Everyone enters the room and it’s well-lit with a grand chandelier hanging from the dome ceiling and with each lowering tier, it has glass teardrops dangling along its ridges while there are light bulbs glowing dimly, it’s surprisingly spacious with a round table more on the right adorned with a circular, clear vase filled with some white daisies and small bright-colored fish swimming freely. The window shows an enchanted view of the Moon. And near the window is a metal, spiral staircase that leads to the balcony and the telescope.

Minco starts off by asking questions of what everyone is already aware of but there’s a certain someone who’s a bit distant. And it’s throwing him off balance.

Luhan is naturally drawn to something in the room so he begins to roam around the small, detached library, “it gets weaker over here…,” he does a slow turn to his right, his body following his head movements, “but its stronger here.” He strides a few steps north of himself. He glides his hand on top of the wooden shelf but realizes he’s collecting dust on himself and awkwardly wipes it off on his tunic, hoping no one saw him. Luhan shakes it off his hand until he senses a strong attraction emanating from a black, tattered book that is perched upon a podium.

Luhan treads closer to the book and it’s like he’s under a spell. His calm breath starts to get hitched, making his throat dry, his usual endearing brown eyes become a bright violet, and his body is unsteady almost making him tumble into the ground.

“Come...come here...Anima.”  A low, husky voice starts to resonate in his head. The tone takes Luhan to another dimension and his spiritual self is transported to a dark realm where there are purple swirls, gravitating towards the center everywhere but his eyes are captivated by something even more terrifying. Beneath his feet are blotches of crimson blood and as his shaky eyes slowly look ahead, his vision begins to blur. Luhan immediately closes one eye tightly, doing his best to hold in the immense pain echoing in his head. He furiously runs his hands through his frothy locks and screeches, falling on his knees.

As he is about to give up, he feels a wave of warm light crash against him, and the darkness fades away, revealing the library.

Freed, Luhan starts to jerk his body around and gasps for air as if he was purposefully drowned. The heat accumulating within his body makes him sweat somewhat and it doesn't help that his clothes are heavy. Luhan cringes his hand slowly, but notices someone is gently holding onto his. Luhan gazes down and sees that it’s Areum, with her wavy hair enveloping around her face and covering her right eye. She stares at Luhan with a concerned look, “you okay?” Her voice is raspy.

Luhan tries to speak to have no sound come out from his dry lips, so he nods, as his voice is temporarily lost. He hovers his hand to his heart and its starting to go back to its normal pace. “I’m good.” He breathes out a shaky breath.

“Good thing she came in the nick of time.” Minco steps up to the both of them with a smile as her arms are clutched to her back. Luhan scans the room and sees that no one else is affected. They’re all looking at the backbones of the books, reading their titles and sees which ones are to their liking.

“You did well dear.” Minco lightly pats Areum’s head.

Areum responds with a curtsey, her hand still sticking to Luhan’s. Minco catches it and grins, “You should hold onto her hand for the remainder of this lesson until your trip is over.”

Luhan clears his throat. “Trip?”

“Yes, it’ll be worth it in the end, trust me.”

Luhan doesn’t respond back and glances at Areum once more. He sees that she’s having trouble standing on her own, "is she still hurting?" 

He lifts her up in his arms, despite his own condition, “Does this work too?” Luhan looks forward to Minco and tilts his head towards Areum looking like a father-daughter duo.

Minco snorts through her nose and smirks at the adorable sight, “Just as long you two are in contact.” She turns away.

Luhan beams at Areum and all she does is look away. Areum purposely brushes her ruffled hair towards the right side of her face and it immediately catches Luhan's interest, "do you need help with that?"

Areum backs away but Luhan doesn't let her respond and parts her hair. His eyes grow alarmingly. "Your—your eye..." Was that from earlier?"  It's bruised from her temple to the skin beneath her eye. It's a fresh one judging by its color.

“Over here my lost little sheep!” Minco hollers as she carries the book that Luhan was entranced by earlier and drops it loudly on the table.

Everyone else turns their bodies towards the thump, but Kyungsoo is the first one to give his full attention to Minco and spots Luhan.

