II

 

 

Jongdae woke up with sweat streaming down his forehead. He groaned, and started tossing and turning in his bed. When he looked at the clock it showed two in the morning. Whining, he sat up and ran and hand through his hair. The boy blinked a few times, trying to chase the nightmare away. A few minutes later, Jongdae got up and left his room to grab some water. While passing a library, he saw the light was on inside.

“Baekhyun?” he asked surprised, upon spotting the older in a chair, with a book in his hands. The silver haired male looked up, and readjusted his glasses. “What are you doing here?” Jongdae continued, sitting in the other chair.

“Couldn’t sleep. I had weird nightmares,” Baekhyun explained slowly, looking down at the pages once again. Jongdae took the book from his friend’s hands, and raised his eyebrows.

“What, in the name of all the gods, nightmares did you have that made you grab a book about Mesopotamia?!” he asked surprised.

“There was a man in my dream,” the older started, “he was on fire. However, he was not burning. He had wings, like a phoenix.”

“Wait, what?” Jongdae whispered, and standing up he ran to his room and back, holding a pile of papers. “Like this?” he asked, showing his friend one of his paintings.

On a deserted wasteland, stood a tall man, who was being swallowed by flames. And just like Baekhyun described, he had wings of fire stretching behind him.

“Who is that?” the silver haired boy mumbled.

“I have no idea. But I saw him in my dreams as well. Many times. Him, and some other people.”

“There was a sign, as well,” Baekhyun added, “or two, I am not really sure whether they were actually any particular shapes or just my imagination. But it has been happening for some time, and I cannot take it anymore. I need to know.”

Jongdae chuckled, smiling at his friend, “so what? You’ve decided to research all the ancient myths?”

“This is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks,” Baekhyun nodded, turning the page.

“And how is it going?”

“Would be going much better if you weren’t talking, Jongdae, or even more, if you weren’t here at all,” he mumbled, biting on his bottom lip.

“Alright, alright! I’m going back to bed, after all, I have detention tomorrow, gotta be –“

“Yes, yes, Jongdae, please, stop talking!”

Jongdae only raised his hands in a defeated manner and quickly left the library, giggling to himself.

When the door shut behind the younger, Baekhyun let out a breath he had been holding, and looked down at the pages, again.

 

The First Gods

 

At the beginning was darkness and for darkness is vaccum it bore the first element. For the darkness is chaos, this is how the second element was born. And for the darkness had always been cold, it created the third element.
And when the coldness fell upon the grounds of nothingness, bright light came from the skies. And two elements were brought to life.
For the light lit up and chansed up the darkness, in the place of coldness came warmth. And this is how the sixth element appeared. But where coldness and warmth  met, steam took over, filling lowlands and narrows with water. And the sevenths element was born. And as nothing had been there yet, but chaos that controlled the creation, in the range it became one with eighth element. As it was the last element to be created, it was bound to give life to another one.
For when the grounds of nothingness were cleared, element nineth took upon them, and in its glory and power seperated the grounds that were warm from those that were cold, and those that were dry from those that were wet. And in that moment the harmony fell upon the lost grounds. And from that harmony the last element was born; the wisesed of them all for it was to see the creation that leaned in front of it.
And it called the upper sphere Heaven, and the lower was named Earth. The wet lands were given names such as oceans and seas and lakes and rivers.
But not all was good, for the harmony involves balance. And when the tenth element looked to the west, it saw darkness and chaos and coldness. It saw steam gathering on the upper sphere and white lines crossing the dark, chasing the darkness away.
And it knew, it was good.
So it let it be. It called the dark part West, and the light part East.
The East part was peaceful, bring and warm with fire burning up above the upper sphere.
The West part was cold, dark and dangerous, with white shinings falling from the steam gathered.
It fell to the ground, covering the black grounds  in white, cold powder. And when the last element saw that, it called the white powder Snow.
And when another crossed the upper sphere and hit the ground, the element named it Lightning. And for the lightning was bright, the contrary of darkness was called Light.
It looked up and focused on the fire ball above. "This shall be called Sun, thus Sun shall be fire." And when it looked down, it saw oceans and seas and lakes and river and it decided they would be filled with Water.
And then it saw snow being uplifted and carried high above the upper sphere where it rested, equal to the Sun. And it decided, the upper sphere snow shall be called Stars, and the force carrying it there, for the last element liked that act of creation, decided to call it Wind. And there it was, looking around, when it spotted a mite; something neither wet nor dry,something dark but pleasant. And when it took it from the ground and the rays of Sun touched it a green leaf grew. "I shall call it Soil," it thought, lying the dust back on the ground, "it shall make this place beautiful."
And seeing how the darkness and light fought with each other, it decided to make them equal. Darkness became Night, light was turned into Day. But seeing how Day was bright because of the Sun, it realized the night was dark because of the lack of such. And when it thought of a solution, it saw chaos appearing next to the Sun, stealing some of its light, and then it disappeared; only to reappeare again, stealing light from the stars. And at last it appeared in the West and stole coldness from the Snow. And when the Lightning , it stole its', too.
For before any reaction could be given, a shining circle was hung on the upper sphere, bringing light to the darkness.
Seeing that the last element named it Moon. And what was to take control over life, the element figured, and would quell the chaos, became known as Time.
But the element was disturbed. It thought of a spirit, second element, and it decided it was dangerous. For there was no means to control it. And this is how the second elemnt became coursed, to be forever one, forever the same. And it became known as a seperate being.

