Chapter 6

"Again," Sehun's command resounded throughout the practice hall. "Are you even concentrating at all?"

Tao was huffing and trying to catch his breath. The two were in an isolated area of the training grounds reserved only for the elite hunters. Keeping with his promise, Sehun was helping Tao to use and control his powers. They had been at it for the past five days, but Tao could still not manifest any of his so-called powers.

The older man let out an expletive. "It's not working! You're a lousy teacher!"

Sehun walked over and thumped the other man lightly on the top of his head. "You say you've trained in martial arts since the age of five. This should be a breeze for you. Calling for your belt is a basic skill of a Son of Gaius."

The said item was on a table at the other side of the large hall, a good distance away from the two of them. Tao was supposed to have it transferred to his hands, but no matter how much he tried, the thing wouldn't budge.

"Damn it, I get the telekinesis stuff and I can even imagine how it would work," Tao spoke, agitated. He had only been standing around for most of the morning, but the hunter was already sweating buckets. "But what you are asking me to do defies the laws of nature!"

"Look," Sehun let out an exasperated sigh. "The entire thing is a simple concept."

The wind guardian showed the other man his own belt buckle and with a wave of his hand, the artifact disappeared and reappeared beside Tao's belt. 

"You're not creating something out of nothing," Sehun replied, raising his voice a little. "It's called remote transfer for a reason. Nothing lost, nothing gained, a mere transfer of matter through space and time. There's your law of conservation of matter! Now call that damned belt or the deal is off."

Tao gasped in surprise, his face ending in a frown. "That was not a deal! You made that promise. You can't hold that against me!"

"I made the promise," Sehun leaned in near the other one's ear and continued to speak in a whisper. "I can hold it against you whether you like it or not, hyung. Let me see that belt in your hands right now or that French maid costume tucked away in my closet will be turned to ash before you can say ."

Suddenly, Tao felt something cold in his hands. The belt that he had been trying to call for in the last five days had finally appeared. "Aha! I did it!"

Sehun took a few steps back. With a dramatic sigh, he said to other man, "The things I do just to motivate you. I should ask Suho to place me on the payroll too. I actually deserve a salary for this."

"Aw! Aren't my kisses enough for your salary, babe?" Tao tried to put on a hurt look, but was failing miserably.

Sehun merely flipped off his lover, although he's not really sure if that was the proper term for what the two of them were at the moment. The wind guardian knew they were more than friends, but does sharing kisses make them real lovers? They haven't even slept together yet. Of course, that wasn't Sehun's fault that, while Tao was a mischievous brat, the man actually believed in waiting for the right moment for making love. Sehun admired the other one for that quality, but because he was in the time bubble for four hundred years and has not aged at all, his hormone levels were the same as any other eighteen-year-old.

"What?" Tao drawled out, a corner of his lip going up slowly. "You're too far. Come here and get your pay."

Sehun knew he was acting stupid. He was supposed to be the one in control here. For the next few hours at least, he was the teacher and Tao was the student. That was a flimsy excuse though. Who would dare resist this student named Huang Zitao?

The wind guardian only had to take a couple of steps and he was already within Tao's reach. With a gasp, the younger man was pulled into his lover's arms. He tried to grab onto Tao's chest to steady himself, but he didn't really need to as the other man held the rainbow-haired beauty tightly in his arms. Sehun already knew what would happen next, but he couldn't help but close his eyes in anticipation.

Tao wouldn't do the same though, staring hard at the other man's soft features especially that full lower lip just begging for a kiss. It was one thing he would always be glad to do, Tao thought to himself as he did just that. Tao could never get enough of Sehun's lips; an addiction he would never be willing to give up. 

The older man could not help but wonder though, if he was not just setting himself up for another world of hurt. His only other romance was a whirlwind, and yet here he was now romancing a literal whirlwind. The day when the two of them fought at that temple would always be imprinted in his mind.  Sehun was strong and a force to be reckoned with. 

