… And there he lay, his face calm and peaceful. An angel. His eyes were shut, his cheeks were pale. Anyone would’ve thought he was just sleeping but Baekho didn’t miss the fact that he wasn’t breathing.

No.

This couldn’t be it.

He couldn’t just leave him like this.

His last words echoed in Baekho’s mind, again and again. He needed to know what he was going to say or he’d feel haunted forever. What did his best-friend-band-mate-younger-than-him-androgynous friend Choi Minki say?

‘I need to tell you something…’ the weak voice croaked, ‘... something important…’

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. But they never opened again. He never got to say it. He was taken away before he could.

Baekho covered his face with his hands and a low groan was heard. Seconds later he tasted salt on his tongue.

‘Minki…’

Ren didn’t look up or acknowledge the other presence. He looked down at Earth and watched Baekho cry over his death.

Where was he? He had no idea. He seemed to be floating in space.

‘Ren.’

He only looked up when his stage name was called. A dark-haired male was looking at him curiously. Ren stared back with an intense glare. He had a feeling he knew this person but couldn’t recall where he had seen him before.

A deafening silence followed.

‘Who are you?’ Ren asked, narrowing his eyes.

The man didn’t say anything for a few moments. ‘I am the controller of time.’ He replied shortly.

Ren stood up and stretched his legs. Strangely, they felt numb. He was squatting there for a minute or two but it felt like an eternity.

‘I’m Ren. But you already know my name. What is your name?’

‘Tempus Gubernatrix. You can call me Tao. Maybe Zitao too, if you want.'

An even longer silence followed.

‘You’re not the only one are you?’ Ren asked slowly.

Tao shook his head. ‘Of course not. But I am the one who talks to humans the most.’

‘And that’s against the rules, is it not?’

Ren didn’t know how he knew these things. He didn't even know how he understood Latin. If there was a Time Controller then surely there would be others who controlled other elements, wouldn’t there?

‘I don’t get caught often.’ Tao said in a low voice. ‘It’s only when Kai suddenly appears.’

‘Ka-i?’ Ren asked.

‘Just call him Jongin if it’s easier. He's a teleporter. He controls space, the Intervallum Gubernatrix. He is one of the few who can locate me in a few seconds. The other is Luhan the Mentum Gubernatrix. He is a psychic who can communicate with the rest of us through our minds.’

Ren listened carefully to Tao then nodded when he finished talking. ‘Who else is there?’

‘Suho, or Joonmyeon. He is our leader. His element is Water. Aqua Gubernatrix. D.O., otherwise known as Kyungsoo controls Earth. Terra. Chanyeol. Ignis. Baekhyun. Lux. Sehun. Ventus. Together with Kai, they are known as EXO-K.’

‘Exo? K?’ Ren tilted his head to the side.

‘We are known as EXO. All 12 of us with powers.’ He looked off into the empty distance. ‘We used to be normal humans until the responsibility of keeping the citizens safe was entrusted to us. When we were united as 12, we split into Koreans and Chinese.’

Ren glanced down at the floor, wanting to know what Baekho was doing. He saw Baekho surrounded by his friends, on a stage, performing. He missed that feeling. Standing on stage and performing for people who enjoyed their music. He could see a foreign figure standing among his friends.

‘There is EXO-M as well…’ Tao said. Ren quickly focused his attention on Tao again. ‘Kris-slash-Wu Fan is in control of Flight. Penna Gebernatrix. Lay or Yi Xing is the Healer. Sanatio. Xiumin aka Minseok and Chen or Jongdae were part of EXO-K once, but there was no balance so they came over to our side instead. They are the Gelus Gebernatrix and Fulmen Gebernatrix, ice and lightning. Luhan is Chinese.’

Ren could barely remember all their names. It really was too many names and elements to remember in a few minutes.

‘Don’t worry, you can always ask me.’ Tao said, as if he was reading his mind.

Ren nodded his head and walked closer to Tao, feeling cold in the emptiness of the strange place.

