there were a few things jimin was expecting tonight.

one of them being to go to the demon realm.

another one being to run into some unexpected obstacles along his way.

finally, he was probably gonna get into a fight with a demon at some point.

however, one thing that he definitely was not expecting was to see kim taehyung waiting for him inside the alleyway at midnight.

now, don't get me wrong, jimin knew that taehyung cared about him.

they'd been inseparable best friends for years and were literally soulmates.

when one cried, the other's shoulder was there to lean on.

when one needed help, the other would drop everything to asist them.

when one was in trouble (aka jimin), the other would always be the first to make sure they were okay.

although, that being said, jimin still was not expecting taehyung to go through with this plan.

this was by far his most insane and most dangerous plan yet.

"oh my gosh! you actually came!" jimin whisper-yelled in excitement.

"yes and i'm already regretting it on an extreme level." taehyung replied, still shaking from nerves.

"stop complaining! you're here now so there's no turning back." jimin grinned, pulling him by the hand.

"how are we getting there, again?" taehyung said, trying to sound calm even though he was shitting himself.

"in the back of the old library, there's a hallway that leads to a section of the king's palace basement. in there is a doorway-ish portal thing that will take us there." jimin explained as they silently made their way through the dark street.

"how do you know all of this and why do you sound so unprofessional when saying it? are you sure you read enough of that book?" taehyung asked, concerned.

"one of the books i picked up in there had a map and i followed it since my curiosity got the better of me. that's how i found the portal in the first place." jimin revealed.

"you didn't answer my question." taehyung poked him.

"listen, i'm like 60% sure we won't die which is pretty high considering i only read a few chapters." jimin laughed.

"why are you laughing about that?" taehyung whisper-yelled.

"oh my gosh, be quiet. we're here."

when taehyung looked up, he saw the back of the old library.

without warning, jimin started climbing up the fence and, once he got to the top, he jumped before grabbing onto the windowsill to pull himself up and into the building.

taehyung watched in awe.

he knew jimin was a gymnast but the things he did so effortlessly still amazed him.

"how the frick am i supposed to do that?!" taehyung whined.

"just wing it, pussy!"

"stop cursing at me!"

"okay whatever, bitch, cmon before we get caught." jimin rolled his eyes.

"you cursed again." taehyung mumbled under his breath as he began to climb.

once he reached the top, he began to look down before jimin called out to him.

"nuh uh! don't look down. just jump." jimin said, knowing taehyung would freak himself out if he saw how high he was.

the slightly younger boy took a deep breath before jumping as far as he could.

he shut his eyes tight, expecting to make contact with the floor but was more than pleasantly surprised to feel his hands hit the wood of the windowsill and jimin's own baby hands pulling him up.

"you looked so cool just now. that was the most exciting thing i've ever seen you do." jimin giggled.

"shut up, just get inside, i'm getting cold." taehyung said, blushing.

he didn't want to admit that it kinda felt good be called "cool" and to do things that he wasn't supposed to be doing.

a slight rush of adrenaline pumped through him.

they quietly slinked into the building and taehyung grabbed jimin's hand.

they sneaked through the rows of bookshelves until they reached the carefully hidden hallway at the back that jimin was talking about.

"okay, this is it. if you want to turn back you have to do it right now." jimin warned.

taehyung stayed silent.

was he ready to do this?

his whole life he'd been playing it safe.

the top of academics, always polite, never spoke back even when he was the one being wronged, never did anything incriminating or even slightly mischievous.

he was a golden child.

yet, he still got looked down on.

why did he try so hard to please people anyway?

why did he try so hard to gain the validation of people that wouldn't even give him the time of day?

why did he try so hard to be someone he wasn't?

the truth is, taehyung wanted to be more adventurous.

he wanted to live life on the edge.

to sneak out, to whisper and snicker in class, to talk about crushes with jimin, to stay out past curfew, to pull pranks.

he wanted to disobey.

but he was too afraid.

too afraid of other people's opinions.

but tonight was different.

