A few days pass by relatively uneventfully, with Baekhyun learning more about the essence of the magic he possesses. He finds his way around the school faster than he had initially hoped and spent most of his free time watching the combat practices of other students in the stadium. He hasn’t run into Chanyeol directly anymore, but every time Baekhyun sees him from across a distance, he will be stared down intensely. Each time, Baekhyun is affected to the point his heart starts racing and he needs to talk to Kyungsoo about it. The other boy is surprisingly calm about it, though, but when Baekhyun wonders out loud why Chanyeol never actually comes over anymore, Kyungsoo doesn’t know the answer. The only explanation Baekhyun can come up with, is that Jongin might have said something to him – but how can he know when they barely know each other?

Baekhyun isn’t sure what wakes him up, but he’s not surprised. His body and mind are not yet used to sleeping in a different bed, although it has been about a week since he arrived here. He turns to his other side, snuggling in his bedsheets and sighing in content, knowing he doesn’t have to wake up yet. But right when he let his eyes slip closed again, he hears a faint knock on the door and he frowns. Probably the same sound which had woken him up in the first place – but Baekhyun doesn’t want to get out and see who it is.

Strangely, his mind doesn’t try to tell him that something could be majorly off here, seeing as he’s inside a magic school, full of students possessing powers he knows practically nothing of. He already learned about beings outside that Baekhyun doesn’t particularly want to mingle with – but none of that is on his mind. Probably because of sleep still messing with his brain.

When a third set of knocks sounds, Baekhyun groans and throws his legs out of his bed. He glances over to where he’s sure Jongin is supposed to be and wonders why he isn’t up as well. Didn’t he hear the knocks? Baekhyun shrugs the thoughts off and would brighten up the room a little, but he can’t just conjure light out of nothing – yet, Joonmyun would say, he’ll learn everything along the way – so he stumbles through the darkness. He unlocks the door at the exact moment the knocking starts to bother him and when he opens the door, a flashlight glares in his face. Before he can even concentrate and tone it done a bit, he recognizes Kyungsoo’s voice.

“Baekhyun?” the boy says and the despair is audible in his voice. Nevertheless, the first thing Baekhyun does, is swat at the flashlight to at least not have it shine so blatantly in his sleepy face anymore. Kyungsoo apologizes softly and Baekhyun tries to squint a little less hard at him.

“What is it?” he asks, voice raspy with sleep and he clears his throat, at the same time, he lets the flashlight emit a little bit of a gentler light.

“I can’t find Chanyeol– and I thought, since he seems to trust you–”

“What?” Baekhyun interrupts, even startling himself, “But it’s the middle of the night, why would he be gone?” Instantly, he understands the despair in Kyungsoo’s voice as he hears it in his own as well. He’s not so tired anymore and instead, he’s worried. He doesn’t like admitting it since he hardly spent time with him, but the impression Chanyeol left on him is quite something. If his behavior towards Baekhyun is some kind of mental illness he has, he might be in serious trouble to be outside at this hour – alone.

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo says, combing his free hand through his dark strands of hair in exasperation. “I just – I never wake up at night, but I did and I saw his bed was empty and I checked everywhere throughout the school that I can think of and he’s not here and the front door isn’t locked and I’m… I’m worried,” the boy rants and Baekhyun nods in understanding when he tries to take all that in. Before he has the chance to say anything, though, he’s startled by Jongin’s voice from right behind him.

“If this is about Chanyeol, you shouldn’t go,” he says, as if he holds any sort of authority over Baekhyun at all. At the same time Baekhyun turns around with a frown though, Kyungsoo shoots the tall boy a look that might have killed him if he had such a power.

“I’m not asking you to get involved. Chanyeol is my friend,” unlike you, Baekhyun can nearly hear him say, words dripping with venom that Baekhyun isn’t used to of Kyungsoo. When the short guy turns back to him, though, his attitude changes completely. “You don’t have to come, I mean I understand, but I–” Baekhyun won’t let him finish. Kyungsoo has shown to be a cool, level-headed kind of guy, high-spirited and not so easily slumped. This is in such complete contrast with that, that Baekhyun is filled with the same anxiety he knows Kyungsoo feels at this moment. Besides that, this involves Chanyeol and he doesn’t really need to waste anymore thoughts on the matter.

