---

As soon as the eight of them take a single step past the gate and into the building, Luhan gasps as he feels his heart begin to stutter to a stop. Immediately, he loses function in his body as the magic inside of him swiftly disappears, and he falls to the ground--much to the others' shock.

"Lu...han?!" someone exclaims, their voice sounding strangely far away.

"Oh my sun--"

"Please, Lu...not again!"

Somehow, even with his heart having stopped, and his eyes now closed, Luhan's senses are still functioning somewhat. He can sense that his companions are crowding around his body right now and can also hear his own stuttering gasps clear as day.

And right as his senses start completely losing function...he sighs as he feels his back-up power switch on inside himself before he gulps in a huge amount of air as the stardust starts rapidly cycling inside his stomach to activate his heart's process again.

Then, he finds the strength to open his eyes only to find that things don't look quite as clear as they usually do. His friends are indeed bent down and crowding around him with concern though, and when he moves to lift his head, he realizes that he was lying down with his head propped up on someone's lap.

With a glance up, he spots Minseok who looks right back down at him with teary-eyed concern before he looks back at the others as they all ask him what happened and if he's alright.

"Yes, I-I'm okay," Luhan replies, slowly lifting himself up from Minseok's lap to sit up. "Though, with my magic gone...M-my heart won't fully function again until we leave this place."

The others just look at him with more concern before Minseok suddenly moves to hug him. Luhan blinks in surprise before he closes his eyes and hugs him back for a moment.

"I thought we were gonna lose you again," Minseok whispers while clutching onto Luhan's fur jacket a bit tighter.

Minseok then pulls away from the hug to look at him and Luhan frowns at the sight of tears running down his cheeks. So, without another thought, Luhan lifts his hands to cup Minseok's face and wipe his tears away, and Minseok just lets him while he lets out a sniffle.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Min," Luhan finally mumbles, and Minseok's lower lip wobbles before he leans in to kiss him. Luhan feels butterflies appear in his stomach as he kisses him right back.

When they pull apart, Minseok then asks, "Are you sure you'll be alright inside this place, Lu?"

The others let out soft, concerned Yeah's around them, and Luhan nods his head before Yixing asks how long his back-up power will last.

"I'm not completely sure but I-I think indefinitely," Luhan replies. "Though as a side effect, my senses have fairly dulled, so uh, my mind--my mind's way of processing information seems to have slowed down too."

Everyone's then silent for a moment before Chanyeol asks, "...Wait, so does that mean ya can't hear things that are like super far away anymore?"

Luhan nods his head with a frown.

". Well uh, tell us if anything else feels off, okay? We'll be here to protect ya."

A tired smile grows on Luhan's face at that before a few of the others ask him again if he's sure he's feeling okay enough to continue on. Minseok then reminds him that the gate is right there if he doesn't think he can carry on, but Luhan thinks about his mother--imagines her sickly form lying comatose on her cot--and furiously shakes his head no. Both to inform the others that he's going to continue on with them and to try and get the image out of his head.

"No. I can do this," Luhan then replies, his eyes determined. "I know I can."

He then looks from his concerned friends to specifically Minseok's face again, only to see the latter with his lips in with worry. They both look at each other for a good, long moment before Minseok sighs and says, Okay.

And so, the eight of them end up standing back up (with Minseok and Chanyeol helping Luhan get up onto his feet) before Kyungsoo asks everyone else if they're feeling alright.

And that's when Luhan actually notices that the others look more tired than they did when they were just outside of this building, but fortunately, the others all let Kyungsoo know that they're feeling okay enough to continue on too.

Chanyeol then tries to summon a fireball, just to see if it'll work, but only a hint of a flame appears before it gets quickly extinguished by an unknown force. And at that, he dramatically drops to his knees and cradles his dominant hand with the other before he surprisingly looks up at Kyungsoo.

"Is this how you feel every day, Kyungsoo?!" he dramatically asks.

Kyungsoo's lips quirk up for a millisecond before he tells him to off. And that gets Chanyeol and a few of them chuckling before Chanyeol springs back up onto his feet with a smile now on his face.

"Anyways," Kyungsoo replies. "If anyone starts feeling faint, let me know, okay? I've some berries and bread that we can all snack on as we walk."

And so, with a few requesting the food now and such, and with Minseok holding onto Luhan's hand again, the eight of them begin to slowly journey their way down the only path in this building so far.

---

A few minutes later, they all come upon an area in this simple brown place with three directions leading north, east, and west of where they are. One direction has a path paved in the same material as the one that they're on now, one with walls decorated with beautiful flowers of various colors, and one paved in pure gold.

", where do we go now?" Baekhyun whispers.

"Ugh, the Dwemer and their ing tests!" Chanyeol booms.

"Chanyeol!" Kyungsoo loudly whispers.

"What?"

"Lower your voice!"

"Why? It's not like there's any Dwemer nearby. And even if there were, they wouldn't even understand what the we're sayin', man."

"I don't give a . We're all already lucky enough that we didn't get killed or something during this whole ing journey. I don't want to test that luck when we're so close--got it?"

