What’s happening?

Why is everyone screaming?

“I can’t see…. I can’t hear!” I heard someone say and I dropped down on the floor. I saw Sehun fall back onto the ground and when he turned to me, I saw that his eyes were all black like mine. What was happening?

“Where are you?” I heard Chen ask Xiumin, Xiumin floundering around as if he was blind. “I can’t hear you!”

With one look around the gym, I saw that everyone’s eyes were all black and I shuddered as I felt sudden exhaustion pass through my body. I did this… I made them all blind.

“Oh Sehun,” I said his name but he didn’t turn to me, as if he couldn’t hear me. Panic rose up my throat and I struggled to stand up.

What if they never will be able to see? What if I made them all deaf? The thought scared me and I was about to stand up to run out of the gym when another wave of exhaustion swept through me and I tumbled onto the floor, the world turning black.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“She robs people of their senses. I felt it. Suddenly the world turned black and I couldn’t hear anything,” someone’s voice said and I stirred, smelling the familiar smell of the infirmary.

“That must be her passive.” That was Kris’ voice and I peeked from underneath my eyelids, seeing that Suho, Lay, and Kris were talking by my bed. They probably thought that I was still asleep. “How about what happened between her and Sehun?”

“That was pretty weird, wasn’t it?” Lay asked, concern in his voice. “I have no idea why they would feel each other. Donghae said he’d come and check when both of them are awake. Harin’s drained right now because her second power was overused. I gave her a relaxing potion.”

He was right about that. I couldn’t move my fingers and it was hard to even think of sitting up. I kept my eyes closed and another wave of sleepiness came over me when I fell back to sleep.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m fine, Father. Don’t worry.” I heard Sehun’s voice now, and I turned to my side; pretending that I was asleep. There was a milky taste in my mouth from sleeping too much. “Do go and attend to your business trip. I’m fine here.”

“I am worried. Especially after what I witnessed today…,” Oh Shin said, his voice dragging into a fade.

“It was nothing, Father. We’ll figure it out. Besides, maybe she was just being dramatic. You don’t know her, but I know her well.” Sehun paused and even I heard the hesitancy in his voice. “She cried and asked me if I wanted to be cremated or buried when I hurt my leg.”

“Mhmm...,” Oh Shin’s voice drawled out. “I’ll have Donghae come and check on you guys in a bit. For now, I have to go. Take care of yourself, Sehun. There is only one of you.”

I held back a scoff. Oh, the love in his voice. Sehun, Sehun, Sehun. Chewing on my lip, I kept my eyes closed until I heard the door close behind Oh Shin. Peeking up from under the blankets, I saw that Sehun was awake and reading something. Jolting up, I glared at him.

“Gaian!” Sehun exclaimed, dropping his book before sighing. “You caught me by surprise.”

“Oh Sehun!” I said to him, frowning. “What happened?”

“What happened? What do you mean what happened? I’m the one who's bleeding and you’re asking me what happened?”

“That’s what I’m asking! What happened? Why is it that it hurt when you—”

The door of the infirmary flung open and I saw Donghae walk in, his eyes widening when he saw us awake. He didn’t say anything, but approached us slowly, stopping in front of both of us. Tilting his head, his eyes swept over both of us when he rummaged for something.

“Senior,” Sehun began and Donghae took out what seemed like a small needle. “Please tell my father—Senior, what are you doing? OW!”

“Ouch!” I yelled out, feeling a prick on my finger when Donghae pricked the needle into Sehun’s pinky. “Why does it hurt?”

Donghae was silent, going to me and grabbing my finger and bringing it up to his eyes; inspecting it. It wasn’t bleeding but it stung. Grabbing the needle again, he changed fingers and pricked it down onto my thumb. Blood prickled out and Sehun jumped, grabbing his thumb; Donghae going to check Sehun’s hand.

“He’s not bleeding on his thumb,” Donghae said more to himself than to us before he sighed. “So, you feel each other, but you don’t get physically affected.”

Sehun was quiet now, keeping his eyes on Donghae who was deep in thought.

“If that’s the case, there has to be a reason why this is happening,” Sehun said to Donghae who cleared his throat, straightening his back. “Senior, you have no idea what’s happening, right? The only explanation I can think about is of—”

“I’m going out for a bit; I’ll come and see you both when you’re fine,” Donghae suddenly said, turning and walking out the infirmary. Sehun’s mouth was wide open and I turned to him, clinging to his last words.

