"Aera, for heaven's sake, please put this on."

Yukwon was begging desperately as he tried to put on one of his striped button up shirts over her body.

"No!" she protested, nudging him back. "It's... not sexy. If anything it's the opposite of sexy." She grimaced, eyeing the oversized piece of clothing distastefully. This was something her old self would wear.

"Is looking sexy really the most important thing right now?" Yukwon sighed.

"Of course," she mumbled, glancing over to Taehyung who was standing by the door, his hands on his hips. "I have to be sexy for Taetae always, right?"

Taehyung rubbed his temples, this was obviously very challenging for his patience.

"Sugar, put the shirt on your sexy little ass or else I'm going to put it on you myself."

Aera had a very fitting sexual joke about putting things in certain places to say right this moment, but judging by the pronounced frown on his forehead it seemed like he wouldn't find it funny.

"Mkay." She finally caved, begrudgingly pulling the shirt over her shoulders.

"For the last time, guys," Yukwon said. "Do not draw any attention to yourselves. No one can know you didn't get here the normal way. If we run into any Shadow Knights, remain as calm as possible and don't show any emotion or else we're all gonna get into trouble."

He pushed his raven black hair back, for the first time since they'd known him there was a frown formed on his forehead and he was really downcast.

"We're going to try and get you out of here the civilized way. Since no one can just walk out of Abaddon, we're going to request a hearing with the Shadow King and explain to him how you've gotten here, that it was all a giant mistake. Let's all pray he'll be merciful and understanding and lets you go back."

"And if he isn't?" Yoongi asked sternly.

Yukwon sighed, clearing his throat. "Let's not dwell on that."

Aera wrapped an arm around Taehyung's waist, taking a good look at everyone's grim faces. She smiled brightly, making them wonder whether she really didn't realize the severity of the situation they were in.

Yukwon informed them that his house was on a thirty-minute walk from the city, all they had to do was walk through the forest and they'd be there.

They marched together in silence as Aera squinted her eyes to make out something in the thick fog veiling the trees. It was very silent, the only sound was the rustling of the leaves under their shoes and the occasional breeze of the wind.

For some reason she didn't feel scared at all when in reality she probably should have been terrified. Thinly veiled fear was written on everyone's faces except for hers. She felt like she had been to this place before, many, many years ago since it didn't feel foreign to her at all.

She refused to dwell on it too much. She kept striding along with Taehyung, stealing unnoticed glances at him from time to time. Her eyes kept dropping to his hand and once she gathered enough courage, she gently wrapped her fingers around it and gave it a light squeeze.

He was taken aback, raising his eyebrows as his bewildered gaze landed on the hand she was holding. Much to her delight, he didn't move away but instead interlocked her fingers without saying anything and the gesture made a thousand butterflies come to life in her tummy as they kept walking together hand in hand.

As they kept advancing in the woods, suddenly Aera noticed something strange. Out of the blue, she was conscious of the sounds of someone cheering or maybe yelling, a group of people having a gathering of some sort.

"Did you hear that?" Yoongi came to an abrupt halt, instinctively grabbing her by the wrist and jerking her back.

"Someone's shouting," Yukwon murmured.

"It sounds like a soccer game or something," Taehyung whispered.

"Let's go and see what the commotion is about." Aera suggested, earning wide-eyed looks from all three men.

"We have to be careful," Yukwon objected, shaking his head. "Let's just try and go around it, it's definitely not a good idea to go to crowded places right now."

The proposition was met with mumbling of approval from both Taehyung and Yoongi and Aera felt annoyed that no one was agreeing with her.

Before they could start walking again, they heard a sound that rendered them paralyzed. It was the low rumbling sound of something beastly, some sort of deadly predator nearby.

Instinctively, Yoongi gripped on Aera's wrist and stood in front of her as Taehyung guarded her from behind. Yukwon lowered his body, his nostrils flaring as if he had detected some kind of smell the others couldn't, his clever sapphire blue eyes wandering the surroundings warily.

Heavy, powerful paws hit the damp ground as a dark and stealthy four-legged silhouette prowled in the shadows.

