“Naeun.”

Naeun froze. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the familiar name call for her. She knew the annoying voice anywhere. Her eyes slightly watered as she slowly turned her head around. Right before her eyes, Myungsoo stood still, looking at her with incredibly wide eyes.

He was dressed differently. The gown he was wearing was clean, but it was thin. The single outfit was decorated with polkadots, but it made him look like a hospital patient.

“M-Myungsoo,” Naeun whispered. Without a second thought, she ran up to him, but stopped when she realized that there was some sort of barrier preventing her from making any physical contact with him. She stared at him with complete despair while tears streamed down her thankful smile. Oh my god, Myungsoo! I can’t believe it! You’re okay, you’re fine!

She stopped moving when she realized that no sound was coming out out of her lips. She tried speaking it again, but nothing came out.

H-Huh? What’s going on? she wondered.

“Naeun, wake up!” Myungsoo shouted.

What?

He started to bend down on his knees and lowered his head. “I’m so sorry!”

Naeun stared at him. M-Myungsoo…?

Tears began to stream down his eyes. The salty droplets landed on the floor as he continued to give her a deep, apologetic bow.

“I was stupid, Naeun! I was stupid!” he cried out.

I don’t get it, Naeun thought. Myungsoo, what’s going on—

“Please, wake up! If you wake up… If you wake up… If you wake up, I promise that I’ll cherish you even more! I’ll actually properly convey my feelings to you! Naeun, please… Wake up!” Myungsoo cried out. He began to sob, leaving Naeun completely speechless.

Naeun stared at Myungsoo, who began to clutch his fist. Suddenly, she heard the sound of vehicles screeching and glass shattering echoing inside her head. The sound was so loud, she flinched and screamed while covering her ears, seeing Myungsoo disappear from her sight.

Naeun opened her eyes. Her visions blurred, but it took her a while to realize that she had been crying when she was knocked out. She slowly got up and groaned until she felt some sort of support holding her up.

“Myung—“ Naeun stopped when she recognized that it was Mino helping her sit up. “Mino…”

“What happened?” Mino asked her.

Naeun wiped her tears. “I… I had a dream…”

“A dream?” he asked. He paused. “Of Myungsoo?”

Naeun nodded. “Yeah…” She looked at him. "Is he…?"

"I'm sorry," Mino muttered quietly. Naeun felt tears swell up in her eyes again. She just nodded and curled her body into a ball.

It had been a few days since Myungsoo was burned up in the castle. News of what happened at the wedding kept spreading like wildfire. Everyone seemed to have a different version: The Council members lost control and fought with each other, the Wanted One and her friends came and terrorized the wedding, an arsonist came and caught everything on fire—

But all the stories had one thing in common: there was chaos and the building was destroyed.

Now the four were in hiding. They were hiding deep in the forest, walking aimlessly for a place of safety. Naeun would constantly have dreams about Myungsoo, but all the dreams were the same. It was always him crying, pleading for her to wake up. It was always her watching, just staring, unable to communicate.

Naeun looked up. She noticed that both Taemin and Jieun were missing.

"Where's Taemin?" she asked.

"He and Jieun went to scout the area. You know, just in case someone from the Council followed us," Mino told her.

Naeun nodded. Her lips trembled.

"What do you last remember?" Mino asked carefully. Ever since Mino knocked Naeun out with his powers, she had been having trouble remembering. Her thoughts were often clouded and she kept saying that she was "ready to be sacrificed," whatever that meant.

“The last thing I remember was that Myungsoo died because of me. If only…" Naeun stopped herself. If only I wasn't there.

"It's not your fault," Mino insisted. He paused for a second, trying to change the topic. “So you said that Myungsoo appeared in your dream?”

“Yeah, yeah. It was…weird. Myungsoo… Myungsoo was in a gown,” Naeun murmured.

“A gown?” Mino laughed, thinking about a princess gown. “I guess you have strange dreams."

