KAI

We are Travelers.

Basically what that means is when we go to another planet, our code is directly translated into the genome of its dominating species and we take their form. Some of us believe we have no original form, and are rather just code that traveled from planet to planet over the centuries, taking the form of many different species along the way.

Many years ago, our planet, Cierra, was destroyed by a comet. A team of our scientists already knew it was coming and had built spaceships to evacuate Cierra. Each spaceship was headed for a deserted location on several planets, where we would continue to live on in the form of another species. Our spaceship, PQ-176, landed on Earth fifty years ago. There were five hundred of us in the beginning, but our numbers gradually dwindled over the years.

We had the exact same anatomy and life span of humans. We could even breed with them to produce ordinary, fertile human beings, albeit with certain heightened abilities. But there were a few things that set us apart from them.

We were smarter and stronger. Our entire existence was like code; it could be upgraded time and time again. For instance, we could learn a whole new language in seconds by just uploading it into our code, or upgrade virtually any skill we wanted without having to put in any actual effort. We could even teleport and communicate with each other telepathically. All that could be achieved by a device called a coder. Each of us had one.

In more ways than one, we were superior to humans.

But we were inferior to them in just one thing.

Humans could love without limit. They could have their hearts broken over and over again but they'd eventually recover and be ready to love again. But for us, love is like a finite resource. It's limited. We can only love once, and when we do, we love with all that we are. That person that we love becomes everything to us and ultimately, our one fatal weakness. That object of our affection will be the one thing that either makes us or breaks us. Love is the foundation over which a family is built, but many a times that love was not reciprocated.

When that happens, they say it's a fate worse than death.

For this reason, our ancestors built a machine. Their greatest achievement yet. It gathers information of every one on the planet; their hobbies, age, preferences and personality traits. You upload your code into the machine and this information is used to find what is essentially your perfect match, or in other words your "soul mate". The machine also has another feature called the dream simulation. It allows you to enter the dreams of your perfect match to see how their subconscious reacts to you. This makes it more likely for your feelings to be reciprocated by that person, and is what has kept our population growing for many years.

The scientists had equipped each spaceship with one of those machines before the comet hit.

I grew up with my mother and father in a nice little apartment in Seoul. They were both of Travelers and so I was just like them. I went to school even though I didn't really need to, but it was all so I could fit in with the human society.

Once I graduated from school and turned eighteen, it was finally time for me to go through the machine.

 

"Good luck, son," my mother said, smiling at me, "May you find true love."

I smiled and nodded back at her.

"Alright Kai, step into the machine," The operator said as he stood by the controls. I timidly obeyed and watched as the doors of the machine closed behind me.

"Alright now take a seat and put on that helmet next to you."

I sat down and placed the helmet on my head, letting out a deep breath. The lights went off in the cubicle as the helmet was activated and started loading my code into the machine. Soon enough there were millions of holograms of people's identities sliding by as the machine searched for the person whose personality matched my code. It went on for a minute until it stopped at one identity with a green light next to it that read "MATCH".

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the lights went back on and the holograms disappeared.

"You can take off the helmet now."

I did as I was told and stepped out of the machine to look at the person through the large screen outside, wanting to make sure that my eyes weren't deceiving me in there.

I stared at the face of my "perfect match" on the screen. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

"It's..." My mother frowned in confusion.

"A boy?" My father completed for her, looking similarly confused, "There must be some mistake."

The operator looked just as clueless as we were, "No I'm pretty sure the scan went very smoothly. The machine has never had an error before."

"Then why is it a boy? This doesn't make any sense!"

"I'm confused too... This hasn't happened before," The operator said, frowning as he looked through the monitors for some sort of error.

"Wait, run him through the machine again," my mother suggested.

"Yeah, okay. Kai, go back in."

My eyes were still on the picture of the boy as I nodded and got in the machine once more. The whole process was repeated once again, yielding the exact same results. Everyone was shocked, confused. But there was something we all knew for sure.

The machine was never wrong.

My parents were frantic, asking the operator to check if there was something wrong with the machine. Meanwhile, I was just staring at his face.

"Mom," I muttered, stopping her mid-sentence, "Let me try the dream simulator."

She looked scandalized, "W-What?"

"Let me try it," I said seriously, looking straight at her, "Then I will decide."

"Kai, you do know that two males cannot reproduce. What would the point of all this be then?!"

"Love. Love is the point, mom." I replied simply, "I want to go through with the dream simulation."

The operator, who had his mouth wide agape, only nodded at me, "Alright, step into the machine and take a seat."

I did as I was told and watched as the operator put the helmet over my head, using the keypad to set it to dream simulation. He then stepped out of the machine. Soon enough the doors of the machine closed behind him and the lights went off once more. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. Slowly but surely, all the noise around me began to disappear and I was left in complete silence. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a completely white room. It was mostly empty, save for a single bed in the middle of the room.

I slowly made my way towards the bed to see a body snuggled under the pure white sheets.

Blonde hair. Flawless white skin. I could feel the chills go down my spine as I stared at him. It felt so odd... But at the same time so natural.

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on in my entire life.

I sat down at the edge of the bed, studying the flawless face of the boy. Oh Sehun. That was his name. I couldn't help but lift my hand to softly caress his cheek. He stirred a little in his sleep, eyebrows furrowing slightly. He then sighed and leaned into my hand adorably, making a smile pull at the corners of my mouth, "So beautiful..." 

My eyes moved down to his thin, pink lips and all I wanted at that moment was to kiss them. Unable to hold myself back, I leaned down and softly pressed my lips against his own. They were so soft, I felt like I could kiss him forever.

I pulled away after a few seconds, watching his eyes flutter open and stare back at mine. That was when I realized that while he was beautiful in his sleep, he was even more so awake.

"Who are you?"

His voice was deep and thick with sleep, and quite possibly the most pleasant thing I had ever heard.

It's not wrong.

His brown orbs were shining and staring into mine, expectantly waiting for an answer.

The machine is never wrong.

I smiled at him and whispered, "Soon," before leaning in to kiss him again.

Sehun... He is perfect.

Next thing I knew when I opened my eyes again, I was back in the chair inside the machine. I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I never wanted that moment to end. I haven't even met the real Sehun yet and I thought I was already falling in love. The doors of the machine opened and I stood up to leave, watching the expectant looks on my parents' faces.

"Well?" My father asked.

"He is perfect." I said determinedly, nodding my head, "He's the one."

"What?"

"I've already made up my mind."

"Kai! He's a boy! How do you possibly expect to make him your lover?"

"Somehow. I'll figure something out," I answered, "The machine wasn't wrong."

"We could just find you another match. Why are you so insistent on going through with this?"

"Because..." I myself wasn't sure how to answer that question. It wasn't too late turn back now. But something about Sehun made it feel like it was worth the risk. "Because it feels right."

Without another word towards them, I went back to the screen displaying Sehun's information. 

Seoul Arts University
Dance and Acting major.

"I think I've decided where I'm gonna go to college."

And there's the first chapter. It's a little short but it's just kind of an intro and I plan to make the upcoming chapters a lot longer. Please do comment below on how you're liking the story so far! Also 59 subscribers and 2 votes in one day for just the Foreword?! That's insane guys thank you so much!!! >.<