“Mom! I’m going out for a jog!”

“Okay, just make sure you have your phone!” Your mom was busy on her laptop with work. You rolled your eyes and grabbed the keys from the dining table. With long strides to the door, you headed out with your shoes on already and your hood over your head. The sun was setting and you knew that by the time you came back home it would be dark. You bit your lip, debating with yourself if you should still go. Yeah, I think I’ll go. Whatever, it’s already summer break. You swung the door shut behind you and locked it. I’m sure they’ll be lots of people around still.

The summer breeze hit you once you stepped out of the building. You were right. There were still many people walking around and you knew that they had no intention of going home just yet. This is nice, you thought and soon, you were running past all of them. There was a usual route you took. You ran down the street and there was a park at the end of it you always ran past.

Then, there was the forest you had to run through on path but there was a clearing that you liked to stop in sometimes. It was a little scary but because it was the summer, it would be nice. Your breaths came out short as your steps increased. The earphones in your ear were about to fall out so you pushed them back with a bit of a struggle.

There were people at the park but not that many. You stopped running, hoping to catch a breath. You looked up at the sky. The horizon was painted orange and pink but the rest of the sky was now a dark blue. You scratched your head. Maybe, I shouldn’t have gone out. You shook your head then broke out into a brisk jog.

The forest was coming up.

You were about to turn around and head back home but the thought of going into the clearing kept you moving. There weren’t any people around, well, from what you could tell. The moonlight was glimmering overhead and it was the only thing that kept you relieved. You ran on the path with hesitation. You were starting to grow nervous. As less trees started to appear, you could hear your heart beating quickly. You swallowed the lump in your throat and your eyes shifted everywhere.

The clearing was up ahead yet you couldn’t bring yourself to walk any faster. You pulled out one earphone from your ear and turned around, just to see if anyone was following you. Stop being so paranoid, you told yourself. It’s not like you haven’t been here alone before. You let out shallow breaths but soon they picked up.

You could hear voices coming from somewhere but you didn’t want to believe that they were near. You chewed on your bottom lip as you stepped into the clearing. Once you did, you instantly knew where those voices were coming from. There was a group of teenage males, at least, you assumed they were teenage males. They were in the clearing but far from the path you were walking on. You turned your head forward but then…you just had to look back at them.

“Chanyeol!” one of them cried. “Stop it! What if one of these trees catches on fire and starts a forest fire?” There was another who had fire in his hands and he was swinging his hands around without a care. You couldn’t see very well from where you were and couldn’t tell if his hands were on fire or if he was holding some kind of lighter of some sort.

“So?” the one with fire in his hand’s voice echoed. “It’s not like it’s our planet anyway.”

What? You stopped in your tracks. Your head tilted as you continued to watch them in curiosity. What’s he talking about? Your eyes bulged out of their sockets. One of them jumped and he was right in the air. Nothing held onto him and he didn’t have anything on that could be holding him in air. It stunned you. You let out a gasp and immediately covered your mouth. You didn’t want them to find you but it was too interesting to walk away like a normal person.

The one in the air continued to fly higher. He let out a booming laugh that sent chills down your spine. You were about to pass out. You were terrified yet amazed by the scene before you. “We can fool around here. As long as we get home safe and bring back the tree.” The tree?

“It’s not going to be as easy as you think, Kris! And get down from there!”

“What’s your problem, Lu Han? Lighten up!” the male named Kris snickered as he continued to float in the air.

The one who you assumed was named Lu Han complained in a quiet voice that still echoed and you were able to hear. “What if a human sees us?” You were too intrigued by their conversation and the being gliding in the air that you didn’t even hear someone come up behind you.

“Looks like a human already did.” You fell forward in surprise and shock. You turned around to see one of the guys on the other side of the clearing earlier right behind you. How did he get here so fast? One of your hands shot up to your chest. There was a smirk on his face but you couldn’t deny that he was handsome. Your heart was pounding and your mind was clouding. The other guys came walking over as you stood up nervously. You were about to run until the one who was behind you earlier grabbed your wrist.

“No, wait, I can-”

“No need to,” one of them spoke. “Lu Han.” He nodded to the one that was complaining to Kris before. He took a step forward and he stood in front of me.

"What are you-”

“Ssh.” Lu Han closed his eyes. You started to squirm and wave your arm around that the one behind you was clinging onto. It was no use. You gave up and stood there awkwardly. Your heart was beating out of its chest. You were probably as white as a sheet, feeling nervous and scared. You continued to gawk at Lu Han who had his eyes closed and a finger on his temple. He opened his eyes. He said your name. “She was out for a run and came through the forest. She was being a little curious,” he said with a tease. “And she ended up in this situation.” You were still fighting with the one behind you.

“H-how do you know that?” you whimpered.

“I can read your mind. It’s called telepathy,” Lu Han said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You seem like a smart girl,” he added, stepping even closer to you. He looked you in the eye but you turned your head. “You should know what our intentions are.” You took a deep breath in but it got caught in your throat.