Almost instantly Aera realized this was no ordinary predator. Its eyes were far too humane, far too smart. It curled its gums to reveal a set of lethal sharp teeth and as it stalked forward Aera took notice of the sleek fur laiden on top of its frame with specks of gold and yellow.

It was a lioness. Far bigger than any other animal Aera had ever seen. Her giant paws padded soundlessly at the dusty mud as she crawled at them almost lazily, but Aera knew the animal was on full alert and ready to attack, fixating them with her human eyes. Her powerful muscles rippled and clenched underneath the fur of gold and Aera's gaze fell on her sharp claws, she could effortlessly rip them apart with those by just swinging her paw and have them all for dinner.

"Holy shit." Taehyung breathed out, the color drained from his face.

"Nobody. Move." Yoongi mumbled as everyone stood as still as a store mannequin.

Aera's heart pounded in her ears, a rush of panic shooting through her. All that fearlessness from before had evaporated and now she was drowning in terror in front of this mighty beast. She knew she shouldn't probably stare, she had read somewhere this might only provoke a predator such as this one, but she simply couldn't move her eyes away from the magnificent lioness.

Their gazes locked and Aera could swear she almost saw some sort of emotion flash in those stone cold eyes.

The lioness stopped in her track and her jaw unhinged as she opened her mouth and let out a roar, a raw sound that deeply resonated within her body and cracked through the thick air. Aera suppressed the urge to scream, biting back on her lips so hard she feared blood was going to spill out of them soon.

Then the lioness lowered her body slightly and for a second there Aera was certain she was going to pounce at them. She gripped at both Taehyung and Yoongi's hands tightly as she felt them tense up next to her, they were probably thinking the exact same thing and were bracing themselves for what was about to come next.

She squeezed her eyes shut involuntarily, awaiting the fatal attack but what followed next rendered her stupefied.

A rich, low, warning growl came from somewhere behind them as Aera swung her head to see where it originated from. A pair of razor-sharp canines flashed before her eyes as something lunged and landed in front of her.

The cream white wolf landed on all fours, his ears perked backwards and teeth bared, dagger like fangs glowing in the dark like ivory.

It was at least two times bigger than the lioness that hissed and jerked backwards, clearly intimidated by the larger beast. The wolf snarled, saliva dripping from his mouth as his eyes caught Aera's gaze for a second before turning away.

Yukwon.

Yukwon's wolf form was truly magnificent. It had nothing to do with his human form, perhaps the only similarity was that the cream white fur matched his pale milky complexion as a human. With his thin frame and sunken cheekbones, he resembled something ghostly, even haunting, like a skeleton.

Yukwon the person was nowhere near as glorious as this creature before them now.

Yukwon the wolf was majestic, his strong paws hitting the damp ground as his smooth, fluid motions took Aera's breath away. He could snap the lioness's neck with one single swing of his giant paw and he just exuded this awe-inspiring regal vibe that contrasted with the boy's quirky and outlandish personality.

The wolf looked her way again and bared his teeth, and in this moment Aera was reminded of Yukwon's pearly wolfish grin.

Nothing could be heard except for the low rumble of the two animals' growling, no one dared to move or even breathe as they stared each other down in a silent battle for dominance. Soon the sound became so unbearable that Aera felt as if sirens were blaring straight into her ears. She found herself praying that one of them would attack so all this tension would be released.

Yet what happened next left everyone utterly stunned.

The lioness suddenly drew back, lowering her head in defeat. She collapsed on the ground as suddenly her limbs shifted, her frame shrunk and her features morphed into those of a human, her fur disappeared and she stood up on her two feet. Soon enough the fierce predator from seconds ago had transformed into a petite but beautiful woman with baby blue eyes and long dark hair.

"Ms. Lee!" she exclaimed happily.

"Layla?!" Aera shrieked, her body shaking both with relief and with shock at the sight of the young girl that once used to work at her hotel as a cleaning lady. It seemed to her like this was a lifetime ago.

"Mr. Min!" Layla's rounded eyes cast over Yoongi who right now looked as if someone had thrown white paint over his face.

"What are you doing here?!" Aera gaped, feeling the tension from her body dissipate slowly.

"I, um, died." Layla uttered, nibbling on her lower lip.

