III

 

 

 

Logic.

From the Ancient Greek logike. Originally meaning the word, transformed to mean thought or reason; is generally held to consist of the systematic study of the form of arguments. A valid argument is one where there is a specific relation of logical support between the assumptions of the argument and its conclusion.

Logic. Something that describes things valid; things that are. Everything is built on logic. The laws of physic, the laws of humans, the laws of nature, the ones ruling over the Universe and the ones ruling under waters of oceans.

The world and society exist because of logically outlined rules.

Baekhyun’s world exists because of logic. There is nothing outside, lack of logic creates chaos, and chaos destroys everything it touches.

Lack of logic equals lack of everything and anything that prospers.

If there was no logic, there would be no Baekhyun.

Cogito ergo sum. Logic is thought; a means of creation. I think, therefore I am.

A thought means asking, questioning, demanding, figuring, finding, wondering, and finally achieving. A thought is a beginning of a process of being.

It is logical that the sun rises on the East and it sets on the West, due to the rotation of the Earth. It is logical that water is liquid, due to its chemical construction. It is logical that leaves move, due to the force of wind.

The world as we know it works, because of the logical laws ruling over it.

It is logical, that everything in the world is connected, and that people are also included, being part of the circle of life.

Logic.

A thought creates everything.

A thought explains everything.

Without thoughts there was no logic. Without logic there was no Baekhyun.

Because everything Baekhyun knew was logical thinking.

One thing emerging from another. A long chain of networks.

That is why it was so hard for Baekhyun to find an explanation for what was happening.

What had just happened to him, to them, was plainly illogical. People do not just disappear and reappear somewhere else.

Laws of physics forbade such acts. Laws of logic forbade such acts.

He heard and felt his heart bang against his chest, blood rushing crazily in his veins, fueled by adrenaline. His senses were on high alert, his eyes following every movement in the darkness around him, carefully checking all the five figures in front of him; his muscles were flexed, ready to either run or attack; his hearing sharp, catching every sound around, from Jongade’s breathing to dust falling on the ground.

It was terribly silent.

But these were only seconds, a moment shorter than a breath, between an appearance of a black cloud and his friend’s yell somehow making everything more normal.

“What the ?!” Jongdae yelled, his voice slightly high pitched, his muscles tensed and eyes wide, and Baekhyun knew that the younger was doing his best to stay calm.

 

Rule number one of survival: never let the enemy sense your fear.

 

Upon noticing that the strangers focused on Jongdae, Baekhyun quickly looked around, trying to spot an exit, or any sort of escape route. There it was, somewhere far, on the wall behind them, there seemed to be a source of light, as if a massive window or a garage door left ajar. It was their chance.

Baekhyun tightened his grip on the younger’s wrist, and when their eyes met, he knew that Jongdae understood. After all, they grew to understand each other without words.

They counted to three in their heads, and suddenly, as if on cue, started running towards the opposite wall, Jongdae only inches behind Baekhyun, following the other.

 

Rule number two of survival: know your opponent.

 

They almost made it. What they needed was a few more meters. However, just when a weird realization settled in them, that they could not hear any footsteps behind them, that they were not followed, a black smoke appeared in front of them, something grabbed their hands, and the next thing they knew they were lying on the floor, in the circle of light, again.

“There is no point trying to escape,” they heard a voice.

“This is not happening,” Baekhyun mumbled to himself, taking a deep breath in, trying to calm his beating heart.

Baekhyun was the one to always follow logic, and what was happening around him was not logical in any degree. But his heart gave up to instincts. And his instincts were screaming at him to get away.

He got up, and pulled Jongdae harshly up with him. The younger groaned, and Baekhyun sent him a look.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’ve just hit the ing concrete and you’re shoving me around like a bag of groceries,” he mumbled, making a face at his friend, as if they were not in a life-threatening situation.

Someone chuckled lowly and quietly.

“One day you will get yourself in a really crappy situation and I will not be there to save your sorry ,” Baekhyun whispered to the younger, tightening his grip on the other’s shoulder.

