“What’s going on? Who's this girl?”

Kai ignored the voice coming over his shoulder as he carefully set down a girl’s, his Seeress’, body onto the floor. He cringed that this was where he had to set her down but now was not the time to be picky.

“Kai, seriously, what’s going on?”

“We’ll tell you in a minute, Kris.” Chanyeol reasoned with the brown haired boy who reluctantly let the issue go for now. Kris couldn’t help but feel, even though he hadn’t met this girl, deeply pained due to seeing her lying on the floor unconscious.

Kai looked over her body with his eyebrows so tightly knotted together it looked as though the action itself was painful. He looked to Tao, the person who brought her there, for an explanation. “What happened?”

“She told me she wasn’t our Seeress and as I started to leave, she followed after me and then she…” He paused before starting to talk again, “she passed out. I didn’t know what to do so I brought her here.”

“That’s all that happened?” Chanyeol questioned. Kai continued to stare at Tao, his mind trying to register Tao’s words and formulate a reason this happened.

“Wait, she’s our Seeress? Why haven’t you all told me till now?” Kris interrupted despite his attempt to hold back.

“She’s kind of not open to the idea herself.” Chanyeol explained to Kris.

“Are you sure, Tao? Nothing else happened?” Kai asked Tao again, urging him to remember all that he could.

Tao nodded his head yes regretfully, “I only heard when she hit the ground. I don’t know why she followed me-”

Tao was interrupted by the sound of moving rock. The room to the Hall of the Guardians had opened and in walked a boy in the same cloak the rest of them were donning. He only took a few steps in before addressing the situation, “She followed him because she was hallucinating.”

“Luhan?” Kris questioned the sudden appearance of Luhan, the one in the Guardians responsible for managing the passing of information in Exo.

Luhan nodded to Kris encouragingly before turning back to the other three, “Don’t worry. She didn’t fall hard, she stumbled before hitting the ground. From the look on her face at the time, she definitely was not looking at Tao as Tao. The only explanation is that she was hallucinating. Perhaps even daydreaming.”

“Hallucinating what, exactly?” Kai asked, intrigued by the situation even more.

Luhan shook his head, “We have to ask her that when she wakes up. Until then, I’ll tell you all about what I uncovered about her past. Or, rather, what I couldn’t uncover.”

When I opened my eyes, I found white walls surrounding me. I took deep breaths as I laid on what felt like the floor. I shifted myself upwards, my head pounded in response. A few blinks were all it took to clear my vision. I was in an all white room accompanied by a single white metal door to my left. Inside of the room was a white bed, a white nightstand and pieces of paper with drawings on them all over the floor.

The drawings were all of shadowy figures. Figures circled around each other, figures looking forward. The drawings scared me and I pulled my eyes away from them. But it wasn’t the content that scared me. I was drawn to those pictures. I felt an attachment to them without fully understanding why.

“She is responding to the treatments. Soon, we'll be able to suppress her abilities fully.”

I quickly looked towards the sound of the voice and my vision hazed out before becoming clear once more. There stood an older man wearing a cloak. Next to him was a younger man in glasses. His mouth was moving but I had to struggle to understand his words.

“We'll place her in the care of one of our female researchers if you wish.”

The older man pondered the thought for a moment before nodding, “We don’t want any backlash to occur due to this. You do know what I am talking about, yes?”

The younger man in glasses bowed deeply, “Yes, sir.” He turned to the metal door and slid it open before closing it behind himself, a clicking sound signifying the door ways locked from the outside.

The older man stared at me for a moment longer, his lips curving upward into a smile I felt I had seen a million times. “Don’t let thoughts float in your head. Forget everything and go to sleep, our dear little Seeress.”

My eyes became drowsy and they started to fail on me. I willed myself to stay awake but my body resisted against me. My eyes drifted closed as I watched the man turn and walk out of the room, the back of his cloak was the last thing I saw before everything became white again.  

“She’s waking up!” Tao’s light voice floated into my ears. Soon, my eyes were able to see his fuzzy features looking down at me.

A deeper voice I had never heard before followed after Tao’s, “Seeress, are you alright?”

I heard someone shush him from above my head. It was only now I realized was lying down.

“Didn’t I tell you she doesn’t like us calling her that?”

I parted my lips slowly and forced a squeak of a voice out, “Changmo?”

I heard a sigh followed by someone laughing.

“It’s Chanyeol, your highness.” I titled my head back to see him looking down at me with an exasperated expression. A regretful voice entered my head.

You remember my voice but not my name?

“I got it now, Chanyeol. No need to be critical of me.”  I said as I tried to sit up. Chanyeol shut up immediately and stared at me with wide eyes, as did everyone else in the room. Who cares about hiding my ability when they already know?

Someone helped me and when I looked to them, I found the face of a man I had never seen before. “Who are you?” I asked as he helped sit me up on the floor. I glanced around and realized I was in the Hall of the Guardians again.

But why? I remember being home and Tao was leaving but after that everything is white. That and the dream I had. No, it seemed like more than a dream. It seemed as though it was a memory. And if that was true…

I knew we shouldn’t have told Kris she was our Seeress. We should wait longer before getting anyone else involved.