“Wait, is it just me or that Areum?” Kyungsoo says aloud and squints his eyes.

The crew lifts their heads around to see Areum in the flesh and crowds around her and Luhan. Areum gets slightly shaken at their feedback and buries her face in Luhan’s shoulder. Instinctively, Luhan hugs Areum closer and takes a step back to move her further away from everyone.

“The hell Luhan?” Tao gives attitude.

“Well you’re the ones approaching her like crazy people.” He argues, caressing her little figure to make sure they don't notice her injury.

They glare at each other before looking away, with their chins up high.

Just for a moment, Areum lifts her head up, “You... shouldn’t do that...you’re friends.” She squeaks out and seeks immediate refuge in Luhan's shoulders. Luhan and Tao simultaneously look at Areum, almost in awe even. This makes Tao scoff with a smile and he rubs a hand behind his neck,”...Sorry Luhan…”

Luhan darts his head up and his lips curl up, “No big deal.” They exchange tender smiles.

“Okay, hurry up and settle down before I get too tired to tell you lot anything.” Minco sighs as she sits down and opens the book to the first page. “Luhan, stand next to me since I’ll be needing Areum’s assistance.”

Everyone hordes behind Minco and Areum extends her hand out to the woman, well aware of what was coming. “Smart girl.” Minco holds hers.

“Close your eyes everyone.” Minco instructs.

Areum is the only one who doesn’t listen and her eyes glow violet. Her spirit leaves her body and so does the others; their bodies morph into spheres, leaving Minco behind.

“See you next time.” She whispers.

The thirteen orbs of life rotate quickly and condenses into a circle, and in a heartbeat, they form into an infinity sign. Like going into overdrive, a machine like noise whirs through the air, and the brightness gets stronger. The orbs draw into the center and clash to create a glowing rainfall of pixie dust.

The dazzling sight rises higher and higher, until there’s a female that comes into view as she gazes up into the sky and sits upon a hill. “Ah, you finally arrived.” Her eyes smile. It’s not just her that’s gleaming in the moonlight. Twelve colors shine behind her: indigo, violet, amethyst, cobalt, ivory, amber, gold, burgundy, arsenic, silver, black, and ash. Each pigment starts to distort and take shape in the forms of humans, it starts to reveal from the feet up to the head and Sele’s warriors are fully materialized on firm ground. Alarmed, they look around and wonder where they are and see the woman stand up, dusting her dress down and approach the twelve.

“I see that you all have come to,” she pauses, “I am Anima, it’s nice to meet you all. Oh, and by the way I’m Luhan’s spirit.” She’s tall and looks she’s in her late twenties. She has brown hair where the ends reach to her shoulders and is wearing a white dress with a light blue floral lining near the hem of her dress. Her hair is donned up in a bun with a silver ribbon.

"Anima? "

“Wait, so you’re Anima?” Luhan questions out loud with disbelief and slight anger.

She chuckles, “Yes, I am sorry about the trouble earlier, that book still contains some of the leftover darkness that is embedded with the history written in it.”

“So my mind was playing tricks on me?"

“In some ways, yes. I can’t explain entirely, but most of the evil magic sealed within the book itself was formed to manipulate those with powers to undo its seal, but at least she helped you out right?” She giggles.

Junmyeon bumps shoulders with Luhan. “What are you talking about and what does she mean by “she” Luhan?"

“Areum of course," she interrupts, "come out dear.” Anima grabs the side of her dress and moves it forward to reveal a shy Areum behind her.

“Hold on, I thought Luhan was with her.” Sehun mentions.

Luhan panics and sprawls his hands out in front of him, “how’d she did that?”

She laughs. “I think it’s time for a reunion." With the twist of her wrist, she snaps her fingers. Shining lights form above Anima and Areum, and more individuals come into being. The lights spiral upwards to explode like fireworks once the body outline is finished.

“Finally! I can move in my own body!” A short-haired male with a fiery armor design sighs happily as he stretches his arm. His disposition sort of resembles Chanyeol’s.

“Can you not do that?” A woman with a glacial themed gown rolled her eyes. Minseok’s icicle powers derives from the woman’s core.

