Chapter Two

When entering the barn, she was more than ready to run out at any sign of it collapsing. But she was relieved to see that the structure inside looked surprisingly more than stable. There were some crates lying around the barn, as well as a random chair in the middle of the dirt floor and something that looked like a lantern to the side. It seemed that whoever abandoned it only took what they could carry.  She pressed her hand against the chair to test its sturdiness. She concluded it passed the test and she sat down on it. She rubbed her hands against her knees and continued to examine her surroundings. The image of light shining in through the roof reminded her of some sort of picturesque moment that belonged in a calendar.

After a few moments, she couldn’t help but let out a long and deep sigh. She was confused and frustrated with the entire situation that she was just planted into. She still didn’t know why she was here, and every answer she received just made her more irritated. She liked to think she was being more than patient at this point.

She gazed down at the envelope in her hand. Whatever was in it, it seemed to be of some importance to her and her future here. Also, it was supposed to answer all her questions. So, it took a lot of her self-control not to tear the envelope apart and read it.

As the seconds went by, new thoughts came into her mind. What would this envelope really do to her? She thought; if she was able to be magically transported to another planet then what said that this envelope couldn’t do something terrible to her? Maybe that’s why the two boys didn’t want to be around when she opened it.

Fabulous, she thought, now she could add conflicted to the numerous emotions she felt at the moment.

She returned her gaze to the roof and realized that the sun was heading towards the horizon. Perhaps in two hours or so, the sun would fully set. And then she’d be alone…inside a rotting barn…in the dark… on an unknown planet.

She quickly decided that sitting there and contemplating the “what ifs” would literally get her nowhere. And so, she concluded that she would open the envelope once and for all.

She examined the envelope in her hands and attempted to figure out the best way to open it. The runes on it were far too pretty to damage in her opinion. So, she looked around for some sort of tool to open it and found a nail sticking out of a crate. She quickly retrieved it and sat down on the chair once more.

She took the pointed end of the nail and carefully tore a small slit on the side of the envelope. She took her time in making the slit open wider and wider until it was fully opened. Pleased with her clean work, her fingers carefully reached inside and removed the paper that was within it. Taking a deep breath in, she unfolded the paper. And what did she see?

Nothing.

Blank.

Completely blank.

Aw hell no, you have got to be kidding. She thought. She stressed herself over this? A blank piece of paper? She raised it to the sun, hoping to see a hidden message. There was none.

She gripped her fists tightly, crumpling the paper, in her small fury. “Ah!” She lightly exclaimed. She looked down to her hand and realized the nail she retrieved moments ago was still in her hand and it punctured her hand slightly, drawing a small amount of blood.

Well, I wonder if I can contract hepatitis here. She thought bitterly. Her hand wasn’t bleeding too much, but she didn’t want to get any blood on her clothes…note the only clothes she owned here. Her eyes returned to the blank crumpled paper in her other hand. She uncrumpled it and decided to use it as a make-shift tissue. When she pulled it back from her injured hand, she noticed something appeared on the paper that wasn’t her blood.

“Verification…accepted?” She read aloud, as the small black words appeared in the middle of the page.

Then, right before her eyes, the ink on the page swirled around the paper in a smoke-like fashion. It was safe to say that she was taken by surprise when the ink actually leapt out of the paper. Smokey black mist swirled before her eyes for a few moments before her vision completely went black.

She wasn’t in the barn anymore. She didn’t know where she was due to the overwhelming darkness that surrounded her. But her eyes squinted when a white light appeared. Like a movie screen, images played before her.

Her eyes met the familiar sight of Suho. Apparently, he saw her too. He was where she first saw him, at that table with a book in hand. He smiled gently at her and waved.
Another white light appeared next to him and before her was the image of D.O flying a kite. He looked over his shoulder and their eyes met. He paused, looking her up and down before smiling with relief.  He looked to his left and, what was the strange thing was it looked like Suho and D.O could actually see each other via the white screens.

It didn’t take long for another light-like screen to appear next to D.O. The images began to sharpen and a familiar scenery appeared. The background was similar to the field-like scenery outside the barn, but what caught her eye was not the field, but the figure that stood in the middle of it. They had their back to her, but it didn’t take long for the person to whip around. His eyes widen in shock at the sight of her. He noticeably clenched onto a leather bound book in his hands as he studied her. She soon felt herself doing the same. With hair neatly brushed to one side of his face. She had to say he was quite pretty for a boy. The boy took his eyes off her and stiffened at the sight of D.O and Suho to the left of him. It seemed D.O and Suho stiffened as well.

Her attention was diverted away when another screen beside the pretty boy popped up. On the screen, was a doll-like boy scrutinizing a compass with what looked to be a dried up lake as his background. The boy looked up from his compass and jumped at the sight of her. His smooth feminine features did hold some masculine touches, though she couldn’t have felt more hyper aware of her appearance at that time. Never mind the fact that his eyes seem to hit every point of her body, from her dirty bare feet to her most likely frizzy hair. She only felt her insecurities decrease when he broke out into a genuine smile, with even perhaps a hint of amazement. It didn’t take him long to notice the boys to his left either. He glanced over the boy next to him and his expression lite up with recognition when he saw D.O and Suho. He waved over towards them. They, in return, ignored him.

Again, another screen popped and revealed a tall boy with a knitted hat. The two distinct features that popped out in her opinion were his height…and his eyebrows. They were quite big in size, and he pulled them off well. When he saw her, his eyebrows rose with surprise. She couldn’t help but giggled at his expression, when just moments ago he looked quite fierce. He cracked a small smile when he saw her reaction. Again, it appeared like he could see the men in the other screens beside him. He and the boy next to him greeted each other with a nod and a look of confusion appeared onto his face when he saw Suho and D.O. 

