”This,” Baekhyun started, spreading the old paper of a map out on the table. ”Is the second world. Granted, it looks very similar to this one, but in reality they are entirely different. Here everyone speaks the same language, the cultures in the cities are all pretty similar. But in the second world, every region has its own power source. Different power sources means different environments, and different environments mean different cultures and sometimes even languages.” 

”So the goal of our escape is to get to the second world?” Seoyeon asked awkwardly, clearing . 

Baekhyun turned to her. ”Do you really think they’re going to stop chasing us if we remain here, point break?” 

”It’s Seoyeon.” 

He ignored her. ”That writing on your arm talks about another side. That other side, is the other Eriros. If you want to know the truth, you have to get there.” 

”And how are we supposed to do that?” Kyungsoo asked. 

This time it was Seulgi who gave a thoughtful look at the map, and spoke. ”You want to get through one of the portals that brought us here?”

”If you get out there must be a way to get in.” Chanyeol shrugged. 

Seoyeon sighed. ”Well, whether the portals work or not doesn’t really matter until we actually get out of here. How about we start with that first?” 

Baekhyun raised himself from his seat, walking by the fireplace of the common room and pointed a finger towards her. ”I’m still working on that.” 

Seoyeon slumped in her chair. They were never going to make it out of there. Kyungsoo took a seat quietly beside her. 

”Let’s try and think about the mistakes we made last time for a start.” He said. 

”Well,” Seulgi sat down too. ”We didn’t have enough weapons.” 

”They were much more than us, we were easily overpowered.” Chanyeol added. 

Baekhyun was pacing around at this point, juggling a fruit between his hands.  Seoyeon bit her lip, processing her thoughts. They had been overpowered because they were too few last time, how was this situation any different? If they had been overpowered then, what was going to be different now? Unless-

”What if this time we outnumber them?” It was like Baekhyun had read her thoughts. 

Seoyeon didn’t hesitate. ”We have everyone escape.” 

The male clapped his hands enthusiastically. ”Exactly what I was going for.” 

”No way.” Chanyeol shook his head dubiously. ”That would take too much time.” 

”No, it wouldn’t.” Baekhyun countered, narrowing his eyes in a determination Seoyeon hadn’t seen someone wear in a good while. ”Say, if the whole facility was to break down, and everyone was given a chance to escape, those who want, stay, and those who don’t would escape. That shouldn’t take too much time.” 

Chanyeol broke the silence with the question they had been repeating all night. ”How are we going to do that?” 

”Oh, we are not going to do that. We’re going to have someone do it for us.” 

This time, it was Kyungsoo who let out an uncertain noise. ”Who would be crazy enough to—” He cut himself off, and his features creased in realisation. ”You’re mad.”

”I know he’s unpredictable and dangerous, but he doesn’t have to know it’s us.” Baekhyun reasoned, but Seulgi cut him off before he could continue. 

”I’m a bit lost here, who are we talking about?” 

”Kim Junmyeon, of course.” 

***********

It took them an entire sleepless night to complete the plan—a very stupid, and rash one on top of that, but they had very little choice given the circumstances—and another day to finalise the tasks. Baekhyun had come with most of the suggestions, but they were usually followed up or developed with a comment from anyone else in the team. Well, anyone else besides Seoyeon. She had for the most part sat quiet, listening and trying to make herself as small as possible. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to escape, but it had been years since Seoyeon had interacted with people in a way that didn’t involve putting up an act or stealing, and the thought of having a trivial conversation with someone felt unnerving, like she couldn’t trust it. 

Kyungsoo, on the other hand, was handling the situation much better. He had obviously known the group for much longer, and was thus comfortable around them. So comfortable that she’d sometimes notice him faintly smile at Chanyeol’s whimsical behaviour or have long running conversations with Baekhyun, something he’d never had with her. At least not since they met again.  

Not that it mattered, of course. Seoyeon wasn’t there to make friends. Seoyeon was there to find answers. 

And so, a few days later, the plan was set in motion. 

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

”For the first part of the plan, tell me about the regions of the second world, red one.” Baekhyun said. 

Chanyeol cleared his throat. ”Each of them have their own power source. Cónglín is home of water and a rich jungle, which later developed healers into the region too. Jökulborg is only a sliver of what it once used to be, and people from that region have more varied powers, but it should be centered around ice, right? Dunosa is home of thunder, and other light related powers. And Ignea—of course—is the home of my people, and our source is fire.” 

Baekhyun nodded. ”The people below the mountain. You all live inside the volcano, which also happens to be rich with powerful magical minerals. Seulgi, forging weapons and artefacts with those minerals is your speciality, right?” 

”Like many of my kind, yes.” She replied, though Seoyeon could tell from her ecstatic look that she wanted to say more. 

