Word Count: 4,136

 

It was dark—very dark. Suho cannot make out anything except for what seems to be a small window way up above him in which the bright light of the moon peeks in. He was then disturbed by a loud noise that came from the outside of the room.

“Hey! Let go of me. You cannot just kidnap me and take me to a dungeon,” the boy protested.

Suho heard the conversation loud and clear. It was pretty one-sided since no one was answering the boy. That was exactly what happened to him a few days ago. He was going home from school and it seemed like any other day but then some men in creepy suits appeared right in front him asking him to go with them. But he did not oblige. He knew better than to come with men he just men—let alone men in creepy robes. Unfortunately, he lost a pretty quick fight and dragged him to this place. He hasn’t been out of the room at all but he was being taken care of quite lavishly. They would bring him luscious, mouth-watering food and the room was not bad itself except for the complete light of lighting.

The door opened with a loud thud and pushed the other boy inside the room and closing it in lightning speed.

“Hey! Let me out of here!” the boy screamed twisting the knob relentlessly but the door won’t even budge. After a few more moments of pointless screaming, the boy seemed to have given up and just sat in a corner. He obviously did not notice the presence of another person in the room.

“Hello,” Suho chirped.

“Who’s there?” the boy asked as he quickly stood up and placed his hands right in front of him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I’m in the same situation as you, you know,” Suho said in an effort to comfort the other one.

“How can I be sure?” the sceptic asked.

“I was dragged here as well. I have been here around… two days maybe. I have no way of knowing since I haven’t been outside since then. Don’t worry anyways. They won’t kill us—at least I think so. They’ve been taking good care of me all of the time and very luxuriously, you see.”

“You’ve been here for two days? How have you survived that?” the other asked.

“I’m Suho by the way,” he said with a chuckle with the boy’s reaction while extending his hands. The other boy didn’t see it and so he was left hanging.

“I’m Baekhyun… Byun Baekhyun. Is Suho your real name? Guardian, huh? It’s pretty cool.”

“No, it’s note. My real name is Joonmyun but my friends started calling me Suho due to certain reasons and so I got carried away as well.”

“So… who are these guys and why have they dragged us here?”

“No idea. They haven’t said a single word to me at all. I doubt they even understand us. I have seriously been talking to myself all this time. It’s seriously driving me mad.”

“That’s tough. Don’t worry. You have me now. We have each other now, right?”

“I guess so. A voice keeps replaying inside my head saying that I have to wait for the others for there to be light. I have no idea what that is all about?”

“How many are the others?”

“No idea. All I know is that we could be the only ones here because I have heard nothing.”

And the conversation continued.

 

From what they could infer, at least a week had passed since the two of them have meet. They have lost track of time already but still, it was proper of the host to take care of them. Food were placed in the room early in the morning and then later just in time for lunch and then for dinner. They weren’t skimping on food either because the food gets more and more extravagant each day.

They were caught up in a conversation when the door opened.

“Where are we?” said a voice.

“Hey! Why’d you bring us here?” said another voice… a bit deeper. Without an answer, the door shut.

“Hyung?” the first voice said in obvious anxiousness.

“Hi!” both Suho and Baekhyun greeted. They smiled but they knew it was useless. The new boys moved away as evident in how the steps that echoed all throughout the room receded.

“We won’t hurt you. We are in the same situation as you are,” Suho said.

“Exactly,” Baekhyun agreed.

“Where are we?” the deep, husky voice asked.

“No idea. I’m Baekhyun by the way and this is Suho,” he said as he points to Suho… out of habit.

“I’m D.O. and this is Sehun.”

“Are you some kind of rapper or something? Why is your name D.O.?” Baekhyun asked jokingly earning a slight nudge from Suho.

“No. It was a joke by a friend and then everyone started calling me that. Out of habit, I guess?” D.O. explained.

“Then you’re the same as Suho-hyung. His name is really Joonmyun,” Baekhyun stated.

