6:05 PM. The Stone Forest. Kunming, Yunnan Provence, China. March 1st

The sun is setting between limestone giants, petrified trees outlined by dawn's soft red light. 7.613 miles from Denver, Colorado and 325 miles

from the site of the Stone Forest, Zhang Yixing awakes, panting and covered in cold sweat. Between the stone formations, strangers in long black

robes whisper to each other. Yixing holds a hand to his chest. The strangers too, have seen his dream. Yixing trembles in his bed, his face

drenched in both tears and sweat. The robed shadows meander and slither between thorny stones, gapes and holes, nightmares impatient for the

darkness to arrive. The sun is stubbornly casting orange and crimson beams upon the animal and human shapes of the stalagmites. What had been a

shallow sea for 270 million years, now is an ocean of stone, stretching out as far as the eye can see, frozen in time, a still maze of rock,

moss, green motionless lakes, echoing, dark caves, worthy of Stonehenge's envy. The only sound to break the peace is a roaring waterfall, echoing

across sharp peeks and hiding the strangers' whispers.

"The sea has lost its nature and turned to stone, much like our traitors, isn't that right?", one shadow speaks.

"Their curiosity was their doom. And now they finally get to pay and perhaps their precious new home as well..." another shadow replies.

"Ah, what a pity it is! It's a pretty planet, isn't it? Of course we could just keep it for ourselves and use its resources, no need to just

destroy the whole thing! But then again, we have to listen to our new master.

"Doesn't this stone construction remind you of something? I bet it would remind our "friends" here of their little torture following their exile.

I kind of want to see them lost in here and screaming for help again! Haha!

"Hush now, I am trying to pin point his location, the Healer's. I know he is dreaming of the grim future Earth is marching towards. His heart is

weary, he is scared, I can feel it... His heart was always his downfall... What a pity to waste his healing powers here!

"He is not far away...this is quite cumbersome, it would be much easier just killing them and destroying everything, I want to get back, the air

here is hard to breathe, I miss home already...How have they managed to live here for four years among these despicable humans? We are far

superior than them in every way, shape and form. Outrageous! They make my stomach sick and my blood boil. If only I could just punish them

myself!" the voice behind the shadow whose words are echoed across the stone is deep and angry, it carries the rage of generations with it. "Ah,

let me crush their skulls and just steal all their powers, they do not deserve them!"

"That is enough...The sun has set, let us make our way down. I think I have found him"

"Yixing? Are you okay?" a soft voice shakes him up and brings him back to reality.

He still can't breathe right. The dream is alive in his mind, like an illusion that refuses to dematerialize, a curse upon the eyes.

"Baby...You look as if you've seen a ghost!"

The soft melodic voice comes from a frail young woman with porcelain skin, her long chocolate-colored hair resting on her shoulders and framing

her small round face. Her thin, boney fingers rest upon Yixing's shoulders and her eyes look sad and scared, her eyebrows raised causing small

wrinkles to appear upon her forehead.

"Daiyu...are you okay? Yixing cups her face with his trembling palms.

"Am I okay? Yes...You had a nightmare, it must have been horrible, I am here, it's okay!" She stands up on the bed, kneeling next to him and

putting her arms around him. As she does so, she starts coughing, hiding her face in his chest. The cough sounds muffled as if she is trying to

hide it and keep it in check, then it worsens, her body shaking and trembling, her fingers squeezing the fabric of his shirt.

"You're weak, please, lay back down... I am okay, it was just a dream. Dreams can't hurt us. It is your heart I am worried about. Daiyu suffered

from arrhythmia, a heart condition in which the electrical impulses that control the heart's beats are erratic and irregular. Yixing had started

out as her personal care-taker, being still a medical intern, but throughout the months they had spent together, their friendship blossomed and

had turned into love. All he wanted to do was protect her and heal her. He could do more than traditional medicine could and she was unaware that

his mere presence was healing her, it was like a bandage for her erratic, fragile heart. Whenever her heart started beating faster, she panicked

and it became difficult to breathe, causing her to cough violently, gasping for air as if she had been drowning.

