Outside the window was a vast forest, transforming the black night into impenetrable darkness. Even dim torches in the distance now seemed like faint candle lights. It was quiet. There was no one in the whole building but me. I was pretty sure of that.

The situation was similar to the one that I had already experienced in the basement of the building during the bombing. It was scary, I didn't understand anything. The window cannot be opened, the door was locked.

Sehun was in danger. I have to help him. But how?..

Rising to my feet, I looked around, once again approaching the door. The handle didn't budge. I tried the window, but to no avail. With a sigh, my gaze moved to the door. I can try to lock pick it.

Full of hope, I tore off a piece of wood from the bed and pulled out a piece of straw filling the very semblance of a mattress. Remembering all the possible ways to open the lock ever seen in the movies, I tried to open this door.

The straw bent, not helping the process in any way and the piece of wood did not even fit into the keyhole and I threw them away with irritation. The useless tools collided with the window I was now looking at. No, not an option, my fear won't even let me look out of it.

A sigh escaped my lips unconsciously. I have to break down the door. Rising to my feet, I accelerated with all my strength shoulder forward, hitting a hard tree. I was thrown back from the force of the blow. The hand was numb for a second and I did not feel it, but after that the pain covered my whole body and I harshly bit my lip, just not to scream.

Sitting on the floor, I felt all my helplessness. No strength, no wise thoughts. A mocking scoff escaped my lips. The one and only chosen one, huh. Rubbing my severely bruised shoulder, I didn't even try to get up off the floor.

With my knees close to my chest, I sat in the middle of the room which was barely lit by the fireplace. First, I need to get out of here. Many of the options that were the most sane have already been tried by me, but it did not work.

What should I do now?

Tears suddenly appeared in the corners of my eyes, I felt my vision getting blurry; every thought led to a dead end. It's useless. Once again, I am useless. Closing my eyes, I buried my face into my knees, letting the tears roll down my cheeks. It's all my fault.

"If you think you’re guilty, then stop crying, instead fix what happened."

I opened my eyes. Sehun's words. His voice and figure were in front of my eyes again. He remained so calm, even knowing that he would be punished. Because of me.

I can't just give up and do nothing.

With some effort my legs straightened, lifting my body off the floor. Fix what happened. Fire lit up in my eyes, the body took a fighting stance and the shoulder already seemed like a trifle. I have at least three more limbs that I can injure. This thought made me smile and I continued ...

****

Breathing heavily, I looked at the door that hadn't moved even a tiny inch. With an irritated sigh, I decided to hit it with my right shoulder, which had fewer abrasions. I'll open this damn door.

I was thrown back from the blow again and the door didn't budge. Rising up, I looked at this closed door, as if it were my enemy, as if everything that happened was its fault.

Anger boiled in me, I already felt that I was almost breathing fire, my whole body ached, but I could not just give up. I screamed as loudly as I could, without fear of cracking my voice and lifted my foot to kick the door near the lock itself in the hope that it would break.

The heel of my boot collided with the wooden door without any pain, which startled me, but my attention was shifted to another equally startling factor. An incredible heat began to emanate from my leg and when it touched the wood, like a lighter clicked, a flame burst out of it.

Beautiful red and insanely hot flames engulfed my leg, crashing into the hard door. From the force of the blow, in addition to the insane force of the flame that escaped from me, the door opened with the loudest thud, hitting the wall outside.

The body did not move and eyes full of shock were staring at the open passage. What just happened? The brain slowly digested the information, perceiving what had happened, but the burning boot brought me back to reality faster. I shook my foot in panic, trying to extinguish the fire, and I stomped with my boot which had the residual flames on it.

Having coped with the task, I sighed heavily, noticing a couple of holes in my boot and I felt the smell of burnt leather. The initial shock subsided and the worry rang bells in my head. Sehun will be punished at the main square.

Running out of the room, I rushed out of the house into total darkness. I'll think about the situation with the door later, now the main thing is to be there in time.

Guided by the light from the torches and walking on the well-worn road that Sehun had showed me the first time, I ran forward. For a couple of seconds, I doubted whether I was following the right path, but at the end of a seemingly endless way, I saw a crowd of people illuminated by the light from a large fire.

Having instantly slowed down, I decided to stay in the darkness, now wading through the bushes, trying not to make unnecessary sounds. The crowd was shouting something, but due to the variety of voices, I could not make out the words. Now it was important for me to get closer to the visible platform that looked like a stage. On it, I already saw the outlines of familiar people.

The guy in the center with red hair. Several people a little further away: a woman, a man who looks like a bear, a man with a huge scar and the only young guy with glasses. And then I saw him in the middle, on his knees.

to the waist, with his head bent down but his eyes... His eyes spoke volumes. Anger, disobedience, no remorse. It seemed that we looked at each other, which made me breathless. People all chanted, shouted something.

And a man stepped onto the stage. An angry man with a bandaged hand, whose malevolent gaze was fixed on the tied guy.

"Oh Sehun, do you admit that you broke Jaeho's arm?" I could hear Chanyeol's voice even from a distance, he had a well-trained diction and a clear voice. Sehun looked up at the crowd, which fell silent as they waited for an answer.