"well... i'm already here so... let's go." taehyung assured.

jimin squealed, "yay! okay, cmon."

and so they rushed across the dark corridor and down the winding staircase.

that's where they saw it.

a black door with a golden engraving trailing along the frame.

at the top, also engraved in gold, it said: μπες στον κόσμο του κακού.

"oh, i don't know what that means by the way." jimin said, pointing at it.

"it says enter the world of evil. it's in greek." taehyung enlightened him.

"oh yeah, i forgot you're multilingual." jimin mumbled.

"so, we're really doing this, huh?" taehyung asked, still trembling with nerves.

"yep, no turning back. this is gonna be sick." jimin grinned.

without warning, jimin pulled the handle of the door and behind it was the portal he mentioned.

it had a sangria-coloured glow and made a strange warped sound.

"i'm scared." taehyung admitted quietly as he stared into the void.

"sometimes when you do something scary, it ends up being one of the most fun experiences you've ever had." jimin said, holding his hand.

"are you sure?"

"i mean, yeah. for example, when i went on my first rollercoaster, of course i was fucking terrified while looking at it but then once it started i realised how much fun i was having. or when i first started doing gymnastics. when i learnt my first tumble, i fucked it up a lot and it was scary because i didn't wanna seriously injure myself but now look at me! now, doing tricks and dance is my hobby and it's my passion. sometimes you just have to be willing to take risks. that's why i live my life the way i do. i don't let other people's opinions and rules dictate how far i can go. i'm just me. not the perfect angel of kindness that society wishes i was. i mean, not the perfect part, at least. i broke a guy's finger, for fucks sake!"

taehyung listened to jimin carefully.

jimin was so genuinely happy and taehyung knew this.

jimin really loved life, truly.

and the only reason for this was because he didn't let anything hold him back, ever.

taehyung himself, however, was utterly miserable.

taehyung hated his life more than anything.

he did the opposite of jimin. he let every single little thing hold him back. he let people and flimsy rules discourage him from doing anything thrilling.

so maybe that was why he hated himself so much.

this thought in mind, he finally spoke.

"let's do this!" he cheered.

jimin smiled, hugging him, "okay!"

taehyung was about to walk through before jimin stopped him.

"wait!"

"huh?"

"our wings! if they see them they'll kill us on the spot. they literally glow white so we'd stick out like a sore thumb." jimin said.

"well, what are we supposed to do about that?" taehyung asked.

"our powers, duh." jimin said as if it was obvious.

yes, angels had powers. they varied but jimin's allowed him to have anything he wanted at his fingertips. anything he said would come true which you can imagine has caused problems in the past, given jimin's mischievous nature.

taehyung's powers were special. i mean, he in himself was special so it only made sense. any power that an angel could possibly have was within taehyung. one of the perks of being mixed.

"but we're not supposed to use our powers-"

"we're not supposed to go to the underworld either but here we are!" jimin laughed.

"i guess so." taehyung chuckled.

"besides, that's not even a law, it's just some random rule they put in place a few years ago and there are still plenty of people who don't follow it." jimin fanned his hand in dismissal.

before taehyung had time to react, jimin cast a spell over the two of them.

in a matter of seconds, their wings turned jet black. almost as if ink had been poured over them.

"woah..." taehyung said. they looked so different with their white wings gone.

"you look so hot!" jimin pushed his shoulder.

taehyung rolled his eyes, "as if. let's just get this over with."

"after you, your highness." jimin giggled.

taehyung took a deep breath and shut his eyes tight once again before stepping into the deep purple-looking abyss.

he heard nothing but silence for a while, maybe fifteen seconds.

but then, suddenly, he heard screams, fire crackling, wings flapping: utter chaos.

he wanted to cover his ears on instinct but he couldn't move. it was like an out-of-body experience, sleep paralysis even.

and then, just like that, it stopped and everything went back to normal. the same sounds he would've heard in the basement of the king's palace before he stepped into the portal were the same sounds he heard now.

he opened his eyes slowly and what he was was a room almost identical to the one he was just in.

however, some very noticeable details had changed.

instead of the bright white walls and white marble floors, the walls were a deep red shade and the marble under his feet was black.

another obvious detail that he noticed was that the door he just stepped out of was a brilliant white with silver lining around the edges. opposite to the first door that was black, lined with gold.

the writing on the top of the frame said: εισάγετε τον κόσμο των αμόλυντων.

enter the world of the untainted.

and, on top of that, the colour of the strange portal was now a bright and inviting blue periwinkle shade.

this was all enough for taehyung to realise that they had reached the underworld.

not even a second later, jimin stepped through the portal too, looking around in awe just as taehyung had been doing.