“The only explanation?” I asked Sehun who seemed like he forgot I was there. “Oh Sehun, finish your sentence.”

“There is no explanation, Gaian. It’s just the only thing I can think of from reading old testimonies of people who are able to feel each other. In one testimony, it’s emotions. In ours, it seems like it’s pain. I don’t know why—”

“And what are those testimonies for?’” I prompted. “What you read, what was it about?”

“Mirrored Souls,” Sehun answered, frowning. “It’s just… belief. Back in Greek mythology, they said the gods created people with two heads, four arms, and four legs. But they believed it was too much so they cut those in half and now some people have mirrored souls.”

“So, we’re related?!” I screeched.

“Really, Gaian. You’re from Eve and I’m from Exodus, how on earth are we ever going to be related?” Sehun asked, frustrated with me. “It’s just a belief and in the testimonies, people with mirrored souls tend to have their lives intertwined with the other.”

“What do mirrored souls do?” I asked and he pressed his lips together as if he didn’t want to tell me. “Oh Sehun, what do they do?”

“They’re destined to be together. The souls mirror each other and fit in each other’s life like a puzzle piece,” he said, looking disgruntled. “It’s a myth, Ong Harin. Don’t get any stupid ideas.”

“Like a soulmate,” I said, my stomach-turning. First, I get my powers and find out I’m from some different world. Now, I’m Sehun's soulmate?

I want to die.

“Gaian… It’s a myth,” Sehun’s voice repeated and I fell back onto the bed, my hands on my face.

“I don’t want to be your soulmate!” I told him, grumpily. “You’re the worst soulmate ever!”

“What? What’s so bad about me?” Sehun asked and I heard him shift to the side and glare at me.

“Everything!” I expected Sehun to say something but when I looked at him, he was just staring at me as he was deep in thought. I saw his eyebrows furrow and I sat up, waiting eagerly for him to say something.

“What? Did you think of something else that is better than us being soulmates?” I asked him and he didn’t answer, scratching his neck. I prayed that he had another explanation of why we could feel each other’s pain.

“Well, it’s not better,” Sehun said and my stomach dropped. “But—People who are bounded by prophecies tend to have these kinds of… symptoms too. It’s said that when Exodus was still a monarchy, the second King’s prophecy was bounded to his loved one. He could hear her in his head. There is a diary written by it but many say that he was just delusional. The diary is now taught in schools as a mandatory book in Exodian History and literature.”

“Prophecies?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “As in… something that is bound to happen?”

Sehun nodded and I shot him another question. “And… how do you know if you have a prophecy? Do you have one?”

“You go see a Seer,” Sehun said to me. “How do I know if I had prophecy?”

“Have you ever gone to a Seer before?” I asked and Sehun shook his head when I remembered something. I flung myself off the bed and began to walk to him, Sehun eyeing me suspiciously. I remembered the conversation I had with Tao back on Earth, on the bed when everyone was about to come and listen to me tell them stories about Ariel.

“Harin, they said that if you get your life seen by the Seers, you have a mark at the back of your neck.”

“On Earth, we have fortune-tellers. We use cards.” I remembered telling him.

I advanced towards Sehun, Sehun’s eyes widening as I jumped onto his bed. A mark. A mark wouldn’t tell me if he had a prophecy but a mark would show if his life was viewed by a Seer and it increased the possibility that he had a prophecy. I grabbed his face, Sehun flailing his arms around.

“Let me see the back of your neck!” I said to him and he struggled as I moved over his body and sat on his crotch. “I need to check something!”

“This is harassment, Ong Harin! Get off me!” Sehun yelled and I grabbed his hair, knowing he would never show anything to me out of spite. But heck, if I was going to get hurt every time he ever got hurt, I might as well not care anymore. I had to find out what was happening.

“Ong Harin!” Sehun yelped as I forcefully turned his head and brushed off his hair to see a mark at the back of his neck.

It was marked with an imprint of an eye.

I let go of him, looking down on him as I sat on him, frowning. Sehun didn’t fight me, dragging a pillow to put under his head while he looked at me from under me. I almost forgot I was on top of him, placing my hands on his chest as I tapped my fingers on it like I was playing the piano.

“You have the mark of a Seer,” I told Sehun and he huffed, rolling his eyes from under me. “But you said you don’t know if you have a prophecy.”

“Gaian, first off, if someone ever comes in and sees you on top of me like this—”

“Why would you lie to me?” I asked him, frowning down at him and crossing my arms.