“Yes.” The short answer, the unwavering look and disapproving sighs of the crowd.

"What was the reason for such actions, contradicting my orders?" Chanyeol sounded so cold, like he was a different person. Although he was not Park Chanyeol now, he was the leader of the Freedom rebellion, Phoenix, who rises in flames.

"Self-defense." One word of Sehun and a man with a broken arm rushes towards him and hits him in the face with his healthy hand. Sehun's face turned to the side from the blow, but his expression didn't change. Only his lips curved into a slight smirk as he looked at the man.

This angered him even more. He was ready to strike again, as the harsh voice of Phoenix sounded:

“Enough.” The man immediately shuddered, gritting his teeth, but stepping back and glancing fearfully at the leader. "Kim Jaeho, you attacked Oh Sehun first?"

"That's a lie! I didn’t plan to hit him and he, who had sworn to protect us, broke my arm!" Indignation flared up in me, I wanted to shout something, but the man continued his speech: "How can we, ordinary people, trust you, if you injure your own people so easily!"

People supported the man's words which made him even bolder. Chanyeol listened calmly the entire time, while Sehun just stared into the crowd. No fear, only hidden anger filled his eyes. People began to blame the chosen one, pouring mud on her name, but Chanyeol silenced everyone with a question to Sehun:

"Oh Sehun, were you on duty when this incident happened?"

"Yes." Again an honest and short answer, stirring up the discontent of the crowd. Chanyeol continued:

"Did I give you the authority to use brute force?" I froze, hoping Sehun would respond with yes. That would clear all charges against him.

"No." But the guy could not lie. A second later, it dawned on me that all the blame would then be transferred to Chanyeol. Looking at Phoenix, I only for a second saw his true feelings: remorse.

"What did I order you to do?" Sehun was silent, as if pondering over Phoenix's words, then replied:

"Check the infirmary." He still looked into the crowd, not even throwing a glance either at Phoenix or at the gloating man.

"And you admit that your actions were rash and led to negative consequences?" Phoenix, in turn, did not take his eyes off the guy, burning him with one glance.

There was silence. This time, no one moved, trying to hear what the guy had to say. He was silent for a long time and I could not stand it. I began to make my way through the thickets, closer to the stage.

“Yes.” It was the most emotionless and empty tone that Sehun has ever spoken with throughout the whole time I knew him. It made me flinch, stop halfway and look up. This time, the guy hid all emotions behind indifference and I could no longer understand his true feelings. As if he didn't care already.

Chanyeol just nodded at his response, looking away. An unknown man approached him and handed him something. Wasting no time, I began to come closer while Phoenix handed this thing to a man with a broken arm. And I finally saw what it was.

Scourge. Short, with a rod tied around it, with a leather handle. Now everyone saw it. There was a whispering heard and a frank fear appeared in the eyes of the people.

The man who was now holding the whip looked confused. All his ostentatious courage vanished and he tried on the whip in his hands with a dull look. Chanyeol's firm voice was heard once again in this crazy situation.

“Kim Jaeho, you find Oh Sehun guilty, is it?" Hearing his name, the wounded man looked at Phoenix, as if he did not understand what he had to do. Chanyeol was impartial, while Sehun in turn was not surprised or flinched. All the same cold indifference. "Or he doesn't deserve punishment and we can let him go?"

The man hesitated, his gaze shifted: he looked at Phoenix, then at Sehun, and finally at the crowd. Shouts of support or condemnation were heard from everywhere. The man hesitated and for the first time I began to pray, just for him to change his mind. But the man's gaze changed as soon as a loud and cocky voice from crowd reached his ears:

"Jaeho does not have enough guts to do it, he is just a coward!"

The anger took over him as he turned to Sehun with different eyes. The guy was silent and did not even look at the man.

"Heck, he won't get away like that!" The man harshly waved his whip and my heart stopped for a second. Eyes never left the quick whip that landed on the bare shoulders of the guy who straightened up from the blow. The crowd was silent, just watching.

Sehun made no sound. He unconsciously closed one eye; frowned; straightened his back; but didn't let out even a slightest sound. Jaeho froze, but not even a second passed before he smiled evilly as he felt the power. And the whip flew now on the back of the guy, which immediately cut his body, pushing through the skin and leaving a crooked trail of bloody mess.

After the second blow, the body no longer obeyed to me. My feet themselves carried me to the stage, my consciousness didn't already care about the idea of ​​being unnoticed and I was already pushing my way not through the bushes, but through the crowd which was frozen with shock and fear.

As soon as I got to the stage, all eyes were on me, except for Sehun and the man who got used to the role of the executioner. I invariably watched the whip that rose in an almost whistling sound, rose into the air, skidding for another blow. But I didn’t let it.

I didn’t have time to fully realize what I had done, but in one blink I was already in front of a malicious man who brought the whip behind his head for the next hit. I covered Sehun, but the blow fell on me. The only thing that I managed to do was to raise my arms, which caused the blow to hit them dire