BEHIND THE WALLS

Haneul

I grimaced when I did not manage to land quietly. My wings accidentally hit one of tree branches and it shook; dead leaves starting to fall onto the people that I’m spying on.

I froze, trying to blend in when I saw two pairs of eyes staring at my direction. Thank goodness that’s they didn’t have any source of light; it is too dark.

Immediately in reflex, I made my wings less visible by making it transparent. Fortunately, they didn’t notice the odd blend between a pair of pink wings and green leaves, I smiled in relief and let out a careful sigh.

Trying not to make any more noises, I carefully sat on the tree branch—legs dangling freely while looking down.

These people can’t be from Deldara because they dress.. differently. I scrunched my nose when I realised that their clothes are covered in dirt. That got to be very uncomfortable.

Suddenly, both of them erupted into laughter out of a sudden. I raised my eyebrows in curiosity, I wonder what they’re talking about.

“Let’s take a closer look”, I muttered to myself as I change my position. Now I am lying on my stomach— hugging the tree branch to avoid from falling.

“He’s hurt”, I stated to myself and blinked. I could see the guy making faces due to pain whenever the girl is not looking but despite that, he kept on making her laugh to lower down her worry.

That’s kind of sweet.

I chuckled softly at the sight of them. I’m a er for things like this, not going to lie.

“They seem okay to me, just lost so..”, I muttered to myself and took out my note to write about my findings.

Miss Boa; our leader has sent me to spy on the newcomers to see whether they’re a threat or not.

‘Not..’, I wrote down and continued, ‘a threat’.

Almost immediately, a new entry could be seen on the note. Someone has replied to me.

‘Are you sure?’, it said and I replied that I’m positive and told her that there’s only 3 people, I could just redirect them to the wrong path.

‘But do you know what their motive is? They’re dangerously close to our territory’

I bit the end of my pen as I stare back at the duo below me. I still think they’re innocent.

I sighed and replied, writing down my thoughts. ‘I’ll spy a little bit more then’

‘Be careful and remember since they are not Deldarian blood; erase their memory if they see you. We can’t let our existence be notified to the rest of the continents until the time comes’

I frowned at the last sentence, until the time comes. That’s what miss Boa kept on saying but exactly when is the time?

I shook my head; wrecking my own train of thoughts when I realized that I was distracted.

Giving one last look, I decided to leave them alone and check them up again tomorrow.

And this act of spying continues until day 3, boringly. The three people kept on doing the same routine, which consist of Chanyeol and Yeseul staying at their camp while Sehun goes to hunt alone (I managed to catch their names).

”Nothing to see here as usual, should I go and spy on the other group?” I asked myself and got up from my position.

I’m going to keep watching both groups starting today because I just found out just last night that they were accidentally separated by a plane crash at one of the snowy mountains.

No wonder Miss Boa asked me to find out about them, the faeries living in the mountains probably complained about the crash.

The note vibrated in my pocket and I took it out again to see the new entry.

‘Report to me once you figure put their powers, we could easily distinguish where they come from so we can transport them back there once the sleeping powder is done’

She added to the list of things for me to do yesterday and I sighed. When is this job going to end, seriously? Out of all spying work I’ve done, this one got to be the longest one.

This is the time when I question myself on why I was born with a pair of pink coloured wings.

For some reason, just like how powers determine where the people of Elyxion will live; the colour of our wings determine the jobs we are allocated to.

As faeries, it is our job to protect Deldara from outsiders and unfortunately for me, pink-coloured winged faeries are automatically allocated as spies.

It sounds a bit weird isn’t it? Pink are normally associated with soft and sweet things but not in the faerie world, we do the most of the dirty things.

Misleading outsiders’ path, erasing their memories and such. It’s hard work.

Initially, during the first generation of guardian’s time— we’re supposed to be just faeries. No responsibilities or anything but it changed abruptly when a scandal happened between a guardian and the leader of faeries from that generation.

I jutted my lips out bitterly as I walked on the tree branches lightly without a noise— already on my way to approach the other group. This is one of the pros of being a faerie, we can walk and land without making any sound.

Well, unless when our big wings get caught on something then that is another thing but currently I have put it away.

Yes, we faeries can fold our wings into our back.

Not long after that, I found the other group easily and almost groaned out loud when I saw them walking towards the direction that I came from.

They’re probably planning on meeting with the three people that I spied on earlier.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and starts to follow them; it’s like taking a u-turn. I should’ve stayed earlier if I knew they’re planning to meet.

“Until how long are they going to walk”, I complained quietly as I sneak a peek at the group of 10 below me. Aren’t they tired?

I certainly am because all this walking makes my leg starts to sore because to be honest, faeries don’t usually walk— of course why would we if we have wings to make life easier?

