A faint noise from what seemed far away made Xiumin open his eyes in a flash. How long has it been that he heard something other than the ticking and his own voice?

His heart suddenly began drumming inside of him making him momentarily wonder why he even had a heart in the first place. But then, that noise, faint as it was, definitely was something other than the ticking.

Excited he jumps up and dashes towards the sound, his ears straining to hear.

Another sound came and it sounded a lot like a living being, like someone calling out or talking.

He began running faster until he began to hear the sound a lot clearer, his heart thudding from excitement and exhilaration. Have his followers finally track him down? Will he finally be free from this dreaded place? Was darkness going to be put away?

Glorious!

“Oh gosh… Why is it so dark in here?” A voice sounds, foreign, almost weird, and a voice that was clearly not his own. Oh! He could weep with happiness right now!

The voice was clearly that of a male, boyish and curious, and was speaking in a language he has never heard of before… But since he was but a demon, language was not something that is a barrier.

The only language he did not know or comprehend was the heavenly language.

How he hates that gibberish!

“Hello?” The voice sounded like it belongs to a young male. “Anybody here? Where is that tick coming from?”

He was so close to the voice now, so, so close that it felt as though his ears might burst because of the volume. Countless moments of being in empty silence had made him sensitive to noise other than the tick.

He stops then when he felt the soul- most probably a human soul standing just a few feet away from him and caught a breather.

“A human soul?” He calls out finding it funny that no other thing but a human soul entered this space. Perhaps this place was only out of bounds for angels and demons.

The voice gasped loudly, most probably startled.

“Someone there? Do you happen to have a torch?”

Xiumin felt like chuckling at the poor soul. He probably has no idea that he is dead.

“I think I died or something.” This made Xiumin blink in surprise. A soul that is well aware of his state? Strange. “Are-are you dead as well?”

Xiumin laughed. He did. There was certain happiness to a company after being alone for such a long time but then there was an air of innocence within this soul that just made him… laugh.

There is the usual silence that makes Xiumin almost afraid that the voice had only been a figment of imagination.

“Dude, you laugh exactly like the villains in the movies.”

As much as Xiumin knew about languages, he did not quite understand what the young man meant by ‘movies’ or 'villains' for that matter.

“Which direction did you come in from?” He questioned instead. Whatever other things were, can wait for later.

“Um… Behind?” The voice sounded unsure making Xiumin almost growl. He had to get out of here and this was his only chance. Who knows when would this chance even come up again?

“Lead me.” He orders making the voice sigh a little. Since when were humans this… indifferent? What happened to their revered attitude? If this person was a normal human, he would be groveling at his feet.

But all of those can be kept for later. He just needs to get out of here.

“I think it was this way,” The voice says and Xiumin almost trips to follow him.

They began walking.

“How long have you been here? I have a feeling I died about a day ago?” The voice says, his tone light.

Xiumin searched his memory to place this attitude to anything he’s ever come across before. The thought of death used to scare human beings so much… why doesn’t this boy seem… bothered?

“My body probably under the pile of snow. It was a stupid decision to come skiing after all… Mom’s gonna be so mad- or sad. Most probably sad.”

The voice stops talking and instead sighs. “I did not even say thank you to her for being such a wonderful mom.”

Xiumin almost smiled at the thought of someone else sharing a story with him, walking him to somewhere that would most probably be an escape. He could care less about the story... But the thought of it made him gleeful. Who knew demons could have such... joy. That wan an attribute of the light. Oh well, he could indulge in it for a while.

He desperately hopes this wasn’t a dream or a hallucination.

“Can you believe that I shouted at her before coming because she did not give me enough money?” The boy laughs but his laugh isn’t humorous, rather it is dry and regretful- the kind of laugh that Xiumin is fond of.

“If I am given a chance… even if for a second, I wish I could say thank you to her.” His voice trails off to a regretful silence before he sighs and chuckles, the tone guilty. “I’m sorry. We just met and I am already talking your head off. I’m Kyungsoo, by the way. Who are you?”

Who is he indeed? Xiumin his chin and hums.

“I am a demon.” He states, hoping for the first time in his existence that his identity does not scare the poor boy away. “I’ve been trapped here for… quite some time.”

To his surprise though the young man gasps loudly. “Whoa! Like an actual demon? That is so sick!”

