Exoplanet

Chapter 6: Unveiled

______________________________

Tao stared at the crowd around him, confused as to how he ended up here all of a sudden when he had just laid down on his bed in an inn at Zephyrgard. People milled about, talking to each other with confused voices. A line of soldiers stood in front of the crowd, blocking people from moving any further, and behind the soldiers was the gallows. Tao’s heart dropped upon seeing the rope that was already tied to a wooden support. The noose hung from the wood, swaying menacingly in the wind.

Suddenly, the metal gate behind the gallows opened with a hollow clang. Two soldiers walked out, dragging someone between them. Tao didn’t recognize the person as he scanned the ovular face, black hair, and thick bottom lip. The man was struggling against the soldiers, mouth moving to form words that Tao couldn’t discern.

Then, Tao noticed how well-dressed the man was. He wore a light-blue tunic with gold ts and black pants that stopped at his ankles. A golden bird was sewn onto one side of his tunic, and one wing and the head spread across the abdomen area.

Tao watched with curiosity as the soldiers pulled the man up onto the wooden platform. The man started fighting harder, struggling to free his arms from the soldiers’ tight grasp. Someone screamed next to Tao, and he stumbled and nearly fell when someone shoved past him forcefully, heading towards the gallows.

Tao looked up to see the back of someone’s head. This person was also dressed in fine clothing, except he had a fancy but short cloak attached to the back of his tunic. Tao didn’t need to be introduced to him to know he was a prince.

The prince tried to run past the line of soldiers, but they pushed him back. Tao watched as the prince yelled at the guards and continued trying to push his way through. The soldiers continued blocking him, refusing to obey whatever he was telling them.

Then, someone else pushed past Tao, and the ex-mercenary turned to see Junmyeon’s panicked expression. The water user was screaming at the top of his lungs as he pushed his way through the crowd. The man at the gallows turned and desperately lunged in Junmyeon’s direction, but the two guards yanked him back, pulling him closer towards the prepared noose. One of the guards reached for the rope and, with great effort, managed to loop it around the man’s neck.

Junmyeon became even more frantic, launching himself against the line of soldiers in an attempt to break through. Tao looked around and saw that Chanyeol had joined the prince and was arguing with a soldier. Out of the corner of his eye, Tao saw Luhan making his way through the crowd. However, the telekinetic wasn’t heading for the gallows.

Tao followed Luhan’s path and saw an older man sitting to the side. Aside from the fancy, white robes that he wore, the man also had a couple attendants standing next to him. Tao saw the golden crown lying on the graying hair. The man was a king.

As Tao watched, the king raised a hand and moved it downwards in a chopping motion. Then, everything went black, and Tao woke up in bed to see weak sunlight filtering into his room.

Luhan was still snoring, so Tao didn’t make any effort to get out of bed. Instead, he rolled over on his side, facing away from his roommate, and pondered the strange dream he had.

He didn’t recognize the setting of the dream. The man that was about to be hung was unfamiliar, and so were the prince and the king. The scene must have taken place outside of Halwen. When he was a mercenary, Tao had been to several places in Halwen, even bearing witness to one of the Halwenian king’s speeches. Therefore, he knew that the king in his dream wasn’t the current Halwenian king.

The biggest surprise was the fact that Junmyeon, Luhan, and Chanyeol were all in his dream. If they were there, then was the dream another vision, this time of the future instead of the past? If the other three were there, then he was most likely there with them, and judging by the way the other three were so panicked when the stranger was about to be hung, the latter may be a friend. Maybe even another Exo member?

Tao in a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. He wished he could have seen the events that led up to the public hanging. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t gained an ounce of control over his power to manipulate time. Back before they met Chanyeol, Junmyeon and Luhan had tried giving him pointers, such as meditating and willing his power to come forth. To their disappointment, their efforts yielded nothing.

