You looked around at the gigantic room, jaw dropping in awe. This room looked nothing like the plain, white walls of the garage you had just come from. Multicolored light reflected off of walls of Bih with glowing crystals embedded in them. More doors like the one you had just emerged from lined the room, all plated with azurite, plus one grand entrance made of gleaming opal across from where you stood.

                In the room you were in, tables of polished quartz were lined up, each with a row of laptops. To your right stood a rack made of pearl, holding weapons of Burmese Tourmaline. You didn’t know how you knew what all of these beautiful rocks were, you just… knew.

                You looked in awe, speechless. Finally, you managed to say, “Whoever made this place sure liked rocks.”

                You hear a laugh from behind you. You jumped, looking back to see five other men standing by Jimin. The one who laughed, you recognized as the one who drove you to the Hold. Namjoon. He had blonde hair and a warm, knowing smile as he spoke. “Well, there’s also strategy behind it. For Warriors, rocks represent different things, and they help us protect humans. Bih represents protection from threats, azurite is welcoming, opal is used to show greatness, quartz is for steadfastness, pearl is for knowledge, and Burmese Tourmaline is for power, just to name the ones in here.”

                You stared at him. How did he remember all of those names, and then what they stand for? You shook your head, trying to ward off the incoming headache you felt.

                Jimin smiled softly at your confusion. “Don’t worry, it’s normal to be a bit overwhelmed at first. The Hold does that to people; it messes with their brain a bit, weeds out the weak ones.”

                You stared at Jimin. “The Hold… It’s alive?”

                He shook his head, grinning. “No! Of course not, it’s just the properties of the rock we put here. Why do you think the person who made this place liked them so much?” He asked, mimicking your voice for the last part of his sentence.

                You shot him a hostile look. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” He quickly apologized, giving you a sly smile. “I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that.”

                The other five were trying to hide snickers of their own, smiles twitching on their faces.

                Finally, they calmed down. One of the boys stepped forward, his hair a mint green. “Jimin, where’s Hoseok?”

                Jimin’s smile immediately fell, and your frown deepened. “Namjoon didn’t… He didn’t tell you, Yoongi?”

                Namjoon looked down. “I was getting to that…”

                One of the brown-haired boys, broad-shouldered, spoke up. “He’s dead, right? I sensed somebody’s spirit fading.”

                You looked up at the boy curiously. Sensed a spirit? I guess nothing should surprise me at this point…

                All the others looked down, mourning for the loss of their friend, apparently. One boy with green bangs looked up. “Jimin, c- can I see him?”

                Jimin nodded slowly. “You all can. He’s still in the car.”

                Your stomach dropped at the thought of seeing your friend’s lifeless body again. “I’ll stay out here, if you’re fine with that…”

                The mint haired one, Yoongi, nodded. “I’ll stay with you.”

                Jimin nodded, opening the door to the garage and leading all the others inside.

                You sat down on the floor, looking down at your hands. Yoongi followed suit, sitting down next to you. “It’s okay to be sad.”

                “What?” You looked up at him.

                He smiled. “It’s my Bloodline. I can read your emotions. I know you’re sad right now, but you’re trying to hide it. It’s okay, though. We all loved Hoseok just as much as you did.”

                You shook your head again, forcing the ache in your head to the edges of your brain again. “Sorry, what? A Bloodline?”

                He laughed. “I guess Jimin likes being the vague, mysterious one. Do you know anything about this place?”
                You shook your head slowly. “I don’t understand any of it,” you said softly.

                He sighed. “I don’t know how much I can tell you now, but I’ll try.”

                You nodded. “Start off by explaining this Bloodline to me.”

                He nodded. “Well, everyone here in The Hold comes from a certain Bloodline. Not like the ones you humans have, but from different powerful entities. Or I guess, we don’t know where it comes from. But each Bloodline is associated with a type of power, which we can use.”

                You looked at Yoongi, curiosity spiking. “So, yours is reading emotions?”

                He nodded, a small, gummy, smile spreading on his face. “Yep! And Namjoon, who you met, he comes from an important Bloodline of Librarians. He has knowledge that most of us can barely fathom knowing. And then Taehyung, the one with green bangs? He’s got a way of communicating with the earth, drawing information from it and using it to his needs.

                “Jin is our healer. He makes sure none of us get hurt, physically or spiritually. That’s why he could sense that Hoseok’s spirit wasn’t right.

                “Then we’ve got Jimin. He’s got a rare ability, where in certain situations, he can fly into a sudden rage and he becomes one of the best fighters we know. The emotions he feels when he does that…” Yoongi shuddered, as if recalling a horrible memory. “It’s best not to dwell on them too much. But he and Hoseok made a great duo that way. Hoseok’s Bloodline comes from some of the greatest Warrior families in history. Their blood replenishes at almost ten times the rate of a normal person, so they can survive longer than most with fatal wounds. But not even the greatest power leaves you immune to death…”

                You nodded, making mental notes about each person, trying to ignore how much you missed Hoseok. “But there’s one more, right? There’s six of you now, you only talked about five.”

                Yoongi smiled softly. “Jungkookie. He’s the youngest out of us all. We don’t know what his Bloodline is. He was orphaned at birth, and he’s… Well, he hasn’t spoken in years. We don’t know if it’s medical, magical, or something totally different. But none of us know his power. He’s practically unreadable.”

                You felt a pang of pity in your chest. You knew what it was like to be an orphan, and you would have never wished that on anybody else. Even you had a proper mother and father to raise you, but Jungkook… It seemed like he only had these boys to grow up with, and train to fight.

                Yoongi nodded. “Yeah, it is sad. But Jungkook is strong, he doesn’t need words for us to know exactly how he feels. He was really close to Hoseok, though… I don’t know if he’ll be okay.”

                “Oh… Well, uh, Warriors. You keep using that term. What are they?”

                “Warriors?” He smiled. “You’re looking at one. We’re all Warriors in the Hold, this is the home for all of us. We were born into bloodlines to fight off the Shadows, and-“

                He was interrupted by the rest of the group coming back into the room, all talking among themselves, besides one of them who you assumed was Jungkook. Yoongi stood up quickly, looking at them all. “What happened? Something happened, right?”

                Jimin nodded, glancing over at you. “You’re not going to like it much…”

                You looked at him. “What is it?”

                “H- Hoseok…”

                “Yeah?”
                “His body’s gone.”