“What was that?” It was the first thing that left Jongdae’s mouth when they exited the bar. The streets were empty and quiet except for the loud music coming from Paradise.

Luhan continued walking, leaving the other two boys to try and keep up with him. “What was what?”

Huffing, Jongdae replied, “You know what I’m talking about. Why were you two fighting? Fighting is forbidden.” He looked around, whispering, “And why were you using magic in public.”

Before Luhan could give another one of his frustrating answers, a horn sounded throughout the village. Jongin and Jongdae both froze, turning to each other with fright. Jongdae hissed, “And why is everyone avoiding curfew!”

He grew even more pissed when Luhan let out snort. “Ya act like you haven’t skipped curfew before. Ya had to leave Sector Two and Three somehow.” Continuing down the sidewalk, Luhan said, “There’re no officers here, so who’s gonna stop us from stayin’ out after the horn? Same thing with the fightin. No one here to arrest us so we do it anyway.”

Jongin quizzed, “And the magic?”

“We’ll talk ‘bout that when we’re back at ya hotel.”

Soon they arrived at their place, and Jongdae all but slammed the door shut and locked it once they got to their room.

“Well, someone’s excited,” Luhan joked.  

“Jongdae,” Jiyoung told him, “calm down.”

He nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm his beating heart. Hearing the horn always stressed him out and the fighting overwhelmed him. The use of magic? It still gave him shivers. Managing to calm down, Jongdae leaned against the door with his arms crossed. Jongin sat on the bed holding Jiyoung and Luhan sat next to him.

“Was that your magic?” Jongdae questioned slowly. "The man's foot twisted inwards, did you cause it to do that?"

Luhan waited no time to nod. “Yep. Those guys have been on my for a couple o’ weeks now. Gotta show ‘em who’s boss.”

“What’d ya been doin’ to them that made them fight?” Jongin asked, tossing Jiyoung into the air.

“Nothin’ bad. The guy gambled with me and was real desperate. gambled his house away.” He laughed. “His wife and kids left ‘em for it. Just what kind o’ father and husband does that to their family? He chose pride over ‘em. ed up. He deserved all he got.”

“Jesus,” Jongdae muttered, shaking his head at the story. “What’s your power?”

Luhan leaned forward, smirking. “What’s your power? I know Jongin’s but you? Well, ya strike me as the type who's afraid of ya magic.”

“Telekinesis,” Jiyoung interjected, “His power is telekinesis. He can move things with his mind. And yeah, that’s a pretty accurate description of Jongdae.”

Jongin nodded. “Real acreate.”

“Accurate,” Jongdae corrected.

“Accurate.”

He nodded in approval, turning back to Luhan, annoyed. “Let’s just say I don’t have magic.” He rubbed his torso again.

Turning to Jiyoung, Luhan said, “I thought ya said that we guardians had to be magical. Why don’t he have any?”

“Well, Jongdae once claimed to have super strength.”

Jongdae chuckled nervously. “I was joking.”

Luhan jumped off of the bed, cracking his knuckles. “I gotta test this out real quick.” He put both hands out. “Let’s play a little game o' mercy.”

Jongdae almost denied if not for the challenging glint in Luhan’s eyes and – God, he didn’t want to do this. He walked forward and put both hands on Luhan’s, interlocking their fingers. “The goal o’ the game is to try and push the other person’s hands back as hard as ya can. Whoever says mercy first loses, alright?”

He was still confused. What did he mean push them ba–? “CHRIST!” Luhan was bending his fingers back in an abnormal way and it honestly felt as if they were going to break. His body began shrinking back along with his fingers, his wrists were being bent backwards, straining to push back Luhan's, and his eyes were watering.

“C’mon Jongdae!” Jongin cheered.

Jiyoung added, “You got this!”

Placing a foot back, Jongdae forced himself to push against Luhan. His muscles strained as he struggled to push the other man back; however, to his surprise, he was able to get him back into the starting position so that they were both standing in upright stances. Luhan grunted, grinning.

“Never met a man who could do that. Also never met one who could this.”

Jongdae let out a yelp as his feet flew off the floor. He quickly floated up high to the ceiling, spinning upside down and waving his arms and legs around in a panic. “Get me down! Get me down!”

He twirled back around and gently landed on the floor. Dizzy, Jongdae stumbled around a bit, slamming the side of his torso into the wall. As he began to get a hold of himself, a burning sensation pooled in the pit of his stomach, his scar aching terribly as the burning grew.

All of a sudden he gained some sort of newfound strength, his heart pounding and hands going jittery, as if he were on an extreme sugar high. With this new power, he stormed right up to Luhan, grabbing his shirt and slamming him into the nearby wall with a sickening crack! as his back collided with the cheap wooden walls. He pulled his arm back. “You ing piece of sh-! “ Smoke surrounded the two as arms wrapped around his stomach. “Get off of me!” Jongdae kicked and flailed around.

Throwing him on the bed, Jongin looked at him in alarm, shouting, “What’s wrong with you? Why’d ya attack him?” 

It was like his body was possessed and he had no control over any of his senses. Without thinking, Jongdae yelled, “Because I felt like it! The asshat used magic on me, just how am I supposed to react.”

Luhan grinned. “I never said we couldn’t use magic. Ya just assumed.”

“I assumed nothing. If you want to use your demonic witchcraft, then go somewhere else. I swear, everywhere I go I’m surrounded by you good-for-nothing magic users and it’s driving me insane!” He bared his teeth.

