“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

“So, are you going to come?”

“Yeah…definitely.”

The voice on the other line chuckled. “You don’t usually agree to come to these things. Is there something that brought this on?”

“Oh, you know,” you awkwardly answered, “I decided hey, it’s the summer break. I might as well see everyone now because it’ll be a really long time until I see you again.”

“That’s not true. We can meet up any time over the break. There’s a lot of time. I’m sure we can do a lot.” You bit your lip, holding back tears. You’ve had enough of crying but the tears just kept coming. You were talking to one of your good friends who was reminding you about a party tomorrow night. You didn’t normally take part of these occasions since you never really liked big gatherings but this time, you just had to go. “I’ll tell her you’ll be there.”

“Who else is coming?”

“I don’t know. I guess almost everyone in our grade…?”

“Oh, okay. Alright.” You took a deep breath in and ran your hand through your hair. “Do I have to dress up?”

“Um, it’s semi-formal.”

“Hmm…alright. I’ll just see you tomorrow then.”

“Okay, remember to come to the place at, like, six o’clock.”

You bit your lip. “…Okay. Bye,” you sighed.

“See you tomorrow!”  You sighed as you pulled the phone away from your ear. You stared at it aimlessly, the dial tone was beeping. Finally turning it off, you rubbed your eyes. It was a long day. You woke up early that day, before the sun came up, to see the twelve strangers again. I have seven days. You just wanted to sleep.

*****

“Do you want any of us to accompany you?”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Just give me one night to forget all of this.”

“There’s no point. You’ll have to come back to us anyway.”

You looked up at them. “Please. Just give me one night.”

They all stepped back from you, staring at you with wide eyes. You brushed your hair and stared  at yourself in the mirror with a blank expression again. They might not ever see me again. You could see the twelve males standing behind you in the reflection.

Lu Han called your name. You turned around. “Huh?”

“Don’t think that. Just…just go out.” His head bowed down. “Go, um, see those other humans.” You nodded your head. You could still feel their cold eyes on you as you walked out the door. “Come back home safely…”

*****

“Bye, everyone!”

The people who were left in the hall called out your name and waved. You waved back and could feel the tears forming into your eyes. You sniffled before laying your hands onto the exit door. Someone called your name out. You turned around to see the guy you liked walking toward you.

“Oh, hey,” you greeted. Your heart was beating fast as you swallowed your fear.

“Why are you leaving so soon?” he asked.

You laughed nonchalantly. You looked down at your watch that read 12:46AM. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you chuckled. “It’s past twelve. Plus, the party ended a while ago.”

He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. “R-right. I just wanted to, uh, ask you something.”

You put your weight onto one leg and crossed your arms comfortably. “Yeah, what is it?” You leaned against the exit door, hoping it wouldn’t open. It was dark but you continued to watch him.

“Do you, um,” he began, still rubbing his neck, “…Have a, uh, b-boyfriend?” One of your eyebrows rose.

“No…why?” You wondered what it could’ve been that made him ask.

“You know,” he said, “I’ve always liked you.” Your head perked up listening to his words.

You sniffled. “You have?” The tears in your eyes remained but they were threatening to fall out. Your heart was pounding in your chest. Everything, you thought, was happening so quickly.       

He nodded his head, a smile appearing on his face. “Do you, um, like me, too?” When he asked you that, you felt like such a little kid but you didn’t know why. You were about to nod your head and answer when the door behind you opened, causing you to fall back.

“Ack!” you screamed. Everyone else in the room turned their heads but then went back to cleaning the hall. The boy in front of you was startled. You fell flat onto your and groaned. This is so embarrassing.

“I wish Lu Han was here. Then, he could tell me how embarrassed you feel.”

You looked up to see whose voice that belonged to. It was Kris. You rolled your eyes at the sight of him with his arms crossed over his chest and an arrogant smirk on his face. You let out a sigh and got back up to your feet with the help of your crush. You were surprised to see that Kris wasn’t wearing the black robe but instead he wore a black long sleeve and black pants. Your cheeks were flushed. “Aw, you’re blushing,” Kris said in an amused yet sarcastic tone. You scrunched your nose up. Kris hooked his arm into yours and began to drag you along. “Come, it’s time to go.”

“Go where?” you asked, alarmed. You started to flail your arms, hoping Kris would let go but he didn’t. Your crush stood there, speechless. Kris continued to walk and pulled you along impulsively. “Can I finish talking to him first?” you demanded. Kris stopped in his tracks, causing you to bump into his back. You groaned but your voice was muffled. You stepped back and Kris turned around.

“Make it quick.”