Another chuckle.

“Then let’s hope it’s gonna be today, so I don’t have to listen to you anymore.”

“Calm down,” another voice spoke, “no one is dying today –“

“I WAS NOT TALKING TO YOU!” Both of them yelled, and when the five strangers looked at each other in confusion, Baekhyun and Jongdae gave each other one look and started running again.

Just to be caught in the same place and brought back to the exact same spot a moment later.

“What the ?!” Jongdae groaned, grabbing his shoulder, as he fell on it for the third time, and it started hurting.

“Stop running, so it’ll stop hurting,” a familiar this time voice reached their ears, and when Jongdae looked up, he was met with a cold gaze of the substitute teacher.

“Thanks for the advice, ,” he murmured, and someone chuckled again, “since when is the school hiring pschopaths?”

“Jongdae, shut up!” the teacher and Baekhyun said at the same time, and only gave each other weird looks.

“Even after millennia, he’s still annoying,” a boy who brought them there mumbled, and Jongdae gasped, offended.

“Excuse you! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! And who the hell are you even to judge me like that?!”

Baekhyun placed a hand on Jongdae’s injured shoulder and squeezed it, making the boy whine, “we have more urgent issues than your hurt pride, so for Pete’s sake, shut the up, Jongdae,” he spoke in a stoic voice, tightening his grip on the shoulder even more.

The younger only nodded, and a loud sigh of relief escaped his lips as Baekhyun let go of him.

“Who are you?” the older proceeded with talking, looking around at everyone gathered.

“Why would you ask questions to which you already know the answer, Baekhyun?” one of them asked, and his voice was calm and soft.

“How do you know my name?”

The boy chuckled, “I believe this is a valid question, indeed,” he smiled widely, and Baekhyun frowned.

 

Rule number three of survival: do not trust anyone.

 

“Then answer it, for the love of all the gods,” Jongdae mumbled, rolling his eyes. He was not the most patient person on the planet.

“Some things definitely never change,” someone made a remark, and in the corner of the eye, Jongdae spotted the tall boy from the office smirking.

However, instead of answering Baekhyun with words, the boy speaking to him only straightened his left arm and pulled his sweater above the wrist.

There, just below the veins, was a mark resembling a unicorn, only a few shades darker than the boy’s skin color.

Right after, a taller boy standing to the right did the same thing. On his wrist was a mark in shape of a cyclone, or a tornado.

The two men from the office also straightened their arms, uncovering two marks. One that looked like a phoenix, the other resembling a snowflake.

Only one of them has not done that, but it was unnecessary. Beakhyun already knew everything.

He quickly grabbed Jongdae’s hand, and turned around pulling the younger after him.

“We’re leaving,” he said calmly, however his steps were rather rushed.

“Just like that?” Jongdae asked confused, a vision of a hard landing suddenly sending shivers down his spine, “what happened?”

“They’re just a bunch of fools,” the older said, and when this time a cloud of black smoke appeared in front of them, Baekhyun was prepared.

He quickly put his hands over the boy’s shoulders and kicked him in the stomach, making him land of the floor with a groan.

“You surprised us once, fooled us twice, but three times is enough,” he spoke, and moved forward.

Jongdae, however, stood in a place, observing the boy on the floor.

“Jongdae!”

“Fools do not break the laws of logic, Baek,” Jongdae whispered, frowning, deep in thought.

“We can discuss it later, move.”

“He disappeared and reappeared. He did what is not to be done, Baekhyun,” he kept on mumbling.

“I swear, Jongdae, you love having your beaten, don’t you?” Baekhyun groaned, watching the other four figures walking their way.

“You have no idea how much,” someone chuckled once again, and both Baekhyun and Jongdae felt a sense of annoyance gather in them upon hearing the sound, again.

“How come you are just going to walk away from it?” Jongdae looked up at his friend, gaze focused and voice serious, “this is something that should not be happening.”

“I do like my life, Jongdae, and I would like to stay alive, that is why I am planning on rethinking everything later,” he groaned under his breath, hissing quietly at the younger.