“But what are we doing here?” said Sehun… panic still evident in how his voice trembled.    

“Don’t worry, Sehun, right? They won’t kill us—at least that’s what we think. They said that we need to wait for the others then everything would be explained… I think,” Suho said as he walked towards Sehun following his voice and placing his hands on his shoulder.

“How long will we have to wait?” Sehun said and he was close to tears.

“Hey! We’ve got it worse. We’ve been in here for more than a week now,” Baekhyun said and Suho glared with full awareness that Baekhyun couldn’t see it.

“Hey. Don’t worry. At least there are four of us now,” Suho said.

 

The four of them tried to live their lives as normal as it can be in a dark, poorly-lit room and as moments pass, they found themselves getting closer to each other. They have to be close. They’ve only got each other now. The four were singing nursery rhymes to pass time when the door opened. They dropped someone inside and just left in a jiff. The four gathered around the newly-arrived future companion.

“Hyung, is he dead?” Sehun asked. Suho checked the pulse and listened to his breathing as well.

“He’s still alive. He just passed out,” Suho said as he tried to wake the other person by nudging him lightly.

“Let’s just wait for him to wake up,” D.O. suggested.

The four resumed their nursery-rhyme singing but then the door opened again. The men dropped another body and then walked out just as quick.

“Is this one dead?” Sehun asked as he went near the body.

“Hey! Who are you?” the boy suddenly stood up and Sehun backed away and fell during the process. The other three leapt a bit as well.

“I’m Suho, this is Baekhyun, D.O. and Sehun. Don’t worry about us. We’re friends.”

“Where are we then?” the boy then started to walk around.

“Don’t go left there’s a—” Suho warned but he was cut off when the latest boy tripped and fell down. “…there’s someone there.”

“What is he doing there? Is he dead?” the boy asked.

“No. We think he was just knocked out. What’s your name anyway?” D.O. asked.

“I’m Kai,” the boy answered.

“That’s not your real name, is it?” Sehun asked.

“No. It’s Kim Jongin but I think Kai has more swag in it, right? Why?”

“You’re like Suho and D.O. hyung.”

 

The five boys started talking to each other but they stopped when they heard a groan from the boy who was unconscious moments ago.

“Hyung, I think he’s waking up,” D.O. said while tugging on Baekhyun’s shirt. Baekhyun swatted D.O.’s hands off. Suho walked towards the boy.

“Hey. Are you awake now?” Suho asked while shaking the boy’s body. The boy slowly sat up with Suho’s assistance. “You’re okay now,” he continued in assurance but the boy quickly stood up and put some distance between them.

“Don’t come near me,” the boy said as he tripped over some stuff.

“What’s your problem?” Baekhyun said irately.

“He was just trying to help you up,” Sehun said.

“Who-who are you?” the boy even stuttered.

“Don’t worry. We’re not the bad guys. We are in the same situation as you are. I’m Suho. They are Baekhyun, Sehun, D.O., and Kai.”

“Why are your names so weird?”

“Hey!” D.O. said in annoyance but Kai held him back.

“I’m Chanyeol.”

Then the door opened. The guys dressed up in weird robes appeared right in front of the door. He motioned them to follow.

“What should we do?” Sehun was panicking again.

“I think it’s in our best interest if we just follow them. Come on,” Suho stated.

 

All of them were shocked at the sight of light. Finally, after what seems like eternity, they saw light. But it was too sudden that their eyes started to hurt.

“Joonmyun, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongin and Sehun… all six of you are here,” said a hoarse but somewhat relaxing voice.

The six of them still cannot see clearly but their ears were working perfectly fine. They heard footsteps coming towards them and, just like their minds were connected, they backed off just a little bit. The men in the weird robes stood in front of them in a line parallel to theirs… and bowed. “Finally, we are one step closer to freedom.”

The six boys were utterly dumbfounded.

“We’ve been looking for you for quite a long time and now you are standing right in front of me. I feel very honoured, Masters.”

