Chapter Three

She waited, completely still as her eyes followed the person who made their way around the barn. She felt her pulse escalate as they inch toward the front opening. It didn’t take long for the outline of the person to fully take up the doorway. She couldn’t make out their appearance very well with the sun being directly behind them.

They inched closer to her and with a beam of light through the roof, she could make out their face. It was the third boy from the white lite screens. Or, as she nicknamed him, the pretty boy with the book. She could tell he recognized her through his expression but that didn’t mean he seemed completely at ease with her. She could relate having seen him once before but his intentions were still unclear. 

He looked down at the leather book in his hand and back at her. He searched around the floor of the barn and something caught his eye. He moved to the left of her and picked up a rock. She felt herself stiffen, a weapon perhaps? But her suspicions went out the window when a gentle smile formed on his face. He quickly opened the book to a page and examined the rock more carefully. She attempted to see what was on the page and what she saw was a drawing similar to the runes on the envelope she was given. When she turned her gaze to the rock, she was surprised to see that the rock had the very same image engraved into itself.

She jumped a little when the boy whipped around to face her.  He stood up with rock in hand.

“Looks like I’ve finally found you.” He said, in a sigh like manner. She blinked up at him. He’s been looking for her?

“I suppose you did.” She replied.  Suddenly she felt an itch on the inside of her elbow. Squirming, she quickly pulled up her sleeve and looked at the tattoo. The tattoo of the sprout became to animate, and it began to grow into a more mature version of a sprout. It stopped moving and the tattoo went back to its stationary form. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to find that her new tattoo had a mind of its own.

“It really is you.”  She looked up from her arm and looked the boy who was staring down at her arm with a look of relief. 

“And who am I to you?” She couldn’t help but ask. Who knew, maybe this boy would have some answers. She quickly pulled down her sleeve, which in turn made him look up at her.

He looked down at his book and began rummaging through the pages. He turned the book around and what was on the page startled her. She pulled her sleeve back up and compared it to the page.  On the page, was the exact same image of the matured sprout tattoo on her arm. Her eyebrows knitted together as she looked back and forth between the two.

“And I found this.” He said, handing her the rock he had picked up before. She took it gently in her hands and gently traced over the engraving. He flipped through some more pages and then turned the book around to show her the image that matched the engraving.

“And what does this mean?” She whispered.  He looked over her expression for a few moments before sighing. “You don’t know?” She nodded in response. He looked down at the leather book again and nodded to himself.

“That’s okay. I thought I might have to explain a little. Maybe not this much though.” He murmured.  He looked over at the crate near them and pulled it over. He moved it so it rested in front of her and took a seat. He then began his explanation.

“I was orphaned when I was quite young, so I don’t really have any memories of my parents. I was lucky enough to be picked up by a kind elderly man. I considered him to be my real grandfather from the day he picked me up. When I grew older, I asked him why he decided to take me in. And that’s when he decided to explain the things I’m going to explain to you. So listen carefully.”

She felt slight pity for the boy, but she lightly nodded.

“So, he sat me down in his office one day and handed me this leather book. He said the book was in his family for ages, and would continue to be, at least, until the sign would appear.  And when it does, that meant that the prophesy would finally be put into place. So, when that happens, whoever the member of the family that is in charge of the book would take their assigned role as one of the savior’s messengers. He told me he had no children left, with all of them dying in the war. He said….he said when he saw me; he knew I’d be the one, the one to be the messenger. He said something about my attitude when I first met him, being bratty or something. Crazy old man.” He smiled a sad smile and there was no explanation needed in order to see that the old man was no longer in the world. Her heart couldn’t help but sting with sadness.

“After he passed away, I was given all his possessions, one of them being this book. I didn’t fully understand his obsession with it, but I decided to sleep with it by my bedside table and study the gibberish within it every day as he did.  Then this morning, it happened. The sign. I opened the book like I usually did and flip through the pages countless times. But this time, there was a map on the last page. I knew, at that moment, I had to follow the map, find you and fulfill my role as a messenger.  So, I packed up a few belongings and followed it. On my way here, a big gust of wind made me stop and turn around. I then saw you, just standing in the field behind me, with a black aura around you. I was shocked at the most; I heard visions and things of that sort were common for seers and people of high power. But I was never granted with those gifts or privileges. So, once I experienced it and saw you, I felt so complete. Like my only purpose in life was to do this…duty. When I saw the others show up, I realized I was not alone. It saddened and relieved at the same time, that I wasn’t the only one.” He broke into a lopsided smile towards her and her heart pounded. Gosh, why are the men here so handsome?

