[Chanbaek in the house!]

I don’t know why I made up my mind to go back to SM, but it felt like every thing was decided so fast. The moment I told them that I’d give it a try, everyone cheered like their country just won the football cup; we then were all told that we had to cut our trip short. In the end, I had to go back and learn how to control my powers. The trip back was uneventful and the moment I reached SM; I was told to go to individual training. The only person who was allowed to train with me was Kyungsoo because his powers and abilities to create life with his hands complemented my ability to take them. 

Donghae wasn’t around just yet and the days passed with Kyungsoo throwing tantrums if I didn’t do well and making flowers bow down to me if I did. Every day I woke up and sat down with Kyungsoo, him creating plants in his palm and holding it in front of me.

“Try again.” He would say. “Take away then push back.” He would remind me, his eyes shining with eager hopefulness that I wouldn’t kill it but each and every try was futile.

“Ong Harin!” He would exclaim. “Pity plant.”

But he would still make more, over and over again the plants filling the classrooms. If they died, he would pet them and come back, each time more determined. He’d sit and refuse to let me leave until we were both exhausted. The rest of the week passed by like that, until school opened again and I was awoken by Baekhyun who was pounding enthusiastically on my door.

“Ong Harin!” Baekhyun yelled and I walked to the door, opening it just to see that Chanyeol was there with him. They blinked at me, looking all smiley smiley that I wondered what they did to be that way. “Surprise!”

They side stepped and I looked down to see that Bubbles was behind them. She was wearing a pink shirt over her fat body and she looked up, her eyes curving into a smile as she bounded towards me. I squealed and knelt down, hugging her. Suho had told me that Mr. Bobbit took her to the Centaur gap, where he resided and lived with his own family. Now that that school opened, she was back and I couldn’t be any happier.

“Bubbles!”

She honked and Baekhyun beamed at me before pushing past me and walking into my bedroom, looking around. Chanyeol followed him and I stood up, walking back inside just to see them on my bed. I crossed my arms and tilted my head at them before they flashed me a smile and told me that they’ll wait until I was done and we’d go to class together. It took me half an hour with how tired I was, and by the time I was done they had fallen asleep.

“Wake up,” I told Baekhyun who jolted up before stretching. I checked the time and saw that it was exactly 8 am and I still had twenty minutes more. We began to walk back to class, Chanyeol and Baekhyun talking about how they want to introduce playing “Army Feetball” to Exodes.

“It’s American Football,” I told them and they said they would call it whatever they wanted. My mind was wandering and as we walked past the garden, I saw Kyungsoo muttering to a plant. I gave him a wave and he blinked at me. “Say, Baek...”

“What’s up?”

“I heard kisses aren’t a big deal in Exodus,” I said to him and he looked like I was crazy.

“Did Kai tell you that? Because he sometimes says that to just kiss someone.” Baekhyun asked, crossing his arms. “Don’t ever believe Kim Kai’s words.”

“A kiss is such a big deal in Exodus, Gaian.” I raveled at how “Gaian” no longer seemed like an insult to my ears but more of a title.

I frowned and looked at Chanyeol who spoke. “But you and Baekhyun look like you’re about to kiss all the time.”

“I pretend to, but I never actually do,” Chanyeol said, shrugging. “I don’t even kiss my own mom.”

“Who wants to kiss you, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked, shuddering and his words earned him a smack on his back. “Eurgh! Lemme go!”

“Come here, you annoying prick,” Chanyeol teased, puckering his lips. Baekhyun squealed and ducked, running around me to hide away from Chanyeol. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

“THAT’S DISGUSTING, PARK CHANYEOL!” Baekhyun screeched and I had to cover my ears when I saw that Donghae was talking to Suho. Both of them turned to look at me, Donghae giving me a small smile; Suho’s face unreadable. As if the conversation was wrapped up, they shook hands and Donghae turned to motion me over. I walked towards him.

“I’m going to take you for individual training. We may need Kyungsoo too. Is that okay with you?” He asked and I nodded, knowing I didn’t have a choice. He motioned me to the room and I sat down, awkward and worried. Seungwoo and Wooseung told me that Donghae wasn’t scary, but he was strict when he had to be, not scared of extracting blood when he had to.

“Kyungsoo!” I called out to see Kyungsoo walk in and he grunted, plopping himself on the seat beside me.

“Today I make flower again,” he mumbled, leaning back against his chair and closing his eyes. I felt sorry for him. Because of me, he was making plants non-stop and he seemed tired because of it. He seemed exhausted and I vowed to develop my powers soon enough so he wouldn’t need to keep tiring himself out.

“Okay, let’s start. I have first period with you guys. Show me what you have achieved so far,” he said and I looked at Kyungsoo who expressionlessly made a flower in his hand. I reached out and closed my eyes, focusing on my fingertips when my eyes turned black. I felt the essence of the flower against my fingertips and before I knew it, it wilted.

“Plant dieded,” Kyungsoo pointed out to Donghae and he nodded, seeing the flower wilt.

“With developed powers, you’ll even have the powers of ultimate destruction,” he said, observing the plant. “Soul manipulation, energy destruction… The only mage I know of with that kind of powers would be….”

He seemed to have stopped himself and I waited for him to continue but he shook his head. I wonder if Suho told him about Eve but he didn’t seem to mention anything about it.

“I think what’s best is to know your trigger. What happened the night that you got your powers? Anything special stand out?”

“I… I went drinking,” I said honestly. And I got kissed by Oh Sehun, I thought, shuddering at the thought. “I don’t remember that well.”

“Maybe I can help with that,” Donghae said, going up to me and placing his hand against my head. His hand glowed and I felt a warm sensation run through my scalp. “I want you to relax, memories will come to you when you don’t stress in remembering them. Try to remember from when you were drinking.”

