. He literally tackled Baekhyun to the floor before the bogger could slash the other with its blade. In the nick of time he managed to keep Baekhyun’s head from being severed.

Chanyeol didn’t have time to admire how Baekhyun managed to curl and nestled under him in middle of an earthquake. Instead he pushed off the ground to turn and fire at the black bogger behind him.

“Baek blind them!” he ordered.

“Right,” he heard the other agree behind him.

Fully trusting the other, Chanyeol closed his eyes for a few seconds. A few seconds were enough to have his heart pounding like mad against his chest. In the dark with his surroundings shaking furiously, was one of the scariest moments he’s ever gone through. Not to forget that five seconds were enough for a shadow bogger to attack him. Overall, closing his eyes in this very moment should be considered an act of pure madness.

“Chanyeol!”

He quickly opened his eyes, three boggers were stumbling about, bumping against each other and the walls. He stood up and wobbled closer to the monsters. Trying to remain steady, Chanyeol attacked the temporarily blinded boggers, burning them to ashes.

Behind him, he managed to crane his neck and see Baekhyun emit a ray of laser with his hands. Directing the purple-ish white beam, he quickly killed the remaining shadow boggers in the hall.

As the shadow boggers disappeared, the earthquake subsided.

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol asked as he stepped closer to the shorter boy.

“Yeah,” he breathed out tiredly. “That was intense,” he commented and shook his arms.

“No doubt,” Chanyeol agreed.

Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol with a grateful smile, the latter swore he could see a sparkle in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said wholeheartedly. “You saved me.”

“Anytime,” Chanyeol smiled back and patted the shorter one’s shoulder. “Let’s go.” He took the lead.

“Oh , Chanyeol. You’re bleeding.”

“What?”

“The back of your right shoulder,” he grimaced.

He hadn’t noticed it during the hustle, but now he could feel the burn and the itchiness of the cut. He tried to feel it with his other hand, but he barely patted part of the laceration. He figured he got a nasty cut from a bogger, but maybe not profound enough to worry about it.

“Let’s hurry and get to the others,” he said and continued to lead the way.

 

A turn to the left and then to the right, they walked down a long corridor and then turned left again. Chanyeol spotted a dark figure suddenly popping out of thin air down the lobby.

“Kai!” Chanyeol smiled.

“Kai?” Baekhyun looked confused at him.

“Kai,” Chanyeol indicated towards where he was looking.

“Kai?” Baekhyun pointed at said person. Chanyeol nodded. “Kai,” Baekhyun nodded as well in acknowledgement.

“The ,” Kai looked at them stupefied as he walked closer.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun said sheepishly.

“This is Baekhyun,” Chanyeol introduced.

Kai extended his hand and Baekhyun courteously shook it, but when he pulled back Kai didn’t let go.

“You’re going to have to hold on to me and trust me,” he said and motioned Chanyeol to hold his other hand.

“Hold your breath,” the fire bender warned and internally chuckled at the sight of Baekhyun inflating his cheeks.

As if he was into a dark pit, Chanyeol felt the pressure around him shift as he was pulled into a warp jump. His senses out for a fraction of a second and then he felt as if he had fallen back into reality. He breathed in sharply as he took in the sight around him.

They were outside, but someplace high -the roof. The group was gathered at the rooftop of the building, even Tawny was with them up there. It was rather dark outside, near the break of dawn. Everyone looked awfully tired and stressed, except for Luhan and a new guy Chanyeol couldn’t recognize. He looked roughly around the same height as Baekhyun, but his hair was darker and jaw a squared. His whole body looked much thinner than Baekhyun’s.

A loud crackling sound emitted through the air, like a low sounding thunder.

“Do it now,” he heard Suho command and Luhan extended his arms above his head.

Chanyeol couldn’t notice anything different apart from the crack in the sky. Yes, there was a huge crack in the ceiling of the dome. The earth began to quake again and pieces of the paneled sky shattered and fell. Chanyeol instinctively covered his head and heard Baekhyun scream next to him as a chunk of the ceiling fell above them. But the debris didn’t hit them, instead it collided against an invisible force and slid down the side of the telekinetic force field.

“How?” Baekhyun questioned with wide eyes, completely baffled.

“Luhan’s protecting us with a telekinetic force field.”

Baekhyun could only nod in response as he stared at the sky braking above them. “It’s not real?” he spoke softly.

“No, we are underground,” he answered.

“Chanyeol, we should go,” Kai said while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“I need Lay first.”

