"…alt! I said halt! Stop, you insolent fools! If you keep running, the Emperor will behead you!"

When Jieun woke up, she found herself leaning against someone's back. She lifted her heavy eyelids, trying to figure out why she felt like she was being tossed around. As she raised her head, she was surprised to know that someone was giving her a piggy-back ride. As she placed her hands on the boy's shoulder, she realized that it was Taemin who was running with her on his back.

"Stop! Stop right there!"

"Damn it!" Myungsoo, who was running ahead of Taemin, turned around and pointed to a group of soldiers with his index finger. A wave of electricity slipped out his finger and struck the ground in front of the soldiers. To Jieun, it was obvious that he missed in order to not harm the soldiers, but to catch the soldiers off guard. Their eyes met briefly, and Myungsoo scowled. "Taemin! Stop for a second! Jieun woke up!"

"She woke up? Now?" Taemin repeated. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Jieun was awake, but confused. "Oh, great. Get off my back."

"W-What's going on?" Jieun asked as Taemin stopped running for the brief moment.

"We'll explain on the way! For now, run!" he ordered. Jieun only nodded as she got off his back and touched the ground.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit her head. She tripped over her own feet and groaned. She pushed her hands against the floor, trying to get up, but failed miserably.

"What the hell are you doing, Jieun?" Mino, who happened to be beside her, cried out.

"I-I can't get up," Jieun said weakly. "I can't stand."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Mino exclaimed. "Hurry up and get on your feet!"

"I can't! I don't have the strength!" she cried out.

Naeun gritted her teeth. "Are you serious?" She stepped next to Myungsoo, then pushed the air towards the soldiers who came even closer. A large blast of wind prevented the soldiers from charging at them. Some of the men lost their footings and flew backwards, but others continued to fight against the wind. "I can only do little to hold them off! Someone carry Jieun!"

Mino groaned. "Here, I got h—"

"I got her," Taemin said quickly, interrupted Mino. He reached over and forced Jieun on his back. When he looked up, he saw Mino giving him a weird look. "What?"

"I… I can take her," Mino said. "I mean, aren't you tired?"

"There's no time for that. We need to get out of here now!" Taemin told him. He started running again, while Jieun used all her strength to grab onto his neck. They were quickly followed by the other three, who tailed right behind them.

At one point in their run, the five managed to make a quick turn and hid behind a couple of large rocks and trees. They heard the soldiers stop, then heard one of them yell out orders to search the area. Once they heard the soldiers scatter around, the five quickly escaped to the mountains, where they found a small abandoned mine shack.

"I think we can stay here for a bit to rest," Naeun said, looking around. She quickly took out her bag, then bit her bottom lip. "I'm afraid that they took most of my stuff. I'll try to see what I can make to energize us."

"I seriously thought that I was going to die out there!" Myungsoo exclaimed, collapsing onto the ground. He flinched when he touched his neck. "Damn, those spears are pointy!"

"What's going on?" Jieun asked. She turned to Mino. "What happened?"

"You freaking wished us to a whole new place," Taemin muttered. "We appeared in the middle of some kind of empire. The soldiers thought that we were devils and wanted to capture us."

"I was going to be a sacrifice!" Myungsoo exclaimed. "They were going to sacrifice me first!"

"It doesn't look like they have powers, though," Mino said. "I think we just need to avoid being captured." He turned to Jieun. "Can you wish us back to the Vampire Realm? What did you even say, anyway?"

"I said I wanted to go to the Vampire Realm," Jieun said.

"No," Naeun said, shaking her head. "You wished us to go to the Empire Realm."

"Well, what's the Empire Realm?" Mino asked.

"It's one place you don't want to be at when you have powers," Myungsoo told them. "These people are anti-magic. All you can do here is hard work and effort. To them, magic is like witchcraft or a gift to the devils."

"Only the emperor can use magic, and he's crazy strong with it," Naeun explained. "He's part of the Council, isn't he?"

"Does this mean we're in the same dimension as the Vampire Realm?" Jieun asked softly.

"Yeah, but we're across the map," Taemin said. "It's going to take years to get back to the Vampire Realm." He glanced at Jieun. "Unless you can use your magic, but seeing your current state, it looks like you have a cool-down."

"But how long does it take for her to cool down?" Naeun asked.

"It shouldn't take long. It only took a couple of hours before she summoned you guys," Myungsoo said.

"It felt like hours," Taemin said. "We don't know how time worked at that place. Who knows, a few minutes there could've been days over here." He frowned at Naeun and Mino. "It'd help to know how long they searched for us, but these two don't even know a thing about what happened to them."

