ateez - in his mind

nineteen

"Wait!" San yelled out, pushing past his friends so he stood face to face with the old man. "We at least deserve to know why." The man was caught off guard seeing how San already knew his fate. Yet he answered in an eerily calm voice.

"The beast behind this door wants to kill. The government figures that since this group of yours already knows way too much, you will be our sacrifice," he explained. At that moment, more guards came rushing in, grabbing hold of their shoulders and walking them to the door. They struggled against the strong grips of the guards, but were ultimately no match for them.

The guard that held Seonghwa in the front was just about to open the door when San heard something that didn't seem quite right. He stopped struggling and looked at the face of the person who held his shoulders, except he didn't recognize his face. He recognized the voice in his head.

Alright boys, three, two, one.

Right then, their faces all changed into completely different people. It was as though five of them were wearing masks that melted away into their true faces. Chaos ensued, because it was the five warriors from Caelum who came to their rescue.

Beomgyu let go of his grip on San and drew out a small, flaming sword. The other four had their own mystical weapons, like Soobin's poison knives or Kai's lightning-esque arrows and bow. They guided the nine friends to the corner of the room, away, from danger while they fought the guards.

Out of the corner of Yeosang's eyes, he saw one of the guards sneak to where the door was. While the five boys were busy fighting off the imminent danger, he opened the door and snuck through. Yeosang, now alarmed as ever, ran from the corner and towards the door. His friends tried yelling out to him, but with all of the chaos happening, it was impossible to hear anything.

Immediately, he was hit with a blast of hot, humid air. The large, innermost part of the mountain was entirely black and red, the only light source being the patches of fire and lava. But what caught Yeosang's attention the most was the giant, black scaled dragon that lay asleep on the opposite side of the cave.

"Oh, fuck."

Yeonjun yelled out to Yeosang from closer to the door, asking for him to come back so they could escape. Except, Yeosang's attention was now fixated on the guard that originally ran into the cave. He held a large crossbow, aiming for the dragon. The moment the arrow sank into the dragon's leg, Yeonjun gripped Yeosang's shoulder as tight as possible, yelling for him to run.

The ground shook furiously, the dragon now awake and in pain. When Yeonjun and Yeosang reached the control room, they both shut the heavy door as quickly as possible. Looking around, everyone else was gone.

"Shit, let's go find where they are," Yeonjun grunted out with urgency. Thankfully, Yeonjun's memory was better than most, and they ran the same way they originally came. It was long and exhausting, but the red alarms flashing down every hallway kept their adrenaline going. Just as they were about to turn down the last hallway, gunshots rung out all around them. It was the old man behind them, who now had a big burn mark across his chest, presumably from Beomgyu's sword.

Both of them yelled out, now having to turn down a different hallway to safety. Yeosang was beginning to lose energy, and he wasn't sure how much farther he'd be able to run.