Now, Tao rolled onto his back and clasped his hands together over his chest. He closed his eyes and breathed as evenly as he could manage, letting himself enter a meditative trance. He focused his thoughts on time, searching within himself for the trigger that would let him control his power. His breathing fell into a solid rhythm, and Luhan’s soft snores gradually faded away.

The next thing Tao knew, he was being roughly shaken. His narrow eyes flew open to see Luhan standing over him, wide awake.

“Come on, sleepyhead,” Luhan teased, “Time to get up.”

Disappointed again, Tao realized that he must have fallen asleep while meditating. Unfortunately, no visions came to him in his sleep this time.

Tao sat up and ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. Luhan eyed him curiously.

“Something bothering you?”

Tao sighed again, still sulking over his failed attempt to control time. “I had another vision, I think.”

Luhan nodded. “I’ll call Junmyeon and Chanyeol.” Tao hummed in assent as Luhan slipped out the room to knock on the next door. Tao heard Junmyeon answer the door and talk to Luhan, and it wasn’t long before the three came filing into Tao and Luhan’s room.

Luhan sat on his own bed while Junmyeon and Chanyeol found space for themselves on Tao’s. When everyone was settled comfortably, Luhan gestured for Tao to tell them about his vision.

Tao explained everything he saw to them as they listened attentively. When he finished, Junmyeon asked, “Can you describe the king?”

“Umm,” Tao wrinkled his nose as he tried to call up the image of the king, “He had graying hair that reached his shoulders, thin mouth, almond eyes, and he was dressed in gold and white.”

Junmyeon nodded. “And the surroundings? Were there a lot of trees?”

“Not a lot, but I saw a few from over the walls around the gallows.”

“Were they pine trees?”

Tao shook his head. “No, they were the trees that would lose their leaves in autumn.”

Junmyeon rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. “Well, judging by what you’ve given me, it doesn’t sound like this occurs in Moltuva, Cassius, or Bolvaria. Those countries’ capitals don’t have any trees. Prigonia and Atheria have pine trees in their capitals, so that leaves Halwen, Dalgu, Sinseye, Trost, and Thesius since Leilan no longer has a king.”

“You said there was someone being hung?” Luhan queried. Tao nodded, and Luhan said, “How does he look?”

“Oval face, thick lower lip, and black hair,” Tao answered, “I also think we’re going to become friends with him because we were all there trying to stop him from being killed.”

Luhan hummed. “Did he seem like a noble or was he a commoner?”

“Most likely a noble. His clothes were pretty fancy.”

“And the king wore gold and white,” Luhan repeated thoughtfully, “Which country has gold and white as its main colors?”

“Not Halwen,” Tao answered immediately as Chanyeol nodded in agreement, “Halwen’s national color is purple.”

“I haven’t seen any gold or white here in Dalgu,” Chanyeol added, “Most of the nobles wear blue and silver.”

“So most likely Sinseye, Trost, or Thesius,” Junmyeon concluded. The others murmured their agreement. “Did you see if they had marks?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Tao said, “But any marks could be covered by clothing.”

“That’s true,” Junmyeon conceded, “I guess we’ll have to head for the capital of Sinseye immediately after we cross the border. Same goes for Trost and Thesius when we get to them, but for now, we work on gathering as much information as we can here in Zephyrgard. We can set out for Sinseye tomorrow morning.”

“Wait,” Chanyeol interrupted, “What are we looking for exactly?”

“Any news regarding Moltuva or people with strange powers.” Junmyeon stood up and stretched. “Since there’s four of us, we could split into two groups. One group will take northern Zephyrgard and the other will take the south.”

The four of them split up. Luhan and Tao headed for the north while Junmyeon and Chanyeol went the opposite way.

The streets of Zephyrgard were crowded, and the king’s castle stood over the rest of the city from a cliff that jutted out from the land. The people were kind, and one merchant gave Tao and Luhan some free roasted quail as a welcoming gift after he learned that it was their first time in Dalgu.

