"Yuri!" A voice shouted.

It was Hyun Seung's. He sounded very worried. I found myself sitting on the cold floor while looking at the boys like as if I never met them. Somehow I felt complete after reuniting myself with the dark counterpart of mine. Right now I'm still puzzled with the granny that gave me the paper years ago and why Skull acted like someone who got possessed by a curse.

"Are you alright? Need me to heal your wounds or anything?" Yoseop offered as he approached me.

"It's ok. I'm perfectly fine, Yoseop," I rejected the offer and slowly stood up before I could manage to stand properly, I fell back down but fortunately, Yoon Ki held onto my hand.

"Somehow, you reminded me of my sister...I wish to see her again..." he began which made me frowned on sadness. How can I tell him that the Yuri he knows was actually my counterpart?

"Yuri, you're crying..." Du Jun began.

I realised that a clear warm liquid rolled down from my eyes. I was crying...why? I quickly cleaned the tears away from my face and smiled at rhem so that they won't be worried. Suddenly, a loud crash suddenly befall us. Might have been the Core.

"We gotta hurry!" Du Jun stated and signalled us to follow him.

After that, we arrived infront of a flight of stairs that winds up like a labyrinth. I guess we got some walking to do.

"I sense traps above," I began as I ascend the stairs. "They can easily kill us if we're not careful."

"Just what had happened in the space a while ago? You somehow felt different," Hyun Seung pointed out which actually scared the heck out of me.

"Can't you feel the dark energy radiating the most through thr stairs?" I asked as I resume ascending thr stairs.

"I just find it fishy..." Hyun Seung muttered.

After that, we all ascend the stairs carefully and cautiously, wondering what trouble lies ahead of us.

Third person POV

The group managed to arrive at the 15th floor of the palace, unharmed. Right now, they are still climbing the endless stairs that leads them to nowhere.

"Are we there yet?" Yoon Ki asked. "Never thought that a palace would be this tall..."

"We might have got into their traps since the time we ascend the stairs," Hyun Seung stated as he walked cautiously.

"Well, we ARE trapped to begin with..." Yuri implied as she stopped walking, which made the rest of the group halted since she's the one walking at the front.

The boys looked at her with wide eyes as realisation just hit them. Just what in the world is with Yuri today? She seemed like she know alot more than the rest of them. She even added that they will face a demon that looks like a dragon. Before they proceed deeper, a loud crack suddenly appeared ontop of their heads. They all dodged it on time and landed on the flight of stairs without toppling. The crack led to some part of the buildings to drop onto the stairs towards gravity. There, they saw a large claw grabbing the edge of the hole it made and provoke the walls even further.

As the walls corrupted due to the pressure against its claw, it's beady yellow eye just peep through the hole it made, which made the group jumped. The monster growled angrily as it tried to make the hole big enough to go through. After that, the walls finally collapsed and caused the stairs to crumble which made Yuri fell from the stairs.

Fortunately, she managed to grab onto the edge of the stairs but the stairs itself was brittle and can collapse anytime.

'Du Jun-hyung! Use your shadow multiply and grab onto Yuri!'

"Wha-" Du Jun exclaimed as he looked for Yuri as he recognised that it was Jun Hyung's voice. "Yuri-ah! Hold on!!" And rushed to Yuri's side.

'Yoseop-ah! Ask Yoon Ki to use his power to control the dragon from moving closer to buy us sometime to recoil.'

"Roger! But where are you, hyung?" Yoseop asked as he went looking for Yoon Ki.

Just in time, Du Jun managed to save Yuri from falling while Yoseop got to ask Yoon Ki to use his powers on the dragon. Hyun Seung then tried to reconnect the stairs using his ice powers which worked as expected. After that, they had to Find a place to land on safely in order to fight the dragon. As Yoon Ki couldn't control the dragon any longer, Du Jun quickly used his shadow powers to retrieve him from his current position before the dragon managed to react.

