Kai appeared suddenly in the head quarters, where Suho, Baekhyun and the others were already waiting for him, it was strange that he was the last one to arrive, even alarming.

Something was wrong… he was breathing way too heavily and looked like he didn’t even know where he was.

“Kai” said Suho briefly before running at his aid while Baekhyun ran the other way to get a chair for him to sit on, since he looked like was about to collapse at any moment. The others also stood up to meet him but Suho pushed them back, trying to give Kai some air. “Kai is everything alright?” asked Suho as Kai put a hand on the wall to support himself.

“I don’t know where I teleported earlier…” he said between heavy breaths.

“What? How can you not know?” asked Baekhyun as he finally came with the chair, letting Kai sit on it.

“You’ve been everywhere in the world” remarked D.O. “You’ve had more than enough time to explore it all”

“Then it wasn’t a place of this world!” said Kai quickly, fearing that his voice would crack. He had never teleported even an inch apart from the place he wanted to be, this was the first time something like that ever happened and he didn’t know why but it made him feel so vulnerable.

“Now you’re saying nonsense…” said Sehun but Suho put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“What did you see?” he asked Kai with a serious face, which was unusual, because he was one of those persons who just smiled any day. But this wasn’t just any day…

“Mostly darkness… and a boy. He was about my age I think but he wasn’t normal, even though his eyes were big and innocent, I could tell… he was one of us.” Said Kai, feeling glad about the fact that he was sitting because if not, the guys could have seen the trembling of his knees.

To be honest, he felt scared. What if he teleported again to that strange world where he knew nobody? That world where he didn’t know each and every place?

Their eyes went wide at his story but Baekhyun’s were the widest, as if they could pop out of their sockets at any moment. They all looked at Suho in search for answers.

Suho sighed.

“So it really is time” he said, gathering his thoughts “Ok, follow me. Chanyeol, help Kai”

“Yessir!” said Chanyeol putting his arm around Kai’s shoulder to help him stand but Kai denied his aid.

“I’m fine” he said, standing up on his own. He was kind of scared but he would never let it show. He was Kai, he was the mystery of the group, not the little boy who came back running (more like teleporting) at every opportunity.

Chanyeol shrugged and continued following Suho and Baekhyun who lead the way to the hallway and Kai followed after him but Sehun made sure to keep an eye on him just in case. He was always observant about everything: the world, his friends, the wind… he knew Kai was just pretending to be alright but he wouldn’t embarrass him in front of everyone else.

When they assembled in the hallway, Suho started speaking.

“Yesterday, I was cleaning the mirrors of the head quarters and Baekhyun was helping me. I shot a small water ball at the mirror as usual” Said Suho walking closer to said mirror and touched it “When I wiped the mirror, another face greeted me on the other side.”

“Was it…?” started D.O. but he couldn’t bring himself to finish his question.

“I think it was one of the legends of EXO-M, just like Kai had his encounter with the other legend. You’ve all felt it too, haven’t you? Your powers getting stronger… like it’s harder to even measure your own strength anymore and like someone is calling for you” said Suho walking in between all of them, looking at them in the eyes individually.

He was right; D.O. had felt it right away when the earth called him, Chanyeol also knew it -even if it was just a thought forming on the back of his mind when he couldn’t control his fire-, Sehun had created that tornado without meaning it after feeling a sudden urge to change things and Kai had experienced it firsthand already.

“I haven’t tried it” said Baekhyun as his hands lit in pure white light. Their light was whiter than it had ever been. The sun pendant he wore in his right hand reflected the light beautifully, it was his legend symbol.

“Maybe you should try the mirror” said Suho, since it worked for him.

“In legends, mirrors were said to connect different worlds” said Sehun, looking at the mirror that had connected their worlds before. Now that he thought about it; butterflies were also said to connect different worlds…

“You should give it a shot” said Kai, who hadn’t spoken in a while, but he needed to figure out just what was going on.

Baekhyun looked at them and they all nodded, giving him the “OK” sign to continue. He concentrated his light only in his right hand, where his sun pendant was and shot a ray of light towards the mirror.

=====

Lay, who was peacefully looking at himself in his small mirror to meditate, was startled when it suddenly flashed in white light. He moved closer to examine it and when the light died down he saw a boy, a legend.

