Chapter thirty:

~Yoomi’s POV~

“Wow, did the past students really wear this uniform?” Yoomi couldn’t help but marvel at the impeccable outfit given to them by Gamssin-Sam. It was a beautiful mix of both traditional and modern styles. The shirt was a traditional silk garment that was an eye-catching midnight blue. It had long, loose sleeves similar to hanbok tops, and fastened in the front with four big black buttons that were arranged in a square. There were white and black accents detailed on the collar and the ends of the sleeves and gave off a strict, but elegant, traditional vibe. The bottom half of the female’s uniform consisted of thick black tights, which kept them warm and allowed them to keep their modesty when coupled with the thigh-length, ruffled black skirt, since they were to be doing lots of physical activities throughout the trip. The skirt itself was very flowy and offered lots of mobility. Wrapped around the waist, was a black silk sash clamped with a silver norigae (a traditional Korean jewelry accessory of decorative ornaments, intricate knots, and silken tassels), the charm proudly proclaiming the Institute’s symbol, that tied the whole ensemble together. Lastly, the shoes for the female uniform were durable, surprisingly comfortable, black flats. Yoomi was so impressed by both the sleek style and high quality of the clothing, that she almost couldn’t believe it was a mere school uniform, it was just too grand.

“Of course! You know, both my grandfather and grandmother were students here,” Sumin announced, face bright with pride at the mention of her grandparents. “They met here at the institute and fell in love with each other at first sight! Oh, how romantic.”

At this point, the girl was twirling around in her Gamssin-Sam uniform, squealing as if it was her own love story and giddily watching her skirt flare with each spin.

“No way, that’s so cool! Then is your family a whole line of Gamssin-Sam alumni?” Yoomi asked, giggling along with her overdramatic bestie. Since Yoomi didn’t quite know her own family history, she was interested in hearing about Sumin’s, someone who had known about Vaeli her whole life and came from a long line of them. Perhaps this was just another thing Yoomi would have to ask her grandfather about once they returned to Trillins. The memory she had seen last night at the tree was still fresh in her mind and had made her even more curious about her family and past.

“That’s right! Although my parents only met each other after they graduated from the new Trillins campus, where we go,” Sumin finished.

“Hmm. I wonder if your parents knew my parents then?” Yoomi couldn’t help wondering, so hopeful to find out more about her birth parents, no matter how little.

“I’m not sure,” Sumin hummed. She seemed to catch on to Yoomi’s introspective mood and tried to cheer her up again by offering another solution. “Wasn’t Suho sunbae your neighbor back then? He’s your mate now, so I’m sure if you asked him a little about your parents, he’d be able to tell you a few things.”

“That’s a great idea!” Yoomi hadn’t even thought of that before, but it was true that Junmyeon must have met her parents at least a few times, growing up as her childhood best friend. She had been so overwhelmed with learning how to fit into Vaeli society, learning about her powers, and sharing sweet moments with her new mates, that she hadn’t really given herself time to wonder about her birth parents or think about it too much. Her grin was bright as she thought about it, so bright that it stunned Sumin, who finally stopped her playful twirling and swaying and had turned to look at her fully.

“Hold on a minute, when did you become a goddess, Yoomi?!” She pointed right at her friend’s face accusingly with a wide grin of her own. “I mean, you were always really pretty, but it’s like you’ve blossomed overnight!”

“Oh, stop it you,” Yoomi flustered, a little embarrassed by her friend’s over-exaggeration.

“No, I actually mean it! You look like one of those people from my grandmother’s collection of paintings from ages ago. Not that you look old! But a long time ago, there were these vaeli who were known as ‘Velle’. They’re basically the most alluring, enchanting vaeli of high society at the time who would just sit around and look pretty all day, and other vaeli would almost worship them.”

“There were people like that back then?” Yoomi gaped, awestruck by the discovery of another vaeli custom she didn’t know of. She knew she still had a lot to learn, but sometimes hearing new things still overwhelmed her when she thought of how much she still didn’t know.

