He couldn’t remember how he got to his room or even being in his bedroom before, but he was sure that it was in fact his bedroom. The ivory walls were too pale for his liking but felt familiar to his distant memories. He looked at the decorative tree on the wall opposite of his bed, where he rested, and then observed at the books and papers scattered on his desk.

When did I use that?

Eventually he stood up and went through his daily routine, almost as if he were on autopilot. Something felt different in him, but he couldn’t point out what.

He wore light blue clothing and walked towards his desk scanning through the material that lay upon it.

“Why would I study about water if I am water?” Suho whispered to himself.

He lay back on top of his bed and stayed calmly meditating until an assistant would come find him. He knew the routine. But he felt odd, something was off. He knew who he was, what he was meant to do, but everything felt vague. As if he had returned from a hiatus and he was restarting everything. As if this were the first time he’s here yet he knew he had done this before. It felt different from a déjà vu, it felt like he was starting from a checkpoint after a game over.

---

“We managed to mutate the gene responsible for the enzyme production in chloride cells of fish gills, specifically Masu Salmon, for saltwater adaptations. But these results are different. They’re more than what we expected. They have completely adapted to the subject’s lung tissue creating an apomorphy,” lab assistant X1LA5 explained to the board, three main scientists and Mama.

“So you are saying that he is fit for a saltwater environment,” the man next to Mama stated.

“Exactly,” the assistant said, “And as further proof, the subject has grown to enjoy high concentrated salted foods, especially saltwater purely as beverage. His kidneys are more efficient than we predicted.”

“Very well, we’ll proceed with the second test stage,” Mama declared and the meeting was over.

---

“Saltwater submersion… sounds interesting,” Suho said with a smile as he finished his third bottle of salted water. “Maybe then I could stop drinking the water and actually swim in it,” he joked, even the other didn’t respond.

He was left alone in his room again, ordered to study. Why do I have to study if already know all of it?

How long until they let him near water again? Not stupid tolerance tests, but actually be able to swim once more. He passed all the freshwater breathing tests, that he remembered, but he never really had enough space to enjoy and swim. And now they want to test him to breathe saltwater, how ridiculous. Why would he have to go through tests to show that he can do something he obviously knew he’s completely capable of? Don’t they notice him gulping down saltwater as if it were air? How stupid were these so called scientists? Seriously they were starting to piss him off. If it weren’t for Mama and her insistence, he would’ve stopped already.

I am water, he thought again. Why can’t they realize that?

He walked into his bathroom, feeling the need to wash his face. Turning the faucet, freshwater began to fill the sink. Once he was content with the amount of water he turned the faucet to close. Cupping water with his hands Suho splashed some against his face, feeling its coolness relieve his skin. Repeating this action he let himself enjoy the water against his skin. Stopping to observe his reflection on the mirror, he paid attention to each drop that fell from his face. He breathed deep as he noticed that he was able to distinguish every single drop of water on his face and the ones falling off. It was as if they stood out. Light against darkness, each drop was a star in the night.

He looked at his hand extended before him, droplets of water highlighted against his skin. Something inside him felt different -a spark of some sort igniting his soul. He could feel each drop of water vibrate, ever so slightly. He felt warmth in his chest and tried to concentrate his warmth towards his hand. He was trying to transmit energy to a focalized area.

Water, focus on each drop, focus on the water, water, water.

And then it happened.

The drops of water began to hover off his skin, slowly and steadily they would levitate through the air until they were at his eye level. He looked at his reflection, now covered with drops of water levitating in front of his face. His concentration broke and the water fell. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, as he stared dumbfounded at the sink. Small concentric waves fluttered against the surface where the drops fell.

“This can’t be real,” Suho said to himself.

Out of curiosity, he extended his hand above the sink filled with water, his palm just centimeters above the surface. He tried to evoke that feeling again, that feeling of a spark inside him, of energy flowing through his veins as the skin of his hand would tickle. Focusing hard on his hand, he tried to imagine himself projecting the energy he felt towards the water. Suddenly the surface began to vibrate, just under his hand, and it began to undulate. Under his hand the surface would plunge and then elevate again and again, creating circular waves spreading outwards.

