Sehun hunched over his knees, peeking over at Minhyun and Ren sitting beneath a hollow tree nearby. They spoke to each other lowly, only small hums reaching Sehun’s ears. Something about the sight of them left a tugging in his chest. Something annoying and taunting, a poking and teasing that was relentless. He almost couldn’t stand the very image of the brothers, the closeness that they shared. As if the world wasn’t even falling apart all around them.

Ren kept his eyes focused on the remains of dried grass at his feet, rubbing it against his skin. A texture more like the hay he and Minhyun used to play hide and seek in as children. There was nothing comforting in it. “You suppose we should go with them?” His voice was low, barely audible.

His brother glanced at the others gathering debris for firewood. “Do you want to?”

The blonde didn’t answer.

“Your roots are coming in,” Minhyun said.

Ren still didn’t answer.

“I suppose there’s nowhere for you to dye it back, anyways.” He sighed, standing. “I’ll talk to the others. Don’t wander off or anything, alright?”

Silence.

“Alright,” Minhyun smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets and journeying over towards Baekhyun and Xiumin. “What’s the word?”

Baekhyun tossed the remains of a door into the embers of the firepit, dirt and dust smudged on his pants and sleeves. “We’re leaving tomorrow. There’s nothing here for us, as far as we can see.”

“We really only came for Taeyong. We found him. I’m still not sure if we can rely on him, though,” Xiumin added.

Minhyun looked into the embers, thinking.

“What’s up with your brother, anyways?” Baekhyun nodded towards Ren.

“What do you mean?”

Baekhyun pressed his weight into a wooden plank sticking out from the firepit, scooting it closer to the center of the embers. “He does a lot of staring, for starters. And he’s clearly a Force, but what’s it a secret for?”

“Don’t you worry about him. That’s just the way he is.” Minhyun chuckled weakly, helping Baekhyun maneuver the plank. “I do a lot of staring too, though. But we’re twins, so I suppose that’s natural.”

“You’re twins? But you look nothing alike,” Baekhyun looked between the two boys now, brows furrowed.

“Yeah,” Minhyun laughed, “You should’ve seen us before he dyed his hair. It’s coming back in, though. Anyways, we’re fraternal twins. Not everything is the same.”

Xiumin returned, dropping another pile of debris into the pit. “I’ve been meaning to ask,” he began, “Do you have a Force, too?”

Minhyun shook his head, smiling softly. “Just him.”

“Even though you’re twins?” Baekhyun leaned in, mouth hanging open.

“Even though we’re twins.”

“They are fraternal, he said,” Xiumin added.

“I guess that makes sense. Anyways, you and Ren planning to follow along? We could use all the help we can get, especially from other Forces. We’ve lost a few of our own… already,” he trailed off.

Minhyun saw the twitch in the corner of his lip. “The world has become a miserable place,” he said before glancing back at his brother. “I’ll talk to Ren about it. At this point, I don’t see much of a reason not to go. We haven’t got anything to lose but each other.” He left Baekhyun and Xiumin alone, who suddenly had nothing else to talk about.

“Your brother is dying.”

Luhan turned to Taeyong, mouth stiff. “I’m pretty sure it’s obvious from the look of him.” He continued shuffling books and papers around on the desk and in the chairs. The dusk stuck in the back of his throat, tugging until he hacked.

Taeyong watched Luhan’s slim fingers begin to twitch. “It’s more than that. He doesn’t have very long, at this rate.” He scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “Is that why he’s such an ?”

“He’s been through a lot since it all happened.”

“We all have.”

“And I can see your attitude has suffered for it just as much.” Luhan slammed a book shut in his palm, leaning into the desk. “Anyways, we’re gonna get him better before it can take him. I swore it.”

“Words mean nothing in this world. And you know it.” Taeyong left the room, Luhan returning to the books, to a bunch of words that he knew meant nothing.

Kai’s hunched body was uncomfortable to look at, his decapitated arm an offset weight in his form. He almost seemed more creature than man at this point, though  Tao didn’t mean to stare. When Kai met eyes with him, he didn’t turn away, even as the blame poured from his eyes. The finger that pointed at Tao and said: This is because of you.

It was a familiar glare, the accusatory glance that said so much without words. But of course, was it ever truly unjustified? Tao was, afterall, a harbinger of misery to all those who crossed him.

“We have to cross Dragon’s Mouth to get to Caschaea,” Kai said, leaning his weight towards his good arm. He’d become a crooked man.

“Xiumin may prove useful, then. Or we can hope there is still a ferry available.”

Kai looked away. “I almost hope the Dragon swallows us.”

“It may try.”

Kai glanced back at Tao before walking away, stumbling over his own steps like a drunk man. As much as Tao didn’t want to return to the island, he wasn’t ready to die.

The world was dark, Suho’s back like ice and his face burning so hot he thought it might boil if he dared lean any closer into the fire. Lay had gone to bed with Xiumin, Kai, Sehun and Chen, Tao someplace alone with Taeyong and Luhan, Baekhyun, Minhyun, Ren, and D.O. sitting on the other side of the fire. “It’ll only be a few hours to the coast from here. We should leave early if we want to catch calm water.”

None of the others responded. He turned towards Minhyun and Ren. “Come with us, please. We’re supposed to be twelve and we’re short one. Thirteen can’t hurt.”