A hospital gown, Naeun realized. When she tried to think deeper into the dream, her head stung her flow of thoughts. She flinched and groaned in pain. A part of her thought it was strange to see Myungsoo in a hospital gown, but another part of her told her that it only made sense for him to be in a gown after they got into a car accident—

Naeun froze. A car accident? Why did she know that—

Wait, did she even see a car in this world before? The closest thing she rode was a motorcycle, but other than that, she couldn't recall being in another vehicle, especially in a car…

"Mino," Naeun called him. She looked down at her hands. "Do you… Do you…" She laughed to herself. "Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but have you ever heard of what a 'car' is?"

"A car?" Mino repeated. "I have a lot of those in my world. You know, the world that I came from."

Naeun stiffened. "Mino… Mino, besides us, you haven't seen anyone like me, right?"

Mino frowned. "Not that I know of, no."

"No, not like 'me.' I meant like…humans."

"I should be asking you that question. Didn't you say there were people before, but they always ended up dying or something?"

Naeun frowned. "Yeah, true, but they always disappeared or died when Taemin was around…"

"Well, I'm going to go find Taemin and Jieun. I'll let them know that you're awake. Can you stay here by yourself?" Mino asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll send a signal through the winds if something comes up," Naeun said, nodding her head.

Mino got up from the ground and walked away to find the other two. While he was gone, a gentle breeze came down and knocked Mino's bag over. The bag's flap opened, spilling the items that were in the bag. Sighing, Naeun walked over to put back the items into the back. While she gathered the items, her eyes landed on two books that he was carrying.

Naeun picked it up and frowned.

They kind of look like the books that Myungsoo was reading when I tried to bring him back from the tower, Naeun recalled. She flipped open the pages. Her eyes widened when she saw letters—letters that she could read.

She looked around, keeping an eye, checking to see if any of the three were coming back soon. When she believed that she was alone, she began to flip through the pages, reading over the contents to see what the books hid.

"Right here. You can look now."

Jieun did. Her eyes opened and she gasped. She and Taemin were both in the forest, but Taemin had discovered a beautiful fairy lake. The body of water glowed in a beautiful aqua shade and glimmered until the moonlight. Little fairies danced around the lake, sparkling and shining. 

"It's beautiful," Jieun whispered. 

"Sit down," Taemin said. He patted the rich green grass beneath them. Jieun slowly nodded and kneeled. The two continued to stare at the glimmering lake while the tiny creatures glided around them. "I found this when I was trying to find water. I was going to take water from here, but the fairies asked me not to do that. Apparently, the water here is sacred for them." He smiled. "And then I was thinking that I wanted to share this view with you." He tilted his head to get a better look at her face. "So? Do you like it?"

"I-I don't know what to say," Jieun said. Her cheeks were completely red, contrasting the green-blue hue around them. "Taemin, this is really beautiful. I'm serious, it is."

"I'm glad," Taemin said, chuckling. He kept quiet for a bit. "Jieun, are you really planning to go back to where you came from?"

"Ah…" Jieun cleared . "Um, yeah…"

"Why? Don't you like it here?" he asked softly.

"I do. I really like it here, but…" She bit her bottom lip. "Mino needs me. As far as we both know, I'm the only one he can completely trust."

"What about me?" Taemin reached to grab her hand. He brought her hand to his cheek. "Can you trust me?"

Jieun felt her heart race. "O-Of course! Of course I trust you—"

"Then please stay," he said quietly.

"H-Huh?"

"I know Mino needs you, but I need you the most," Taemin said. He leaned close to her. She hitched her breath. "Jieun, I…"

"Eh-hem."

Taemin widened his eyes. He leaned away and Jieun yelped in shock. The two looked behind them and saw Mino awkwardly watching the two. 

"Um, uh, I just wanted to tell you guys that Naeun woke up," Mino said, looking away. "Was I, uh, interrupting anything?"

"Ah, no," Taemin said. He got up, then extended his hand to help Jieun up. She shyly took it and got up from the floor. "How's her condition?"

"She seems fine. Last thing she remembers is Myungsoo's death again," Mino explained.

"Hm. It looks like Myungsoo's death had a huge impact on her," Taemin said.

"I think she was looking for you. She was asking where you were," Mino told him.