 

Upon flipping the page, Baekhyun’s eyes landed on primitive drawings of the symbol from his dream. He started flipping the pages; there were many more. One that resembled a unicorn, a tornado, a snowflake, some kind of a flying animal, a star. He was not sure what the rest was supposed to be, but he counted twelve of them. A few of which he spotted on Jongdae’s drawings.

“What are you?” he mumbled to himself, as he turned the page and kept on reading.

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

When Jongdae woke up in the morning, he was once again accompanied by a headache. Grabbing a few pain killers and a glass of water that stood on a nightstand, he took them, and got up. His eyes landed on a few drawings scattered on the floor. He grabbed one, the oldest ones, his first drawing. There was a frozen man, a form trapped in ice. He stood in the middle of a frozen ocean, with blizzard ranging around him.

Jongdae frowned, as a sudden shiver ran down his spine.

“Dae! Dear, have you woken up?” he heard his mother’s voice call him from the outside. He quickly pushed the drawings under his bed, and stood up.

“Yes, mom! I’ll be down any minute!”

Having said that, he quickly dressed himself and throwing a few books into his backpack, he left the room and ran down to the kitchen.

“Is Baekhyun ready?” he asked, quickly grabbing a cup standing on a counter. A grimace adorned his face as he realized it was someone else’s coffee, not his tea.

“I’m here,” the older yawn, entering the room as well.

“You look terrible,” Jongdae pointed, and Baekhyun only rolled his eyes, “how long did you stay up?”

“Four.”

Jongdae chocked on his tea, “you stayed up until four reading that stupid book?”

Baekhyun shrugged, grabbing a banana and a bottle of water from the fridge, and put it in his bag, “you ready?” he asked only, heading for the door.

“What book was he reading?” Jongdae’s mum asked him, observing the older boy’s back.

“Something about Mesopotamian’s myths,” the boy rolled his eyes, “I’ll be back late, I gotta stay in a library to write a paper today,” he smiled, giving his mother a kiss on a cheek.

“I know you have detention, Dae.”

“Ugh, at least I tried,” he shrugged, and left the house.

“Be back for dinner!” she shouted after the two, but was not sure whether they heard.

She could only hope.

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

The day was going incredibly slow for Jongdae, and he found it hard to focus. Somewhere, at the back of his mind, was a constant thought regarding his conversation with Baekhyun the night before, and the images of the drawings were flashing in his mind.

He let out a small growl, rubbing his temples.

“You alright?” Baekhyun asked, sitting next to him.

