Im Changkyun was reading through one of the many special guest lists of the upcoming fights, when there was a gentle knock on the door. Gentle, but one he could recognise anywhere. The male sat up straight, and his lineaments stretched into a smile. 

”Come in.” He said. 

And come in they did. Two males crept through the doorway, reciprocating the smile. 

Changkyun acknowledged them with a nod. ”Siwon, Yesung.” They were the mastermind behind the idea of the Astrodome; founders of the battleground, though they in later times were mostly controlling it by the sidelines, slowly transitioning the leader position onto the boy they had raised: none other than Changkyun himself. And he was not about to disappoint them with the latest recruits. 

”You asked to see us?” Yesung chimed, taking his seat on a chair in front of him. 

He smiled. ”I come with good news.”

Siwon nodded with his head. ”Do not keep us in the dark.” 

”I managed to find our champion and get him back to the dome, but before my men departed from Ventium, they managed to catch a girl with powers. You see, this is usually no important news, but the girl, she’s special too. She has the same powers as the champion, and they seemed to know each other. The amount of profit we could gain from this—”

”That’s very good to hear, Changkyun.” Siwon cut him off, raising his hand in a halt motion. ”How do they know each other?” 

”Well, at first thought they could be siblings, but they look nothing alike, and the prince has never had a sister. I could...ask them if you’d like.” A wicked grin tainted his lips, but Yesung waved it off. 

”Do as you please, just make sure to use her before this week ends. I want the demand up twice the amount before this month ends. More people watching, means more sightings of the magi, which means we’ll have at least thirty new recruits before solstice. Our empire is expanding, and so is our plan. But tell me this—” 

Yesung straightened up in his seat, and his before relaxed expression hardened. ”—Putting the prisoners against each other has gained us much information - along with the fact that the presumed dead prince is our champion. You see why this piece of knowledge is vital for the success of our operation, right?”

Changkyun nodded, swallowing thickly. He paled, knowing where this was going. Yesung suddenly grabbed a violent grip of his shoulder; a grip so harsh, the male broke out in a shudder. ”Then why would you tell Kim Junmyeon about this?!” He yelled. 

Changkyung flinched back violently, taking in short, fast breaths. ”I didn’t, I swear! I lied to him, I never told him the truth! But he’s growing more suspicious by the second it won’t be long until he discovers the truth by himself.”

”Stop making up excuses—”

”Yesung, sit down.” Siwon sighed. The latter did what he was told, releasing the iron grip. 

”Listen kid,” Siwon began, offering an apologetic smile. ”I know Junmyeon may seem like your friend since you’ve spent time together and he’s worked for us a long time, but I assure you he is not. Once he finds out that we’re the ones behind the Astrodome, everything that we have built over the past eleven years, is going to fall apart completely. He’s going to ruin us all, and if he finds out about the prince, it won’t be long until he links it back to the dome, back to us. Do you want that, Changkyun? Do you want us to die? After everything we did for you?” 

”No, no, of course not.” 

”That’s what I thought,” Siwon smiled warmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. ”I know you can fix this, and I know you will. We can’t always clean up after your mistakes. A man’s gotta learn by himself, doesn’t he?” 

He flinched at the touch. ”But I haven’t told him anything—”

”You’ve been careless, Changkyun.” Yesung cut in. ”Rumours are spreading, and the little truth in them could reach him. Make sure it doesn’t. Don’t disappoint us.” 

Changkyun nodded, feeling his voice shake. ”I won’t.”

Both of the older males smiled. 

”I know you won’t.” 

**************

Seoyeon spent two days in the Astrodome before she was assigned her first fight. Just like Kyungsoo had said, it worked like a subterranean battleground, where people would bet ridiculously large sums of money for each fight. It was the secret coliseum of the kingdom of Eriros, that Seoyeon hadn’t even known existed until three days prior. 

There was a set of rules, along with a set of ranks. Only people within the same rank of skill and bravure were allowed to speak with each other, your rank was decided and elevated depending on how, and who you fought, but also on how much the public loved you and if they wanted to see more of you. The so-called dormitories were additionally divided by rank (if you could even call it that. They mostly consisted of an empty common room with a burnt, worn-out looking fireplace, a table and some chairs, along with small, cramped bedrooms). Seoyeon was particularly shocked by the good amount of food they received; though she later came to realise it was a manipulation strategy of the dome to keep their prisoners and to make them fight well (bad nutrition equaled bad fighting). 

