Jieun held her breath and hid behind one of the inn's large statues. She carefully curled herself into a small ball while covering with her hand. 

"Where is the one with the Galaxial Wish?" one of the soldiers asked.

"We don't know," Myungsoo furiously declared.

They're covering me, Jieun realized.

"Lies!" the soldier shouted. 

"We have no clue on her whereabouts," Taemin muttered.

"You!" the soldier yelled.

"I-I just woke up! I swear!" Mino stuttered.

"We were in a different room," Naeun added.

Oh, Naeun got her voice back, Jieun realized. 

"They aren't cooperating," the first soldier said. "What do we do?"

“Keep them here for now. The Galaxial Wish is bound to come back,” the second soldier said.

Jieun bit her bottom lip. She knew that it would only be a matter of time until someone found her. Looking down at her hands, she tried to think of a way to escape.

She took a quick peek at her friends. Fortunately, she made eye-contact with Taemin. He gave her a calm stare, while she started making random gestures, hoping to assure them that she would return to help. He rolled his eyes and looked away in order to not grab anyone’s attention.

Jieun crawled away from the group, heading back to the room. She wasn’t sure how, but she managed to avoid any eyes and made it to the room safely. In a blink of an eye, she locked the door, closed all the curtains, and took a deep breath as she tried to think of a way to help her friends.

You got powers, Jieun, she told herself. You have powers to grant wishes and these red strings. There just has to be a way for you to save them! She stopped pacing back and forth. Can’t I just wish them to escape? She shook her head. No. It has to be detailed. I can’t just wish them to escape or else it’ll send them to a random place. 

There was a knock on the door. Jieun gasped and stared at the door with wide eyes.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” someone said. The doorknob started shaking, causing her to tremble in fear. “Your door is lock! Please let us in! We have to reinspect the area!”

Jieun remained quiet. She covered with her hands and inched closer to the other wall. She continued to watch the door shake as the soldiers behind the door tried to open it.

“It’s lock. Someone is inside,” the same voice said.

“The Galaxial Wish must be in there. Get the Shadow Man.”

What in the world is a shadow man? she wondered.

A black liquid started oozing from the bottom of the door. Jieun widened her eyes and grabbed onto the curtains. She didn’t need to know what the shadow man was. The ooze started rising, forming a blunt humanoid with indefinite features. The ooze slowly disappeared, introducing her to a man with white scales and bright yellow eyes. Jieun froze while the man stood in front of her wearing a robe with a flower and a spear.

“Hello,” the man said calmly. Jieun held her breath. The man slowly reached for the lock, then unlocked the door. “Goodbye.”

She let out a shriek while the door busted open. Several soldiers wearing the same robe surrounded her, pointing their weapons up to her neck. Jieun collapsed on her knees with wide eyes, unable to run away. The windows crashed and people started jumping into the scene.

“Bring in the other prisoners!” someone from the back demanded. 

In minutes, Taemin, Mino, Naeun, and Myungsoo were pushed into the room. The soldiers kicked their legs, forcing them to kneel down and gather close to Jieun.

“What happened to saving us?” Taemin murmured to Jieun.

“I-I didn’t know how,” she stuttered.

“Jieun, look what you did!” Mino cried out, panicking.

“It’s all her fault!” Naeun exclaimed. She shot Myungsoo a glare. “Why did you say that she was part of our crew?”

“It’s not my fault. They had pictures,” Myungsoo mumbled.

“Silence!” someone else yelled. “Someone find the captain!”

“Can’t you guys do something?” Mino asked desperately.

“You want me to do something in front of all these soldiers?” Taemin asked. He scoffed. “I have powers, not you. I’ll use them as I please.”

“Wind? Lightning?” Mino looked at Myungsoo and Naeun.

“There are creatures who can resist my wind power,” Naeun whispered to him. “I won’t be able to do anything.”

“If I electrocute them, you guys will be electrocuted, too,” Myungsoo said. “I can’t control my lightning to a certain distance without it affecting anyone near me.”

“How about you, Jieun?” Taemin asked her carefully. “You got anything?”

Jieun paused. She carefully thought about her power, then looked at Taemin.

“Do you happen to know a place where we can avoid these kinds of people?” Jieun asked.

Taemin frowned. “Someplace where it’s empty… Not a major city or village.”

“Don’t go to that weird purple place!” Naeun said. She shivered. “That place freaks me out.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Jieun said. She controlled her breathing and closed her eyes. One…

“Captain! Captain, over here!”

Two…

“Right here! The prisoners are right here!”

Three…! Jieun opened her eyes and clasped her hands together. I wish that Naeun, Myungsoo, Taemin, Mino, and I transport ourselves to a place where it’s empty that’s not a major city or village!

A drizzle of gold dots sprinkled down from her hands. A bright light highlighted the room, causing everyone to squint their eyes. Jieun shut her eyes tightly as the yellow light swallowed the group in its sphere.