He never touched the water, but he felt his energy pulsate and create those waves.

Then Suho tried something different. He lifted his extended arm slowly and watched as a stream of water followed his hand upward, never once touching his skin. He managed to keep the stream flowing as his hand reached up higher than his head. He marveled at the water stream, it floated and remained in its form, swaying a little but never dispersing. It was as if it had an invisible wall that was flexible with the water but wouldn’t let its contents fall out.  

The intercom snapped him out of his concentration. The water he was controlling dispersed and fell against the sink and the floor. Even Suho’s clothes got wet. He cursed whoever was speaking through the intercom under his breath. They were ordering him to sleep so he’d be ready for tomorrow’s test. Suho looked at the mess on his bathroom floor and reached for a towel, stopping his hand halfway towards it and looked back down at the spilled water.

Maybe… I can lift it up.

He concentrated as hard as he could, trying to picture all the water on the floor. He extended his arms towards the floor, palms facing the ground. He waited for the spark, for the flow of energy. And he felt it work. Lifting his hands the spilled water levitated in the air. He motioned his hands towards each other as if he were going to hold a ball between them. The drops of water joined midair in between his hands and formed a sphere. He observed how the water in the sphere would flow in circular motions, keeping its structure intact in a fluid motion. He was fascinated. He swirled the sphere around the air, it would fluctuate into a stream as it move and then form back into a sphere once he stopped moving it.

Ignoring for the first time the orders they gave him, Suho spent most of the night playing with water in his bathroom.

A new day arrived. Suho woke up still in bliss from last night’s discovery.

When they came to pick him up, it was the first time lab assistant X1LA1 came for him. He rarely had seen her out of the lab. On the way to test room A-2, he dared to ask her a question he thought too many times before.

“Why a tree?”

“Excuse me?” she asked perplexed, really not expecting him to talk.

“Why is there a symbol of a tree everywhere? And why is it a tree?” he asked again.

“Oh, well…,” she looked around before answering, “In the study of evolution we use a diagram, that resembles a tree, to trace back a common ancestor for different groups or clad, depending on characteristics of the clad. It’s used to describe the evolutionary history of a clad from the most ancestral being to its newest successor.” She paused and stopped walking, they were about to reach the test room. “It starts at the bottom with one individual and then branches out as a tree when the more evolved species differentiate from the rest,” she used hand gestures to explain.

“Oh that’s really interesting,” Suho smiled.

“Yes it is,” she said cutting in, “please refrain from conversing about this. We have to get to work.”

Suho nodded grateful that someone would actually speak with him, even if it were for such a brief moment.

They entered the lab a big glass tank was at the middle, the water looked clear rich blue unlike freshwater which looked dull and transparent. The lab assistants were preparing at their stations.

“We’ll use the oxygen mask first, just to be safe,” lab assistant X1LA6 explained, as X1LA3 stuck the wireless monitor pins onto his body. “I know you haven’t used it for a while but we believe the saltwater will be uncomfortable. So we’ll go slowly to give your lungs a chance to adapt. We encourage you to keep a constant breathing pattern for the water to flow. Understood?”

Suho agreed and once they were ready, he climbed the ladder to the top of the tank. An assistant adjusted the oxygen mask for him and signaled him to enter the tank. He sat on the bench as they closed the top of the tank. The saltwater felt different against his skin, it prickled ever so slightly. He could feel the difference between the molecules of water and the solutes of salt. The water felt nice because he belonged there.

The first yellow light blinked three times, he descended to the bottom of the tank, letting the water embrace him. His eyes didn’t hurt they were more than fine, he even felt as if he could see better.

Have I done this before? He wondered, I can’t remember ever breathing saltwater before. Even the lab assistants said it’s the first test.

