"Sorry, please tell me I heard you wrong and you didn't say that his core is damaged?" Kris demands but Lay's grim frown and a sidelong glance at the Warrior's door says all we don't want to hear.

Everyone in the room deflates, the appearance of both Lay and Luhan from Chen's room bringing a semblance of hope back into the situation but the diagnostic is not one we want to hear.
 

Xiumin lashes out on a bookshelf, cracking the wooden structure with his bare fist as Kris questions Lay, wanting to know everything so that there may be some mistake. Chanyeol and Baekhyun huddle together on one of the couches, now with tears streaming down their cheeks at the news of their brothers state, Kai is no better, curling into DO's side as the Earth Warrior threatens to tear open a cushion with his fingers. Luhan crosses the room to embrace a sobbing Tao, his head hung low and sniffles occasionally escaping.
 

From the many conversations and research ventures I've been on, trying to catch up with the formalities and terminology of the world I now live in, I grasp the base concept of the problem and even with such little information, I know exactly how dire the situation is.
 

A core is something everyone has, Summoner and Warrior, it is what allows Summoners to summon and Warriors to wield, but for Warriors, it is more than that. The core is what ties Warriors to their stars, the source of their powers and is essentially their life source, to damage one's core is to damage their life's energy and to drain it completely means death.
 

For Chen's core to be damaged, it means he is nearing the brink of death with each breath and with no known remedy or method to healing one's core. There is nothing we can do.
 

I throw my head into my hands, avoiding the tender areas of my torn up face as I bite my lip until I taste copper and rub my eyes in a feeble attempt to stop the onslaught of tears threatening to fall.
 

"Is there nothing that can be done?" I ask in a breathy whisper, hoping for some semblance of hope to shine through and give us a chance at saving Chen.
 

Lay doesn't even try to hide his emotions and the usually sleepy and blank Warrior bursts into heavy tears, his lips warbling and partial words breaking out through broken sobs as he shakes his head from side to side.
 

Negative.
 

But he's a spirit Warrior, a Warrior of healing, surely he can do something, anything at all to try and save his brother. As if reading my mind, which I wouldn't doubt, Luhan shakes his head at me from his hunched-over position on the floor, head just barely visible over Tao's shoulder as he pats the younger's back.
 

"If there was something we could do, we would have done it long ago," His words are faint and shaky but the impact is enormous, throwing everyone back into sobbing fits and enforcing the misery tenfold.
 

"There has to be something! Anything!" Chanyeol all but screams, his voice hoarse as he pleads with Kris and Lay as if the two could solve everything with a few simple words. Baekhyun pulls him back down onto the couch, forcing him to back down and curls into his side to keep him there.
 

"It's like Luhan said, if there was something they could do, they would have done it long ago." Xiumin hits the bookcase again, toppling a few books out onto the floor with the sheer force of the impact. I don't care, they're just books, they can be replaced, Chen can't.

As if knowing we've fallen into relative silence, crackling sounds from the corner of the room and with a few growls and glares, we continue ignoring its presence, no doubt surrounds our minds about exactly how our current situation came about. ing book.
 

Luhan and Kris exchange a glance over Tao's shoulder and turn their gazes to a huffing Xiumin, who shakes as he leans against the wall. I don't like that look and choose to ignore it as I bury my head deeper into my hands.
 

"We have to, he might know something that can help." Kris' voice rumbles lowly, seeming to not like the words spilling from his mouth.
 

"If he did don't you think you or I would also know? He's not the only leader," Xiumin growls.
 

"But he is the first."
 

"Don't you think he would have done something before then? If there was some way to heal someone's core, he would have used it all those years ago with Sehun," Luhan snaps in a way I've never heard him do so before, his voice catching at the name.
 

There's the sound of shuffling before running footfalls and a slamming door further down the hall, the loss of warbling sobs telling me Tao is the one who has left, isolating himself in his room. I don't know who Sehun is and at the moment I don't care, not when Chen is dying in the next room and we're out here throwing a pity party for ourselves.
 

"Way to go, Luhan," DO snaps but there is no real venom in his words.
 

Luhan sighs heavily, "He loved that boy as if he was his brother, his son, we all did, but they had a special connection and there is no way Suho would have not done anything to save him. There's no way to heal a damaged core."
 

A pregnant silence fills the room and the tears seem to fall faster as the conformation of our hopeless situation sinks in. I lean to the side and curl up, hugging my knees tight to my chest and chewing my already split bottom lip.
 

"We still have to," Kris says, leaving his place crouched next to Lay and walking across the room to where the object of our hatred sits hissing at us for attention. "Avery, you have to."
 

Resolute and ready to argue, Kris kicks the book until it is at my feet, hissing and crackling louder like a petulant child. I give in and don't bother raising myself from my huddle on the couch, turning slightly to let one arm drop from my perch I begin the familiar process of card claiming but am not truly engaged in the event as my mind remains blank to everything.
 

Blue and aqua shimmering lights in the shape of water drops burst from the pages and a shimmering gold page is yet again revealed to my watery eyes. No writing has begun to appear and the page remains blank apart from my new card as I refuse to move and bleed on its surface.
 

A rippling ocean covers the card, light blue and seemingly moving on its own as the usual curling designs sit in each corner, faded and appearing to become one with the water it rests upon. The front is ombre, light to dark blue with bright brass letters in the center and swirling spirals reach out from each corner.
 

Resigning to the fact that I do have to move and complete the process lest the mystical piece of does something else to my Warriors, I lift a heavy hand to where I know I've chewed through my lip and smear a streak across the blue surface.
 

I shut my eyes as the light comes, sudden and assaulting my eyelids, my new Warrior appearing only feet in front of me.
 

He is kneeling, head down and eyes closed, dark chestnut brown hair flopping down in over his forehead. Everything he wears is blue or white, spotless and form-fitting except for his white jacket which is ped and hanging loosely from his torso.
 

He doesn't move, not even as I remain silent and turn back over, wrapping myself back up and turning my back to him, probably not the best first impression but I don't have the energy in me to care, not right now anyway, I'll probably regret it later.
 

It takes a few minutes for anything to happen, his voice flowing like a stream over rocks, rather fitting of his abilities. "Master?" I hum b