“When you disappeared, I panicked and then felt really frustrated. I mean, here I was ready to do this task and then you disappeared. After years of waiting, you were gone. But the map still appeared in the book, so I followed it as I did before. It finally led me to this barn. And when I entered and saw you, I was relieved. Not sure if you saw it, but I was uneasy too. I wondered if it was another vision and not the actual you. That’s when I saw the rock and recognized the symbol, also your tattoo… I was certain it was the real you at that moment.”

She had to admit his story telling skills were impeccable. But this “task” and “duty” he kept going on about wasn’t really apparent yet.

“And…” She whispered lightly, inching a little closer to him.

“And…that’s all.” Silence. “But…what’s your duty…to me?” She tried again. He sprouted a smile and handed her the book once more.  “To give this to you.”  She took the book lightly in her hand and opened it once more. She began to read the words on the page.

The legend of evil’s desire will gather
The tree of life has 

“I don’t know how it’ll be of any use to you. It has random writings in there that no one can seem to read-“ Wait, what did he say?

“You can’t read this?” She asked, pointing down to the page. He looked down at it with a confused expression.

“No…I can’t. Wait, can you?” His eyes opened wide and his look of amazement was hard to mistaken.

“Well, yeah, it’s simple English.” She told him, raising an eyebrow.

“English? What’s that?” He asked. She looked at him with a puzzled look.

“’Aren’t we speaking English now?”

“No, we’re speaking Sector K’s dialect.”  Sector K’s dialect? She didn’t know any Sector K dialect.  He picked up her confusion quickly enough.

“Where are you even from, if you don’t mind me asking? A Sector very far from here?” He questioned.

“Um, yeah. A Sector very far from here.” She felt nasty as she lied through her teeth but she didn’t want to make the situation any more confusing than it already was. “Anyways, I have the book. Now what?” He looked over her expression and looked away, taking her hint. She was glad he let the situation go.

“Well,” He said, “I was hoping you’d know that.” Surprise, she didn’t. “…And you don’t know?” He asked, in disbelief. And that made her even more frustrated. Yes, yes she didn’t know. As much as she would have liked to know, she didn’t. She examined the boy before her before sighing.

“Okay, since you graced me with your story. I’ll tell you mine, okay?” He nodded vigorously.

“Well, I was in my bed back home in my, uh, Sector. When I woke up, I was laying down in this field. I found the two boys that you saw to the left of you during the vision. They told me the same thing as you and gave me an envelope. They led me to this barn, saying something along the lines of this being the place where it has to begin or something.  So I opened the envelope and it started the whole connection thing happened between me, you and the others. After the vision ended, you kind of came walking through the doorway.” She took a deep breath. “And that’s all. I know nothing about what’s going on. I just woke up to this situation.”

He took it in with a fairly calm but pensive expression.  “Well, I guess that explains why they ran off.” He mumbled. That caught her attention.

“You mean D.O and Suho?” She asked. He nodded. “Yeah, they’re wanted by the government right now. I don’t know them personally, but they were always being recognized in the news for their achievements within the police force; D.O for his seer abilities and Suho for his fighting. The news reported them being missing recently, and the government was offering a huge ransom for anyone who could find them.”

“Um,” She tried to gather her words together, “Do you know why the government’s looking for them?” He let out a big sigh and rubbed his face with his hands. He peeked at her through his fingers.

“Um, well. There’s nothing confirmed. But there’s rumors going around it involves the growing tension between Sector K and M.” He rubbed his hands together and leaned back on the crate with a distraught expression. “Are you sure you haven’t heard anything about it in your Sector? I heard it’s pretty big news that other Sectors know about it.”

She shook her head, “Can’t say I have. My Sector is pretty exclusive.” He nodded in understanding. She never liked lying, but she felt like she’d be doing it a lot in the near future.  “Does the tension have to do with the war you mentioned earlier?” She asked. He gave her a stunt look.

“You weren’t kidding when you said your Sector was exclusive. Anyways, yes it does. The war is over, but the treaty that ended it, didn’t exactly leave both sides very satisfied. So, there’s certainly still tension between them due to that. Rumor has it that Sector K is planning to overthrow Sector M’s overlords. But it’s only a rumor, at least that’s what a lot of people hope it is.”

She was a little uneasy now. She hoped whatever purpose she served did not involve the current political warfare between the two Sectors.

“That seems tough.” She mumbled, without much else to contribute to the topic. She realized how lucky she was to have lived in a peaceful country back home

“I suppose, I wasn't on the front line or anything when it was going on.” Then he froze, “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Chanyeol. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He stood up with a smile and gave her a small bow. She quickly stood up as well and bowed back.

