Looking at the vast, unending desert in front of us, I knew things were getting more complicated by the mile. I exchanged glances with my fellows, and we all thought about one thing: the shadows. There wasn’t a tree, cave, or bridge in sight, which meant no safe point. Once the Sun came out we would have to run for our lives; the only shadows that would appear would be our own, and those didn’t count. It all lead up to one solution…

MJ: Okay… I wasn’t expecting this. Guys, lets hurry up; we can make good progress with what’s left of the night. But the even bigger question is….which way do we go?

Everyone looked towards different directions, tying to figure out which one would lead to the right place. But it was all in vain, everything looked the same; only a few weeds and small shrubs here and there. I got to thinking what we could use to guide us; but still, I had no luck. I decided it was best if we just walked in a straight line, or at least try; having no trails marked down on the ground made it hard to perceive orientation. I began to walk, being followed by the rest of the group. I tried to maintain a fast pace, making sure no one was left behind. After some time I glanced back to see how everyone was doing, only to find out Kai was having some trouble with his human load.

MJ: Need any help there Kai? We could take turns carrying him. I don’t mind doing it, and I’m sure the other guys wouldn’t mind exchanging places with you.

Lay and XiuMin nodded, accepting they were up for the task of helping out, but Kai gestured he was okay. He still looked tired to me, but that was hard-headed JongIn for you! I kept going on, feeling as if time and space had all merged together; making a parallel void where we were at now; it felt as if we weren’t making any progress. The scenery was still the same, and yet no shelter or stage. I was starting to doubt myself. Maybe there was another way and we didn’t see it. Maybe all those passages we skipped in the maze lead to another exit, with the right path on it. Oh Lord, please help us! Send me a sign!...

…

And the sign came. In the horizon, the first rays of the Sun could be seen, taking a peek at the World. Being in the flat desert, the rise could be seen in all its splendor and majestic beauty. The orange beams made the sky turn pale violet and blue; the reddish globe that emerged from behind the edge of the World was slowly ascending out of its hiding place. I stopped moving.

MJ: …the sun… THE SUN! Why didn’t I think of it before?! Guys, the Sun is our guide! Ever since we’ve been moving around in Exotica, the Sun has always been in front of us! Let’s just follow it and we’ll be going in a straight line, and most probably towards the next stage!

We were walking somewhat more towards the right than in a straight manner. Now we made our way directly to the Sun, making me more confident about the path we were taking. But…that means we only have a few minutes before the land becomes shadow less and we encounter some enemies. I fastened my pace, prompting the others to do the same as well. Soon, we found ourselves running. Slowly, the Sun kept rising, and the ground changed from darkened to lighted. It was a matter of seconds before the Sun was out completely, shining its full glory upon the unknown desert that we stood on. I looked back, still running, trying to alert the rest.

MJ: Everyone!... Get ready to battle!... Please be careful!...

Besides the tired JongIn, and the dragged Chanyeol, something else caught my attention, stopping my heart beat for a second. Lia had fallen behind; WAY behind. She wasn’t even running anymore; she slowly walked towards another direction. I didn’t know what to do! This girl was toying with us! She must have been an Exotic decoy to keep us falling behind! I thought that leaving her behind would have been the best decision for all of us… Still, something told me I couldn’t. Not only my conscious told me, but my spiritual side as well…  GOD! WHY DO YOU GIVE ME SO MANY PRESENTIMENTS?! I stopped on my tracks and turned to everyone.

MJ: GUYS! GET READY TO FIGHT! I have to go back and save Lia! She fell behind with all the running! NOW GO! KEEP RUNNING, and when the first encounter comes, PROTECT YOURLSEVES!

I began to run past them and all the way back to the lost girl. Kai got in my way and stopped me. He held me by my right arm, looking at me with furrowed brows.

MJ: KAI!...remember what I told you… just trust me…

Slowly, he slackened his expression, finally ending in a firm nod. He let go of me and I kept running back towards Lia, giving HaeRi Kai’s spear in the process; Kai ran towards the opposite direction, leading the rest of the guys. Maybe Lia couldn’t see me well with all this sand in the air… or she is in fact a trap. We’d found about that soon enough. I ran with all my might, tripping and tumbling here and there due to the poor stability the sand provided. My injured arm hurt again with the pressure I was exerting on it. I saw how the small dot that use to be Lia began to increase in size; I was getting close. Suddenly, it all came down on us. The Sun was up, and the land was in full shine. I tried to look back and see if it was possible to see the group, but I lost balance and fell face first. I quickly looked in front and found the girl to be only a few meters away.