“Not do what?”

“Breathe.”

“Oh come on Shiva, it’s been forever since I last saw you and I don’t even get a nice welcome from you?”

“You want to know why?”

“Yes I would like to know why.”

“Okay you two, we barely meet for not even a good minute, and you're already bickering, we were called here for a reason.” This man was dressed like a prince with his hair is slicked back with nice broad shoulders. On his clothing rests an emblem of a unicorn, nested atop of his heart.

"Then can you tell me Alex, because she's not giving me even a tiny hint."

Alex sighed and whispered into Ifrit’s ear, “You melted her castle remember?”

“Oh,” Ifrit nodded in understanding, his fingers grazing his chin “...wait…,” he squints, “that was years ago though!”

The boys just watched, awkwardly standing in place like idle grass, until a woman paired with two men approached them.

“Hello! I’m Valefor and Sehun’s spirit!” She waved slowly. She has short, wavy black hair and a great smile to match. “Oh, and don't ask why we know your names because we don't know either!" She laughs it off. "This here is Fenrir; Kyungsoo’s spirit, and Diabolos, who is partnered with Jongin.” Fenrir has long, gray colored hair with a scar underneath his right eye. Glowing yellow eyes match his piercing gaze with his somber clothing. Diabolos is about the same height as Fenrir, if not taller. His hair is a dark red, wearing a loose shirt and pants. He has more of a human appearance than Fenrir, or maybe it’s because Fenrir looks usually more hairy. Both of them stood there, uninterested in joining Valefor to spark a conversation, they had their built arms folded across their chests as they looked at Sele’s warriors like they were random strangers.

“You two need to stop being so stiff.” The approaching stranger has hair that shines like gold. He has a long sleeved shirt with stones studded along the cuffs and shorts to allow him to run freely.

“Ixion, you know you shouldn’t push them.” Valefor brings ups, bumping into him playfully. Ixion is Jongdae’s electrifying spirit.

“But at least I know how to.” Ixion winks. “Areum! Can you come here for a second?” He waves her over.

Areum seems to be talking to Bahamut and Odin, all sitting in a circle. Odin wears a fitting, shiny, black armor outlined in gold. Odin is paired up with Baekhyun. Areum turned around at the sound of her name and looked back to the two towering figures. “Go ahead.” Odin says while Bahamut just nods.

Areum springs her legs up and runs towards Ixion and waves hello to Yojimbo, dressed in his usual samurai robes, sitting on a rock. She has one hand gently covering her eye since her hair flying all over. He responds with the tip of his hat and Daigoro, his trusty companion, barks happily at the sight of the child. Areum gives him a quick squeeze before leaving. Yojimbo looks for someone and spots Tao, “ah, he looks trustworthy.”

Ixion gets on one knee and opens his arms wide with Areum jumping into his embrace and they both laugh.

Sehun’s eyes grow to saucers, “She smiled! She actually smiles!"

"Wow! Did you get taller the last time I saw you?” Ixion ruffles her hair, but doesn't bother moving her fringe.

“Nuh-uh.”

“Are you sure? It looks like it to me.” They erupt into another round of laughter but this time Areum has a toothy smile on.

“Hey Areum, think you could do me a favor?” She nods vigorously.

“Go play with Fenrir and Diabolos, they’ve been down in the dumps for a while now, so can you cheer them up for me?”

Areum sees them in the distance. “Okay.” Ixion grinned and as soon as Areum landed on the ground she sprinted towards the distant duo and started a conversation with them. Five minutes or so later, all three of them had happy expressions. Fenrir was giving Areum a piggyback ride while Diabolos was chasing them with his hands acting as claws.

Valefor walked over to Ixion’s side, “Wow, how’d you do it?”

“It’s not that difficult really, they secretly love children despite their appearance.” Ixion snickers.

“Ah!," she gently slams her fist onto her palm, "It all makes sense! There was a time where I found a lost boy in the streets and I needed to attend a meeting. So, I went everywhere asking if anyone could look after him while I was with the council and when I was about to give up, I saw these two sitting by the garden and when I told them about it they agreed without hesitation!”

