Prologue

 

1. Sehun

 

            Sehun sighed as he stopped walking. Whenever he needed to be alone, he always seemed to end up here, in the Clock Park. It was a very infrequently visited part of EXOPLANET and he enjoyed the silence every now and then. It wasn’t that he hated his friends; they were the best friends he ever had, and they make a kick- team, both literally and figuratively. The twelve of them together made quite the friend group as well as one of the best footbase teams on the planet, despite the fact that they had to rotate through members because they have three extra. Perhaps that’s what made them so great in the first place, because no one player got over-exhausted. But twelve people is a lot of people together at once, and it could get too noisy for Sehun’s comfort at times. So he liked to take walks by himself every now and then.

            Maybe there was another reason Sehun enjoyed the Clock Park so much. There are twelve numbers on a clock – one for him and each of his friends. Something about that number connected very deeply with him.

            Suddenly it got very dark. Confused, Sehun looked up and saw the beginning of an eclipse forming. That was strange; he hadn’t heard anything about an eclipse in the news, and usually it would be a common conversation topic if it had been predicted. He continued to stare, right from the center of Clock Major, and when the eclipse hit full and the message reached him, he understood completely.

 

2. Luhan (and Sehun)

 

            “Are you sure this is the right place?” Luhan asked, looking through his telescope at the vast empty plain while his best friend Sehun studied a map.

            “To be honest, no,” Sehun admitted, “but we’re here so we might as well stay here.”

            “Next time I’m bringing Minseok,” Luhan said angrily, but still folded his telescope and began to collect wood for the fire. It was going to be a long night.

            They built the fire and cooked dinner, all while exchanging stories from their weeks. Luhan was a few years older than Sehun so they didn’t get to see much of each other in school, so these little getaways were the most time they got to spend together at a time, outside of footbase practice. Luhan was explaining the fourth dimension of time he was learning about in physics when Sehun suddenly remembered something.

            “Oh, hey, speaking of time, that reminds me,” Sehun began, but waited for Luhan’s nod to continue. “Yesterday I was at the Clock Park and the weirdest thing happened. I was just standing there and then all of a sudden it got really dark so I looked up and there was this eclipse.”

            “Eclipse? I didn’t hear of any eclipse,” Luhan interrupted.

            “Yeah exactly, I didn’t either. That’s what was so weird about it,” Sehun replied. “It just came out of nowhere. But I got this… feeling, like a message almost, and suddenly it made sense.”

            Luhan looked confused. “It doesn’t make much sense to me at all.”

            Sehun was just about to try and explain when he noticed the sky darkening. He looked to Luhan to see if he noticed too, and he must have, for now he looked confused for a different reason. They both looked up and, sure enough, an eclipse was starting to form. They watched as it slowly became full, and the message was sent to them both.

 

3. Minseok and Jongin

 

            “Minseok, hurry up,” Jongin called to his friend as he ran ahead. They were leaving the gym after their late-night work out and they wanted to find their cars in the parking garage before the lights turned out at 11:00.

            “I’m literally right behind you,” Minseok said, annoyed. He appreciated Jongin’s concern, but sometimes it could get a little bit on his nerves. It was only 10:30, and they both knew where they parked their cars. It was only one more level up.

            They only made it a few hundred feet more though before it got really dark. They stopped and looked at each other, and then at their phones. 10:31.

            “Well this is weird –” Jongin started to say before they were nearly blinded by a strong light source. Once their eyes adjusted, they saw the headlights of 4 cars parked right in front of them that had not been there before. If this was a prank from one (or more) of their other friends, it wasn’t funny. This was seriously terrifying.

            “Hey,” Minseok pointed to one of the cars. “That one has an extra light coming from the windshield.”

            Jongin took a closer look and saw it too. “Oh yeah,” he said. This light wasn’t as strong as the headlights, though, he noted. It must have been a different source. He turned around and looked at the sky. Once he saw what the source of light had been, he nudged Minseok.

            They stared at the eclipse as the message was passed on to them too.

 

4. Zitao

 

            Zitao had had a horrible day and he needed to let out some stress, so he headed over to the gym to practice his wushu. With every kick, punch, jump, flip, he felt the heavy air surrounding him get a little bit lighter. He had just landed his last jump when an eerie red glow surrounded him. Confused, he stood up, and looked around at the other people in the room.

            “Are you doing this?” he asked the man closest to him.

            “Doing what?” the man asked.

            “The red light?”

            “What red light?”

            Zitao gave the man one last look of confusion before turning back around. And suddenly the whole room went dark. He maneuvered himself to the window where he looked out, and saw an eclipse staring right back at him. Maybe this wasn’t the best way to relieve stress after all.

 

5. Kyungsoo and Junmyeon

 

            “Why are we here again?” Kyungsoo asked as he forced his foot out of the mud (again).

            Junmyeon sighed. “Because it’s good to get some fresh air sometimes. I like to do homework out here, it helps clear my head.”

