The morning sunlight penetrated into your room, making stirred under the blanket. You didn’t know the time, but that was a really good sleep you thought. There was no nightmare or any incident that you remembered of last night. You turned to the side of your body, facing away from the window when you noticed someone in your room; sleeping on the chair beside the bed.

Kai? Why is he my room, sleeping?

You sat up and scratched your head trying to recall what happened last night. However, you were sure of no nightmare or even waking up in the middle of the night. You looked at Kai, who seemed to be deep in his sleep with his head slouched down. He was so adorable. His messy that made him looked y in a way. Realising that you’ve been staring at him for the past 10mins, you decided to wake him and asked why he was in your room.

Carefully, you pushed yourself off the bed and sat facing him. “Kai?” You called out softly. He didn’t budge. “Kai?” You tried once again, this time slightly louder but he still won’t budge. You then walked towards him closer and thought of a mischievous prank. You found a piece of tissue paper, on the study desk and you dangled the tissue near his nostrils. He began to sniff and groaned. You chuckled, seeing his annoyed face. However, his eyes were still shut. You decided to give it another go and slide the tissue across his nostrils.

Suddenly, his strong hand grabbed your arm causing you stumbled and fell towards him. The sudden contact woke him up, “What the.” He blurted. You were sitting on his lap without even realising it until he tilted his head and looked at you with an irritated expression. You were so embarrassed that you quickly got up and avoided his gaze. “ert.” He commented.

Instantaneously you glared at him with wide eyes. The embarrassment disappeared in a flash and anger started to fuel instead. “How dare you?! Why are you in my room?! Who’s the ert one here?!” You questioned him loudly. You pushed him away but he stood firm, staring at you dumbfounded.

“Are you feeling alright?” He asked suddenly, in a calm tone.

You tilted your head, confused at this guy sudden changed in mood. Your loud voice had definitely alerted the rest of the boys, as one by one came into your room.

“Lyorin! You’re awake? Are you okay?” Sehun came and held on to your shoulders. He checked your forehead for any fever and slapped your cheeks softly, making sure you were awake and healthy. The rest started to ask whether everything was fine, whether you were feeling alright and all sorts of question that you weren’t expecting.

You were speechless at the boys’ sudden behaviour. Suho walked towards you and asked, “Don’t you remember anything last night?”

You tried to remember but nothing happened last night. As far as you knew, you were sleeping soundly. “Err no. What happened last night?” You asked them curiously. Kris stared and then examined you from head to toe. “What?” You asked him, after seeing the way he was scrutinizing you.

 Kris turned to Suho and whispered, “I don’t think she remembers.” Suho agreed with him. Kris walked towards you and said, “Come sit down. We need to talk.” Kris patted the bed and gestured for you to sit. The rest of the boys were standing there until Kris ordered for them to sit as well. You remained quiet throughout. Kris glanced at Suho, who seemed to have signalled something. “Okay, let’s start. Last night, you were sleepwalking.”

“I was..what? Sleepwalking? Really?” You scratched your head trying to recall, but you didn’t seem to remember.

“Yes, you were sleepwalking all the way to the balcony.” Kris pointed the exact location that you stood last night. “Do you remember what your dream was, last night?” He asked.

You looked up the ceiling trying to gather what you could remember. You dreamt of something last night. It wasn’t a nightmare but a dream. Suddenly, the images began to enter your head. “I remember now!” You exclaimed delightfully as though you won something. “I dreamt that I was walking in an unknown surrounding because –“ You stopped trying to remember the face of the person. “I was following my father who was calling out for me. Eventually, I reached to the edge of a cliff.” You stopped again, trying to picture the dream. The boys waited patiently, allowing you to slowly recall. “I stood beside my father who was watching the sun set. It was a peaceful atmosphere. I could hear him calling my name several times. I was happy at the moment until he disappeared.” You shuddered as you remembered the vivid scene. “Suddenly, I was spiralling down the cliff and –“ No matter how hard you tried to remember what happened next, you just could not. “I don’t remember what happened next.” You confessed.

“I knew it.” Luhan blurted out of sudden, garnering stares from the rest including you.

“Know what?” You asked.

Suho sat facing you and held your hand, “Lyorin, last night dream could have been snippets of what your father might have left behind before he passed away.”

“What?” You were confused.

Suho continued, “Your father was an EXO chosen one. His ability; is to manipulate the mind and memory of a person. He can travel and appear in a person’s mind, and then manipulate it in any way he wishes to. He is able to create dreams, nightmares and collect memories of someone’s mind.” Your jaw dropped. Your father’s power was amazingly cool.

“But he’s dead, how could he possibly enter my dream last night?”

“He might have passed, but the dreams that he created before he died linger forever. Lyorin, he passed away last January –“

“He just passed away a couple of months ago?” You were shocked knowing that if he had survived just a bit more, you could have seen him. Once again, your heart was crushed.

Suho nodded. “I’m sorry Lyorin.” His face turned solemn but he had to continue, “Right after he died, we were summoned to get you. Ever since that day, you became our care. Your father was the last surviving EXO chosen ones from the previous generation. With his passing, the responsibility becomes ours.”

