Time is something you can’t hold, can’t change and can’t see.

Unless of course, you’re the Guardian of Time, born and raised, trained to oversee and take care of everything that time touches. And that is everything.

One Child of Time was in the human world, exploring of course. He fell in love with a human woman and they bore a child. The other Guardians agreed to keep the child a secret, and when it was time they’d collect him.

Nineteen years later, the child was no longer a child, but a man. And the Guardians sent their best to collect him.

(A/N: Yes, the above is the description.)

The sun was blazing down; finally it was a warm autumn day. People were out, walking and hanging around.

Zitao stood alone, waiting for his bus. He was used to waiting, time a thing to waste. He hummed a tune he'd heard days before, the song playing in his head over and over again. It would drive other people into insanity, but he enjoyed it. A bus passed the stop as Zitao was in a daze. It splashed water onto his shoes and he was out of the daze, looking up to the bus and groaning to himself.

"My bus!" He exclaimed as he shook his legs, the water soaking into his shoes and to his feet. He sighed, starting to walk to work. He was glad it was a sunny day; otherwise he'd be taking longer, trudging along in flooded streets. Both of water and people. After a short walk, Zitao was finally at his destination, the café he works in. He entered through the back and dropped his bag off. Zitao got to work right away, taking orders and cleaning tables. Zitao is a clumsy person, so of course as he was sweeping up, he tripped over his own long legs, falling to the ground with a customer.

"I'm so sorry!" Zitao said as he stood and brushed his apron off. The customer stood taller than him, looking downwards as he smiled.

"Don’t worry, it’s fine, no harm." The man said. Zitao bowed to him, starting to sweep again as the man walked away. Zitao sighed in content, his cheeks flushing a light pink.

After hours of working Zitao was finished. He was free to roam, or go home. He usually did the latter. He changed and got his pay check before leaving the café. He walked towards his apartment building, looking up at the brighter-than-usual stars. Zitao stopped, his body heating up from unknown warmth. He looked around for the cause but saw nothing. His head started to pound and his heart sped up two beats faster. His tall body swayed towards a building, in which he leaned on. "W-what's wrong...wi-with me." He whispered to himself, the world going dark, the shadows taking over as he out. Slumped against a building two doors down from the café he works in. Cold and in the shadows of night, Huang Zitao was taken away.

Birds chirped loudly outside, people hummed below the room and above. The sky was a bright light-blue and the clouds looked as edible as cotton candy. The smell of sweets filled the room Zitao was sleeping in. It woke him up easily enough.

Zitao's eyes opened and he sat up, looking around the light purpled walled room. He frowned, twisting his body to get out of the bed he was on. He stood, looking down at the bright green rug he was on top of. "How very odd." He muttered, looking ahead to see the rest of the room. It was mainly filled with odd looking furniture of different colours, and a large bookshelf that was pinned to the wall. Zitao wandered over to it, looking at the strange titles of the books - some not even in a language he's seen before. "Where am I?" He asked himself, jumping as the door to the room opened and two men walked in.

"See, I told you he was awake!" One said, his eyes wide and his skin porcelain, like a doll. The other man rolled his eyes before he smiled at Zitao. This man was taller than the other, but only slightly. His skin was also light and his cheeks reminded him of dumplings.

"Yeah, yeah. You win the bet." The dumpling man said, stepping closer to Zitao. "I'm glad you're awake. We were scared you were knocked into a coma by Chanyeol." He said, smiling more. Zitao looked over the two again, it wasn't a language he normally understood, but standing in that room right then, he knew it all.

"Where am I?" Zitao asked in Korean and the doll man smiled, stepping closer to him too.

"You're in the ώρα παλάτι. Or, the Time Palace. Welcome. I'm Kyungsoo, and this is Minseok." He said, smiling. Zitao repeated the words in his head, ώρα παλάτι. "Don't be afraid, please. We'll explain everything to you." Kyungsoo said and Zitao gave him a simple nod.

“I’m not afraid.” Zitao replied, looking Kyungsoo over again. He looked harmless, like a cute baby. Kyungsoo smiled at him and held his hand up to show a small pendant sitting in the palm of his hand.

“This is yours.” He said, holding it out to Zitao. As he looked it over closely, he took note that it was in the shape of an hourglass. It looked old, and working as there were small particles of sand. Kyungsoo sighed softly, leaning closer to Zitao as he reached around his neck and placed the chain the pendant was on. The latch locked in and the pendant started glow a light blue.

“Whoa.” Zitao exclaimed, looking the glowing pendant over again.

“That’s not all. But we should take him to Luhan before that.” Minseok said softly, tugging on Kyungsoo’s sleeve. The other nodded and cleared his throat.

“We need to get going.” Kyungsoo said and Zitao looked at him, nodding slowly. In the back of Zitao’s mind, this was insane. Not normal in the slightest and was probably dreaming.

Kyungsoo and Minseok led Zitao out of the room they were in and into a colourful hallway. The walls changed from purple to green and then to orange and blue. The floor was tiled in bright yellows and pinks. It was something out of a storybook, but it looked so intriguing to Zitao. They turned corners and went up at least ten flights of stairs – Zitao didn’t have time to count the deep blue and light pink steps.

They entered a large room; the ceiling went up in a dome and looked to be all glass. There wasn’t much in the room, a desk at the very back and a single table in the middle of the room. Kyungsoo guided Zitao to the desk and the chair swung around. A man smiled at Zitao, he looked too young to be in charge. But he kept quiet.