“Of course I’ll come,” he says, disregarding the fact he wears his pajamas. Some part of him wonders why Kyungsoo hadn’t gone looking for any of the teachers, but since he hadn’t, there must be a reason for it.

When he wants to close the door behind himself, Jongin presses past him, a displeased look on his face. Baekhyun frowns and wants to ask what he’s even doing, but he doesn’t want to waste time. Instead, he lets Kyungsoo lead the way to the front entrance, feeling nervousness build in his system. However, he feels tingly in a weird sort of way as well, the feeling occasionally lighting up the hallways around them a little bit. Baekhyun feels proud because of this achievement, but he can only hope they won’t be noticed by anyone else because of it.

The front door is indeed opened and the three boys exchange glances, knowing that what they’re about to do, is breaking one of the major rules. Yet, they push past that, in search of their friend – or in Jongin’s case… Baekhyun has no idea what Chanyeol is to Jongin.

The only thing he knows, is that Jongin sticks close to Kyungsoo, closer than Baekhyun has seen him do before. He frowns because he knows Kyungsoo isn’t so pleased with the tall guy being around him – especially if things concern Chanyeol. But that’s the only thought Baekhyun can spend on the topic because he feels pulled towards an entirely different direction than his friends. He frowns, trying to follow his friends anyway, but his power doesn’t let him brighten the night. Soon enough, he feels held back – lured – and he sees the backs of his friends disappear into the night.

“Guys, wait!” he says, but feels constricted somehow, his voice not coming out powerfully at all. He tells himself to breathe in slowly and get a grip already, if he wants to get out of this, he shouldn’t panic. But that’s easier said than done with where he is, at the edge of a forest where magical things lurk and Baekhyun has been told that there are unfriendly dragons about. Not only that, he remembers all too clearly the shadows he saw from the corner of his eye not too long ago. And even now, shadows to his right distract him and he doesn’t want to look, but he does, meeting eyes with something he can’t make out. The only thing he sees is eyes lighting up with a faint, green glow. Baekhyun’s breathing turns irregular, speeds up and he just knows it – it’s going to kill him and nobody would notice a thing.

In his panic, Baekhyun completely loses control over his power, but it’s stronger than it has ever been before. He unconsciously emits a strong light, the beast baring its teeth at Baekhyun becoming clearer and clearer before his eyes. Its teeth catch his light, reflecting it off and it glares in Baekhyun’s frightened eyes.

Why are his movements held back as if he’s living a nightmare? Baekhyun tries his best to think back to Joonmyun and his class, but it’s hard with the pounding of his heart sounding so loud that he can’t hear his thoughts. But he remembers the feeling, because he tried so hard and so he channels all of that fear to his core, then letting it flow freely through his limbs to his hands and there, a sphere grows.

A sphere of light grows in his outstretched hands and Baekhyun feels it, the hope returning to him and his confidence ever so slightly growing. He shall not die right here, right now. The beast in front of him, having sensed a difference in Baekhyun’s demeanor, speeds up and charges with claws the size of Baekhyun’s head. He dodges it by stepping backwards, but a tree blocks further movement and the boy lets out a grunt at being trapped.

With his eyes squinted shut in fear, Baekhyun releases the light and hears a low growl escape the animal – mere inches from his face. He opens his eyes while he slides down against the tree, completely drained of all his energy. But at least the beast fled, threatened by the powerful light.

Of course he wants to look for Chanyeol – it’s the reason he’s out here in the first place – but there’s not a fiber in his being that wills him to stand up right now. Instead, his mind is on overdrive and Baekhyun wonders if he’ll ever find the school again. There’s also the fleeting thought that Chanyeol might not even be outside at all – maybe Kyungsoo had just missed a few places where he could be hiding.

He bites his lip when he thinks of how stupid he has been in the first place to go out at night like this. Of course he wants to help Chanyeol out and his new friends seem like they’re worth it – but being impulsive isn’t like Baekhyun at all. He likes to think about things first and he failed to do so this time. The idea that he’s alone out here, while the two people who should be more familiar with the area are nowhere within earshot, makes him feel nauseous.