You might also ask why I don’t just turn into a smaller version of myself and fly as I spy on them if I don’t want to be caught flying in my normal state, it’s not that I can’t— it’s a hassle.

I can’t control my speed if I fly instead of walk, I might lose them by getting ahead of them since they’re walking slowly.

I quickly look up and saw the sky turning darker, it’s probably sunset by now judging by the orange mixed with cotton-candy coloured sky.

“Let’s stop here, I’m sure all of you are really tired by now and it’s getting darker too. We won’t reach them on time”

The leader said— I’m assuming he’s the leader since he’s always at the front leading them and I pumped my fist in the air to celebrate but quietly.

“I thought you said we will reach them by today? I can already hear Sehun complaining again”, the girl with the shortest hair said.

“Sehun.. the guy who kept hunting for food for the hopeless two”, I muttered to myself as I recall seeing a guy going back and forth from the other group’s camp to the river.

He’s always working.

“We would if we didn’t encounter the tiger.. hold up let me notify the other group.”

“Goodluck”, another girl with short but weirdly, uneven hair snickered. I could see the leader giving her a quick glare in which she replied with tilting her head with a forced, innocent smile.

I chuckled and shook my head in amusement, I noticed that they’re always bickering from earlier.

“Well, looks like another boring night is going to be spent” I sighed and made myself comfortable on the tree branch.

“Wait is that really fire?”, I asked myself in shock when I saw fire coming out of the leader’s hand.

I kept staring at the group as I took out my note, writing to a list I made to notify Miss Boa about their power.

Currently, there’s only ‘gravity’ written in the list because I saw a girl who keeps on floating.

I was wondering where the fire came from when they chased the tiger away earlier and it magically got extinguished.. don’t tell me someone has the power of water as well?

“Anyone thirsty?”

Just on cue, I heard a guy offering water and he successfully filled the cup made from bamboo, giving it to the nearest person.

“It’s kind of weird to drink water coming out from your hands, kind of gross but-“

“Hey! At least it tastes decent and don’t question about whether it’s filtered or not because I really don’t know”

They joked around while I’m up here, gawking at them. Without staring at the notepad, I scribbled ‘Water’ adding to the list.

“Why.. this is not just any ordinary powers? Wait hold up-“, I froze when I tried to recall something from the other group.

The only girl from the other group is always tied to the not-Sehun guy because she keeps on floating..

Don’t tell me that’s the power of flight?

I frowned and cancelled out ‘gravity’ from the list.

Flight..?

I re-added next to the scratched word.

I kept staring at them with wary eyes when suddenly, a new sentence appeared on my note— I saw it glow as it is being written.

Before I could even read, I noticed a girl with the ponytail walking away from the camp.

“Where is she going?”, I wondered and slammed the book shut— fully forgetting about reading whatever Miss Boa has written.

As I follow her carefully, I kept thinking about the powers that the two guys have. Water and fire.. why can’t I remember which continent those powers belong to?

I looked down and stared at the girl. What power does she have?

“My head hurts- why can’t I remember?” I scolded myself by whispering.

As I was busy being distracted by scolding myself, I failed to notice the next branch I’ve stepped on was not strong enough to support my weight.

Even though we faeries don’t make any noises when landing, it does not mean we don’t have weight. We do.

Hence, I find myself falling down.

I cursed when I realized that my wings are still folded in and without a care, I let my wings out and saved myself from falling straight to the ground.

I landed gracefully on the ground and sighed, blowing my hair away with annoyance. “Careless”, I scolded myself again.

I could feel a twitching pain under my arm and when I look at it, I realized that a tree branch managed to graze my arm creating a scratch.

“Ah, seriously”, I grumbled again. This is not my day.

I took a deep breath and let it out loudly. My hot-tempered self can’t handle mistakes properly.

Suddenly someone screamed near me and I flinched, glaring at the girl because her voice was high-pitched and it hurts my ear and also heart— it nearly dropped.

“Gosh, can this day get any worst” I whined when the girl sprinted away. Now I have to chase her and erase her memory.

I lazily spread my wings out with a poker face. Fine, run all you want. I’ll find you anyways.

With that, I set off slowly— not even trying to waste my energy since she’s going to waste hers and slow down eventually.

After 15 minutes of chasing, I decided that it’s time to let the poor girl rest. I feel bad that she has to run while I just fly effortlessly.

“Sorry”, I mumbled before dipping in and land in front of her. Her eyes widened in fear and she froze.

I stared at her curiously, giving her a once over. Yeap, definitely not from Deldara because Deldarians won’t give us such reaction.

Deldarian blood treats us like we’re their own kind, that’s how often they see us.

She shuffled back slowly in fear, her eyes still fo