"Oh gosh, yes, I'm sorry," Aera wanted to slap herself across the face, she knew damn well Layla had fallen victim to Jiah and Hyukjae's malicious plans, she was just so flabbergasted she forgot all her manners. She was rattled, struggling to behave normally. "And you are... a lioness?" she croaked.

"I'm a shapeshifter," Layla explained calmly. "I can turn into a lioness anytime I want."

"Since when?" Aera asked, dumbfounded. She heard rustling coming from her side but was so stunned she didn't even turn around to see Yukwon reverting back to his human form.

"Since that day of the fire at the hotel," Layla replied. "I was at work so I inhaled that mysterious smoke and..." she trailed off once she saw their confused faces. "I think there was something in that smoke."

"Um..." Aera didn't even know there were people other than them affected by this.

"I actually knew about this." Yoongi admitted suddenly in a monotonous voice.

"Of course you did." Aera rolled her eyes.

"Hey," Yukwon stepped in, extending an arm towards Layla. "My name is Yukwon and I'm a werewolf." He introduced himself

"Yes, I saw," Layla giggled bashfully. "Hey, sorry for growling at you like that. I was never going to attack you guys, it's just when I'm in my lioness form my animalistic instincts dominate over my human ones, so I needed some time to process your faces."

"No biggie," Yukwon shrugged casually. "Hey, I'm sorry for snarling at you too. I was just trying to protect my friends because I thought you were going to, you know, eat them."

"Don't sweat it." Layla brushed it off as the others just gawked at this bizarre interaction that seemed strangely natural.

"Layla," Aera called out, taking a couple of steps towards the brunette. "I am so, so sorry for everything that happened to you." she couldn't even know where to start her apology from. She was filled with guilt about what happened to the dainty girl, Layla was completely innocent and somehow she had ended up being used as a sacrificial lamb by Aera's psychotic half-brother.

Layla's lower lip buckled upwards as her eyes started glistening with a glossy layer.

"It's okay Ms. Lee, it's not your fault. Your brother Mr. Lee lured me in one night, saying he had a cleaning task for me he was going to pay me overtime for. I needed the money desperately for my mom's hospital bills... but I should have known he was up to no good. I'm too naïve."

Tears welled up in Aera's eyes but she blinked them away. Of course that disgusting swine would try and use something like this to deceive a kind-natured girl like Layla.

"Again, I'm sorry." She pulled the other girl in for a loose hug.

Layla sniffled, rubbing her back.

"Um... does Mr. Kim know?"

"He found out much later... he was heartbroken." Aera confided as she reminisced how badly Namjoon had taken Layla's death, running on the field and screaming from the pain.

"He's a good man. The best I've ever seen. He took good care of me when no one else was there for me. He didn't have to do that, but he still did."

"Yes, he is." Aera nodded, peering deeply into Layla's blue eyes as she saw how there was something else inside, something intimate and unspoken the brunette wanted to say but gave up eventually.

"Anyway, how did you guys end up here?" Layla questioned, wiping her cheeks and putting on a straight face.

"Believe me it's a long story and we don't have time to tell it here while standing in the woods." Aera grumbled.

"Oh," Layla hummed, a certain sadness swimming in her crystal blue orbs. "I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to sit and chat... this city isn't treating me any good." She confessed dejectedly.

Aera furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"Ms. Lee..."

"Layla, please call me Aera, I'm not your boss anymore, no need to be so formal."

"Okay, Aera," Layla corrected, anxiousness lingering in her voice as her eyes darted around as if she awaited some invisible danger to strike any second. "I don't know if you've heard, but this place doesn't treat women very nicely... they're thought to be inferior to men."

"What?" indignation seethed deep within Aera's chest.

"It's true. When I came here, I was found by a powerful man who claimed to want to help me. He brought me to his home, put a roof over my head and gave me food. I was so scared, I had no idea what this place was but he explained to me that everything would be alright if I listened to him. When he learned about my ability, he offered me to work for him.

"You see, this man runs a company that organizes large entertaining events, if I can even put it this way. It's like a circus, but a lot more barbaric since this type of entertainment involves a lot of blood, sweat and tears from the one performing it. I'm one of the lucky ones – my number consists of transforming in my lioness form for the audience and roaring at them... sometimes they throw rocks at me," she smiled weakly, wincing at the memory. "But not all of us are so lucky. The whole show consists of women. There are also fights that people bet on, fights that usually end fatally for one of the opponents."

