Iola trembled with the fury blazing through her. She had never felt this much anger before, this intense rage that made her see red and her blood boil.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” she hissed again through clenched teeth. “All of those days, all of those work, it’s all for bringing me back here. To kill me.”

The Guardians paled even more, some of them shook their heads in denial while the Elders could only look on, mouths opened in shock.

Her hair blew wildly all over her face as a gust of wind tore through the room. Several of the Guardians gasped as the ground shook terribly and the Elders swayed as they tried to stay upright.The air around her felt hot and stifling but the loud, blaring buzzing in her head took all her attention, along with the messy knot of threads in her mind, pulsing with every enraged breath she exhaled.

Joonmyun’s hand shook as he reached out to her. “No…Iola-”

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, recoiling from his touch. She glared at him, before turning to each Guardian. “All of you, stay away from me!”

Iola staggered forward, vision blurry from the angry tears pooling in her eyes. She ignored the Guardians’ callings and ran out of there, stumbling as she climbed up the steps hurriedly.

When she emerged back to the Great Hall people gasped at her sudden appearance but Iola couldn’t care less. Her blood still thrummed with fury and her ears were deaf to anything else. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, running from the hall, searching blindly for the way back to her room.

Her head was pounding from the loud buzzing, and she can feel the millions of threads residing in her mind swirling and all jumbled up, more chaotic than ever. Her core barrier seemed to be slipping and she stifled a gasp as she could feel those threads threatening to overwhelm her.

There were loud footsteps running after her, panicked voices asking her to stop, and Iola doubled her running.

“Iola, stop! Please!”

Iola knew that voice, could hear the pleading tone in it but she continued to run ahead. A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, effectively stopping her and pulled hard enough to twist her around.

“Please, Iola, listen to us first!”

The rest of the Guardians halted in their tracks as a loud smack were heard, staring in shock. Yixing’s head was turned to the side, a red bruise began to form on his left cheek as Iola’s hand still hung in midair. A tendril of smoke wafted from her fingers as a small tongue of flames her palm.

“No….” she whispered furiously. “No! I will not listen to you again! I trusted you!” She whirled to glare at the other Guardians. “I trusted all of you! And all of these times you’ve been planning to kill me!”

With each shout she spat out, a loud crack of thunder rumbled overhead and lightning pierced the night sky.

Luhan shook his head fervently. “No, no Iola, please-“

“Just stay away from me!”

She turned and quickly run again, miraculously staying upright even as the earth trembled and shook even more. Finding the familiar door of her room she yanked it open before slamming it behind her, quickly bolting up the locks.

In the back of her mind she knew that the wooden door would not hold if the Guardians decided to break it down, but luckily they only pounded at the door instead, asking her to open it, to talk to them.

Iola still trembled from her anger, shaking from her head all the way down to her toes. Tongues of fire danced along her arms and it should’ve alarmed her even though it didn’t burn her skin, but at the moment everything else was insignificant compared to the betrayal she felt.  The wind continued to howl loudly even inside the room, the strong gust blowing the furniture around the room aside, upturning the chairs and table aside.

As she closed her eyes she could see all those threads in her mind mixing and melding together behind her eyelids, moving in chaotic movement, mimicking her own distress and anger.

Burying her head into her hands, she let out an angry scream. The small fire burning at the fireplace blazed bigger and hotter, flames up the chimney. A flash of lightning burst out, followed by a crack of thunder so loud it rattled the window of the room, mirroring her frustration and the wind howled, bringing with it rain and snow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yixing couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.

His heart had stopped as the second prophecy was read, blood turned cold at the horrifying fact.  

And Iola’s eyes…

Yixing knew he would never forget that look even if he lives to thousands of years, the hurt and anger and betrayal swimming in those hazel eyes as she glared at them.

His cheek burned from the slap she had given him but he continue to ran after her, stopping only when the door of her room slammed shut in front of him.

Baekhyun and Minseok quickly banged on the door, yelling for her to open it, to listen to them. Tao stood by the side, eyes already glassy with tears while Jongin looked on, teeth biting anxiously at his bottom lip.

The ground shook even harder as the earthquake continued on, rattling the paintings decorating the corridor’s walls. Suddenly a loud, angry scream was heard from inside the room. They all look at each other in distress and Chanyeol joined the others in banging Iola’s door. Another loud crack of thunder roared and bolts of bright yellow lightning illuminated the sky. The wind picked up speed, clacking the window boards wide open. Before long loud splattering sounds were heard above them and even from this distance they could hear people’s frightened screams from the Great Hall.

Luhan ran towards the nearest window, eyes widened in shock as he gasped. “There’s a hailstorm brewing out there!”

Wufan turned, mouth set in a thin line. “Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Sehun, Minseok! Control your powers!”

Kyungsoo quickly kneeled down, hand splayed on the ground beneath them. Jongdae looked up at the ceiling above them, as Sehun closed his eyes and Minseok frowned in concentration.

It only took a few seconds before Kyungsoo looked up helplessly. “It’s not me! I can’t control it!”