Tao and Luhan held their sticks of quail meat nervously. Neither of them had eaten quail before, and while they figured that it couldn’t be too different from chicken, they were still hesitant to try it.

“Together on three?” Luhan proposed, raising the roasted meat to his lips. Tao nodded and mimicked the action, gently grasping a piece of meat with his teeth.

“One, two, three!” Luhan counted, and they bit down.

The meat was juicy and extremely tasty, and both men finished it off in a few seconds. Tao his lips to make sure there wasn’t any oil lingering on them. Luhan sighed wistfully as he looked at his stick, which he had cleaned of quail.

“That was good.” He tossed the stick into a garbage bucket that was next to the stall.

Tao followed suit and eyed the uneaten quail lying on the table. “Should we buy some for Junmyeon and Chanyeol?”

“Yeah, they need to try this.” Luhan pulled out his money pouch and rifled through it, pulling out a few silver coins. He handed them to the merchant, who passed him six sticks of roasted quails. “Four for Junmyeon and Chanyeol, and two for us.” Luhan grinned as he handed Tao one stick.

The two of them ate their roasted quail as they continued walking through Zephyrgard. As they walked, they listened in on the conversations around them. A group of women brushed past them, one of them complaining loudly about how her husband spent too much money on useless things. A drunken, middle-aged man staggered the other way, singing loudly and off tune.

A pair of soldiers approached, heading in the opposite direction as Luhan and Tao. As the two pairs passed each other, Tao overheard what one guard was saying to the other.

“It’s been a month, and Sinseye still hasn’t reopened its borders.”

“I know, right? Sinseye has always been an open country, but then it just suddenly shuts its doors in our faces with no explanation why.”

“I’ve heard the king has been acting differently since his wife died…”

The guards’ voices faded away as they got further and further from Tao and Luhan. Tao looked at Luhan, who stared back with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Well, that might prove to be trouble,” Luhan murmured as the two of them continued walking.

“Should we leave Sinseye and go to Prigonia or Trost instead?” Tao asked, worried for their plan.

“We’ll meet up with Chanyeol and Junmyeon and see what they think,” Luhan said, “But I think we should go to Sinseye and see what’s going on for ourselves.”

The two of them wandered for a while longer before deciding to head back to the inn. Junmyeon and Chanyeol weren’t back yet, so Tao and Luhan went to their shared room and settled on their beds.

“Why do you think Sinseye would close its borders?” Tao asked as Luhan carefully set the roasted quail on the small table between their beds, making sure to place a napkin underneath the cooked meat.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Luhan flopped down on his bed. “Maybe they’re going through some kind of crisis. Maybe there’s a civil war starting. Maybe they heard of what happened to Leilan and thought shutting everyone out was the best course of action.”

“Would it be a good idea to shut everyone out?” Tao mused, “Wouldn’t it be better to work with the other countries and fight back against Moltuva?”

“The guards said the king of Sinseye has been acting strange lately, didn’t they?”

“Well, they said differently, not strange.” Tao could already imagine Luhan rolling his eyes from the other side of the room. “But I don’t know. He could be ruling his country in the same way but with a change in personality or something.”

“That’s still considered strange,” Luhan muttered, “Maybe the king just decided to close the borders without consulting his royal advisors. That would most likely make it a personal reason then.”

The last few words were punctuated by several hard knocks on their door. The two of them jolted up in their beds, listening hard to the voices outside their room. Tao recognized Chanyeol’s deep voice contrasted with Junmyeon’s higher and smoother one.

Luhan sprang from his bed and rushed to open the door. Junmyeon and Chanyeol filed inside, settling down on the edge of Tao’s bed again.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Junmyeon huffed.

“What happened?” Luhan asked as he handed them the roasted quail.

“Chanyeol and I approached the castle and spoke to some guards. Apparently, Moltuva invaded and took over Bolvaria just yesterday evening!” Junmyeon bit down hard on the meat while Chanyeol ate silently but ravenously beside him.