"What a jackass." Taehyung commented which Aera thought to be the understatement of the century.

"That's cruel!" she released a loud gasp. "Why don't you just leave?"

"I can't," Layla whimpered softly. "He has noble blood or something and that seems to be a big deal around here. He's too powerful, he'll find me immediately and it's not like I have anywhere else to go... if we disobey him he's not afraid to hit or even beat us up."

"Layla, this is unacceptable. You have to get out of there!"

"It's not like she has a choice," Yukwon pressed his lips into a thin line, his forehead creasing with sympathy.

"Wait," Yoongi spoke up. "This shouting we heard before... is it from one of those events?"

Layla gave a grave nod. "Yes, actually one of it is being held right now as we're speaking... I can show you guys if you'd like to see, but the sight is not for the weak of heart."

"Take us there." Aera grumbled darkly.

She wanted to see the face of the man that treated these women so poorly, held them prisoners and exploited them for his own personal gains, and maybe spit on it.

Without another word, Layla motioned for them to follow her as they started walking through the forest. Not long after, the screams and the shouting became louder, resonating throughout the trees, and Aera could even catch a glimpse of a giant mass of people gathered together around something they seemed very excited about to say the least.

The crowd cheered, their cries booming like some sort of riot. The voices rose above in the air, violent screaming erupting like a very heated soccer game. The friends marched forward, slipping in the noisy, uncontrolled sea of people.

In the middle of it all there was a cage guarded by thick iron bars. Aera couldn't yet see the whole venue as the crowd kept pushing her from all sides, causing her to lose her balance. She staggered backwards only to be caught by a pair of firm arms, tilting her head back to see Taehyung had caught her.

"Be careful," he cautioned as Yoongi stepped in front of them, elbowing his way through the crowd and making way for the others to pass.

A series of screams exploded from the crowd around them as clearly something very exciting was happening. Their wild cheers blended together, forming two distinct words Aera pondered.

"What are they yelling?" she shouted at Layla.

"LITTLE DOVE, LITTLE DOVE, LITTLE DOVE!"

"They're chanting for Little Dove, she's the top fighter here." Layla explained, wincing as someone shoved past her.

"LITTLE DOVE, MARRY ME!"

"LITTLE DOVE, YOU ARE THE BEST!"

"It's like a freaking rock concert in here." Yukwon mumbled.

"HAVE MY BABIES, LITTLE DOVE!!"

Aera could swear that last one was a woman.

"I want to see." she murmured, trying to make out something from the moving and jumping bodies all around her.

Suddenly a new chant in unison emerged from the people around them.

"Rex tremendae majestatis, qui salvandos salvas, gratis,

salve me, fons pietatis, salve me, fons pietatis"

"What is this?" Yoongi asked, frowning.

"It's one of the chants for the Shadow King, it's in Latin and it roughly translates to King of tremendous majesty, who freely saves those worthy ones, save me, source of mercy, save me, source of mercy." Yukwon shouted over the chanting. "Everything that is being done around here is in his name and to praise him."

"Who even is this dude?" Taehyung asked, grunting as he made his way through the bustling crowd.

"No one knows," Layla explained. "No one's seen his face, but they say he's magnificent. Rumor has it he can be in two places at the same time and that he can lift a human army in the air only with his mind."

The chanting rose to a clamor as the shouting erupted again, more chaotic than before.

With great difficulty they found their way to the front of the crowd, just some feet away from the cage. It was kind of dark and Aera squinted her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a small puddle of blood formed on the ground. Her vision moved around as her eyes frantically scanned the cage. In one of the corners there was a girl sitting on her knees, her arms placed loosely over her thighs as her chest heaved with panting breaths.

Her eyes were calmly focused somewhere in front of her, she was wearing nothing but a black sports bra and a pair of loose sweatpants, her flat but toned abs on full display. Her hair was pulled in a pony tail that was slightly ruffled possibly by a previous struggle. Tattoos were scattered over her arms, chest and neck, her soft skin glistening with sweat.

