"Yixing! For goodness sake, close your legs! Minseok, sit straight!" Huiyin chided. From behind her, Kyujin watched while biting down on her bottom lip, amusement evident in her eyes while she watched the men in front of her narrow the gap between his knees and straighten respectively.

“I think Minseok is going to have to be a shy one,” Kyujin managed, trying not to laugh. “And Yixing…can be a tomboy? Minseok pulls this off better than Yixing does.”

“Hey!” The two males protested in unison.

“Talk about good timing.” Kyujin mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else, snorting at the ridiculous argument going on before her. Huiyin looked confused by Yixing and Minseok’s sudden synchronized outburst, though her expression eased into one of amusement upon hearing their conversation.

“What are you complaining about?” Yixing asked, turning to face the male beside him. “You can pass as a girl!”

Minseok groaned. “I’m a man, why should I be happy about being able to act like a woman?” His lips formed a small pout as he crossed his arms in annoyance.

Sitting on the opposite couch, Luhan and Chanyeol could barely contain their laughter at their friends’ predicament, falling over each other while trying to bring air into their lungs. ”They’re going to have to lift their voices too, don’t you think?” Chanyeol gasped, wiping the tears that gathered at the corner of his eyes with a bright grin. Luhan’s face was pressed into a cushion, his shoulders giving away the fact that his laughter just doubled.

“Yixing is the one we have to worry about for posture and tone.” Huiyin observed, crossing her arms over her chest in thought. The said male made a face and slouched in his seat.

“This is torture.” he groaned.

“Minseok probably has to only raise his half a semitone. Give it a go?” Kyujin suggested. Clearing his throat a few times, they watched as Minseok made a face before introducing himself in a higher pitch. Kyujin snorted while Chanyeol threw himself over the armrest in laughter.

“I think this has got to be the best plan I have ever thought of,” Luhan gasped wiping the tears from his eyes. “Good work, ladies.”

Yixing scowled and Minseok made a face. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Of course! Luhan! You should join in!” Huiyin exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together.

Luhan faked a cough. “I would love to participate in this, but if I joined, who would be the coordinator of this master plan and who would save you all if this goes terribly wrong?”

“When do we have to take action? There’s no way these two can pull off as girls right now.” Chanyeol mused, circling the targets of the plan in an analysing manner. Kyujin snorted again, covering it up with a cough when Yixing sent her a look.

“The night after the second elimination round,” said Luhan, running a hand through his hair.  “I would very much like us all to pass, as it’ll give us a bigger chance of winning against Team Prince.”

“You only win X’s for defeating them.” Minseok reminded.

“I don’t care,” the corners of Luhan’s lips curved into a sly smirk. “I just want to defeat them. Anyone can win, just not them.”

“If only I could still participate,” Kyujin sighed disappointedly, slouching onto a pile of wooden boxes in the corner of the room. “But I wouldn’t really be useful anyway.”

“I think it’s a blessing to not be involved in these treacherous rounds.” Minseok smiled as he sat beside Kyujin.

“Good luck and… please. Come back safely.”

Minseok gave her a reassuring nod with a bigger smile. Unconsciously, Kyujin was grinning from ear to ear as well.

*

The day of the second elimination round finally arrived. After the first round, excitement seemed to have replaced with anxiousness. The students were beginning to realise that surviving these rounds weren’t as easy as they anticipated. The past monthly battles were hard, but not nearly as harsh as the previous elimination round. Things were changing, and everyone were scared of this change.

All the participants gathered at the entrance of a teal-blue cave known as the Thoughts Sanctuary, waiting for the gigantic doors to open.

Chanyeol stared at it in awe. “This place is amazing!”

“How strange. They don’t usually allow people into the Thoughts Sanctuary. Heechul hates visitors.” Minseok mused, rubbing his thumb against his chin.

“Who’s Heechul?” Huiyin asked in a hushed whisper, feeling like everyone was supposed to know who Heechul was. Well, they were foreigners after all.

