[Prologue: The Stars and the Mirage]

The world in which we live in is so mysterious, don’t you think? There are so many unexplainable wonders in this world that even science cannot find an answer to. We’re engulfed in a million of mysteries and an infinite number of theories, trying for centuries to explain the unexplainable. But we never learn to give up, do we? Why is that? Why do we continue to chase these strange things even until the end of our time? Maybe it’s to hope that one day, we would be the ones to discover the answer to it rather than giving up hope altogether. It’s strange, isn’t it? It is our mission – to chase after the impossible?  

The night has grown cold and the town has gone silent. Everyone has already gone to bed long ago as the clock strikes three in the morning. There were only sounds of the winter wind and owls hooting in the forest. In a house not too far from the city center, a Victorian-style house painted white and covered by a blueish roof was the only house in the neighborhood, still with a light lit on. A desk lamp was still even though the entire house has already gone dark. In a small yet cozy study room was a young man sitting at his desk, scribbling his final words down on a piece of paper. The only sound in that room was the clock on the wall ticking away and his fountain pen scratching on the piece of paper. A strangely pleasant sound.

“Finally!” the young man said with joy as he held the paper up high, looking at it from top to bottom. The words in which he wrote, were all his joy and pride.

He gathered the other pieces of paper that laid across his desk and placed the final piece of paper at the back. He made sure that the hole that was on every top corner of the page lined up and then, he tied a ribbon around it, binding the pages together.

One more time, he looked through each page with care and then a sigh of relief.

“I need to send this to Eunji,” he said to himself aloud. But he looked at the clock and noticed exactly how late it was. “Maybe tomorrow… if I wake her up now, she’ll definitely get mad at me. We don’t want that now, do we? Heh.”

He placed the manuscript into a paper envelope and made sure to put a proper address and stamp on it, ready to be sent at any time.

He finally got up from his seat and looked outside from his second-floor window, glancing at the moon that shined its light directly into his study room. He opened the windows out of curiosity and immediately a cold chill blew into his room.

“It’s already winter, huh?” he looked at his calendar that was sitting on his desk. It was already November.

The strong night wind that blew into his room eventually knocked some papers on his desk onto the floor. He went to pick it up but as he saw the title on the newspaper that fell onto the floor, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Again. A fruitless search, huh? Guess they’ll never learn to give up, will they?” he said as he skimmed through the top article on the paper.

“15 years since the mysterious phenomenon – The Mirage,” the paper says.

He looked up at the sky again and saw the hint of the so-called Mirage up in the sky.

Has it been 15 years already? He wondered as he searched the sky for a clearer picture.

“How long has it been up there already? One week? Two? Hasn’t it stayed up there longer and longer this time? What’s going on?” he noticed.

15 years ago…

The morning sun, the singing birds and the comforting summer breeze that day. Everything pleasant made it hard to wake up especially since it was finally summer, and everyone was on their summer vacation.

“Hakyeon-ah,” someone came into his room to wake the child up,” breakfast is ready.”

“Just a little longer, gramps,” the boy whined as he curled back into his bedsheets.

“Gosh, you sleepy-head. Did you already forget your promise with me? You said that you’d go hiking with me every day of your summer vacation. But day after day, you kept going out with your friends instead. I guess friends are more important than this old man,” his grandfather whined.

“That’s not it!” the boy sprung out of his bed out of guilt. “Okay, okay. Let’s go hiking!”

“Breakfast first.”

The little boy, only twelve at the time was finally on his summer vacation after writing many tests for school and trying very hard to finish his summer homework early. He made many promises with his friends to go out and he did fulfill them one by one. But after many days in his vacation, he grew too tired to move another muscle. Of course, his friends weren’t the only ones who are important to him. His grandfather is. After all, his grandfather is the only family he has left.

After losing his parents when he was four-years-old, Hakyeon was taken in by his grandfather. Since he was so young at the time, he had no recollection of his parents at all. So, his grandfather became the closest person to him. There were indeed times when he felt lonely not having a father or mother especially during school events but whenever he saw his grandfather try so hard to attend those events, despite his age, Hakyeon couldn’t help but feel happy and proud.

“My gramps is the best!” he would always say in front of his friends and teacher.

After a few more rolling around his bed, he finally decided to get up and get washed up. He got changed into some comfy clothes, perfect for a summer hike and packed all the necessities he needed for the small journey. When all was finished and ready to go, he dashed into the kitchen for breakfast.

“Thanks for the food, gramps,” Hakyeon said with much delight as he munched on the toast and egg.

“Eat slowly, chew your food,” his grandfather told him but with a smile.

The two sat down in the dining room, watching the news while they ate. There were a lot of complicated stories that appeared, and the boy could not make any sense of it. Except for one.

“So cool~,” Hakyeon said as he saw astronauts making their way to the moon and creating a settlement there.

“You like science, don’t you?” his grandfather asks.

“That’s not it. It’s just cool. It’s like something that only fairy tales would have. Gramps, do you think I could ever go visit the moon?”

“Well, anything is possible as long as you try. Just look at all the gadgets you kids are born into nowadays. Back when I was young, we had none of those. And now you have it all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start living on the stars too,” his grandfather joked.

“But we already live on the stars, gramps. Starlight Peaks is just around the corner of our town, isn’t it?”

“Haha. I guess you’re right and that’s where we’re going today.”

“Really?”

“You’ve never been up there, have you? You always complain about how hard it is and give up half-way. We never made it up to the top. Plus, tonight is a full moon, I think it would be great if you could see it from up there.”

“I’ll try my best!” Hakyeon said with confidence. This time, he’s not going to give up.