You ran back the couple metres Kris dragged you along. You stood in front of your crush. “Um, who was that?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s no one,” you shrugged. From behind, you could hear Kris snort.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about him. What were you saying?”

“Well…the mood is kind of ruined but I wanted to ask…” You could see his Adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat. “Do you…want to be my girlfriend?”

Your lips formed into the shape of an ‘o.’ This is impossible. You heard Kris snort once again and you had the urge to turn your head and yell at him but you couldn’t move. “Um…”

“Um, I’ll give you time to think about it.”

You nodded your head. “Yeah. Yes, please. I’m really flattered but right now…” You turned your head slightly to see Kris tapping his foot and his arms crossed still. “Right now isn’t a very good time.”

“Alright, thanks for hearing me out though.”

“Thanks for the offer,” you smiled. “It’s not that I can’t say ‘yes’ immediately, it’s just…I need a bit of time to think it through.”                                      

“No problem. It was good seeing you. You never come to these things,” he laughed.

You scratched your forehead. “Yeah, I know. I just thought it would be good to see everyone.” One last time…

“Yeah, well, I’ll see you soon?”

You nodded your head. “Yeah,” you said, biting your lip.

“Are you done?” Kris asked, irritated.

“Yes!” You turned back to face the boy who had just asked you out. “Sorry. I’ll be going now.”

He nodded his head with a grin on his face. “Bye.”

“Bye,” you whispered. He could barely hear it but he did. You chewed on your lip and looked into his eyes one last time. They glowed brightly but they were soft. You your heel and faced Kris now, almost regretting it.

You began to walk with Kris. Your heels clicked as the two of you strolled on the sidewalk. “Where are we going?”

The only thing Kris answered with was, “You still need to know a lot of things.” He grabbed your hand. His warmth shot tingles into your body. He looked deep within your eyes with a surprisingly warm look on his face. There was a soft smile he wore that took your breath away. “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered.

Suddenly, you were dashing through the streets and past the people. Your breaths were barely coming out as your eyes shifted everywhere. You could see that your feet weren’t touching the ground and that the two of you were gliding along the ground, barely making any contact with it. No one could see you two for you were moving too fast. You shut your eyes tightly. All you could hear was the fast wind blowing past you.

Kris turned his head and looked at you. He chuckled but continued to guide the two of you along quickly. You came to an abrupt stop and almost stumbled forward trying to catch yourself on your feet. Kris grabbed your wrist and pulled you onto your feet. “Open your eyes.”

When you opened your eyes slowly, the clearing of the forest was before you. You were standing on the path, panting. Your head was hurting and you felt like you were going to pass out or throw up. You could see that the eleven other males were fooling around in the same place they were the other night. Kris walked ahead of you. “We’re here!” he called out. They all turned around and saw the two of you. Their voices died down. You stood there motionlessly. Fright began to shake your heart violently. You were petrified yet everything seemed so…believable. You ran ahead unsteadily on those heels of yours, trying to catch up with Kris. The others weren’t wearing their black robes and suddenly, you felt confused.               

“W-where’s your robes?” you stuttered. You felt like it was weird to ask them normal questions and have normal conversations with them. None of it seemed real and you weren’t going to believe it anytime soon.

Suho stepped forward. “Tonight,” he spoke, “We will show you everything.”

“…What?” Your eyes widened. The Twelve Forces, as they referred to themselves as, stood in front of you and watched you aimlessly. “You’re going to show me what?”

All of a sudden, colourful lights flashed before you. Your eyes were almost popping out of their sockets. You watched in shock and amazement as the colours began to take shape. “W-what is it?” You turned your head back to look at the twelve males. You saw that Kris and Suho had their hands out in front of them, guiding the luminescent colours.

“We will show you through these holograms.”

“Wait…show me what?”

There was a crack in the sky, causing the Earth beneath you to shudder. Your heart jumped. You watched as Kris and Suho kept moving their hands around and the other ten stood steadily. Everything stopped and your feet were planted firmly on the solid ground again.

“Kris and Suho have this ability because they are the leaders of the Twelve Forces,” Lu Han informed you. “Just in case you were wondering.” You turned your attention back to the holograms. You saw an almost exact replica of the twelve males in these holograms. You peered at the real ones in your peripheral vision but they weren’t focused on you at all.

“This is us before we were sent to Earth.” You saw that instead of the black robes and clothing they had, they were dressed in metallic coloured wear with touches of black, red, gold and white. They stood very still with empty expressions on their faces. Your lips parted slightly as the view of the hologram began to circle around them. They were standing in front of a barren, desert-like land. The wind was blowing wildly as they kept their feet on the ground. An empty, cold-looking chunk of land floated overtop this land. It looked as though it was pulled out from the ground for there were roots sticking out from the bottom.  “And this is where the Tree of Life had been,” Suho explained. “Mama had split it in half and sent it to Earth.”

“W-who’s this ‘Mama’ you guys are always talking about?”

“She’s the spirit who inhabits our planet. She is the Goddess of our planet who inhabits all of our surroundings there. She,” Suho said, looking up at the holograms he was projecting, “Is still on that.” You tilted your head up and examined the holograms. It looked like Mars, if that was the best explanation. Though, the colours of the rocks and sand were more copper coloured.

“Can you see her?”

“No,” Suho answered. “She is also the spirit who calls out to us…who calls out to our souls.”

“Oh,” you whispered. They’re kind of like Native Americans or something. You blinked slowly and eventually shut your eyes. You tried to imagine losing your friends. Losing your family. Losing your home. You opened your eyes and could see all of them looking at you.

It was now Kris’s turn to explain the story. “Our planet is dying because of the inhabitants of Cruentus. They have already taken over this planet.” The holograms flashed and then revealed a planet that was glowing black and crimson red. “This planet is Atrox. They were already a horrible planet with even worse living beings on it. A couple years of our planet’s time ago, they were invaded by the Red Forces.”

“You guys couldn’t help them?”

“Why would we?” You swallowed the lump in your throat nervously. “The people of Atrox, Atroxus, now serve as slaves for the Red Forces.”

“Is it only the Red Forces who live on C-Cruentus?”

“Yes, there are hundreds of them though. Individually, their powers are not as strong as each of ours. However, now that they have the Atroxus with them, our chances are slim.”

“What about the Exotics? What happened to them?”

Kris’ hands swished in the air as the holograms before you flashed. Soon, you could see fourteen planets in a line. Eleven of them you couldn’t recognize. The other two you guessed were Exo, Atrox and Cruentus for their colours were recognizable. “The Exotics have scattered everywhere amongst these planets. Some may even be on this Earth but we wouldn’t know.”

There was one planet that caught your eye. It was covered in dark clouds and was dim compared to the other planets. “Is that one Cruentus?”

“Yes. And this one here is our planet.” The holograms zoomed into one of the planets you picked out to be Exo. “This is how it looked like before.” Mountains emerged from the flat, bare ground. There were more colours now but it wasn’t that much different. The piece of land from before floated over the planet. This time, there was a magnificent, glimmering tree on it. From the looks of it, this tree stood over 500 feet. It had shiny royal blue and crimson red leaves that adorned its golden brown, curvy branches as well as dazzling bronze ornaments that hung off of them. You blinked slowly, trying to adjust to its brightness. “I-Is that the Tree of Life?”

“Why are you always stuttering?” Kris smirked. He blinked before turning back to the realistic images projected. “And yes, that was the Tree of Life before its heart had been weakened by the Red Force’s evil.” Instead of looking forward, your head was turned. You scrutinized the twelve males. They all had tight lips pressed together and doleful eyes. You met eyes with Chen who turned his head. Your eyes darted into another direction. You felt sorry for them. Their planet was dying and you wanted to help but how could you?

The holograms flashed then vanished. “W-what-”

Suho cut you off. “That’s all we’ll show you for tonight.”

“What? Why?”

Kai answered with, “You look tired. You need your sleep, right?”

You bit your lip as you let your shoulders fall. “Okay.”

“We have plenty of time to show you other things,” Se Hun spoke.

“Besides,” Chen said, “We need you to understand these things and we can’t be putting everything on you at once. We’ll take everything one step at a time.” You nodded your head. The twelve began to walk ahead.

“Wait, I thought Suho said, ‘Tonight, we show you everything,’” you stated, suppressing your laughter caused by your imitation of Suho's voice. They turned around.

Lu Han answered for Suho, “He lied.”

You gasped then shook your head. Geez, even aliens can lie.

“I thought I told you not to call us aliens,” Lu Han groaned. You shrugged and then, you all started to make your way to your house along the path.

“Why don’t you guys just teleport us there or something?”

Without turning back this time, Xiu Min replied, “Our powers are limited now.”

“Huh?”

“Now that we’re on a different planet, not exactly in the closest range of our planet, our powers are weaker as well. Our powers are still strong but not as strong as they were back home.” Back home…You sighed. Everything is going downhill for them. Lu Han flashed you a reassuring look but you couldn’t help but feel sad. Your eyes diverted to Kris who was walking in front of all of you. You remembered how he flew and brought you along with him. His head turned slightly and you thought that maybe he could feel your eyes on him but then, he looked forward once again. You let out another sigh and looked up at the sky dolefully. It was great and vast and you just couldn’t believe that these twelve beings came far beyond it.