“Heechul is the Guardian of this Thoughts Sanctuary,” Luhan explained. He hummed, taking a look around. “The Guardian is chosen by the Owl of Knowledge. From the moment the Guardian is assigned by the sonars, they are to live in the Thoughts Sanctuary. Because this place is so secluded, not many people understand the Guardians or the powers they possess.” Luhan stood up from the rock that he was sitting on. “And also, very few people have had the opportunity of meeting him.” He threw Minseok a glance, but Minseok looked away.

Before the foreign trio had a chance to question any further, the doors to the Thoughts Sanctuary opened with a mournful creek.

The students slowly entered the cave with the guidance of Miss Song. The cave was so dark that everyone relied on the sound of the footsteps ahead of them to know they were going the right direction. It was only after a couple minutes of walking did they see a glimpse of light sparkling brightly before vanishing after a small flicker.

“What was that? Was that a firefly?” Jongin asked in a frantic manner.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that was a thought,” came a mellow male voice. “But then again, most people are fascinated when they see them for the first time. After all, it’s not every day you see a thought.” Another spark flared brightly in front of them, revealing only the top right of the man’s face and dissolving into the air, allowing darkness to swallow the place again.

“Sir, I’ll leave the kids in your hands now.” said Miss Song. She bowed before turning to leave. The cave was so quiet, the participants could almost hear the Guardian’s nod.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Heechul,” the voice claimed and a slender figure stepped out of the darkness. “I welcome you all to the Thoughts Sanctuary. You will see many more thoughts as you move further inside, however I would like to explain to you all the details of the second round before you do.” He paused and footsteps vibrated against the walls of the cave. Heechul was slowly pacing around.

“This cave is only one of the many Thoughts Sanctuaries in our universe. It collects every thought that everyone in a certain region has ever thought. Every thought has its lifespan depending on the energy it received at the time of the thought. Thoughts can vary in sizes, brightness and occasionally, colours too. All these things determines the power of that thought. After this round, none of you will ever underestimate the power of a thought - I can guarantee that.”

“So what do we have to do to get to the next round?” Jongdae asked boldly. A few murmurs followed the question, either asking the same thing to their companions or offering ‘what-if’ scenarios. The corners of Heechul’s lips curved up into a slight smile and he waited for the noise to settle down before answering.

“Find the most powerful thought.” The Guardian let out a small chortle. “Each person can only choose one thought. The strongest thought in the team will determine their victory. You have thirty minutes to choose your thought.”

“Only thirty minutes?!” Exclaimed Baekhyun. Heechul waited for the noise to die down once more before continuing, his smile never leaving his face. Huiyin wondered if this challenge was amusing to him.

“If I give you any longer, I don’t think any of you would be able to leave this cave.” Again, Heechul’s addictive chuckle resounded in the cave, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. “If there are no more questions, this round will begin in three seconds.”

Everyone’s throat went dry as no one knew what ‘finding a thought’ really meant of the difficulty of it. They could almost hear each other’s heartbeat racing like wild horses galloping on the plains.

Three.

Two.

One.

“You may now enter the heart of the Sanctuary.”

Unlike other battles where the participants would be shoving and running to get a head start into the battle, this time everyone was taking baby steps until they finally saw the dazzling lights that filled the room. It was like fairy lights on Christmas Day.

It was beautiful.

“I wish Kyujin was here to see this too,” Huiyin said, her eyes filled with wonder. Her voice was full of awe as she took in the sight, almost forgetting she was partaking in a competition.

“Perhaps it is better that she’s not here.” said Minseok. Huiyin threw him a puzzled look and noticed he was staring at the other contestants.

One contestant in particular touched a dark green glow that was the size of a fist. Within a split second, his expression changed – he was horrified.

“W-what is this?”

The green thought grew bigger and bigger and entered into his head. He was now clutching his hair, attempting to pull it out.

“Stop it!” He screamed. “Stop!” He was then on the floor, rolling around with his hands over his face. “I don’t want to hear it anymore.” Tears escaped from the gaps of his fingers.

“What happened to him?” Chanyeol asked.

“The thought was too powerful for him to handle. It decided to enter into his brain, so that it could live longer – because he will keep thinking about that thought, giving it more energy,” Minseok explained. Chanyeol nodded, continuing to stare at the fallen contestant.  “If you’re not careful, some thoughts can take your life.”

