Jieun woke up with cold sweat on her face. She quickly sat up and tried to steady her breathing. For some odd reason, she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. She wasn’t sure why she felt this way, but she didn’t like it.

She turned to see if Howon was anywhere in sight. To her relief, he was at the same large tree where he had slept last night. She looked around, searching for a food source. She wanted to get up and look around, but she had to keep in mind that Howon’s contract restricted her from doing so. She glanced down at her hands, then groaned when the red strings were still attached to his body. She started shaking around the strings, but it did absolutely nothing. It didn’t even move his body.

So these aren’t puppet strings, she realized. Which means that I can’t control him as I want to, but these strings restrict him from doing something. It’s like these strings have a mind of its own.

Howon started to stir. He moaned a little and shot his eyes wide open. He looked straight at Jieun, who stared at him back.

“Morning,” Jieun said casually.

Howon looked down, then groaned. “Damn it. These strings are still on me.”

“Well, maybe they’ll get off when we finish the contract,” she said.

“That’s if we can find my stupid village,” he murmured.

“I have a feeling that we’re going to find it today,” Jieun said, trying to force a smile. “Besides, isn’t there anything around here that reminds you about your village?”

“Nope. Like I said, I haven’t been here in years. I’ve been starved and locked up in a cell that dulls my magic,” Howon pointed out.

“Right, and I was stupid enough to believe that you were a dragon,” she mumbled.

“I can’t believe you fell for that. Well, I kind of could. You see, you don’t look like you were part of this particular world, so I thought that if I make something up, you might catch the bait.”

“Well, get up. We need to go.”

“Why don’t you continue to drag me?” he asked.

“I tried earlier. I realized that these strings aren’t for controlling you. I’m not sure what affects its factors. I was able to drag you around yesterday, but I couldn’t drag you around when you were asleep,” Jieun said.

“Hm. Sounds complicated.”

“I don’t think you have any other ideas, do you?”

“Nope, not a clue.”

Jieun let out another sigh. She looked around and rubbed her face with her hands.

“Well, since we don’t know where else to go, I say that we go straight,” she said.

“Go ahead. Drag me,” Howon said.

She shot him a glare. “You don’t want to use your own two feet to walk, do you?”

“Oops.” Howon grinned. “To be honest, it’s comfortable when you dragged me around. I didn’t need to use an ounce of energy.”

“Get up!” she demanded. She groaned when he refused to move. She looked around, then stopped glaring when she saw something between two particular trees. “Howon, by any chance, does your village look burnt down and full of mushrooms?”

“Well, it’s definitely burnt down, but I don’t know about mushrooms,” he said.

“Then I think I found your village,” she murmured, walking closer to the scene. She pushed away a few leaves, and Howon started to follow her.

They widened their eyes when they approached the abandoned village. Buildings were burnt down into ashes. It reeked of the scent of the dead. Mushroom-like plants were plentiful around area and even grew on some of the surviving building structures. Howon slowly walked over to examine the spore. He stared at it for a second, tapping it and studying the colors.

A simple smile appeared on his lips. He turned around and gave Jieun a gentle look.

“I’m home,” he told her.

Suddenly, the red strings unraveled itself. It gave Howon one last push into the village before sliding back into Jieun’s fingertips. Shocked, Jieun stared at her hands, wondering what caused the strings to retreat.

“Does that mean that the contract is gone?” Jieun asked.

“Yep,” Howon said, nodding his hand. He snapped his fingers and introduced her the official paper. Before she had the chance to see it, the paper dissolved and transformed into a purple orb. He pushed the orb closer to him and swallowed it.

Jieun looked down at her hand and noticed that the glove with wing-shaped mark had disappeared. She smiled, feeling assured that the contract was completed.

“So now what?” she asked him.

Howon looked around. “I think I’m going to stay here and live with the pixies.”

“You think you’re capable of doing that?” she inquired.

“Yeah, I think I can handle it.” Howon smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said. She paused. “So is that it?”

“Yeah,” he said, walking over to a building with half a wall. He checked the mushrooms. “I’ll clean this place up a bit with the pixies and live here with them.”

Jieun nodded her head. “Well, it was great meeting you. I should head back to my crew.”