“What happened to the chosen ones from the previous generation? What about the STAR?” You eagerly questioned.

“All of them were killed.” Kris answered straight without any emotions. The atmosphere turned sombre. You were beginning to feel afraid. The fact that these chosen ones were killed despite having powers put you at an even greater risk. Furthermore, the thought of seeing the people in front of you right now, EXO, being killed was just too painful.

“Thankfully, you were born before the previous STAR was killed, which means you manage to provide the strength to the remaining chosen ones from the previous generation. However, they were still defeated. Our clan might have lost a generation of chosen ones, but we still manage to sustain long enough for the next generation to continue the clan’s primary goal." Suho explained.

"But the main concern is, we need to find the real identity of the killers. After the split, EXO has never sought any of the other members, the BAP and BTOB, of the fraternity. We tried our best to stay as low profile as possible but with the killings of all the chosen ones from the generation before us; we are not going to let the matter at rest until we find the killers. They did not spare even one. All of them were killed brutally.” Baekhyun continued after Suho.

“Who are they? I mean they must be someone from the other members of the clan, am I right? The chosen ones cannot just die naturally. These people must have known their weaknesses, which means –“

“The people who killed them aren’t ordinary beings as well. You’re quick, Lyorin.” Luhan ended your sentence.

“BAP?” You guessed, because they were the only ones that were considered as enemies. However, you noticed EXO was not agreeing and has confused look plastered on them.

Chen, the clever one spoke up, “Even if it’s BAP, the chosen ones from the previous generation are the ones that could have been the killers, since this happened before the new generation has taken over. I mean we can’t just attack the new BAP. But I, personally, don’t think BAP are the ones who killed. Even for their past generation, I don’t think they killed our kind.”

“Why do you think so?” Chanyeol wanted to know more from Chen who seemed to have given this issue a thorough thought.

“Chanyeol, they have no reason to kill the chosen ones. They only seek the STAR so as to snatch the powers away from us. Plus, do you remember the story Mr Lee told us? Before this, the three clans came together to negotiate and form peace. If BAP was out to kill, they could have just killed them all without negotiating. They had never bothered our STAR until the generation before us. But how could we jump straight in accusing them when we do not have hard evidence? We always heard stories of them wanting powers and would do anything to gain them but in actual fact they never killed any of our kind before.” Chen conveyed his thought.

Xiumin added, “Chen, you’re right. Besides, if they really wanted powers, they could have killed the previous STARs as well, why would they wait until now? Unless they were task to kill them only now, but it cannot be.”

“Why?” Lyorin asked.

“They had the choice to kill and gain powers since decades ago after the split, but why did they only kill just recently? It’s weird.” Xiumin pondered. The rest of EXO seemed to be deep in thought.

“But the current BAP killed BTOB’s STAR!” Sehun cried out.

“Sehun, no one actually saw who killed Haerin, even BTOB members. She was –“ Luhan looked at Lyorin. “Lyorin, this might be too hard for you.”

Lyorin puzzled by his comment asked, “What?”

“Haerin was brutally tortured before she died. When her body was found just a day after she went missing, she was almost unrecognisable. She was badly bruised and bloody. The same goes to the chosen ones of our kind. They were tortured and afflicted with all kinds of pain before they were killed.” Luhan stopped after seeing Lyorin turned pale. Luhan read Suho’s mind, telling him not to go on anymore. He understood. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled softly.

“Actually, everything kind of makes sense now. Being the pioneer clan of the fraternity, they should have adhered strongly to the code of conduct under the Book of Fate. I doubt BAP members were involved.” Kris spoke up.

“Why is that so?” Lyorin questioned again.

“A painless and instant death. No one should feel the slightest pain even when dying. Gather your strength and pierce right through the heart. Just once.” Tao read out a line from the Book of Fate.

“Do you get it? When we kill, it is a must to make sure we do it fast and right, not allowing the victim to suffer any pain. However all these victims, they were killed inhumanely.” Kris continued the explanation after Tao.

“If BAP members follow the code of conduct, then even if they did the killings, they would not have tortured them before their death? Furthermore, if gaining power is their main priority, then they should have killed since decades ago. Why do it only now?” Lyorin tried to fit the puzzle slowly. “If it’s not BAP, then who is it?”

The guys shrugged, unable to come up with any guesses as well. They were as clueless as her. 

To be continued...

Hello readers. This chapter may be a little confusing. Let me explain a few bits:

1) There are 3 clans in this fraternity (BAP, BTOB & EXO). Obviously, BAP is the supposed antaganist but really, are they?

2) Every generations for the clans not following the Book of Fate anymore (BTOB & EXO) has a STAR they need to protect, because this person is the key to them possessing powers. STAR is gone, so are their powers and eventually the clan's strength weakens.

3) For EXO, Lyorin was born just right before the previous generation's STAR was killed. This was the generation when her dad was one of the chosen ones. Technically, EXO's clan is sort of lucky because their generation managed to continue.

4) The problem now is, who killed EXO's chosen ones from the previous generation? BAP or someone else?

Only she has the answer....