The first morning, she had been roughly wakened by a siren-like sound echoing through the many rooms. She figured later that it was a common wake-up signal for the prisoners to get up and train. 

And trained she did. Seoyeon was offered three different rooms: one looked like a weaponry, where numerous fighters were clashing violently against one another. Another room was relatively empty besides numerous worn-out mats scattered in a pattern across the room, in which—again—people were fighting on, the only difference from the weaponry being the fact that they always fought bare-handed instead of holding weapons. The third room for training was more intricate - its walls were fortified with some kind of black metal, there were no windows and the floor looked consumed and ruined. It was empty when she passed by it the first time, but during later hours she discovered that people trained in that room using their powers against each other. That was also why the walls were fortified. 

The first day, Seoyeon blatantly ignored the weaponry. The last thing the girl had needed was a weapon when she was fully capable of materialising them on her own. They were heavy and occupied her hands, which only made them a liability. Instead, she chose the empty room with the mats. There was a line of people on each mat, waiting for the ongoing pair to finish their fight. The wait wasn’t long, and the girl also noticed a couple of men sitting by the sidelines, watching intently, which she deduced were probably not fighters, but rather those who picked them out for official fights. 

Her first training fight was against a tall, blonde male, who wouldn’t stop talking to her the minute she stepped in the ring. 

”What power do you have? I can manipulate the earth to my liking, but it’s not that useful in these kinds of fights. What’s your deal? Lightning? Water? Ice? I feel like you have ice- do you have ice? You look icy. You give me icy vibe—” 

”Are we going to start the fight or are you going to talk my ear off?” She urged, rolling her eyes. He straightened up into a fighting stance, but that did not seem to shut him up. Not even when one of the men on the sidelines yelled for the fight to start. 

”You definitely must have ice. But wait, your hair isn’t blonde like the ones who harness ice—” 

Seoyeon sighed in exhasperation and took advantage of the fact that he was distracted, grabbing his gesticulating arm and twisting it. The male let out a surprised yelp as he was helplessly spun around with force when Seoyeon kicked his back, and he fell flat on the ground. 

”You want a tip for your next fight? Stop talking and start fighting.” And that was the end of that fight. And of many others that day. She had kept winning. Not because she was physically stronger or more able, but simply because the people her rank didn’t have any type of foreground or basis of any fighting styles. They were normal people with powers who had been captured and put in an environment they knew nothing of, and Seoyeon would have found herself in the same seat hadn’t it been for her power’s ability to make her adapt quickly to fighting techniques by focusing the energy coursing in the core, in her body. These were not trained fighters, these were prisoners forced to battle against each other. 

On her second day—much to her dismay—Im Changkyun was one of the men watching by the sidelines. The entire time, he was wearing a focused, almost amused grin. Like he had full control of the situation, and Seoyeon hated that. 

He crossed his legs and leaned his upper body on them, following her movements intently with the gaze of his eyes as she fought. It was only after her third win that morning that he spoke. 

”Why don’t you show me how your power works?” He said, raising himself from his seat, striding towards her mat, a smaller man following behind him. 

”We only fight with our bodies in this training room.” She snapped. It wasn’t like she cared about showing her powers, but something about the way he requested it and that he did it in the first place, irked her. It felt like exposing an important secret he shouldn’t be aware of. It felt wrong. 

Im Changkyun waved a hand towards her direction. The female she had previously defeated had already left the mat, leaving the girl alone with him. ”It’s okay, I can overlook it. Go on.” 

”No.” Seoyeon insisted, making sure to cast her deadliest glare. Changkyun’s amused expression morphed into a cold, hostile one. 

”You’re going to fight tonight, so I’m going to see it either way. Do it.” 

Her eyes stayed on him when Seoyeon very reluctantly, and very angrily clapped her hands twice, holding her palms attached until she opened them and stretched out a glowing, laser-like staff. She waved it sharply downwards, and the male before her smiled wickedly. 

”Amazing. The public is going to go crazy for her. She is unlike our champion, even though they have the same powers.” He leaned towards the shorter man beside him, talking about her like she wasn’t present in the room. 

”Who will we set her up with, sir?” The shorter one asked. Seoyeon watched the exchange silently, feeling her body tremble in fury. 

”Let’s play with her a little. Put her with a rank thersis.”

”Thersis sir? But that’s the highest rank—