“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun spat. Suho tugged at him and whispered ‘take it easy’.

“You are here because you are destined for a very special mission,” the man stated.

“What? Are we in some kind of prank show or something?” Chanyeol asked as he began to look around for hidden camera.

He then signalled the other men in robes to come nearer. He whispered that the six boys cannot here. Soon enough, they came back holding an elegant box. They opened it right in front of the six.

“These are your gears. They represent your powers and help you control them,” he said as he brought them out one by one.

The six just stood still: motionless… silent.

“Kim Joonmyun—the one who has the power to manipulate water,” he said as he handed Suho a necklace with an intricate water droplet pendant. Suho accepted politely with a bow.

“Park Chanyeol—the phoenix… the master of fire,” he said as he gave Chanyeol a necklace and a ring with an outline of a phoenix engraved on it. Chanyeol accepted with astonishment and a bright smile.

“Byun Baekhyun—the one who controls the light,” he stated as he handed Baekhyun two pairs of disks with the image of an elaborate sun with silver chains hanging from it. Baekhyun just accepted.

“Kim Jongin—the one who defies space,” he said as he handed Kai a flat triangle with links attached to it as well. Kai accepted with a bow.

“Oh Sehun—the one who conquers the wind,” he stated as he gave Sehun a cuff with an outline of a vortex engraved on it. Sehun accepted with a polite bow.

“Do Kyungsoo—the one who masters the earth,” he stated as he handed D.O. a ring with a beast’s head engraved on it. D.O. accepted it… wide-eyed and quite ecstatic.

“What are we supposed to do with these?” Chanyeol was the only one who had the courage to ask.

“You are going to have to use them. Train with them and learn to control your powers and abilities.”

“What abilities and powers? We are not X-Men. We do not have those!” Kai said in annoyance.

“Is that so? So, you never wondered how you would go to sleep in your bed and ended up waking in a totally different place.” Kai was dumb-founded with the accuracy of the statement. He would often find himself in another place when he wakes up—luckily, those places are on or near Seoul or else he would have been lost.

He walked over to Suho. “You never wondered how the water moved when you were just thinking of it.” He moved to Chanyeol. “You never wondered how you set your homework which you worked on for two months that you were holding on fire.” He took a step closer to Baekhyun. “You never wondered why your hands glowed when you had the power shortage the other week since you were so irritated that you cannot read the book you have to finish.” He walked near to Sehun. “You never wondered why the wind blows so hard when your teacher was scolding you when you failed your math exam.” He turned lastly to D.O. “And you never wondered why sometimes you would leave a crack on the pavement just by walking.”

“All six of you are simple Earth citizens blessed with powers from the forces of EXO Planet,” he finished.

“What’s EXO Planet?” Sehun asked.

“That will be explained when it’s time. Right now, you have to practice. EXO Planet needs you, masters.”

 

//

 

“Come. We’ve been looking for you for a very long time.” Kris didn’t move. He was completely shocked at how these guys are just asking him to come with them out of the blue and was completely disgusted at what they were wearing. “It would be best if you’d just come.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Kris said arrogantly. He had to act confident. Confidence deters psychos and criminals, he thought to himself.

“We do not want to do this, Wu Yifan, but we were given orders. You leave us with no choice.”

“Wait! How did you—” Kris protested but before he could even finish, one of the guys had just hit him.

 

“Hey. Hey” someone said while poking Kris’ face. Kris’ eyes then started to flutter open and he saw two guys standing over him. He quickly stood up and the two guys leaned back.

“Who are you two? And what were you doing to me?” Kris asked as he moved away from them.

“Hey! We were not molesting you if that’s what you were thinking. They brought you here and you have been unconscious for a while but you started making some noises. We were just checking if you were already awake,” one of the two stated.

“I’m Xiumin, by the way, and this is Chen,” said the other.

“I’m Kris,” Kris answered while he scans the room.

“Your name does not sound Chinese,” Xiumin said.

