Chanyeol woke up in absolute darkness. He hadn’t a clue as where he was; everything in his memory was a blur and he silently cursed to himself. What could have happened? Sudden memory loss was certainly not a normal occurrence. However, memories or not, it didn’t change his predicament; his back was killing him and he was freezing cold.

In an attempt to sit up he realized that his wrists and ankles were cuffed to a table. What’s going on, he asked himself, where am I? He wiggled on the table, hoping he would be able to slip at least his hands from the metal. All attempts were futile, and he laid back, defeated. Not long after, he heard a creak in front of him. He craned his neck forward, about to call out when a throaty cough stopped him.

“You’re up, I see,” said a disembodied, and strangely familiar, voice.

“Who are you?” Chanyeol asked.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

He heard uneven footsteps walking away from him; then they stopped. Great talking with you, was what he had been tempted to say, but refrained from doing so.

There was a loud bang and Chanyeol was blinded by a white light above him. Once he adjusted to the brightness, he glanced around and nearly cursed when he saw that the room was completely empty, giving no hints as to where he was, except for a black, metal box to the left of the door. Then his eyes shifted to a cyborg man; half of his face was metal and his arm was also mechanical; when he moved, the contraption would make smooth, digital noises. The bottom half was supported by more wires and metal.

“Who are you?” Chanyeol asked again, but was given the same answer, to his dissatisfaction.

The cyborg walked around the table and stood to Chanyeol’s left. Chanyeol's heart began to race and he started to struggle against his constraints. The cyborg was unable to do anything else, for a teenager began to speak through a crackled intercom.

“Sir, we’re being invaded!” he said in a panicky voice before clicking the system off. Enraged, the man swished his lab coat as he pivoted towards the door. Before stepping out, he turned to Chanyeol, mechanical eye adjusting.

“I’ll be back.” he grumbled. With one last glare, he slammed the door shut and left Chanyeol on the table with shivers running up and down his back.

Who was this man? His voice seemed so familiar. It was odd and made Chanyeol’s gut sink.

Only moments after the man left, someone busted into the room wearing a metal pack, goggles, and singed clothing — his messy, blond hair just as burnt and gave off an foul odor. The guy, without even a glance to Chanyeol, got to work on a black control box to the left of the door, pulling multiple tools from his belt. There was a small clicking sound as he was poked and prodded the box. He had deactivated the cuffs, which fell to Chanyeol’s side with a loud clanking that reverberated off the empty walls. Chanyeol sat up and rubbed his wrists, seeing that there were red marks from his previous struggles.

“C’mon, let’s go.”

Chanyeol looked up, “Who are you?”

“Someone who is here to help you.”

“No, what’s your name?”

“We don’t have time for this, dude!”

“Name or I won’t go.”

“Kim Joonmyun. Now hurry up!” Joonmyun said as he made his way to the door. Chanyeol jumped off of the table, bare feet meeting the cold, unforgiving ground, and followed Joonmyun out the door into an empty corridor with grey doors identical to his. He did not have time to take in the scenery, though, because Joonmyun was already sprinting up ahead. Chanyeol ran after him, turning corners, going through doors, and hiding from guards.

As they ran through, probably, the twentieth hallway, Chanyeol could not help but wonder how Joonmyun knew his way around.

Joonmyun opened a door into a hallway where at the very end of it was an enormous, yawning hole. That was when he stopped and took a tiny cube from his back pocket, handing it to Chanyeol who cocked an eyebrow. Joonmyun sighed and tapped the cube which began expanding into a replica of the metal pack on his own back. Seeing this, Chanyeol slipped it onto his shoulders and the straps automatically adjusted themselves to fit him snugly as a waist strap came out, tightening itself around his stomach.

“Ready?” Joonmyun asked, getting into a running stance.

“Wait, for what?”

Chanyeol didn’t receive an answer and instead felt himself being tugged forward by his wrist. To keep from stumbling, he, too, had to run at full speed and once they got to the opening, he and Chanyeol hurled themselves out of it. As they fell, there was the unpleasant dropping sensation in his stomach and Chanyeol looked down only to find himself falling about sixty stories from the ground. Panicked, he began to flail around while Joonmyun just laughed with glee. Just as Chanyeol was about to pass out from the height, he felt Joonmyun tug something on his pack and suddenly he sprouted mechanical wings. The wings jerked him upwards, causing him to grunt as the stomach strap pressed into his stomach. Then he was gliding smoothly through the air, slowly soaring higher and higher. Underneath him, he saw Joonmyun still falling and he began to get nervous. The other had plunged about twenty stories and was picking up speed, but somehow, he was still yelling with excitement.

As Chanyeol went higher, he realized: how was he supposed to follow Joonmyun? Soon enough, he would just fly higher, and eventually die from the lack of pressure.

He leaned forward with hopes that the wings to guide him downward, but instead he kept ascending. Now fearing for his life, he pulled on the straps. What if he could not stop the wings? What if he kept flying higher? How did Joonmyun expect him to know how to control such a complicated device?

He heard the soft hum of another’s wings to the right of him, and whoever it was pressed something on Chanyeol’s pack which caused a remote control to shoot out of his belt; one on the left and one on the right.

