Baekhyun had no desire to fight. He always knew that he was different, that he had a gift, but he never dared to show it to anyone. He kept it a secret, because he knew if anyone ever found out about it, he would be whisked away to become a knight, and that meant fighting.

The peaceful kingdom of Exo was guarded by eight brave knights, each gifted with unique powers. Baekhyun knew very well that he was the missing ninth knight, they had been looking for him ever since they assembled the other eight. 

The kingdom had sent out a proclamation that whoever appeared at the castle bearing the power of light would be treated with a high level of respect, and honorably join the knights of Exo in defending their kingdom. 

Instead, Baekhyun had chosen to live his quiet life selling flowers. Baekhyun was perfectly content with this life, and it would have continued this way if it wasn’t for one fateful night.

Baekhyun was on his way back home after picking some flowers in the nearby forest. This was the one thing Baekhyun used his powers for, collecting the rare and beautiful flower called antrum. This rare species only bloomed at night, in dark caves. Their existence used to be merely a legend, until Baekhyun found them. At night he found himself consumed with searching for this legendary bloom. Using his power of light, he was able to search for long amounts of time in the darkness. Once he finally discovered them, his shop became quite famous. People came from long distances to buy this rare flower, it made quite an impressive gift after all.

And so, after one such night of long searching, Baekhyun was tired and ready for bed. As he walked along his beaten path through the forest, he began to hear a small sound of someone whimpering. Baekhyun listened carefully and located where the sound was coming from. A small child was huddled up near a tree, crying to herself. Baekhyun rushed to her and kneeled down in front of her.

“Are you all right?”

The girl did not answer him, instead she broke out into even louder sobbing and jumped into Baekhyun’s arms. Baekhyun noticed she was covered in some blood, with no wound herself, Baekhyun knew something must have been very wrong.

“Shhh, don’t cry.” Baekhyun tried to console her. “Look.”

The girl didn’t move at first, she kept her face buried, until she noticed a small sparkle of light growing. She sat backwards and witnessed the small orb of light brightly shining in Baekhyun’s hand. A smile grew on her face.

“Don’t tell anyone, ok? It will be our little secret.” Baekhyun whispered.

The girl happily nodded and clapped her hands. After impressing the small child with a little light show, the girl was finally calm enough to explain to Baekhyun what had happened. Baekhyun learned that her village was attacked, and she ran into the forest to escape. It seemed like her village was rather far away, she had been lost for many days now.

After bringing her to his home, Baekhyun’s mother quickly took on the role of taking care of the poor child. The next morning Baekhyun was given the job of taking her to the castle to help explain what had happened to the nearby village.

Baekhyun had never gone to the castle before, only stared at it from afar. He felt nervous entering, as if the walls knew about his little secret and were just waiting to close all around him to trap him inside.