“I am Chinese but I grew up elsewhere and, speak for yourself; your names sound Chinese but you are failing terribly at the language,” Kris mocks.

“We’re Koreans but we just love China so much. We went here for a vacation but we suddenly got abducted by aliens. Ain’t that right, Xiumin-ge?” Chen said and Xiumin nodded.

“Aliens?” Kris asked.

“We just decided to call them aliens. Don’t worry, though. We are not into all those conspiracy theories. We’re not that crazy although Chen here can get a bit moody,” Xiumin said playfully.

“Hey!” Chen shouted.

Kris just turned away from them and scanned the room once again.

“If you’re hungry, they usually provide food when the sun starts to set so that won’t take long and… oh yeah! The bathroom is that way,” Xiumin said enthusiastically. Kris nodded.

 

A couple of days had passed but they couldn’t tell how many exactly since they’ve never been out of the room. Chen and Xiumin were still too caught up with their conversations. Kris talks to them every now and then but he still prefers to keep things to himself most of the time.

They assumed food was coming when they heard footsteps but was surprised when a boy’s body was dumped right inside.

“Another one?” Chen asked.

“Why do they even try to run away? Can’t they just follow when they say come with us? In that way, they would not end up like this. They should do what we did…” Xiumin said more to himself than anybody else.

“That would be pretty cowardly,” Kris said disgustedly. “At least we tried to fight for ourselves.”

“And look where it got you. I would try to fight for myself as well but that would be suicide. Just look at him… at you!” Xiumin reasoned.

“Okay! Okay. Let’s just wait for this one to wake up, okay?” Chen intervened when he noticed that the argument between Xiumin and Kris was heating up.

“Where am I?” the boy had been woken up by their pretty loud verbal battle.

“Hey, buddy. You okay?” Chen said as he helped the boy in getting up. “I’m Chen. That’s Xiumin and that’s Kris.”

“I’m Luhan,” the boy sat up slowly and started rubbing his head. Xiumin could tell that the boy was hurting and so he immediately went to his aid. But Kris did not care at all and just stayed where he was. It’s not as if he doesn’t want to help the injured boy but he felt that it was unnecessary. Two hands were already taking care of him so why need a third?

 

A couple more days passed that felt like weeks. Luhan slowly warmed up to both Chen and Xiumin even though the language barrier was initially there because of the two’s broken Mandarin. Luckily, Luhan speaks decent Korean. Kris, however, was still as cold as an ice prince.

“Don’t mind him. It’s not as if he hates us. He’s just… cold,” Xiumin explained when Luhan asked.

They were interrupted when they heard a commotion from outside. It seems like one of the captives is putting up a pretty decent fight with the men in weird robes but they could tell that he was losing as the sounds of protest became louder and louder. They could tell that those outside would eventually end up in this room sooner or later. Sooner was the case for them as the door opened and the men in robes forcefully pushed two more boys who were still fighting to escape. The men in robes quickly shut the door and the taller of the two pounded on the door with all his might.

“It’s no use,” Luhan said while he walked towards the two new boys. The newbies turned around to see four boys behind them.

“It’s nice that they didn’t knock you out,” Xiumin stated. “I’m Xiumin. That’s Chen, Luhan and Kris.”

“What is this place? Why are we here?” said the smaller out of the two.

“Good question, but we actually have no idea why we are here. The only thing they have said to us in the centuries we’ve been in here is that they will explain something when we meet the others. I don’t know how many others we have to meet,” Xiumin recounted.

The two boys were still restless; they were pacing around the room as if looking for a way out.

“You should stop looking around and just sit down. There is no way in or out of this room but that door,” Kris said with an irritated tone leaving everyone with their mouths open.

The two boys sat down and sighed.

“What do you call yourselves?” Luhan asked trying to lighten up the tensed silence surrounding all six of them.

“I’m Lay. This is Tao,” the smaller of the two stated.

“You knew each other before getting here?” Luhan asked.