            Kyungsoo huffed, but followed his friend anyway. He certainly wasn’t going to do any homework in this environment (no matter how much Junmyeon told him it was the best way to get an A), but a slight breeze was blowing, and he happened to bring his kite with him.

            Junmyeon watched as Kyungsoo flew his kite around the marsh, mentally sighing at the fact that he was completely defeating the purpose of coming here, but also accepting that no amount of encouraging words could make him stop. He only said something when the kite blocked out the sun, making it harder for him to read.

            “Hey, Kyungsoo, could you maybe fly that a little bit to the left?” he asked, before realizing that Kyungsoo was nowhere near a position that would make the kite block the sun. He was staring up at the sky, almost in a trance. Junmyeon stood up and walked over to him so he could get a better look at whatever Kyungsoo was staring at. It was an eclipse, but before he had the chance to wonder where it had come from, he received the information he needed to completely understand the situation.

 

6. Kris

 

            After making sure no one was following him, Kris ran up all twelve flights of stairs to the top of the building. He liked to come here alone and he didn’t want anyone, not even his eleven friends, to know about his hideout. Although, his “hideout” was actually just a rooftop, but still.

            He took a deep breath and looked to the sky. He always found comfort in the sky and the stars, knowing that entire other galaxies were out there. It was his life’s ambition to explore them all someday. Of course, he’d never let anyone know that. He had to maintain his “cool guy” image.

            He didn’t notice it at first, but the sky began to grow progressively darker. When he did notice, he looked a little bit to his left and saw it: the eclipse. This was Kris’ calling. After years of him calling out to the galaxies, the galaxies had finally called back to him. He heard the message and he knew, and so he put all his trust in the sky as he jumped up.

 

7. Yixing, Jongdae, and Baekhyun

 

            “This way,” Yixing motioned as he led his two friends into the large lounge that was generally reserved for teachers only.

            “Wow, Yixing, I never thought we’d see the day you broke into the teachers’ lounge,” Jongdae teased, but followed him anyway.

            “Oh come on, you know Mr. Jung gave me permission to practice in here. And I figured you two of all people wouldn’t want to miss this. Right Baekhyun? … Baekhyun?”

            But Baekhyun had other priorities. “PUPPY!” he screamed as he ran past Jongdae and Yixing, right toward the white fluffy dog that was happily sitting in the middle of the room. While Baekhyun played with the dog, Jongdae laughed and made himself a cup of tea. Might as well, right?

Yixing, meanwhile, began to practice his dance for his class. As he turned around, he noticed something out the window.

            “Hey, guys, look at that,” he said, motioning to the sky out the floor-to-ceiling window. Jongdae and Baekhyun abandoned their tea and puppy respectively to join their friend at the window. The room grew dark, and the tea kettle Jongdae had been using started whirring very loudly, but the three friends just felt calm watching the eclipse over them. They understood the message, and yet they still felt peaceful, as if it was all meant to be. Maybe it was.

 

 

8. Chanyeol

 

            “Stupid ecology, stupid rocks, stupid fossils, stupid project, stupid, stupid…” Chanyeol muttered under his breath as he made his way into the overgrown abandoned building. He had to do this extra credit project for his ecology class if he didn’t want to fail, and frankly, for all the effort he had to put into it, he’d almost rather fail. Almost.

            So that was why he was here, in the most remote location of all of EXOPLANET, looking for these twelve specific fossils that were required for the extra credit. Some people didn’t believe they even existed, which made Chanyeol all the more frustrated. It was like trying to find the El Dorado.

            A small portion of the roof was missing, allowing for a small trace of light to enter the building so he wasn’t in total darkness. That was probably the only plus, he thought to himself as he began to search among the dead branches and vines that encased the building, with only a small, old, falling-apart book to show him what he was even looking for.

            Suddenly a tear-drop shaped rock caught his eye. He picked it up and almost didn’t think twice about it, before he noticed the symbol in it. Chanyeol looked through his book, and sure enough, the symbol matched one of the symbols of the Legends, the Twelve Forces. This was the Water symbol.

            Chanyeol smiled, feeling so proud and suddenly hopeful to find the rest of the fossils, before he noticed the light diminishing in the building. He looked out the hole in the roof and found himself staring at the eclipse, and suddenly, all of his work connected in his head. The fossils were the least of his worries; he had a new mission now.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Tree of Life is in danger. The Red Forces have risen again. It is time for the Legends, the Twelve Forces, to rise as well. It is you. Protect the Tree, or the universe will collapse into chaos and destruction.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: This is based on their teasers! I like to believe that the eclipse is what gives them their powers, so that's how I got it. Sorry some are shorter than others!

 

Also another thing, I'm writing the next chapter now and I tried to make it serious, but it kind of just ended up being complete crack. I'm wondering, do you guys want the seriousness? I can always rewrite it. Let me know!