Chanyeol lets out an annoyed grunt but thankfully doesn't argue back.

"Okay...so I'm thinkin' maybe we should go down the ordinary looking path," Yifan theorizes.

"But aren't the flowers the most obvious choice?" Jongin asks with a pout.

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I think it's probably a trap."

"Wait, but what about the golden path?" Minseok then asks.

"It's either a trap or it's where the guards of this place are at," Yifan replies.

"...Should we split up then?" Kyungsoo then asks, and they all turn to look at him with incredulity. "H-hey, why're you all looking at me like that?"

"Hon, I love you," Jongin replies, placing an arm around his shoulders. "But that's the worst plan that I've heard from you yet."

Kyungsoo pouts a bit at that and mumbles, It was just a suggestion. Jongin just leans in to nuzzle his nose with his for a second and whispers, I know, hon~

"So anyways, yeah, I think we should just keep going north," Yifan replies after a beat. "That sound okay to you guys?"

Minseok shrugs and says, Yeah, I guess and the others end up agreeing in varying degrees. So, with Yifan and Chanyeol at the front, the eight of them continue down the northern path.

---

This northern path ends up leading them all to a grand, golden spiraling staircase several minutes later, and it's with each of them walking in pairs now that they begin the moderate climb to the top.

"Please don't be a trap, please don't be a trap," Baekhyun whispers aloud as they walk.

"It won't be--trust me," Yifan replies in a whisper. "I got a good sense for this sorta thing."

Baekhyun just lets out a nervous whine as his response. Then, once they all reach the top and continue walking on for a bit, they all soon come upon a grand golden door with the carvings of a flower and dotted spiraling circles surrounding it that's currently being guarded by a golden automaton in heavy armor.

Luhan and the others instantly turn to glance up at Yifan who's smiling that gummy smile of his now before they all slowly walk up to the automaton. The automaton then grabs for a sword that was hidden behind itself at the sight of them and says a word in Dwemeris that Luhan has come to realize must mean Halt.

The others seem to get the gist of that word too and freeze in their tracks before the automaton says something that Kyungsoo can't seem to decipher.

"U-um we were just--" Kyungsoo starts before pausing as he realizes that he was still speaking in Common.

The automaton then rapidly announces that it's accessing its known languages before it starts speaking at a normal pace again, though surprisingly in Commonspeak now too.

"I have just detected the language known as 'Common' from your speech and have switched to it to make our conversation more agreeable. Now, hold still as I scan you all."

Then, unlike Luhan's own scanning function, an actual blue light shines out from the automaton's eyes as it seems to scan each of them from head to toe. A few flinch or shiver as the light passes through them before the automaton finishes its scan and begins to speak again.

"The progeny of a phoenix, a half-Bosmer with the soul of a dragon...Two humans--one a half-Dryad and the other not--both not of this world." The automaton then locks eyes with Luhan. "A human-like non-automaton made from star nectar, and three humans simply from Nirn...I have never before seen such a diverse group of beings journeying together."

And to Luhan, it sounds like just the tiniest bit of amazement had seeped through the automaton's unwavering tone just then.

"So...would we be allowed to enter then?" Chanyeol's the first to ask. "'Cause like we obviously mean no harm to um, her greatness if we've made it this far."

The automaton goes silent at that and everyone seems to hold in their breath as they wait for its response.

"Yes, you all may pass," the automaton replies after a beat.

A few whoop and cheer at that, and the automaton takes a few steps to the side as the door behind them seems to open by itself. Luhan then turns to look at Minseok first, feeling so many emotions coming to the surface now.

Minseok just smiles with sympathy and squeezes the hand that he's been holding onto, and so, with a few taking in the deepest breaths yet, they slowly walk past the automaton and into the room.

Immediately, before they even see the flower, the eight of them are hit with an invisible wave of just pure magic. Luhan feels his hair fly back at the wave and finds his mind moving a bit faster towards its normal pace. Then, as the eight of them actually walk closer and see the eternal flower in all of its glory, Luhan and Kyungsoo are the first to cry at the sight of it.

It looks so alive and real and full of the most mysterious magic as its beautiful black petals seem to ebb and flow in a wind not of this world. And it's resting in an ornate blue and white clay pot on a pedestal in the center of this blue-tinted room and is currently being guarded by two Dwemer guards in heavy armor.

The guards simply regard them all with a look, and as Kyungsoo and Luhan get comforted by the others, a few then ask who should go to the eternal flower first.

"I think Lu should go first," Minseok states while rubbing Luhan's back now.

The others then look at Luhan as he continues to wipe at his own eyes, and a few ask him if he feels ready to do so or if someone else should go first instead. Without a thought, Luhan volunteers to go first and then finds himself standing still as he looks back at the eternal flower.

Sir Igrelbar had told them all on the way that once they reach the eternal flower, she'll properly judge each and every one of them. And only those who she deems to be pure-hearted or well-intentioned will be able to pluck a petal while those who are neither of those traits will get knocked back by a strong wave of magic.

And after that, that's it. A being can apparently only get one chance