I looked towards the voice and saw Kai standing there. His eyebrows were pinched together but when he saw me looking at him, he locked eyes with me and his expression softened before he bowed slightly.

Before the man beside me could speak, I looked back at him and spoke first, “So you’re Kris?” It was a guess but from the look on his face, I was right.

How did she know? I didn’t think it.

I got up off the ground by myself, feeling better despite having just had a pounding headache. “That’s right, you didn’t think it. Kai did.”

Kris’s head went to the ground immediately as he bowed, “Seeress! I, Kris, a Guardian of the Tree of Life, pledge myself to you!”

I sighed as I reached down and grabbed underneath his arm, pulling him to stand up, “I got it, I got it. But don’t you think you should save that for after I agree to all of this? I haven’t even said a single word yet.”

“Wait, what?” Chanyeol stepped forward towards me with a confused expression on his face.

After I got Kris to finally stand up, I crossed my arms in front of my chest, “I said for you all to wait until I agree to start the processions.”

Chanyeol still looked confused, as did Tao and Kris. The only one in the room who stepped forward now was Kai, “Then, you’re agreeing?”

I softly smiled at him and his face lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement, “That’s right. For now, I’ll be your Seeress.”

I had to find out what that dream was about. Until then, I’d be their temporary Seeress.

“Not that I’m not happy and all about finally finding our Seeress,” Kris spoke out loud, “But didn’t you all hear that ‘for now’ she threw in there?”

“I heard it.” Kai answered Kris first before either Chanyeol or Tao could.

“And you’re not worried?” Chanyeol asked. He had been a knot of worries since he heard her say that.

Kai shook his head, “She won’t leave us. That ‘for now’ was an attempt to make an excuse to use if she left later. But trust me, she’s not going anywhere. She’ll see that her place is with us soon enough.”

Tao sat with his legs crossed in the hall and took a deep breath. He had been meditating since she had left the Hall of the Guardians to see her new room an hour ago; anything to stop himself from going after her after she told them all she wanted was to be alone. He couldn’t help himself. He didn’t say anything but instead immersed himself deeper into a quiet state.

I looked around the room they had had set up for me. It was beautiful, with purple and gold accents everywhere. The place was spotless, unlike the rest of this underground facility. It seemed as though they actually tended to the room on a regular basis.

I walked towards the queen-sized bed and sat down on it. The cushions of the mattress greeted me by forming to me. My fingers caressed the bed comforter, “They’ve been waiting a long time.” I mumbled to myself. A small voice made itself into my head. My conscious.

What if I could just be their Seeress?  Even if I ended up being her or not in the end, I would rather pretend so that they could feel at ease.

I sighed outwardly as I fell back onto the bed, “I’m such a softy.” Here I was worrying about their feelings when I didn’t even know them. 

A knock on the door made me sit up at attention. When I didn’t hear any voice following after it, I opened my mouth to say something. Suddenly, the door opened anyway. The person on the other side was holding a metal tray with long stemmed white roses on them. Their eyes widened at the sight of me and they stumbled backwards, the tray clattering onto the floor as well as their .

“Are you alright?” I asked as I got off the bed. The man seemed to be so startled, he scooted back a few paces. He was wearing a cloak just as Kai, Chanyeol, Tao, and Kris had. That only meant one thing. “Are you one of the Guardians?”

He nodded his head shakily. It seemed as though he was listening to music and bobbing his head to the beat rather than nodding normally. I stifled a laugh at his expression.

“It’s nice to meet you, I guess I’m your new Seeress.”

Impossible, we haven’t even been notified that our Seeress has stepped forward.

I put on a playful smile, “Well I’m here now aren’t I? So I’d say that’s pretty possible.”

His jaw dropped as he continued to stare at me in awe. It was pretty funny actually. Though it stopped being funny as soon as he quickly bent down on his knees and bowed the way the other four had. I sighed at the sight. It was starting to get a little embarrassing to be honest.

“I am Lay, your highness. I am a Guardian of the Tree of Life. Forgive me for my embarrassing actions earlier. I did not expect you to be here while I came to change the flowers.”

I let my eyes fall down to the roses on the floor, along with the tray that once held them. I walked over to him and bent down, beginning to pick them up. He quickly shot up from his bowing position and grabbed my hand.

“Please don’t, I will clean it up.” He looked at me with pleading eyes. I shook my head and continued anyway, no matter how many times I had to yank my hand away from him due to his efforts to stop me. “Your Highness!” He urged to me as I picked up the last rose, “Please.”

I locked eyes with him, “You kept this room clean didn’t you?” He nodded slowly and I couldn’t help the tugging smile on my face. I handed him the batch of roses, “Thank you.”

He shook his head fervently, “I knew you’d come. I didn’t want you to be greeted by dust. Don’t say thank you for something I should be doing anyway.” Before I could reject the idea, he interrupted me, “Let me put these in the vase. Then, I can take you to where the others are.” I listened to him and stood up, waiting for him by the door as he placed the white roses into a vase by the bedside. He turned with a smile and walked out the door, leading me down the hall, “Please follow me.”

I tried to remember how many Guardians there were exactly. I had met five so far; Kai, Chanyeol, Tao, Kris, and Lay. But he said there were others? I was slightly curious as to whom I’d be meeting next.