THE PUZZLES STARTS TO FIT

Baekhyun noticed how different the atmosphere is this time.

He knew he’s currently dreaming as he’s alone, but this time something is gravely different.

He’s not seeing anything or anyone, no fragments of memories, no nothing.

All that he could see is a blank space, it is neither dark nor it is bright.

Empty, just empty.

He sighed and stood still as he tries to readjust his sight, in hopes to find anything to stare at.

He’s suffocating, it is too quiet. There’s not even sounds of winds howling and dried leaves rustling; unlike what he heard before entering the land of dreams.

“Why am I here?”, he asked loudly in frustration as he ruffled his hair messily. His hands that was on his head now trails down to his temples as he rubs them gently.

He took a deep breath shakily; he can’t deny. He’s a bit scared of whatever is happening, is he finally going to face her?

The person whose life’s has been ruined by his past self?

What is he supposed to say when he finally meets the missing princess?

Your majesty, I beg for your forgiveness as I have committed treason during my past life

Too formal? He was supposed to be the love of her life back then right?

Princess, I hope you know that I’m a new person now and I’d do anything to get you out of there

That sounds too informal now, it’s as if he actually met her before

Hi? I’m sorry that my past self had been such a d*ck

It just keeps on getting worst

Baekhyun closes his eyes and lets out a huge sigh, he opens his eyes again and stares at the front.

“Why did you call?”, he asked again softly, his voice barely came out. It came out as a whisper and it sounded.. pathetic.

It was as if he’s the one who needed help and wanted to go out of this place.

Gathering his courage, he clears his voice and bravely spoke but this time, his voice came out loud and clear.

“I don’t know why and for what reason you keep me locked here—I can feel Aecha trying to pull me back to the real world but your holding me back. If you have anything to tell me then please..”

He trails off when he felt the atmosphere changes drastically. He could feel her presence although it’s weak, he could feel her trying to break through, trying to connect

Someone is here for sure.

Baekhyun turns around, trying to find any sorts of movement.

“You are here”

He made a statement. He spins around to check whether there’s any movement but felt frustrated when there’s none.

“Are you hiding or hidden?”, he asked again as he walks to the front. He doesn’t know where he’s heading to, he’s not even sure what is making him stand up when there’s not even a ground.

There’s nothing beneath him but the ground is hard. Every step he makes, he could hear his footsteps against it.. the sound of his heels tapping against the ground

It sounds hollow.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he stops. Why does the ground sounds hollow?

He stares down to his feet and carefully, he stomps his left foot once.

The sound that came out once again sounds hollow and now, he’s sure of it.

The ground he’s standing at isn’t really a ground.

It’s a barrier.

He then crouches down and knocked, “Is someone in there?”, he shouted and his voice echoed back for 3 seconds before the space quiets down again.

Baekhyun sat down to the ground on his knees as he continues to pound against the barrier, “Can you hear me?”

No one answered his calls and that is when he decided to move to another spot, repeating the process.

Even after 10 minutes, there were no replies; hence he gave up and lies down to the ground.

“Am I wrong? I was pretty sure I felt someone’s presence”, he talks to himself as he stares nothing.

“Damn it- what am I doing? Talking to the ground like that?”, he lets out a laugh after realizing how crazy he looks.

Baekhyun sat up and ruffles his already messy hair once more. He glares at the ground while absentmindedly starts to gather light on his hand, making a ball; blasting it in a frustrating manner.

“Let me out!”, he shouted as the light hits the ground a few feet in front of him. He expected the light to get dispersed and disappear altogether

He never saw it coming when a fraction of the ground shattered, creating a small crack.

Not long after that, a small yelp caught his attention and he quickly jump to his feet and approached the hole

“Hello? Can you hear me now?”, a feminine voice calls out and he stops on his tracks.

Suddenly, he could hear his heart beating rapidly and his blood running cold.

This is it, he’s finally going to meet the girl from his dreams.

It may sound romantic but it is actually far from that. Their story has been messed up since the beginning, this is nowhere near romantic.

When he finally reached it, he once again crouches down and look inside. He could only see the top of her head and her face, she wasn’t looking upwards because she didn’t notice his presence yet.

Baekhyun could feel his lungs stop working, he couldn’t breathe and that is how nervous he felt.

What was he supposed to say again?

Hello your majesty

Hi

Good evening-, does she even know it’s evening in the real world?

While he battles with his thoughts, she suddenly looks upwards and he lets out a cough in shock.

She was startled as well and her hands flew to her heart as she took a step backwards, disappearing from sight.

Yes. The crack isn’t big enough to let her through, it is just as big as his hands.

He could hear her mumbling at how surprised she is in an old dialect and that is when he could reconfirm that she is indeed a royal blood from the past.

