The next few hours did not pass by as swiftly as I’d hoped. I quickly returned to my room after eating dinner, only to pace in circles on the fancy rug impatiently. I remembered Chanyeol mentioning that his room was only a few doors away from mine, though he usually slept with Kris, and it was taking every ounce of my self-control to not go over there and potentially interrupt any making up that he and Kris were doing. My actions may have been in vain, however, I didn’t even know if they were talking at that moment, but I wasn’t going to risk it.

Although I’d been here for a full day, now, I hadn’t been able to spend as much alone time with Chanyeol as I’d hoped and I really was missing him dearly. However, in light of recent events, I knew that our bonding would have to be put on the backburner. We had bigger things to worry about, like dealing with the Red Forces, again, and saving Exo, again.

I sighed, taking a seat on my bed and running my fingers through my hair. Instead of trying to come up with a plan like we should have been doing, we were just loitering around and wasting our time, all because some stupid dragon had to go and fight with his boyfriend.

After a good thirty minutes of insulting Kris in my head, I decided to do something worthwhile. Kris had told us to keep thinking, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I left my room, hoping to gather the others so that we could brainstorm for more ideas together.

The first place I decided to look was back in the dining room, where Sehun, Zitao and Kai were gathered around the table. The three were huddled together so I couldn’t see what they were doing, but whatever it was, they were so focused that no one had noticed me coming in.

“What are you three up to?” I made my presence known as I approached, startling Kai as he turned around quickly.

“Thinking up a battle plan,” He replied, an excited grin on his face. I couldn’t help but laugh, reaching out to ruffle his hair as I glanced over his shoulder at the table.

Laid across the wooden surface was a large map, presumably of Exo. I had no clue as to where they got it, but I assumed that someone in this castle would have had one. On top of the map were various small items; I noticed a paperclip, a die and a button among them.

“Got anything good so far?” I asked, pulling one of the chairs out from the table and taking a seat, resting my chin on my hands as I inspected the map carefully. I could see the river and the body of water that we’d had to cross over, along with the mountain we’d climbed and the castle. They were all situated on the far right of the map, with the body of water extending down into a large ocean that covered the southernmost region. There were a few villages and forests scattered across the land, and at the far right I could see another mountain, this one much bigger, where a few grapes were placed on top of the paper.  “Wait, why are there grapes here?” I picked one up, tempted to eat it, but Sehun slapped my hand, causing me to drop it in shock.

“Did you break it?” Zitao asked in alarm, picking up the piece of fruit to inspect it. When he was satisfied that it was perfectly unharmed, he placed it among the others.

At my questioning and slightly judging glance, Kai blinked before laughing sheepishly. “D.O. gave us some as a snack while we worked so we decided to use them as the Red Forces.”

I nodded, humming in response to his explanation. “And these are us?” I pointed at the small trinkets.

Tao smiled proudly. “I’m this one,” He said, pointing at a black earring that was next to the die.

“This one’s Sehun,” Kai said as he pointed at the button, “’Cause he’s cute as a button.” He reached out to pinch the younger boy’s cheek and Sehun slapped his hand away violently, glaring daggers at him.

“This one’s Kai ‘cause it bends easily.” Sehun held up the paperclip for me to see then dropped it back onto the map.

I was almost afraid to ask, but out of curiosity I opened my mouth and said, “What is that supposed to mean?”

The three of them looked at me and a dead silence filled the room for a second.

“’Cause I’m a dancer, so I’m really flexible,” Kai said as if it were the most obvious thing, giving me a weird look. “This one’s you.”

I glanced down at the item that the boy was pointing out, recognizing it as the cellphone charm that D.O. had randomly given to Kai one day last year; a small yellow sun with a smile on it.

“Because of the light powers,” I guessed and the three nodded happily. “Wow,” I whispered, not sure whether to be impressed or to laugh at them. “You really put a lot of thought into these, huh?”

“We wanted to be as accurate as possible,” Zitao replied.

I merely nodded, glancing back at the map. “So what have you come up with?”

“Actually we spent so long looking for these things, we just started planning,” Sehun answered quickly, looking embarrassed as he exchanged glances with Kai. “But Kai said that he had an idea.”