"Well, I'm the only one she has now that Myungsoo is gone. I guess it makes sense for her to look for me," Taemin muttered. He turned to Jieun. "But she's just like a little sister to me, okay?"

"O-Of course!" Jieun stuttered.

Taemin smiled. "Enjoy the view a little bit. I'll head back to check up on her."

Jieun nodded. Taemin walked away. Before he left, he made brief eye contact with Mino. Mino glared a little and Taemin gave him a sharp look before running back to the area they were camping. 

Mino walked over to Jieun, who began to fan herself to cool down. He slipped his hands into his pocket and stared at the lake. 

"The lake's…pretty," he said.

"I-It is, isn't it?" Jieun stammered.

Mino kept silent for a bit. "Do you like him?"

"What?"

"Taemin. Do you like Taemin?"

Jieun faked a laugh. "W-Well, don't we all like Taemin—"

"No. I'm serious, Jieun," he said. "Do you like Taemin romantically?"

Jieun opened . She couldn't think of what to say. Instead, she murmured something under her breath and nervously looked away. The next thing she knew, she was slowly nodding her head, admitting her feelings.

Mino gave her a strong glare.

"We should head back, too," Jieun said. She was about to leave until Mino grabbed her arm. She flinched from the pain. "M-Mino? You're hurting me—"

"I told you before and I'm telling you again: I don't trust Taemin," Mino repeated.

Jieun frowned. "This again? I thought you dropped it after Taemin helped us—"

"I don't trust me. I just don't," Mino said. "I know that I don't have any proof, but I get the feeling that he's dangerous."

"Dangerous? For doing what?" Jieun asked, annoyed.

"It's weird for him to suddenly be affectionate with you!" he insisted.

Jieun paused, then scoffed. "Really now?"

"What?"

"Are you jealous?" she asked. His heart stopped. "Are you jealous that my life is better than yours in this world compared to our home world?"

He let out a small sigh of relief.

"W-What?" Mino his lips. "No, it's not like that. I'm not jealous. I—"

"I already promised you that I'll help you get back home. Aren't my words enough?"

"Yeah, but Taemin—"

"Leave Taemin out of this!" Jieun yelled. "He's been nothing but helpful to us. You know that best, don't you?"

"But—"

"Enough. Let's head back." Jieun grumbled and walked away from the lake, leaving Mino speechless.

He only sulked and began walking back to camp, trying to figure out a way to make amends with Jieun before they continued on their adventure.

The next morning, Mino woke up when he heard Naeun whispering his name and shaking him. He groaned and looked to see if Taemin and Jieun were awake. When they weren't, he was about to protest until Naeun showed him the cover of the book. He quickly widened his eyes and scrambled to sit up. Naeun placed her finger over her lips and gestured him to walk away from the two. He nodded and obeyed, following her until they were standing at a good distance from the two.

"Why do you have that?" Mino whispered quickly. "Did you take it out of my bag?"

"Relax. I'm feeling fine. I thought I'd go insane, but I can read it without feeling like I'm going crazy," Naeun said.

"Yeah, Jieun and I can read it with no problems, either," Mino told her. "Now, were you going through my stuff."

"That's not it. Your bag fell over and the books came out. I decided to pick it up after finding out that I can read it," Naeun explained. "I want to talk to you about this."

"Look, I'm not an expert on this. I'm still trying to find more books to explain to me about all this—"

"I've noticed that all these books you've collected have different things about the Creator. Like, they all talk about how the Creator gem colors, but all the gem colors are different," Naeun said. "I remember seeing that Myungsoo was reading a similar book, but if I remember correctly, the gems were different from there, too."

"I know. I still can't figure it out," Mino said.

"So the Creator is definitely hiding," Naeun said. "That's the only thing I can come up with."

Mino stared at her. "Why are you so interested in this all of the sudden?"

"Myungsoo is gone. I can't trust Taemin, but he's the only one I can rely on right now after we send you two back home. I need to figure out who the Creator is and try to ask Myungsoo to come back," Naeun explained. "The only thing is…" She paused. "Never mind."