Some of the words she used are in old-fashioned manner but thankfully, still enough for him to understand.

The princess then reappears and looks upwards, staring at him with curious eyes.

Baekhyun couldn’t say anything as he stares back, he can’t find words to even make proper sentences.

Is he even worthy enough to talk to her?

“You look just like him”, was her first sentence that came out of , her tone came out as a sad one; a hint of longing and regret.

Shouldn’t she feel betrayed instead?

“But I’m not him”, Baekhyun answered carefully. “I am my own person”, he continues and she smiles.

“I know, you wouldn’t be here if you were him. He hated me..”, she said and looks down as she sighs. Her hands came up to her neck and she continues to fumble with the royal emblem that lies as a necklace on her collarbone.

Baekhyun could see her getting upset over her past lover; more questions pop into his head about what really happened back then but there is no time for that.

He needs to find a way to get her out.

“How do I get you out of here?”, Baekhyun gets straight to the point and the princess looks upwards and shook her head.

Her expression is filled with hesitance and Baekhyun can’t help but already guessed what her answer would be.

“I’m not sure”, she said with a sad tone and continued, “I was unconscious and woke up being trapped inside”

“Do you remember anything before that?” he asked

Her answer disappoints him once again as she could not remember most of it. The princess told him that she could only remember how she got into a fight with his past self and he bitterly frowned.

Baekhyun made a mental note to seek out Subin later on. He had to find out what happened and how on Elyxion the first generation managed to trap her inside.

“Figures. You’ve been trap for centuries in this ing wall, ofcourse you wouldn’t remember everything”, the curse word flew out of his mouth without thinking and when he realized that it is inappropriate to use such words infront of a royal blood, he quickly bowed.

“I didn’t mean to sound rude, I’m truly sorry your-“

The princess looks taken aback by his sudden straightforwardness and Baekhyun noticed this and quickly apologized again.

“No no! It’s fine”, she said with her hands waving to dismiss it. “You can drop the formalities, they don’t call me with such names as we were all equal but.. how many centuries have I stayed her you say?” She asked, her eyes slightly show that she’s confused.

“Hundreds of centuries have passed”

He stares at her as her frown deepens, her grip on her royal emblem tightens as she takes it in.

“That- that can’t be? It felt like only 10 years have passed here”

“The time must’ve been different between realms”, Baekhyun answered and sighs.

The more he knows, the more stressed he felt. He can’t wait until Aecha pulls him out of here, he doesn’t think that he could handle more information.

“You might be right”, she lets out a bitter laugh before turning serious again.

“There’s not much time left. I have to let you know this, I have tried every eclipse-- trying to find a way to get help but none of it were a success”

Baekhyun gave her his full attention and listens.

“Every eclipse, I would try to find connection with anyone. Let it be through dreams or songs, I tried to reach out to necromancers or any mystical creatures who has sensitive ears but none of them could hear me”

The princess told him, her voice to broken and he can’t help but feel guilty once again. If he could, he would pull her out of there because she seems too lonely and sad.

Damn you, past self. He curses to himself.

His thoughts were cut short when her eyes met his, the change in her expression grabs his attention.

She’s hopeful.

“But then the recent eclipse was different”, She trails off and stares at him with glassy eyes and that is when something in him clicks. He gets what she’s trying to say.

That has to be the only reason why this century is different, he’s the reason why.

“I got reincarnated”

“Until you appeared”

They both said in unison.

Some of the puzzle pieces suddenly fits together to create a small picture; not everything is puzzled back though, they still have a long way to go but at least he could make sense of something.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re not the only first generation that I tried reaching out to from all these years. Almost all of them got reincarnated except one or two out of the twelve. I’ve tried with the rest but yours were the strongest. That is when I realized that.. sorry for saying this but”, she laughs nervously before continuing

“That is when I realized that the man that I l-loved; the same one who also betrayed me is finally reincarnated. I could actually appear in your dreams, there is hope”, she continued and Baekhyun starts to get dizzy.

It really was because of him that everything starts to happen. His purpose has been decided, he was the one who started this mess and he’s supposed to end it as well.

This may have been his punishment given by the tree of life.

“But I’m not him”, Baekhyun reminds her once again firmly. The princess sighs and looks away, “I know but.. something in me tells me that Byun Jinhwan probably did something for all of this to happen. After all, reincarnations have purposes am I right? To fulfil something that they couldn’t do in their past life?”

Her words ring in his mind. She’s right, there has to be something more than that.

The tree of life can’t be this cruel to pass on this burden to him.

He has to find out the whole story of what happened.

“Your friend is trying to grab you back, I can’t no longer hold you here”, she suddenly said and Baekhyun snapped out of his reverie and starts to panic

“Wait, how do I get back here?” He asked quickly and she answers, “Your friend, the barista will kno