Tutorial For Scrubs

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“Won’t people notice I’m missing?” Chanyeol questions.

Of all the questions floating through his head, this is the first one he’s able to voice.  He wonders if it’s a side-effect of whatever Suho just did that teleported them from Chanyeol’s bedroom to . . . here.  They’re in an open field, grass coming up almost to Chanyeol’s knees.  The sun is shining down, warming Chanyeol’s skin, and he remembers he’s still shirtless.

His hands fly up to cover himself, subtly checking to see if he’s still in one piece.  Then he wonders, in horror, if teleporting could scramble his DNA.  He still wants to have kids some day.

“Not if I erase all memory and trace you ever existed,” Suho voices through Chanyeol’s chaotic thoughts, his face neutral as he stands in front of Chanyeol.

Chanyol’s mouth drops at the same speed as his stomach.  “What the -”

“Relax.  I didn’t erase you,” Suho amends, a smile pulling at his mouth.  “I just rearranged things.  According to everyone you know, you graduated early and got accepted into a prestigious college program that has you traveling the world.”

“But I was going to skateboard across the stage to get my diploma,” Chanyeol complains.

Suho eyes him up and down.  “Be thankful I saved you from that awful fate.  This is much better.  I promise.”

Chanyeol doesn’t think so.  He had plans for graduation.  Plans for his future - sort of.  He was going to visit every music label with a copy of his self composed CD and wait for the offers to pour in.  And in the meantime, he’d take classes at the local community college - just until he made it big.  It was inevitable.

“Now, where we are now isn’t on Earth.  This is what I like to call a pocket dimension.  It’s a bubble of space, outside of time, and you can rest here when you need.  I’ll teach you how to phase in and out at will.  This is where I’ll teach you how to fight, how to utilize your full potential as one of my warriors.”

Suho walks forward and passed Chanyeol.  Chanyeol spins on his heel to follow.  There’s a house in the distance, the kind of house he would expect to see on one of those generic family planning posters plastered on the walls of the health classroom.  It’s painted white, one story with a wrap around porch and no driveway.  There’s nothing but grass and the lone tree in the front yard that shades the left side of the structure.

“Is this where you live?” Chanyeol asks, rushing to fall in step beside Suho.

“No,” Suho answers.  “This is yours.  Your body could not withstand being in my home.”  Suho flashes him a bright smile and Chanyeol’s stomach fills with dread.  “I could explain it to you, but you wouldn’t understand.”

Chanyeol’s pride reels from the blow.  He huffs, but doesn’t comment.  He obediently follows Suho into the house.  It’s fully furnished, and it gives the feel of being lived in.  There’s still a book on the coffee table, open and face down as if someone expected to come back for it and never did.  “How many people have lived here before?” Chanyeol asks cautiously.

Suho makes a noncommittal noise.  “A few,” he answers.  “You like games,” Suho continues.  “Think of this as level one.”  Suho inhales and takes a long look at Chanyeol, a hand on his hip.  “Not level one.  This is the tutorial, where I teach you the basics of how to play the game.”

Chanyeol bristles, his lip curling.

“I can’t very well send you out there just as you are.  It’d be a bloody mess, and I’m not keen on having to clean all that up.  There may be billions of you humans scurrying about the planet, but I don’t like being responsible for the death of even one of you.  We like your kind.  More or less.”

“That’s . . . disconcerting,” Chanyeol comments.

Suho waves him off.  “Tutorial!  This house is like, the freebie package you get in the beginning - this entire little dimension is.  Once you know what you’re doing, you’ll be able to create your own little dimensional slip.  Until then, this is where you will stay.”

“And how long will that take?” Chanyeol questions.

“The tutorial can last from months to years, depending on the person.  Sometimes it never takes and I, sadly, have to wipe the candidate’s memories and plop them right back into their mundane lives.”

“Years?” Chanyeol squeaks.  “I’ll be old.”

Suho sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.  “What part of outside of time didn’t you get?  You won’t age here.  The world will still be the same as the moment you left it when you finally go back.”

“Oh.”

“Oh,” Suho mimics.  “Now, are you finished with the dumb questions?”  Suho waits for Chanyeol to nod before continuing.  “Great!”

Suho claps his hands and Chanyeol screeches, screwing his eyes shut because they’re back outside.  In the grassy field.  “Could I maybe get a little warning before you do that?”

“Why?” Suho asks, a broad smile on his face.

Chanyeol clenches his teeth, curling his fingers into fists.

“You’ll learn how to do it too.  Maybe not with the same proficiency, but you’ll learn.  But first, the basics.  It’s time to choose your class!”  Suho claps his hands again.

Chanyeol winces, ready to be transported somewhere else.  When he looks over at Suho after realizing he hasn’t gone anywhere, there’s an unimpressed look on Suho’s face.  And there’s a long thin box in Suho’s hands.  Suho balances it on one palm carefully before he opens it.

“Eons ago, this planet was ruled by a very different breed.  You may have heard of them in your human myths - dragons, wyverns, kitsune, and so on.  These creatures were more in tune with the energy of the planet itself, and carried unique properties you humans would call magic.  Since, for the most part, these creatures are now gone -”

“For the most part?”

“- I have gathered all their remains and found a way to take that energy and weaponize it.  The enemies you will be fighting will have to be subdued with something strong enough to tame their dark energy; no ordinary weapon will work.  This is why you, with the help of one of these, will become the weapon.”

Chanyeol swallows, his gaze flickering down to the items inside the box Suho is now holding out to him.

“You do not get to choose,” Suho tells him, even as Chanyeol steps forward.  “It will choose you.”

Chanyeol hesitates.  If anyone had asked him yesterday if he believed in magic, he would have laughed.  But after the night he’s had, and considering the situation he’s now in, he’s beginning to believe.  It doesn’t hurt that he can feel something coming from the box.  It makes his insides twist, his head swimming.  It draws him near.

Inside the box, laid out in their own space, are necklaces and rings, beautiful baubles in many colors, and they all seem to be alive.  His eyes catch on vibrant blue gems, but are drawn away by deep purple stones.  His attention is pulled from one to the other, his heart racing as he wonders, briefly, if any of this is even real.

Chanyeol stares at a matching set near the bottom corner, raising his hand because the urge to touch the gleaming metal is irresistible.  The pads of his fingers caress the rounded edge of a bracelet, trailing up to the orange gem mounted on the top.  He swears it flashes red, but when he blinks, it’s orange again.

“The Phoenix,” Suho states.  “It has chosen you as its bearer.”

Chanyeol carefully plucks the bracelet from the case and, after glancing at Suho for approval, slides it onto his wrist.  A sudden rush of blinding heat surges up Chanyeol’s arm, and he screams.  It doesn’t stop, and when he tries to pry the bracelet off, it only tightens, searing itself to his skin.

Chanyeol feels the fire burning inside him, leaving no part of him untouched.  He sinks to his knees, eyes wide with disbelief when he raises his hands to see flames flickering off his skin.  The flames grow, crawling up his arms and shoulders, catching and spreading over every part of him.  The pain soon retreats, but he’s still on fire.

His body doesn’t burn.  The grass around him does, and when he reaches out, fingers brushing the edge of Suho’s pants, they catch fire too.

Suho takes a step back.  “I’m just . . . going to leave you here for a while until you stop burning.  Try to get control over it.  Use that stubborn streak of yours and overcome your first challenge.  Good luck.”

Suho is gone in an instant and Chanyeol falls back onto his hands, blades of grass burning beneath his touch.  He’s alone.  He’s on fire.  And he has no idea how to get it under control.

This is just great.