“Yeah, you should,” he agreed.

“I might see you next time?” she said, unsure about herself.

Howon only smiled. He didn’t nod or shake his head. Jieun shrugged to herself and started to walk away. 

She walked for a whole forty minutes, or what felt like forty minutes. When she cleared a path for herself, she heard silver bells chiming in the forest. She frowned a bit, confused. She continued walking, but stopped when she realized that she had seen a familiar landmark.

No way, she thought. I can’t be walking in circles.

The same silvery laugh echoed around her. Jieun scrunched her forehead, but stopped when she saw a dot of light floating down before her. The light transformed into a recognizable human-sized pixie. Jieun blinked her eyes when she saw Eunji standing before her.

“How sweet, you took him back home!” Eunji said, smiling.

“Yes, I did. Why didn’t you do that same?” Jieun asked, frowning. “I don’t like your games.”

“What? What games?” she asked innocently.

“Now, are you going to tell me how to get out of this forest and how to find my friends, or do I have to play a stupid game with you?” Jieun asked.

Eunji stopped smiling. “You know, pixies don’t have powers to play games. We also like putting illusions on people.”

Jieun stared at her. “So you’re saying that I think I’ve been walking in circles, but in reality, I’m walking straight?”

“You could be walking straight. Who knows,” Eunji said teasingly. She flicked her wrist. The setting changed and Jieun was back on track. She let out a sigh of relief, glad to know that she had been walking in the right direction, despite being in an illusionary field a moment ago.

“So what do you want?” Jieun asked. “Your friend Howon is back at his village. Why don’t you go and play with him? He seems like he wants to clean up the place with you guys.”

Eunji blinked her eyes. Then, she started to giggle. Her giggles slowly transformed into wicked laughs. An unpleasant feeling rested in Jieun’s stomach. Hearing the way the pixie laughed at her made her realize that she must’ve made a terrible mistake.

“Us? With an erkling? You must be crazy!” Eunji hollered.

“Why? Howon’s different. He doesn’t eat pixies. Don’t you know that?”

“An erkling is always an erkling by heart,” Eunji told her. “Just like how in a pixie’s eyes, everyone is her play thing, even though the person might be her ‘friend.’”

Jieun didn’t like where this was going. “What do you mean by ‘play thing?’”

“How adorable. You’re so innocent. I’d feel slightly bad if I actually ended up misleading you,” Eunji said, putting her hand over her lips.

“Misleading me?” Jieun started to pale. “What do you mean…?”

“Darling, do you think that every relationship is mutual? Do you think that just because I’m Howon’s ‘friend’ it means that I consider him as my friend?”

Jieun dropped her jaws. She couldn’t believe what Eunji was saying. Howon had treasured her so much, so why was she…how could she…?

Something clicked in her head. She started to remember her vision with two younger-version of Howon. She remembered how the boys either wanted to eat the pixie or wanted to treasure the pixies. She was right. Those two boys didn’t just look like Howon; they were conflicting consciences that took form of Howon. Howon had been troubled by the nature of his behavior and the desire to befriend nature. It wasn’t just a vision or a dream. It was really him.

“You were the one who tricked him,” Jieun slowly stated, staring at Eunji. “You’re the one who convinced him to massacre the village.” She made a fist and glared at Eunji. “You were the one who dirtied his hands!”

“I dirtied his hands?” Eunji giggled. “I’m sorry, miss. You must be misunderstanding the whole situation. What I merely did was plant a seed—an idea. It was him who took action. I didn’t dirty his hands. It was his choice.”

“He did this all for you,” Jieun breathed. “He killed people just so that he didn’t need to eat you. He did it because he loved you so much! He loved playing with you, despite the fact that you saw him as a toy!”

“A pixie does not fall in love with emotions,” Eunji told her straightforwardly. “A pixie, instead, falls in love with whatever it can play with. I do love Hoya, really, but I love him for my amusement.”

Jieun slowly shook her head. “You’re sick…”

“You better go check up on him, though,” Eunji said. “I’m pretty sure he’s waiting back at the village.”

“Wait, you’re not going?” Jieun asked her. “Even though you know that he cares for you and still wants to play with you? He doesn’t want to eat you. He refuses to eat you.”

