Nyayana was not exactly what Taehyung had expected it to be. Changkyun and the rest had teleported to a metropolis - Taehyung wasn't sure which one but he knew he'd never been there before - and from there, they'd entered a massive building that looked to be a hotel or company of some sort. Changkyun and the others had been waved in at the entrance, and Changkyum had thrown in a quick "He's with me," grabbing Taehyung's arm and pulling him past the security detail. No one had dared question Im Changkyun.

Taehyung sank under the weight of whispers, but he felt slightly relieved when he realized that the majority were directed at Changkyun rather than him. "Is it really such a big deal for you to be here?" Taehyung whispered, leaning closer to the other.

"I haven't come to the last few," Changkyun replied, gazing coolly over the room, his eyes stopping on no one. "Witches like to gossip." He paused, giving Taehyung a look. "You're wearing it, right?"

Taehyung nodded, pulling up his left sleeve just enough to show that he was indeed wearing the bracelet Changkyun had given him.

"Don't take it off," Changkyun warned. "I enchanted it to mask your scent as a human. If they find out you're not a witch, the chances of you leaving alive are slim. Do you understand?"

Taehyung nodded, his bangs bouncing off his forehead with the belated wish that Changkyun would learn how to sugarcoat words. "Can you...I don't know how it works, but can you feel Hyungwon's presence?"

Changkyun grimaced, shaking his head. "Normally I'd be able to feel something, but all I'm getting is interference. Like static. There's some sort of barrier blocking me. He's here, though. Seungcheol isn't stupid, but he's bold. We just have to be patient and find the right time."

Taehyung nodded, wondering if Changkyun was including him in the "we" of which he spoke. Taehyung hoped so, even if he was more than a little terrified to be at a witch convention and a lot more than a little certain that he was absolutely useless.

Their party was shuffled along down several hallways until they reached a large room that looked like any presentation setting Taehyung had ever seen with rows of seats for the general assembly and a raised stage in front.

"This is just the overview," Changkyun explained as they took their seats in the back. "They talk for a while about mundane things. Just a few speakers to excite everyone." He paused, noticing how tense Taehyung was, perched on the edge of his seat. "Relax," Changkyun said, making a small gesture with his hands as though to push Taehyung back into his seat, although he didn't make physical contact. "Nothing's going to happen yet. This is just part of the theatrics. Hyungwon won't be brought out until later. Just...try to calm down, all right?"

Taehyung nodded, releasing a breath before nodding again as he settled deeper into his seat. As Changkyun had promised, the event was rather boring, and Taehyung found himself almost falling asleep as one of the speakers went over what sounded like the results to an election.

Almost an hour had passed before the house lighting rose and they were dismissed with the invitation to refreshments in the lobby.

"That's it?" Taehyung asked, frowning as their row stood up to exit the room.

"That concludes the preliminary proceedings, yes," Changkyun answered. They waited until most of the other witches had headed for the refreshments before he lead their group in the opposite way to an elevator at the end of the hall. Once inside, he hit a blank button on the bottom of the panel before scanning his thumb. The elevator began moving downward a moment later. "Not all witches are invited to the additional activities. You can only get in on a direct invitation based on your status, age, or power level. They don't want a sea of young, inexperienced witches showing up and getting in the way. It's like..." He fumbled for a human example. "You don't want a bunch of freshman at your senior prom. Understand?"

"I get it," Taehyung said slowly. "But how do you even know what Prom is?"

Changkyun's cheeks flushed only slightly, but the pink stood out against his pale skin. "Hyungwon made me watch movies with him. He picked them out, not me, okay?"

"Sure," Taehyung said with a small snort, and even Hoseok had to smile at that.

Immediately after, however, his smile fell, replaced by a tight-lipped grimace of worry as the elevator doors opened into a long hallway lined with elevators on one side and one lone set of doors on the other. The doors stretched up five meters or more, but they were currently shut, although the witches already in the hallway were slowly congregating around them.

"Are we in the basement?" Taehyung asked softly.

"More or less," Hoseok replied.

"A different dimension to be more accurate," Hyunwoo answered. "The witches' realm. The head coven shapes it and can reform it as they please, but the general structure remains the same."

Other elevators along the wall were opening and letting witches spill forth into the hallway. Something had changed from the earlier orderly atmosphere; perhaps it was the dim lighting of the basement hallway that was progressing growing more full, but the witches seemed jittery in anticipation, laughter sharper. Their eyes held predatory glints, and their lips held the most vicious of smiles.

Taehyung swallowed, pressing himself closer to the group, and Hoseok put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"Witches are driven by power," Changkyun said in a low voice. "And as witches are naturally competitive, this is an opportunity to unleash that." He paused, glancing over at Taehyung's wrist, which was once more covered by his sleeve. His eyes flashed. "Don't take it off," he warned once more, and Taehyung shivered, clenching his hand into a fist.

Changkyun turned to look straight ahead just as the large doors opened inward. The chattering in the room grew louder and more frantic as witches because pressing themselves into the awaiting room. His voice wasn't loud, but it managed to cut through the mounting chaos.

"This is where the real nyayana starts," he said before taking a step forward, cleaving a path through the lingering witches, and his coven - Taehyung included - followed him into the awaiting room.