‘Now…’ Tao looked at Ren purposefully. ‘You have a wish to make.’

‘A wish?’ Ren asked.

‘Yes.’ Tao nodded. ‘You came here because you did something special. Usually people would just move on to the next place but you stopped here, meaning that you deserve something for the good deed you did in your life.’

Tao stared at him for awhile. ‘If you wanted to live again…’He muttered unconsciously. ‘…Lay could help you do that.’

Ren didn’t say anything. He just realized that he was dead. His friends helped him realize that. They had moved on without him, left him behind in their past. Now that he wasn’t alive, he realized how worthless money was. He didn’t really know what he would wish for.

He followed Tao closely as Tao walked off into the darkness, his mind still working furiously as he thought of something to wish for.

‘Here.’ Tao said, gesturing towards a luxurious bed. ‘The deadline for your wish expires tomorrow so rest well.’ He said before leaving the room.

Ren heard the lock click from the outside and wandered around the room. He was glad to be out of the cold, empty and dark space they were previously talking in but he wasn’t that satisfied to be locked in a room. At least the room had a bed and food, though he didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. However he did have a headache, so he laid down on the bed and fell asleep. An angel.

‘What do you think you are doing Tao?!?’ Suho growled.

‘I’m just—‘

‘Tao messed up big time…’ Kai chuckled evilly, crossing his arms and smirking.

‘Yeah. Suho’s really mad.’ Xiumin agreed, though his expression was the opposite of the teleporter. Xiumin looked as if he was scared.

‘Wha—‘

‘Tao. You’ve already had a total of 49 strikes…’ Kris warned.

‘No I don’t!’ Tao defended, throwing his arms up.

‘Yes you do. You’re relieved from your job of introducing people to our kingdom. Chen will take over.’ Kris motioned to Chen.

‘I don’t want to.’ Chen grumbled.

‘Chen.’

‘Nope.’

‘Chen.’

‘Ask Kyungsoo.’

‘But then he won’t have time to make us food!’ Chanyeol, Xiumin and Sehun all wailed like 5-year-olds.

‘We don’t even get hungry though.’ Lay reasoned, raising an eyebrow.

‘Does anyone want the job?’ Suho sighed, exasperated.

Pure silence.

Suho gaped at all 10. ‘You’re kidding me. Only Tao wants the job?’

‘Well, we kinda have our other jobs as well you know?’ Baekhyun mumbled, grinning nervously.

Kris knit his eyebrows. ‘Like?’

‘We could water plants.’

‘That’s my job. You don’t control water.’ Suho retorted.

'I could always melt Xiumin’s ice…’ Baekhyun replied.

'Hey! Touch my ice and die.’ Said ice-controller growled.

Ren woke up with a worse migraine than the night before. He saw a cup of water with a pill next to it.

‘Good morning Choi Minki, this will help. People who come to this realm usually get headaches during their first few days. –Lay/Yi Xing’

Ren felt better after eating the pill. He sat on his bed and played around with the different wishes he had in his head. He had just decided on his wish when Tao entered the room.

‘Good morning.’

Ren glanced out the window. It was filled with the same black emptiness he was in the previous day.

‘It’s not morning.’ He said, surprised.

‘Now it is.’

The sun was suddenly peeking over the horizon. ‘Are you sure that’s morning? It looks like a sunset to me.’

Tao pouted and suddenly, before Ren knew it, the sun was high in the sky. Ren started laughing at his childishness and his laugh made Tao smile slightly.

‘You know, we are in an alternate universe where time doesn’t exist.’ Tao remarked.

Ren just kept laughing.

Ren stood in a large room. Opposite him, at the end of the room, was a long table standing parallel to the wall. There were 12 seats in total but a third was empty. Ren didn’t recognize any of them.

‘I’m Suho.’ The one sitting in the center said monotonously.

Ren bowed respectfully. ‘H-hello…’

No one said anything for awhile.