Jongdae and Sehun also looked on dejected while Minseok shook his head. “Whatever caused that, we couldn’t do anything about it!”

Yixing stared hard at the closed door. “…It’s Iola.”

Joonmyun snapped his head to him. “What did you say?”

“It’s Iola,” Yixing repeated again, stepping forward to lay a hand on the door. Another angry scream was heard from behind it and a crack of thunder outside answered it. Yixing closed his eyes, his inhaled breath heavy as his heart ached.

“This world…..they are angry for her sake.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Iola felt weak and dizzy. seemed to be burning and raw from all of her screams and her chest heaved up and down in exhaustion. Her eyes caught sight of a familiar black bag at the corner of the room and she stumbled forward in unsteady feet to grab it. The bag looked worse for wear and if this was any other situation Iola would’ve been grateful for the Guardians for keeping her bag safe during her kidnap, but right now she could care less about that fact. Turning it upside down and letting its content scattered all over the floor, she spied her old clothes.

She yanked the dress she had on off harshly, not caring that she almost ripped it in half in her haste. Just a few hours before the dress feels like luxury, but it was now pressing down on her, like a suffocating iron cage wrapped in silk. Quickly she pulled on the jeans and T-shirt that she’d kept, relishing on the feel of the familiar fabric. Just when she was about to jam her feet into her familiar shoes, something caught her attention and her legs gave away until she slumped on the floor.

A picture had flutter out from her notebook and she reached out a trembling hand to pick it up. There in perfect clarity was her family, taken at Changmin’s last birthday party. Her younger brother has a streak of icing across his cheek, courtesy of Yunho, and he looked playfully enraged as he had Yunho’s head in a headlock. Her mother looked apprehensive at the play-fight though a small, amused smile still graced her face, while her father’s mouth was opened wide in an unattractive manner, caught in a full-blown laughter.

It wasn’t really a good picture. None of her family was looking at the camera and she was laughing so hard when she took it that the camera shook and the picture came out a bit blurry, but there was no denying the pure joy radiating from the scene, of how happy her family was at that time.

She traced loving fingers over each of her family’s faces, remembering how they felt, their touches, their smiles, their laughter, their embraces. A drop of water fell on the picture and she blinked as more tears fell down.

It was as if a dam has been broken and then she was crying loudly, about everything that have happened in her life ever since she arrived to this world that she should’ve cried over and never did.

Never again would she stand side by side with her mother at the kitchen, preparing meals with much laughter and warm mother-daughter talks. Never again would she lean her head on her father’s shoulder, absorbing the silent strength he’d always exude. Never again would she feel the heavy, comforting weight of Yunho’s arm around her shoulder as he listened patiently to whatever was troubling her. Never again would she share mischievous smiles and mocking grins with Changmin as they play a prank on their older brother.

Self-pity was something that Iola seldom done, but now, as the tears welled up from deep within her, she knew she had to let them come.

She cried for her old life that she will never return to.

She cried for never seeing her family again.

She cried for a life and future that was suddenly cut short.

The torrent of her tears shook her body as she hiccupped and sobbed with each harsh intake of breath. Her body hurt from it, so unaccustomed to the heaving sobs and the tightening in her chest, nauseous from the deep ache spreading throughout her body.

She lay down on the floor, curled up with the picture of her family in her shaking hands as she continued to cry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The downpour fell so suddenly, heavy drops of water that made a loud racket as they pounded on the ground. The earth had stopped moving and lightnings didn’t pierce the sky anymore, only the rain continued to fall in a steady, heavy pour with no sign of letting up.

Yixing clenched his hands tight. Even amidst the loud sound of the rain, he could still hear Iola’s sobs from behind the door.

Tao bit his lips as he also stared forlornly at the closed door. “Is that…?”

“Yes.” Yixing nodded heavily. “Now…they are crying for her.”

He leaned his back on the door, his legs gave out on him and he slid to the floor. He closed his eyes and listened to the falling rain, heart aching with every sobs she cried.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Iola woke up as soft, invisible hand her hair. Opening her eyes were hard, they were almost swollen shut from the amount of crying she’d done. Her cheek felt chafed and she rubbed at the dry tears tracks.

Makani was looking at her with a solemn expression, none of the usual teasing glint in his eyes or his mocking smile was at display. The early morning light shone from the open windows, making his silhouette glowed with orange edges.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?”

Iola’s voice sounded strange in her own ears, cracked and broken and so tired.

“…yes.”

Makani didn’t sound much different, eyes looking at her sadly as his fingers continued to run through her hair.

“How could you, Makani?” She tried to yell, but the clench in her chest was making it hard to even breathe. “How could you not tell me?!”

“How could I?” The spirit raised his voice a notch, though it was still just a harsh whisper. “How could you tell someone that they might die?”

There was a heavy lump in Iola’s throat as she continued to stare at the spirit. The moment was broken, though, when loud knocks sounded at the door.

“Iola? Please Iola, open the door. Just…please let us talk to you.”

Yixing’s voice sounded tired and desperate.

Makani looked up at the door. “They have been waiting outs