Kai looked excited all of a sudden, leaning over the map and grabbing the grapes. “Well, I was talking with Jongdae and he told me all the places that have been attacked so far,” He started, placing the grapes in certain spots. “They first set these forests here on fire. Then they destroyed this village, killed a few people in this village,” He listed off the attacks, my heart sinking with each grape that was set down on the map. There were seven in all, five of them being attacks on villages, and I couldn’t help but feel a great sadness for the people who lived there.

“Were you guys able to stop any of these?” I glanced up at Zitao but the way he frowned was answer enough.

“The Red Forces were really quiet about it, and as you can see there’s no real pattern here so we were never able to figure out their next move. Minseok wanted us to stand guard over the villages that were left, but Kris didn’t want to split us up all over Exo.”

I nodded, looking down and seeing that the attacks were indeed in seemingly random places, scattered all over the map.

“Kris thinks that they want us to split up so that they can attack us while we’re divided,” Kai added. “But I don’t think that’s the case at all.”

I leaned forward, interested in what the youth had to say.

“The attacks are all so small and quiet; they can’t have too many people carrying them out – maybe ten at most. One of you guys,” He nodded at Zitao, “Can probably handle that many on your own. It would maybe be difficult, but with your powers and skills, you could manage. So why would they risk it?”

His point made sense. I assumed that the Red Forces were made up of whoever was left over from our last attack; I could remember some men had escaped the battle, being separated from us by the chasm that Jongdae had created. The number wasn’t small by any means, but less than half of their original forces and even if they had managed to recruit more people in this time, I was sure that they couldn’t afford to lose ten more in a foolish attack.

“So what do you suggest we do?” I asked; the young boy had impressed me so far, I was starting to feel excited that we just might have found our plan.

“If the Red Forces aren’t attacking the forests and villages to split us up, they must have another reason,” Kai continued. His brow furrowed as he spoke without taking his eyes off of the map; he was now fully concentrated on his train of thought. “Sehun suggested that they were just random acts of destruction, but I don’t think so. Why would they waste your energy going all over Exo just for random attacks when there are so many targets close together? I think that there’s a reason for these specific areas being attacked.”

I nodded slowly; he had a point. “So if we can figure out their reasoning, we can get one step ahead of them,” I said, eyes widening. This was good, very good. This gave us a goal us a way to move forward instead of just sitting around getting into pointless fights. I was about to stand up and congratulate Kai when he shook his head suddenly, and I slouched back in my chair, confused.

“One step ahead of you Baekhie,” He grinned and I would have smacked him for the dumb nickname if it weren’t for what he’d just said.

“I have those books you asked for,” D.O. said, entering the room with Jongdae. They were each holding two books; all four of them being quite large and leather bound. They seemed ancient, with the golden words inscribed onto their colors faded past legibility.

I waited for Kai to continue with his explanations, watching closely as he plucked one of the books from D.O.’s hand. He glanced at the cover before flipping it open, revealing some strange characters printed across yellowed paper. “Can you read that?” I asked him, squinting at the pages.

“No, but I’m certain we’ll find our answers in here. You see, I have a hunch; it may be a long shot, but once we get through these, we’ll know for sure,” Kai replied, tapping the paper.

“But you can’t read it,” I restated, hoping that we hadn’t reached a dead end.

“No, but maybe…” The taller boy trailed off, glancing to the side at Jongdae hopefully.

Jongdae was staring at the pages in concentration, but he eventually looked up at Kai and shook his head. “I recognize a few characters, but not enough to read it.” Before Kai and I could begin to look disappointed, he hastily added, “But I’ve seen Luhan and Kris read things with this script before. I’m sure they can help.”

“So what are we waiting for?” Sehun asked, bouncing impatiently on the balls of his feet. “Let’s go get them.”

“Umm, let’s not bother Kris,” D.O. began, looking hesitant. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell him about this until we’re sure,” He gave me a meaningful look, and I had to admit that I agreed with him.

Zitao nodded, also understanding D.O.’s point. “I’ll go get Luhan. Kai, finish explaining.” And with that, the boy was off, dashing out of the room in no time.

I turned back to Kai, and he had an excited glint in his eye. “Remember how we talked about the mountain and the power that existed there? Well why would the Red Forces be stupid enough to hang around that place if it’s so powerful? There are plenty of other places they can go; safer ones.”