"wow... i don't think i've ever seen this much black or red in one place." jimin commented, used to seeing white and grey in every room.

"we just entered the demon realm and that's all you have to say?" taehyung argued, still breathlessly looking around.

"well maybe i'd have more to say if we weren't just sitting in a basement. cmon, let's get out there." jimin announced, grabbing his hand and slowly beginning to walk up the staircase.

they silently made their way up until they made it to a familiar-looking hallway.

"everything looks so similar but so opposite at the same time." jimin whispered.

"i know what you mean." taehyung agreed, trailing his finger along the wine-coloured wall.

they carried on sneaking down the hallway until they made it into a library. it was dark and completely empty in terms of life; abandoned.

jimin picked up one of the books carefully and opened it.

it was information about angels.

"so not only are we angels forbidden from learning about demons but it seems like demons are forbidden from learning of us, aswell." jimin muttered.

"seems like it." taehyung said in a hushed tone.

"well, if this place is similar to the library back home, there must be a back window we can climb out of." jimin said, sliding the book back into it's spot before wandering to the back of the room.

"bingo." taehyung said, spotting a little bit of light leaking through a window above them.

"alright, boost me up there and i'll pull you up after, okay?" jimin suggested.

"sure."

and so jimin was launched up to the windowsill which he grabbed onto tightly to hoist himself up. then, he reached out to taehyung who jumped and grabbed onto his arms, allowing himself to be pulled up too.

then, they jumped out of the window and latched onto the fence. from there, they climbed over and down before jumping onto the concrete floor.

jimin landed on his feet but taehyung was slightly less graceful.

"ouchie." he pouted.

jimin sighed before pulling him up, "you're lucky that wasn't a high drop otherwise your ankle would be broken."

"shush."

"cmon, let's get out from behind this building, it's hella suspicious. i can see the town." jimin said.

they walked out from behind the old library and were finally faced with demonkind.

people with jet black wings strolled down the streets. some were yelling, laughing loudly, fighting etc.

not many were out since it was almost 1am on a tuesday of all days.

the street lamps (which were literally just fire instead of a lightbulb) barely illuminated the blanket of darkness that loomed over them and taehyung assumed that even in the day time it probably wasn't much brighter.

houses and buildings were made out of black and red bricks with dark wooden doors. the streets were paved with black concrete.

everything seemed intimidating.

the town wasn't exactly welcoming.

a heavy feeling settled over them as soon as they stepped into the street.

"move, idiots." a guy huffed, pushing past them as they were standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

"oh, so-"

"shush! don't say sorry you idiot, they're demons. if you apologise, they'll probably think you're even weirder." jimin hushed him.

"oh, right." taehyung said.

that's when he realised that he was going to have to act like a completely different person in order to not be sussed out here.

all his pristine manners and polite nature would have to be thrown out of the window.

this mission was already proving more difficult than before.

they began to walk along the street, looking around as they did. everything felt so strangely familiar yet so uncannily foreign all at once.

it was as if their own world had been inverted.

"what's that?" taehyung whispered, pointing at a building across the road.

the sign on the front of the building said taipan.

"well, only one way to find out." jimin smiled eagerly.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

•2474 words
•not edited or proof-read
•HEYYYYY
•this book is finally getting another update lmao
•it's finally gonna start getting interesting lol
•i hope you enjoyed this!
•i'm gonna try and update this book more often so fingers crossed
•stay safe!
•i love youuu <333

peace out xoxo,

nixy.