“Hello, Zitao. I’m Luhan.” He said, his voice booming in the dome room. Zitao flinched at the loudness of his voice and Kyungsoo sighed.

“Your microphone is still on, Luhan.” He said and the smile dropped from Luhan’s lips. He pulled the small microphone from his shirt’s collar and switched a button on it.

“Sorry about that.” Luhan said, smiling again. “Anyway, welcome to the Time Palace! We’ve been waiting for you.” He said, leaning back into his chair.

“Waiting…for me? Why would you be waiting for me?” Zitao asked. He was starting to think he got lost and made his way for an insane asylum.

“Oh, well you see…how to explain this.” Luhan muttered softly, tapping his chin with some fingers. “Your father was one of us.” Luhan said with a nod. “He was one of the best too. Shame to see him go the way he went. But still, you’re here now! A place to be taken and a person and stand in. Wonderful!” Luhan said quickly. The words sounded like a rhyme to Zitao, and it was making his mind spin and how cheerful this man was.

“In other words, your father died and you’re his replacement.” Kyungsoo said softly, standing beside Zitao. “But of course, you’ll need to be trained and you’ll need to learn the ways before you can do anything.” He added.

“My father is dead?” Zitao asked – it wasn’t a real question. He needed to hear the words leave his own lips to believe it. He breathed in slowly, trying to remember the man’s face but nothing came.

“I’m sorry to break the news to you, Zitao. But it is true.” Luhan sighed, taking a pen and writing something onto a piece of paper. He held it up to Zitao and waved it a little. “Go see Wufan. Minseok can take you there.” Luhan said with a small hum. Zitao took the piece of paper and gave the other a nod.

Minseok was pleased to take Zitao to this Wufan. Finally, after going through long hallways and down flights of colourful stairs they came to a room filled with old books and stacks of paper. The room was an absolute mess. They entered slowly, Minseok groaning at the sight. “Damn it.” He mumbled, looking around the room. “Wufan, you have a visitor.” Minseok called out, searching the piles for the man. One low grumble filled the room and the smell of smoke followed. “Oh!” Minseok exclaimed, hurrying into a different room, Zitao followed behind him. He looked into the next room, it was very large and mainly empty besides the large dragon that lay in the middle. Zitao blinked slowly, his eyes going wide as he looked at the dragon. Its scales a charcoal colour.

“I told you not to go out! I told you, didn’t I?!” Minseok sighed, checking on of the dragon’s large wings. It spread out slowly, the dragon growling in pain. “Oh dear, you certainly got hit.” Minseok said softly, looking towards the still-in-shock Zitao. “Zitao, if you could help me…please?” He asked. Zitao nodded slowly, entering the room hesitantly. Minseok went off to a different room and returned moments later with a container that seemed to be filled with bottles and bandages. Zitao walked over to him slowly as Minseok opened it up and took out a large wheel of bandages. “I need you to put this onto the burn before I wrap it up.” Minseok said, picking up a large vase. The bottle was like a potion vase, thin and them going down – fanning out into a circle. Zitao took the vase and walked over to the injured wing of the dragon. He winced at the sight of the burn – the scales singed and red from blood. It looked like he was hit by a fireball of some sort. Zitao took the cork out of the vases’ nozzle and poured some onto a cloth Minseok had given him; he reached up and softly pressed it onto the burn. The dragon growled in response but didn’t move away. Zitao slowly pressed the cloth onto the burn, moving it around as Minseok came over. “Okay, help me wrap it up.” He said.

The two of them – Minseok and Zitao worked their way around the wing, wrapping the burn up with the large bandage. The dragon growled softly at time in response to questions Minseok asked. Minseok sealed the bandage and stepped back, patting the dragon’s neck softly with his palm. “How does it feel, Wufan?” Minseok asked and the dragon growled softly. Zitao looked at Minseok with wide eyes before pointing at the dragon.

“This is Wufan?” He asked, stepping closer to Minseok. “Wufan is a dragon?” He added onto the question.

“Yes and no. He can turn into a dragon, but otherwise he’s usually in human form.” Minseok said, still patting Wufan’s neck. “He’s too weak to turn back into a human; he might be like this for a while – until he’s healed.” He said. Zitao nodded slowly, looking over Wufan again.

“We should get going. He won’t be able to answer anything for a bit.” Minseok said, walking out of the room. Zitao followed behind him as they left the room and walked down the hallway. “Not many people see Wufan in pain or injured.” Minseok said softly, passing a few people as they walked. Minseok led Tao into another room. This room was a nice size, the walls a deep brown and the floor was black carpet. There was a cupboard, desk, table and two chairs and a bed.

“This is your room.” Minseok said, stepping aside so Zitao could enter more. He walked in more, looking around the room again. It was a nice room, and not full of colour like the rest he’d been in. The corners of Zitao’s lips went up slightly as he smiled. “It’s nice.” He said softly.

“That’s good! Kyungsoo will be pleased that he did a good job.” Minseok said with a nod. “Dinner will be brought to you tonight, but tomorrow you’ll be eating with us. You’ll meet everyone later.” Minseok said, patting Zitao’s shoulder softly. “I’ll see you later.” He said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Zitao was now alone. He smiled at the silence and walked over to the bed, sitting down. The mattress, it was nice. Firm yet soft enough to be comfortable. Zitao pushed his shoes off and lied down, closing his eyes. “What a busy day.” He mumbled softly before falling asleep.