"No, what? Tell me," he urged.

"It's just… The Creator can create anything he pleases, but can he create us?"

"Us?" Mino repeated.

"Humans," Naeun clarified. "As far as I know, we four are the only humans alive. Everyone was either a totally weird creature or a human-like creature, but no one was exactly human."

"That's…a really good point," Mino muttered.

"Does Jieun know about the Creator?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Hm…" Naeun looked through the books. "I'm wondering…if all these colors are just a mixture of each other."

"What do you mean?"

"Red, orange, gold, green, blue, white and black," Naeun said. 

"Orange?" Mino repeated.

"That was one of the two colors were in the book Myungsoo was reading," Naeun explained. She frowned a little. "The cup only had seven gems, though. Not eight…"

"A cup?"

"Weren't you paying attention to anything that was going on in the wedding?" she asked, scolding him.

"Well, we kind of just barged in there. I would expect us to figure out who the enemy is instead of how many gems a cup had," Mino pointed out.

Naeun rolled her eyes. "Anyway, don't tell Jieun this."

"Why? She might know more than us."

"I don't trust her," Naeun said. "She's becoming too much like Taemin."

"Why are we sticking with Taemin if neither of us trusts him?" Mino asked. "I'm sure that if you convince Jieun, we can separate from Taemin as soon as possible."

"Because I get the feeling that even if we do separate, he's going to know exactly what's going to happen to us and he's going to pop up to save us if we ever end up in a situation where we need saving," Naeun pointed out.

"…Kind of like a god," Mino murmured.

The two kept oddly quiet. Then, Naeun shook her heads and scoffed.

"No, it has to be something else. If Taemin's a god, then wouldn't that make us a god, too?" she pointed out.

"But it's possible," Mino said.

"I… Let's not think about it that far."

"Why not?"

"If we have a god following our every move, do you see how dangerous that could be? Pretend that you don't know a thing. We never had this conversation," Naeun said seriously. "Besides, if anyone's a god, Jieun's more like a god. You know, with her Galaxial Wish powers."

"Yeah, but her powers are restricted."

"Still." Naeun took a deep breath. "Okay, we did a lot of talking. They should wake up any time soon."

"So what's next?" Mino asked as they were heading back.

"Finding a way for you guys to go back home," Naeun said. "Duh."

"What about you? What happens to you? You don't have Myungsoo anymore," Mino pointed out.

Naeun stared at the sky. "That's for me to figure out then, isn't it?"

Yoona's wings were pitch black, the darkest it had ever been. She was forced to hide nearby when Jiyong had teleported back to finish off the Wanted One. Despite his promise to return for her, he never did. Instead, Taehyung was the one who came, telling her that he had killed Jiyong and killed her groom. Then he had teleported away before she could kill him. Eventually, she was escorted by a few surviving Council soldiers to a safe area once the palace was completely burned down. Since then, she had been confined in a jail cell for protection. 

Yoona wasn't sure how long she was trapped for. Initially, she planned to make her escape by using her powers to convince the guards to let her go, but they had put shackles on her, revealing her gems. She tried to ask about what was going on in the outside world, but no one seemed to be willing to answer her.

One day, she was told that she had a visitor. She accepted the visitor and was delighted to see that it was the Council Leader, Changmin. Her smile, however, only lasted until the soldiers left for the two to talk alone.

"Council Leader Changmin. It's a pleasure seeing you here," she said in a tight voice.

Changmin glanced down at her shackles. "What beautiful gems you have there, Yoona. Is it black?"

"It's common for people to mistaken that the purple gem is a black gem," Yoona said, gritting her teeth. "After all, we know that black gems mean that you're cursed. It's just hard to see a purple gem unless you're in light."

Changmin grinned. "As expected of my pupil."

"Leader, what is going on? Why am I locked up in here? Isn't the treatment towards me a bit harsh?" Yoona asked.

"It's fine. Just play your role and I'll play mine," he said.

"My role? As of now, I don't understand what my role is," Yoona said.

"What do you mean?"