I was about to panic, opening my mouth to stop him. I didn’t want him to see all my memories about me coming from Eve, I didn’t want him to find out about how I killed my parents. Kyungsoo stared at me and right when I was about to say something, I saw Donghae retreat his hand. The ball was golden and bounced in his hand. With one swift moment, he threw it up and the room changed.

“No excuse for leading her on, Mark Tuan.”

I saw Mark Tuan in front of me, Kyungsoo seeing everything from my perspective.

“Your friend. Kisses better. Than your joke of a brother.”

Jennie. Kyungsoo frowned at what she said and Donghae moved his hand, forwarding the scene.

“How dare she… How dare she talk about Seungwoo like that?! I swear to god, I will ka-pow! her and she better be ready. I will deflate those plastic s, I’m sure NONE OF THAT IS REAL!”

“ONG HARIN! I think it’s best we go home.”

“DO NOT THANK HER! SHE’S A ROTTING COW, THAT’S WHAT SHE IS!”

It’s coming, I closed my eyes; not wanting to see their reaction.

“Fine, put me down. I promise I’ll just talk to her. Promise.”

Thud.

I opened my eyes softly to see that it was just when Sehun put me down, pulling me towards him to press his lips against mine. Kyungsoo yelped, lifting a hand to cover his mouth, his eyes widening at the scene. Donghae didn’t seem flustered, but he brooded over it and he forwarded the scene to when my powers came; then when I found out about my family.

The scene ended and Donghae crossed his arms, tapping his feet. He seemed to have his thoughts occupied, Kyungsoo staring at me. When I looked at him, he narrowed his eyes at me and mouthed “Bad.”.

“I think maybe just keep training with Kyungsoo,” Donghae said, clearing his throat, his eyes flickering over to me. “Go and join the others for training today. We can resume our sessions soon when you can start controlling it.”

I felt like he was pushing me out of his classroom and I stood up, Kyungsoo following my footsteps, still staring at me. When we exited the classroom, Kyungsoo looked at me and crossed his arms.

“Bad, Ong Harin.”

[Donghae's Study]

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Donghae paced around the room, the metronome making a constant ticking sound. He decided he was going to do it, knowing he needed to do it for clarification. Raising a hand to his head, his hand glowed and his fingers pulled a thread of memories from his temple. When he was satisfied, Donghae opened up his palm and the memory floated in his hand. He flung it into the air and suddenly, he was in the Royal Castle. The rooms were nostalgic to him and he remembered it like yesterday.

“Donghae, you’re here.”

Oh Shin entered the room, his smile calm. Donghae saw his vision go towards the floor, seeing his younger self bowing.

“You called for my services, sir.”

“Yes, yes. How’s SM going for you? Life after graduation treating you well?”

“Yes, sir.” Donghae saw himself saying as Oh Shin sat down across from him.

“I want you to retract a certain memory, Donghae and bottle it for me. I want to be able to see it when the time comes. Can you do that for me?” Oh Shin asked, looking straight at him. “--and I trust you to treat this memory with confidentiality.”

“Yes, sir.” Donghae remembered wondering what it was. Oh Shin pledged transparency to his people, but Donghae wasn’t one to question his actions. Oh Shin, in the end, was everyone’s leader that was elected by the people of Exodus. “Shall I start, sir?”

“Yes, of course. I’m trying to remember it right now. You may start, Donghae.”

Donghae did what he did best, dragging the memory from Oh Shin’s head and watching as the gold threads of events bundled up in his head. He didn’t know when to stop, Oh Shin telling him to try to go a bit further. That he didn’t want to miss a single thing. Donghae pulled it out and when Oh Shin was satisfied, he insisted that he check the memory; Donghae throwing it up to the ceiling to find himself in a cave.

“I’m Oh Shin, Eldest son of Oh Sooguen and Lee Aecha. I’m here to see my fortune.” Donghae could see himself see the memory of Oh Shin in a hollow cave. Three women stood before him; their eyes covered with black cloth.

“Someone in your family will be the one to rule the worlds,” one of them said, stepping forward; her black dress dragging against the floor. “Your son… Your son who you love so dearly will be your rise and your fall. It is he, who will lay dead to the doing of a female mage.”

“You do not have a prophecy to your name, your royal,” she whispered. “It’s just said that one from your family will be the ruler of the worlds when the time comes.”

“I believe that it’s me,” Oh Shin said, a smug smile traveling up his face as he stood tall. “I have always felt power in my veins, a power that I cannot control. My rise will be because my son will aid me in my ruling, my fall will be of his death.”

“Those of your family before you have demanded their fortunes told, your royal,” the second woman said. “All of them believed that they will rule and the last of their blood, one who will be a powerful mage, will be killed by a female mage.”

“And like those before me, I put those in my family first,” Oh Shin said, smirking. “We do not massacre; we sacrifice lives for bigger power. When I rule the worlds; Earth, Exodus, Euren—I will appoint you in the Royal Castle.”

The three of them bowed and suddenly the memory was cut short. Donghae watched himself put the memory in the bottle, Oh Shin turning to him.

“Thank you for your service, Donghae,” Oh Shin said, patting the shoulder of his younger self. “Remember, everything I do, I do for Exodus.”

Donghae’s memory ended, and he stood up to stare out the classroom window, brooding on his own memory he just watched. Oh Shin was a good man, he thought, he would never do what’s not good for Exodus.

“Eve… So, it is a real-world… That female mage who’ll kill Sehun…” Donghae spoke softly to himself. “Would that be Ong Harin?”

With that, Donghae took a Sier and signaled the Royal Castle for Oh Shin.

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