Naeun pouted. "I just remember it being my fault, that's all…"

"Okay, what could you have possibly done to make it your fault? You are the most careful and cautious girl I know," Myungsoo said.

"I don't know, okay? I just know that it's my fault!"

"But how could it be your fault—"

"I don't know! Ask Mino!"

"He doesn't remember anything!" Myungsoo exclaimed.

"I just remember it being cold," Mino mumbled. He shivered, and so did Naeun. "It was really cold and I don't even know if I was conscious…"

As Taemin listened to the three yell over each other, he couldn't help but notice that Jieun was still on his back. She was having trouble breathing. Her eyelids couldn't force itself to stay open. She looked tired and pale, as if life was draining away from her soul.

"You okay?" Taemin whispered to her.

"I-I'm fine," Jieun mumbled. "I'm just feeling dizzy again…"

"Should I put you down?"

"Yes, please… I'm feeling light-headed," Jieun said. She slowly climbed down Taemin's back and laid down on her floor. "I just feel like I want to sleep…"

"Sleep? For how long?" Taemin asked.

"Now that I think about it, she was sleeping for an extremely long time. You got impatient and threw water at her to wake her up," Myungsoo said.

"Her powers probably vary on how much energy she uses for the wish. I guess crossing dimensions would be tiresome," Naeun suggested.

Taemin scowled. "Great. So it's going to take us a while until she falls asleep and gets energized again?"

"In that case, we should hurry up and disguise ourselves or something. You know, do anything to hide away from those soldiers," Mino told them. "Are we going to camp out here, or are we going to find another place?"

"Finding another place seems too risky right now. We could bump into any of the soldiers if we start walking around," Naeun said. She looked around. "Although I don't see any water around here… Okay, so the first group will go and search for water. Any of you have a bottle?"

"Can't we have Jieun wish for some bottles to appear?" asked Mino.

"Does she look like she's in any position to use her powers to make a wish?" Myungsoo asked. "Besides, if we start having her make these abnormal wishes, it might stir attention. People from the magical realms might hear of this and hunt for her. Then the Council is going to hear about how she broke the rules and managed to survive with the bracelet taken off of her." He turned to Taemin. "That probably means that both you and Jieun will be sentenced to death."

"Oh gosh no," Naeun whispered. "I don't want Taemin to die!"

"Then once she's back to health, can't she wish for no one to figure out her powers?"

"Didn't you learn anything about Galaxial Wishes or any kind of galaxy powers? These powers might seem powerful, but they're seriously restricted to what they can do. They have to think wisely about their wishes or it can lead to chaos. Even wishing for food might case a whole other realm to perish. There's a cause-and-effect chain with galaxy powers, and that's why the Councils killed everyone they knew who had any kind of galaxy powers," Myungsoo explained to him. Taemin scoffed and crossed his arms. "Anyway, Naeun is right. We do need water. Taemin, Jieun, and I have nothing on us right now."

Naeun clicked her tongue. "Damn. That's not good news then. While my bag was taken away by those dumb soldiers, they took almost everything. They took everything that was in a bottle. Ugh, I've got the most useless items in this bag."

"What do you have?" Mino asked her.

"A couple of herbs and other useless stuff. There's no bottles or anything to carry, though," Naeun said.

"Can't you guys use any of your powers?" Mino inquired.

"If you want to electrocute yourself, then feel free to have Myungsoo do it. If you want dust and dirt in your water, then I'll have the honor of using my powers. Also, fire doesn't go along with water." She narrowed her eyes. "Don't even talk about powers, especially since you don't have it."

Mino wanted to say something clever, but he couldn't. He closed his mouth and frowned. Naeun smirked. She swung her bag over her shoulders and turned to the rest.

"Well, since we don't have anything to carry with, I suggest we move," Naeun said.

"Didn't you just say that we should stay?" Mino pointed out. He smirked while Naeun shot him a cruel glare.

"Don't act all smart when you don't have a better plan," Naeun snapped.

"Just saying," Mino muttered.

"Okay, then let's go find a better place. If we ever sense a soldier, then let's separate," Myungsoo suggested.

"Good plan," Taemin said.

"Woah, woah, woah! I don't want to separate again. Did you guys forget about what happened last time? You three went to a complete new dimension!" Naeun pointed out.

"Well, Jieun's powers are asleep—"

"What if they wake up? Then what?"

"We kind of know how to control her powers," Myungsoo said. "At least, we got a better understanding of her powers."

Naeun scoffed. "No, I won't take it. We're staying in a group."

"Naeun, we—"

"Fine," Taemin interrupted him. "We'll stay in a group." He bent down next to Jieun. "Can you stand or anything?"