“It is a good thing Kyujin isn’t here.” Huiyin muttered. Minseok only hummed in reply.

“What kind of thoughts should we look for then?” Luhan asked as he kept close to the entrance to not make any irrational decisions.

“To be honest, it’s fate. You can’t really tell. If you think of thoughts in terms of frequency - if your frequency and the thought’s frequency is similar, then you’ll be attracted to that thought. It’s a subconscious decision. If it’s conscious, then it’s more likely it would go wrong.” Minseok explained.

Huiyin sighed. Beautiful, yet still deadly.

Great.

*

Minseok wandered around the cave. He had no intention of winning. It was only Luhan’s idea to beat Team Prince, not his. He watched as everyone attempted to tame a thought, always going for the bigger ones, the most vibrant ones. He shook his head despondently as he watched them fall one by one.

In the far corner of the cave, a thought caught his eye. It was orange with a silver line surrounding it. He’d never seen any thought quite like it. It was peacefully hovering above a small pool of water. His hands reached out for the orb - the thought was only half the size of his hand.

‘This should be a safe one,’ he thought.

The moment his hand came into contact with the orange glow, darkness embraced him. He could feel his heart rate accelerating.

“My son,” spoke a familiar voice. Minseok recognised immediately as the voice of his father’s. His voice held such warmth that it drew a tear in his eye. “He must never know of this secret.”

The darkness faded away, bringing the scene of the cave back into sight.

Minseok furrowed his eyebrows as he pondered about the thought.

‘Which son was he talking about? And most importantly, what is the secret? His voice sounded so grave.’

Minseok didn’t know what to feel, but regardless of what the secret was, he wanted to believe that his father had his reasons.

*
 

“Are these thoughts all from the people in this room?” Baekhyun asked, trailing behind Kyungsoo. The doe-eyed male only smiled and chuckled, continuing to look around in search for the most powerful thought. Baekhyun didn’t understand how he was doing it – he hadn’t even touched a thought yet.

“Woohyun, have you found any?”

“Not really,” Woohyun said, making a face after freeing a thought. “Unless you count my neighbour’s dirty thoughts about my brother.” Baekhyun made a face. Right, maybe not that one. He sighs, touching another. This one wasn’t any better, just–

“Hey, Baekhyun! There are too many here about you and your !” Baekhyun pauses, blinking at Kyungsoo who’s turned around to look at him. Chanyeol is on the other side of the room making a disgusted face while Baekhyun processes his words and then his eyes widen.

“Did you have to scream that out across the room, ?!”

At this point, Luhan was laughing so hard that he had to lean against a large rock to not fall over.

“Just thought you should know!” Baekhyun hears a chuckle from Kyungsoo while Woohyun howls with laughter. The light user ducks his head, his cheeks warming. At least that meant he’s attractive, right?

Yixing rolled his eyes at the remarks echoing through the cave. He glanced around, trying to look for his teammates, but they were nowhere to be seen.

A sound caught his attention. He absentmindedly took a step forward and his arm accidentally grazed a bright scarlet thought. Within a blink of an eye, he was transformed into another place. He was in an open meadow. The atmosphere was pleasant and tranquil - just how he liked it.

A little girl in a silky pink frock ran past him, dancing in the meadow elegantly. The girl ran and ran until she finally reached her village. She went to her house and lit a small candle. She clasped her hands together as she closed her adorable eyes.

Yixing watched in awe. ‘This is a nice thought,’ he concluded.

Suddenly there was a loud sound outside which startled the little girl, causing her to knock the candle onto the floor. Her eyes widened in horror as the fire grew instantly. She was too afraid to put the fire out so she ran outside the village.

She cried and cried as she watched the fire devour her beloved village. From the distance, she could see the villagers returning. She ran towards them with her arms wide open to embrace her parents who were alarmed by the sight.

“What happened?!” Her father asked as he wiped her tears away.

The girl bit her bottom lip. Fear travelled throughout her body.

“It was the devil’s fault! He did it!”