Black smoke covered the walls. Jongin glared, tilting his head to the side. “I knew I should’ve never trusted you. You be a filthy rat – a  nasty piece of work.” He scoffed. “You should’ve been the one that got blown up.”

Luhan’s shoulders shook as he cackled. “But instead mommy was the one who burned in the end. All because of you.”

Time seemed to stop as Jongin and Luhan’s eyes began to glow a bright red. The black smoke filled the room and Jongdae had no time to react as the bed was lifted into the air.

“Why didn’t you die in that storm instead of your father!” The hairs on the back of his neck raised and goosebumps covered his skin. His mother’s burnt corpse flew in the smoke; empty eye holes staring back at him. “You’re such a disappointment. Couldn’t even sleep without crying for your mommy, but because of you she’s dead now. Did you take pleasure from it? Did you laugh because you’d finally be able to live and be free?” She sneered. “So you can finally leave for the East. I know that’s the only reason you’re even going with these evil witches. You’re selfish! Oh, but you’re gonna be real disappointed ‘cause those witches are gonna find out what a liar you've been and turn on you and you’re gonna wish you were blown up with me!”

“No, no,” he muttered, desperately trying to ignore her words. Cackling, she nodded her head, so-much-so that he was sure it’d fall off.

“Oh yes! Yes! You’ve always been so arrogant, guarded off and a liar, and we know what happens when we lie, now don’t we. You know the consequences, yet you still continue to pull the same bull he used to do! I’m sick of it.”

Sobs left his mouth as he grabbed the sheets. His mother’s charred arm raised out to him, and the bed began spinning around in circles at an insane speed. Jongdae felt vomit travelling up his throat.

“You can’t do anything yourself, can you? I leave for a second and you’ve already gone and killed the rest of your family.” Sir Yesung was the next to appear, instead of his usual dapper appearance he was covered in gashes, scars and burn marks. “Am I next, Jongdae?”

Jongdae’s arm started shaking uncontrollably, jolts rushing through his veins, causing it to contort in different directions, and electricity soon started to shoot everywhere around the room. He tried to fight against whatever force was doing this to him, but he stared in horror when the limb straightened and aimed right at his friend, striking him. The man’s body convulsed, blood coming out of his mouth and eyes rolling into the back of his head. The torture stopped after what felt like centuries and Jongdae watched as his body fell into the midst of the darkness.

The pulsing emanating from his stomach grew even stronger. He ripped his shirt off, touching the scar on his chest and body. The bottom right was glowing and seeping of red aura. Panicked, he grabbed his shirt and covered it, attempting to bandage it while choking on his sobs, snot and tears running down his face.

“You lied to me.”

Jongdae’s head whipped behind him, only to find a black abyss replacing the smoke. He looked down and stared, wide-eyed, as he noticed the bed was gone and that he was sitting on a surface completely pitch black. Terrified, he stood up and turned back around, only to scream. Jiyoung was standing there – her entire body was blurred, glowing with crimson and blues – and the only clear thing were her eyes, which were staring at him with intense emptiness, leaving him beyond uneasy.

She stepped forward as he went back, almost tripping as his foot hit the floor and teetered backwards. He looked back and paled, his foot was at the edge of a cliff, and at the bottom of it were seas of red electricity, zapping and buzzing so loud Jongdae’s eardrums popped. He whipped around to Jiyoung, shoulders shaking as she got even closer.

“J-Jiyoung, please!” he begged. “Don’t do this!”

“I asked you what happened; you told me nothing. You said you had no power. You lied, Jongdae, you lied to me!” She was ten steps away now. He looked in both directions planning to dash.

He gasped through tears and snot. “But I don’t Jiyoung, you have to believe me. I don’t have magic – I swear I don’t. And I didn’t mean to lie about the aura, I – I was just scared! I didn’t want to be a burden.”

Jiyoung stomped on the floor, the ground rumbling and shaking beneath his feet. He struggled to keep balance. “Liar! Liar! You have magic and you know it. You lie not only to us but yourself also!” An inhumane growl escaped . “You really are just a peasant. A coward. A failure. That’s all you’ll ever be.” Six steps. “Just like your father.” Five steps.

His foot left the edge in an instant. Jongdae ran as fast as he could, letting out a terrified, shaky breath as his body froze involuntarily. Jiyoung appeared in front of him, a sinister smile on her face as she whispered with malice, “Good bye, Jongdae.”

Then, his body went flying into the air. Screaming, he attempted to reach out for Jiyoung. Electricity exited his wound, painfully enveloping his body in a cocoon; smothering his shouts as he plunged into the sea, jerking at every shock.

Taking a gasp of air, Jongdae opened his eyes to find his face in a pillow. A loud snore entered his ear. Confused, he turned to find Jongin laying asleep beside him. His neck began to tighten and he covered his mouth in a hurry, shoving the sheets off of his body and heading straight for the bathroom. After shutting the door as quickly and quietly as he could, the first thing he did was throw up in the toilet. Once that was over, he sat with his head and back against the wall completely miserable. Tears left his eyes as all of his muscles ached.

Looking down, he lifted his shirt, observing his scar. The section which was covered in aura before was a bright pink now and was throbbing. He hovered his hand over it, hesitant, as to whether he wanted to touch it or not. It glowed again, blue and red filling his vision and he fearfully put it back down. He covered his mouth, trying to keep silent and not awake anyone.

He looked away. He couldn’t b