MJ: LIA!!!! LIA!!! WE NEED TO LEAVE!!

I saw how the girl stopped looking at the other direction and looked at me, slowly changing her position. But she didn’t seem to walk towards me. I got up quickly and ran what was left of the race, taking her by the hand and pulling her to start running. She was right behind me.

MJ: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! How could you fall behind so much? Weren’t you paying attention to the road?

Just then the girl stopped running, and I lost my grip on her. She was now looking at the ground, not even giving me a glance; poker face still on. If she thought I was in the mode for games, she was wrong.

MJ: LIA! I came all the way back to take you with me! NO IS NOT AN OPTION!! LETS GO!

I took her hand once again, but she got free from it, this time taking her arm to her chest; still looking downward. I wasn’t about to lose the game because a bad educated child had a tantrum. She was coming with me, NOW! I ran towards her, bending forward. I positioned my right shoulder on her stomach, pushing her off balance, and bringing her forth. I took her hands in mine, trying to hold her onto me. Now she was hanging from my shoulder, her upside down head facing my back, and her bent legs right next to my face. Good thing she was really thin; bad thing was she was kind of tall. Still, I turned around and began to jog back to the others, making sure that the girl didn’t fall. She was making a ruckus, hitting me from behind.

MJ: LISTEN YOU LITTLE BRAT! Ever since I saw you I knew you were trouble, but something always tells me to watch out for you. I don’t know why, but I’m getting a feeling that you need to be with us. SO STOP WHINING AND BE THANKFUL! All I want is to help you… what’s so wrong with that…

The girl calmed down. I tried to continue with her, but I wasn’t the best carrier or runner, so I lost my balance about 15 meters up front, making us both fall to the shifting sands. I got up quickly, and grabbed Lia by an arm, pulling her up and dragging her onto another race; this time she didn’t fight back. We kept running, never letting go of each other. I was looking forth, trying to see if I could find the guys, but I wasn’t successful. Maybe they had time to run some more and were way up ahead. I hope they haven’t been attacked yet. And then I got to thinking, how would the Exotics be able to reach us in the middle of nowhere? I mean, this is a big place, and there doesn’t seem to be any where they might emerge from. But my question got answered pretty quickly when I heard a loud, piercing neigh from behind us. I turned around and found two Exotics mounted on separate black horses, coming at full speed behind us. I panicked and just tried to run faster, but the men would soon be upon us. A minute after, they rode past us, one at each side, making us fall at the sudden force they produced. When I looked to the front I found both men dismounting the animals, making their way towards us. I quickly got on my feet and reached for my knives under the uniform, getting in position to defend the girl and attack the enemies. The men stopped a meter away, taking out their own weapons as well: one had a mace, the other a stick like BaekHyun’s. This wasn’t going to be an easy encounter, but there was nothing else to do. Without turning around I extended one of the daggers to Lia.

MJ: Take it! You have to fight back as well! Don’t be afraid to use it!

The girl hesitated but eventually took it. Between the two men, the one with the mace looked more dangerous, so I went towards him. I saw how the other man went towards Lia, but I concentrated more on attacking my own enemy. He quickly attacked me, trying to hit my head with the mace, but I dodge the hit just in time. At the same time, I slashed him through the knees, victoriously reaching him. I straightened up, but the man was already waiting for me. He caught me by neck with his left hand, at the same time that he quickly closed in the mace with his right. Just as it was coming closer, I kicked my right leg high in the air, landing the blow exactly on his hand. The man let go of the weapon and me, as he held onto his broken wrist. Without thinking about it too much, I bent 90 degrees sideways, kicking my leg high into the air; a Kung-Fu move Tao had taught me in his free time. I hit the man right on the neck, feeling how something had moved inside him. The man swayed to one side, finally falling to the sands, where he didn’t show any other sign of movement. I never knew my elastic hobby would turn into my salvation one day. I turned around to see how Lia was doing, but only found another heartache. The woman was lying on the ground, being strangled by the Exotic. He was kneeling over her, choking her against the ground with his horizontal stick. The dagger I had given her was far away from her, lying in between the sand. I ran towards the man, and stabbed him right in the upper back. He gawked as he held his chest, falling to one side. I got over to Lia and sat her up, while she was still coughing and gasping for air. I took her by the arms and shook her.