“Of course I’m not going. When Hoya killed all the erklings and left, poison shrooms have been populating the abandoned area. Those shrooms should be releasing their poison mist any minute now. Those shrooms can easily kill anyone, even Hoya,” Eunji said.

Jieun widened her eyes. “And does he know about that? Is he aware of that? Did you tell him?”

“Why would I tell him?” Eunji asked. She snickered. “Isn’t it more fun to just sit back and watch how the situation unfolds?”

Without thinking twice, Jieun started running to the village, hoping to find Howon before he could die from the poisonous shrooms.

Cold shivers ran up Taemin’s spine. His brown orbs rolled over to the corner of his eyes. He briefly looked at Myungsoo, who also had the same tense expression.

“Someone’s watching us,” Myungsoo murmured. He looked down. “Naeun can’t move yet.”

“I’ll take off. I’ll try to find them and I’ll distract them. Let’s split up for now,” Taemin whispered.

“Okay. I’ll take Naeun and take her to somewhere safe.”

“If I can’t handle the enemy, I’ll find Jieun and Mino and try to meet you as soon as possible.”

“Got it.”

The two boys slowly stood up. Myungsoo gently scooped Naeun off the ground. When the two boys met eyes and nodded, they started to separate. Taemin ran straight into the bushes while Myungsoo carried Naeun out of the open road and into a more complicated area with lots of trees and plants. 

As Taemin ran, he snapped his fingers. A white flame lit up on the tip of his index finger. He looked around, trying to find his opponent.

A speedy figure swooped by him from above. Taemin quickly ducked away from the creature. He lifted his head, ready to throw flames at the bird-like creature. However, he stopped and widened his eyes. He got rid of the flame from his finger and stood still. His eyes were still on the flying creature, who started to rotate in circles like a hawk. However, the creature was wearing a royal uniform with a flower and a spear printed on the edge of its robe.

The Council’s symbol, Taemin realized. And it’s not a wizard staff. It’s a spear, so that means the leader of the Council changed… 

Taemin darted away and tried to hide under the arms of the tree. He didn’t know why, but his guts told him that the creature wasn’t here for vacation. He opened his hand, generating a large ball of white flame.

I need to get as far away from that creature as possible, he told himself, and I need to generate a big enough flame for Jieun and Mino to see.

He took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, then slammed the fire against the ground. The flame roared and shot right above tree. He let out a deep breath and shook his hand from the impact.

Now I just need to do a gazillion of these until I find them, he thought tiredly. He groaned, but continued to run in the shadows while making large, white flaming balls.

After Eunji had released Jieun, the pixie started walking away, humming a small tune to herself. She skipped down the forest, ready to search for her next victim. She stopped when she saw an unconscious man lying down on the ground with his face touching the dirt. Her eyes sparkled.

Yay! Another toy! she thought, cheering. She floated next to the man and started to poke his cheek. “Hello? Are you alive! Hell—“

She yelped when the figure lunged for her neck. She tried to scream for help, but the man managed to grab her neck. He knocked her against the rough tree bark, trying to drive her unconscious. She turned to a deadly pale shade of white and tried to change back to pixie mode. However, the man’s curse mark on his neck glowed through the patch of cloth, which somehow seemed to have prevented her from using her magic.

“W-What are you going to do? Kill me?” Eunji stuttered, her eyes wide and her skin whiter than it already was.

Mino’s eyes shifted to black. A snarky grin appeared on his face as he extended his hand. His fingers curled around her neck, causing Eunji to shiver. She tried to go back to her pixie form again, but she couldn’t move her body at all. She glance down and noticed how Mino was stepping on her shadow.

“It’s all your fault,” Mino chanted. He used his other hand to pry open. Eunji started to breathe hard. She tried to absorb as much oxygen as she could, but Mino continued to strangle her with one hand. “I’ll be taking this for now…!”

In one go, Eunji hitched her breath. Her eyes shifted black, just like how Mino’s eyes were. Foam started to gurgle out of . When Mino released his grip on her neck, the same cursed mark he had glowed onto Eunji’s neck. 

“Two sacrifices collected, three more to go.”

