A/N: Early update because I feel like it. Lol. Hope you guys like this chapter... ^^

Kai was half-carrying and half-dragging a still unconscious giant of an elf back to their quarters while Kyungsoo and Sehun trailed behind the two. It was quite a sight for sore eyes- the smaller non-elf attempting to piggyback his best friend back to their room but failing as Chanyeol had almost a head in height over him. Chanyeol had his arms and head wrapped around the broad shoulders of Kai, the upper half of his body leaning onto Kai’s back while the rest of his body (aka. his legs) was dragged along the ground behind him.

The other pair of best friends followed them wordlessly. They could have attempted to help Kai deal with Chanyeol, but they figured grabbing onto an elf leg each wouldn’t have contributed to too much help seeing that Chanyeol was heavy. The four entered a large room with high ceilings and clear pristine marbled floors- much like the rest of the castle in the Elven woods, one word you will associate with the Elves when looking at their environment was elegance- the two awkwardly standing around as Kai dumped Chanyeol onto his bed. The elf’s head was lolling with his eyes half-open and tongue poking out from his mouth comically.    

“Are you alright?” Kyungsoo asked shyly at the sight of an exhausted Kai. The boy had after all endured the weight of a giant elf for the entire distance between the castle and the Pool of Tranquility. Kai looked up from his half-bent position and blushed slightly at the proximity of Kyungsoo’s worried face. “A-Ah, I-I’m fine… thanks.” Did you just stutter in front of the Avatar? You idiot! He’s cute but he’s the Avatar, Kai…stop smiling at him! Argh! Kai can’t help but afford another smile at Kyungsoo even though he can feel his cheeks heating up at the sight of the cute boy in front of him. Likewise, Kyungsoo felt himself blushing at the thoughts in Kai’s head. Yes he had incidentally heard Kai calling him cute, and no he is in no way affected by the boy before him. No way at all. Blush. Ok, maybe he was affected by it… just a LITTLE.

At the sidelines, Sehun smirked knowingly at his best friend and Kai. Granted they had just met each other, but they were both good-looking and they had every right to be attracted to each other. He saw their flushed cheeks and the small shy glances Kai and Kyungsoo kept exchanging. They make such a cute couple SQUEALS!   

“Sehun!” Kyungsoo gasped at his best friend’s thought. We’re not a couple! Kyungsoo blushed again while Sehun rolled his eyes sarcastically, yes…you keep telling yourself that Kyungie. I believe you…   

To say that Kyungsoo was confused with his feelings would be a massive understatement. He knew there was an attraction and judging from Kai’s reactions, the attraction seemed mutual. Ever since he first set eyes on Kai back at the clearing, he felt a sense of familiarity and longing. But why? It’s like I’ve somehow known him for a long time already, even though we just met an hour ago. Kyungsoo felt at ease in Kai’s presence and he somehow wanted the boy to love him and protect him while he reciprocates.

This feeling was foreign to him. He was Kyungsoo. He was the Avatar. The Avatar has always been alone- he didn’t deserve to love and for someone else to love him back. It was an unspoken fact that the role of an Avatar was a lonely one- keeping too many loved ones around the Avatar will make him weak… enemies can make use of his love for his loved ones to destroy him. Kyungsoo had already made an exception when he befriended Sehun; the boy was now too deeply embroiled in all these danger- he didn’t intend for another person to come knocking at the walls he had built to keep people away from him. No one had threatened to expand his heart to accommodate more than Sehun. No one had. Until now.

What should I do with you Kai?

A sudden grunt from Chanyeol broke his thoughts. “Argh~ what happened?” Chanyeol blinked confusedly at the three boys by his bed. “You passed out when you saw Midnight haha dude… you were so mortified you should have seen yourself!” Sehun snorted. Chanyeol ducked his head in embarrassment while scratching the back of his neck, “I-It’s because it’s my f-first time seeing a dragon… and to my defense, I saw his teeth!”

“Be nice Sehun! How are you feeling Chanyeol? I’m sorry about Midnight… he likes a good laugh that dragon. He won’t do that again…” Kyungsoo patted the said boy’s shoulder to assure him. “And don’t mind Sehun… he was only teasing. At least you didn’t piss your pants like he did when he first saw Midnight.” Chanyeol and Kai laughed while Sehun gave an undignified squawk, “Whattt? Kyung please I DID NOT piss my pants.” The room was bathed in awkward silence soon after.

…

“Erm… since we all kind of started off on the wrong foot… how about we all introduce ourselves? Then we can all be friends!” Kai spoke enthusiastically. “I’ll start! Hmm… well my name is Kai. I’m 14 years old. And as you can see, I’m not an elf. Haha. Chanyeol’s parents adopted me when I came to the Woods when I was 4. I was originally from Shadow Nation.”

