“Yunho-ah,” Sooyeon called again, her voice sugary and sweet.

“My wife,” he returned tenderly, extending his hand to hers. His eyes were filled with such passion and adoration, Jihae wondered how Sooyeon didn’t melt under his intense gaze. They entwined fingers, settling down on one of Jihae’s favourite garden benches. “What brings you here today?”

“I have heard mumblings of rebellion in the South as they are not happy with us combining the two districts,” Sooyeon explained. There was a seductive lilt to her words; the way she spoke was so hypnotic that even the most ridiculous ideas sounded tempting. “They do not think well of the residents of the North who they believe the reap all the benefits of their hard work.”

Yunho replied quickly, without missing a beat. “They will not rebel for they do not know of the Seo family assassination. Our rule has done nothing but bring prosperity to those areas, we’ve provided those wretches with more opportunities than their greedy-“

“Do not be rash,” Sooyeon purred, cutting her husband off mid-sentence. “You have led armies of thousands and crushed all signs of rebellion on our planet but this is a different matter entirely.”

“How so?” Yunho demanded, dropping all formalities. Even with his formidable strength and intelligence, he was still a man of naivety and childish innocence. “If there is a rebellion, we crush it and prosecute anyone responsible. Royals are given a heavenly duty to do good for the people.”

“By assassinating the Seo clan, we have already breached the laws of heaven,” she replied sharply. “What harm does it do if we dive further? There’s no turning back in the sea of politics.”

“Sooyeon!” Yunho cried, slightly appalled with his wife’s callousness. “The assassination was carried out so we could satisfy our own selfish needs. What else do we need? Domination over Earth? We have all we need and we need nothing else.”

Sooyeon smiled softly and chuckled. “My dear husband, there is no bound to one’s selfishness and there is no point in denying that.”

Yunho could only gape at his wife. Even though he was naïve, something that drew her to him with that she was manipulative and it gave him the guts to do the cruellest things. She was in a way, a release for his own frustrations. He shook his head and laughed weakly. “You’re on your own. We need no more. Actually, let me correct that. I need no more. You do.”

Both Jihae and Sooyeon watched as the King stood up, staring his wife straight in the eyes before drawing a magnificent sword from his belt. With trembling hands, he laid the weapon down in his wife’s hands. Sooyeon accepted the sword with a graceful nod of the head. Yunho’s words rang out in the crisp morning air like the harsh clanging of metal on metal. “This is what you wanted to whole time, wasn’t it? You’re a power-thirsty wretch.”

 Sooyeon brushed her hands over the hilt, admiring the perfect knobs and dents, the elegant dragons that twisted and soared over the smooth metal. Brilliant gems peeked out from behind the elaborate, gold designs and for a moment, even the Queen with a frozen heart was taken aback by its craftsmanship and beauty. She peeked out from underneath her pretty spider-lashes and curved her lips into a chilling smile. “You have left me a sign of ultimate trust, my husband and for that I am grateful.”

The sword was the holy sign of power. It was said to be a product of the tree and would only be helpful to those with a good soul and those righteous to the throne. It commanded the military, it was a soldier’s shining beacon of hope and the signal of end to war. However, it could also be used to herald the beginning of wars and be a thousand young men’s’ despair as they left their families to fight for the royals’ cause.

Jihae, still in hiding, flinched at the hostility in her tone. Sooyeon had not once, dropped the formalities. Yunho spun around, his eyes blazing with a subdued fire. “This is not trust. This is despair.”

Sooyeon did not back down, her petite frame pressing up against his as they engaged in psychological war-fare, eye on eye. In one hand she held the sword high in the air, as if she was indulging in its heaviness, the feeling of power. Jihae could make out distinct words as the Queen leant to whisper in the King’s ear. “I will indulge in the feeling of having ten thousand and one men in the palms of my hands.”

Ten thousand and one...?

Yunho dropped to his knees as Jihae’s breathing grew shallow.

Sooyeon had so cleverly provoked her husband to this point and his rash decision to hand her ultimate military power.

Jihae smiled bitterly as she scanned Yunho’s empty eyes.

Sooyeon was going to be a deadly rival.

She was an absolute, cold-blooded monster.

♦♦♦

 “Xiumin, freezing the windows are not going to help you clean them,” Kris chided in a resigned manner as he waded through a mess of mops and buckets, pinching his nose-bridge in an attempt to contain his frustration. Their dormitories had needed cleaning after a few of his boisterous kids (future guardians in fact) had decided to throw a birthday party for the leader. Who knew that Luhan was such a terrible cook that he would cause such catastrophe in the kitchen and who knew that Chen was such a party animal after getting high on sugar? Their sole living quarters were a ruin of shredded balloons, burnt attempts at making cake and half-melted candy. Xiumin shot the elder a guilty smile and waited for the windows to melt a little so he could wipe them properly.

Luhan sat in the middle of the room as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, moving the mops and buckets with his affinity, telekinesis. The problem was, none of the guardians had fully harnessed their powers and as a result, he was slopping soapy water all over the floor-boards.

“LUHAN!” Kris roared as the younger boy’s eyes fluttered open in shock.

“Sorry, Duizhang,” he answered meekly, draining the ground of all signs of liquid and shifting the water into several big blobs that floated mid-air. He let a few of the rain down into the buckets, but missed a particularly large one.

Tao skidded into the room right on time and widened his eyes at massive, swirling body of water. If that fell, they would have to spend hours cleaning that up manually so he commanded time and stopped it in its tracks.

Luhan whipped around and his face burst into a radiant smile. The exact smile which Kris couldn’t resist when handing out punishments because really, he was just a huge ball of mush behind the poker face.

