An Unexpected Encounter
EXO and the 12 Maidens: Genesis [HIATUS]
"Phew! The storm's gone!", Luhan exclaimed, relief washing over him, "I thought it'd never end!"
Many things had happened following the storm. Leroy had found a magic necklace which, if worn around one's neck, could teleport that one person off the boat back to Gathar Harbor. After much debate, EXO decided it was the best choice to let Leroy return back to land. Kai was tired out after the storm, and had a high fever, so he couldn't teleport anyone of the boat right now. Taking all that into consideration, there were now eleven healthy EXO members and one sick Kai left on Leroy's ship.
Also, thanks to the spontaneous and rough storm, the boat could no longer function... which meant that the twelve EXO members were now stranded at sea. Well, better off stranded in the middle of the sea then go through that thunderstorm again!
Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kris and Chen were working to form fireworks from their powers to send into the air as a sort of help signal. On the other side of the boat, Xiumin was freezing the food that they had left in order to preserve it, while Suho, Lay, and Tao helped in which ever way they could. The remaining members Sehun, Luhan, Kai and D.O. were the ship's "detectives", trying to find out what caused the sudden change in weather.
"That thunderstorm was definitely not natural... someone or something intentionally did something. The questions we need to answer are 1) Who or what caused it, 2) What exactly did they or it do, and 3) Why would they or it target us? We should search for clues... this is mysterious..." questioned D.O.
After a few minutes of searching, a shout echoed throughout the boat. "SUHO HYUNG! COULD YOU COME HERE FOR A SEC? I NEED YOUR HELP!"
Suho came out of the inner chamber, hands cupped over his ears. "Geez, Sehun! I'm only two doors away! I'm not deaf and I'm certainly not going anywhere!". Sehun smiled sheepishly, one hand scratching the back of his head. "Sorry" he apologized.
"Ok then, what do you need?" Suho asked. "Could you check the purity and salinity of the water for me, Suho hyung?" Sehun requested, making puppy eyes at Suho and pointing at a puddle on the ground next to him.
Suho knelt down beside the puddle and collected a small portion of the water into a water sphere and started to examine it. "The water has a really high salinity level...way higher than normal salty sea water. As for the overall purity, well there are some chemicals in the water... I don't really know what kind of chemical it is though." After he said that, Suho extracted the chemicals from the water sphere into his other hand. Now, in his left hand he held a peculiar orange liquidy substance collected into a sphere.
Suho then closed his left hand and when he opened it, the sphere containing the chemicals had shrunken in size. "I'll take this to Baekhyun and Chen. They might know something about this weird chemical substance" he declared and walked away with both spheres still in his hands.
The sun was starting to set and the stars were starting to appear. A faint full moon peeked out over the hazy clouds, and a chilly wind swept through the air. Something was about to happen; all twelve EXO members could feel it. But they got a feeling that they wouldn't like it...whatever it was.
*On the Shade Troupe's Airship*
"Falni, you see them?" a static-y voice said through the voice traner/earpiece in Falni's ear.
"Yeah, they're in range. Waiting for further instruction."
"Very well. I leave the mission to you."
"Got it, Thrimmle...Opal says we're almost there. Less than half a kilometer, approaching the targets"
Falni, a rather petite but lean woman with forest green shoulder length hair, looked to Opal on her right. Right now, Opal, Falni, and the twins Aiven and Aiden were aboard an airship, a sort of blimp-like vehicle that could travel fast through the air at the speed of a high speed jet.
Opal was the pilot (and a rather fearful driver as well...her steering skills are...well, let's just say, don't ask her to drive you anywhere unless you're willing to puke out whatever food you have in your stomach). Falni and the twins were on standby and stood at the hatch door of the airship. The trio was going to carry out a mission assigned by Lumia and Baise, and it needed to be pulled off cleanly and smoothly.
"Thirteen meters till we reach the location of drop off. You ready?" asked Opal from the pilot seat. "YES!!!" yelled the enthusiastic twins. Falni just nodded, never taking her eyes off Leroy's ship, which was reaching closer and closer by the second. She knew that Opal could see her in the rear view mirror anyways, so she didn't have to say anything; Opal would know her answer.
Opal started the countdown. "Three..." Falni double checked the weapons and tools in her backpack and belt satchel, Aiven and Aiden doing the same.
"...Two..." They all took deep breaths, locking out any unwanted emotions and negative thoughts. Failure was not an option.
"...One..." This was it. One chance...It's do or die.
"GO!" The three leaders jumped out the hatch door simultaneously, hair whipping violently against the wind.
Opal looked out the airship window, seeing her fellow leaders drop down and crash somewhat(?) safely on the boat, and reached to press a button on the intercom of the airship. "Thrimmle, this is Opal. The three have landed. Waiting for further instruction" Opal relayed through the headset and intercom. Thrimmle's voice, which was almost indecipherable due to the poor electrical signal, responded. "Stay on standby. Watch and report if they need assistance. We have Sydri, Immi, and Celestia over here ready to jump in if needed"
*Back on Leroy's Ship*
Meanwhile, the EXO members just heard an incredibly loud BANG from the uppermost deck of the ship. They had just went in to their sleeping chambers to get some rest, but the loud noise in the silence of the night got their attention. Everyone's guard was up.