Right when the captain of the soldier stepped inside the room, the prisoners were gone. Gold speckles decorated the floor while the soldiers dumbly pointed their swords at the empty circular space. The captain gaped at the gap while she made a small fist.

“Captain Sohee of the Third Court!”

Everyone in the room returned to their standby stance. They saluted their captain, who slowly walked over to the vacant spot.

“Where did they go?” she asked them. “Officer Taecyeon. Explain.”

“They’ve escaped,” Taecyeon said, looking down at the floor.

“How?” she asked him angrily.

“The Galaxial Wish must’ve wished them to escape,” Taecyeon murmured. He glanced at her, but before he could see her expression, he felt a large weapon bash against his cheek. The officer coughed out blood and collided against the ground.

Sohee narrowed her eyes as she lowered her large double-sided half-moon axe. She rested the 35 pound weapon on her shoulder with ease.

“You’re lucky that I decided to punish you with the flat side,” Sohee murmured. “I told you, I might look pretty, but I’m merciless.”

“I-I’m sorry,” the officer managed to choke out. 

“And what the hell were you all doing?” Sohee shouted, glaring at each individual soldier. “How the hell did you let them escape?”

“W-We don’t know,” the others murmured, shaking in fear.

“How do you want me to report this to Council Leader?” Sohee roared. “Did you expect me to take the blame?” She narrowed her eyes. “I will not tolerate failure! You will all take the blame as I write my report!” She turned to Taecyeon, who was slowly crawling on all four. “You! Locate them before any of the other captains find the Galaxial Wish. I will execute you if you fail once more!”

“Y-Y-Yes. Sorry,” Taecyeon mumbled, bowing.

“Get out of my face.” Sohee growled at all of them, revealing her canine fangs and wolf-like eyes. All the soldiers ran away, either jumping off the window or squeezing out the narrow doorway.

Sohee slowly bent down. She took a gentle scoop of the gold glitter and sniffed it. She snarled and growled, feeling dizzy and confused. After a moment of trying to regain her focus, she looked out the window and stared at the two moons. 

I will find you, Sohee declared, making a fist, and I will get my wish granted…!

The five reappeared in the air, several yards up in the sky. Once they started dropping, they all screamed in unison, waving their arms and legs frantically as if they were trying to fly. Naeun thought fast and blew a large blanket of wind from . The wind surrounded all five members, supporting their heavy weight and helping them gently fall to the ground as if they were feathers.

They landed on a flat terrain, where the grass was moist and enriched with soil filled with minerals. There were surrounded by tall grass that grew up to their chin. The temperature was warm and humid with a touch of magical dust swimming in the air.

No one said a word. They were all too surprised to find themselves in a new area, not to mention that they escaped from the world’s greatest force. 

Myungsoo broke into a grin. “Well, well…We’re alive!”

“You’re smiling? After all that?” Naeun asked.

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t,” Taemin said, breaking into a small smile. He turned to Jieun. “You did it.”

“I learned how to control my powers,” Jieun said, glancing down at her hands. She smiled, satisfied. “I can’t believe it! I have powers that I can control!”

“Darn right you did,” Taemin said. He gently Jieun’s hair, causing her to hitch her breath. Her heart started to race and her cheeks started to turn bright red.

Naeun scowled. “Well, we don’t even know where we are.”

“I know where we are,” Taemin said, getting up. He stood on his toes. “Go south from here,then there’s a small body of water. If I remember correctly, there should be an abandoned cottage.”

“How do you know?” Myungsoo asked, giving him a suspicious look. “I don’t remember being here.”

“I…explored on my own,” Taemin replied casually.

“As expected,” Naeun said, grinning at Taemin.

Myungsoo frowned, but remained silent. He got up, and so did Naeun and Mino. Jieun was about to follow, but her knees buckled and she lost her balance. She collapsed against the large grass, causing everyone to stare down at her. She let out a shaky laugh before helplessly looking at the group.

“U-Um, help?” she stuttered, feeling weak. 

“Here, I got you—“

“I got her,” Taemin said, interrupting Mino. He bent down and gave Jieun a piggyback ride.

“I can carry her,” Mino said slowly.

“Yeah, let him carry her, Taemin,” Naeun agreed. “You’ve been carrying a lot.”

“I’ll carry her. The cottage isn’t far,” Taemin told them. He started walking, pushing away the tall grass with his foot. 

Mino and Myungsoo exchanged looks. They both shrugged and continued walking. Myungsoo glanced behind his shoulder, only to see Naeun frowning at Taemin and Jieun.

“Want me to carry you?” Myungsoo asked teasingly.

“Oh, shut up,” Naeun grumbled. She stormed away, following Taemin.

Myungsoo chuckled. She’s still cute when she’s jealous.

He followed behind her, watching her back like always as the group headed for the cottage.