When he saw the second yellow light blink, he shrugged the idea off. The green light went off and the hatch from the mask opened. Suho was completely calm. He knew that he had nothing to fear or feel anxious about. Nothing could hurt him because he was at home. Water entered very slowly, slower than any other test. The water didn’t hurt his lungs. He could feel the salt lightly graze the inner walls of his lungs, it tickled a bit and it felt completely normal as if his lungs were fish gills.

It feels weird, he rubbed his chest. The oxygen he could still breathe with the mask made it feel awkward.

Fueled with confidence, Suho started to take the mask off. He saw the lab assistants that were monitoring him panic, they made signals for him to stop. But Suho felt safe. He took off the mask and water quickly entered into his lungs, the remaining air left his body as bubbles rising quickly to the surface.

He breathed rhythmically, letting the water flow in and out of his system. This is awesome, I feel great.

He rubbed his chest as salt caressed his inside, but in only tickled. He smiled and even laughed a bit from the tickling sensation.

The assistants looked dumbfounded; they could only stare in awe. Some reacted and started to check the monitors, register the data and take notes. Soon they were all working at their stations, recording the moment of a breakthrough.

Suho stretched his limbs in the water, letting himself float in the middle of the tank. There wasn’t enough space to actually swim, but he swayed his body as if he were enjoying the currents of the ocean. He imagined big superficial waves rippling the body of water in circles. His body swayed up and down, side to side.

He didn’t realize what he had caused until it was too late.

He was enjoying himself too much and the currents he imagined himself in began to form inside the tank. Waves started to grow and shake the tank, the pressure against the glass spiked. The sound of a crack caught his attention. He looked at the glass before him and saw that the thick glass had split. Suho saw the waves pressing against the shattered glass.

.

He tried to calm the waves by imagining the water being still, but the pressure was too strong and the front glass broke. Tons of water spilled out with great force, he could hear objects break and people scream. The current was strong and it pushed him forcefully against the glass double doors with the symbolic tree plastered on them.

He heard bones crushing before everything went dark.

He awoke in his bedroom, except that it wasn’t the same bedroom. He immediately noticed the walls weren’t ivory anymore, but now were chatoyant grey and deep blue. The opposite wall didn’t have the outline of the symbolic tree -of that damn tree he finally knew was about evolution. Suho sat up and felt rather small. The bed was bigger, wider and sheets colored deep blue. The room was bigger. There was a closet in front with opaque glass doors with black metal frames Opposite to his bed was a matching set of a black wooden desk and bookcase, also an opaque glass door with black frames next to his desk.

How did I get here?

Suho got out of bed and his bare feet felt cold. He looked down at the marbled floor realizing he was only wearing black underpants. He looked towards the closet and then to the door at the opposite site.

He was too curious to get dressed and took the door to his right. Upon opening the door he looked around in awe as he observed the spacious room.

Wait… am I outside?

It would’ve been the first time in so long but the dark walls reminded him that he was still inside. The place looked like a cave, there were even stalactites decorating the roof. Suho felt the floor was smooth against his feet, not rocky. And in the middle was a small circle of stones that circumscribed a pond just big enough for him to fit in. And, oddly, droplets of water would fall into the pond from the ceiling. He noticed that there was a mineral formation that captured atmospheric water and would condense it so the drops would fall back from where they evaporated from. He stepped closer to the rocks and noticed they were polished and had weird drawings on them, like ancient runes. He counted twelve of them.

What is this? Kneeling before the pond, he reached forward letting his hand break the surface of the water. It seems deep… How far will it go? He bent forward and was surprised that his whole arm fit inside and still did not find a bottom. It was like a profound hole in the room.

He sat back up and watched the ripples on the surface of the water. I wonder… I’m pretty sure I could fit in there. Maybe… Inexplicably he felt a connection, an inner desire to dive into the water. It wouldn’t hurt to try, he thought.

Suho moved closer to the edge of the pond and dived into the water. He was amazed to see lights around the walls that contained the body of water.

