The portal opens, and the first person jumps down followed by a light step forward, eyes becoming big at the familiar city. “It’s Sele! Sele!” Jongdae shouts, shaking the person nearest to him. Jongdae jumps from person to person until he reaches Areum, “let’s go!” He lifts her up into his arms, “ah, wait!,” she’s flimsy in his arms and the energetic man runs down the hill in a lightning speed. Minseok laughs, trailing behind the excited man with the others following. Luhan and Jongin stand atop the hill a little bit longer, taking in the view of their home before their gazes rests upon each other. They blink in confusion before bursting into laughter, Jongin wraps his arm around Luhan and the two travel down the hill, both of their bracelets gives out a quick glint.

“Hold it there!” A soldier s his spear forward, stationed at a gate post, “identify yourselves.”

“Yoohoo!” Chanyeol sings, flashing his gummy smile.

“What a sight for sore eyes! I didn’t expect you all to be here so quick.” The soldier answers, putting away his spear. Chanyeol smirks, “well you know, things happen when you least expect it right?” The guard laughs, “very true,” he pivots, his hand to his mouth, “open the gates!”

“Thanks!” Chanyeol pats the guard’s shoulder, continuing the conversation as the others enter through the gate. The guard catches sight of Areum, “hey Chanyeol.”

“Yeah?”

“That child, isn’t she the odd one, that the castle keeps as a pet?”

“A what?” The guard is skeptical at Chanyeol’s offended tone. “A pet, you know the one that they use on missions? Heck, I remember the first time I saw her. She looks like a kid, but you know there’s something about her that’s scary as hell itself. It’s pretty unusual seeing her outside, considering how the council keeps her shut in all the time. But heck, I wouldn’t mind her taking my place when we go on missions, she could do all the dirty work. I mean, isn’t that what’s she for anyways?” The soldier’s laugh quickly dies, taking in Chanyeol’s chilling expression, “got anything else to say?”

“N-n-no sir, I don’t.” Chanyeol gives him another pat and leaves. The soldier gives out a shaky breath, “what’s gotten into him?”

Chanyeol sprints to catch up with the group, and steals away Areum from Jongdae. “My little one, what are we going to do today?” Areum thinks, arms crossed, with a pout, “sleep and eating Colin’s food!” She cheers, Chanyeol grins, pecking her temple. Areum’s a bit surprised, looking at Chanyeol with curious eyes. “What?” Chanyeol asks, “you don’t like it?” She ponders on the thought, thinking what would be most logically to do, she returns a hug, her little arms settling on his broad shoulders. Areum could feel his chest shake, his laughter sounds delightful.

Tao greets an attendant, who is also surprised, “I will inform Lan this instant!” The attendant rushes away deep into the castle walkways. “Sleep does sound like a good idea,” Tao yawns, ruffling his hair. He combs through it a bit more with his hands, wondering if he should trim his hair a bit. They all go into the lounge area of the castle, the servants bringing in refreshments and snacks.

They hear rushed steps head towards their way, their shoes loudly clicking against the pristine floors of the castle, “Areum?” Daena appears from the corner. The woman looks for Areum, who’s occupied munching on a cracker. Areum’s stunned as the cracker falls from her hands and onto the floor. Not missing a step, Areum rushes out and embraces an emotional Daena. “My beautiful darling, my Areum!” She fawns, “are you okay, are you hurt anywhere?” Daena frantically does a quick body check, using her thumbs to massage her face. “Have you’ve been eating well, why did you become thinner? Oh my little baby!” Daena pulls Areum in for a tight hug. Areum shows the bracelet that she had recieved from Lan last time, and the two giggle.

“Areum!” Lan soon comes rushing in, and joins the two in their emotional reunion. It’s a shower of hugs and kisses, Areum takes in the feeling of their love and feels it resonate deep within her heart, and it all overflows, as if she’s never been loved so much before. “I missed you,” she muffles, gripping Daena’s robe. Daena tears up, “we missed you too.” Lan holds his most important people in his arms, thinking that the world is bright again.

“Me, me!” Areum hollered to Junmyeon, jumping up and down in excitement. They decided that a game of catch would be a nice breather after completing some duties for the kingdom. “Alright, catch!” Junmyeon yelled, hurling the ball in a upward curve at a fast rate. Areum readied her legs, bolting upwards for the catch. Her arms stretched as much as she could stretch them, "almost there!" She's about to grab the ball, but she falls short within reach of it. Areum underestimated the amount of control she had in her legs, not taking into account of how high she had gotten, she screamed as she was falling. “Areum!” Junmyeon cried, rushing towards the spot where he would be able to catch her. The immense power of gravity dragged her down and Areum closed her eyes waiting for the harsh impact of the ground.

