As he travelled in the carriage, Tao looked out at the world, EXO Planet that he had supposedly dreamt up. Contrary to the bright clothing and wacky style he had seen previously, the road that they were travelling on was dark and twisted. There were still giant flowers here, but they were black and half-dead, the coach was bumping along an uneven stone path. Tao felt a shiver run down his spine; he didn’t like what he was seeing.

“Excuse me, Luhan-sshi, Xiumin-sshi, where are we going?” Tao nervously asked.

Xiumin and Luhan glanced over to him from where they were seated.

“The castle. Where the ruler of EXO Planet dwells.” They replied in unison.

Tao nodded. Should the ruler really live in such a depressing place?

The carriage came to a halt. Xiumin and Luhan instantly jumped up from their positions, opening the door and jumping down. Tao was a bit slower in getting up, however when he did reach the door, he realised that Luhan was holding it open, while Xiumin was standing by the side, extending a hand for Tao to take. There was a set of stairs placed next to the carriage, which were not there before, obvious from the light thuds Xiumin and Luhan’s shoes had made when they jumped down.

Tao took Xiumin’s hand out of politeness, feeling confused to why he was receiving such treatment. But it seemed that he wasn’t going to get answers out of anyone in this weird place.

***

After a bit of walking, the castle came into sight.

The first thing that struck Tao was simply how red it was.

The entire castle was red, with some bits of white and black here and there. The towers were shaped like hearts, cold, sharp edged hearts. The hedges were also cut in the shapes of hearts, every flower in this garden was red, other coloured flowers could be seen lying on the floor crushed before gardeners came to sweep them away. The castle itself was giant. It obviously was expensive, there were jewels encrusted on the windows and the doors, the balconies could be seen to be almost hung with red crystals as curtains.

“This way please Tao.” Luhan politely gestured. Tao nodded, following them up the path to the intimidating red doors.

Perhaps it was because of all the red, but it was only then that Tao noticed that Xiumin and Luhan were dressed in matching red, black and white uniforms. Other workers, he assumed, were dressing in the same colours as well, red white and black. Xiumin and Luhan’s looked much more sophisticated, and those two generated bows from the servants as they walked past. It became apparent to Tao then that Xiumin and Luhan worked for the castle; and apparently were the heads if the bows were anything to go by.

“After you.” The twins chorused.

And Tao stepped through the doors.

Like the outside, the inside had the same colour scheme. The walls were decorated with paintings and hung with red curtains, the floor was polished black marble with a red carpet in the centre, leading from the door.

The first thing Tao noticed though was the throne. At the end of the red carpet, sat the most intricate throne Tao had ever seen. It was made of some sort of white-clear jewel, with red cushions and black ornaments embedded on the sides.

And seated on that throne was a person. He was dressed in red, completely in red, with a crown atop his head. His hair was dark brown, and he had a fringe that almost completely covered his eyes. He was good-looking, there was no doubt about that. His pose was like one of power, almost slouching on the trone, propping his head up with his arm, his elbow on an armrest as he stared at the visitors.

Xiumin and Luhan instantly got down on one knee, bowing their heads down to this person. Tao looked unsure of whether to follow suit.

Well his decision wasn’t hard, as Xiumin dragged Tao down into a bow with him.

“Your highness,” Xiumin and Luhan chanted. Their eyes were kept fixed on the ground, Tao glanced over to Xiumin, wondering what to do now.

The man seated on the throne, lifted his hand. “Stand.” He ordered.

“Thank you, your highness.” Xiumin and Luhan chanted once more as they stood up, Xiumin yet again dragging Tao up.

“Who is this visitor?” the man ordered.

With a bow, Luhan answered. “Tao, your highness.”

His highness took his head off his hand, now staring directly at the intruder.

“Tao, you said? THE Tao?” he repeated.

“Indeed your highness. May I request for a private talk, your highness.” Luhan replied.

“Request granted. Xiumin, keep this visitor here for the time being.” The man ordered, he swiftly exited his throne, through a door next to his throne. Luhan followed the man.

“Question? Who is he?” Tao asked.

Xiumin turned to Tao. “His highness, Prince Sehun. Or perhaps, more commonly known as the Red Prince. His highness, Prince Sehun is the younger brother of the ruler, the king of EXO Planet, his majesty, the Red King.”

The Red King? Tao recalled that Chanyeol had said that only special people had seen the king.

“Does the king not have a name?” Tao curiously wondered.

Xiumin hesitated.

“His majesty does indeed have a name. However, his name is not to be ever mentioned, his majesty is simply referred to as His Majesty or the Red King.” Xiumin’s eyes flicked around the area.

“Why? Chanyeol-sshi mentioned before that only special people have seen the king. Do only special people know his name as well?”

“Chanyeol told you that? He went too far... but he was correct.” Xiumin’s voice dropped to a whisper towards the end of his sentence, his eyes looking around nervously.

Tao assumed that Xiumin wasn’t supposed to be giving out this information, taking the hint, he stopped talking and waited.

Prince Sehun and Luhan returned soon after. Luhan’s cheeks had a faint, barely noticeable tint of pink to them, and Sehun’s smile was slightly more natural. Not so much that people would pick up on it.