His eyes widened, it was the first time he actually saw another one just like him. With a power similar to his… light. Light was the source of all life but without life there wouldn’t be any use for light, he felt connected to this boy immediately.

“What is it, Lay?” asked Luhan as he, Xiumin and Tao ran over to him to see why his face had shined so suddenly and his ever-pleasant expression had changed.

They made it just in time to see the face of the legend from the other world reflected in the mirror before it disappeared.

“This can’t be a coincidence” said Xiumin. “It isn’t the same person I saw before but they give off the same feeling”

“I also saw a person today” said Luhan, remembering the dark messy hair of earlier that day, the scared eyes that were much like his… “He appeared from the shadows, like someone who was lost, but he was definitely a legend”

“Did you experience anything of the sort, Tao?” asked Lay as they all turned to look at him.

Tao wasn’t sure if the butterfly was a sign because Lay or Xiumin wouldn’t know since they had natural powers but he trusted that Luhan would probably understand.

“A butterfly came my way” he said, feeling slightly silly as he said it. “You know animals don’t like us, Luhan and me. The weirdest thing it’s that it was on the training grounds where no one or nothing except us have ever been, the fact that it was there was like a message for me… probably from the otherworldly legends” said Tao as he looked at the window, the sky was pitch black already so he briefly wondered about the hour but found that it was irrelevant and dismissed the thought.

Xiumin was about to laugh but Lay’s severe expression stopped him and he also noticed Luhan’s surprised expression when he said that a butterfly had actually approached him. Maybe different elements just had different ways of communicating…

Just then, Kris and Chen arrived; they knew it because of the sound of the thunder and the red-colored sky. They waited for a few seconds and they both entered the place.

“Sorry to be late, I went to fetch Chen since he was so far away” said Kris as Chen smiled at his fellow legends. “Now sit”

In the living room, they all explained their experiences once again and Kris revealed that he also felt stronger, like there was a fire inside of him.

“That means that we’ll connect soon” said Chen and thunder raged outside of their head quarters, revealing all the emotions that he felt.

“I want to meet them soon” said Kris as he looked at his burning red bracelet “Especially that person with the fire. We’ll have enough power to defeat the red forces once and for all” he declared balling his hand in a tight fist. He was tired of waiting, he would defeat the red forces now if he could but he had to wait. The only thing that encouraged him was the fact that he felt the presence of that person with fire power all the time, stronger by the second. That guy’s strength was no joke and combined with his own they would be stronger than he could have ever imagined.

“We should try to connect with them and prepare for the time of The Rite, the day that the Eclipse comes” said Lay looking at his mirror briefly. “We won’t have much time for chit-chat when we meet, might as well try to know who they are before then.”

“Agreed” said Kris as he looked at the rest of the legends. Chen seemed insecure, like he couldn’t grasp the idea just yet and Lay was lost in his own mind while Tao, Xiumin and Luhan thought back about the events that happened.

He could only hope for the best.

=====

“That…” was the only thing that D.O. could manage to say in his shocked state.

“Everyone saw it right? It wasn’t only me?” asked Chanyeol moving around a lot.

Baekhyun lowered his hand, he had also felt a connection with the person of the mirror. He had sleek brown hair, a white flower beside him and he hadn’t reacted in fear, only curiosity. He couldn’t help but feel deeply bonded with the other legend even if they only saw each other for a few seconds.

“That’s exactly what happened last time” said Suho “Now you’ve all seen it, now you all know. The time is close, too close.”

“How close is ‘too close’?” asked Sehun, eager to save the innocent lives of the people as quickly as possible and also eager to meet his counterpart, being observant as he was, he had noticed Baekhyun’s expression right away, the way he felt attached to that other side of him immediately.

“I’m not entirely sure” said Suho as he walked back and forth on the hallway “We’ll need to perform The Rite to meet them in person”

The boys couldn’t help but gulp at the thought. No one knew what would happen when The Rite was performed, the prophecy said that “the two halves would unite” so they didn’t know if they would unite their worlds, their powers or their beings… they honestly didn’t want to merge with another person to form a new being.

“Come on, we’ll need to do this” said Suho. “When it’s time an Eclipse will appear in the sky, so I’ll need all of you here, understood?”

