Chapter 24

(I highly recommend hearing “Light of the seven” from game of thrones for this chapter! It captures the melodic feeling best…)

Although they were standing in the entrance hall, the whole building felt empty. Only the soft sound of the organ playing a peaceful melody reminded that there was actually life in the castle. The more Baekhyun listened to the melody the more it reminded him of something he’d heard long time ago.

“This melody sounds too sad to listen for it the whole day.”, Kyungsoo sighed and took a few steps forward. “We should look around but be careful.”

Chanyeol nodded. “We should hurry and go back to the others, who knows what they’re facing right now. I have this bad feeling in my stomach.”

Jongin looked around and listened to find the source of the melody. “Maybe we should start finding this organ. Although I’m not sure if I want to know who’s playing it.”

They took the stairs to the second floor where the sound got louder. The walls of the second floor were golden and only the bright windows helped to not feel overwhelmed by this heavy architecture. There were some wall lights which brightened up the floor and lots of doors were left and right from them. They could see another stair upwards at the end of the floor in front of them. Unlike the other two floors this one wasn’t as bright. It had less windows and only enough wand lights to not get lost. “It’s scary…”, Baekhyun mumbled and followed the rest to check one of the floors.

“We should look at the rooms as well…”, Tao advised but didn’t dare to open even one of the doors they were crossing.

“What are we even searching for…”, Chanyeol mumbled. “When I were an owner of a castle I would make sure that the organ is somewhere where everyone can see it. I would want to impress. It surely isn’t behind a door.”

“But when there is no visit to be expected because you’re living on the lost planet, then you can have it wherever you want. You can’t impress anybody here.”, Jongin said and shrugged.

“Right.”

“The melody is getting louder…”, Baekhyun said and followed the sound. When he stopped he stood in front of a door that was ajar. “Here…” His voice was only able to whisper.

“Let’s go in.” Again it was Tao who couldn’t wait but entered. The rest followed him in a blink of an eye although they weren’t too happy to.

What was in the room felt more than unreal. There were no walls to see, no floor no ceiling. It was like they were standing in a purple blueish galaxy with lots of stars in it. Seeing it from the outside it would look like they were hovering, but they stood on the floor and were able to walk.

At the end of the room was the organ. Baekhyun gasped when he saw who or what was playing the organ. At first he saw something like a white blueish flaming ball – a spirit. But when he looked twice there was no doubt that Kris was playing the organ. “What…” Slowly he took a few steps forward but was held back by Chanyeol. When he turned around Chanyeol only shook his head. He was right, this could be a trap. This wasn’t even Kris. It was more like a ghost that looked like Kris with this white blueish flaming ball in his chest where his heart would be.

“No…Kris!” Taos reaction was same as Baekhyuns but faster. Kyungsoo couldn’t get a hold on Tao who made his way to the ghost. “Kris…listen to me, please.”

Nothing happened. The ghost continued playing his melody.

“What are you doing? Stop this! You have to go back!” Tao wanted to touch the ghost, but he couldn’t. All he was hitting was the organ key which caused the melody to sound off. The ghost stopped playing and looked at the man in the body of a kid. His eyes were empty that it felt uncomfortable to be watched by them.

Jongin came to Tao and took his hand. “It’s too late. He can’t hear you anymore. He’s in this state for too long.”

The black boy shook his head. “No…”, he whimpered. “No…” Jongin pulled Tao closer and hugged him tight.

“I’m sorry…”

The ghost watched them with his empty eyes as if he tried to recognize them but eventually turned back to continue playing.

“What’s happening…?”, Baekhyun asked confused into the silence which was only filled with the sad sound of the organ.

“It’s his soul.”, Chanyeol whispered. “There is only the red force left. His soul got ripped out of his own body.”

“W-what? But when I met him in the garden. I could talk to him…”

Chanyeol shook his head. “I guess it was just a trick to get close to you.”

“We have to bring him back to his body. We can do this, right?”

“There would be no need. He doesn’t recognize us anymore. He doesn’t feel anything anymore. He simply is empty…”

Baekhyun shook his head. “No! I know Kris is strong! He is fighting over there! We just have to show him the way!”

“What can we do? In this state he won’t even recognize his own body anymore. He was separated from it for too long.”

“Then why is he still here and not moving on to the world beyond?”

“I guess it’s hard to leave the lost planet. I don’t know…”, Chanyeol sighed. “I’ve only seen this once in my life.”

“It’s the melody.”, Zitao mumbled whiny into Jongins chest. “The melody keeps him here.”

“The melody…?”, Jongin asked.

“It’s his families own melody. He played it often for us before the red force came…”

“You’re right Tao! Now I know where I’ve heard it before…”, Baekhyun smiled lightly. “He must have tried to keep something of himself with him…”

“When the red force ripped his soul out of his body and hit him here…he must have come to the organ to play something that helped him reminding. He tried to remember as long as possible….”, Kyungsoo mumbled and bit on his lower lip.

“There was hope. He hoped that we will find him…”,