At this revelation, Sehun and Kyungsoo stared openly in shock. There was another shadow-bender left? “Dude you’re a shadow-bender? That’s cool… so is Kyu-” Before he could continue, Kyungsoo had covered his mouth with his palm and gave him a slight shake of his head. Not yet.

“E-Erm, yup. That’s cool yup… oh do continue haha!” Sehun gave Kyungsoo a meaningful look. Kai and Chanyeol wore confused expressions but he continued with a shrug of his shoulders. “I have two powers. You guys saw the first one just now… teleportation. And I can also create shadow portals.” Kai beamed.

“Shadow portals? What exactly does that do sorry?” Kyungsoo scratched his head. “Well, it’s like a black hole? Extremely useful in battle I assure you. All I have to do is throw things into the shadow portal and they’ll disappear. So if an enemy was to throw a sword at me, it can disappear into my portal for all I care...though I can't living things into my portal.” Kai explained.

“Dude that’s scary… so these people or things, if they get into your portal they disappear? For good?” Kai nodded. “Phew~ then I must thank you for not using the portals against me just now man.” Sehun sighed in relief.

Kai poked Chanyeol to signal the start of his self-introduction. “Oh… it’s my turn. Yup ok, erm my name is Chanyeol. The Prince but don’t call me that… I don’t like honorifics. Erm I’m 16 years old and I am the Chief of the Forest Guards.” Chanyeol boasted. “My powers include talking to tree spirits, talking to animals and erm Earth Manipulation- meaning that I can create earthquakes and manipulate any form of rock or sand. Yes. That’s about it.”

“Hi. My name is Sehun. I’m 14 years old like Kai. And I’m the Prince of Air Nation but don’t address me with that title. I met Kyungsoo when I was only 4. We’ve been best friends ever since. My powers include Wind Manipulation- I can create tornadoes- and I can use Wind to create corporeal illusions of myself to convey messages.”

Three pairs of eyes turned to Kyungsoo as he cleared his throat, “Erm, my name is Do Kyungsoo. I’m the Avatar obviously haha erm… I’m 15 years old. And I have two powers- telepathy and mental pain inducement. You guys can infer from the names what they are right… Basically my powers are all mental powers as opposed to what you guys have which are physical powers. What else… Oh yes, I have a dragon. Yup. That’s all thank you.”

…

“YOU CAN READ MINDS!?!?” Kai and Chanyeol screeched. Kai blushed; did he hear what I said about him? Oh … he probably can hear me now. Abort abort! Think about erm… the weather. Whoa~ It’s so sunny… is he still reading my mind. he’s giggling oh my heart cannot take this. Blush. Chanyeol on the other hand was growing hysterical. He was wrapping his gangly arms around his head as if it could prevent Kyungsoo from reading his thoughts. Kyungsoo and Sehun laughed even louder.

“He not only can read minds, he can transmit messages mentally too. Basically it’s like he can control your mind… something like that.” Sehun elaborated.

“S-So that’s how you did that thingy in the clearing earlier? How you got me to make my vines attack me instead? And how you got Kai to release Sehun?” Chanyeol mumbled from underneath his mass of arms.

“Yes. And I’m sorry for that really… why are you still hiding from me. I’m not going to read your minds again! I only do that mind thingy when absolutely required. I don’t want to read your minds believe it or not… sometimes my head hurts from all the mind reading.” Kai and Chanyeol looked up in relief when they heard that Kyungsoo wouldn’t be in their heads again.

“Wait…what’s mental pain inducement? Don’t tell me…”Chanyeol’s eyes widened in horror. “Yup! Kyungie here can send out pain. I’ve seen him in action during Kyōhei’s training… not a pretty sight at all. Here’s a reminder… you don’t want to piss him off.” Sehun warned in his fiercest tone while trying to keep a straight face at the increasingly uncomfortable elf. “I know it sounds bad. But you guys don’t have to think too much, I use that power only when necessary… plus I can't go around using this power anymore, Zökr can track my location with it.” Kyungsoo assured. The assurance didn’t help appease Chanyeol’s mind though, as the poor elf flinched every single time Kyungsoo so much as points in his direction.   

“So what should we do now…?” The four looked at each other at a loss. “Lady Yura hasn’t seen anything from the Pool of Tranquility to point us in the direction of the other eggs yet… so I guess we’re staying for now?” Kyungsoo pointed out.

“GREAT! Erm… let’s go. I’ll show you around the place Kyungsoo! Oh erm I mean… we’ll show you and Sehun around the Woods. Haha…” Chanyeol and Sehun facepalmed while Kai and Kyungsoo blushed. Can you please control your feels dude.

“So this here is the training arena. It’s my second favorite place in the entire Woods!” Kai exclaimed as he and Chanyeol led the other two boys around the large outdoor ground.

“Second favorite? What’s first?” Sehun glanced around curiously.

“The meadow of course. Anyways, we spend most of our time here training…” Chanyeol explained. “Hey…