“There were survivors this time though,” Chanyeol piped up between bites of quail. “A man and his daughter fled through Cassius and sought shelter in Atheria.”

“Did they say anything about Moltuva’s army?” Luhan questioned hopefully.

“Blue fire,” Chanyeol supplied, “Blue fire and a black dragon.”

“A dragon?” Tao nearly shrieked. Dragons had gone extinct recently due to hunters, and a live one hadn’t been seen for almost twenty years. Ever since he was little, Tao would hear stories of dragons, listening as the old storyteller spoke about the reclusiveness and power of the mighty beasts. Tao had dreamed of meeting a dragon when he was a child, and although the dream had died as he grew older, he still held some fascination with the winged reptiles.

“He was my friend,” Junmyeon sighed dully.

There was a brief silence as everybody else stared at the shortest, who looked dead tired. Luhan was the first to recover, swallowing hard in disbelief.

“What?” he choked out.

“You’re friends with the dragon that’s burning countries to the ground?” Tao asked.

Junmyeon flinched a little but nodded nonetheless. “I’m actually not sure about our standing. We were friends when I still worked for the king, but he refused to come with me when I told him I was leaving. Wouldn’t tell me why when I asked. I only managed to bring Luhan with me out of Moltuva. I haven’t seen the dragon for four years,” Junmyeon confessed.

“There is another one: the warrior of ice. He is on Moltuva’s side as well,” Junmyeon continued, “I couldn’t ask him to come because we weren’t that close, and I was afraid he would rat me out to the king, who would have executed me immediately.”

“You never told me about this,” Luhan accused, sounding a little hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Junmyeon apologized genuinely, “We were on the run the moment we left Moltuva, so it never crossed my mind to tell you, especially since the Moltuvian king didn’t give up on hunting us until recently. Then, the issue got pushed further back when we found Tao and Chanyeol. I did plan to tell you, but it kept slipping my mind. I’m sorry.”

Nobody said anything for a while as Junmyeon looked nervously from person to person. Finally, Chanyeol shrugged.

“I just joined anyway so I’m not really upset,” the warrior of fire said.

Tao nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ve only been a part of this group for about a day longer than Chanyeol, so it’s alright with me.”

Luhan didn’t answer for a while, sitting silently with his face buried in his hands. They waited anxiously for his response.

“I’m not angry,” Luhan said slowly when he sensed the tension, “It’s just…I’m shocked,” he admitted, “I never knew that two of us were helping the enemy.” He rubbed his face in a frustrated manner and sighed. “Not many things are working in our favor. Sinseye’s borders are closed. They’re not letting anyone in or out.”

“Are you serious?” Junmyeon asked.

“A pair of guards were talking about it earlier. Apparently, the king has been acting weird.”

“Should we change our plan or try and get into Sinseye anyway?” Tao inquired.

“I think we should at least go over there and see what’s going on,” Luhan said, “If we cannot get in, I vote we head to Trost.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad plan,” Junmyeon agreed, “Don’t forget about Tao’s vision though. If it means that we gain another Exo member, then we need to find the person and stop him from being executed.”

“I guess we’ll have to listen to Sinseye’s reason for closing their borders and persuade them to let us pass.” Chanyeol grinned brightly, showing off his teeth.

“You have a bit of quail stuck in your teeth.” Tao wrinkled his nose and leaned away from the fire user, who quickly picked at the morsel with a nail.

“So it’s decided? We’re heading to Sinseye?” Junmyeon asked to confirm.

Tao, Luhan, and Chanyeol looked at each other, shrugged and nodded.

A/N: Oooohhhh, Tao had another vision. I wonder who the king, the prince, and the criminal (?) are. And Sinseye's borders are closed. Will the group have to change their plans? Moltuva has taken over Bolvaria as well now. That's not good for Exo.

'Til next chapter!