fifty-three

Jisung's mind was hazy when he opened his eyes. Heavy exhaustion prevented him from moving even a bit. It was as if he hadn't moved his limbs for weeks, as if they were melded to the ground. This foreign sensation worried and scared him.

Breathing costed him a lot of effort, and for a moment he was terrified, thinking he would choke. But fear hit him hard when his eyes frantically moved around the unfamiliar room. The furniture was modern and looked rather expensive.

He didn't know anyone who could afford anything like it and wondered where he had ended up. Had someone abducted him? The longer he thought about it, the more restless he became and eventually, he sat up, the blanket that had covered him slipping down.

He moved to the edge of the bed, feeling dizzy and therefore hesitating to get up. He looked to the side where he found a large window which showed him a terrifying view...

Flames and a bright red hue filled the outside. He took a deep breath, attempted to calm himself, but no matter what he did, he could not shake off the dread that overwhelmed him.

The moment he wanted to get up, the door was opened from the other side. He flinched, fearfully looking at the intruder, only to relax when he recognized him.

It was Felix and he seemed astounded to see Jisung awake, his features morphing from disbelief to happiness in a few seconds.

"Jisung!" He said and approached him. "Are you okay?" His voice lured another demon into the room, that being Seungmin. He joined Felix and stood in front of the bed with him, gazing at Jisung with piercing eyes.

"You're finally awake, sleeping beauty," he teased with a grin. "We've been waiting impatiently."

"Where am I?" He asked, feeling somewhat relieved to see his friends here. The demons exchanged glances and hesitated to answer him.

"Well, you see... how do we say it...?" Felix mumbled until Seungmin had enough with his slowness and just blurted it out. "We're in hell. Chan's house to be exact."

"W-What?!" Jisung gasped, his eyes going wide and fearful as he was gripped by cold dread. "Am I... dead?" He breathed in panic.

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you this..." Seungmin said hesitantly, his eyes quivering. "I'm sorry to say this, but yes, you're dead."

"No, no! You're not!" Felix chimed in before Jisung completely lost his mind. "Seungmin, we've talked about this for a million times! I told you to not prank him when he wakes up!"

"Oh come on, dude. You just ruined the fun!"

"Nothing's funny about your stupid prank! Just wait till Chan hears about this."

"Go on, snitch! I'll burn your house down if you ever tell him about this."

"Well, not unless if I burn down yours first, asshole!"

"Guys!" Jisung chimed in when they started bickering. "What about Minho? Is he here?" He asked, eyes gleaming with hope and desperation.

"He's in a room nearby," Seungmin answered hesitantly. "Unfortunately, he's still unconscious. It's been that way since we brought you here 3 days ago."

"You were so drained of magic that he ended up lending you some of his light magic. Otherwise, you would've died."

"It was a fucking close call," Felix added. "And didn't I tell you that it isn't safe to use light magic? Why would you use it when you had nobody around in the house with you?" He scolded him, but the worry in his voice was clear.

"I just wanted to practice. I didn't know that it would go so out of hand that easily..." He mumbled. "Then, were you the one who took me here?" He asked, and Felix nodded at him with a smile. "Thank you..."

"Yeah, no problem. Just don't do that kind of shit again, because I won't always be there to save you," he suddenly hissed through gritted teeth, making Jisung wince.

"Where is Minho? I want to see him," he asked reluctantly.

"You should eat first, you've been unconscious for too long," Seungmin said, watching his pale complexion worriedly. "You humans are fragile. Don't be careless about your health."

"Minho will kill us if he finds out we didn't take care of you." He shuddered and looked scared for a second.

"Please, Seungmin! Just for a minute? I will eat afterwards, I promise," he pleaded and used his big puppy eyes on Seungmin that made him cave in fairly quickly.

"Okay, okay. Just stop making that face now, will you? It's creepy as fuck," he sighed. "Come with me."

"There's not much to see, though. The idiot is just lying around, looking as flat as a pancake," Felix nagged.

Jisung got up and followed them through a door to a long hallway with dark tiles and grey walls. Chan's preference for dark colors was prevalent in the entire house.

Jisung was curious about Chan's home and wanted to discover more of it, but he was so eager to meet Minho that he didn't have any patience for detours.

To be continued...

hmmmmmmmmmmm ;)