“I’d suggest you don’t touch him….” A low, melodic voice said from a distance.

 

Spica’s head snapped up from the sound of the voice, to see a quite peculiar ‘being’ before her. Don’t get her wrong, he looked like any other human you would see in her world. He was around his mid-twenties, average height, and had shaggy but yet stylish raven black hair that covered most of his eyes, and pale, milky white skin. He had a lean, physically in shape body clad in dark clothing. But the peculiar thing about him is that he had starry silver eyes and a set of large, angel-like black wings upon his back where the shoulder blades are supposed to be. The man gave off a weird, but yet dangerous aura as he approached her slowly, not to mention the long sword that was sheathed on his belt.

 

“O-oh. Sorry.” She said quickly, letting go of the small creature that immediately frolicked its way towards the winged man, and literally scampered its way up to perch on his shoulder like a cat.

“It’s quite alright. I was worried more about your safety than this little rascal here.” He said with a light smile, stopping 5 feet away from her.

“M-Me?” Spica stammered, trying to avoid the man’s intimidating, silver eyes.

“Uh huh. He tends to snap at stranger’s fingers a lot. I guess he likes you, don’t you now, Kkoming?” The man chuckled, petting the fury animals head lightly.

“His name’s……Kkoming…..” Spica said unsurely as she watched the sweet little moment between the man and animal. “Then what’s your name?” she asked, but immediately regretted it when it came out ruder than expected.

The man raised an eyebrow in amusement at how straightforward the girl was, before putting a fist over his heart and bowed down in proper greeting. “Just call me Yesung.” He said simply.

“Yesung…..” The girl said, letting the odd name roll across her tongue. “My name’s Spica.” She said quickly in exchange to the man’s greeting.

“Spica huh? I’m guessing you’re not from our world?” The man, so called Yesung, said with another light smile.

“Uh, no sir.” Spica admitted, knowing that even if she did lie that she was from this world, her clothes would give her away easily. “Where am I? I want to go home.” She whispered quietly, hoping Yesung could help her.

“Of course you’re not from our world.” Yesung murmured under his breath quietly to himself as his eyes scanned over Spica’s attire. “You’re in EXO planet. Odd name, huh? I heard your worlds called ‘Earth.’ Doesn’t sound any better.”

“Should I take offense to that?” Spica asked, looking up at the man before her.

“Uh….no. Well yes, but technically no. I don’t know. Just quickly criticize EXO planet and it’ll be fair.” Yesung grinned as Kkoming stirred restlessly upon his broad shoulders, waiting to get permission from Yesung to hunt.

“Well, this world is really weird.” She said in response, glancing around at the crystal trees. “Am I not the first to enter EXO Planet from a different realm?”

“Yup. But the last one I saw come was over 100 years ago.” Yesung shrugged nonchalantly.

“You saw…..” Spica asked suspiciously, studying the man a little more. Most definitely mid-twenties.

“Yeah. I’m immortal you see. Empyrean Souls have a choice of being immortal or not.”

“Empyrean Souls?”

“Ah, right. You’re from Earth.” Yesung grumbled.  “Empyrean Souls. We are, as you can see, winged beings with fighting and defense skills. We are the warrior’s, or also known as the protectors and guards of EXO Planet.”

“So…..you’re over a hundred years old?” Spica asked, jumping in surprise when Kkoming jumped onto her shoulder instead.

“Yup, 250 years old to be more precise. And Kkoming is a Yuki. They’re sort of like house guardians, or what you guys call ‘dogs.’” Yesung said.

“Is all of EXO Planet Empyrean Souls?” Spica asked, finding this conversation more interesting by the minute.

“Of course not! We have also normal beings, kind of like what you guys call ‘Humans’, but we call them Exotics, which are just citizens of EXO Planet.” Yesung said emphasizing his shock.

“I guess it’s similar to Earth….” Spica muttered, her mind wandering its way back to her home and family. She missed them a lot already.

“Why are you here anyways?” Yesung asked, grabbing Kkoming back.

“I…..got lost in a forest, and then I walked into some very thick fog and somehow emerged through here.” Spica said with a small sigh.

“Hm, you’re lucky. The last one got caught in a riptide and dragged him out into the ocean. He washed up, surprisingly still alive, by our Naiad Lake. Don’t ask how an ocean becomes a lake. I don’t know either.” Yesung shrugged, swinging his sword over his shoulders before motioning for Spica to follow, who slowly trudged after the elder cautiously.

“If you’re an Em….Empie….Empy-“

“Empyrean Soul.” Yesung corrected, glancing back at her in amusement.

“Yeah! Empyrean Soul, also known as warrior’s of EXO Planet, how come you haven’t tried to kill me or take me captive? I am a stranger after all.” Spica said, staring down at the grassy ground.

“Mmmm……well, let’s see. Are you going to kill me or threaten me in anyway?”

“No.”

“Are you going to murder our leader?”

“Leader? You have a leader? Anyways, no.”

“Do you think you are of any threat to EXO?”

Spica stopped walking for a moment as she pondered about it. To them, she might seem like a threat, but she herself was too weak and vulnerable to do of any harm.
After all, she is just a regular teenage girl stuck in a dreamland.

