Chapter 18

Timeline: 1st October 2012

The air was tense between them that you could cut it with a knife. After the incident yesterday, both of them found it awkward to strike a conversation between themselves. Every single time Kai started to talk about something, staring at D.O with his pair of piercing brown eyes while doing so, the other would squirm under his gaze and a pretty pink would colour both of his cheeks, and sometimes even up till the tip of his ears. Then, Kai, noticing the adorable blush on the elder boy's face, would turn red too. Silence resumed once more as the pair crept around slowly in the forest in search of a clue which may lead them to the Tree of Life.

The taller of the two avoided using his Teleportation as much as he could so as to conserve his energy though he was tempted to use it in this huge forest. He felt lost because everywhere he turned, every corner looked the same. Green ferns, long grasses, tall and short trees covered the whole forest. There was no sign of a stream or an empty patch of land for them to set up camp so they had to make use of the trees around them as shelter and set up a fire to prevent wild animals nearing them.

That was the least of D.O's worries because he was so in tune with the nature and he had no problem communicating with the tame animals, like the cute white bunnies, which reminded him of his hyung, birds and even insects! Imagine being able to converse with mosquitoes. Oh, how Kai wished he could tell those stupid insects to go away and please do not disturb his beauty sleep.

D.O was always graceful in his steps. But after the scene from the future, he could no longer walk in a proper manner. A few times had he almost tripped over roots of trees. I mean, he has the power of the Earth, he should be able to sense the flora and fauna within a few metres from where he was standing. The most terrible thing was him, D.O, slamming into a tree after stumbling over a bush. What a clutz, he scolded himself.

About to pick himself up, he was startled by a hand offered to him. That familiar hand which he loved. He coughed mentally.

Kai pulled him back to his feet with ease. However, he just had to be so careless yet again and slammed into Kai's warm body. The shorter male almost cooed in pleasure at the feel of broad chests against his cheek. He flushed at the thought, pushing Kai away in the process before turning away with a soft thanks and continued his journey.

He soon found himself standing before a huge tree. He could sense that this tree was different from the others as it hummed its very own song instead of singing along in harmony with the other trees. The melody from it was particularly soothing and he felt himself drawn to it. Is this what he thought it is? The Tree of Life in the middle of the Lost Forest? No matter how you think about it, isn't that peculiar? Then again, he was abnormal too.

After some minutes of hesitation and Kai bugging them to move on or he was going to leave D.O there, he moved forward, rolling his eyes. Empty threat, his brain supplies. He knew that Kai would not do so. He was too kind.

D.O outstretched his arm, reaching out towards the trunk of that humming tree, expecting to feel that sensation of being into a portal again. Once his middle finger tip touched the tree briefly, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He was just being paranoid. There was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Placing his palms on the tree, the soft tune reached his mind but he could not comprehend a single word it was saying, which to him was a mystery in itself. Usually, he was able to understand every language each creature or plant speaks in. Lay though, was a totally different story. Due to his Healing ability, animals and trees were attracted to him. He did not have to understand them. They are drawn to him like a magnet. It was as if they knew they would be safe and stayed well protected if they were to stay with him. They treated him like a mother too, which D.O found it amusing as he listened to a few bunnies arguing constantly about their 'mother', Lay.

Brows knitted in a frown, he racked his brain in order to find the reason why he was not able to understand the tree in front of him.

Kai who had not gotten too far from him, stopped, turned and approached him instead of continuing to venture deeper into the forest. He had a look of confusion before it was replaced with a sense of recognition. He must have thought that D.O stumbled into yet another memory.

Frowning, the shorter teenager pressed harder, trying hard to focus. However, his concentration was broken when they heard someone or rather, something approaching. Normally, D.O would be able to talk the wild boars or bears into leaving them alone and that they were there, not to harm those creatures but just to gather clues about the Tree of Life. Kai had suggested questioning these animals or plants if they had any idea about the Tree of Life but none of them had any idea about that tree and most of them did not even know the existence of it. It was a sad thing but the pair of humans did not give up in searching for clues or the Tree of Life itself.

The rustling of leaves and a deep growl from the left of D.O startled the poor boy, causing him to leap away from the tree and fell backwards. Fortunately, Kai was there to catch him and he was able to avoid injuries.

The growl turned into a low whine. A dark-furred creature stepped out of its hiding place and stopped before the two teenagers, eyeing them carefully before nearing the shorter boy, rubbing its head gently against D.O's stomach.

Both humans were too stunned for words until the creature started whining again. It was asking for a rub under its ear and so D.O complied, scratching below its ear while his other hand caressed the soft fur on the creature's head.

"Wow. It's a warg, isn't it? Wargs are rare nowadays," Kai said from behind him, reaching out a hand to pat the said warg on the head but it snarled at him in warning. The younger teenager stilled his hand, afraid to move any further.

D.O chuckled, whispering into the warg's ear, "Do not worry. He is my friend."

The creature nodded in understanding, bumping his head against Kai's stilled hand to encourage the human to pat his head. To say Kai was thrilled was an understatement. He was ecstatic and gathered the warg into a hug, squeezing it to the point of almost choking it.

"You are strangling me, human."

Startled, Kai and D.O looked around in search for the source of that deep booming voice but found no one close to them.

The warg's chests rumbled as it spoke again, "Please release me."

Eyes as wide as saucers, Kai complied and did as he was told, too shocked to utter any form of words while D.O gaped at the warg with his jaws open.

"Please close your mouth, D.O. It is unsightly," the creature said, flipping its furry head as if displaying arrogance but the expression was gone in a minute, replaced by a wide grin, showing rows of white sharp teeth.