‘4 of our members are AWOL.’ Suho said, noticing Ren scanning the table for Tao.

Ren stopped and looked at Suho. ‘Okay.’

‘You want to live again huh?’ a blonde asked quietly.

Ren jumped at the unfamiliar voice.

‘Most of the people who come here wish that but unfortunately, Lay is one of our AWOL members.’

Ren didn’t say anything, but stared at the one called Luhan.

‘Lay is with Tao, Chen and Xiumin.’ Luhan said before turning back to the person next to him and talking quietly again.

‘You could just wait for him to return if you want. The only thing is that we don’t know where he will come back.’

‘Court dismissed!’ Suho announced after another round of silence.

‘We’re not in court though.’

‘Ah, whatever.’

Luhan walked over to Ren. When he reached him, he glanced at him for awhile before grabbing something from his pocket.

‘Here, you can borrow this for awhile.’ He said kindly, handing the mirror to Ren.

‘Umm, what is it—‘

‘You want to know what they’re doing right now right? Though time doesn’t exist in the realm we are in, this mirror will tell you what they would be doing a day after your death, after all, you’ve spent a day here.’

Luhan never told him how to work the mirror and it didn’t come with an instruction booklet so how was he suppose to what he had to do to work it?

He glared at it, then poked it.

‘Can’t you just tell me what Nu’est is doing?’ He groaned at the mirror.

After hours of trying he still didn’t know what to do. He felt like throwing it against the wall but was scared if Luhan would kill him for breaking it.

‘What is JR—Kim Jonghyun doing?’ Ren asked the mirror. ‘Two days after my death?’ he added after awhile.

The mirror didn’t respond.

Giving up, Ren fell backwards on his bed and fell asleep again. Why is this realm so tiring?

‘Ren… Ren… REN!!!’

Ren’s eyelids fluttered open. He could hear sloshing and electricity crackling around him.

‘I’m Lay. We’re getting out of here.’

‘Wh-why?’ Ren asked as Lay grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

‘They’re fighting again.’

‘Again? Who?’

‘Exo-K and Exo-M.’

‘Why?’ Ren asked, running behind Lay who was navigating through a series of corridors.

‘Because Chen suddenly decided that since he controlled Lightning, like Zeus, he should rule us. Of course he meant it as a joke but Suho got mad. They’re trying to kill each other in the main hall.’

‘Shouldn’t you be there to heal them?’ Ren asked, only remembering Lay’s power at that second.

‘They can’t get hurt. Kai is just teleporting Suho around and Tao in manipulating time to prevent them from getting hit.’

‘Oh.’

‘Here, Luhan and Sehun will take care of you for now.’ Lay said, leaving him with the couple before heading back inside the castle-looking building.

Sehun put his hand on Ren’s reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry, this happens all the time.’

Suddenly the ground starting trembling and a crack appeared. Sehun grabbed Ren and Luhan’s hand before flying up into the sky. In a way, he could fly, since he controlled Wind and Air.

Another member of Exo popped up from the ground. He has eyes like tarsiers, a small insectivorous, tree-dwelling, nocturnal primate with large eyes.

‘Oh it’s just you D.O.’ He heard Sehun say before he started falling back down to the ground. Just before he came in contact with the ground, he hit an invisible pillow of air which stopped him from falling face-first into the ground.

‘Of course it’s me. Who else makes earthquakes?’

‘What’s the situation in there?’ Luhan asked.

‘Chen’s still running for his life. Kris took over since Tao was worrying about Ren.’

‘Can you hide Ren? I’ve a bad feeling Suho is after him.’

‘Not in the ground. Suho might end up calling a flood or tsunami and drown him.’

‘But electricity beats water right?’ Ren asked.

‘Chen can’t be bothered taking care of all of us.’

Ren looked back towards the castle which was half destroyed. He spotted someone running towards them. ‘Tao—‘

‘Let’s go to Nuex.’ Tao suggested.

‘Nuex?’

‘It’s a city. A big city.’