A screen appeared once more beside the last boy, and up on the screen was a statuesque boy. He was completely still. His eyes were glazed over and his expression was monotone. After a few seconds of stillness, the boy took what appeared to be a deep gasping breath and began blinking his eyes rapidly. He looked down at his body and then up again to meet her eyes. The first expression she saw on his face was confusion.  Then his eyes looked somewhere else, somewhere past her. She turned around and there were 5 other white lite screens, each of them holding a single boy within its canvas.

Her gaze looked back and forth between the 5 new screens. There was a smaller boy with a shorter hairstyle and curious shaped eyes. Beside him, was a boy with a long fringe and a somewhat cold stare. Continuing down the chain was a boy with a large white dog. Next to him was a boy with a strong jaw and a casual hat. As her eyes met with the last boy, she was startled. His eyes were like beasts, and he had a sort of untamed quality to him. He was definitely like one of those dark types that she wouldn’t want to mess with back at home. 

After a few moments of observation, it was surprising to see that some of the boys seem to have recognized each other. But, of course, in the entire dream-like situation presented before, her confusion remained. Who was everyone? And where the heck was she now?

Before she could think of anything else, the screens began to flicker off one by one, in a very quick fashion. Before long, she was in the dark again. That was, until one lone screen popped up before her.

There stood a boy dressed in white within the screen. His height was tall and his eyebrows were pursed together in concentration. He gazed down at her with analyzing eyes.  He took a step forward toward the screen, the expression never changing on his face. His aura gave off one of power and someone of importance, similar to that of royal-standing. It appeared he was on top of some sort of tall building, with the wind catching his hair easily. But nothing seemed to distract him from examining every inch of her.

She didn’t really like it. The way he looked at her. She felt low and unimportant. Who was he to look at her like that? She frowned and snarled at him a little, giving him a small piece of her mind. That seemed to take him off guard. What? Never seen someone scoff you off before? She thought while snorting. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. If he was put off before, he was now really put off and was looking at her like she was some sort of alien. Well, she thought, she was kind of an alien on Planet EXO.

The lite-screen began to slowly fade, and the boy didn’t like it one bit. He looked distressed and appeared to be yelling at the screen. When they met eyes once more, he yelled at her. She couldn’t hear anything but she could understand that he wanted the fading to stop. In response, she shrugged her shoulders and waved at him. Again, she was given the whole “you’re a weirdo” look from him. And before she could scowl at him, the screen completely vanished.

Then, with a strong pull, she found herself pressed against the back of the old chair, sitting in within the old rotting barn. The black swirl was still in front of her, but it didn’t stay there long. It stopped swirling and zoomed down toward her injured hand.

“Ah!” She yelped from the slight pain of the ink entering her wound. The black ink traveled up her hand and past her wrist. She quickly pulled her sleeve up and watch the ink slowly crawl up her arm until it stopped at the inside of her elbow. It looked like a vivid black blob moving on her skin, which stretched and mutated until it slowly started to look like something.

Is that…a seed? She thought as the ink became to form into a seed shape. The ink paused for a moment and then the image of a seed grew into a sprout. It finally stopped moving, leaving the dark image to contrast her pale skin.  She softly touched the inside of her elbow. She concluded it felt like regular skin. She then began to rub her skin in a fierce back and forth action. Nothing happened except for her skin becoming more and more red due to the rubbing. So, she stopped.

With her new knowledge she concluded that:
A) She was on a different planet.
B) A lot of handsome men lived on said planet.
C) Magic paper and ink existed.
D) Said paper and ink liked to send people into a black room where it allowed you to take peeks at good looking men.
E) And it liked to randomly tattoo you.

Did she feel like her questions were finally answered? No, in all senses of the word. She wasn’t sure if she had taken a liking to this strange and frustratingly mysterious planet yet. She looked down to the paper that caused the whole ordeal within her uninjured hand. She noticed something changed; there was even more writing on it. She quickly read:

“Hello!
I understand you might be wondering where you are right now. But have no worries, for your questions will be answered in due time.
You see, there is a very important reason why you are here and not there.
We gravely need your help. Only you can save us from what’s to come. Have no fear, for your mission will come naturally to you. There will be many circumstances and different people that will help you learn, grow and of course, give you the tools to be our savior.
Good luck!”

And that was it. Nothing else. This was the letter that was supposed to answer her questions?  

To add to this mess, she was becoming hungry, thirsty and tired all rolled up into one. Not to mention she was grumpy about the new tattoo. Who wants a sprout on their body? Well, she could think of a few but that was beside the point. She looked at the paper, waiting and hoping, for more instructions. Strangely enough, the ink on the page formed one word for her to read. And that word was:

Wait.

Seriously? I’ve been waiting for at least a few hours al-Her thoughts were interrupted when her ears caught the sound of rustling leaves. There was someone outside.

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Gahh, second chapter. It wasn't too exciting. But as you can read, someone is appearing next chapter~~ Any guesses? (Pssst, it's really obvious if you watched the teasers.) 
I'm really awkward with the beginning of stories. I hope this isn't too bad :/ 
I actually wrote another chapter at work today. It can get pretty dead on the weekends :P After work, I took the best nap. Just FYI. I know how interested you are in my life.
Anyways, been a pleasure. Will update sometime soonish. Hearts to all! *throws bright red beating hearts*