I could feel the cold sinking into my skin.

I slid my hand in his, our fingers in perfect synch, locking automatically. I steered us towards the camp fire where our friends sat, talking casually and laughing with no sign of fear. Anyone who didn't know any better would've probably guessed that we were having a party. We were always a loud group.

"You came at the right time, Yeollie. Our fire was dying." Baekhyun pointed his chin at the flickering bonfire that they were sat around.

I placed my lips to my charm, a ring on my pinky, and called my Sprite.

"Ifrit." I could feel my eyes burning and my vision grew intensely sharper. I reached my hand towards the centre of the circle and the camp fire roared back to life at my command.

I blinked again and my sight softened instantly, the heat slowly draining out of my body. I sat in the circle, a seat beside him, and linked our fingers together once more. The conversation continued as we settled down.

"What would do you after this?" Lay asked.

"Join the council."

The group laughed and Lay gave Baekhyun a playful punch as the chuckling man shrugged.

"What? It makes sense, right? That's what our sunbaes did. They fought in groups and after the battle, if they survive, they were rewarded with a place at the council. I don't see why we should be any different."

"Yeah, but are you forgetting that we're the final warriors? The point of the council was to mentor the next set of fighters after the previous members have failed." Suho paused then added the last part with a more solemn tone, "We can't fail."

"Aww. I was looking forward to wearing those black hoods." Baekhyun pouted, resting his chin on his knuckle.

"Even if we were to join the council, it wouldn't be you in the hood. It'll be Suho hyung or Kris hyung," Sehun reminded.

"Actually, Kris hyung would've--"

A strong slap cut off Baekhyun's sentence, and the air grew cold again. All eyes were silently turning to see the expression on Kris' face.

I felt his hand tremble a little, but he was good to hide it. His face resembled a statue's, where a small smile hung.

"Baekhyun's right. I would've hated the hood. Black was never my colour."

His light words triggered scattered laughter, but we all knew that none of us were truly laughing.

Yes. We all knew. There was still a chance for everyone else to survive this battle, but for me and him, it was a one-way journey.

Death was our final destination.

***

The moon was the source of the warriors' powers. So a full moon gave them maximum strength, but it was the same for their enemies. On nights where the moon is hidden or halved in crescent forms, the warriors would be powerless or greatly weakened, but MASK's minions would also not be strong enough to attack, and it was on these nights that they travelled.

Kris' wounds were healing too slow, so they didn't risk an open fight at such a crucial time. The trio rested at YG ENT's safe house for a few more days, waiting out the full moon, before resuming their journey, making short stops at every safe house they pass. They were now only a day away from SM ENT.

Kris rested as much as he could but his eagerness was actually slowing down his recovery. Meanwhile, the new warrior took the opportunity to train with Suho.

"When can I summon?" Chanyeol repeated for the millionth time since they started training a week ago.

Suho sighed from his lounging position on the bench in the garden of the safe house, "when you know how to control your Sprite without burning the house down."

They had moved their training outdoors since Chanyeol's failure to control his powers had almost set the entire kitchen on fire at the last safe house. And Kris could do with some peace and quiet in his room upstairs.

"Focus," Suho stated. The younger could only obey. It had taken him three days to master the art of calling his Sprite to manipulate the powers of fire, but now it was time to turn that skill to use in combat. Today, he was practicing materialising bullets to fire from his gun, but since early this morning, the target board which stood a few meters away remained untouched.

Chanyeol took aim again and called his Sprite, turning his eyes into a fiery red, using his concentration to conjure physical bullets into his gun, droplets of sweat gathering at his forehead. The trigger was finally pulled and a small ball of fire was released from his gun, hurling slowly but steadily, towards the target board in the form of a bullet. Chanyeol's face lit up with a huge smile, jumping in excitement and turning to face Suho, who sat up immediately to witness this miracle. But then the fire bullet burned out before it reached the target and evaporated in the air.

The elder sighed and fell back on the bench, "again."

"Hyung," Chanyeol wailed, "I'm tired."

"You were the one who wanted to learn," Suho shrugged, "there's nothing more I can do to help. This is all you."

The brunette could only sigh and turn back to the untouched target, gun in his hand. If he was given any regular gun with actual bullets, he was sure that the target would be in bits by now.

The afternoon flew by and evening came, Suho had already fallen asleep on the wooden bench while Chanyeol still struggled to hit the target just metres away. The hopeless boy was close to admitting defeat when he found a moving shadow, blocking the light from the house. Chanyeol felt shivers down his spine.

"Wha--"

Lucky Kris was much faster, dodging the triggered gun and no bullet was fired from the empty gun. Chanyeol dropped his weapon immediately.

"I'm so sorry! I--"

Kris just shook his head and held up his hand, silencing the panicked boy who