"Phew...I guess you'll need me for this fight," Jun Hyung said coolly while flipping his hair as he walked through the opening which the dragon had made a while ago.

"Jun Hyung, right on time!" Yuri exclaimed excitedly but soon her excitement faded as she received something from Jun Hyung. It was her poembook that she purposely left under Geu Rim's care. "Why is this in your hands?" She questioned, with anger.

Jun Hyung was shocked to see Yuri's angry face. He never expected such a reaction from the usual happy-go-lucky girl.

"Yuri...you left something important that will allow you to claim what is truly yours," Jun Hyung explained but somehow felt that he shouldn't have gave it to her.

"It was on purpose...your strategy won't work against me or anyone else in the Shadows! I know what you were scheming behind me...you were using me in your political plans-" Yuri implied angrily but was unable to finish her sentence as the dragon began its attack, blasted Yuri onto the corrupted wall.

"Du Jun and Hyun Seung, hold the dragon off!" Jun Hyung instructed as he ran to get Yuri but Hyun Seung stopped him from running after producing some icicles that popped up from the floor, where Jun Hyung was standing on.

"I'll get her, you go guide the others!" Hyun Seung stated and ran to where Yuri was, to which Jun Hyung smirked.

"Take care of her for me..." Jun Hyung muttered under his breath, feeling relieved.

Du Jun POV

I tried attacking the dragon on its feet so that it will be ontthe floor and tackling it will be easier but all my attempts are a failure. It whipped its tail onto my direction as I tried approaching it. Before I could move from my spot, Jun Hyung ordered me to jump as high as I could.

I did and was followed by a kick command from him. The dragon then fell onto the floor, causing the floor to crack and break into pieces. Right at the corner of my eye, I saw Hyun Seung, casted some ice platforms to prevent us from falling while holding Yuri's hand. Somehow, it annoys me...I wonder why?

"Du Jun! Use your shadow multiply to bind it's neck!" Jum Hyung ordered once again, which snapped me back to reality. This time I quickly did another recoil onto one of the platforms and use my power. Great...why is that whenever I wanted to keep an eye on Yuri, I kept on getting interrupted?! Gosh...stop it....

As I was so full of my thoughts, my aim turned to where Hyun Seung was. I thought that if I let out my malice through killing him would solve my confusion. Before I could stop myself, my power suddenly casted right onto where Hyun Seung is. Quickly, he carried Yuri in bridal style and jumped onto another platform that he created.

"Du Jun! Why did you do that?! I'm not the demon here!" Hyun Seung exclaimed.

Third person POV

The people who were supposed to be facing the demon, turned to Du Jun. Just why did he did that to his comrade? Jun Hyung somehow, didnt look shocked as he looked like he knew that this might happen. Jun Hyung quickly approached to Du Jun and looked right into his eyes. Du Jun somehow was being controlled to sleep, how did he do that?! Jun Hyung carried his friend onto his back and hopped to one of the ice platforms and put him there.

"What did you do to hyung?" Yoseop asked, slightly perplexed.

"Just allowing him to rest...the darkness had tried to take control over him and he had to regain his self-conscious before the darkness controls him," Jun Hyung replied as he land to where Yoseop was. "I was very fortunate that I had one of thr papers that Yuri used to write on."

"That's why my book felt weird," Yuri stated coldly. "Stupid strategist..." well, that made Hyun Seung averted his eyes onto Yuri, with a hint of suspiscion.

"Let's destroy that dragon into pieces before Du Jun wakes up!" Jun Hyung ordered as he pointed to the demon's direction, to which everyone nods.

Du Jun's flashback...

Mama...papa...don't leave me...

My eyes immediately opened as a sudden cry of a kid startled me. Right infront of me was a boy, who was crying over two corpses, with patches of crimson red liquid all over their clothes.

"Papa...mama...who did this?! I'll make sure to make them suffer dearly," the boy said as he sniffed hard.