Jonghyun was strong too, but look where he ended up. That nagging voice was acting up again. Over the past few days, memories of a past life were overlapping with his present life, and it was spilling over into his dreams. Well, it was actually one single dream. For the past few nights, Tao would suddenly wake up from his sleep, his sheets and body drenched in sweat. His last memory of Jonghyun kept replaying itself, and Tao could not do anything about it. No one else knew about his sleepless nights though, and the topic of Jonghyun was not something he was willing to talk to Sehun about just yet.

Tao was glad though that no one else at the House brought it up. He knew Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Luhan understood, but Tao was surprised that even Kyungsoo kept that information from Sehun. Tao knew that he and the other elite hunter were not really that close. He never really understood why the other man was always passive-aggressive around him. Thankfully, it was different though when they were out in the field. On missions, the three-man elite hunter team of the High House of Aku was always in coordination. All those thoughts distracted Tao enough that he suddenly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Sehun whispered, as he placed his palm on the other man's cheek.

Tao closed his eyes as he felt the other man's hand and whispered back, "Nothing. Let's get back to training."

"Okay," Sehun replied, trying his best to hid the disappointment in his voice and the feeling that Tao still hadn't been that open with him. "We’ll do one more exercise before we proceed."

Tao smiled at his lover. Lover? Could he really call Sehun as such? Love was such a strong word, and Tao did not really know if it really is such a thing. He noticed Sehun was frowning at him, and he mentally slapped himself for spacing out on the other man. Nothing else should really matter, the time that they have now was supposed to be for training. Tao was not doing a very good job of it.

"I'm sorry, babe," Tao gave an embarrassed grin.

Sehun just rolled his eyes and repeated himself. "I said that since you already know how it feels to do a remote transfer, it should be easy for you to do the reverse."

"Uh... what?" Tao's eyes widened.

"Are you really trying to get me pissed off, Tao?" Sehun folded his arms in front of him. "Return the belt back to that desk using remote transfer."

"Oh!" Tao replied, and tried to look apologetic but failing hard. "I'm sorry. You could have just said so. Like this?"

With a wave of his hand, the belt disappeared. The two of them looked towards the desk and found it there. Inside, Sehun was impressed that it only took one successful try for Tao to get the hang of it. Some of his doubts on Tao being a prodigy disappeared. The other man though still had a lot to prove to the senior guardian.

"Show off," Sehun scoffed, but a glimpse of a smile was already on his lips. "Well, let's be more creative then. I want you to do remote transfer again but the belt should now be placed on your waist."

Tao did just as the other man instructed. It took some time though because Tao was overthinking the mechanics of using remote transfer to put on his belt. In the end, Tao just went with the flow of his instincts and the belt followed.

"Good," Sehun congratulated him. "I can feel you are starting to be one with your artifact. That is an important part of being able to use your power. Time control is a tricky thing. There really is no exact physical manifestation of that power, unlike some of the others like the four classical elements. Think of it as placing yourself or your target in a box where you can accelerate, slow down, rewind or even loop the time inside the box. Let’s start with something simple.”

Tao saw the other man pull a small ball out of his pocket. He was supposed to stop the ball in midair after Sehun throws it. Tao began to concentrate as Sehun waited. He knew he needed to feel his power course through him, an invisible weapon, an extension of his self. He felt a certain tingle at the tips of his fingers. Giving the other man a thumbs-up to signal that he was ready, Tao watched as Sehun threw the ball in an upward arc. The hunter lifted his hand and as sudden as he closed his fist, the ball stopped just within arm’s reach.

“Good,” said Sehun as he saw Tao take the ball from midair. “I think you’ve got the basics easily. I guess you really are a prodigy, hyung. But I have to warn you that this is the most taxing power to your body out of the Twelve. I don’t want you to die from overexertion, hyung.”

Tao scoffed. “I’ve trained myself to withstand nature. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I know you are strong,” Sehun answered. “But let’s just keep things simple, okay? When you’ve trained and regained full control, then you can start pushing your limits. I-I just don’t want to lose you…” He couldn’t find it in himself to say the last word. Again.

