What we had thought to be a corpse was indeed a living man. He opened his eyes in one swift movement, letting out a loud whine as he felt the pain of the healing salts. He arched his spine backwards, trying to touch his wound with his right hand. I took it just in time to stop it.

MJ: No, please. This is for your own good. Don’t worry; we just want t help.

The man locked his gaze on me, shocked at the fact that I could talk. He gulped hard and did a slight nod; still he kept looking at me. I looked back, inspecting the unknown ally. I noticed his big expressive brown eyes; they showed fear. Being so near death can make anyone feel weak in front of the World. I squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him a little; I didn’t know who he was, but if he was in need, it was my duty to show some compassion. Besides the pain, he managed to smile, showing off a bright denture made out of small teeth; it made him look adorable. He suddenly grabbed strongly onto my right hand, whimpering as the final touches were made on his injury. Soon, Lay and Kai had finished, and the man was safe from harm; still, he was weak. I was about to reorganize our strategy, when JongIn came up to my side. He took my left arm, revealing once again the horrible bite that was already swelling. I knew I couldn’t free myself this time from “dad”. HaeRi came over and pushed me to the side, taking the unknown man’s head on her lap, and gesturing me to go take care of my wound. I sighted, but knew it had to be done. Kai continued exploring my arm, making some grimaces along the process. He began to clean the wound and soon enough put a heavy coating of the salts; the last of them. The pain was too much; I began to weep, covering my eyes with my remaining hand. Kai tried to hurry up, bandaging it and ending the procedure in less time. I looked at the finished product and admired the great job he had done. At first it was me taking care of him; now it was the opposite. It’s wonderful to know how people learn from each other to later on help one another with the new acquired knowledge. Still going through pain, the thought was more powerful, and thus I ended up smiling. I looked at Kai with tender loving, motherly eyes.

MJ: Thank you JongIn. You really are one of a kind.

The young man was surprised by the sudden declaration; yet he smiled back. I was now feeling better, which meant it was time to lay out the facts and get our brains to work.

MJ: Listen up guys! There are a couple of things we need to re-think before making another move. First thing is, we’re inside a maze, and like you all just saw, getting around inst easy with all the dead ends. Plus, the dark isn’t in our favor either. As for the second topic, we just found an almost-dead person, which needs to recover. Also, this person needs to tell us what happened to him; whoever…or whatever it was can easily attack us as well. So… what do you think we should do?

I looked at every one of my friends; hoping one of them would come up with a good plan, because right now my brain was a little slow. LanFang was the one to step up and explain what she thought was best. According to Lan eonnie, we should split up: some stay with the man, and the rest make their way around the maze. When the end of the maze is reached, someone comes back to guide the rest out.

MJ: That’s a good plan. But still, we don’t know how big this place is, or how many wrong turns it has. What do we do to prevent getting lost inside it?

After some seconds, it was XiuMin who came to the rescue. MinSeok took LanFang, Lay and me by the hand and grouped us together; apparently he would use us as models. He carried and dragged each one of us forth and back, trying to demonstrate what we should do. He explained that we could use some of our weapons and supplies to mark our way. When a splitting path came, someone stayed in the place as the group subdivides and goes through both ways. The group that encounters a dead end can then return to the person that is waiting for them, thus continuing through the other way. The person waiting would be me, since I’m the only one who can talk and can call on the moving group to wait up for the rest.

MJ: It sounds good. Very well planned out; but still, wouldn’t some of us end up alone? That’s what we’re trying to prevent.

XiuMin shrugged, not knowing what else to say. But I guess there wasn’t any other thing to do. Other thing would be letting one of us run around alone, looking for the right way. But that’s just to plain risky and not fair at all. Seeing there wasn’t another option, I took XiuFang’s as the only way out. But before mobilizing anything, there were some important questions to be asked. I walked towards the man that was still lying on HaeRi’s lap. He was beginning to fall asleep, heavy eyelids broking his view. I kneeled to his left, looking straight at his face. He managed to move his head in my direction.

MJ: I hope you’re feeling better sir. Before we can continue on, we need to ask a few things. First of all, we need your name and age.

The man slowly raised his arms, extending some fingers while mouthing. So we had just met 20-year-old Park Chanyeol. I took both of his hands in mine, and bent down closer to him, trying to make him feel more at confidence. I spoke softly, but firm.

MJ: Chanyeol oppa, you need to tell us. Who did this to you? With what purpose! Whoever did it had bad intentions; murder is not something to be taken lightly. Please, tell us everything.