Wait...isn't this part of mg memories that I tried so hard to forget...? I guess all my efforts are futile...these memories are part of the scars that had been hiding inside of me. Memories can never be forgotten or destroyed...it will always remain asleep within our souls.

Before I even realise where I was, I saw a group of people approaching towards the kid, that is the younger version of me(about 14 yrs old). I guess I was in the middle of a battlefield of some sort. But what...?

"Who's there?! Are you the one who killed my parents?" He questioned the person behinf thr door.

"We came in peace to gather as many survivors as possible before another raid from the royal family begin," one of the man in the group said. All of them carried weapons and had blood smeared on their clothes, even on their face!

"Right now, you need to be saved and we need you in order to revenge for those unfortunate deaths that had caused by the uprising. So, come with us..." another man said as he extend his hand for me to grab on. That man...he was the one who brought me to the Wodahs!

That time, I was pretty much convinced by their words due to the desire for a revenge on his parent's deaths. No, don't listen to them! You'll regret it for the rest of your life! I tried to yell so that I can catch his attention but my voice was muted as this was only my past...the past that I couldn't change. The past that I tried not to remember. As soon as I extend my hand towards the kid who was just standing infront of me a few metres away, mouthed a few words that I hardly could hear. After that, my view suddenly break into fragments... and I arrived into another scene.

I saw alot of people gathering in a huge hall, where it hasn't been used by anyone, and that kid was in the midst of the crowd. Just in front of the crowd, there's a stage, where a man stood tall. He wore a flamboyant garment with some gold badges on his chest. He also tied his grey hair into a ponytail but his aura is somehow odd and malicious.

"Greetings, my dear people! I guess you all are aware that the royal family have been trying to go on a killing spree on us...as for I, I am now secretly spying on the royalties as their own advisor and I will carry out coup de'tat in order to take the throne. By then, you will become my citizens so, for now, we all shall be the rebeling group, the Wodahs!"

Everyone suddenly cheered as they welcome themselves to the existence of the group, the Wodahs. I was like, who is that man...? I never had any memory about that guy. But somehow, he reminded me of Skull. Anyway, I need to get that kid out of this place before he gets himself onto revenge! I tried to run towards him as there's a path which the crowd had made 'specially for me'. But as soon as my fingers touch his shoulder, a sudden gust of wind just blasted onto my face, which made me flew away from him. Once again, he mouthed a few muted words at me. But this time, it all made Sense to me that he was trying to tell me something.

Darkness makes you stronger...
But there's always a limit to it...

That strike right into me. After all those years...even till now...I rely on darkness, which was probably the right choice...

I was thrown into another scene where only the man in flamboyant garment, the boy and another guy, who seemed so familiar...wait, that's Jillane-sshi! What is he doing therr?

"Man, you shall bring this child into your house for now since you will be needing him after I capture the princess. Then you will keep the princess with you until a certain time...if not, misfortune shall befall onto your family!" The flamboyantly dressed guy said, glaring daggers onto Jillane. Jillane remained silent but he had to obey his orders.

"Boy, starting from today, you shall stay at my house," Jillane began awkwardly and patted the kid's head, earning a stare instead.

The boy nodded and held the man's hand without hesitation and walked away with him through a portal. That portal leads to...the mansion. I was once again transported to another scene where the boy first used his powers to defend the Wodahs from the Shadows, together with Jillane and the rest of the fighters. They were fending off a group of three teens around the boy's age and the boys was defeated miserably but managed to escape from being caught. Jillane ordered the boy to tail them and hunt them down. Of course, he agreed and started running.

"Jun Hyungg!! That kid is so restless...we gotta find a place to hide!" One of the boysfrom the group said as he jumped from roof to the other together with his friends.

"Easy, Yoseop-ah, you got a strategist like me here to guide you guys around without fail...let's enter the marketplace, we'll be able to lose him!" Jun Hyung said as he calmed the boy's paranoia(?). "Hyung Seung, go and buy us sometime to get to our destination! Meet you at our usual place." To which Hyun Seung nods and stops running.