“I just wanna be done with this day, that’s all,” he mumbled, looking outside the window. Dark clouds started gathering on the sky, and loud thunders could be heard in the distance.

“Stop being so moody, the weather is listening to you, again,” Baekhyun warned.

“As if that was possible,” he chuckled lowly, resting his head in his hands on a table.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped, and the door slammed open.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun whisper, nudging his friend. The boy looked up, and took a sharp breath in.

“Oh,” left his lips, and he saw his breath turn into a steam.

There, through the door came a man with black eyes, in a shape resembling an almond, jet black hair, a few bangs of which covered the eyes, and a fair complexion. His lips were plump, a color of light raspberry.

“Morning,” the man spoke, standing behind the desk, “I am here today to substitute for your teacher.”

“What happened to Mrs. Lee?” someone shouted.

“That should be none of your concern, open your books on the latest topic you have discussed,” he ordered, and some people swallowed loudly.

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

“Baekhyun.”

The boy heard his name being called after the class. He looked up, and saw the new teach looking straight at him. He rose from his seat, and neared the man.

“Yes?”

“I would like to see you in my office along with Jongdae after your classes are over.”

The boy raised an eyesbrow, “excuse me? Why would that be?”

“Due to some issues I would like to discuss. Make sure to be on time, I really do not like waiting,” he spoke, and turning around, left the room.

“Sir!” Baekhyun yelled after him. When the man therw him one last glance, he spoke again, “Jongdae has detention today.”

“I know. I’ve already talked to the teacher. He will spend it in my office. Be on time!”

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

“What happened?” Jongdae asked, as Baekhyun joined him in the hallway.

“He wants us to come to his office right after classes.”

“What the hell? But I hav – “

“Not anymore,” Baekhyun whispered, as they walked outside. “Be careful.”

“Hmm?” Jongdae looked at him cofused, “alright?”

“He kept staring at you the whole class,” Baekhyun smirked, winking at his friend. Jongdae only gasped, and rolled his eyes.

“Well, he is not that bad. Speaking off, isn’t he too young to be a teacher? How old can he be?”

Baekhyun shrugged, “I’ve been thinking the same.”

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

“Is everything ready?” Chanyeol asked, sitting on a desk, playing with a flame in his hand.

“I believe so. Yixing and Sehun were supposed to take care of everything. We just need to get them there.”

“Have you seen them, hyung?”

“I have. They shall be here shortly.”

There was silence between the two for some time, before Chanyeol spoke again.

“Minseok,” he mumbled, “what if they don’t recognize us?”

“Oh, Chanyeol. They certainly will not.”

The younger let out a disappointed sigh, “it’s been centuries, hyung. Over a millennium!” the older stayed silent, “do you think we made a mistake? Becoming humans?”

“I think we made a mistake that we fell as low as humans. We lost everything, just to gain little,” Minseok replied, and his eyes shone, “but don’t worry, Chanyeol. We’ll get it all back. We’ll get them back; we’ll get our home back. I will erase every possible memory and mention of the greek gods, I swear it. Even if I have to change history, I will. They’ll pay for what they’ve done.”

“I’ve been often wondering what would happen if Jongdae didn’t drink that last glass of wine,” the fire boy chuckled, and for a moment, Minseok’s features seemed to soften, as if he remembered something really nice. But then, he was back to his usual self.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he whispered, and they both laughed.

“Oh, the irony! Funny, how no one but us will ever know the origins of this phrase.”

“That’s true.”

“There’s so many stories to be told.”

“And many more to be forgotten,” Minseok’s tone suddenly changed, “do not do it to yourself, Chanyeol. Bringing the past back will do you no good. It will to do good to any of us.”

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Minseok shouted, and a moment later two figures entered the room.

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked slightly confused when their eyes landed on the stranger in the room. “I’m glad to –“

“Can you stop?!” Jongdae interrupted the man, but his eyes were focused on the person he did not know. The stranger raised his eyebrows, and looked at him confused.

“What?”

“Stop staring at my friend like he was your prey,” he growled, standing slightly in front of Baekhyun, who only narrowed his eyes at the stranger.