The leader sighed in relief. "CHEN!!!! CAN YOU GET ANOTHER BUCKET?"

"Yes Duizhang!" echoed Chen’s muffled voice as he dove into the supplies cupboard in a hasty attempt to find a bucket.

"Tao, can you hold it for a few more seconds?"

Tao nodded and frowned slightly, feigning concentration but when Chen appeared in the doorway with a giant, red bucket, Tao’s lips curled into a mischievous smile. His sharp, black eyes glittered in anticipation.

"Chen, place it under the water.”

"Yes, Duizhang!" Chen blindly walked into the centre of the room and shrieked loudly, causing the members to wince as a shower of dirty, soapy water rained down over his head in a Niagara Falls fashion.

Tao had released the blob of water, quite on purpose.

"YAAAAAH!!!!!" A piercing shriek shot through the air like an arrow. 

"Sorry Chen, I couldn’t hold on any longer!" said Tao innocently. Luhan, Xiumin and Kris burst out laughing. As much as he would’ve liked it, Chen was one of the more mature guardians and he knew better than to mix electricity with water. Tao’s punishment would just have to wait a little longer.

Tao grinned wider, clamping his arms around the elder in an affectionate hug. "I told you it was an accident Chen gege!"

Kris shook his head and chuckled, his deep voice echoing around the house. “If we don’t finish this in under an hour, we’re not going to be able to go the village tomorrow.”

The boys stood with grief-stricken expressions as they began furiously scrubbing the floors. As much as it was safe and warm inside the dormitories, the village was a bustling, lively place where they could indulge in delicacies, play countless games with the villagers’ children and best of all, skip out on a day of endless rules and lessons. Kris knew he had hit a sore spot and ruffled Lay’s hair affectionately.  "Xiumin are you almost done? For the windows?"

"Pretty much." Xiumin was concentrating furiously, his cheeks puffed out in sheer concentration. If only they were like this all the time, Kris mused. He probably wouldn’t be developing wrinkles, growing grey hair and aging two times faster than he was supposed to. 

Kris felt the beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and drew his hand across it and he immediately regretted it. Tiny, sharp slivers of ice pierced his gentle skin and he stared in resigned horror at the tiny shards embedded into his palms. It felt like dragging your hand over a thousand tiny knives.

“Xiumin!” Kris couldn’t even find the energy to roar at them anymore.

“Yes Duizhang?” Xiumin pulled an innocent expression.

“Next time, please don’t freeze my sweat ok? It’s not the most hygienic thing to do.”

Xiumin smiled, secretly exhaling in relief. He replied a little too cheerfully, raising his hand in mock salute. "Ok Duizhang."

From outside, the rattling of doors and windows rang clearly through the house. Xiumin could pick out he delighted shrieks of Chen and then a howling laughter which was presumably, Tao’s. Kris groaned and slapped his forehead, his stomach twisting itself into knots with worry. He feared he would get wrinkles and silver hairs by the time the future-guardians-in-trianing were fully matured. He burst his way into the main recreation area and bellowed like a dragon. “OKAY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?!”

There was a deafening silence as he was met with four guilty faces, Xiumin trailing after him. On the left side of his vision, he spied a cluster of plants of some sort, artfully arranged so they spelt out the words, ‘’, complete with an accompanying diagram. A closer look confirmed to him that the plants were the Jade Lotuses that were to be delivered to the Imperial Palace the next day, and that the boys had clearly used their powers to manipulate them into a large clump that was surely unfit for presentation to the Royals.

Kris massaged his temples. “Lay, what happened?”

The most transparently honest guardian, Lay was standing near the back, as if he didn’t want to get seen. After the leader directed his question to him, he immediately stepped forward, and stuttered nervously trying to avoid the burning glares of the other members, “Duizhang, I came outside and Chen, Tao and Luhan were outside practising their affinities. They then-“

At the mention of the word, ‘affinities’ Kris immediately took notice and began one of his long-winded lectures again. “As guardians-in-training you should know when it is appropriate to use your powers, and when it’s not. Now is definitely not an appropriate time. Do you know what these plants significance? Do you know what they’re here for?”

Another silence met his words. Kris smirked and spoke softly, his tone as deadly as a cobra’s before attack. “You know that the Queen values quality very strongly, correct?”

He was met with fervent nodding.

“There just may be chance we’ll lose our dormitory if she isn’t satisfied with the quality of her lotuses.”

All the boys gasped in horror and immediately scrambled to their feet, placing the plants in their original order. Kris had to bite his bottom lip to stop the chuckles that were threatening to burst from his mouth. He sighed and composed his face into a smooth mask of calm.

 “Alright, never mind. Just get inside and clean the dorm. I’ll give you half an hour. If the dorm’s not clean by then, I’m cancelling the village visit.”

The four guardians-in-training immediately sprinted into the next room, and Kris leaned against the wall. Xiumin didn’t follow the rest inside.

“Duizhang, those plants weren’t that special were they?”

Kris’s lips curved into the ghost of a smile. “No. I just needed an excuse to get them moving.”

Xiumin smiled, flashing his white teeth. “I thought so.”

A/N:

Okay guys, I know we haven’t updated for two months and we’re so apologetic for that but um yeah…

We have nine assessments and two yearlies due so we weren’t able to collaborate on ANYTHING. However, chapter 4 is already nearly finished so we will be able to provide updates really soon. We really put a lot of effort into this story and we’ve outlined the history of EXO-planet and we’ve even constructed a map! I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! And thanks to all that have subscribed and commented, we’re super touched TT_TT

We hope you guys enjoyed Exo-M’s appearance :)

-Charmallama and Shannonigan