“What happened?” the tan boy asked concerned.

“Stupid bogger cut,” he laconically said as he headed next to Lay.

 

As he had suspected, the cut wasn’t deep at all and in a minute he was back inside the lower levels of the building with Kai.

“Spread the fire,” Kai said as he held onto him from behind.

With Kai’s help, they quickly moved through the first floors of the building, discharging flames at an impressive speed. With the fire system turned off, there was no way of stopping the fire from consuming the entire facility. Avoiding all confrontation with the remaining boggers and shadow boggers, Kei teleported them through each sector, skimming through floors and spreading Chanyeol’s fire into everything they could combust.

Somewhere through the sixth floor they stumbled across Mama. She looked completely distraught and flabbergasted at the whole situation.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she spat venomously.

“Halt and catch fire,” Kai smirked disdainfully.

“You bastards,” Mama vexed, but they didn’t stay to hear the rest of her rant.

 

They briefly passed through the seventh floor and skipped the last three, leaving the levels closest to the roof intact. Hastily they finished their task and returned to the roof.

Now the crack on the panels had turned into a hole, a big aperture of over two meters of diameter. There was a downpour of debris falling on top of the force field. Some pieces stayed on top and covered their sight.

“How much time do we have?” Kris asked as he saw them appear.

“Over an hour,” Chanyeol answered as Kai sat on the floor. He looked completely exhausted.

“He’s almost done,” Tao commented as he was looking up. He was standing next to Kris.

Sure enough, the ceiling shook and large chunks of the panel broke apart and feel over them. Watching great pieces of debris fall on top was unnerving. Chanyeol kept flinching even though he knew the pieces would never hit him. Luhan was sure using a great deal of effort to keep them safe. His breathing was heavy labored and arms were shaking.

“Hurry up,” Luhan said with a strained voice.

Chanyeol tried to find D.O up on the panels, but he could barely see with all the debris and dirt covering the force field. Turning his attention back to Luhan, he noticed the other’s body was trembling from the effort. Lay walked next to him and held onto his shoulders. Luhan stood straighter and his arms shook less. He looked as if he was partially reenergized. But then he kneeled down, as if the weight he supported had suddenly increased.

Chanyeol perceived movement over him and saw as dirt and rocks were pushed off the force field. The panel debris were being thrown to the sides as well, their vision began to clear. D.O was literally standing over them. He looked completely disheveled, his clothes were torn and muddied. He had scrapes and bloodied cuts all over his body. His hair and face was covered with dirt. D.O picked up the remaining debris and tossed it to the side, clearing the top of the telekinetic barrier.

“Someone catch him,” Luhan strained before breaking his concentration and canceling the field.

Sehun was quick to react. He broke D.O’s fall with a mass of wind and securely managed to settle the other down on the roof.

“Kai,” Kris called out and the said boy appeared behind him. He jumped onto the volitant boy’s back and they flew up out of the hole.

“You did it! You bloody did it,” Suho cheered as he kneeled next to D.O. The other was sprawled on the floor, completely exhausted from the whole ordeal.

Kai appeared back on the roof and grabbed onto Tao and Xiumin who were the closest to where he stood. They disappeared and seconds later he was back without them. He grabbed onto Luhan and Sehun and took them away. Then Lay and the new guy. And then he held tightly onto his friend as he was teleported out with Baekhyun.

 

They stood in a forest, but a quite different one from the place they used to be. The trees looked different, the plants were different, even the air felt different. Kai reappeared with D.O and Suho. He breathed in deep and looked up.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered before fainting from exhaustion.

Lay sluggishly made his way next to the fallen one and sat beside him. Resting his hand on top of Kai’s forehead, the healer looked up to the sky with a pleasant smile.

“It truly is,” he said.

Chanyeol finally looked up.

Light blue sky and faded pink fluffy clouds adorned the early morning view. And at the edge of the tree tops towards the east, an ethereal yellowish light illuminated the sky.

“The sun,” he whispered contently and sat down on the grass.

What he felt in that moment, as he watched the sunrise for the first time, was inexplicable and akin to the most peaceful feeling he had ever felt in his entire life.

 

  

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A/N: Finally updated at nearly 4 am… I’m crazy.

Thanks to Moyallenshi, Mickael, listenallaround, royalaces and Moughtytwin2 for subscribing. Holy , there’s 70 already! 

Anyway, have a great week guys. 

Annyeong!

-Blackie.