“Use the left to move horizontally. On the right, move it forward to go down and backward to go up. To have some fun and spin, just move the left controller in a clockwise motion. If you prefer the other way, then just move it counter clockwise like you’re drawing a circle.” Chanyeol turned to his right to find a male with light, sandy brown hair and a huge smile plastered on his face that caused his eyes to make a pronounced crescent moon shape. He, too, wore goggles, but they were pushed onto his head, not on his eyes.

“Thanks. And I’m, uh, Chanyeol.”

“Park Chanyeol? Oh man! You look so different! It’s nice seeing you again! Remember me? I’m Kim Jongdae!” Jongdae… Jongdae. Jongdae? The name sounded so familiar and it bugged Chanyeol that he could not remember. It seemed to be happening quite often in the past hour. It was almost as if he was brainwashed.

Before Chanyeol had the chance to ask what he had meant by that, Jongdae had already taken a nose dive towards Joonmyun, who now had the wings expanded and was doing small loops in the air. Not knowing what else to do, Chanyeol followed suit and flew carefully towards the other two who were happily maneuvering around each other.

As he went, Carter was able to take in the scenery around him. Above him, a magnificent, cloudless sky with the sun beating down, warming his bare torso. Below, he saw the city walls reaching only forty meters high, limiting the citizens to only a small area in the vast land. From the height he was at, he could see plains stretching for miles and the silhouette of jagged mountains outside of the walls. The sight was breathtaking.

“Joonmyun, what’s the walls for?”

“Hey, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun yelled, ignoring his question. Although Chanyeol did not want to stop looking, he did anyway and flew down to where Joonmyun and Jongdae were gently drifting towards the outer wall. What a wonderful feeling, flying, Chanyeol marveled, stretching out his long arms like a bird, but the experience was cut short when Joonmyun told him they would land outside of the Capital and walk to their destination.

“The capital?” He asked.

“These things are amazing, but can’t fly forever. They require charging and it’s best not to run them out. Plus the entrance isn’t too far away.” Joonmyun said, ignoring his question once again. Chanyeol sighed, and nodded; they landed with ease in the grass away from the gates which were swarming with guards. After taking off the packs, Joonmyun took all three and pressed a button on the straps, causing them to collapse back into their compact cubes. He shoved them into his jacket pocket.

“Ready to go?” Joonmyun asked and the other two nodded. “Onwards then!” He cheered and started to walk forward followed by Jongdae and Chanyeol.

A few minutes into the walk, Chanyeol cleared his throat, “Jongdae, what did you mean when you said you hadn’t seen me in a while. I don’t remember you at all.”

“Really? That’s surprising because in 1st grade I shaved off one of your eyebrows and glued your face to your desk.” Jongdae snickered. Chanyeol fell silent in attempt to recollect the past, but he was drawing a blank; not even a blurred memory. It was nonexistent.

“I don’t remember. Are you lying?”

“Me? Lie?” Jongdae snorted. “Of course not!” he said in a sarcastic tone.

“Jongdae, don’t tease the poor kid. The stupid Capital probably did something to him!” Joonmyun scolded.

“Sorry, man. I’m not lying this time. It did happen.”

“The capital?” Chanyeol repeated. “Can someone please tell me what is going on.”

“Yeah, the Capital. The place where your dreams come true.” Jongdae snickered, but earned a smack from Joonmyun.

“This is frustrating,” Chanyeol murmured, ruffling his hair. “I can’t remember anything.”

“Well we can’t worry about your inability to recollect the past. We’ve reached the entrance to our epic, secret, totally awesome hide-out,” Joonmyun announced, pointing to a tree.

“It’s a tree,” Chanyeol said.

“It’s not just any tree, my friend. Oh no! It’s a marker to the entrance that goes somewhere magical. Here, watch.” Joonmyun, elated, proceeded to kick the tree, but nothing happened. He cursed under his breath and kicked it again — nothing. This went on for several minutes until finally a hole opened up next to the tree that was big enough to fit one person at a time.

“What now?” Chanyeol asked, peering down into the pitch black void.

“You jump,” Jongdae replied with a smug smile.

“What?”

“It’s like a slide. Just jump.”

“But it’s dark.”

“And?”

“Where does it go?”

“It’s not a death trap, promise.”

“Yeah, but —”

Chanyeol stopped himself when he saw Jongdae positioning himself to jump. Then with an enthusiastic wave, Joonmyun disappeared with a smile and was quickly followed by Jondae. Chanyeol was alone. He glanced around; just empty grassland… dotted with the monochromatic uniforms of the guards who were originally at the gate. He glanced down the pit and frowned. No way was he getting in that thing. What if he got stuck? Well, if Joonmyun and Jongdae had gone down, that meant it was safe, right? That didn’t make him want to do it any more, though. Nonetheless, with the guards closing in, he stood at the edge, closed his eyes, and jumped. As he went down, he heard the muffled voices of men, probably guards, yelling to each other above him, but the cover to the hole had already closed shut and Chanyeol was now, he assumed, sliding into darkness.