"What was that?" Kai asked, eyebrows scrunched together in suspicion. His fever was gone, but it left his memory somewhat hazy...meaning, he couldn't remember what Gathar Harbor looked well enough to teleport there. All hopes of getting back on land were gone. All EXO could do now was wait for help.
The twelve carefully stepped out and onto the the uppermost deck to see smoke rise from an area of the deck that was damaged and had a giant hole right in the middle of it. Moments went by, and no one moved an inch.
Then, a figure emerged from the smoke. "Father?", asked Baekhyun in disbelief, "I thought you had business in Therlym!" Another figure revealed itself and all of EXO's eyes widened in surprise. "King Priam?!"
The king said nothing, but just gave a mysterious smile. Kris and Suho, being the leaders, bowed down and most of the members followed. However, Lay remained standing up. He pointed an accusatory finger at Baekhyun's father, the Lieutenant General of King Priam's military, and King Priam. "Who are you!? I know you aren't the King or the general!"
The other eleven looked at Lay as if he were out of his mind. "What are you doing, accusing the king?! Bow down!" whispered Chanyeol in a not-so-hushed voice. "Can't you see? Their eyes don't have a single spark of life in them! They're not living beings, guys! They're not King Priam or the general!" Lay shouted in his defense.
A maniacal laugh escaped the King's mouth. In fact, the laugh sounded almost...feminine. "HAHAHAHA!!! Ah, aren't you a clever boy. You managed to see through my façade!" King Priam laughed.
Right in front of EXO's eyes, the figures of King Priam and Baekhyun's father started to distort, shrinking and contracting in a grotesque, distorted way. Twisting, contorting, morphing... it finally shaped as two female figures. "Aiden" one said. "Aiven" said the other.
"You're....twins?!" Kai shouted out. The rest of the EXO members looked at the twins in disgust. What was this, some cruel joke?
The taller twin, Aiden, looked at her sister, Aiven. "Looks like they aren't all small-brained idiots if they saw through our trick, eh?" she said, half mocking EXO.
The air suddenly got colder, and Xiumin stomped his foot angrily. A sharp icicle spear made entirely of frost and ice could be seen in both of his hands. "How dare you! You dare use the appearance of the great king!? Who do you think you are, you sick freaks?!" He shouted in outrage.
"We'll see if you still respect your GREAT KING after we're done with you, Xiumin" said an anonymous voice. EXO looked around, trying to locate the speaker. Eventually, their eyes led them to the still-rising smoke. Another lady stepped out, one that was noticeably shorter than both twins. "I believe you are looking for me, no?"
"H-H-How do you know my name?" Xiumin stuttered, trying but failing to disguise his nervousness. He had never dealt with such defiant and blunt women before. Were they all this scary?
Falni placed her hands on her hips in a careless manner and leaned forward. "We know all your names....as well as your whole profile...EXO Elite Task Force" she said in a blank voice, inspecting her nails as if to show that this whole incident was a total bore.
Kris panicked inside of his mind. Those women knew everything about them, and yet, they had absolutely no information on who those three women were. The odds were not in their favor.
Falni began to speak. "I'm Falni, and this is Aiden and Aiven. Of course, our names might not mean anything to you right now, but it's common courtesy. Also-"
She was cut off by an angry Lay. "SHUT UP! I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THAT TRASH!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Well, well, it seems that you need to get your group together huh, Kris?" Falni pointed out with a sneer. "Don't act like you know me, little girl" Kris retorted in a menacing tone. "Oh, but I do, remember? I know EVERYTHING about every single one of you" she responded, the sneer still on her lips.
Then Falni wiped the sneer off her face and turned to the twins behind her and nodded her head at them. She then turned back to face EXO. "We have a message to give you from Baise, our commander in chief". Kai looked at Falni in surprise. "Oh, that's the person we read about in the beige Manila folder!"
Falni ignored Kai's outburst and continued. "We know that you want to join... but we remain suspicious. Why would some men want to help the women after thousand years of hatred for each other? Putting that aside, you can join..." EXO raised their elbows in surprise. The Shade Troupe was going to actually let them join?! But, of course there was a catch. "....but only under one condition."
Falni and the twins Aiven and Aiden now had arrogant and smug smiles on their faces....that probably meant that what EXO were going to hear wasn't going to be good for them. "You can join.... if you pass the E.S.M.A.D. test"
"E.S.M.A.D.? What a stupid name! Knowing us, it'd be a total breeze, right? When do we start, Shorty?" Tao confidently asked Falni. Falni gripped the collar if Tao's t-shirt in rage, pulled him toward her with superhuman strength, and whispered in his ear with a cool and restrained voice that indicated that she was right on the edge of breaking his neck. "NEVER call me 'Shorty' again, got it?!?!"
Tao shook his head up and down rapidly in fear. Falni let go of Tao's shirt and went back to Aiden and Aiven. The three started to walk away toward the giant hole in the deck. Over her shoulder, Falni shouted something that had all of EXO breaking out in cold sweat.
"The test has already begun"
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