“Tao, under the order of his highness, you are to stay in the castle for the time being. Do not wander off the castle grounds or you will receive a severe punishment, depending on how generous his highness feels. Do realise that if his highness decides that no mercy shall be given, a death penalty is a possibility, though that is rare. Xiumin shall you to the guest bedroom, a servant will be sent for when it is dining time.” Luhan ordered on behalf of Sehun. Sehun stood silently beside Luhan, nodding his approval with each sentence.

Tao felt a tug on his arm, Xiumin was dragging him along...yet again. He tried counting the number of steps he went up, but soon got dizzy. The spiral staircase was much to tiring to look at, let alone climb.

“You will be taking up residence here for the time being. You are situated in the East wing. The lower servants quarters are in the Far West wing. Luhan and I, our quarters are in the West wing. His highness and his majesty reside in the South wing. Therefore the South Wing is off limits. The North wing has the recreational rooms, the educational rooms and more. In the East wing...special people sometimes live here. May your stay be enjoyable.” Xiumin bowed out of the room.

Tao turned to look at his room.

Well, royalty certainly know how to live.

For a bedroom that didn’t have someone permanently living in it, it was certainly most luxuriously furnished. There was a king, canopy bed, in white. The curtains which covered the balcony were made of red velvet, and the floor was black with a red carpet covering the majority of it. There was a white door to the corner of the room, which was open, revealing a rather lavishly equipped bathroom. A wardrobe had been provided, as well as a mirror and other essentials.

Tao inspected the wardrobe first. When he opened it, it had been equipped with clothes. Clothes befitting of this world.

In other words, incredibly in-your-face bright clothes. Tao cringed at the sight, he certainly did not want to wear any of those. But he did notice some black and white clothing in the corner, just tucked away. He took those and decided to freshen up first.

***

Somehow, Tao found himself in the in the back garden. It was just like the front garden, but much, much bigger. It was filled with neatly trimmed hedges and red flowers. There were tall trees with black trunks, which only sported red cherry blossom-like flowers. In a area, it was paved with white tiles and there were a few chairs there.

Tao walked down one of the paths, lined with the red flowering black trees.

A swirl of black appeared in front of him yet again.

Tao jumped back startled again for the second time as the man materialized in front of him again.

“Tao, long time no see.” Kai smiled.

“It’s only been a few hours, Kai-sshi...” Tao replied, as politely as he could.

“sshi? Call me Kai, I don’t like sshi...” Kai muttered.

“Kai, why are you so reckless?” a voice came from behind Tao.

He turned around to see a smaller boy then Kai, looking exasperatedly at the one who had appeared. Kai smirked mischievously, disappearing in a swirl of back and reappearing behind Tao, and in front of the newcomer.

 “Why does it annoy you Bacon?” Kai laughed, disappearing from the boys left side and reappearing on the right.

The one named ‘Bacon’ groaned, pulling at his hair before hitting Kai on the head. Kai whimpered, holding his head.

“That hurt Bacon!” Kai yelled.

“Yah! It’s BAEKHYUN not Bacon you dimwit! And stop fooling around, even though you won’t be caught here but you should really practise!” Baekhyun scolded Kai.

Baekhyun then seemed to notice the stunned boy from Earth just watching the two banter. Then two stared at each other for a while, before Baekhyun pulled on Kai’s sleeve, whispering something in his ear and earning a nod in response.

“Welcome back Tao! I’d love to chat but I came to get Kai, we have to get to our schedules! Bye!” Baekhyun waved at Tao, grabbing Kai who chose to disappear, taking Baekhyun with him.

Tao stared at the place that they had disappeared for a while, before shrugging and continuing walking down the path.

At the end of the path, there was a ring of trees. It sheltered whatever was inside from view. Curiosity got the better of Tao and he pushed aside the curtains of leaves and stepped inside.

Inside, there was a giant mushroom. Incredibly giant and of course, red.

On that red mushroom sat a person.

The person was dressed in red, black and white, meaning that he worked at the castle. He wore a pair of glasses and was reading a book, looking up when Tao entered.

“Who... are you?” the man asked.

Tao smiled, relieved that he finally found someone who didn’t know him.

“I’m Tao. Nice to meet you.” Tao held his hand out for a shake.

The man stared at him, his eyes trailing from his hand to his face.

“I asked who are you. I did not ask for your name.” The man said.

Now Tao was confused. Didn’t asking someone to identify themselves mean ask for their name.

“But sir---“ Tao started.

“Chen. My name is Chen.” The man cut off.

Tao blinked a few times, before gathering himself again.

“But Chen-sshi, is that not what your question meant?” Tao tilted his head to the side.

“Correct. Indeed, that is not what the question meant. Ponder it Tao. You are dismissed.” Chen waved Tao off, with an aura of a teacher.

Tao bowed his way out of the curtains of leaves.

He walked some more again, heading through the hedges. Another interruption came.

This time, in the form of flight.

A red blur dropped out of the sky, landing in front of Tao. Tao jumped back, falling down in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit boring. But I had to introduce every other character. Now every character has been introduced! Well except for Kris. But seriously, no surprise who the person at the end is.

And perhaps you're wondering, who are these 'special people'? Well it is pretty obvious who they are. You don't need to be a genius to figure it out.

Comments and subbies = happy me *o*