"I will go get you a glass of water" Yixing got up from the bed and noticed the sheets were drenched in his sweat. He had a pained look on his

face as he turned away, hiding the fright his face muscles would not fail to show. As he thought about his dream, he had a song he had once

heard before stuck in his head:

Last night I dreamt that they dropped a bomb
Oh the seas ran dry and the winds had calmed
The skyscrapers fell, and crumbled to dust,
And their skeletons of steel were covered in rust

And everything I loved and feared had all at once disappeared

Colours were drained straight from the sky
And nothing living had survived
Mountains were merely removed from the earth
And silver and gold had lost all its worth  (City and Colour: "Silver and Gold")

His dream was an apocalyptic one, everything described in that sad song had come true and felt so real, forests burning down, buildings

collapsing, mountains disappearing, swallowed by the earth, all of nature, animals, people, becoming extinct. He saw humans falling to the ground

one by one, as if a plague had struck unexpectedly, making them rot and scream in agonizing pain.

And he dreamt this was not caused merely by a cosmic disaster or the hand of a merciless God, it was not nature's revenge or a mighty God's

wrath. No. He sensed who might cause this future to become reality and shuddered at the thought. In his dream, he also saw Kyungsoo. He was

standing on top of one of the giant stones in the Stone Forest in Kunming (he had been there many times but not as of recent) with a sorrowful

look on his face. He was pointing down at black figures, shadows on the walls, shadows with no eyes and as he tried to catch a glimpse of their

faces, the shadows were swallowed by darkness, the darkness caused by an eclipse of the sun. It all felt painfully real. He could not shake

Kyungsoo's expression away. He looked like he was trying to communicate something to him, trying to make him realize the impending danger.

Kyungsoo seemed real, he wondered for a moment if Kyungsoo was directly communicating with him in his dream. But he brushed that thought off,

reading one's mind and communicating with someone telepathically was not one of Kyungsoo's powers. And yet, all of a sudden he felt a connection

with him like he hadn't felt towards any of the others since he had come here. At the same time, all he could think was how he didn't want to

lose Daiyu. She needed him. And he needed her. Why was his past intruding upon his happiness?

As he was pouring water from the kitchen sink into a tall glass, he noticed one of the plants in the flowerpot outside the window was dying.

Gently opening the window he placed his palms upon the flower and brought it back to life, the flower stem straightening up, beign born again. If

only it were as easy to mend Daiyu's heart. He was the weakest in curing himself, as he suffered from hemophilia, a genetic disorder that

prevented blood from clotting easily. He had to be careful about getting deep cuts. He could heal anybody else's external wounds with no problem,

he could not heal himself and he could also not completely heal anything that affected internal organs seriously. He hated these limitations but

he had accepted that all their super powers had certain limitations, they did not know why but that is how one was born. Of course, there were

stronger ones whose limitations had dwindled and almost vanished, it was best to avoid fighting anyone like that. But Yixing was a calm, peaceful

person, a warm and gentle soul, wise in his determination to resolve conflicts with words and kindness, instead of fists and violence. He had a

talent of making people's anger melt away by just being or acting funny. Well, sometimes he didn't even need to do much but just stare at you and

he would make you laugh. That is why he also made a good medical intern, he was good around the sick children and brightened up their day.

When he had first settled here in Yunnan, he was amazed by its culture and tradition, by the beauty of nature and architecture, by the old town

of Lijiang with its timber and mudbrick houses, the arched wooden roofs and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain framing them in the distance, the neat

and orderly system of bridges and waterways, the bird and dragon carvings, the people and their beliefs and their practices. He saw a lot of joy,

children lighting paper lanterns at night and setting them down the rivers, dancers inside colorful dragons marching the steps of their

ancestors. He saw a lot of joy but he also saw a lot of pain, a lot of people hurting and suffering, a lot of diseases, a lot of death. He wanted

to repay Earth for hosting his exiled self so he decided to heal as many as he could and to ease the suffering of the ones he could not heal.

This had made him choose the medical field, this is how he became a care-taker visiting even the old people in Lijiang, offering assistence to

travellers and tourists as well, aiding the children and putting smiles upon their faces. That is also how he had met Daiyu and fallen in love.

The feeling of love was no stranger to him and yet he felt as if he had never felt this way before, wanting to protect someone so badly and not

minding giving his life if he had to. But now, if his dream was a premonition, he might have to leave Daiyu and find the others. Or the others

will find him. But he did not want to leave her side. He felt conflicted and worried. He also felt watched.

He rushed to bring the water to Daiyu, as he had been day-dreaming for too long, lost in all these thoughts.

"I think I will go down to that tea house you like and buy some tea leaves for you, maybe that will help ease you and put you to sleep"

"Are you sure? But what about the nightmare? Just stay here, love..."

Yixing handed her the cup and kissed her cold lips after she took a sip.