She kept her eyes down on the ground, unfazed as if she couldn't hear the violent chanting erupting from every direction. Aera grew aware of how slim and dainty her frame was, despite her well-toned muscles she still looked gracefully thin.

Aggressive growling from the corner opposite of the girl caught Aera's attention as her eyes landed on a hulked man at least three times her size. His muscles were bulging underneath his thin tank top and he reminded Aera an awful lot of one of those MMA fighters she had seen on television. He was a beast and someone Aera wouldn't want to cross eyes with, ever.

"Is that Little Dove?" Yoongi asked incredulously.

"Yes." Layla confirmed.

"There's no way she can beat that guy with those little bird arms of hers." Taehyung mumbled.

Aera watched Little Dove as she kept murmuring something to herself quietly, it looked like she was chanting some sort of spell. Then a bell was rung and her eyes snapped open, glaring at the goon before her. She got on her feet, her face relaxed and nonchalant. It was then that Aera noticed the scratches etched in her delicate skin, the raw flesh glistening.

Just like that the fight broke out. Screams belted from everywhere around Aera as she watched the scene unfolding before her, entranced. The man was the first to charge at Little Dove as he shot forward with a battle cry.

With minimal effort, she twisted her body to the side, evading him just at the last second. Then she spun around and faced him again with an invitational smirk.

"FUCK HIM UP, LITTLE DOVE!!" someone screamed.

The man sped up against her again, his movements were agile, but too slow. Little Dove jumped to the side again, elegantly like a prima ballerina. This went on for a while as she escaped every single blow he delivered. She was just toying with him like a cat with a mouse, waiting for him to tire eventually so that it would be easier for her to finish him.

Suddenly he seized her arms, trapping them to the side. To which she responded with kicking him in the gut and then raising her leg so high up that she kneeled him in the nose.

The crowd was going wild. Little Dove was now being a little bit more aggressive, it was obvious she had just been warming up until now. The man charged at her, hands clenched into fists but what happened next sent him toppling back.

She shot past him, speeding up as she ran up the cage's wall, her feet hitting precisely one of the iron bars before she pushed herself off, doing a phenomenal somersault in the air before jump-kicking the man in the back.

A new wave of screams erupted from the crowd at the sight of these impeccable acrobatics. The man fell flat on his face but quickly regained his senses, he was dazed but not knocked out, at least not yet.

With an animalistic roar he flew forward and gripped her by the waist, lifting her up but she just encircled her legs around his neck and twisted his whole body downwards, slamming it into the ground as she landed on her feet effortlessly.

"OH YEAH!!" people yelled in elation from everywhere.

"Damn, she's really good!" Taehyung gaped. "I take my words back, I underestimated her."

"Everyone does." Layla smiled.

Little Dove paid no attention to the roaring crowd as she executed her perfected dance of destruction. It was like they weren't even there. The man was sprawled against the ground, groaning and hissing in pain as she simply walked around him confidently, eyeing him with a mocking smirk.

Aera narrowed her eyes, there was something very familiar about that girl, something about her reminded her of someone she knew but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it as the action kept on unraveling. The man somehow clawed his way back to standing, swinging his balled fist at Little Dove but she simply gripped on it with ease as if the force of the blow weighed as much as a feather, her thin fingers wrapped around the deadly fist.

A blood-curdling cry was ripped from the man's chest as his whole body started convulsing, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his mouth fell open, the veins on his face and neck bulging.

"What is she doing?!" Yukwon exclaimed in bewilderment.

"She's applying electricity to his body," Yoongi gasped softly as the realization struck him. "She's basically electrocuting him."

"She's electrokinetic?!" Aera turned to Layla who just nodded in silent confirmation.

"Oh man holy shit!" Yukwon said, slapping a hand over his forehead. "This chick is badass!"

Little Dove then released the man who collapsed on the ground. Aera thought this was the end of the fight but instead of walking again, Little Dove dropped to her knees and straddled her opponent.

"FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM!!" the crowd was going berserk, drunk on violence as some people even gripped at the iron bars of the cage and trashed against them.