After their meal and putting away the dishes, the two finally went out of the house to catch the next bus that would go to the bottom of the mountains. Hakyeon looked out from the bus and saw their town, Little Valley, go by. He saw his neighbors cleaning up their yards, kids running around with water guns and everyone simply enjoying the summer.

When they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, Hakyeon saw a trail that led to the top, but it seemed so far away. The slopes seem steep and the path was crooked. At the entrance of the mountain was a sign, “Starlight Peaks”.

“Gramps, how many times have you gone up here?” Hakyeon asks out of curiosity as the two start to make their way to the top.

“Too many times. I’ve been coming here since I was a child,” he told him.

“Did mom and dad come here too, then?”

“Of course. I used to bring your dad here all the time when he was a child. After your parents got married, your mother also hiked up these mountains with me. They both reached the top and every time, they couldn’t help but be excited for the view at the top. You’re the only one left. Think you can reach the top this time?” his grandfather asks.

“I’ll try!”

The trails were quiet this day, and not many other people went up since it was the holidays. Everyone was probably too busy in town to celebrate the summer or out of the country to visit other places in the world. As the two hiked up, Hakyeon started to hum to songs with his grandfather, to take his mind off of his fatigue.

“You’re my bright light~ We’re walking on the milky way~” Hakyeon sang aloud as he skipped up the trails in excitement.

“Haha, you really like that song, don’t you?”

“Mhmm! Wouldn’t it be so cool if this trail was really the milky way? I’d be walking on a road of stars now,” Hakyeon said as he envisions the path turning into stars and the color galaxy surrounding him. “Gramps, you’ve always liked things like sci-fi and fantasy, right? Do you think it’s possible to walk on stars? Or even a planet filled with them?”

“I’m sure that as long as you imagine it, anything is possible. You have a better imagination than me, don’t you?”

“But you’re a novelist and an avid reader! I still haven’t read half the books down in the basement, gramps. How’d you end up collecting so many?”

“Time. Over time, you’ll just continue to accumulate more and more.”

“But you write, don’t you gramps? Why read other people’s books when you can write your own?”

“True but other people can think of things I could never myself. It’s true I love to fantasize and wonder about the impossible but even I can’t think of it all. There are so many other mysteries in this world that others have imagined or even encountered. I think it’s fascinating to read what other’s have created through their own imagination.”

“I see~ then gramps, do you think other worlds exist after all? I read it in one of the books recently about different worlds and time. I thought that was really cool. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was another me in another time or dimension? I wonder what they’d be like,” Hakyeon continues to ask many questions.

“Well, if another Hakyeon exists, I’m sure he’s as bright and smart as you,” his grandfather said and patted his grandson on the head.

The sun started to disappear and eventually, the two made their way up to the peaks. Hakyeon’s legs felt like there were thousands of needles in them, from walking so much but as he stepped foot up a little more, the view up top made him forget everything. All that he could see was the countless stars in the sky, hovering above him.

“Woah… Gramps! Look at this!” Hakyeon said as he excitedly ran up to the edge to stare at the stars above. “They’re so pretty!”

“They are, aren’t they? They’re like stars scattered across a black canvas, so bright and magnificent. You can’t see this kind of view from the city, but you can see it here.”

“It’s like a painting…” Hakyeon was in awe as he watched the stars in the sky from left to right. “Look! Gramps! That one over there!”

He pointed at the star that shined the brightest out of them all.

“Does it have a name?” Hakyeon asked since he knew well how much his grandfather was into astronomy.

“That’s Sirius,” his grandfather said with confidence.

“Sirius?”

“The most brilliant star in the Greek language. A perfect name, don’t you think?”

“Mhmm! Definitely!”

The two of them continued to talk about the stars for hours and hours. Hakyeon still couldn’t believe that he never made it up to the top to see such a magnificent sight all this time. Though he was tired from the hike, he was glad that he finally came. It was too beautiful to miss and hanging out with his grandfather, listening to his stories, everything was great.

“Thanks, gramps. For bringing me up here. It was a lot of fun!” Hakyeon said and hugged his grandfather tightly. He couldn’t be happier for this small expedition after all.

“I’m just glad you had fun,” his grandfather smiled and hugged the child back happily.

“Gramps, let’s come her ag-“

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the sky. Hakyeon’s excitement was halted by the lights in the sky disappearing one by one. The stars that were shining so brilliantly was beginning to fade. As they looked into the distance at the city, the lights were also going out.

“W-what’s going on, gramps?” Hakyeon was nervous.

“I don’t know,” his grandfather was also feeling the same.

In a matter of minutes, the entire sky and the city became black. Not a single spec of light could be seen. The sky was shrouded by darkness and an eerie silence filled the air. A few seconds later, a crackling sound could be heard, and the sky split apart like a shattered mirror. Images appeared in the sky, images of the unknown.

“What is that?” Hakyeon muttered to his grandfather as he squinted at the pictures that appeared on every section of the sky. It was as if, they were reflections of… another world.

Moments later, the lights came back on, the stars shined brightly again, and the moon reappeared. However, the only thing that changed was that the shattered sky remained.

Since that night 15 years ago, the strange phenomenon that appeared out of nowhere was eventually dubbed as ‘The Mirage’.

A/N:

Hello, guys! Welcome to my new fanfic "Mirage in the Sky". I'll be bringing back the fantasy element into my fanfics, hoping that you guys will like it. The chapters will be short or long, depending on how much I write and where I think is a good place to stop. Of course, like always, I'll be going back to proofread every chapter as much as I can, whenever I can so if you guys see any typos and whatnot, please forgive me. Nonetheless, hope you guys like this and patiently wait for all the characters of VIXX to appear!