"Does it look like I can stand?" Jieun muttered.

"Okay, I'll carry you—"

"Wait, I should carry her," Mino said. He quickly walked over to Jieun and helped her on his back. "You carried her while we were running." He gave Taemin a quick look. "I'm not trying to say that you're weak, but rather we should take turns with this."

Taemin frowned. "But I can still carry her—"

"Taemin, just leave her to him. There's not reason for you to be hooked up over this," Naeun said. She paused and raised her eyebrow. "Is there?"

Taemin kept quiet. He silently shook his head and took a step back with a dejected expression.

"Okay, we're stepping out of this place," Naeun said. She nudged Myungsoo's rib. "You're coming with me."

"To do what?"

"To scout. We'll search the area and check if the place is cleared," Naeun informed Taemin. 

Taemin nodded his head. "I'll be here with Mino and Jieun."

"Stay quiet, okay?" Myungsoo ordered him.

"I know what I'm doing," Taemin told him.

"You better. Let's go, Naeun," he said. Myungsoo and Naeun began to crawl out of the mine shack.

In a few seconds, Taemin turned to Mino. "You know, I can still carry her—"

"I'm fine," Mino said, stressing the last words. "You need a break from carrying her. She's heavy, isn't she?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jieun muttered weakly.

Taemin scowled. "I—"

"Halt! Put the Stone of Resistance on these two!"

The three looked up and whirled around. Their eyes widened and they quickly hid deeper into the mine shack. Taemin placed his index finger on his lips, then started walking closer to the entrance of the mine shack. Mino and Jieun stood behind a large pile of coal and kept quiet.

After a few minutes, the two saw Taemin return. He had a deep frown on his expression. Without saying anything else, he gestured the two to follow him deeper into the mines. He quickly lit up a dim light by summoning some kind of tiny flame spirit. He pointed to the large pile of coal, and the white flame burned even more with delight. It flew straight to the pile of coal, eating the coal as its flames grew stronger.

"Stay back," Taemin commanded to the two.

The two nodded and did exactly as they were told. They watched the flame spirit dissolve itself into the pile of coal and spread its heat to the other nearby coals. They soon heard footsteps replacing the sound of the flickering flames.

"It's a dead-end, sir!" someone exclaimed.

"Well, it seems like the two were saying the truth about how the three are trapped in a burning mine shack. Wherever those three are in there, they will die from the flames. Let's return and show those two to the Emperor! You did put the Stone of Resistance on them, yes?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright, move out and back to the empire!"

The group shouted something and began to walk away. The three kept quiet, continuing to hide behind the flames. After five minutes, Taemin finally approached the fire and stuck his hand out. With his fingers stretched far apart, he lowered his hand from his shoulder to his hips. The fire copied the same motion of Taemin's hand. It died down until it left nothing but ashes and the heat on the coal.

"Idiots," Taemin murmured. "I can control these flames. I'm not dying when there's fire around."

"What happened to Naeun and Myungsoo?" Mino asked quickly.

"They got captured right when they stepped outside."

"Why didn't they escape?"

"I'm assuming that the soldiers jumped on them or snuck up behind them. They put the Stone of Resistance. It's a magical item that will greatly weaken their powers. They probably couldn't do much except make a small breeze or give someone a static shock."

"Is it really a stone?" Mino frowned. "Wait, isn't this place anti-magic?"

"Well, they kind of need magical stuff to defend against the magical creatures. Most of these are just fake merchandise like the Stone of Luck. However, the Stone of Resistance is more like a stone handcuff with some magical engravings."

"I see… Man, I can't believe that those two were captures so easily."

"That tells us about how high the security is around here," said Taemin. "We got to be careful."

"So what do we do next? How do we save them?"

"Save them?" Taemin repeated. "You want to save them?"

Mino blinked his eyes. "Well, um, yeah. Don't you?"

Taemin shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't given it much thought."

"But we have to save them," Jieun said. "How could you not think of saving them?"

"My plan was to wait for those two to save themselves." He looked at Jieun. "Well, since we know that you have powers, I guess we can go and try to save those two." He looked out at the entrance. "Well, things should be cleared out. They should stop looking for us. Let's go and find some kind of water source."

"Okay, but do you even know where to go?" Mino asked him.

"No clue, but we'll figure it out," Taemin said blandly. He looked at Mino, who frowned at him. "Like I've been trying to say, I can carry Jieun—"

"I said that I'm fine!" Mino exclaimed. He stormed out of the mine shack, taking the lead. 

Taemin smirked, then followed right behind Mino.