A/N : This chapter is focusing on D.O's perspective. All the italics are his thoughts.

 

Everything was happening in slow motion.

 

Kyungsoo watched as Kris dropped down next to Wujin and shook him.

 

“Wujin-ah! Wujin, wake up!”

 

Somewhere, a terrible sound – a horrendous screech from something that sounded somewhat of a monstrous creature – vibrated the grounds they were standing on.

 

Shaken, Kyungsoo got up to his feet and watched the scene unveil right before him in alarm. He did not anticipate what would happen next.

 

Kris’ heart beat fast as he whispered to no one in particular, “They’re here.”

 

We are EXO, and we are not human. We come from EXO planet, thus our name. What are we exactly? We don’t really know either. But we are what humans say as ‘aliens’, ‘Martians’, ‘extraterrestrials’ – you name it. But we more prefer ‘supernatural beings’; it’s less offensive that way. When you think of aliens, you think of green creatures taking refuge of earth, zapping humans into dust and making weird shapes in cornfields. No. Please, we don’t do that. That is just plain weird. We are actually just as normal as humans, with the exception of having powers, that is.

 

Just when he was about to aid Kris, Chen took Wujin into his arms and pulled Kris up.

 

“We gotta go now.”

 

Chen turned to the others.

 

“You know what to do.”

 

You’re probably wondering; why did they come to earth? That’s a pretty fair question. Well, despite how strong we sound, our kind was actually dying; we were almost extinct. Our planet was constantly under attack from our natural enemies, faeries. These faeries, I tell you, are nasty. They like destruction. They hate life; they support death. To us, life and death were like two communities, living harmoniously. We things come naturally; we born, we live and when the time comes, we die. It’s just as simple as that. You cannot force things that are not destined to happen yet.

 

Kris was shouting desperately. Tears were streaming down his face. Lay quickly got up. He was thinking fast. He then ran to Xiumin and dragged him away.

 

He shouted to Xiumin as they ran by past him.

 

“Suho!”

 

Faeries didn’t understand that, you see? They existed as workers of death. They are the ones who take out the last parts of the soul of a dying being. They see life as a useless thing and a total waste of a huge chunk of time. Faeries have no compassion, no feelings nor empathy whatsoever. Us from EXO planet on the other hand, we were workers of life. Once every now and then, a selected group of people were chosen and sent to different parts of earth and other unknown places to be its guardians, working as a group and taking care of matters. Earth would be their permanent home until they died.

 

Baekhyun swiped his palm towards all sources of light in his surroundings as he turned. Kyungsoo watched, dazed by the surreal happening in front of him.

 

After years of living with Baekhyun, he still wasn’t used to his power of control light. It seemed so impossible; it doesn’t make any sense.

 

But then again, he thinks, nothing ever made sense in this whole universe anyways.

 

One day, faeries ambushed us and took over the whole nation. Everything was in total chaos. Our leader initiated an immediate evacuation. We tried to save as much as people as possible. Soon after immediate lockdown in EXO planet’s Council Headquarters, we had nowhere to run and we knew that we couldn’t hide forever. The faeries were already starting to attack from all sides, destroying the strong walls. We felt absolutely hopeless. But despite all of that, our leader gave his self time to think. After a matter of seconds of brainstorming, and a matter of seconds before the faeries would breakthrough, a possible solution was shared.

 

Now, the only light remaining was the moonlight seeping through entrance gaps. Everyone held their breaths, not making a sound.

 

He ordered us survivors to go down to the transporter room where all the chosen people were sent off before to do their duty as a guardian. Knowing as to that the transporter will only send a few people at once, and that we overruled that fact, the leader explained to us that some minor side effects would occur to us at some point or would permanently affect us. Taking the risk, we loaded into the room. In a few moments, we were off. At the last second, we saw faeries invade in through the glass walls of the room. The remaining survivors fought to keep them away. We watched in vain as some died fighting for our cause.

 

By the moonlight, Kyungsoo could see Luhan being dragged away by Kai into their rooms, probably trying to save everything they can.

 

He stood there undecided, whether to follow suit everyone who was running off – aiding a brother or packing to leave – or to just stay.

 

Tao walked to the center of the room. His eyes were intense; he was ready.

 

“Guys, get ready.”

 

Chanyeol, Sehun, Baekhyun and Chen followed suit.

 

Kyungsoo flexed his arm.

 

‘Or maybe,’ he thought, ‘I’ll just stay here.’

 

Everyone in the room went separate ways and as we crashed onto our course, the side effect mentioned by our leader occurred immediately. Fortunately, it wasn’t fatal or anything serious. All we had to experience… was our mere rebirth. And complete wiping of the memory. We had totally forgotten about our previous lives; our previous friends and family. Though not everybody made it to a new well-off life. And not everybody got their powers, as only chosen ones get to use them off EXO planet. And this was why only chosen ones get to go. Basically, the ones who survived on earth or somewhere else without getting their powers wouldn’t get to know their origins.

 

Just on time, the others – Lay, Xiumin, Suho, Kai and Luhan – came out from the respective rooms.