“Where was I?”

“You were with Bahamut talking about something so I didn’t even bother.” Ixion nods in agreement, as the memory comes into mind.

Diabolos steals away Areum from Fenrir's arms and twirls her around. Areum beams and snuggles into his chest.

"Everyone let's settle down and get to business.” A fair skinned man wearing a loose blue-green robe with a black tassel tied together around his torso, sets himself upon a log where Yojimbo is petting Daigoro.

“Hello Alta,” Yojimbo greets, “how’s life going for you right now?”

“It’s been fine but recently, the seas have been growing violent; not to mention that the sea creatures have gone amiss. It’s troubling me.”

“Hopefully your answer lies within this discussion. I’m sure it leads to somewhere.” Yojimbo puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Alta says with a deep sigh.

Bahamut and Odin are the last ones to sit, Sele’s warriors are facing towards the great summons as they take up half of the other circle. Areum is latching onto Diabolos neck like a monkey, giggling softly.

“Hello respected warriors of Sele. We all have been wanting to meet you all for quite sometime." Bahamut begins and continues to converse.

“I shall introduce myself, I am Bahamut and I am Kris’ spirit.”

Areum feels at peace, laying underneath the starry night. She rubs her bruised eyes and cringes at the pain. Diabolos reacts to her movement and checks on her. "You okay—," he stops short and sees the damage done to her face. Diabolos frowns and embraces her tightly. "Let it all out." He pets her hair.

Areum tells herself that she can't, no weakness should be shown on her face. She is the guardian of Sele, her task is to help protect those who need protection. Love those who need love, and stand strong for those who need a pillar of strength. Girls shouldn't cry so easily is what she strongly believes. Reading all of those stories of strong male and female protagonists during her free time back at the library back at home comes fresh in her memory. A tear fell down her cheek and soon, they kept on falling. Like every drop of hope and innocence she had was gone. Not even a sound came from her. Just a trembling child carrying too many burdens since birth.

Diabolos pulls back and places his hand over her eye and a gentle glow appears. Her eyes weren't puffy anymore and her skin was healthy. She hugged Diabolos tight.

"So the first thing to talk about is your next destination." Bahamut instructs, "Alta, you mentioned that there were strange occurrences near the seas and rivers correct?"

Alta nods and begins to speak, "First of all, I am Alta and I am the spirit belonging to Junmyeon. Now onto the next matter," he pauses, "most of the creatures that reside around the area have asked me what has been happening, but I have sent out allies to obtain information. So far, we've haven't gotten anything that leads us to anywhere."

"I agree. The forest is nearby where Alta reigns and the animals have reported back to me suspicious creatures have been lurking around the area. There are times when some of the animals come back injured, it troubles me." Fenrir adds in.

"So that will be it then. We have to tackle two places at once." Bahamut claps. "So boys, got any questions for us?"

It's dead silent and the boys have no motive to speak up, too shocked just by being in the presence of a greater beings.

"Has it always been a tradition to have warriors from Sele partake in a war?" Kyungsoo courageously begins.

"No, it changes every few centuries between the cities and Sele has been chosen as the one who will bring us peace." Shiva responds. "First, we should properly introduce to you who Areum is; Areum comes from a pure blood line of mages that originate from the city of Terra. Their ancestors have been designated with the task of traveling alongside with the Warriors to ensure their safety at any cost. If the guardian is to die, then the mages would send them another one immediately."

"So they're just a factory." Kris disregards his lower position and freely speaks.

"Are you not the same?" Shiva shoots back, silencing Kris. Informing them of Areum's background is stopped. "We're you not also put into rigorous training, kept behind doors, not allowed to interact with others?" Shiva's stern expression scares the company, with each word spouting with malice. Her comeback hits deep, Kris thinks back, his eyes dart from to right, he was molded from the army -- that he cannot deny.

"Shiva, that's enough." Diabolos calmly says. Shiva glares at him, but her eyes travel down to the dear child. He has his hands covering Areum's ears. "No more Shiva, no more. Please." He closes his eyes and his face scrunches in pain, too pained to hear anymore.