”Do you think you can forge something out of finestria kaecilia?”

”Finestria? You mean the window gem?”

”What’s so special about it?” Kyungsoo asked. 

”It has a lot of functions,” Seulgi started. ”But I guess in this context, if you split two pieces from the same stone apart and put one of them in an entirely different location, you’ll be able to hear and see everything going on there. Obviously, you have to have its twin with you in order to do that. They work like window gateways, we can see everything there, and they can see everything here.” 

”We’re going to use it to spy on Im Changkyun, to get more information about Junmyeon. Obviously, they don’t have this kind of material available lying around anywhere for us to use, but they have a storage department where I’m just about sure we’ll find what we’ll need. And, since yours truly can manipulate and bend light to his will, I can make myself invisible and go fetch them.” Baekhyun said. 

It was nearing night on the first plan-active day. Seoyeon, Chanyeol, Seulgi and Kyungsoo were all situated in the common room after a day of what felt like infinite sparring and training when the door creaked open carefully. Seoyeon was alarmed at the fact that there was nothing visible that had pushed the door open, but then a clatter was heard, and they all snapped their heads towards the table. There, a bag rolled open, revealing a gleaming red gemstone and some metal, before Baekhyun’s figure appeared behind it; a proud smirk vesting his lineaments. 

”Thank my Dunosan charm.” He joked. 

Seulgi’s eyes were practically glowing when she jumped from the couch and admired the goods. ”You’re the best! My magma could easily forge the metal into an everyday item. That way we can disguise the finestria properly.” 

And forge it she did. Like Baekhyun had said, Seulgi was a monster in her category. She had been asked by her to split the gem in half with her powers, and Seoyeon formed a dagger in her palm before cutting the stone smoothly. The other girl’s demeanor had then changed from bubbly to focused and strict as soon as liquid fire had cascaded from her palms and she started shaping the uneven metal planks given to her. Her hands worked diligently and smoothly, and the following morning when Seoyeon stepped groggily out of her room, she was presented with a small, shiny, candle holder. The red gem was nestled in its middle, looking like a decoration to the piece. It was an extremely smart move. 

”There are thousands of candle holders in the facility that look identical to this one. He won’t notice a thing if we switch it out.” 

Chanyeol sighed from behind her, ruffling the girl’s hair affectionately. ”You didn’t have to lose sleep over this though.” 

”There was no other time for me to do it without getting caught.” Seulgi countered, removing her brother’s hand from her fiery red hair. Seoyeon squinted, noticing a couple of scars extending from the side of her wrist, to her elbow. Her thought process was cut off by Baekhyun’s chatter. 

”Alright, let’s go train, and I’ll make sure to take care of this.” He grabbed the candleholder and lifted it gently into the air. 

And that’s how they snuck the secret gemstone into Im Changkyun’s chambers. It was during a sparring lesson, one that included both her and Kyungsoo, though they were fighting with different opponents. Nonetheless, there wasn’t a chance that Changkyun was going to miss an opportunity to watch his beloved champion. The pair took note and made sure his full attention was in the training room before giving a subtle nod in Baekhyun’s direction, who quietly slipped out of the room. She didn’t miss the way his figure flickered a few times before fading completely. With that, the first part of the plan was done. Having a full watch on him meant they could be given insight on Kim Junmyeon’s whereabouts and if he was going to meet him anytime soon. With a sliver of luck, it wasn’t going to be too long until then. 

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

Two days passed without results. Chanyeol was the one assigned to keep watch of Im Changkyun in his spare time, while Seulgi was busy forging weapons and other necessary gadgets for the escape. Baekhyun supervised everything with surprising detail. There was something extremely enigmatic about him, one moment he could be joking around like all was well with life and the next moment he’d be rigid and ready to strike. He was also an extremely good fighter, Seoyeon learned during sparring sessions. So good, that he had managed to throw her on the ground not once, but twice during no-magic sparring sessions. But then again, was it really a surprise? Baekhyun wasn’t a rank thersis for nothing - and part of his power was making himself invisible. It would only makes sense that he had great fighting skills with an ability as such. 

Seoyeon also learned they knew about Kyungsoo’s real identity, though they did not look much affected by it. Instead, they made awkward attempts at striking conversation with her, sometimes trying to include her in conversations she had no knowledge of. It felt strange. That they didn’t have an ulterior motive to what they were doing, that they weren’t planning anything. It was just a group of people trying to get to know another person; something very trivial. And yet, it was exactly that trivialness that terrified her. It was something Seoyeon had learned to detach from in an attempt of survival. There was no trivial in the world she had lived in for the past eleven years, there were no friends to rely on. It all had been stripped away from her as a child. So how was she just supposed to accept the fact that life was handing it right b