Suddenly, Suho’s voice buzzed out on the intercom. “Sehun, Tao. Mission Bay 15 immediately.”

“Are the scouts sure about this?” D.O. asked as he strapped on his assault rifle, and adjusted his favorite pair of gauntlets which turned into knuckle dusters at the push of a button.

The three members of the elite hunter team, along with Chanyeol and Sehun were huddled inside their hoverjet’s war room. Chanyeol, being both pilot and mission control, had landed the aircraft some distance away from their mission point, placing it in stealth. Terrain maps and radar feeds were already brought up as the tall man and Suho plotted their course. They had landed on the northernmost tip of one of the big islands in the south that were covered by their hunting region.

“I’m sure,” Suho replied as he stared at the hologram of the terrain surrounding their mission. “I’ve already had Luhan work on this.”

Apparently, their most brilliant R&D boy had noticed a discrepancy in their mission logs on the day Tao accepted the scouting mission when he found his artifact. Usually, clients stick to their preferred hunting houses when they sent out mission contracts. Those who have no preference would post a public contract which can then be fulfilled by whichever house picked it up first. After the accord was signed, a central contract system was set up to track all contract transactions, whether they are private or not. That certain day however, one client had sent out twelve private mission contracts to varying areas that were given to the top houses of the region. The missions themselves were already suspicious because nothing specific to be retrieved was mentioned. It was a complete plunder mission and the client, an unknown, would only choose one and the hunting houses could keep the rest. This was a relatively new situation because no one called dibs on private contracts and the central system had no idea which private missions were already undertaken by which house.

When Luhan had pointed this out to the house leader, Suho did not really pay much attention thinking it could have just been a coincidence. Everything changed of course when Tao came back with an artifact and Sehun. When asked, Sehun only knew the general areas where the rest of the Lost Artifacts could be hidden because the terrain maps have changed ever since the last Apocalypse. Noticing that Sehun’s accounts were somewhat near the suspicious mission coordinates, Suho immediately had scouting teams scramble to those areas.

“These mission contracts may be bogus,” Suho continued. “But if the scouts say that they saw no other activity from other hunting houses, then the mission is free for us to take.”

D.O. guffawed loudly. “Since when did you believe this guardian bull?”

Suho looked pointedly at his fellow elite hunter. “I think someone somewhere in this world may have secretly built a machine that could create strong winds like Sehun. But when Tao demonstrated his power over time, even I would have to think that this whole bull has a grain of truth.”

“Whatever,” D.O. said dismissively and went back to checking his equipment.

Inside though, the hunter was actually excited at the prospect of these artifacts of power, and the fact that he might be one of the guardians able to wield them. In the private meeting at Suho’s office after Sehun was introduced to the members of the High House, Suho asked Tao to show D.O. how the gems could pick out nearby guardians and the number of glows had increased by one.

D.O. had just finished packing extra bullets when he saw Sehun fiddling around with his assault rifle. “Hey, kid! You sure you know how to use that?”

Sehun frowned at the other man. “I may have the body of an eighteen-year-old, but my mind is definitely not a kid, Kyungsoo-ssi. Besides, before my Apocalypse happened, we had weapons far more advanced than this.”

“Brat!” D.O. spat out. “We’re on a mission. You’re supposed to call me by my codename.”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “I’ll call you by your codename, Kyungsoo-ssi, when you start acting like you are on a mission.”

“Are you trying to start a fight?” D.O. straightened up, and started to make a fist.

“He’s not,” Tao finally spoke up. “But I am.”

“That’s enough, the three of you,” Suho said out loud. “All of you will behave yourself. We may be on a mission here but I am still house leader and I can easily strip both of you of your ranks before either of you throw the first punch.”

“Tch,” said the shorter elite. “I’ll be waiting by the bikes when you’ve finally decided how we’re going to go about this frickin’ mission. I have better things to do when we get back to the headquarters.” With that, D.O. walked out of the war room with a huff.

When the door slid close, Sehun let out a loud sigh. “I’m sorry, Suho-hyung. I shouldn’t have acted that way.”