Then Little Dove unleashed all of her rage on the poor man. Blows started raining on his face as she punched him mercilessly as if she wanted to smash him flat into the ground. It was one of those violent scenes Aera never wanted to watch but couldn't unglue her eyes from.

Blood splashed all around, the more blood there was the wilder the crowd got. Little Dove kept landing vigorous blows, armed with nothing else but her bare hands she had managed to overpower a man three or four times her size and the sight was eerily fascinating.

Then something unexpected happened.

Little Dove hadn't spared a single glance to the crowd this whole time, but right now her movements slightly slowed down as she picked her gaze up and looked at Aera.

Straight in the face.

In that little moment of time, Aera felt her stomach turn upside down as Little Dove's stare rendered her incapable of thinking clear. She saw something maddeningly familiar in those striking brown eyes, there was an awful lot of hurt, confusion, brokenness, repressed anger and frustration, violence, but also something stoic, pure and vulnerable. She wondered where she had seen this, in whose eyes she had gazed to see this degree of self-hatred and need to be loved...

But the moment ended and Little Dove removed her eyes from her, breaking the intense eye contact. Aera released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

The rest of the fight went by in a blur for her as that captivating stare had left an imprint on her brain. By the booming of the voices around her she deduced Little Dove had won, not that she had expected anything else. The match was at its end and Little Dove exited the cage and walked away as the man was left to be dragged away by some other men.

"Holy shit, that was... intense." Taehyung said.

"No shit man, I think I got a boner." Yukwon's eyes were so enlarged they had practically taken over his entire face.

"We have to wait for her," Aera mumbled, her eyes pinned at the door Little Dove had disappeared behind.

"Why?" Yukwon cocked his head to the side.

"I think I've seen her somewhere before... I have to make sure."

"This was the last fight for tonight, so she has to come out soon once she's changed," Layla informed them, gesturing for them to abandon their spot in the wild crowd and go somewhere a little bit quieter.

They followed her to what seemed to be a back door leading to a desolate parking lot. There was a single motorcycle parked outside that Aera wondered whether it belonged to Little Dove. Somehow riding a motorcycle seemed to be very fitting for her.

"This might take ages, do we really have to wait for her?" Taehyung asked after a while.

"No guys please stay, I'm going to introduce you to her, she's really cool," Layla pled, grabbing Aera by the hand and squeezing.

It didn't take long before the back door swung open and a pair of combat boots stepped outside. Everyone tensed up as if the president himself had walked out in the flesh. Aera's eyes snapped at the girl before her, her muscles clenching in alert as she eyed her every movement.

Little Dove strutted over to them, chin held high as her face bore no emotion whatsoever. She was dressed in loose ripped jeans and a laced black top, an oversized leather jacket over her shoulders.

"Hey, we-" Layla started, ready to greet her but the girl simply ignored her, stomping past her and towards Aera.

Flabbergasted, Aera hardly had time to react as Little Dove cupped her cheeks and placed a light peck on her lips.

"Holy crap." Taehyung almost lost his balance.

"Guys, my boner is back." Yukwon admitted.

"You should have taken a picture back there, it would have lasted longer." Little Dove purred seductively as she pulled away from Aera who was violently blushing.

"I, uh-" she stammered.

"No need to get shy kitten, I would stare too if I were you," Little Dove winked playfully. The amount of confidence that oozed from her was off the charts, she was totally bold and in control of herself.

Flustered, Aera searched her mind for something to say but her brain was a white blank page.

Little Dove turned away from her to look at Taehyung, Yoongi and Yukwon observing the whole scene with wide eyes and scoffed sardonically.

"What are you all staring at?"

"By all means carry on, don't mind us." Yukwon cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Who are those people, Layla?" Little Dove turned to the side, arching a brow as she smacked her plump lips.

"Those are my friends," Layla explained happily, not fazed by the scene in the slightest bit.

"It's very nice to meet you." Little Dove said with a smirk, taking a good look at everyone.

Oddly enough, Yoongi was the only one who didn't seem completely shell shocked at the sight of her.

Layla grinned brightly. "Guys, meet Park Nana."

author's note:

LAYLA IS BAAACK!

who has an idea who this mysterious girl could be? 👀

If no one guesses it right I'm just gonna tell you guys lol 🙈❤❤❤