Jongdae got up, and looked at the four other people, who were now standing only a few meters away. The one on the floor finally gathered himself, and glared at Baekhyun, “this was unnecessary,” he murmured.

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, “in my opinion, it was beyond necessary.”

“What is this about?” Jongdae asked, looking the substitute teacher in the eyes, “what kind of tricks are those?”

“This,” he mentioned at everyone around, “is about you and your friend,” he explained, and Jongdae’s heart started banging against his chest again, “and these are no tricks. This is what we do,” the boy smirked, and Jongdae instantly felt a wave of coldness wash over his legs, and they suddenly felt really heavy. When he looked down, he realized he was stuck in a pile of ice, keeping him grounded.

He took a loud breath in, and started moving and kicking, wanting to set himself free. Or at least he tried, because the only result was him almost falling to the ground. But he was caught in the last moment, and when he raised his eyes he was looking in two dark orbs of the one who put him in that state.

His heart banged against his chest, and the place where their skin was touching burned him. He swallowed, not being able to advert his gaze.

He was falling.

The ice around his legs started melting, and the moment he felt lighter he pushed away from the stranger and stumbled back.

“Do not dare to touch me,” he mumbled, his eyes fixed on the other.

He then felt his friend’s grip on his elbow, and all he needed was one look at the older to read him. Fear, confusion, desperation. What was happening around them was against anything this world believed in. It was against anything they believed in. It was against them. It was against Baekhyun and his faith in logic.

“We need to get out,” he whispered desperately, looking Jongdae in the eyes.

The younger nodded, and grabbing Baekhyun’s hand he simply turned around.

But they could not move, as they were suddenly watching their expressions reflected in flames encircling them. They were trapped.

“Baekhyun, what the ?” Jongdae mumbled, tightening a grip on his friend’s hand in fear.

He was not afraid; he was terrified.

“I don’t know, Jongdae. But I really don’t like it,” the other answered, quickly looking around at five figures gathered around them.

“We’ve already told you,” the tall man from the office said, “there is no point trying to escape. We’ll always catch you.”

“What kind of a sick game is this?!” Jongdae spat, “what do you from us?!”

“We want nothing from you,” the boy in front of Jongdae spoke, “we want you.”

“That just sounded super creepy, hyung,” someone sighed.

“Excuse me, Sehun,” the voice said, looking at a tall boy with blond hair and a chocolate in his hand, “would you care to explain it to them better?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked at each other beyond confused. Maybe these people truly were a bunch of fools.

“You two are in great danger,” the boy, Sehun, spoke, looking at them and taking a bite of his candy, “you are being hunted.”

The boys swallowed, but then Jongdae quickly frowned, and wrinkled his nose, “what a stupid joke,” he mumbled, running a hand though his hair, “I swear if this is Soo’s revenge, I’m gonna find him and break his nose,” he kept on mumbling, and Baekhyun suddenly straightened his back, giving Jongdae the look.

“Care to explain what the hell have you done to Kyungsoo this time?” Baekhyun asked, his voice suddenly changing from terrified to a ‘I should have known it was you’ one.

“Kyungsoo?” one of the men in front of them gasped, but they did not care to pay attention.

“Nothing, alright!” Jongdae suddenly exclaimed really loudly, throwing his hands up, “it’s been months since the last time I ran into him!”

“And what exactly happened all these months ago?”

Jongdae rolled his eyes, “I may or may not have made fun of his height,” he mumbled.

“And?” Baekhyun continued, knowing his friend too well.

“And I may or may not have accidentally taken his clothes after our encounter on the swimming pool.”

Baekhyun’s eye twitched, “why are you so stupid,” he whispered, “why am I even friends with you.”

Someone chuckled again.

“Well, excuse me, but neither making fun of his height nor taking his clothes requires such an overreacted response!” Jongdae yelled, gesturing towards the men around them.

“How many times do I need to remind you that you do not make fun of Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun yelled back, seriously angry with the younger, “this is the guy who broke your arm when we were kids!”