MJ: LIA!! WHAT HAPPENED!?! WHY DIDN’T YOU SCREAM!? I COULD HAVE LOST YOU!!

Just then, the stabbed man reincorporated himself and was throwing a hit towards us with his stick. Surprisingly, I acted on time and grabbed the stick with my hand. I yanked it from his grasp, and with it directed a blow towards his head. The stick broke in two, and the man fell again on his side. Before he could get up again, I took Lia by the hand and picked her up. We went to recover my missing dagger and the mace; I hid them on the waist area of my uniform. Afterwards, we were about to start running when I noticed the amazing aid we had right in front of us: the horses. The two black, strong horses roamed nearby, waiting for their masters. I dragged Lia behind me, slowly making our way towards the beautiful noir beasts. I finally reached one and caressed its side, making sure it was ready to be mounted. The animal seemed to be calmed, and so I dared to get on it, putting my foot on the saddle and pushing myself up. After making sure the horse wouldn’t start running on its own, I called Lia to give me her hand. She extended her hand towards me, but it was up to me to grab it. She took some time finding the footer, but eventually got it and pushed herself up as I pulled her as well, finally sitting behind me on the animal. I told her to take a hold of me, and so she wrapped her arms around my waist. I prayed that riding horses was the same as in movies, because I didn’t know anything about them. I just pushed my legs inward, while slashing the reins. The horse we had chosen sharply neighed and launched itself forward at full speed. I felt Lia tightening her grip while hiding her face in my back. I was concentrated on the way, trying to locate the others. Some minutes later, I saw a blurry black image some distance away. As we got closer the image cleared up and I was able to see the boys fighting some Exotics. LanFang and HaeRi were surrounding the unknown man and Chanyeol while attacking the Exotics from afar with the bow and spear. Apparently HaeRi switched her daggers with Lay’s weapon. I had to get there soon and help them out! Also, if we could take those Exotic’s horses as well, our journey would become more favorable. I prompted the wild animal to go faster; the sandy hot wind hitting our faces. After some minutes we had arrived at the area. Kai saw us a few meters away; following us with his gaze as he fought his own enemy. Initially, I was going to stop the horse and get off, but now my ideas were changing. I just continued on the horse, getting in between the battle field and passing right by an Exotic that was about to attack Lay from behind. I let the newly found mace fall on top of the Exotic’s head, sending him falling to the ground. After passing through the area, I brought the horse to a halt. I dismounted the animal, and gave Lia some orders.

MJ: Lia! Stay there! I’m going to bring the new guy so you can take him away while we finish up! Move to the front part of the saddle in the time being…

I turned around without waiting for a response, running towards the girls. On the way there an Exotic intercepted me. I didn’t have time to spear, and so just attacked him with both knives, cutting him through the ribs and leaving him whining on the ground. I continued on and finally reached the two abandoned men; the girls were now each having their own battle. I kneeled next to Chanyeol, who was watching over the other guy. I asked if he could move, and he nodded. I told him to help me with the man so we could get both of them out of the area. He got up and between the two of us carried the angelic man hanging from our necks. I was looking at all directions, making sure a newly arrived Exotic wouldn’t attack us. As I roamed about, I could count out a total of 7 Exotics: Kai and XiuMin were fighting two men at the same time. I was surprised by the sudden whimper the unconscious men let out, revealing to be more aware than we thought. He opened his eyes and looked to both sides, seeing Chanyeol and me; his expression denoted confusion and fear. Before I could tell him he was in good hands, I heard a fierce human roar coming behind us. I quickly turned around, but it was too late. An Exotic was already on top of me, throwing a strike with his sharp and long sword. I tried to reach my knives again, but I wouldn’t be able to block the blow on time. I just closed my eyes and waited for the cold steel to gash my body… But it never came… Instead, a sharp moan was heard, followed by a pungent smell of iron. I quickly opened my eyes and found the ill man in front of me, giving me his back while confronting the Exotic. He had stopped the sword attack with his right hand, letting a stream of blood flow out of his hand palm and down his pale arm. The man slowly looked back at me upon hearing my horridly gasp. Besides the pain and weakness he bore, he gave me the most comforting smile…

He was indeed an angel…