Everyone hustled to get to their positions once they stepped out. As planned, Sophie, Suho, Christina, and Sehun barricaded themselves in the living room; even though there are a lot of windows in that area there are also multiple exits. Sophie, Yuri, and Persephone all believe that Keres must know where the house is by now,and they were trying to be prepared for anything. They were all crouched down behind furniture that were astray surrounding the maid.

Outside the large home each of the four boys was guarding a side of the house. Chanyeol was directly in front of the door, Baekhyun was guarding the east wall, Chen was guarding the west, and Xiumin was guarding in the back yard in front of the sliding glass door.

Across the street where Chanyeol could see from a distance was Luhan, Kai, and Lay. As time went on Yixing would run back and forth to give everyone water and check up on his brothers. Kai would remain facing Chanyeol and Luhan would do the opposite, facing the forest and roaming with his mind on what he could pick up. From here he would check in with Kyungsoo as well. At certain periods of time the telepath would check in with Suho to see how Christina is coping.

Xiumin was trying to find a vantage point in the yard to where he could see over the fence. He got frustrated to the point where he took some water from the pool and froze it so he could stand on top of it. It gave him relief to be able to look and see that no one was coming. Plus the pool with the half frozen water might come in handy later on. He turns around and glances through the sliding glass door. Christina is staring back and gives her a reassuring smile.

“Tell me how you feel.” Persephone says.

“I feel nervous as hell.” you answered.

She scoffs at you, but you honestly can’t help it. You’re sitting cross-legged in the middle of the clearing with your eyes closed. Kyungsoo was facing you and trying to meditate as well. You try opening one eye to look around but the goddess catches you.

“My heavens Yuri, focus!”

“I can’t!”

“Everyone else feels nervous when you are my Goddess”, Kyungsoo said soothingly, “You must calm down.”

“You need to find how you feel inside so I can know how to help.” Persephone added.

“This used to be easy.” you frowned.

“Let’s try this, tell me what you physically feel Goddess.” Kyungsoo stated in his monotonous voice.

  You close your eyes again and feel the atmosphere around you. The storm was still raging on, similar to the helpless churning in your stomach, and you focused on your skin.

“Wind. Lots of wind from the North.”

“Good, good. What else?” Kyungsoo encourages.

“Soft mists of rain, cool rain.”

“Courtesy of Suho.” the guardian acknowledged.

“I hear the rumbles of thunder and the cracks of lightning piercing through the sky.”

“Excellent. Can you pick up more? Anything?”

This time you looked down within yourself. The knots in your stomach and your anxiety felt as if they were huge flashing warning signs that played upon your eyelids. After a couple minutes of granted pure silence you were able to push through it.

Just as if you were trying to turn on one of your abilities, you followed the pulse of veins that led to your heart. You frown again.

“Is something wrong?” Persephone asks upon seeing your expression.

“It feels like there are walls around my heart.”

“Sweetie you need to let your guard down, it’s okay.”

This time you try forcing yourself to calm down even further and focus on the beating vessel within you. It’s really hard trying to use your mind to spiritually examine parts of your body, and you know that most people would never get it even if you tried explaining it to them.

This advanced style of meditating can also be excruciatingly fragile. Any sudden sound or movement or thought could throw off your entire focus and you could essentially lose yourself inside you. You were surprised just by the thought of you being able to maintain yourself in this type of weather condition.

You press your mind to shove even further and suddenly this wave of emotions floods your head. It’s your heart in distress, trying to send signals to your brain.

“Something feels off.” you mutter to no one in particular.

“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo questions.

“My heart feels like it’s fluctuating. Something is wrong, I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“This is good news.” Persephone interrupted. “Tell me Yuri dear, can you put that feeling on a grid?”

“Like the atmosphere around me?”

“Yes dear.”

It was a lot harder to do than you thought. It was like opening your heart and expanding it over a wide surface. But once you did you noticeably swayed back and forth.

“How do you feel?”

“Solid.”

“Okay Yuri, you’re connected with the earth, I feel it.” Kyungsoo said.

“Yes, yes, I feel it too. Yuri, do you still have that uneasy feeling?”

You pause for a moment and eventually nod your head.

“If I didn’t know any better I would say that nature is moving back and forth.” you think out loud with your eyes still closed.

Persephone sighs in relief.

“I’m so proud of you dear. You found the earth’s balance.”

“Except it’s not balanced. Not at all.” Kyungsoo says as you open your eyes and see him shake his head.

“Kyungsoo is naturally at his best when the environment is balanced. He may be able to manipulate the soil beneath you, but he is not able to force the world around you to shift back into it’s natural order. This is why you two are so closely linked to each other.” Persephone explained.

You stand up with your mind locked onto the nature’s scale of balance and look out into the treeline. Your guardian stands as well and you give him a soft smile.

About to wander around the clearing to further develop any of your abilities, you hear Persephone gasp from behind you. Yes, it was only a gasp, but you flip your head to the side so fast you nearly give yourself whiplash. The goddess seems frightened as she is looking at the sky and the eyes of Kyungsoo are wide and panicked.

“Luhan says he hears someone coming through the forest.” he says so eerily quiet through the storm that you shiver at his voice.

“Everyone’s getting into place.” he adds after a beat.

“Get Kai and Sophie here immediately.” you answer quickly, following the plan.

“The war starts now.”

A/N: First off,

HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO EXTERNALLY ETHEREAL!

I can't believe I have honestly made it this far, and all of you are the ones that have kept me going.

I'm on vacation right now, so our lovely beta is the one who posted this chapter. Give her some love and thanks!

Remember to send in Q&A's!