Yesung turned to look back at her questioningly. “Do you doubt yourself, Spica?”

Spica shuddered at the sound of her name coming from a fairytale-like soldier.
“I doubt my own strength and intelligence. I don’t think I’m smart or strong enough to defeat anyone right now.” Spica muttered with a frown. “I guess no. As long as you don’t do anything to me.”

“Of course not. You do look quite vulnerable.” Yesung shrugged, hiding a smirk as he turned back around.

“Thanks.” Spica said sarcastically, following the man again. “Where are you taking me anyways?”

“To our leader. He’ll know how to send you back to your own world.” The warrior said calmly, brushing the fox-like creature off his shoulders.

“Could I trust you?” Spica asked cautiously as she checked out her surroundings.
Almost all of the trees were decorated with colorful, crystal-like flowers amongst there sturdy branches. If not, they were silver or gold flowers. The sky was dark though, as if it had never seen day before. The only thing that illuminated the dark sky was a large, glowing crescent moon and a few speckles of silver stars here and there.

“Well, would you rather be stranded in an unknown world with no sign of living anywhere? Or follow an Empyrean Soul to the city for help?” The warrior said with a sigh as he kicked at something that looked like a small Ruby the size of a person’s palm. Talking about that, all the rocks on the ground looked like various types of crystals found in the human world, varying from common to rare types of stones.

“I don’t know. You do look quite.....intimidating.” Spica shrugged, picking up a rock to examine.

“Thank you. I shall take that as a compliment for now.” Yesung said with a proud smirk.

“Why is your ‘planet’ so full of crystals?” Spica asked.

“Wow, you asked the same question the last person here asked.” Yesung chuckled, glancing down at Kkoming who was now chasing a small creature through the grass ferociously.  “EXO Planet is created from what you guys call ‘magic’. I don’t even understand how EXO Planet was born though. Nobody does. It just all of a sudden popped up. Nobody knows the history of EXO.”

“Aren’t you going to try to find out why or how though?” Spica asked, letting the crystal slide back out of her fingers and back down to the grassy ground as she walked.

“Nah. Some things should be left unknown. Knowing too much doesn’t contribute anything good half of the time. Like the time I-“

“No stories please.” Spica interrupted, all the while trying not to be rude. She just wanted to quickly get home and back to the warm campfire with her family. Her parents must be worried sick by now.

“sorry.” Yesung apologized quickly before they continued on their way.

 

What seemed like a whole hour of walking in silence, they emerged in front of a large, iron gate, guarded by two other Empyrean Souls.
Yesung stopped to discuss quietly with one of the guards by the gates and Spica took this time to observe what was behind the sturdy gates. Behind the large gates, there was a city filled with life and bright lights. The lights weren’t from electricity like the human world, but it was from the brightness of the moon reflecting off the many crystals, giving it a ‘stroll through New York City at night’ kind of feel. But instead of large buildings built of glass and or metal like on Earth, they were made of shining crystals. It looked almost exactly like the Emerald city in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’

 

But the building that caught Spica’s eyes the most was an extremely tall, towering building that reached all they up into the sky and disappeared in through swirling, heavy gray clouds. The building was made of what seemed like smooth, milky white opal that gave off a bright, rainbow colored glow around it.

 

“Come on.” Yesung said, motioning for Spica to follow as the gates suddenly opened slowly to allow access into the beautiful city before them.

“Wow, it’s beautiful here.” Spica breathed, looking around her. “Where’re you taking me again?” she asked, her eyes still glued to the many people in the city. The Exotics looked normal, like any other human being, but the problem is that there clothing were a bit different; they wore what seemed to be wizard robes.

“To our leader.” Yesung replied back simply, still leading her through the crowded streets.

“And who’s your leader?” The girl asked, squeezing her way through a couple who were staring at her oddly. She didn’t blame them. Spica was wearing most definitely not a robe, but a black tank top and jean shorts with sandals; not to mention the angry red scratches and dirt that peppered her body from running through the scraggly forest through the thick fog.

“Kai.” Yesung said, answering her question.

“Kai? Interesting name.” Spica muttered.

“Sounds quite normal to me. Your name is weird.”

Spica snorted in doubt and continued to scan her surroundings, only to run straight into the warrior’s back who had stopped walking abruptly.
“May I ask why you stopped?” she huffed, lifting her foot up slightly to rub at the sore toe she stubbed on his heel.

“We’re here.” Yesung smiled, turning back to look at her slightly.

“Well then, go on. Take me to your leader. I want to go ho-…….oh my goodness.” She trailed off when she finally looked up at where they were. It was the tall, Opal building she saw at the gates.

“You’re so impatient. I’m surprised I haven’t just abandoned you back there. “Yesung grumbled as the large silver doors opened to reveal a spacious, great hall with a single golden throne at the very far end of the room. There were four other Empyrean Souls that stood on each corner of the room, standing there stiffly as they glanced down at her cautiously.

Yesung approached one of the taller warrior’s with a much stronger build than him, and muttered something to him, leaving Spica standing in the center of the room awkwardly.

The other soldier nodded once and disappeared behind one of the many door along one wall as Yesung walked slowly back towards the girl.

 "and now we wait...." Spica muttered quietly to herself.