He frowns suddenly a little concerned over this reaction. Just what was this attitude?

“I’ve been binge-watching anime about demon lords and over gods lately. You guys are sick, man.”

He frowns again. What were all these foreign words?

His lack of response seems to make the boy awkward as he coughed lightly. “Ahem. Sorry. I did not mean to get carried away.”

Xiumin hums in response.

“You said you were trapped here. Was it because of something you did?”

This human was either brainless or careless or extremely courageous but right now, Xiumin isn’t sure so he hums a reply.

“What did you do? Steal?”

At this Xiumin lets out a scoff. Steal? Really?

“Murder then?”

Silence and his irritation growing. Why can’t he simply guide him to the exit?

“Alright… Um… R?”

Xiumin kept quiet watching and craning his neck to check if they were actually going the right path.

“Are you sure we’re going to the right path?”

He is surprised by his own impatience. After all this time, he thought he would be more patient but then old habits really die hard… besides, it had been enough. He has had enough. It wasn’t his fault that he was impatient to get out of here.

“Yeah… I am sure?” A very unsure voice replies making Xiumin narrow his eyes. If this boy doesn’t lead him out then he would surely enjoy torturing him for eternity.

“We’re probably on the right path.”

Silence.

It was only then that Xiumin realized that there was no ticking anymore. They were definitely on the right path.

“Hurry along…” He calls out making sure the boy doesn’t do something stupid. “I’ve been here long enough.”

There is silence and Xiumin found it beautiful! At last! The absence of ticking.

“Um… who trapped you?” Another question found its way to him making him wish he could zip the boy’s mouth shut. Even after all this time, he still cannot tolerate stupid questions. If it had been the good old days, the young boy’s soul would already be integrated into his own… but today was a special occasion and he would let him be.

“The angels.” He grunts a reply making the boy gasp again.

“Like legit angels? White beings and wings? DUDE! They exists for reals? Dang! I wish I could vlog this.”

All this gibberish and they still walked.

“You know in almost all anime or manga I’ve read, they paint the angels as the antagonist. The angels are always the bad ones… must be true, huh?”

He did not know what was anime or manga but that news bought a piece of happiness within him. It looks like his followers were doing something right, at least.

“The demons are always trying to do the right thing but the angels come and foil their plans.”

True.

“Most of the time, the demons are trying to save the world but the angels would always disturb them.”

He couldn’t help the snort that came out this time. That’s… twisted. He was beyond proud now.

“Anyhow… How long have you been here? It’s like 2021 right now.”

2021? So now they were putting numbers to their days? 2021 is less. What does that mean?

“Like it-”

A waft of warm air, just a teeny, tiny wave comes and touches his face at that moment and Xiumin just knew that the escape was simply some walk away.

“Silence!” Xiumin commands and immediately the Kyungsoo boy shuts up. “We’re getting close. Did you say your body was under a pile of ice?”

“Uh… Sure. I guess. Why?” He asks, the tone lazy but then before Xiumin can even sigh, the boy was gasping. “You’re gonna possess it or something? That ’s real? Damn it! All these cool stuff and I know them today?”

Hmm… This human must either be well versed in the aspects of demons thanks to the anime or manga he was talking about. Does that mean he already had access to the demons and they were talking with him? Perhaps these anime and mangas were portals to hell.

“Well… I guess that’s one way to get my body home.” He sighs with some rustle probably a shoulder shrug.

He talks and talks some more about how he and his group of four friends came together to scale the mountain that no one has ever scaled before.

“This mountain is off-limits for whatever reason. Well… I guess it’s off-limit because I died but still if I had been a little more careful, I would definitely have escaped. I am just shocked that people have conquered Mount Everest but not this mount. This Mount is tiny in comparison!”

The audacity of those angels to lock him up in here, a tiny mountain at that! Couldn’t they have just given him the highest mountain in the world? Blasted angels.

“We traveled about five days in Junmyeon’s car to get here. He’s eighteen so he got a license and also because his family is rich so he can get a car. My best friend Chanyeol is his cousin so we began hanging out and now we’re super close although we’re some years apart. All the boys in my school wants to be me and Chanyeol because we get to do cool stuff with Junmyeon Hyung.”

“Who knew I would die at th