The man opened his eyes widely, staring at me with doubt. He passed his gaze to the people around him, inspecting them slowly. Soon he centered his gaze to the sky. He seemed to be thinking; trying to review what he was going to say. Maybe he didn’t trust us…

MJ: My name’s Park MinJeong, and I’m the one playing the game. I know what you just went through was horrible, but you have to trust us; we only want to help you. Also, we want to prevent another thing like this happening again. But you need to talk… I mean express.

The man shook his hands and head, trying to deny something. Maybe trust wasn’t the problem. He took my hands and squeezed the tightly, staring at me once again; this time his eye pleaded for help. He was being sincere; there was something else that was holding him back. I slowly felt as he slipped his hands away from mine, raised them above his torso and began to use the Exotica hand language. The boys in the group quickly came closer, deciphering what the man had to say. The message wasn’t very long, yet it prompted the men to exchange confused and worried glances. I sort of made my own assumptions of what he could have said, but I wasn’t sure; I knew very little about this language. Lay turned his view towards me and translated what Chanyeol had said.

Apparently, the wounded young man was walking into the maze, but soon found himself lost. He tried to find a way out, but eventually thought it was best to take a rest before trying again. This place was the last dead end he had encountered before lying down to rest. All of a sudden, without notice or sound, someone attacked him. He couldn’t see who it was; the person was completely covered in black, just like the Exotics. Chanyeol fought back, but was stabbed under his chest; a mortal hit if it hadn’t missed the vital organs. He began to lose strength and eventually faint, but managed to witness how the hooded individual picked him up and stacked him into the hedge; hiding him to cover up his wicked deed. Shortly after, the young man lost consciousness.

My first reaction was fright and empathy; feeling how this innocent human being had to go through something so abominable! I could feel the pain, the fear, seeing how life passed by in a second; knowing no one would come to save him. But then anger ruled over me, and all I could think was me and the unknown Exotic; I would make him remember jut how human, and weak, he really was! Looking at these injustices made me remind myself the reason why I’m here. At first, LuHan was all I could think of. But then I met incredible people and learned about their lives. Their stories broke my heart; I knew this couldn’t remain like this for much longer. I promised myself I would help them out, so they could once again be free and out of harm… even though some of them would never be the same, because they’ve already lost an important part of themselves… That’s why, each time I see a case like this; a case where there is no one to protect someone from evil, I feel the urge to be the one to help out. This game has turned out to be more than just for personal reasons; it has become the sole purpose to start a new movement. A cause that spreads around, showing just how important friendship and respect matter in society, and our lives. Always thinking like a mother, it’s hard for me to keep calm when my love ones are involved in such an outrage. I may not know Chanyeol, but the fact that he has been mercilessly attacked is enough to see he’s a victim of the cruel world we live in; and specially this game. Besides, I usually open up with ease to strangers; maybe it’s because I still have hope that everyone is good... but I’m slowly starting to change that idea of mine. Some people are just plain evil; yet others just try to blend in with the rest…like BaekHyun… Only God could help the World change, but we as human beings need to put in our own little grain of sand… But sadly, that only happens seldom...

I had gone way beyond the stratosphere, thinking about this philosophy. It wasn’t until Kai touched me by my left shoulder that I returned to Earth. I looked at him, and found he had a sad expression. He stared at me with worry; the others around were eyeing me with fright as well. I looked down and found the injured man, who had fallen asleep. I had my hands in a tight fist, almost digging my nails into the flesh. I felt my cheeks damp; tears had flowed down my eyes. I quickly recovered and wiped them away. What my emotions do to me…

MJ: I’m sorry…I’m fine…don’t worry… it’s just so hard to believe… I don’t even have words to explain what I feel… Everyone! Let’s keep moving! HaeRi and Lay! You two stay behind with Chanyeol; if anything happens, scream. The rest, follow me. We’re getting out of here and fast; we need to finish this game soon. Risks must be taken to survive in this life, so might as well start now….

I got up and looked at everyone; they seemed more relax to have me back to normal, still some of their faces showed worry; most probably because we were going to separate for the first time. I began to walk down the path that would lead us again to the entrance, hearing how LanFang, XiuMin, and Kai walked behind me. I was concerned about this little task, but I wasn’t afraid; I took long, confident steps, trying to ease my own emotions. Turning here and there, we finally came to the first split we had encountered in the road. I took a deep breath, and began down the new road. We walked the right path up until the end; then we had to take a right turn, walk a few meters, and turn right again. But something caught us all off guard; the most unexpected thing was right before our eyes. The girl from before, the prisoner that never gestured at us, the very same one we left petrified on the bridge… she was there, approximately 30 feet away. She wasn’t wearing the Exotic’s coat anymore, reveling to be in pleated khaki shorts with a white, long sleeve blouse.