"I-I apologize." She walks over to the two and comforts Areum by accepting her into her arms.

Areum realizes that too many of her own tears have been spilled, but there are others all over Sele and the neighborhood cities who will mourn a million times more than herself. This wasn't the time to explain who or what she is. The impending doom cloud looms over her thoughts. Much blood is to be spilled, regardless of their participation in the war. "I don’t want to be of importance, all I want is to be accepted--maybe even loved. If I can achieve that, I don’t mind dying young. I want those to sleep at night without worries and dance in the moonlight, where everyone is feeling warm and bright. Those days will surely come, I will make it a reality."

Her tears cease and she looks at Shiva, “I’m ready.” She tells Shiva, with her brown eyes burning of undying determination, she’ll prove herself to be useful and continue to heighten her expectations of herself and become the Guardian of Sele people have hoped for and bring peace to Ascernia.

“I’m glad to hear that darling.” Shiva smiles.

Bahamut clears his throat. “Going back to what we were talking about, the two areas that Alta and Fenrir are talking about the are the sea and forest to the east of Langley.”

“Langley!?” Baekhyun darts up from his place.

“Baekhyun sit down.” Jongdae tugs on his pants.

“It’s alright; may I ask why you are so excited?” Alex says with smile.

“That’s where I was born! I don’t remember it much since I moved to Sele when I was about five years old.” Baekhyun is filled with enthusiasm.

“Oh, that’s nice revisiting your hometown and you can see what the problem is. A pretty good way to tackling this situation has been born. Well, the most we can do is help you transport to the area. After that, we want you all to communicate with the village, try to get as much information as you can. Oh, get along with your folks back home, that is if you remember anyone.” Alex blabs.

Baekhyun vigorously nods.

“Alex.” Yojimbo says.

“It’s time already? Okay, we’ll talk more later, goodbye! And stay safe!” Alex waves with a grin. His face starts to distort in the center, making his face barely recognizable.

“Wait, what?” Tao abruptly gets up, but his figure deforms. A flash pops out and drops the party on a grassy field in front of the forest.

“What a great warning that was.” Jongin mutters. Everyone is splayed on the floor, and as expected Areum’s the only one standing.

"We need to get going." Minseok dusts off his knees.

"Ugh...I hate being tall." Chanyeol rubs his calves.

Yixing stands up and bends backwards to stretch for his back, as he goes back to his original stance, he sees something appear behind Jongdae.

“Jongdae!” Yixing called out as Jongdae got pelted with the monster’s energy ball. Areum ran over to the two and put up a force field to protect them as Yixing healed.

“It’s a Temgly! Watch out!” Joonmyeon warned. Temglies were large reptilian creatures that usually lived in dark habitats, it was rare to see them outside in broad daylight. It had four legs, but it could tower everyone with its hind, built legs. It’s scales were a bright silver and the eyes were a murky red, making the beast even more ferocious looking. The tail was adorned with lethal spikes and fatal if anyone got hurt with it. The Temgly gave out a cry and swung its tail successfully hitting those around the lizard.

“!” Sehun muttered, he got a deep wound on his left arm; making it impossible to create strong wind to distract the monster in order to retreat. Minseok helped him up, but were backlashed by another energy ball, throwing the two into a ditch.

“Split up!” Chanyeol yelled. But no one got the chance to carry out that order as they were sent flying away by another energy ball.

Areum slammed against a granite rock and a patch of scratches showed on her skin, as little red streams flowed down her arm. Areum gazed up, rubbing her head slightly. The Temgly must’ve sent her far away, she couldn’t see anyone of her caretakers in plain sight. She ruggedly got up. Her legs shook and she fell on her knees. Areum grunted in pain and got back up again. She needed to find the rest of them, any later and it would mean disaster. Areum gazed down upon the rock she impacted with and kicked it with force, but the pain on her poor little foot made her cry a bit. "Stupid rock! " She bit down on her lip.

She jumped over it and began walking through the cluster of trees and she happened to stumbled upon a river. The water glistened underneath the sunshine. She took a deep breath, inhaling nature’s natural scent. How alluring it smelled.