It’s like… an underground swimming pool. Just for me, he mused.

It had the same space as the room on top, but it was very deep. He could see the bottom of the pool with all the lights. The only entrance was the hole at the top, which was the pond.

He knew he was breathing underwater, it never terrified him. He enjoyed being in the water, let it caress his skin as he swam as fast as he could. Within minutes he roamed through all the pool, learning its extension.

He began to play with currents, creating some around his body to swim even faster. He would create swirls of water, like mini whirlpools and then dive into them for a spin. He was like a child playing as far as his imagination would go.

He had no idea how long he was in the water but he noticed a shadow at the pond. Swiftly he swam to the top and, with help of the water, he used a current to elevate his body out of the hole. He landed softly on the ground and the water retrieved back into the pound.

“Mama?” he asked as he recognized the woman before him. Forgetting he was wet, he quickly hugged her. “Mama it’s been so long. I missed you.”

“Yah! Suho you’re wet,” she complained with a playful tone, one he hadn’t heard in so long.

Suho backed away and smiled sheepishly. He focused on the water on her clothes and with a swift hand motion he made the drops leave her clothes and form a small stream in the air, levitating in front of his hands.

“Impressive,” she said full of admiration, as a sparkle twinkled in her eyes.

Suho felt happy just by hearing her approval, he felt loved. Showing off, he swirled the small stream of water over their heads and around them before depositing it back into the pond.

“Your skills have improved so much, I’m proud,” she smiled. “Follow me.”

They headed towards Suho’s bedroom. He quickly put on a bathrobe, realizing he was almost . She sat on his desk chair and motioned him to sit on his bed.

“Your test results have been remarkable Suho. You’ve made me and the company very proud. With the data we’ve collected we’ll be able to work on the projects we’ve longed to start since the beginning. And we can avoid predictable misshapes, things we can prevent from repeating from what we’ve learned with your experience.”

“I’m glad I’ve been useful,” he said honestly. “But, Mama, I can’t remember this room before or how I got here. Could you tell me?”

Her expression turned cold for a brief second but then she looked calm. “You were knocked out pretty badly on your last test. You’ve been asleep for a little but nothing to feel anxious about. You’re perfectly fine, just as if you started out new.” Suho nodded. “As for this room, consider it your hard earned prize. This will be your room from now on and that is your recreational room,” she pointed towards the door where the pond was at. “It’s designed that way to avoid spillage towards your bedroom and it saves space. Also the water, did you feel the difference?”

“Yes, it was vitalizing,” he answered.

“Exactly,” she smiled, “the water is of the purist in this land and we’ve added healing properties to it. So every time you feel tired or just want to swim, you will feel like brand new once you dive into the water.”

“Thank you Mama,” he smiled graciously.

“I suggest you practice controlling water and your powers,” she said standing up, to which Suho immediately reacting by doing the same. “You know practice leads to perfection. We want to see how far your abilities can go and no pressure this time. We’ve been planning a new trial, one much more,” she paused, “you could say, fun.”

“It’s not over?”

“No dear, not yet. There’s more to learn and progress,” she walked towards the main door and opened with a card key. “Soon you will meet the others like you.”

“Others?” he said surprised, “I’m not the only one?”

She shook her head with a smile. “Be patient, soon we’ll meet again. Goodbye my dear.” And she left.

“Wait!” Suho shouted too late, for the door had already closed. He tried to open it, only to realize that it was locked. He let out a sad sigh as he leaned his body against the door.

“I’m not the only one,” he whispered to himself, a small smile creeping onto his lips.

A/N:

Hey guys, just wanted to say hi and to thank you all whom have read my story, it means a lot to know that people are interested and like what I’ve done.

A special thanks to nana85, vermouth_23, SunniIchi and LuHanM for being my first subscribers.

If there is anything confusing or you have any question at all, please ask in the comments and I’ll gladly clear it up for you.

Have a nice week

Annyeong!