I nodded again. The Red Forces had a lot to lose, especially since they had less members than the last time and the twelve of us were reunited.

“I think they want something from that mountain,” Kai said, staring straight into my eyes.

“You think they want to steal its power?” I guessed. Something like that would make sense, after all. It would give them the ability to wipe us out and take over Exo.

“Exactly,” Kai replied with a smirk. “I just need to go through these to see if such a thing is possible, and how it could be done.” He tapped the book in front of him. “If I’m right, then it’s probably directly related to what the Red Forces are doing, and we can figure out their next moves.”

My smile was broad now, and I could kiss the boy on the lips if I knew where that mouth had been. “That’s brilliant, Kai, how’d you even come up with that?”

The tanned teenager smiled proudly, crossing his arms across his chest and taking a seat next to me. “I’m just a genius like that.” After a few moments, he added, “And Sehun helped. Just a little.”

 I moved to smack him lightly over the back of the head, but ended up patting his back instead. “Well good for the both of you.” I began playing with the pages in front of me, flipping them aimlessly. “What’s in these things anyways?”

Kai shrugged, and D.O. moved to speak up. “Kai just told us to get the oldest looking books in the library.”

I glanced at the young boy skeptically. “You thought that would work?” He merely shrugged and I burst into laughed, ruffling his hair. “You watch way too much TV.”

Just then, the door opened and Zitao burst in, with a startled looking Luhan. “Kai has an idea?” He asked, eyes quickly searching the room for the boy.

“Gee, don’t look so surprised,” Kai muttered into his crossed arms, pouting slightly.

“I helped! Sehun piped up, grinning at Luhan.

The blonde rushed forward, patting Sehun on the shoulder as he came closer and looking at the map. “Hey!” He grabbed a tiny aspirin pill off the paper. “You’re the one who took that medicine I bought when I was on Earth,” He said accusingly at the three youths.

“Don’t touch that!” Zitao slapped it out of his hands and it fell back onto the table before lifting back into the air to hover before Luhan’s eyes as he raised an eyebrow at the young boy. “That’s Kris.”

The pill fell once more as Luhan burst into laughter. “Because he gives us all headaches?” The blode asked, grinning broadly.

“Because he’s such a pill?” Jongdae added in with a smirk.

“Because it can cause internal bleeding?” D.O. added in, earning quizzical glances from Jongdae. “I thought it was funny,” He muttered.

“Umm,” Zitao blushed, picking at the little tablet with his index finger. “We just couldn’t think of anything else to use.”

“Ahh…” I hummed, nodding slowly.

“Anyways,” Luhan interrupted, shaking his head. “Kai, tell me your- and Sehun’s – “ He quickly added when the paler boy narrowed his eyes, “Plan.”

Kai quickly went over the idea once more, handing Luhan the book as he finished speaking. “So if you can just quickly look through these and-“

Before he could continue, Luhan’s eyes widened. “So that’s why!” He gasped, speaking to no one in particular. “I’d wondered why they were staying so close to the mountain but it all makes sense now.” When he realized that we were all staring at him in confusion, he grabbed the book that Jongdae had been leaning his elbows on and began flipping through the pages like a madman.

“So I was right?” Kai asked, looking elated.

“It makes perfect sense now,” Luhan responded, face buried in the book. 

"That power, I thought it had a mind of its own," I said as he flipped another page, muttering to himself quietly. "If it does, then how do the Red Forces think they can use it?"

He glanced up at me for only a second before resuming his search. "It does, in a way. It's like a spirit or essence that is unrestrained. If someone were to take possession of it, then it would be theirs to control as they wished," He said in a rushed tone before standing up straight, placing his finger on a page. "Aha!"

I rushed over and glanced at it curiously, seeing nothing but the characters that I couldn't decipher. "What is it?"

"The answer to all of our questions," Luhan replied, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as his eyes scanned the page. "Go get Kris and the others, Yixing too if he's healthy enough."

Oh my god I'm so sorry guys! I was very busy for the past few days and I know that there isn't much in this chapter either and its rushed and unedited but I really wanted to give you guys something , I promise you I'll work on the next one super fast but please don't hesitate to comment with your thoughts! 

You are all amazing people <3