“Chanyeol,” Minseok spoke, and when the said boy turned to look at the oldest, his shirt slightly slipped down, uncovering his neck.

Jongdae inhaled loudly, upon spotting a light mark on the other’s skin. He heard Baekhyun gasp, and he knew he saw the same thing. They both gulped, as the men in front of them looked their way.

And then, before anyone could ask, or say anything, black smoke appeared in the room and swallowed Baekhyun. Jongdae was about to yell, when it appeared again, and he felt himself being swallowed as well.

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

“JONGIN!” Minseok yelled at the top of his lungs, “I swear, he is so dead!”

“Hyung,” Chanyeol mumbled, looking around. The whole room was frozen.

Suddenly, the black smoke appeared again, and out of it came a tall man, with sun kissed skin, plain black hair, and black eyes. He was panting, as if being in a hurry.

“You!” The oldest screamed, throwing himself on a male. But the newcomer only turned into a smoke, just to reappear on the other side of the room.

“Stop it!” he exclaimed, “we have no time!”

“Where are they?!” Chanyeol asked, looking the boy in front of him up and down.

“With Yixing and Sehun,” Jongin replied, “I’ll take you there, but you have to listen to me! The gods! They sent Eurynomos* down to Earth!”

“What?” Minseok whispered, looking at Chanyeol terrified.

“They’re not wasting time,” the younger pointed.

“How do you know that?”

“Rumor travels fast.”

“They will not stop with only this one,” Minseok mumbled, “and we still don’t know where Junmyeon and Kyungsoo are. They might be in great danger.”

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin whispered, “is he… is he here as well?”

Chanyeol’s gaze softened as he looked at his old friend, “we don’t know, Jongin. But we’ll find him,’ he placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder, smiling. Jongin nodded, and grabbing Minseok’s wrist, his darkness swallowed all of them.

 

⚚⚚⚚

 

Jongdae groaned upon being violently thrown onto a concrete. He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up, he saw Baekhyun’s concerned and frightened expression.

“What is going on?” he asked, realizing they were no longer in the teacher’s office.

“I don’t know,” Bakehyun whispered, helping Jongdae up with shaking hands.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know, Jongdae,” Baekhyun replied, feeling rising annoyance with his friend.

“Let’s get out of here,” the younger suggested, but then they heard something.

Steps.

They looked at each other terrified, their hearts beating faster.

They were standing in a circle of light, but anything outside was covered in thick darkness.

“This is so good, hyung, you should try!” an exicted voice reach their ears.

“No, Sehun, thank you,” another replied.

“Wow, I swear, this might be the best thing out of all the humans invented!”

“Sehun, this is just a –,” the voice suddenly stopped, and so did the steps, “what are you doing here?” it asked, and the whole room filled with light.

What Baekhyun and Jongdae did not expect, was to see two men, both around their age, casually standing in the middle of some old, underground parking lot. One of them was rather tall, his face long, hair blond, and his eyes seemed to be dark grey. There was a massive smile on his lips, at first, as he was munching on a bar of chocolate, but it changed right away, when his eyes landed on the two. The other boy was slightly shorter, his eyes green as a morning grass in spring. He had a very calming aura to himself, and it somehow calmed to two students down.

Seddenly, a massive cloud of smoke appeared next to them, and three people emerged from it. Jongdae quickly put a hand to his lips, preventing a scream from coming out. Baekhyun tightly gripped his friend’s wrist, pushing him away from the three.

Jongdae frowned, recognizing two of the men that stood in front of him as the substitute teacher and a weird man from his office. His eyes grew, and he could not hold the next words that escaped his lips.

“What the ?!” he yelled, and everyone looked at him.

 

---

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~Hello ! 

Ahhh, it's been some time, right? I had most of it written, but then I deleted almost half of the chapter to re-write it. I hope this one looks and reads better! Please, comment, subscribe and upvote if yoy found it to your liking! :)

[not proof-read, I'm really sorry!]

*spirit of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld.