Chanyeol walked down the paths from the school to his house, kicking a stone along the way the entire time. He was bored and lonely, since his friends were going out to have fun after classes, but he couldn’t go, because his mother ordered him to go straight home.

He hated it, the way she treated him. It’s not like he was a little kid, he was already 17 years old, and considered himself grown up enough to make his own decisions. But she still controlled him. And since his friends were going to a place to meet some other people, he wasn’t allowed to go.

It’s not like he was stupid, he knew well that he should be careful, but she didn’t trust him at all. And it made him mad, so they kept fighting. He had made a habit out of defying her.

“Park Chanyeol?”

He kicked his stone one more time, and it landed a few meters away, but he didn’t follow it anymore. He turned to where that voice came from, wondering who’d be calling his name.

Standing next to a little street booth, filled with weird charms and necklaces, there was a tall and thin man. He had very tanned skin, and tattoos in most of the visible parts of his body. He didn’t look Korean, and Chanyeol didn’t recognize him at all. That was exactly the type of person his mother told him to avoid. And he did feel a bit insecure, but he wanted to prove he could take care of himself.

“Yes?”

Plus, he was curious about how the man knew his name. And he didn’t look like he was harmful, since he seemed weak and old, his face full of wrinkles, and hair and beard completely white. He did have a lot of piercing in his ears, and various other jewelry pieces on his wrists and ankle. All of it with weird engravings, that looked unreal, like a made up language.

The man just smiled, and waved to him to come closer. Chanyeol obeyed, stopping at what he though was a safe distance from the man and his booth.

“You’re very strong willed, young man. It’s remarkable.”

The old man said, his smile making his entire face shift, flaunting his wrinkles even more. He looked very kind, and Chanyeol felt a warm and nice feeling from the smile. But he still couldn’t just go with it; the whole thing was a bit weird.

“Who are you? How do you know my name?”

The boy asked, and the man nodded, like he understood that Chanyeol needed to ask those things. But his answer wasn’t at all satisfactory.

“I’m the guardian of the portal, and I know your name because you’re one of the chosen for the trials. I was fated to meet you here today.”

Chanyeol backed away slightly. The man was obvious under the influence of something, and even if he wasn’t dangerous, it was probably not a good idea to keep talking to him.

“….. Okay…”

Chanyeol was ready to continue to move away, but the man reached for something on his booth, meaning to give it to the boy. He held it out, but Chanyeol didn’t reach for it. He took a look first, seeing what it was. A bright gold bracelet, with the same weird characters that the man had on.

“No thank you.”

The boy said, and took another step back. He was completely ready to run off if he needed, but he barely had time to move. The man was suddenly very close to him, moving a lot faster than Chanyeol would have expected him to, and his face was no longer kind. He was very serious, and the shadows filled his thin face in a menacing manner.

He got a tight and painful grip on Chanyeol’s arm, and placed the bracelet on it in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly everything went dark, and Chanyeol felt an extremely cold gush of wind, before he felt his body suddenly falling to the hard ground.

---~~~---___---~~~---___---~~~---

Chanyeol slowly opened his eyes, feeling his head thumping. It felt like he had been hit on the side of the head, which he associated with hitting the ground a little too hard. But he wasn’t on the street where he fell. Looking all around, he could see nothing more than tall grey walls, mostly covered by moss and various plants. He was currently smacked down in the middle of a hallway, and both sides he looked at, seemed to veer away in various directions.

He was feeling very out of it, and started wondering if he was dreaming or something, or if the weird dude had kidnapped and drugged him. He felt hungry, which made everything suddenly seem very real, so the kidnapped choice seemed more possible. He was hesitant to move, but there was obviously nothing good in staying put there, at most, he’d just die of starvation. The best choice was to start looking for a way out; or at least try to figure out where he was.

Picking the right path since at the end on the hallway it only went one way, instead of dividing into two like the left one, he started walking. On his first couple of steps, he got a bit surprised, even stopping for a few seconds. His footsteps were echoing loudly in there, even when he walked slowly. If the crazy man was somewhere around there, he’d definitely find him just with that sound.

Still, there was no use in staying. He already made a noise anyway, so if anything was going to come for him, it was already coming.

He arrived at the end of the hallway, and turned, following the path attentively. There was no other way in that path, it just kept turning and turning, without making Chanyeol have to decide which way to go. But somehow he felt that was not going to be the exit. It was too easy, and that place didn’t really look like an easy kind of place.

