Chapter 16  

Timeline: 12th September 2012  

They crept towards the suspicious opening, large enough to fit Daddy bear, hidden behind the thick layers of ferns, with their hearts about to leap out of their throat. The Water User gulped as he wiped his sweat which had been trickling down his forehead as if he had been running in a marathon some minutes ago.  

The two of them had been following a member of the Red Forces like ninjas. That member was a Gravity Manipulator which caused them to loose sight of him a few times. This was the third time they lost him when he decided to walk around upside down, below the tree branches, making them difficult to follow his chosen route.  

The Lightning User had wanted to scream and pull his hair in frustration but Suho, ever the Leader, calmed him with soothing words. They had come to a clearing beside a river with crystal clear water before the Gravity Manipulator had disappeared to who knows where.  

"We're probably lost. Damn it." Chen cursed, kicking a pebble far away from him. Suho wondered if the pebble had anger the wrong person as he looked at the pebble flying a long distance pitifully.  

Suho plucked a large leaf from a tree, making it into a cup-like shape. Who said he was bad at craft?  

He summoned some water from the river before it fell smoothly into the cup made from the leaf. As he passed the cup of water to Chen, he assessed his surroundings. Chen gathered the cup in his hands, thanking Suho and the Goddess. The younger male savoured the taste of water till the last drop gratefully after going a whole day without water.

Suho dranked beside him quietly, with no cup and all. It was still strange for Chen to see Suho drinking the water he shaped into a sphere and a straw connected to it. He looked like he was drinking from a coconut.   

And there was the fact that Suho's hands were not even touching the sphere of water at all. Peculiar.  

The water disappeared into thin air, correction, into Suho's body. The elder boy stood up, saying, "We should move on if we want to get out of here before sunset."

Chen nodded as he got up as well, uncurling the cup-shaped leaf back to its original state and left it on the ground.  

They followed the direction which the river water flowed. They say if you ever get lost in a forest, it was best to follow the river flow because most of the time, it would lead you out of the forest, if not to a nearby village or countryside.

What they found after walking for more than an hour was somebody's hideout. Silently, they made their way towards it. Hearing rustling of leaves, they leapt behind the trees to cover up their presence.  

"Hurry! Master Eden is waiting for us. I'm sure he would get impatient soon if we do not hurry."  

A group of people (Suho was sure they were the Red Forces) disappeared into the opening with the last of them looking about, making sure they were not tailed. When all of them had entered, Suho found his courage to talk again.  

"Master Eden?" He whispered to Chen.  

"Must be their Leader." Chen hissed to him, his face a shade paler than usual.  

"The Red Forces' hideout. This is it. We found it. We must tell Xiumin immediately."  

They moved away after marking the approximate location of the hideout on the Google Map in their Android device. The location was so well hidden they almost missed it.  

They moved away from the hideout to make a call to Xiumin. Thankfully, Suho's battery could last for at least five days if no calls or Internet surfings were made.  

The line on the other side was picked up immediately after the first ring.  

"Yeah? What did you guys find?" Xiumin's voice was cheery to their ears.  

"Listen. We found their hideout. I'll send a screenshot of the exact location to you by mail."  

For a minute, there was no answer from Xiumin and it made Suho worry.  

"I need you guys to get out of there right away." His voice sounded urgent and looked like they were forced out through gritted teeth. Suho had never hear Xiumin this upset before.  

Chen argued before Suho could stop him. "But don't you realise? We could ambush them and kill as many as we can once we're in."  

"It's not as easy as you think. What if you get both of you killed? No. Get away from there as quick as possible. I don't want you to try anything funny, Chen. Or I'll haunt you for the rest of my life in the afterlife."  

Chen was about to argue again just when Xiumin stressed out, "Now!"  

Suho placed his hand on one of Chen's shoulder, shutting him up. They knew when not to disobey Xiumin. After all, he was still the eldest and the most superior among all of them.  

And if he ever made a threat, he would seriously carry it out. No worries that he would forget about it too since he had a good memory.  

Xiumin hung up his handphone and threw it on his desk. They had better listen to him or he would risk losing both of his younger brothers.  

He received a second call from an all too familiar number. His mother.  

He let the phone go on for a few times, not intending to pick up at all. Why would his mother call after he had learnt to forget about her? After all those things she did to make his life hell. She was a Mind Manipulator, a gifted one just like him.  

After many years, he found out that she had been misusing her Ability by manipulating everybody else to answer to her whims. She had been bringing back 'free' stuff like food, clothes and jewelleries she stole from the supermarket. At first, he thought his mother must have married a rich man secretly behind his back.  

He chose to leave when he could not tolerate his mother's behaviour anymore. Their relationship ended there and there were no more communication whatsoever between them for many years. His mother did not even took the effort to look for her son. He must have been unimportant to her.  

So, why now? What was she up to? He could never learn to trust her again.  

The insistent ringing annoyed Xiumin till he was about to toss his handphone out of the window.

Against all thoughts to never pick up her calls ever again, he answered.  

"Hi?"  

"Oh, Xiumin. How glad am I to be able to get a hold of you." His mother squealed while he snorted. As if, she was glad at all. She must have wanted to request something from him. Like he would give anything freely to his mother.  

"What do you want?" Xiumin asked calmly, punctuating every word, even though his control on his temper was close to slipping.  

Silence stretched for a minute or so and Xiumin contemplated to hang up on her.  

"Always direct to the point, huh? Can't you at least ask how am I?" Her voice sounded sickeningly sweet after sighing dramatically.  

"Fine. How are you?"  

"Call me Mummy." She retorted.  

"Mother. Why are you bugging me? I have a mind to change my phone number so that you won't be able to call me again. But it's too much of a hassle."  

"Come on, now. Can't a Mum ask how is her son doing these days? Every Mum is worried about her son."  

"Bull. Now, spit it out."  

"I've joined the Red Forces and I want you to too."   "No. They're insane." The answer was quick and did not require a second thought.  

His mother was silent for a while. Xiumin thought it a little odd.  

There! There it was, his mother trying to manipulate his mind as there was no conversation on the other end of the phone.  

He concentrated on searching for his mother inside his brain and found a really dark force in there, which utterly shocked him. His mother had turned dark fully. She was corrupted beyond repair. There was no use mending their relationship now.  

He forced his mother out of his mind and built up layers and layers of strong brick walls to protect his brain from being abused by her.  

She huffed when she failed to manipulate her son to join her. Her son was always a tought nut to crack. He was always on full defense when she was near. How did he grow up to be so disobedient anyway?  

"Fine. Have it your way then."  

She hung up, leaving Xiumin a great headache. Why did he have to pick up her call? If only he did not, it would have saved him a lot of trouble.  

He ran over the whole conversation with his mother again and realised for the first time what his mother had said.  

She had joined the Red Forces and it only meant one thing. That from now onwards, they would be enemies. That they would be fighting against each other. That they would be fighting on different sides.   Although he never liked his mother, she had given birth to him and raised him. So, in the end there was some compassion for her left in his heart.  

He felt saddened that she chose to join the bad guys rather than their side.  

Xiumin clenched his fists to avoid from punching the wall in front of him. His mind in a turmoil, he wondered when the time comes, would he be able to kill her? Or would he pity her and tried to get her out of there.  

He hoped that when they were on the battlefield, he would not be the one to make the decision to kill her. He wished for his friends to kill her without remorse. After all, she was forever corrupted and would not be able to revert back to the same woman she once was before joining the red Forces.  

"Mother. What have you done?"    

To be continued...  

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Phew! Another chapter posted.

Erm... Does anyone has any idea where could I find someone to make a book cover for this story? Yeah, because I would like to have one and because I don't know how to make one. *sighs dramatically*

Anywayssssss, thank you so much for reading, taking your time to review, subscribing and voting. They mean so much to the author.

Please look forward to Kray in the next chapter! <3

NOTE: If anyone's confused, Xiumin's Mum is a Mind Manipulator. She can manipulate other people's brain so that they would do as she says. She can control minds. (Sort of like the Imperius curse in Harry Potter)

For Luhan, he is a telepath and a telekinetic. He can read minds and move things. So, both of them have different abilities actually. Hope that helps. XD