She turned to her left and saw an unmoving body. Was it one of them? She rushed over and began shaking the body. “Can you hear me?”

Baekhyun grunted as he felt someone was shaking his body. “I’m up already. I’m up.” He starts to get up and opens his eyes and Areum shows up. He sits with his legs crossed together and hands holding down his ankles. “We got split up after that blast huh?”

Areum nods, she looks for injuries and sees there is a scratch on his cheek. Areum reaches for it and begins to heal it. Baekhyun is startled by the touch of Areum’s hands, but he closes his eyes as the feeling puts himself at peace. The relaxing feeling is gone once Areum breaks the physical contact. Baekhyun exhales, “okay, let’s look for the others shall we?”

As they rise, the Temgly lands with power behind them. It roars and shoots a barrage of beams. Baekhyun quickly grabs hold of Areum and darts into the grove. Areum trips a few times but is saved by Baekhyun.

". Think Baekhyun. Think!"

They had lost the others after the harsh landing. And here they were; being chased by the Temgly. “You just had to get us first huh?!” Baekhyun yells.

"Baekhyun!" Areum yells out as she blocks an incoming claw. And out from the shadows appears another Temgly. Baekhyun gets thrown back from the force of the impact and Areum hurts her back against a tree and she falls lifelessly. Baekhyun jerked back and regained his pace of breathing.

"Crap! Where is she?!" He looked around aimlessly until his eyes widened as he spotted the said girl. He rushed over to her side and shook her.

"Areum! You hear me! Hey! Wake up!"

The Temgly from earlier catches up to them and Baekhyun is surrounded from the front and back. "Great, a lizard sandwich."

Baekhyun picks up the knocked out Areum and runs to his left, he sprints but gets knocked down by one of the Temgly's foot. He holds Areum tightly as they both roll on the floor earning small scratches. Baekhyun breathes in the dirt in the air and coughs. From the bottom of his eye, he could see blood dripping from the area that Areum had healed.

“She healed it for me you damn lizards.” Baekhyun grits his teeth. Both of the Temglies race together with their mouths open wide full of pointy teeth, and pounce forward. Not letting the same thing happen twice, Baekhyun extended his arm and opened his palm, he screams, letting out the light within him and slices both of the lizards in half. Before their halves could actually tear apart from the body, their remains spurt into haze.

Baekhyun had never experienced such a trifling, exhilarating moment before; he needed a breather.

"Baekhyun! Areum! Do you hear me!" A loud voice echoed.

Baekhyun excitedly moves. "Over here!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. He heard the rustling of the bushes grow stronger and revealed the rest of the crew.

"Yixing!" He began to tear as he attempted to pick himself and Areum up. “She won’t wake up!” Yixing rushes over and busies himself by concentrating on analyzing Areum’s injuries.

Tears just flow out of Baekhyun’s eyes.

And once he flutters his eyes, it’s already sunset.

"You ok?" Jongin places a hand on his shoulder. Baekhyun mindlessly looks up to his right.

"Yeah…” Baekhyun is sitting upon a log, in front of him is the fire. “Jongin?” His wistful expression is illuminated slightly by the light the fire emits.

“Hm?”

“Areum, how is she?”

“Kyungsoo is looking over her.”

Jongin could see that Kyungsoo had Areum in his arms while both were sleeping on the makeshift bed created from the huge leaves.

"Get some rest, Sehun and I will be on guard duty."

"Yeah, I’d like that." He frowns, with his eyes set on Areum.

Morning quickly came after and Areum had to reassure Baekhyun about her injuries. "I’m fine."

"Are you sure?" Baekhyun voices his concern.

"Yes." She gives him a small bow.

Baekhyun sighs and ruffles her hair. Taken aback, Areum looks up, with Baekhyun’s hands still on the crown of her head. He smiles at her, knowing he won’t get much of a response out of her.

“Come on you two, we’re leaving.” Tao calls them.

Baekhyun lowers his hands to hold Areum’s, “come on or else we’ll get yelled at.” He laughs as he drags along an adorable, confused Areum.

“Next stop! The sea!”