They all answered a loud “Yes”

“For now, I think it is best that we think about what’s going to happen in the future and also try to control the new power we’re gaining. It won’t be of any use if we don’t even know how to use it.”

They again answered with the usual “Yes” they gave at his every order.

“And this is optional but… personally, I would like to communicate with my counterpart; the person with powers similar to mine. If you feel the same, you are free to experiment.”

They said a final “Yes” but there were mixed thoughts in their minds, especially in Kai’s since meeting this other boy meant leaving his world completely.

“You may leave”

=====

During the course of two weeks, after many experiments and failures the boys were able to finally understand the way to communicate in between them; they all had some kind of special bond and a special mean to communicate with their counterpart.

For Lay and Baekhyun and Xiumin and Suho mirrors worked just fine, they couldn’t really have a conversation with each other as sound was never transmitted through mirrors but they could see each other, clearer each day. Memorize their bone structure, the tone of the skin and the shape of the eyes among other things. They were all equally attractive, but alluring in different ways…

For Chen and D.O., all that was needed was the ground. D.O. called him with his earth and Chen responded with his static. It was a silent conversation but in a language that they both knew well. A bond without words was also formed in between the two legends connecting from different worlds.

Tao and Sehun used butterflies as their messengers since Sehun learned that butterflies were known to travel in between worlds. Each day, with each new butterfly with a new color and design, their hope for a new, brighter future became bigger. They both could connect through their desire to protect.

Kai and Luhan had it easier than everyone else, since Kai started practicing his teleportation for once in his life so he could reach EXO-M and he eventually reached Luhan again but he could only stay for a little while before he was teleported back to EXO-K. Luhan, however, was somehow able to see the outline of EXO-K's silhouettes reflected in the metal balls he used for practice after he left.

The first time they actually talked Luhan dropped the huge rock he was practicing with. Kai only seemed to appear when he was forcing his powers to the limit.

“Sorry about that…” said Kai, breaking the ice but he didn’t really know what to say.

“You’re from K, aren’t you?” asked Luhan looking at him and Kai was surprised. His eyes, although innocent, didn’t show any fear anymore.

Kai nodded, feeling inadequate because he was more scared than this little boy. “I’m Kai.”

“Luhan” said the telekinetic boy simply reaching his arm out, so Kai could shake his hand.

Kai took two steps towards him but the moment their hands touched, Kai disappeared back to EXO-K.

After that they had met even more times, they couldn’t really touch as they learned that day but they could see each other and have brief conversations as long as Kai could stay, which was longer and longer every day.

Kris and Chanyeol on the other hand had a very different way of communicating: they used fire.

Fire was never Kris’ power but he could summon the fire dragon so he had a connection with it. Chanyeol was the one who sent him the first message, a single fire ball tossed to the sky that landed on Kris’ hand. Fire wouldn’t mean anything for people who weren’t them but Kris knew what what fire meant: “Let’s meet, let’s fight for what’s right” they kept sending different fires to each other as messages, as a form of knowing that the other was there and willing to fight, that they weren’t alone…

Then this particular day, Chanyeol was about to catch one of the now usual fires Kris sent him but the sky went dark and instead of just catching it in his hand, his whole body ignited as he felt power fill every cell of his being. Beautiful fire wings emanated from him instantly, like they were alive, like they were Kris’.

The abandoned street where he stood was immediately illuminated, creating crimson highlights in everything around it. To other people, it would have been seen as ominous, as they thought that fire could only destroy but for Chanyeol, who had known fire all his life, it was a beautiful sight.

He looked up to see what had blocked his view from the sun, darkening the whole sky. It was too sudden to be a cloud…

Then he saw it: The eclipse.

____________

*gif not mine

Phew, this turned out longer than I thought xD but I just felt like adding random poetic stuff.

Thanks a lot again for your subscriptions and comments <3 *throws hearts + EXO members at everyone* comment replies are in the comment section! Comments make me want to give more frequent updates like the ones I’ve been giving~ so keep them coming ^^

Just so you know, the “red forces”=evil forces & “legends”=EXO members. Just in case it was confusing ^^’’ I used the names given in the narration at the beginning of MAMA to make it more exact.

Question of the day: What’s your favorite EXO song?

Next chapter: “The Meeting”