That younger version of Hyun Seung really brings back memories....As the younger version of me saw that his target was just right infront of him, immediately, he leapt from the roof and used his shadow multiplication to trap the boy.

"Yeah!" The boy exclaimed as soon as he casted his power but his excitement vanished as soon as he felt that he trapped an ice sculpture instead. "Sheesh! I am being tricked by an ice user!"

timeskip...

"*Pant*pant* *gasp* Oh my gosh...we finally lost them!" Yoseop said as he wiped the sweat on his foreheead.

"Them?" Someone asked.

"The insanely fast tracker of the Wodahs faction, the crazy defense armor boy and the stargazing freak," Yoseop continued but was interrupted by someone cracking their knuckles. It was the three boys that Yoseop and Jun Hyung had accidentally made a mess at their shops in order to get away from the tracker. "Gahhhhh!!! Hyunggg!! Did they get Hyun Seung?!"

"WHO ARE YOU TO CALL US SUCH NAMES?!" a very tall boy while drilling his knuckles onto Yoseop's head, to ehich Yoseop responded with a loud ouch! Yoseop apologised as soon as he can so that the tall boy would stop his drilling.

"Look we are very soory for the inconvininece that we had caused you so in order for us to pay you, you have to name us the price," Jun Hyung apologised with a bow.

"Hm...how about letting us to join your group? You guys look cool while fighting off the Wodahs!" The red haired boy suggested with a smile, which was pleased by the tall boy. "Oh I'm Gi Kwang and this guy's Dong Woon! Nice to meet ya!"

"Well, we'd be happy to have you two in our group! I am Jun Hyung and this guy is Yoseop...the boy in blond is Hyun Seung, please to meet you!" Jun Hyung introduced with a smile but his smile faded as soon as his eyes met with the tracker's. "So, why did you come to us, Wodahs's spy?"

"He's an intruder?!" Dong Woon asked, with a shocked face. "But he led us here to look for you guys..."

"Still, he's part of the Wodahs, unless he wants to fight alongside the Shadows in order to gain our trusts," Hyun Seung appeared out of nowhere and said as he was taking a sip of a cup of tea.

"Ah! Hyung, where have you been?! We thought you were being caught up by that spy!" Yoseop exclaimed as he seemed so worried.

"I was just inside our usual place about 10 minutes ago...who knew you guys were the ones arrived later than I do?" HYun Seung remarked with his usual doe eyes, earning stares from the 5 boys. "Too slow, tracker. You couldn't catch me at all..."

"You substituted yourself into an ice sculpture and I let my guard doen because I thought you were going to fight me!" The Wodahs boy countered as he was in flames of anger. "My name ain't tracker. My name IS Yoon Du Jun!"

"You ain't evil compared to the other Wodahs...you should join forces with us, so that we can avenge for the people who lost their lives during a sudden fight led by the Wodahs themselves," Jun Hyung said with a sigh.

"Wait...what fight led by Wodahs?" The younger version of me asked, which earned an explanation from them.

This made him realised that he was standing on the wrong side of the card. He didn't knew what really had caused his parent's death, only to mourn in sorrow over those lies. Slowly, he tried to earn their trust and became friends on just a day! He then secretly gained another identity of the Shadows, basically, he will be their leader. Even though they became friends, Du Jun kid was being angered by Jillane as he couldn't beat the crap out of them.

The next thing I knew was, I was being transported into another scene where the princess was being tortured by Jillane as it was orders frm the current head of Wodahs. Thwre, I saw my kid form, trying to convince Jillane from hurting the princess but proven to be useless. That kid mouthed a few more words...

Even if there's a limit...
I wouldn't mind if the sky is my limit instead of staying in the same spot all alone, in the darkness...
I need to get stronger by embracing the light!

"Stay well, princess!" Was all the boy said and left to the Shadow's portal by the dresser.