 

Luhan was carrying everything he could manage to carry – well with his power, that wouldn’t really be difficult. Lay was holding onto Suho tightly, fearing as if his brother would suddenly disappear.

 

Kris walked briskly towards Xiumin and put the unconscious Wujin into his arms.

 

“Take care of him. Stay safe.” Kris whispered softly.

 

“But we can’t leave you here!” Kai whispered in a shrill note.

 

When one discovers their powers, they will get a symbol that represent their selves. But in some cases, they would get their symbols before they even find out their powers; and also in other cases where they get their powers first. And when these symbols appear, it will always, always, always occur in presence of a fellow person or people that are predestined to be a fellow guardian. It is during that time when they officially become a member. As they obtain their symbol, they obtain their memories that were long forgotten.

 

Kyungsoo heard another screeching sound. It was coming closer.

 

“Kim Jongin-ah,” Baekhyun said through gritted teeth, “Stop being ridiculous and just go!”

 

“No!” Kai argued, “I won’t leave you guys!”

 

He heard yet another screech. It was getting really, really closer. Just any second now…

 

“Kai, think of Suho and Wujin.” Chen whispered urgently while being alert of his surrounddings. “We can’t risk them.”

 

Kris whispered. “When you go, find somewhere safe-”

 

“No!” Kai stressed.

 

Chanyeol gave a low growl and turned towards Kai.

 

“YAH KIM JONGIN!” he whispered furiously.

 

Chen and Baekhyun restricted him and tried to pull him away by his arm. Tao and Sehun were distracted and was off-guard by the ruckus Chanyeol was making.

 

Ever since the overthrow of EXO planet, faeries have been hunting us down ruthlessly. Every time a new symbol burns, they can sense it. It also depends on the strength of the impact of one’s powers unleashed during that time.

 

They were all caught unawares, as the top of the stump was burnt off by black fire. EXO looked up and stared horrifyingly at the sight of the huge swarm of faeries right above them. The hideous one in front screeched again. They had pure ebony black, glassy eyes, bone-like figures, and sharp teeth. Their wings were sharp and beastly, their long claws shone in the moonlight.

 

So long story short, when you get your symbol, RUN.

 

Kyungsoo gasped and summoned thick rock from the ground, blocking his family from the faeries’ black fire.

 

“KAI,” Kyungsoo bellowed with all his strength, he was struggling to keep up with the blocking. “RUN!!”

 

Kai nodded as Lay along with Suho, Xiumin and Luhan grabbed hold of him. He teleported away immediately.

 

Kyungsoo screamed as his rock shield broke into pieces. Baekhyun reacted and shone bright light to the faeries, temporarily blinding them as the remaining members of EXO tried to run away as far as possible.

 

The faeries lunged at them after regaining their sight back. One of them threw itself at Sehun but he was fast enough to react. He blew the whole swarm back with his wind, earning a few extra metres away from them.

 

They dodged the low branches of the trees and the black fire of the faeries’, trying to survive. Chanyeol threw a few fireballs and successfully brought down half of them. But despite the decrease in faeries, they still remained persistent.

 

Kris flew and fought a few, bringing them down. But it wasn’t long until he felt restless. Chen threw lightning bolts as they ran, successfully bringing some down as well.

 

Kyungsoo brainstormed hard as he ran, looking back occasionally to see.

 

“THIS IS WHEN I AM NOT THANKFUL FOR MY POWERS,” Tao shouted above all the noise, jumping over a huge root.

 

“YOU CAN BE THANKFUL NOW THAT I HAVE A STRATEGY!” Kyungsoo shouted. “SEHUN! PUSH THEM BACK, NOW!”

 

Kyungsoo felt the power of the strong wind being unleashed by Sehun. He grabbed onto Tao’s arm.

 

“WHEN I SAY NOW, STOP THE TIME FOR THREE SECONDS. THREE SECONDS ONLY, OKAY?” he shouted.

 

Kyungsoo stopped abruptly and turned around, halting and turning Tao as well.

 

“D.O, THIS BETTER BE GOOD.” Tao’s voice trembled as he shouted.

 

Kyungsoo ignored him and anticipated for the faeries to come closer.

 

“Just a bit more…” he mumbled to himself. “NOW!”

 

Tao stopped the time as Kyungsoo summoned a huge, thick rock barrier between the faeries and themselves.

 

After three seconds, time went back to normal. They could hear as the faeries crashed onto to wall. They were running away until they reached a dead end; a cliff.

 

They turned behind and saw the cracks being made as the faeries hit the wall countlessly.

 

“Kyungsoo…” Kris said and grabbed Kyungsoo’s arm, “What now?”

 

They backed up a bit more.

 

“I don’t know, Kris…” Kyungsoo answered. “It’s your turn for the surprise…”

 

Kris singsong-ed in a weak voice, “I don’t have a surprise right now…”

 

The rock barrier finally broke. They watched in horror as the dark swarm of faeries flew to their direction.

 

“We’re gonna die.” Baekhyun squeaked and held onto Chanyeol’s hand. Sehun was arm-in-arm with Tao.

 

“Not today you aren’t.” A voice spoke out. Kyungsoo felt a person pull his hand, and just like that, he was gone.

 

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SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE

damn writer's block.