All That Glitters (WayV) - Volume II

Darkness

(Warning: This chapter along with the next few will be a bit graphic, so do take breaks in between if it's too much.)

Dejun opened his eyes at the sound of a blood-curdling scream. The voice belonged to a man, a sharp cry of pain echoing off the walls. His eyes were wide as he felt the beads of sweat form on his temples, the blood dripping from his arm becoming suddenly more terrifying than it had before. 

He looked at his hands and realized he was chained to a chair. His hands were bound with metal cuffs, his feet tightly chained to the legs of the chair. The room was white, sickeningly white. There was a panel to his left and right with countless dials. There was a small table in front of him with syringes and jars of god knows what. Dejun felt chills down his spine. 

He heard another scream of pain and felt his hands sweat. He recognized the voice. Dejun had the urge to call the person, his friend. It might've been a mistake, but he had to do it. 

"YangYang!" 

YangYang, who was bound to a seat, was crying out in pain, his entire body trying to escape the bounds. There was a glass window in front of him, where a man with spectacles and soulless brown eyes stared at him, mercilessly cranking the dials. 

At the sound of his name, he felt a sudden relief as he realized it was Dejun calling him. "Dejun! Help!" he screamed. Big mistake. 

He felt electric shockwaves go through him, making him feel like his bones were about to shatter like glass. He tried to ignite the flam in his hands to melt the metal cuffs, but it seemed like each shockwave was meant to take his power. Each time YangYang got shocked, tiny sparks went flying in the room. They were his sparks. It was like this machine that was torturing him was meant to drain him of his magic abilities. YangYang clenched his eyes shut as he felt another shock of pain go through him, his body trying desperately to free itself. This machine . . . the man. They terrified him. 

"Dejun!" 

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Kunhang heard footsteps approaching him as he dizzily opened his eyes. He was facing a white ceiling, a horribly white ceiling. He tried to move his head, but it hurt so bad he felt like it'd snap off. 

He closed his eyes and sighed, but he was aware of the footsteps getting louder and was greeted by the sound of a door being slammed open. He opened his eyes with a jolt, listening to the same bone-chilling laughter he'd heard while being kicked. He closed his eyes tightly only to open them a few seconds later and turning his head with difficulty to see the face that he was so afraid to finally see. 

Kunhang took in the man's face and his physique. One brown and one blue eye were staring at him, a cocked eyebrow on the man's face. There was a scar running from his temple to his chin, and he owned a terrifyingly burly physique. Kunhang gulped and looked at the man with his eyebrows furrowed, searching for answers without asking the questions. 

"You're wondering who I am, aren't you?" he smirked. His voice was deep and coarse, and Kunhang knew he was the man who'd attacked him in his dorm room. He stayed silent though, waiting for the man to speak. 

"All you need to know about me is that I can either be your savior or your worst nightmare."

Kunhang felt himself feeling bold, suddenly saying, "Savior? You really think you're capable of that. I mean, your first impression says otherwi- Ah!" 

There was a sharp surge of electricity flowing through him, the hairs on his neck standing up as the pain made him jolt forward, only to be restrained by metal cuffs. 

"I can be your savior if you keep your mouth shut." 

Kunhang's eyes landed on the dial that the man's hand was resting on. It was on level 10, and what scared him was that it went up to 150. He swallowed hard, cutting his eyes to the man before he closed them, feeling the sweat drip from his forehead. He was beaten, bruised, and was bleeding from his arm, but it was all irrelevant to him at that moment. 

'Fangsu,' he thought. 'Please hurry.'

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Weijian was running down the halls of the Magicine, Manaka at her side. Jintao had told the four to search the palace as discreetly as they could while she talked to the High Council. They were supposed to search without anyone finding out they were there. They were doing great until they heard a scream coming from the basement, and that's when the two girls realized Yuta and Sicheng were missing. Then they realized the scream was a cry of distress. 

"Oh shit, where are they?" Manaka said, her heart racing as she ran through the dark corridors. She could hear Weijian's breath becoming unsteady, and that's when she felt it. There was a vibration in her pocket. 

Manaka pulled out her phone, looking at her screen. There was a notification on her phone from Jintao. 

Manaka, I need you to get the rest of the girls here right now. It's urgent.

Manaka showed Weijian the text, and the two went straight to work, texting the girls to get to the Magicine as soon as they could, being as discreetly as possible. Their texts were read and the girls were on their way. 

Weijian and Manaka kept running, trying to find Jintao and the boys, but Manaka felt an absence beside her. She stopped in her tracks, ignoring the terrifying darkness ahead of her. 

"Weijian, we need to hurry-" 

Manaka stopped and stared at the door in front of them. It was easy to pass by it, for it was well hidden in the darkness. There was a plaque next to the cream-colored door with a number that read 805 in gold lettering. 

Something about it was off. It struck Manaka and Weijian as odd that a door would be so well hidden, and in such a random place in the middle of a dark corridor. Manaka got a bad feeling. Weijian was about to reach for the doorknob when Manaka grabbed her wrist. She looked at Weijian's face in the candlelight and shook her head. 

"Don't," she whispered. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this place."

"Fine," Weijian replied. "We'll check it out-mph!" 

Manaka turned to the side and saw Weijian being dragged by a figure in the darkness. Manaka tried to run after her but she felt a rough hand grab her wrists and twist them. She cried out in pain and felt her get knocked to the ground. She managed to flail her arms about and make contact with some bone, punching what she assumed was someone's jaw, but that was all she managed to do before she felt herself get beaten and saw her vision become black. 

"Help!"