Suddenly, a gust of wind encircled Areum and gently rocked her back and forth till she safely landed on the dirt, the ball skips on the ground, rolling away. “Areum!” The leader cried, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I threw it up so high.” Junmyeon patted her hair. “Next time watch her better!” Sehun scolded at the older, while Jongin and Baekhyun were beside him, trying to catch their breaths. The sight of Areum falling from the sky, gave them quite the scare “I’m okay.” Areum reassures to them, rubbing in her neck in embarrassment with a sheepish smile to match.

“Lan has requested for us, we have to go.” Baekhyun helps Areum stand up, she regains back her stability and skips over to Jongin, gripping onto his shirt. “Sorry Areum, you can’t come with us for this one.” He brushes his thumbs over her small, rosy cheeks.

She frowned, “can I at least walk with you there?” She didn’t want to be alone, after coming back to the castle, they’ve been quite the gossip. “Course squirt.” Sehun offered his hand in a dramatic, grand way. Areum ignored his gestures and tugged Jongin towards the direction of the castle while Junmyeon and Baekhyun were following them, leaving behind a flabbergasted Sehun. “Hey! Wait for me!”

“What’s taking them so long?” Minseok grumbles, his back to the wall. On cue, the five of them arrive. “Finally!” Chanyeol runs towards the group, pulling up Areum into his arms. “Why are your clothes dirty Areum?”

“Playing catch.” She shrugs. “You have a scratches all over you! Don’t you roll your eyes at me!” Chanyeol nagged, Areum gave out an exasperated sigh and clung on his neck, resting her head on his shoulders. “I heard scratches--where?” Yixing came up to the two with a worried look. Chanyeol deadpanned as he pointed to her knees that were decorated with scratches. Yixing hovered over her knees letting out a soft, white glow. “There you go Areum,” he gives Areum a gentle smile and briefly ruffles her hair.

“Hey--you guys can hang out later, meeting now.” Lan appeared from the corner and made his way to the door of the conference room. “Why is Areum here?”

“Don’t worry, all she wanted was to walk with us.” Jongin reassured Lan, looking at a solemn Areum. Lan sighs,  “I think I’ll make an exception this time.” Areum ears perk up. “Yay!” She squealed in delight and jumped down from Chanyeol’s embrace, running towards the entrance. Lan chuckles, pushing the door with his hand and lets Areum walk in first, “come in.”

Areum ran into the room and stopped abruptly, it felt both weird and exciting to be in this room. She hoped that she could too be apart of a meeting growing to be curious about many things, and here she was, about to listen to one. Tao noticed that there weren’t enough seats for them all, so he grabs her hand and sits into an empty seat and places her on his lap. “Be a good girl okay?” Areum returned an okay sign, got into a good posture, and focused her attention on Lan. “Let’s start shall we?”

“I see, so that’s what happened.” Lan breathes out heavily, scratching the back of his neck. “ Well, I already told you what’s been happening to the kingdom and its’ concerns. Now, we will be discussing about Areum.”

Areum responds to her name and tilts her head in confusion. “Me?” She points at herself. Lan nods his head for her acknowledgement. “Areum.” Kris sternly calls.“I swear I didn’t do anything!” She cries as twelve pairs of eyes were silently judging her.

“Don’t accuse her so fast, she’s not in trouble.” Lan quickly says to avoid any arguments and yelling from sprouting out, “yet.”  Areum sighs of relief, feeling her heart pound loudly against her chest, hoping for it to calm down soon. “I received a note from Minco, she believes that there’s a hint to finding the Spirit Core in Terra.”

“How’d she find that out?” Kyungsoo asks. “She found prophecy books similar to the ones that we own. She sent us this letter, each of you take the time to read it now.” Lan takes out an embossed paper. “You’ll be leaving in a few days, prepare well.” Lan finishes, “I have to leave now, Areum don’t forget to see Daena when there’s time for you.”

“Yes sir!” Areum happily replies.  “Ah, Areum--one more thing.” Lan secretly hands her a piece of paper, “read it when you’re alone, no one and I mean absolutely no one can see the contents of this letter. Do you understand me Areum?” Lan speaks to her in a tone that she’s never heard before, she instinctively nods, watching Lan leave and catches up to the others.