“Exactly!” Jongdae whined, “he started it,” he pouted, caressing his shoulder.

“I have no idea what happened to Jongdae, but you can spot from afar who’s blood is running in Baekhyun’s veins,” a quiet whisper reached their ears over the flames, and they both frowned.

“We’ll finish the discussion later,” Baekhyun spat, rolling his eyes at the younger, “and you deserved that broken arm anyway.”

“Wow!” Jongdae gasped, “thank you very ing much!”

“You’ve always been terribly annoying, you know.”

“Next time why don’t you just push me under a train or something, problem solved,” he mumbled.

“Don’t forget, Jongdae, that cats have nine lives,” someone, Sehun, threw at him, laughing quietly.

Jongade greeted his teeth. He has had enough.

He took a few steps back, to the back edge of the circle of fire, and taking a few quick steps he jumped over the flames and landed straight on the tall boy. Everyone gasped, surprised, as Jongdae brought the taller to the ground, and sitting on his chest, blocked his arms from moving.

“Who the are you?” he greeted, looking the boy in the eyes, “all of you!” he yelled, looking up at the others.

“We are what you read about, what you dream about,” one of them said, “we are missing parts of you.”

Jongdae grabbed the boy underneath him tightly by the collar, and shook him, making the other hit the floor a few times.

“Can I please kick his , now?” Sehun mumbled, biting on his lower lip.

“Jongdae, stop it!” Baekhyun yelled, and the next thing he knew, someone grabbed him, pulled his up and shoved against the wall.

“For the love of all the creation, both of you shut up this instant and listen, or none of you is going back home anytime soon,” the substitute teacher growled, looking Jongdae in the eyes, and the younger swallowed.

“Then start ing talking,” he spat, hiding his fear in his pocket, “I have better things to do than wasting my time being kidnapped by a bunch of ing lunatics!”

“Cut down on the swearing, or next Christmas I’m buying you a dictionary,” Baekhyun sighed, and Jongdae felt like throwing a tantrum. How could Baekhyun, out of all the people, be making such remarks in such a situation?!

“I am asking once again, who are you?” Jongdae repeated his question, looking back at the boy in front of him.

“My name is Yixing,” one of the people spoke, and Jongdae’s eyes slowly moved to the source of a calm voice, “this is Sehun,” he gestured towards a tall boy who moments ago was lying on the ground underneath Jongdae, “the one who brought you here is Jongin, the tall one is Chanyeol, and this is…,” he stopped, looking at a boy in front of Jongdae with a rather disappointed expression, “this is Minseok.”

“Seems like you already know our names, so there’s no point in introduction,” Jongdae pointed, “and would you mind letting me down? Have you heard about something called personal space, or does such a vocabulary do not concern psychopaths?”

“Just let him go and he’ll be less annoying,” Baekhyun mumbled.

“No, he won’t,” Minseok said, but let Jongdae go anyway.

The fire around Baekhyun went down, and he quickly jogged towards Jongdae.

“Since we all know the names,” Baekhyun started, “let’s move on. Why are we here?”

“As was mentioned before, you’re being hunted down this very moment. We want to warn you, help you and –,“ Minseok started, but then went silent.

“And?” Baekhyun asked, but Jongdae interrupted him.

“Question number one: why would we be hunted? Question number two: by whom would we be hunted? And finally question number three worth one hundred points: how the hell would you know about it?”

The boys looked at each other, and then Chanyeol spoke, “starting from the end, well, we kind of might be the reason why you are in danger now,” he said, and Jongdae only blew a raspberry.

“This is only getting better,” he mumbled, and the Chanyeol quickly continued.

“But it’s not like we’ve done it on purpose! It’s… ugh,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair, “it’s so hard to explain since you don’t know anything!”

“Then why don’t you explain this ‘anything’!” Baekhyun yelled, but quickly gained his composure again.

“Because you won’t believe us. It’s really hard,” he confessed, and Jongdae only rolled his eyes.