"Five out of seven Council Captains are dead. The only ones alive are me and the Captain of the Sixth Court, who seems to have turned his back against the Council. Several lives were lost, the werewolf community is in crisis because they lost their second moon, and the Wanted One is still nowhere to be found. No one knows the entire truth about what happened at the wedding." Yoona narrowed her eyes. "I beg for forgiveness, but I question what your plan is."

Changmin stared. "Yoona, just stay quiet. I appointed you as the Captain of the First Court because I believed that you would obey my orders and trust me."

"I don't believe you're in a situation where you can say that I've given you a hundred percent of my trust," Yoona said in a low voice.

"Don't worry, Yoona. I have everything in control—"

"The original god founders are dead. They vanished in the hands of the Captain of the Sixth Court—"

"Who's using his Dimensional powers to trap the Galaxial Wish, which happened to take in star form, to use in the future," Changmin interrupted. "I fully understand that he's powerful, but you must understand, his powers are limited."

"What?"

"He could've easily wished several more of those stars, but it seems like he couldn't. That's why, when he heard that you and Myungsoo were going to have a wedding, he figured that the Galaxial Wish would come to save him and crashed the wedding to collect more of the stars," Changmin explained. He chuckled. "He's a clever wizard."

"A wizard using forbidden magic to preserve himself and his mind," Yoona murmured. 

"Did you say something?"

"We both know that he's been reading." Yoona wrapped her hands around the bars. "Council Leader, let me take over!"

"You want to find the Galaxial Wish?"

"No. I mean let me take over you," Yoona said seriously. Changmin didn't smile. "You clearly don't have anything under control. The Captain of the Sixth Court is still out there and he's a threat. The Wanted One was never captured, either, despite our efforts to alert the public about them." She narrowed her eyes. "Everything became chaos when the previous Council Leader stepped down and let you take over."

"That wizard was never on our side!" Changmin yelled. He turned. "Executioner!"

Executioner? Yoona repeated in her head. Her eyes widened as she saw an ogre approach the cell. The ogre was wearing a mask over his head and had a large axe in one hand and a cutting surface with nails in his other hand.

"C-Council Leader?" Yoona stuttered. "W-What's going on?"

"Yoona, like I said, I have everything under control. You just have to play your role, and that's…" He snapped his fingers. The bars fell down and Yoona fell forward. She tried to run, but two guards appeared out of nowhere, grabbing her. 

"Let go!" Yoona roared. "Do you know who I am? I am the Captain of the First Court, Im Yoona! I am the representative for all the angels! What are you doing to me? Get your filthy hands off of me!"

Instead of listening to her, the ogre dropped the board on the floor in front of her. Then, he grabbed one of her hand and nailed it to the ground. She screamed in pain as the ogre went along and nailed her other hand. The two guards stepped to the side while the ogre approached her closer, dragging the axe as her head rested on the blood-dried surface.

"W-What's going on?" she whispered.

Changmin bent down. "Look, people need a sense of comfort. Almost the entire Council is wiped out. If we put the blame on the Captain of the Sixth Court, then people would panic because he's still out there. It's best to say that it was all your fault, for suggesting the wedding and for getting everyone involved in this mess."

Yoona stared. "I didn't even suggest it…"

"Yes, well, the press reported that you did."

"Why…"

"Because I told them to!" Changmin exclaimed. She stared at him with eyes of horror. "Aw, don't look like that. Look." Using his angel powers, he put a sphere around her head. Suddenly, she began to smile. Her eyes looked drowsy as she giggled.

"W-What did you d-do?" Yoona asked in between her soft giggles.

"Rest in peace, my little angel," Changmin said in a cold voice. He got up from the ground and turned to ogre. "Clean this all up. I'm leaving."

The ogre nodded. As the ogre raised his axe to kill Yoona, Changmin walked off, not wanting to witness the bloody scene. He heard Yoona's laugh cut off when the sound of the axe hit the board. Changmin shuddered a little and took a deep breath.

Looks like I'm the best person to finish this job, he thought. He took out his spear and teleported away, his goal to kill the Wanted One once and for all.

Little did he know, he was walking in the path that he never wanted to walk in the first place.