For the remainder of the day, Areum meets up with Colin, relishing herself in his food. She keeps to her promise and meets up with Daena once more. They conversate on what they’d been doing, Daena smiles adoringly at her, so proud and happy that Areum is feeling more comfortable than ever. Daena already knows that Areum had changed in many ways, they weren't that big perhaps to Areum, but there's always room for improvements. Daena gives her some sweets and Areum puts it away in her pocket, but she feels the paper against her hand. She had forgotten all about it, “I think I’m going to go to sleep,” she fakes a yawn. “Okay, go to bed,” Daena places a kiss on her forehead and Areum waves goodbye. She leaves Daena and quickly searches for an empty area, she decides to go outside since the moon's out. Not really a reason to be so secretive when everyone's already asleep right? She finds a cement chair beside some white daisies, and goes on to unravel the letter.

“ Hello Areum, how have you been lately? How have we been? Well, Gare is just his usual naggy self, nothing different here. Well, to get to the point, I have a book for you to read on the table in your special place, I’ve already put tabs on the pages so you know which one to read. For some strange reason, there has been recently unidentifiable energy coming from Terra, I believe that you will find something there. Well then, Areum, good luck to you and tell the others I said 'hi'!”

- Minco

Ah, I haven’t been there in a while have I? She collects herself and takes her time to her cherished sanctuary. Like how Minco, described there was a book on the small table, she walks over to the chair and gets comfy, grabbing the book and opening to the specific pages Mino had told her about.

"The fated Guardian is selected from families of great lineage, the Hallins, who serve to protect the destined twelve; obeying their every order and putting their life on the line. The Guardian will have to find an ally by the title of the Protector, who is the Guardian's shield. The task of the twelve individuals are to find the remnants of the Spirit Core to save Ascernia from utter destruction.”

“The trademark of the Guardian comes in the form of a necklace. In the necklace, holds a part of the original Spirit Core. An ancient artifact that holds the balance of our land, Ascernia. This accessory is a family heirloom that is passed down from generation to generation in order to prevent the wrong use of power. The identity will be known once the necklace reacts to the owner in the form of a resonating light. This light will give birth to twelve stones of brilliant colors, calling forth strong beasts called 'Aeons.' Each stone shares a destiny with an individual, bringing forth their destinies to these particular thirteen people. We beg to our future Sele citizens, don't make the same mistake twice and throw our land and our neighboring cities into destruction."

“The Spirit Core allows the chosen users to call forth magical beings to aid them in battle and to defend those they love. The Spirit Core is Sele's treasure and our pride, only few are told about its whereabouts as many others with evil intentions plan to use its power for the worse. To prevent such a catastrophe, the Spirit Core was purposely sealed away, asking for allies to help disguise its location. Sadly, the dungeon we had been keeping the Spirit Core at, near Sele's border to Terra, had been attacked and the perpetrators took the Spirit Core along with them. With their newfound power, they wreaked havoc. To this day, we don't know who cause such a feat, but we had the great twelve come to our rescue and deal with the opposing force."

“To activate the true powers of the Spirit Core the Guardian must… meet with up with its’ fourteenth member, the Protector of the Guardian. When the two of these individuals truly need the power of the Spirit Core, the divine gods will bestow upon them the instructions to do so."

“That’s it?” Areum tucks away the book, and goes back to her room, she yawns thinking, that she should've slept earlier.

“Now Jongin, you’ll need to transport to a stronghold near Terra,” Lan points to an area on the map and Jongin nods. “Let’s go!” Areum’s in high spirits, hearing numerous rumors of the neighboring city. A black vortex absorbs them up, landing in front of Terra’s bordering forts,“Hello, we’ve been expecting you,” a woman greets them. “Just take that road down there and you’ll be able to reach the city gates, don't worry--we’ve already informed the guards of your arrival.” Kris nods at this information and prepares everyone for their departure. They walk on a dirt path, and come across some men who are passing by them, perhaps traveling merchants.

“Eh, watch where you’re going.” A burly man looks down on Areum who had accidently bumped into him, Luhan swiftly takes a stand. “Whattya want?” The man sneers. Luhan’s eyes turn purple and the man shrieks a bit. The man tsks, “ahh, whatever, you’re all small fry anyways.” He leaves.

“You okay Areum?” Sehun asks, she nods, unfazed. As they are about to continue, Tao sharply looks to an area of trees. “Tao! We’ll leave you behind!” He squints his eyes, but all he hears is the leaves swaying in the wind, he manages to catch up, deciding that it's probably nothing.

“What about that one?” The same rugged man smokes his pipe,  with another accomplice who looks through his scope, “just perfect.”