;; — IV. confrontation

“Well, well. So nice of you to actually keep tabs on my awakening, Luna! I’m flattered, really!” the death knell of his voice resonated through the temple where the two Legends had kept watch on the Earth for as long as time itself. Immediately, the honey-locked Sol had his hands on the bejeweled hilt of the sword strapped to his waist, a wary and guarded expression on his face. Luna’s eyes shifted back and forth, trying to decipher the source of that cool, confident voice that only meant all the destruction for the world.

Tenebrarum emerged from the bronze, majestic double doors of the temple, his gait that of someone ultimately smug about his own self. His eyes were steely, just like the tint of his ashen skin, and the face he possessed had distinct hawk-like semblance. He was a tall, lithe man with sharp chin and nose, and his overgrown hair brushed neatly to a low ponytail. The man darkened the room with his flowing ebony robe, billowing as he walked like a creeping shadow mist.

On his face, he held a smile that resembled a quarter-moon beneath a grayish evening sky, directed at the Two Legends in the same four-walled area such as him. “How long has it been, Sol, Luna! Come now, are you to greet me, your guest, with that hostility? Tsk tsk, manners!” Tenebrarum piqued, clearly amused. The two weren’t so much.

“What are you doing here, Darkness?” The usually-gentle voice of the midnight-blue-clad Luna spoke in a tone harsher than any pitch that Sol has heard her use before. He couldn’t fault her for it — not when they are dealing with a monster like Darkness at that instant. Tenebrarum’s smile turned a little less than sinister. “Oh, am I not allowed to visit my old friends? And here I have just woken up from my slumber!”

“I won’t repeat the question again, Darkness. What. Are. You. Doing. Here.” Sol barked, the sword he had rested his hands on drawn a few centimeters from its sheath.

“I heard that my beloved Heart is finally ready to undo what I have done. Is that true?” There was no trace of hostility in Tenebrarum’s voice, but the Two Legends knew better. Luna’s heart lurched horribly in her chest.

 “No.”

“Ah, ah. After a thousand years, you are still a bad liar, Luna.” Tenebrarum waved his finger in grim humor. He then glanced around the entirety of the white marble temple, adorned with jewels of all kinds, and shone with the rays of light as if it were itself a Sun. A flash of mock nostalgia swept through his face. It’s been more than a thousand years since he had been in this place.

During the time when the Tree of Life had been whole and alive, Tenebrarum had been known as the Red Force: the sole protector of the majestic tree that had ensured the life of Earth. Yet when he had seen that the Tree of Life did nothing for the people it was to protect — so to say, the Earth — he saw fit to have the situation corrected. Unrest between human-created religions (the issue of these religions, rather than the worship of Nature and of the Sun and Moon, was something else of an issue for him)? A war that spanned a hundred years that the Tree of Life did nothing to stop? The Black Plague, the Black Death and the Great Famine (humans have a very queer way of naming crises, he thought) to correct the overgrowing population?

At first, he had inquired the Legends about it, but they were really useless, for lack of better term to describe their inaction. “The Tree of Life knows what it is doing, what it has done. We should not interfere with its decisions, for it is the governing body of all life on Earth. We are simply its mediators and protectors.” Sol had told him before. He hoped that Luna would be wiser, but there was no help from her either.

The desperation he felt gave birth to the shadows in his heart. Pulling away from the two stubborn Legends and from the heartless Tree of Life (ironic considering that it does have a Heart, in a literal sense), he resolved to let the shadows in his heart take him over, so that he may have the power to correct things on his own. Destroy the cruel Tree of Life. Like ink dropped on clear water, his pale brown way hair, vibrant and attentive verdant eyes, and the glaring crimson robe that characterized him as the “Red Force” upon his birth from the branches of the Tree of Life all turned into the deepest of blacks. Flushed, peachy skin turned into a sickly gray, and his boyish features turned sharper and more menacing.

The shadows that emerged from his jet-black sleeves enabled him to glide through the temple of the Tree of Life, past the bewildered and stunned Legends, and straight to the very middle of the whole place — towards the Tree of Life. With a sickening, maddening laugh, those same shadows engulfed him, turning him into pure black mist, and overwhelmed the Tree of Life. No more of your useless Heart!

He would’ve succeeded. Oh, he really would’ve, but that meddlesome pair of Legends suppressed his shadows before he had fully killed that cold Heart. Contained his shadows and forced him to a thousand years of slumber, caged in the recesses of the temple that was once his home. His efforts were not in vain, however, for his own actions caused the Earth to split up into two dimensions, and therefore divided the world and its inhabitants in half.

But now that the Heart of the Tree of Life had awakened, oh, that had ignited a long-lost desire from his ethereal form. It took him eighteen years after hearing the first heartbeat of that human who was destined to bear the Heart to fully regain his own power and form, but that was completely fine, as it primed his own malicious desires. And he was just beginning. This will be the beginning of the end!

“Well, it would seem like talking to you bores would do me no progress. I guess I’ll just have to see for myself if the Twelve Forces have indeed awakened with their Heart. I’ll be sure to deliver you the blackened Heart~.” Tenebrarum singsonged, before disappearing in a cloud of mist.

As soon as the mist completely dissipated, Luna turned to Sol with plenty of worry and fear in her soft features. “S-Sol! We have to—! We have to warn them!”

Sol knew it before Luna had even spoke. In an instant, the Legend summoned the orbs from where they have observed the thirteen special individuals, and their power seeped through, transporting them to the world they were always guarding.

12:00 noon/midnight.

At that time when Suho and his five other friends were enjoying their lunch break at the school open field, Kris and his group were dozing their heads off… or he, Yixing and Tao were. Luhan, Xiumin and Chen were always awake until it was two in the morning, talking about God-knows-what.

It was in that condition that an odd figure came before them all. Just before Chanyeol stole another one of Kyungsoo’s self-made lunch (he arugues that Kyungsoo’s cooking is the best, that’s why he wants a taste), there was something in their heads that clicked. Before they knew it, they were all standing in the middle of nowhere — literally the middle of nowhere as it was all pitch-black, even the floor that they were all (apparently) standing on.

“What the—! Where are we!?” Baekhyun spoke first, scanning the surroundings (or lack thereof) frantically.

“Damnit! I was in the middle of eating Kyungsoo’s food!”

“Wow, you have got to sort out your priorities, Yeol.” Kai lightly reprimanded, but with an ephemeral smile on his bronzed face.

“You are somewhere outside time and space. Do not be alarmed — you will be back to your world shortly.” A regal voice, both clear and majestic, spoke from nowhere, and alerted the six. Something bright, utterly bright, flashed in front of them, followed by a warm and sunny feeling. The flash of light gave way to a tall and stocky figure, that with golden-colored locks, inquisitive amber eyes and sun-dusted skin. If it were for normal circumstances, they would’ve said something along the lines of him looking Western, but this was no ordinary meeting and they were too stunned to think about that for now.

“I am Sol, the celestial Sun that runs across your skies, and a Legend that guards a mystical entity that ensures the world’s balance: the Tree of Life. When it was nearly destroyed, the Twelve Forces that were from the Tree of Life was split up and sent to this world. Six of them now reside in you: namely, the Teleportation, the Light, the Water, the Wind, the Earth and the Phoenix Fire.

I’ve come to warn you of the impending doom. The Darkness that tried to destroy the Tree of Life was once subdued, but he is now free and threatens to destroy you and the Heart before the Tree of Life can be restored. Before he does such a heinous act, the Twelve Forces must be reunited to enable the Heart to return to the Tree of Life and to fix the world’s balance once more. If not, the consequences for the two dimensions of the world will be severe.”

Sol anticipated the shock that came through the faces of the six boys, as well as the confusion between them. Slowly, they looked at each other, and then Suho stepped up to voice their shared thoughts. “Wait… could you… explain to us everything? This is all too confusing, to be honest.”

Unfortunate it was that there was no time for that, Sol told the six. “You will know everything in due time. But for now, protect yourself, because the Darkness is always waiting.” With that cryptic message, he disappeared in the same bright flash of light, as so did the six found themselves sitting on the lush grassy field of their university, lunchboxes and store-bought lunches in front of them, Chanyeol’s arm still outstretched to Kyungsoo’s food.

“What the hell was that about…?”

What Suho and the others experienced was the same for Kris and his friends, only that Luna was the one to explain things for them. By the time she finished and they had been back to their physical body's consciousness, Xiumin and Chen stormed in Kris and Tao’s dormroom, while Luhan frantically woke Yixing up.

“Did you guys see that same thing I saw?” Chen questioned, the answer obvious before he even asked, judging by the looks that the five other exchanged.

“I don’t know… mostly it felt like a dream.” The drowsy voice of Yixing answered while he rubbed his eyes in an effort to wipe away the sleepiness from his eyes. That didn’t work, however.

“But it was the same, wasn’t it? Some female called ‘Luna’ saying something about a Tree and about darkness and a heart and our gifts?”

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it. And she said that we have to protect ourselves, and to protect that heart once we’ve seen it.” Kris confirmed.

“We’re going to protect a heart? What kind of heart is it? I don’t think I can stomach watching over a pig’s heart or anything. That’s gross!” Xiumin made gagging gestures that had most of them almost laughing.

“Considering that this is all magic and stuff, it could be hypothetical. Something that represents a heart.” Luhan pointed out, inwardly hoping as well that he doesn’t have to babysit a literal heart swimming in formalin inside a large laboratory jar. Seriously gross.

“Would it be okay if we discuss this in the morning? I’m seriously dead tired…” the fighting-faced Tao drawled, rubbing his half-opened eyes like how a child would do it. Sometimes his five other friends mused on how he could be so childlike despite his initially-scary face. “I second the motion.” Yixing continued through a yawn and proceeded back to his room. After the unanimous agreement, they all decided to put it back in their heads until the next day. Or the day after that, or the day after that.

“The Heart isn’t allowing us to contact her. What do we do, Luna?”

Wow, I haven't updated this story in a month and then I pull a chapter out of mah head in one sitting. What the hell is wrong with me, seriously =)))) Anyway, thank you to everyone who has subbed, upvoted and commented! I solemnly swear that I will try to continue faster! XDDD

Oh no! Luna and Sol can't contact the Heart, and if she isn't warned... *dun dun dun!*