“Dude, no matter what you say right now, we won’t believe you anyway. You kidnapped us, you used some sorry sorcery to get us here, you are doing voodoo with fire and ice, I mean, you are ing insane,” he said, “the moment I am out of here, I am suing all of you.”

“No, you are not,” Minseok sighed, “after what we tell you, if you tell it to anyone else, you will be the one put in a hospital for mentally ill. So I’d be careful with words, if I were you.”

“Thankfully, you’re not.”

“I would just like to repeat one more question,” Baekhyun stated, “by who would we be hunted, exactly?”

The men looked at each other, and then Minseok spoke, “by the gods.”

There was a deafening silence around them, as if no one even dared to breath.

Baekhyun and Jongdae only stood next to each other, both equally surprised and muddle-headed.

They looked at each other, stunned by the situation, and slowly started blinking.

“We run?” Jongdae only asked.

“I don’t even think we need to run.”

“They are butt crazy, what if they bite?”

“Just don’t make any rapid moves, and everything will be fine.”

“The Greek gods want you dead,” Chanyeol said, nearing them.

“You, mister, don’t get any closers, I warn you,” Jongdae said, pulling an arm in front of him.

“And what would you even do, you have to left legs,” Jongin mumbled, and Jongdae’s eye witched.

“Open your mouth once again, and I will break your neck,” he spat, having enough of the stranger’s remarks about him.

“You know these signs, don’t you?” Yixing asked, and his voice once again seemed to calm everyone, “tell me, do you know them?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked at the boy’s arm, and then at each other.

“Yes,” Baekhyun nodded, and Jongdae raised an eyebrow.

“You do?”

“Don’t you, Jongdae?” Yixing asked him personally, tilting his head to the side, as if not believing him.

“Well, I may or may not have seen them, but I do not know what would the supposedly mean,” he shrugged.

“Remember, what you found me in the library at night?” Baekhyun asked, his eyes fixed on the mark, “after you left, I found what I was looking for. These marks,” he nodded in the direction of the sign, “they represent the beginning,” he explained.

The five boys nodded at his words, but Jongdae only raised an eyebrow, “eh?” he gasped, not even knowing how to articulate his confusion, “English?*”

“The Mayans believed that the world was created by ten elements. Chaos, time, ice, lightning, light, fire, water, wind, earth, and harmony. First was time and nothingness, which was chaos, and for nothingness is cold, that is the third element, Then you have lightning and light emerging right after, and for with lightning came light, there is the distinction between dark and bright, light is also warmth, and then you water filling the lands, appearance of wind, and Earth, then came the sun that was fire and later came the creation of the moon; separation of day and night, heavens from grounds –“

“So basically you read the Genesis?” Jongdae asked, frowning, “whoever wrote the book you were reading, got it from the Bible,” the younger pointed.

Baekhyun looked at him, and shrugged, “or the Bible got it from the Mayans,” he said, and Jongdae wrinkled his nose.

“Anyway,” the other continued, “each of the elements in creation was represented by a sign. A mark, just like these ones,” he gestured at the men’s arms, “like the ones on your paintings.”

“That is a nice story, but are we getting anywhere with this?”

“Chaos,” Baekhyun repeated, and looked at Jongin, “ice,” he mumbled and looked at Minseok, “fire,” he glanced at Chanyeol.

Suddenly, Jongdae burst out laughing, a long and obnoxious laugh carrying itself around the empty hall, “oh, my,” he mumbled finally, “you mean… they think they are the whatever creation we are talking about?” he asked, looking at the boys in front of them, “or is this some kind of a illuminati going on here?”

Baekhyun shook his head, and nodded at Jongdae, “this is the explanation of the marks. I am not saying anything.”

“But this is exactly what they mean,” Minseok spoke.

“So basically you claim to be some ancient, supernatural powers?” Jongdae reapted his question, this time dressed in different words.

“We don’t claim anything,” the man spoke again, “this is the truth.”

“And, excuse me, what do we have to do with your freak show?”

“You are the missing pieces. You just don’t remember.”

“Should be, like, terrified for my life, or can I start laughing?” Jongdae asked, directing the question to Baekhyun, who looked, oh, so conflicted, Jongdae felt sorry for his friend.