D.O closed his mouth, falling to his knees in front of the creature. Kai simply sat down beside him, his eyes still wide, staring at the warg in awe.

"You are not the usual warg, aren't you?" D.O asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"That is correct, sonny. I am Walter the Wise. And you, Young One, you are a master who was granted an Exotic in the form of a warg since birth. I have been watching over you since the day you were born. On that fine day, when my eyes first landed on you, I made a big decision to make you my master."

"B-but why? Why me of all people?" D.O questioned, confusion clearly written on his face.

"Because you need me," Walter said with a tone of finality. His eyes glinted as his fur shone under the sunlight.

"But why appear now? I mean, if I need you, why did you not come to aid me when I ran away from that stupid abusive house of mine in the past? I had to endure hunger and stayed under the rain for days when everyone shooed me out. It took me three weeks to reach a place where I could call home..." The shorter male ranted with tears trickling down his cheeks. It hurts to recall the past but his mouth continued to talk, telling stories in which only the warg knows whereas to Kai, they were new stories which were unheard of. He thought he knew everything about the elder but it turned out that he was wrong. So much pain. The fifteen-year old boy embraced the other, rocking both of them to calm D.O down.

When D.O finally finished his story, he was a wrecking mess. His tears mixed with his snot painted his face. Nonetheless, Kai still found the older male beautiful. He was not disgusted, not at all. He used his sleeve to rub off the tears and snot on D.O's pretty face and looked at Walter in search for answers to D.O's question.

"It was not the right time," the warg offered as explanation.

"Don't lie!" D.O screamed in frustration but the warg remained impassive to his cry instead of flinching back as Kai expected.

Walter touched his forehead to his master's, sending calming waves through their joint head. In just a few seconds, D.O could feel the waves rolling into his head and it soothed him, slowing his heartbeat to a normal rate and eased his mind, helping him to forget the bad memories.

"Goddess decided that it was the not the right time to appear before you. Please understand this, Young One."

"How did you do that?" D.O asked with a smile. He felt so calm and it was like nothing could bring down his mood.

The warg chuckled in amusement, his forehead leaving his human's. The contact was lost but D.O reached his hands out and buried his fingers into the thick fur, tugging it slightly so that the Exotic would come closer to him.

Walter, surprised at the action, could only follow and he snuggled into his master's arms. Kai, who was watching from the side, felt something ugly flared up in his body, which he noted was what humans called jealousy. It was not a nice feeling and so he tried to stomp it down but in vain.

"Master, the reason I appeared in front of you is because you have an important mission right now."

D.O perked up at the word 'mission'. There was no time to bask in the warmth of his Exotic's fur. There will be time for that in the future. Except he had no idea if Walter would still be by his side in the next few upcoming years.

"Touch the tree you were not able to understand earlier on," the warg instructed, nudging for the shorter boy to stand up.

D.O nodded, walking hurriedly to the said tree and pressed his palms on it. Walter stood beside him and tapped the tree with his huge wet nose which looked utterly adorable to D.O. The younger of the two humans cocked his head, watching both master and animal in fascination and maybe, jealousy.

"Now, concentrate." And so, D.O focused, shutting his eyes tightly to listen to the tree's humming.

"Childe, let my song sooth your pain and may you be blessed with lots of joy in the future. Now, please hear me out because it is in my duty to pass you this message from our mother. Are you listening?" When D.O nodded his head, she continued,

"If your heart truly desires to meet me,

Let the Childe of the Future be aided by the Childe of Teleportation.

Let Him open the pathway to an alternate universe which the Childe of Future himself knows not of.

Give Him the support and love that he needs and he shall create a path.

Walk down the path of both space and time he built.

You shall find an oaken door decorated with silver and gold at the end of the journey.

Say the magic words found only in the power of twelve chosen forces.

And the door shall open and lead you to me."

The message ended with a tingly laugh from the tree D.O touched, signifying the end of the message from it.

Both D.O and Walter looked at each other. "I could understand every word she uttered."

Walter only smiled and answered, "Then, I must take my leave. My mission is done for today." With that said, the warg disappeared into thin air before D.O was able to stop him from leaving.

His sadness for not being able the stop his warg was, however, short-lived as he turned to Kai with a huge grin, splitting his face. He rushed to the taller male, circling his hands around him in a hug and what happened next was beyond his control. He cupped the other's face and kissed him fully on the lips.

Just when D.O thought Kai did not like him in the same way, he was about to pull away but was stilled by cold fingers in his hair, pushing his face much closer than possible. Kai pressed his lips harder against the elder, responding to his kiss. Not getting enough, he was about to stick his tongue into D.O's warm cavern when D.O decided that he was having difficulty in breathing already. The shorter of the two extracted his lips from the other, blushing a tomato red to the tip of his ears as he gasped for air. The silence between them stretched for minutes until Kai broke it with a cough.

"We found the clue. So, yeah..." D.O trailed off in embarassment, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We should head back and tell everyone the good news." Kai picked himself up and held out a hand for D.O to grab on to so he could pull him up. The other boy accepted his offer much too eagerly.

"Yeah, we should."

To be continued...

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Okay. You can hex me, punch me, kick me, shoot me or whatever bodily harm you wish to do to me for updating two days later than promised but really, I struggled to get this chapter come out right. What took the most time was the message. I tried to perfect it as much as I can but I don't know if it came out alright. I'll let you guys be the judge of that, yeah?

So, thank you once again to my wonderful subscribers, awesome voters, fantastic reviewers and brilliant readers.