"I will go a bit later then", he smiled, a deep dimple carved in his right cheek as his eyes sparkled looking at her and running his fingers

through her hair. He closed his eyes and his breathing became calm and steady until he found himself falling asleep, feeling safe in her embrace.

22:11. Lijiang, Yunnan.

Yixing is riding a busy tram alongside other night travellers such as himself. Most people are coming back from their second jobs, there are also

some students wanting to just relax and visit the coffee and tea shops in Lijiang. Lijiang seems like an entirely different place at night. He

gets off the tram, making sure he doesn't step on anybody's toes as everyone rushes for the door at the same time. The golden pagodas shine

bright, sharing the spotlight with the starry night sky, rainbow colored lightbulbs adorn the wooden structures reminiscent of bamboo stalks, red

paper lanterns hang above his head on the busy, narrow, dark streets and the smell of delicious street food fills his nostrils. He rents one of

the many student bicycles nearby and rides it to the tea shop. The air is pleasant and not too cold in this city of permanent spring. Getting off

the bike, he walks towards the quiet tea house, the red-rimmed bicycle wheels carefully avoiding the deep cracks in the pavement through which a

stubborn flower persevered and bloomed, now hanging its head down, unnoticed by Yixing as he enters the quiet, pleasant, aromatic tea house. He

is the only customer there, the dimly-lit room only hosts a lonely man who Yixing knows is the owner who likes to personally serve the tea

whenever time allows him. He suffers from anaemia and becomes dizzy and exhausted easily. Yixing walks towards him and places his hand on the

man's shoulder.

"Oh, you scared me, young man! I am so sorry!" the older man says as he bows and rushes to leave the room and make Yixing's favorite type of green

tea with peach blossoms. He also guesses he came to buy some leaves for Daiyu. Suddenly, he feels rejuvenated, a stream of energy running through

his old veins, he feels years younger, hot blooded, skipping towards the adjoining room as if he has springs under his shoes.

Yixing sits down in front of an old wooden table, pulling his phone out, ready to write something for Daiyu. The owner marches in, still yawning

but strong on his feet and lays down a steaming tea kettle and a little tea cup, placing them gently in front of him. Yixing takes the sweet

scent in and he finds it soothes his nerves. He writes down on his phone:

               "You are my Sunshine.
                I need you.
                You are the one"

He finds himself missing Daiyu a lot and feeling overprotective, wanting to rush home to her. As he finishes writing the last word, the lightbulb

above his head flickers and the phone's screen becomes distorted and affected by static, the pixels dancing around in waves as strange shapes

appear and he hears a strange voice in his headphones. He jumps up, frightened, hitting the chair's back. He looks up at the flickering light and

again, he feels watched, he feels a menacing presence. Running out and forgetting the phone on the table, he grabs his bicycle and rides off,

passing the lonely flower, blooming from the concrete as it lifts its head and is brought back to life. In the opposite direction from where he is heading,

three shadows lurk, seeking him with vengeance. One of the hooded seekers, still wearing the long dark robe, switfly enters the house and the

phone catches his eyes as he grabs it and reads the eleven words written upon its screen. He smirks maliciously, grabs it and walks out. Inside

the adjoining room, the tea master lies motionless on the floor, not stirring, forgetting how to breathe.

"Oh, to be young and in love!" the shadow exclaims mockingly towards the other two, showing them the cellphone's screen.

"The poor fool..."

"We won't follow him just yet, I think I may have also found the one who helped them escape four years ago, the girl, the Oracle. This is going

to be fun!" He clasps his palms, rubbing them together with a satisfied grin on his pale face, barely showing underneath the hood.

The three shadows do not know of the fourth one, carefully watching and overhearing everything. They vanish into thin air as the fourth shadow

materializes. It is Jongin and he stops by the blooming purple flower.

"The one who helped us escape? What were they talking about? A girl who was an Oracle? Could it be..?"

"Jongin! What are you doing here?"

Yixing has returned and is motionless, petrified at the sudden apparition he was not expecting, sensing somehow that this was only one of

those watching him, this was the presence he felt bore him no evil, different from the other threatening ones.

"And so, we meet again, Healer!"

Jongin smiles a friendly smile and all of a sudden, Yixing feels at peace again, seeing his old friend. The moon's silver light shines upon them.

A procession passes them as fire and ice dragons dance around them in circles, as torches light up the night and paper lanterns fly high into the

heavens, drifting towards the starry sky, drifting towards their first home.