“What would I get out of lying to you, silly girl? Anyways, let’s head out now before your harem of suitors come knocking on my door.”

Yoomi wanted to deny it, but they both knew it was only a matter of time before the boys came. After all, Kai had literally teleported into her room to kidnap her last night. It was better safe than sorry, so the two girls headed out to join their friends for breakfast.

***

They all stood in an empty, wide green field somewhere in the West wing. Their first activity for the day was supposed to be a free-for-all obstacle course. However, the field was completely flat and clear, so Yoomi couldn’t help but wonder why there weren’t any obstacles around. She had been to a summer camp before back in middle school and remembered having a lot of fun doing the obstacles like cargo nets, balance beams, monkey bars, tire pits, and the likes. She was almost disappointed that there didn’t seem to be anything set up yet.

“Oh Sehun! Ready to be crushed by me, the great Kim Kai?” The boy taunted his best friend like usual, a mischievous smirk playing on his face fueled by his usual competitive and playful nature.

“Tch, as if you could.” Sehun frowned and rolled his eyes, pretending he didn’t care, although they all knew he was just as competitive and childish, and his next words proved that. “Not in a billion years, you-you ugly sloth!”

“Yoomi! How about you bet on who you think will do better between the two of us? If you guess correctly, the one who loses will grant you a wish, how about that?” Kai suggested, giving Yoomi a suggestive eyebrow raise. 

“That sounds fun! Then I’ll pick… myself. If I finish faster than you two, you’ll both have to grant me a wish each.” She returned Kai’s confident smirk with one of her own, feeling assured in her skills. She had always been athletic and knew her abilities, hence how she was able to beat Sehun the one time they sparred together in class, but remembering the power high she had been on last night, she felt even more confident in herself. She had finally unlocked her powers! The accomplishment still felt amazing and a little surreal, after struggling with them for so long. There was no way she was going to lose to the likes of her fellow first years.

“Hah! Game on, Latte girl. Let’s see if you can own up to your baby babbles.”

The rest of S-class paid no attention to the first-years, already used to their childish antics. The older members just shook their heads and continued warming up, while the equally childish beagle line also began placing mock bets on which of their three competitive younger members would win, similar to betting on horse racing.

“Ahem, Good morning, students.” Yoomi turned in the direction of her mate’s voice, finding Suho hovering above them all in the center. “Your first activity of the day is the obstacle course. There will be three sections to test your abilities: running, climbing, and flying,” he explained. At his words, a group of teachers and other staff members of the Institute stepped forward. Yoomi watched in amazement as they began to shape the blank landscape using their powers. It was no longer completely empty, but it was still far from what she had expected, and now looked more like normal terrain than a full obstacle course. “In the first two sections, you will not be allowed to use your wings. You will be ranked based on your overall time to complete the course. Stay sharp, and don’t get distracted. Without further ado, we shall start the race.”

After Suho got back to his place, a red line made from tree roots appeared before them all and at the sound of a bell, the students of Trillins all took off running into the wide field.

Still b with her newfound energy, Yoomi focused on feeling the aetha in her body and willing it to surge out and envelop her whole body to keep herself light on her feet and move faster. Although the area was a little uneven now, it was still mostly clear, so it was a straight-ahead sprint.

Just as Yoomi thought that, a large tree sprouted right in her path, causing her eyes to widen and her feet to skid as she tried to slow down and turn. A vine thrashed next to her, attempting to coil around her legs, and she instinctively leaped high over it, like a track star clearing a hurdle. As she continued running, now far more alert, the obstacles that had been missing from the course previously continued popping up. It was then that she realized the job of the teachers wasn’t finished and that they were the ones creating the obstacles on the fly. This must have been what Suho meant when he had warned them all to ‘stay sharp, and don’t get distracted’. Thankfully, Yoomi’s reflexes were good, even more so now that she was able to focus her concentration on sensing the aetha around her. Just before a new obstacle would spring up, the air vibrated with foreign aetha and she was given a slight heads-up.