“Nice to meet you Chanyeol. My name’s Ileana.”

His smile widened, “Ileana, that’s a really nice name. Is it common in your Sector?” She shook her head, “ No, not really. I’ve actually never met anyone with the same name.” A small smile of her own formed when she remember the times when she was younger and she disliked her uncommon name.

“And you really did appear in the middle of a field, didn’t you?” She looked at him, confused.  She fould him looking elsewhere. She followed his gaze and it led her to her bare feet. She felt herself blush, “Yeah, if I had known I was leaving my house, I would have worn shoes to bed.” She awkwardly let a laugh out.

“You’re not…hurt or anything, right?” She was a little pleased with his concern. “No, I haven’t stepped on anything sharp yet. It hurts a little on rocky parts, but I get used to it quickly.”

He looked at her with uncertainty. “I’m sorry, I can’t really help you with anything. I would have brought an extra pair of shoes if I had known…”

She quickly shook her head and hands. “No, no. Don’t be sorry. You didn’t know and it wasn’t exactly your job to know either.” Something clicked in her head. Right…the mission. It seemed he caught on as well.

They both sat down awkwardly. She opened the book again. She paused and looked up at Chanyeol staring at her eagerly. “I suppose I’ll, um, translate what it says and maybe we can work out what it means together.” She was rewarded with a nod and smile.

“The legend of evil’s desire will gather
The tree of life has predicted such a day to come.
Time will attempt to reverse.
But space cannot allow it.
They cannot ever meet.
They cannot ask for space.
Malice combining the two will bring hurt to the world.
Protect and prevent.
Grow like the tree of life.
Heal wounds and stand strong.
With no sun
Time will stop
And the fate of the world will be sealed.”

She knew she was being too optimistic with thinking the book would give her clear instructions.  All she got some sort of dark prophesy.

“Well,” She said, “What do you think?” Looking over at Chanyeol who seemed deep in thought. He turn his gaze toward her and sighed.

“I’m not sure. I got that something bad is going to happen if you don’t prevent it.” Chanyeol paused, “But I have a hunch that this involves the situation between the two sectors.”

She reread the page, “I think you’re right with that hunch. The whole time reversal makes me think that it’s predicting another war, where one side plans to take the other side out completely.” She bit her lip as the wheels turned in her head. She didn’t like what she was thinking. It seemed like she was meant to be the only thing that could prevent the coming war. The last thing she wanted to do was to get deeply involved in world’s war that wasn’t even her own. She wasn’t exactly trained for this sort of deal either. She didn’t know much about war, her knowledge on them consisted on mandatory history lessons and random news casts.

“Chanyeol.” She mumbled. “How am I supposed to do this?” She felt utterly useless, her emotions were taking a toll on her. She felt tears build. “I-I don’t have the credentials to do this. I’m just an average girl.” She attempted to keep her voice steady.  She felt something gripped her hand and saw that it was Chanyeol’s hand. She refused to look at him. She never liked crying in front of anyone. She felt his hand release hers. He instead brushed his fingers across her cheeks and wiped her tears away.

“Ileana, don’t cry. You were chosen for a reason. Magic is never wasted. And from what I know about you so far, I think you have all the potential to become something great. Great enough to stop a war right in its tracks.” His voice calmed her down at an amazing rate. His words brought her confidence back up and it took away how overwhelmed she was. She lightly took his hand off her face and gripped it within her lap.

“Thanks Chanyeol. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just…a lot to handle.” She sniffed lightly. He gripped her hands back, “You are welcome. And it is a lot to handle especially for one day. So, it’s okay... I understand, Ileana.”

She let go of his hands and wiped the remaining tears from her face. She forced out a smile. “Okay. Back to normal. But, I still don’t know what to do next.”

He smiled at her, “I’m surprised. I thought it was an easy one.” She frowned at him, “What do you mean?”

“Unfortunately, I mean you have to go to where the actions happening.”

“And where’s that?”

“In The City, of course.”

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Bah bah BAHH, third chapter done. How's that? Getting a little more in depth. A little more things cleared up as well. By the way, that passage thingy is based loosely off of what's actually written in Chanyeol's book in his teaser. I tweeked it in order to make sense and to go with my story. The power of being a writer bwohohoho. 
Thanks to everyone whose commented and subscribed! You guys are cool cats ;)
I have a long shift tomorrow. Sundays are dead boring. So I should be able to write some more :D Yayy.
Much love everyone. *throws Chanyeol plushies*
UPDATE: I previously had Chanyeol say the war was before his time. But that messes up my timeline later on with different characters. So, I changed it. I'm a bad bad writer. :(