“No. We were abducted at the same time so we decided to just gang up against them. Tao here knows wushu so we thought we were going to make it out but… that didn’t happen,” Lay explained.

“Well… we heard. You two put up a pretty good fight. None of us went that far. Luhan and Kris were knocked out,” Chen said and Kris sent him an icy glare.

“The only thing we can do right now is to just wait for the others—no matter how many there are,” Luhan stated.

Silence fell. It was broken when the door opened.

“Follow us,” a man in the weird robe said. The six of them quickly obliged and they ended up in a room with pretty much nothing in it but a giant chair made of stone right in the centre.

“Minseok, Luhan, Yifan, Yixing, Jongdae and Zitao… finally” a man emerged from behind the large chair.

“Excuse me. But why are we here?” Lay asked.

“You are here because your home needs you,” he said and the six looked at each other. “We need your help. But before that, you’re going to have to train first. We will explain everything when you’re ready.”

“Why do you need us? Why do we need to train? What’s going on?” Xiumin asked in panic.

The man took an elaborate box from behind the chair and opened it right in front of the six boys.

“Kim Minseok—the one who controls the frost,” he said as he handed Xiumin a brooch shaped like an intricate snowflake. Xiumin accepted with a quick bow.

“Lu Han—the one who conquers the mind,” he stated as he held out a cuff with an elaborate image of connected spheres. Luhan stretched his hand out to get it.

“Wu Yifan—the dragon… the one who defies gravity; the one with the power of flight,” he explained as he handed Kris a cuff with an image of a dragon engraved on it. Kris did not even move his hand but Chen nudged him and so he reached out and accepted it.

“Zhang Yixing—the unicorn… the one with the power to heal,” he said as he handed Lay a brooch in the shape of a unicorn’s head. Lay accepted it with a full ninety-degree bow.

“Kim Jongdae—the scorpion… the one with the power of lightning,” he stated as he handed Chen a ring with a scorpion design. Chen quickly and joyously grabbed it.

“Huang Zitao—the one who controls time,” he said as he handed Tao an hourglass plate with intricate metal chains linked to it. Tao hesitantly accepted.

“These are your gears. Use them to control your powers. Train with them until you are ready.”

“Wait! Why do we need to train? And what is this power you are talking about? We are just regular people here. None of us are mutants, right?” Xiumin reasoned. “What is this?”

“You are right. You are normal Earth citizens but you are also blessed with the powers of six of the twelve forces that nurtured EXO Planet.”

“What is EXO Planet?” Tao asked innocently.

“You shall know about that in due time. Right now, you have to get ready.”

“What about these powers you are talking about. We don’t have any of those!” Luhan argued.

“Think of that time when you made the history book at the top shelf of your school library move when you did not have the ladder to help you reach it,” the man stated and Luhan nodded. That time did happen only he thought it was just a result of a night of no sleep. “Remember that moment when everything momentarily froze just because you were so spent on listening to your teacher scold you for not doing your science homework,” he said as he reached Tao. He then moved to where Chen was standing. “Don’t you remember when there was a sudden growl from the sky when you felt so angry for not being able to attend the school festival?” Chen was astounded. “Do you remember when you tried killing yourself by jumping from a thirty-storey building but was miraculously saved when you suddenly changed your mind and found yourself floating just a few feet above the ground?” he asked as he stood in front of Kris. “Think of that time when you suddenly froze the water that had been accumulating for days on your sink,” he stated while talking directly at Xiumin. “Think of those times. Those are not accidents and you are not freaks. You were destined for a certain task and that is why you have these powers.”

The six of them looked at each other. What the man had just said were all true. There were those times when they would just freak themselves out. Things are starting to make sense.

“What are we going to do now?” Luhan asked.

“You’re going to have to learn to control your powers and those gears will help you.”

“How will we train?” Lay asked.

“We will help you. But, right now, you have to rest. Tomorrow, we will start. Your planet needs you.