“You have Duplication, don’t you?” D.O. said, eyes still on Ren’s body.

“How did you know?” Minhyun asked, he and his brother staring hard at D.O.

D.O. looked back into the pit. “Listening to Tao explain it, I remembered reading something about it in one of our textbooks. There’s only so many Forces, I assumed he either had Illusion or Duplication. Nice to know my intuition was correct.”

Suho sat upright. “Duplication would be useful in fights.”

Minhyun smiled. “Trust me, I know.”

“After Caschaea, we should go back to the Capitol. There’s a lot of research there, organized. And if Taeyong is right, there’s bound to be files hidden somewhere in the Hall or the Court. I’m surprised we didn’t think of it sooner. Just dogs chasing our tails,” D.O. kicked some of the embers back into the pit, arms crossed.

Baekhyun never took his eyes off the fire, Suho wondering if he’d even flinched once in the last few minutes of the night. “Baek, you should go to bed.”

“No.”

“Really, you need to sleep.”

“I said I’m fine right here.”

Suho sighed, gathering his thoughts again. “Anyways, you and Ren should come with us. It’ll be safer with others like us.”

Minhyun chuckled. “Considering you’re headed back to the heart of the beast, I’d say we’d more or less be better off staying here, don’t you think?”

“You can either sit around here and wait to die or you can risk your life to put things back the way they were. Your choice.” D.O. said, standing and disappearing in the darkness.

“Both options are suicide,” Baekhyun whispered, following after.

Minhyun looked at Suho. “They were close… to the few that died, weren’t they?”

“Yeah, especially Baekhyun. Everyone’s dealing with it in their own way. You saw Kai, he lost his arm when we were still in the Capitol and his best friend died in his arms. Chen is dealing with losing his best friend, Baekhyun watched his best friend kill himself, Xiumin fell in love with a girl who died before we came here. D.O. is just unique in how he thinks, he’s frustrated and I think affected more than he wants to let on. Sehun’s older brother ran off overnight in Revelle and Luhan is in denial that Sehun is dying.” Suho sighed heavily. “We haven’t really been okay.”

“Things have been difficult,” Ren said. “I’ll help out, if I can.”

“Thank you.”

“So,” Lay began as the group made their way northwest, “how much of the spiritual realm are you able to connect with?”

Taeyong let the hood of his cloak fall on his shoulders. “Enough. Not as much as my dad could, but I can sense things.”

“What do you make of the Red Force?”

“The what?”

“The thing that’s infected the planet. We call it the Red Force.”

Taeyong pursed his lips. “Oh. Well, it’s a living thing, that’s for sure. It has a consciousness. It’s not just a virus, I can say that much.”

“Really?” Suho made his way closer to Lay and Taeyong. “That could be pretty useful information. I suppose it wasn’t so wrong to label it a Force then, right?”

“It’s definitely a Force. It has the same energies that we all have, outside of that regular guy over there,” he nodded towards Minhyun. “This thing has goals, it does everything with particularity. Father is almost certain now.”

Luhan had joined the small gathering. “So you’re saying it’s not a thing or a virus, but a person? The Red Force is a person.”

“More or less.” Taeyong answered.

“This changes things,” Suho mumbled.

Kai had stayed behind with Tao, Chen nearby. “What do you make of all this?”

Tao raised a brow.

“You’ve read every book the Capitol could offer you. Anything like this turn up? Honestly, I’m reminded of Legend Taeyeon and her Poison touch.”

“Why Taeyeon specifically?” Chen asked.

“The Tree needs Forces to protect it, but it’s a Force of Life. What has Life got to do with Poison, what has it got to do with Mediums and Necromancers? What productivity can come from something that destroys or lacks life by nature?” Kai stared hard at Taeyong. “It seems strange to me.”

Tao didn’t answer at first. “Anything I read in the books regarding Forces that would have any relation to this were things we discussed in classes. The Tree of Life is a Force itself. The Ultimate Force. The Divine Force, and we are all sub-Forces. It never said anything about a Force of Destruction or any Force of such a nature. I don’t have an answer for you. If I did, we wouldn't be going to the island.”

The horizon was marred by thick fog, a fog that Tao thought was suffocating and heavy. A sure wall that blocked a path not meant to be crossed. The small edge of the shore that they could see was calm, but the hissing waves beyond the fog was threatening and cryptic.

“I’ve never seen Tao look so awkward in my life,” Lay said quietly, forcing a chuckle. “Maybe this was a bad idea if that hardass is so against it.”

“The Masters and Legends were kidnapping Mediums and Necromancers off this island. They have to know something about all this. There has to be a connection. We can’t risk passing up this information or even a cure for Sehun,” Luhan said, looking hard through the fog for the ferry.

Taeyong shot a crooked smile to the illegible horizon. “As much as I didn’t want to go back, I suddenly feel a strange sense of comfort.” He stretched his arms upright. “On the other side of this fog, of this dragon, is the darkness I always called home. I can feel my father’s presence as though he were standing right beside me now.”

“It must be comforting,” said Tao, who appeared as though the wind were blowing right through him.

Author's Note: I think this story will be finished by Chapter 35 tbh. I hope so, it really needs to be finished, lmao!