“It’s fine,” answered the house leader, looking at the younger man softly. “Kyungsoo has never really been himself for some time now.” Turning to their mission control, he said, “Chanyeol, why are you still not ready?”

“Ready for what?” the giant of a mission control said out loud, confused.

“You’re coming with us,” Suho answered, as he took out another assault rifle and threw it towards Chanyeol, who scrambled to catch it.

“Wait… huh? Why?” Chanyeol’s voice was growing louder. “I thought I was mission control as usual. I get to stay in the hoverjet and track your movements.”

“Nope, you’re coming with us,” the house leader replied. “Get the rest of your gear ready. It’s time to put that field training into actual use.”

“But, how will you guys know when there’s danger and…” Chanyeol was rambling.

“We are going to retrieve a Lost Artifact,” Suho cut him off. “You are a guardian, whether you like or not. And I will not be wasting everyone’s time or risking more danger if the artifact at that mission point turns out to be yours.”

“Come on,” Tao said as he grabbed two new comlink devices and handed them to Chanyeol and Sehun. “Time’s ticking.”

“B-but…” Chanyeol tried to complain once more but Suho’s glare stopped him. “Fine, I’m going!”

“Good,” Suho smiled widely. “You still know how to prime that comlink?”

“Of course!” Chanyeol muttered as he searched the device for its number. “But I don’t have a codename.”

Codenames were only used by the hunters who were actually on the field. The main reason was for proper identification when hunters had similar names, but most use the codenames to keep their identities secret and to have a sense of individuality. Mission controls though, rarely have a reason to use since they were assigned to permanent teams anyway.

“Use whatever you want, Channie,” answered Suho. “That comlink is now yours. Starting from today, you’re on field control.”

Chanyeol made a face directed towards the house leader. “Something tells me you just made that up right now.”

“No, it’s…” Suho tried to give a proper rebuff but gave up. “Just prime your comlink. That goes for you too Sehun.”

“But I don’t know what this priming thing is,” said Sehun.

“Just follow me,” Chanyeol said with a grin. “Comlink 7412; Codename: Chanyeol.”

The comlink device was immediately brought to life and registered its new user’s biostatistics.

“This is the number, right?” Sehun whispered to Tao, pointing to the series of four numbers near the device’s earpiece.

Tao nodded and watched as his lover placed the device on his ear and adjusted the semi-extended mouthpiece.

“Comlink 4012,” said the wind guardian a bit too loudly, causing Tao to chuckle which earned him a glare from Sehun. “Codename: Sehun.”

Just like Chanyeol’s, Sehun’s comlink came to life and registered his biostatistics. When it retracted back, Suho signaled for everyone to leave. They made their way to the hoverjet’s transport bay where the bikes were. D.O. was already leaning on his.

“Took you guys long enough,” D.O. muttered loudly. The man had worn his shades, shielding his eyes.

Before anyone else could comment, Suho said, “Mission starts now, D.O.”

“Roger that, team captain,” D.O. gave the other man a salute and got on his bike. “I’m not having anyone ride with me, though.”

Suho sighed. He’d already been expecting this from the other man. At least the other four had already decided who would ride with whom as they made their way out of the war room. “Chanyeol, turn your comlink on. I’ve had the R&D team make it extra special for you.”

The taller man pressed the button on his earpiece, allowing the comlink to be fully extended with its eye and mouth pieces. “Holy- Cool!”

Suho had asked some of his best engineers to make a comlink that would still allow the mission control to fulfill his control duties even while on field. He had to keep it from Luhan though, knowing how the other would feel if he found out that Suho had allowed Chanyeol to be out on the field.

A few moments later and the three bikes had their passengers on: Tao with Sehun, Suho with Chanyeol, and D.O. still insisting on being alone.

“Is everyone ready?” Suho asked as he adjusted his shades, and looked at his newly extended team. “Let’s go.”

The bright light from the midday sun filtered through as the transport bay opened. The elite hunters fired up their engines and then set off towards their mission.