Eunji’s eyes shifted back to normal. However, she collapsed against the ground, unconscious. Mino’s eyes also shifted back to normal. He moaned in pain and was about to collapse until he steadied himself against the tree.

“Ugh…” Mino rubbed his eyes and looked around. “What happened to me…?” He looked down at the unconscious girl. Shoot. Did I do something to her?

He bit his bottom lip. Panicking, he stood up and started to run in a random direction. He wasn’t sure if the girl was dead, but he knew that he had to stay far away from her. 

I need to catch up! Jieun thought desperately, rushing through the forest. She just had to go back and fetch Howon. How could she possibly think of leaving him alone in the village? What else would a guy like him need to do in a village like that?

She gasped when she almost fell off a cliff. She looked around, frowning. From what she remembered, there was no cliff. She was sure that she went in the same direction as before, so why was there…

Small laughs that sounded like silver bells chimed in the forest. Jieun took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Pixies, she realized. They’re playing a game with me without my consult. She looked down and tried to estimate the drop. This is some kind of illusion. This just has to be some kind of illusion…

She heard a loud fwoosh! from her right. She turned around. Although she couldn’t see anything, she could feel the intense and cold temperature hitting her face. She could recognize that unusual temperature anywhere.

“Taemin,” Jieun whispered. She started running in the direction of the cold. However, she stopped when she ran into another cliff. The same laugh echoed around her. She groaned.

There’s no use for me to keep running, she realized. I’m going to be lost at this rate. She looked ahead with a firm look and tried to think. Okay, I have powers. According to whatever everyone has been telling me, I can wish for something and it’s going to come true. She glanced around herself. But when I make a wish, it’s gong to tire me out. So I need to make one wish. She wiggled her fingers. How did I use my powers before? Heart racing fast? When I’m in panic mode? It was never clear…

“Damn it!” she cried out. She fixed her eyes at the scene in front of her and clasped her hands together in a prayer. Then, while holding a frown, she shut her eyes and pressed her lips firmly against each other. I don’t know how this is going to work, but I wish that I can be where Taemin is! I wish that I can be where Taemin is! I wish I can be where Taemin is! I wish—

Gold specs trickled down from her hands. A brilliant flash surrounded her whole body. In a blink of an eye, the light had disappeared, and so did Jieun.

The pixies, who were hiding behind a few trees, stopped hiding and looked around for Jieun. Confused, they tried to figure out what had happened to their little toy. In seconds, a golden beam fell from the sky and landed to where the white flames were last seen. The pixies stared at the incredible light, awestruck about the blinding beauty.

Taemin stared at the figure standing before him. He had been burning a few trees down just to make a signal for Jieun and Mino in order for the two to know his whereabouts. He didn’t expect to see Jieun appear right before his eyes.

Jieun still stood in her prayer position. When she opened her eyes, relief flooded through her veins. She was about to collapse from exhaustion, but quickly remembered Howon’s situation.

“Jieun, look, we go to go. I saw some of the members from the Council and it looked like that—“

Before Taemin could say anything else, she grabbed his hand and started to drag him in a random direction.

“Taemin! Hurry!” Jieun shouted. “We need to save Howon!”

The first thought that came across his mind was the contract. Taemin’s eyes widened and he could feel his heart stop. If Howon was in danger, then he was a victim of death. If the unwanted Contract ended up dead, then that would mean that Jieun would die, too.

“Damn him,” Taemin muttered, making a deep frown. He started to run at his one pace, speeding past Jieun’s side. She widened her eyes, shocked to see that he was so eager to save Howon.

The two continued to run until the made their way past the trees. Jieun held her breath and stared at the scene before her. Fortunately, Howon was still alive. He was still living, but he stood at the center of a village. A mysterious purple cloud started to approach him. The cloud started to slowly gobble up anything in the village.

Jieun wanted to move and save him, but she started to notice something. Howon’s back was straight. Even though she was looking at his back, there wasn’t an ounce of fear or anxiety. She couldn’t sense that he was prepared for something. It was like he was expecting the poison mist to approach him. It was like he wanted to let the mist surround him and take over him. It was like he—

“He’s planning to die,” Taemin breathed. He clenched his fist. A white ball of flame quickly appeared on the palm of his hands. “I’ll go bring him! Jieun, you stay here!”