Tears began to well up in your eyes. You could feel the other male’s hand around your wrist tighten and you wanted to break it off but you had no strength to. “You’re going to kill me,” you choked.

“What?”

“You’re going to kill me!”

The twelve men exchanged glances before bursting out into laughter. Kris, the flying one, was now in front of you. “We’re not going to kill you,” he said in his deep voice. His eyes were like narrow slits, inspecting your every move. He tilted his head up, trying to look superior. “You’re going to stay with us now that you know what we are.”

You shook your head wildly. “But I don’t know who you are or what you are! I just want to go home!”

The one who had fire in his hands from earlier, Chanyeol, spoke up and said, “No! How do we know you won’t go around telling humans what we are?” His low voice scared you. It was so peculiar, you found, that he had such a young looking face and such an alluring and deep voice.

“I don’t know what you are!” you cried. “How can I tell people about this when I don’t even understand it myself?” The hand around your wrist squeezed, making you whimper.

Lu Han in. “You know we’re not human though!”

“So? I don’t even care what you are! Just leave me alone! Please!” The tears of fright were falling out of your eyes now but you could tell that they wouldn’t give you any sympathy.

“What should we do with her?”

“We’re going to keep her. We need someone to help us around here anyway.”

Kris came up to you, inches away from your face. You struggled to move back but he held your other wrist now. “Did you hear that? You’re going to stay with us until we find what we need.”

“What? But I-”

“No buts! We’ll let you go home for now but we’re going to find you tomorrow.”

“What? Why? I don’t even-”

“Shut up,” Kris commanded. “You’re lucky we didn’t do anything else.” You shut your mouth now. He let go of your wrist and so did the other guy. You knew you should have ran but your feet just didn’t move off the ground. “First,” he said, “You’re going to learn our names and our powers.” You kissed your teeth but you got another glare from Kris. You rolled your eyes and stood there, waiting for them to talk. You couldn’t help but stare in awe and fright.

They all had pale skin, dark hair and they stood at different heights. Each of them looked all the same to you. They had on black robes and their hoods were down, looking like some kind of cult. It scared you because they stared back at you with a similar interest you had for them. You could see their faces clearly. They were handsome yet you couldn’t forget that they weren’t human. The moonlight shone on them, making them look like eerie illusion. Maybe this was just a nightmare of some sort.

“This is Kai,” Kris explained in his deep voice, pointing to the guy behind you. “He teleports. That’s pretty straightforward.” Kai wore a poker face but the other men had blank expressions, too.

Next, Kris gestured to the other beside Kai. “That’s Chen.” Chen gave a small wave. “He controls lightning.”

“Xiu Min. He controls frost.”

“Se Hun is the wind maker.”

“Suho. He controls water.”

“Baekhyun is the guardian of light.”

“Tao is the keeper of time. He can change the time and make it go faster or slower. It’s pretty useless here on Earth since he can’t do that but he is still capable of stopping time whenever he wants.” Tao had a pretty smug look on his face after Kris said that. You wanted to snort but you knew it wouldn’t help anything.

“You probably know already,” Kris began, “But Lu Han here is the telepathic one of our group. He can also move objects around using his telekinetic powers.”

“D.O here can control the earth. Rocks, plants, sand, stuff like that.”

“Lay can heal anyone and anything. He can heal them in a very short amount of time but depending on how bad the damage is, it might take a while.”

“Chanyeol is the man on fire.” The man on fire…? The way Kris said it almost sounded like a joke of some sort to you. They all could tell that you already saw Chanyeol playing with fire earlier. It all seemed like lies but you even saw it with your own eyes. Everything was happening quickly and the more you stayed out longer, the more you wanted to go home.

You were starting to get sleepy and could feel your eyelids droop. There were still tingles running through your nerves as Kris began to wrap up. “I’m Kris,” he nodded.

The distance between your face and his was only mere inches.

He smirked. “And I can fly.” You nodded your head cautiously, still with a puzzled look on your face, and gulped. You were about to stumble back once again, but someone grabbed your wrist before you did. “The twelve of us make up the Twelve Forces. We come from the planet of Exo. And we’ve come to Earth because we hid something here that we need to find desperately. So,” he said, turning back to you with a stern look on his face, “Are you going to help us find it?”

You looked into the eyes of each of these strangers. You couldn’t find any lies but you were still scared. They had cold eyes but they weren’t piercing. Somewhere inside them, you could see that they were terrified as well, for a reason that you didn’t know of. But you did know it had something to do with the thing they had to find.

They seemed desperate. You wanted to go home. They wanted to go home. You nodded your head, giving in. “Fine, but don’t expect me to act like some kind of hero or something.” Soon, the deadpan looks they wore were replaced with relieved smiles and warmth. I didn’t know aliens were capable of showing such emotion.

“We’re not aliens,” Lu Han growled. “We just come from a different planet.”

“That still makes you an alien.”

“Don’t refer to us as aliens,” Tao stated. “Our people are called Exotics.” He turned to look at the others who were slipping their hoods on mysteriously.

"And our planet..." Tao gulped, "is dying."

It was then that you understand why you could see how scared they were in their eyes.