“You should believe us,” Chanyeol said, desperately.

“You are saying you are another race of super gods. Dude, these days, it’s called mental illness,” Jongdae groaned.

“Gods?!” Minseok hissed, “Oh, no. We are more than that. So much more. We are older than them, older than the Greek gods, older than the Egyptian ones; we are older than life and death,” he spat, and Jongdae only raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nothing can be older than life, this is logically incorrect,” Baekhyun chimed in.

“Yet, something had to be the beginning of all this, right?”

“And that was life. Life is beginning.”

“Why do I even bother with you?” he mumbled, “Chanyeol!”

“For there to be life, there has to be a source of it, right Baekhyun?” the tall boy spoke, and his voice no longer sounded playful like before, “you speak of logic, son of Athena, so tell me, Byun Baekhyun, what life requires?” he asked, nearing the silver haired boy.

There was a moment of silence, in which the young student only looked the stranger in the eyes, wondering what he was talking about when he mentioned Athena, but decided it was probably nothing but some reference he did not understand.

“Energy,” he whispered.

“And what gives energy?” the boy smiled.

“Li – Light,” he mumbled, and as he started feeling really uncomfortable under everyone’s careful gaze, the lights around them started flickering.

Jongdae frowned, while looking around, and then advenrted his eyes back to his friend.

“Do you know what is the purope of light, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asked softly, smiling at the smaller boy.

“Chasing away the darkness,” upon mumbling the answer, he started frantically looking from one of the newcomers to the other. “Impossible,” he whispered and one of the light bulbs exploded, startling everyone.

“What is impossible?! What the hell are you even talking about?!” Jongdae shouted, irritated by ridiculousness of the situation. This was all a joke, and a joke Jongdae did not find funny at all, “come one, Baekhyun. This is it,” he muttered, grabbing his friend by the arm and a sparkle appeared when they touched, “what the. -,” Jongdae started but was interrupted.

“Please,” Minseok blew a raspberry, “just don’t tell me you’ve got your attitude after your sorry father,” he chuckled, and something clicked in Jongdae’s brain. He clenched his fists and a loud bang could be heard in a distance. The five men frowned, and then gasps and chuckes left their lips, as they saw Jongdae quickly turned in Minseok’s direction and punch him square on the face.

Minseok’s eyes widened upon the younger’s actions, a stinging pain pulsating in his reddening check. He gasped and quickly looked up at the other, “how dare you?!” he yelled angrily, and the temperature around them dropped. He was standing face to face with Jongdae, and the younger’s expression was like of a marble statue.

“Don’t you ever,” Jongdae said in a low voice, and his eyes darkened, “dare to speak about my father, you freak.”

And he pulled Baekhyun after him, passing all of them and going into the direction of light.

---

---

Hello ~~

Chapter III of Paradise Lost is here! Finally! I owe everyone a massive apology for not updating for such a long time! There is no explanation for this, apart from the fact that during this time I took a general break of writing anything. However, I am updating all of my stories step by step (if you are new here and love xiuchen, please go ahead and check my other works <3). I really hope you guys liked this update. I am being very careful with this story, I hope I did not go overboard with this. 

Thank you for staying here and waiting for the update ~ it means so much to me <3

 

My other stories:

Some Nights Bring Nightmares and Other Bring Angels {xiuchen} ♦ Let Me Ride Your Horse {xiuchen} ♦ Black Magic {xiuchen} ♦ The Prince and the Rock Star {xiuchen} ♦ Paint Me Like One of Your French Girls {xiuchen} ♦ The Theory of Everything {xiuchen} ♦ [My] One and Only [Monster] {xiuchen} ♦ Baeutiful Mind {ot12} ♦ Hustler {xiuchen} ♦ Far Far Away's Own Love Story Drama {xiuchen}  ♦ The Art of Cheating {xiuchen} ♦ Mistletoe {xiuchen} ♦ A Little Lie Never Killed Nobody I'm Yours {xiuchen}