Just when Taemin was about to throw the fire ball, the red strings shot out from Jieun’s fingertips. Before he could arch his arm forward, the strings wrapped itself around his arm and extinguished the flame. His eyes widened, shocked to see a foreign magic. He turned around and noticed that the strings were coming out of her fingertips. He struggled, but it was no use. The red strings wouldn’t allow him to attack Howon.

"What the hell, Jieun?" Taemin yelled. "What are you doing? If we don't save him, then you're going to die—"

"Stop, Taemin! The contract is over! It's gone!" Jieun shouted.

Taemin glared at her. "What the hell are you saying—"

"Look!" she yelled. At the same time, she ran closer to him and tugged him back, preventing him for going inside the toxic mist. The mist finally started to cloud itself around Howon. Taemin looked over and saw that Howon was holding something in his hands. He squinted his eyes, trying to get a better view of what Howon was doing.

Howon's true form starting appearing. His nails extended and his teeth grew sharper and longer. His eyes turned to a deep shade of crimson red. He glanced behind him, looking at Jieun and Taemin, who only watched with complete fear for his safety. Then, Howon turned back and gripped tighter around one of his fangs.

Jieun started screaming when she heard the teeth breaking from his bare hands. She covered her ears and closed her eyes as tears trickled down her cheeks. 

Taemin quickly brought her closer to him and gave her a tight hug. He continued to watch Howon's decision. The boy raised the fang high in the air. He coughed out blood due to the mist and the bleeding teeth. He turned back once more and met Taemin's eyes.

"Thank you," Howon mouthed silently. He looked back at the village, raised the fang, then stabbed it through his chest. However, he did not scream. He weeped quietly, muttering out inaudible words. His collapsed onto his knees, then eventually fell to the ground. The mist thickened and covered him from the eye.

Jieun started to cry harder. She lost all the energy to stand. When her tears splashed against the ground, they turned to red glitter that dissolved into the ground. The strings withdrew themselves back into her fingertips and disappeared.

After a few more seconds of mourning, he gave her a gentle tap on the shoulder.

"We got to leave, Jieun," he said. "The Council is already onto us. Let's go."

"I-I can't stand," she murmured in between her tears. Before Taemin had the chance to carry her, he noticed that there was someone standing behind them. He turned around, only to notice that Myungsoo and Naeun were trying to help Mino stand on his own feet.

“What happened?” Taemin asked.

“We found Mino unconscious on the ground,” Myungsoo reported. “Naeun finally seemed to have gotten her mobility back. She still can’t talk, though. We need to give her a few days maybe.” He looked behind him. “Anyway, I saw we start leaving this place. I saw something…strange.”

“Did you see the Council’s Court?”

“What’s that?” Jieun asked him.

“It’s the army of the entire world,” Taemin explained. “They come in different types. They could be pixies, vampires, angels—You name it. They have all sorts of powers, too.”

“They only appear when there’s a world-threat on the loose,” Myungsoo added.

“They might’ve figured out that we helped Howon escape his cage,” Taemin said. “It’s best if we leave here as soon as possible.”

“Okay, but I kind of spent my magic trying to teleport to your side,” Jieun mumbled. “So if you want to leave this world, then that’s going to be difficult…”

“We don’t need to do that,” Myungsoo said. “Actually, if we go back and walk out of the forest in that direction, then we’ll end up at a city.”

“A city? What kind of city?” Taemin asked.

“I don’t know, but I saw messengers go there. I figure that it’ll be a good idea to stay for the night.” Myungsoo looked around. “Unless you want to sleep in the forest.”

“To the city it is,” Jieun said. “Oh, but can someone pick me up? I can’t stand…”

Taemin groaned in annoyance. Myungsoo looked down at her, then at Taemin.

“You know, I can pick her up,” Myungsoo said. “You just need to help carry Mino with Naeun—“

“No, I got Jieun,” Taemin said. He bent down in front of her to give her a piggyback ride. A small pink blush appeared on her cheeks. She slowly crawled on top of his back, then gasped a little when he stood up. “Let’s go.”

Taemin started to walk. Myungsoo glanced at Naeun, who stared at Jieun with envious eyes. He let out a disappointed sigh, but continued to follow Taemin.