Carefully, she made her way across a thin, fragile balance beam made of rock that hovered over a thick mud field. Still moving quickly, she used the relatively peaceful moment where she was away from the volatile ground that continuously sprouted more vines and trees, and occasionally pointed rocks, to look around at both the ever-changing field and her competition. Spotting the massive cliffside in the distance that hadn’t been there previously, she assumed that was where the running portion of the course ended and the climbing section began. She also noticed her fellow first-year S-ranks just a few feet ahead of her weaving between a newly formed miniature forest. She pushed herself harder in order to catch up to them.

When Yoomi finally came up to par with both Sehun and Kai, who were just barely surpassing each other back and forth, she thought of a wonderful idea to throw the boys off their feet just a little. Yoomi didn’t know what even gave her the idea, but since she suddenly had a strangely high perception of aetha, she could somehow sense where the aetha was pooling in another person’s body. As she stared hard at Sehun’s running figure, she looked down at his legs and willed the reinforced concentration of aetha there to leave and melt into the ground he stepped on. Sehun, as expected, suddenly had his legs give out under him and sunk straight into a pool of heavy mud the exact place his foot had landed, acting almost like quicksand. Grinning in victory, Yoomi moved on to Kai this time, whose tactic was to stay light on his feet and keep leaping over any obstacles that came in his way. In a weird haze of colors, Yoomi could see that his aetha was pooled in his core, helping him to jump agilely from spot to spot. This time, using the abundance of aetha in the grass and surrounding environment, she willed them to collect and take purchase in his legs, eventually weighing him down so much he couldn’t avoid a rock wall that grew out of the ground fast enough and went tumbling down the other side of it.

Facing forward again, Yoomi focused on her own path while laughing at the boys she had left in the dust. She was approaching the tall cliffside now, and couldn’t help but briefly feel intimidated. It was extremely tall, nearly as high as some of the towers they had on campus, and appeared far from smooth, certain parts of the wall jagged and the rocks uneven. She could see small pieces crumble away and fall too, meaning she had to be cautious on which areas she used as footholds in case the rocks were fragile and would give way underneath her weight. She had only been rock climbing once before with her adoptive human parents, but that had been an indoor, man-made wall and with proper safety equipment. Although she knew she could catch herself with her wings should she fall, the idea of free climbing made her hesitate for just a second, nervous. She had made a bet though, and Yoomi was nothing if not competitive and determined.

Around her, the other students were climbing easily, avoiding all the obstacles and barely making any mistakes, as if they’ve done it a hundred times — which they most likely have back at their academy. It took Yoomi a minute to get her bearings after testing several points on the wall for sturdiness, but she was making progress — steady progress, even if it was a bit slower than she had been able to complete the running portion of the race. She was maybe about a fourth of the way up the cliffside, if even that, when she realized there was a trick to this section as well. Strong streams of water began rushing down the side of the cliff, trickling down through the rocks and turning the grass back at the base of the cliff into mud. The impromptu mini waterfalls seemed to serve three purposes. First, if you weren’t paying attention, the powerful rush of water could knock you off the cliff, meaning you had to start over at the bottom. The mud at the bottom made your shoes lose traction, making it more difficult to climb. The stones and surface of the wall were also wet and slippery after being hit with water, making it even more difficult to maintain solid foot and handholds. To compensate, Yoomi enhanced herself with aetha again, focusing the energy in her fingers and toes to strengthen them and imagining little claws helping her dig in and stay steady. It took a bit more concentration than she would have thought, making her move a bit slower than she would have liked, but she didn’t fall off once.

Yoomi smiled to herself when she finally caught sight of the clifftop. In her excitement to reach the top, she couldn’t react quickly enough when a shadow jumped past her, almost leaping like a frog, accompanied by a familiar obnoxious laugh and a strong gust of wind that left Yoomi’s hair a blown mess. The distraction caused her to lose her f