After a good while of breathing slowly to calm himself down, Baekhyun feels it working. His heartrate is back to normal and his limbs feel like they could carry him for another while. Besides, a pulling feeling inside his chest tells him he needs to find Chanyeol – he can’t keep sitting around here, he’s wasted enough time as is. He realizes that the pull he felt before, which wanted him to turn in a different direction from Jongin and Kyungsoo, was the same – as if somehow, Baekhyun is supposed to find Chanyeol.

He drags himself on his feet, grunting gracelessly as he does so, to follow the feeling in his gut. A small ball of light accompanies him, just to make sure he won’t run into trees – or dangerous creatures with claws and fangs. Baekhyun swallows at the memory of that so shortly ago; if there’s anything he can do to avoid running into those again, he’ll gladly do it.

Baekhyun reaches the edge of a clearing, the grass faintly illuminated by blue light radiating off the sun, reflected by the moon. The sight is beautiful and Baekhyun would most gladly take a moment to revel in it, but his eyes are drawn to Chanyeol. He’s not surprised to find him there, sitting on his knees on the grass. He’s surrounded by large pillars of peculiar looking dark stone, different from the rest of the surroundings. What does surprise Baekhyun, is that the tall boy doesn’t seem to be wearing clothing, for as far as he can see.

Chanyeol has his eyes closed, but Baekhyun can see the pained frown on his face from where he stands. A sharp pain has Baekhyun clutch his clothed chest, trying to swallow away the feeling caused by seeing Chanyeol like this. Right then, Chanyeol’s entire body seems to contort with pain, his back arching – it must be painful. A strangled moan confirms that thought. With horror, Baekhyun believes he sees the boy’s skin change into a more reddish tint, before it returns to normal, glowing a pale blue in the moonlight.

Another spasm shakes Chanyeol’s body and this time, it’s not a strangled moan escaping his lips – he screams and Baekhyun winces, his eyes b with tears when Chanyeol is surrounded by flames that are quickly absorbed by the strange pillars. Baekhyun is sure he has never seen this amount of pain on anyone and he can’t imagine how Chanyeol is even able to endure it. His own heart aches at the sight and twice more, Chanyeol loses all control, skin flashing that same red color. Then, the tall boy limply falls forward.

Baekhyun’s raging heart tells him to run. And he does, across the clearing and he curses himself that he hadn’t gone there before. He argues with himself that he simply didn’t want to make it worse, but the truth is that he was scared. Added to that – what could Baekhyun really have done for him when he was having spasms like that? Still, he feels horrible and when he sits down next to Chanyeol, he feels his forehead quickly, noting that he’s burning up. What else would he have expected, though? He takes note of the underwear Chanyeol wears that he simply hadn’t seen from the distance he stood at just now.

Chanyeol’s upper body is covered in a sheen of sweat and while in any other situation, Baekhyun would have looked away in embarrassment, now, he feels his heart ache. He notices a blanket lying close-by, Chanyeol knew exactly what he was doing. With these pillars around, Baekhyun can only assume he came here on purpose, as if he had seen it coming.

With sluggish movements that Baekhyun blames on his being tired, he rolls Chanyeol over to lie on his back instead. He takes a moment to look at the exhaustion on the tall boy’s face and feels the tears prick behind his eyes again. He wills them away, instead brushing Chanyeol’s bangs from his burning forehead, then grabbing the blanket and covering him with it. Despite being so warm, Chanyeol had brought it, so it wouldn’t surprise Baekhyun if he wants to spend the rest of the time underneath it.

Finally done covering the lanky boy, Baekhyun sits back against one of the pillars, keeping his eyes on Chanyeol. He doesn’t know what to think of all the rumors he’s been hearing here and there, Jongdae telling many of them and Jongin being the most scared of them. He definitely doesn’t know what to think of all this, but what he does know, is that Chanyeol is in pain. A whole lot of pain that he tries to suppress, coming out here without even telling Kyungsoo who cares about him so much.

Not long after, Baekhyun finally falls asleep. He has done and witnessed so much while he should have been sleeping in the first place, he’s not at all surprised when he feels the energy being out of him.

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