She looked like an angel in between the night; her blonde, half-back long wavy hair being slightly tousled by the wind. She was giving us her back, looking forward down the new path we had found; apparently she didn’t hear us… or she ignored us again. I extended my hands to the sides, preventing anyone from going forth. Maybe she didn’t want to help us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from her decisions. If she’s stuck in here as well, she must be looking for a way out too. Maybe if we stayed close by, without making any sudden moves or noises, we could follow her to the end.  I carefully turned around and put one finger to my lips, telling them to keep silent. I turned around and found the young woman already walking. I slowly began to walk, maintaining the same distance between us; the others followed behind. We walked a few minutes, passing straight by a division in the path; the girl had ignored it for completely, not even throwing a glance at it. I was starting to doubt if this girl really knew where she was going, but still, it was worth the try. There was a probability that she might have gone through this place sometime before. We continued behind her, until she made a left turn and disappeared. I got worried that we might lose her track, so we fastened the pace, reaching the turn and once again encountering the girl some meters away. She was once again in front of a split: one path led to the right and the other to the left. We saw as she stood still, looking always in front of her. At that moment, I wondered why she was in here; we had left her at the Bridge because she didn’t want to come along, but now she was taking the same road as us. And the Forest! She came all alone through the wolf infested forest! Was she just trying to reach the end of the game on her own? It’s not like she can do much, right? I mean, the player’s the only one who can end the game. Still, I felt like this girl was hiding something from us; I pitied her for some unknown reason. … Presentiments I guess. Once again, the girl began to move, taking a right turn at the division. She disappeared and we quietly ran after her. A segment before reaching the turn we encountered, yet again, a subdivision to the right. The unknown woman had not taken it, so we just ignored it and continued on, turning to the right a little further up front. We could see her already taking another turn way down the path; she disappeared once again after taking a left turn. We were falling a little behind, so we ran straight down the path without looking anywhere else, and finally taking the decided turn. Unexpectedly, we came face to face with the pale young woman. We all gasped in horror, feeling how her dagger-like eyes penetrated us without even throwing a glance in our direction. She was still pokered face, which worried me deeply; this girl must have had a tragic past. I decided it was time to talk, but before I could tell her anything, she turned around and kept walking the grassy road. Me and the rest of the group exchanged surprised glances; I think MinSeok’s eyes were about to pop out. I turned my view to the girl, who was already half way down the path. We followed her in silence, trying not to disturb her so she could concentrate. Some minutes after, she took a right turn. We weren’t far behind, so we did the same seconds later. What we had in front of us seemed to be a straight trail. The girl kept walking without taking time to think or remember; she just walked down it with ease and a good pace. After what seemed 10 minutes, we reached the last of the hedge walls. We had finally exited the maze.

What was in front of us now was a dirt path that extended far beyond. Medium sized puffy bushes and shrubs bordered the path at both sides. Where ever the trail lead to, we would find out eventually. I went towards the woman.

MJ: Wow! We finally made it out! That’s was amazing! How you found the exit so quickly! How did you do that?

I excitedly asked the girl, but she didn’t correspond the same way. Maybe she wanted to help; she just didn’t want to interact with others. If something really did happen to her, it affected her in a great manner. I calmed myself and just gave her a smile.

MJ: Thanks!... I really appreciate what you did for us… even if you didn’t mean to…

I looked back at the guys and saw their happy faces. Now, all we had to do was send someone back to get the others. But…. Who actually remembered all the directions?

MJ: Any volunteers to go back? The others are waiting to exit as well. Kai, I think you should go. I have a feeling you can get your way around without problem. (I heard a grumbling MinSeok) XiuMin oppa! You can’t go! I need you here with me! We girls need a strong man to defend us if anything happens!

I hung onto his arms and giggled. He suddenly felt praised and started showing of his “muscles”. But I noticed Kai hadn’t expressed anything regarding the decision. I looked at him and saw how his gaze was locked onto something deep in the trail. I called him, yet still no response; he only furrowed his eyes, as if he wanted to have x-ray vision. I turned around and tried to see what it was he was so obsessed with inspecting. That’s when I felt a chill down my spine…

Another chain was peeking below the shrubs…

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

If by any chance the maze confused you, here's a diagram of the area. (I think I might be the next Michael Angelo or DaVinci XDDDD)
 

Hoped you enjoy!!!!! Who could the chain belong too?!?! HMMMM~ And is "Nana" really good?

FIND OUT IN ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF....the shadow games.... (Feels like a old, cheesy cartoon outro XDD)