And he was right, because as soon as he turned for a 13^th time, he was faced with a wall. It was the end of the path. He sighed, and started to search around a bit, to see if there was any hidden way of something of that kind. But that was simply a dead end, and now he had to make the whole way back.

“What is this? A twisted movie set?”

Chanyeol talked to himself, whispering, as he felt uncomfortable at how everything echoed loudly there. But still, he didn’t know of any place that had such tall walls, and weird paths. The weirdest thing for him was that by looking up, he could only see darkness. It was definitely daytime when he passed out, and if that darkness meant it was night already, his mother would be very worried about him. But he couldn’t see stars. Or the moon. It was just plain darkness, almost like he was inside a trapped box. A very huge box.

But he was trying his best not to get scared. He knew that freaking out wasn’t going to do him any good in that situation, and if he somehow got put in there, there was definitely a way out, and he was going to find it, even if it meant he had to encounter many other dead ends.

“It’s a maze.”

He suddenly said, a little louder than before, his realization surprising him. But he was sure about it, because the place had a complete maze feel, and that dead end was a good confirmation.

But that wasn’t good. If it was a maze, depending on the size of it, he could be trapped there for days, without ever finding the exit. That thought scared him.

“Park Chanyeol.”

A voice called out, and though he had only heard it a few times, he recognized it. It was the booth man, who caused all of this. The boy looked around rushed, but he couldn’t see him anywhere.

“You are right, boy. It’s a maze.”

The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Chanyeol couldn’t pinpoint where the man was. The only explanation he could find was that the sound was coming from above, from that never ending darkness he could see.

“It’s the maze of Fallen Knights. You were chosen Park Chanyeol, you were meant to find me, and I was meant to bring you here.”

The man talked in a very calm voice, and it was almost soothing, which felt weird for Chanyeol, since he felt everything but calm at the moment.

“What?”

The boy asked and made a confused face, then starting to wonder if the man could see him, or even really hear him.

“This is your trial. If you pass, you’ll be able to become one of our prestigious Knights of the Exodus.”

The man talked slowly, and Chanyeol waited, completely still, wishing for some more explanation. But as that didn’t seem to be coming any time soon, and the silence started to fill the ambience again, he decided to ask.

“Knight of the Exodus? What the hell is that? Where am I??”

He was surely about to start freaking out, and the lack of response wasn’t helping at all. He decided to take another step forward, toward the left of the hallway he woke up in, but just as he did so, something started glowing in front of him.

It was a floating light, very bright, very unbelievable. He couldn’t see any way for it to be floating like that, it just was.

“This is your Sons of Warriors bracelet. It’ll guide you heart the right way. Trust its magic, and you’ll do well.”

Chanyeol waited again, aware that the man wanted him to touch the floating light, but he had no intention to. Just by thinking of reaching towards it gave him chills. Magic? He now didn’t only feel confused, he felt a bit sick. Too much information he couldn’t process properly. Nothing made sense.

“It’ll suffice your every need while you’re in the maze. You won’t need to eat, sleep, or perform any other bodily functions while you wear it.”

Chanyeol felt tempted, but he still didn’t want to touch it.

“Trust the magic of your heart, and you’ll find your way. Good luck.”

The man repeated his magic statement, sounding very sure of himself, and his soothing voice helped convince Chanyeol. That last phrase definitely sounded like the last thing the man would say to him, and after waiting for a while, Chanyeol could practically feel the silence on his skin.

There was no other choice, but to trust, like the man asked him too. If he said that bracelet was going to help him not starve, it was better to believe it than to go on without it, when he was sure he’d starve. Maybe the thing did work. Maybe magic was really real. Who was him to defy it when he was trapped in a huge maze with a glowing thing floating right in front of his face?

He reached for it, and as his hand got closer, the glow started to fade, and he could see the bracelet inside of all the light. It was the same bracelet that the creepy old man put on his arm. That information made him feel scared to touch it again, but what choice did he really have? Leave it behind, and go on walking just to die of starvation a few days later?

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed it. The glow went completely away, and nothing else happened. It looked like just a normal bracelet now. He took a good look at it, trying to make some sense out of the weird marks, with no success. He shrugged, placing it on his arm to see if there was any difference. As soon as it was wrapped around his wrist, it glowed one more time, in a quick flash, and settled to his skin, like it was part of him.

He got a bit scared by it, immediately trying to pry it off, but it wouldn’t move. He couldn’t seem to grab it, it just felt like he was trying to rip his own skin off, and it hurt. The thing was part of his arm now, part of him.

Suddenly regretting his decision, but not being able to do anything about it, he sighed. At least he didn’t feel hungry anymore. The thing was actually working.