“I never went to a Seer,” Sehun corrected. “But my father did; to see my life. I am his only son, Ong Harin. He loves me, he would want to know if anything dangerous would happen to me. All Royals in the Order, even noblemen seek the Seers to see the life of their children. Me, Suga, my father, Uncle Shun.. you name it, all of them have marks on the backs of their necks because all our fortunes were told.”

“And do you know your fortune?” I asked, frowning at him. Sehun ran a hand through his hair before placing his hand under the back of his head, shaking his head. “Has your father ever told you about it?”

“No,” Sehun said, shrugging. “I never asked. My father knows what’s best for me.”

Sehun’s answer was simple and I sighed. Of course, he would say that. It was his father. I was about to open my mouth and say something back to him when the door of the infirmary opened and a sudden sound of glass breaking made me jump.

I turned to see a horrified Kyungsoo with a visitor’s pass pinned on his shirt and a broken plant vase on the ground.

“Ong Harin… WHAT YOU DOING?!”

Oh, well… .

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[What you do to Sehun, Ong Harin!]

After three very long hours of trying to persuade Kyungsoo that I wasn’t trying to do anything to Sehun, who lay there with a smirk on his face, Kyungsoo finally calmed down and spent another hour trying to grow flowers for Sehun who entertained him. He would glare at me from time to time and when it was time to leave, Kyungsoo came up to me to stare at me as a warning before stalking out the door of the infirmary.

How loyal he was.

I rolled on the bed, nothing to do. Sehun seems to have drifted off to sleep and I was bored out of my head. I turned to the side, throwing my feet off the bed to walk to where the entrance was supposed to be but a door did not open. Placing my hands against the flat wall, I tried to push the wall as if a door would appear but nothing happened. Chewing on my lip, I walked to Sehun and poked him.

“Oh Sehun.”

He stirred and turned to the other side and I sighed to myself. What a peaceful sleeper. I poked him again and then tried to shake him awake to see if he knew how to exit the infirmary.

“Oh Sehun.”

“Go away, Ong Harin.” Sehun’s voice was muffled and I glared at him.

Well, if he wanted it that way.

I lifted a hand and smacked myself on the chest… hard. I doubled over and I heard Sehun yelp, sitting up almost immediately, glaring at me.

“Ouch, Gaian! What was that for?”

“Now, you’re awake,” I said to him, rubbing my chest that ached from the pain. “I wanted to ask how to leave the infirmary.”

“You can’t,” Sehun replied, sinking back down onto the bed and closing his eyes. “You’ll have to ask one of the Seniors to bring you out. It’s to make sure no one injured goes out of the infirmary.”

“But Kyungsoo…”

“Kyungsoo had a visitor pass.”

“I’m bored.”

“Entertain yourself. I’m going to sleep. Or find Senior Lay,” Sehun grumbled, putting the pillow on his head. I blinked at him, deciding that finding Senior Lay was the only way I can get out of the infirmary so I walked to the back of the infirmary.

The infirmary was bigger than I thought, and it always had a burning smell. I made my way towards the back when I could hear talking, making out the voices as Senior Lay, Senior Kris, and… Xiumin? Their voices were hushed and the air seemed hotter at the back of the infirmary and when I neared, I realized that there was a door that was wide open.

“I got it from Alchemist Jimin today,” Lay was saying when a rustle sounded. “It’s the potion brewed from the eternal flame. I’m positive that it’ll work.”

“And he’ll finally warm up and be fine?” Xiumin’s voice said and I edged closer, hiding behind the table that was by the door. Inside, I saw that there was a young boy, seemingly around my age on a bed. His hair was grayish-whitish and I paused at how handsome he was. His lips were colorless and it seemed like he was more dead than alive.

“He’ll be fine, right?” Kris asked Lay who nodded confidently. Beside the male were torches of fire and I saw Xiumin pace the room nervously as Lay extracted a bottle with a red potion inside it. Lifting the chin of the boy up, he tipped the potion into his slightly open lips and I watched as he emptied its contents.

“Why is it not working?” Xiumin snapped, chewing on his fingernails. I have never seen Xiumin that impatient. He was always calm, always so friendly and now he looked just typically stressed out. I saw Lay place a hand on Xiumin’s shoulder, Xiumin rubbing his face anxiously.

“Patience, Xiumin,” Kris told him and he sighed.

“I’m trying, Kris,” Xiumin replied. I then realized that I have never heard Xiu