Keira used to be taught that Stargazers were naïve and incompetent; they had to go through fire only to understand that flames burned their skin, and walk through depths of caves only to learn that the ragged rocks would cut deeply into their bare feet. They were inferior to Spellbinders, and without the abilities to cast spells, they were even less connected to the infinite powers of Her the Great Mother, Nature.

  But being here, actually being here in the Stargazer world, and interacting with Stargazers, she found out that what the Commander had been telling her, and everyone else, were lies. The Stargazers might not be richly knowledgeable of the world outside the Southern Commonwealth, but they were nowhere near incompetent. Their abilities alone could already do a lot of damage Keira never even imagined possible, and they were actually really good at listening to her. She only had to tell her story once – her story she didn’t have time to weave smoothly, instead just blurting out everything that popped into her mind first – and her audience didn’t need her to repeat. From their eyes she could see all her words sinking into their brains, registering in their minds, processing, connecting; she could see realization dawning and more questions surfacing in each and every one of them.

  “Hundreds of miles north of the Southern Commonwealth, there’s a village called Magus, and that’s where I come from,” she had started, standing, unable to look anyone in the eyes yet. “My full name is Keira Moon, and like all the other people who live in Magus, I am a Spellbinder. We, like you Stargazers, are not ordinary people, but instead of wielding powers like you guys, we do our magic differently. We cast spells, using the energy around us. The nature, the ground, the sky… we channel the energy flowing in this world and cast or bind spells using it, so that’s why we call ourselves Spellbinders. The difference is while you were born with innate abilities, our magic is adaptive; we learn to acquire them. Time and practice is the only way for us to get stronger with our ‘powers.’ And our people… we know everything about every city around us, including the Southern Commonwealth. We know everything that has happened on your soil the last year: the rebellion, Princess Sabrina, the overthrowing of your last tyrant. It’s required that we know everything, especially people like me, those called ‘Fighters.’ We have scouts and special personnel in every city, and before you ask me yes we do it to observe and gain intel, but not to use the information to harm you guys. So we, or at least I, did not consider this action as spying. It was just to be resourceful, and quite frankly, our city is too small to have anything of interest every day. People like to gossip. They like to tell stories, or when they’re bored, just put their noses in other people’s business.”

  “I think we’ve all come to an agreement that you are not a spy, and that your intentions on gathering information on us were not malicious,” Andrea had said, looking everyone in the eyes. “At least, some reluctantly.” She'd ignored glares from some of the boys in the room. “But please, Keira, continue on. What particularly interests me is what you mentioned, Fighters, and you are one of them. What are they, exactly?”

  The word sent an image of Jungkook into Keira’s mind, and it felt like a quick sharp pain in the chest. “Fighters are… our version of your Royal Guards, but instead of being governed by royalty, we only have two superior leaders: the Head Chief and Lead Commander. The Head Chief is for reassurance – he is someone the citizens can turn to for protection or aid, like a king. The Lead Commander is in charge of the army – which is just a group of Spellbinders trained into ‘Fighters’ because our small population limits us from having a massive army. I’m a Fighter, and on top of that, in the Elite Squad, a special force comprised of only ten people, handpicked by the Commander himself. We are… well, as the name itself suggests, more elite than the others; we go on special missions, like top-secret Fighters, always doing the Commander’s bidding.”

  Besides Andrea’s previous words of assurance, the other Stargazers in the room hadn’t interrupted her yet. It was starting to unnerve her, because goddammit someone at least show reaction on your face please!

  Being the trained soldier she was, however, she kept going. “I’ve always known that the Commander isn’t like what people think he is,” she said. “In reality, he is violent, brutal, and has no morals. He would always consort to a solution for something that involves killing, because he thinks it’s easier and less complicated. And for some reason, he wants to eliminate you Stargazers. I personally think it’s because you have something that he thinks is entitled to him, and maybe I really did find out what it was, but then he and my best fr–“ she caught herself, “my partner, Bound a spell on me to forget it. But I do remember that ever since last year, when he finally revealed his true intentions to eliminate all Stargazers instead of mere conquering, I have been planning to stop him from bringing out a massacre. And I think I must have found out something that is crucial to his plan, because he would rarely make the effort to do any Binding – he’d rather wield a sword than use magic.” Especially on me.

  Sehun’s body lay as still on the bed as it had when Keira had been brought into the room. They were in a cottage in a village – but that was all she knew. Kai had teleported all 7 of them from the middle of the half-destroyed Grand Hall straight to here, and Keira guessed he had done it on purpose. Or at least, on Chanyeol’s orders. He didn’t trust her, not yet, and before he would decide whether not to, he wanted to make sure she didn’t know all their secrets. Clever. Chanyeol was an intelligent leader, Keira had to give him that.

  Still, she could tell that this village wasn’t an ordinary one. It was likely still in the Southern Commonwealth, but it pulsed with magical energy. It was shimmering all around, but Keira knew she was the only one who could see it. She always was, even back at home.

  Andrea, with Baekhyun by her side, was sitting by the bed, her hands still clasping a sleeping Sehun’s. By the looks of it, Andrea had a special bond with Sehun, and although Keira had once heard that he was one of the Stargazers who had helped Andrea realize who she was, she didn’t know more. Now she did, seeing the fierce, unbreakable friendship between them.

  Kai had been talking to a boy who he had called Yixing – the healer – but stopped when Keira had launched into her explanation. Apparently Sehun’s injuries were serious but not crucial, so he was going to be okay. Keira had breathed a sigh of relief, but only Kyungsoo had noticed it, and had frowned.

  She didn’t know what he was thinking, and now after telling them everything, she wanted nothing more than to hear him say something, anything. Was he not going to talk to her anymore? Was he still, maybe, thinking she wasn’t trustworthy?

  And Chanyeol… it would’ve been better if he had that kind of open face where you could easily see a hint of change of emotion on. But unfortunately, his face was as hard to read as a rock.

  “So what you’re saying,” Kai said, finally breaking the silence, “is that your leader wants to kill us, and you came here to warn us.”

  “Yes.” Keira nodded. “At first I just planned on undermining his plan back in Magus, but I must have found out something, and was coming here until one of the Elites caught me running and took my memories away. Then fortunately, I was saved by Ju – Kyungsoo.” Keira bit her lower lip, and mentally scolded herself. She was always good at keeping secrets, and yet she almost slipped out about Junmyeon, and even previously about Jungkook being her best friend. Was she having her guard down? Was it because she was trying to be convincing and trying to be as honest as possible? It wasn’t like her. “The Elites would’ve taken me back, but instead I was saved by Kyungsoo and now since I’m in the Southern Commonwealth, I’ll help you from here.”

  “How?” Chanyeol asked. “How can you help us when you can’t even remember this presumably crucial part in your Commander’s evil plan? And why would you want to help us, anyway?”

  “Because I’m not a monster like him.” She clenched her teeth. “And I despise him.”

  “Because he wants to kill people, unlike you?”

  “Because he has no humanity.” She countered. “Because ever since I could walk, he has thrown me into a life of ruthless training, taken everything I loved away, and was never sorry for it. Because all I am to him is a weapon he could use, and every time I tried to defy, he hurt innocent people just to make a point. He didn’t even let me go see my mother when she was dying, when she took her last breath. He has hurt so many people, and will keep doing so. I want to stop him; I need to stop him. I will not rest until I see him put down, and he will be put down. By me. I will kill him with my bare hands.”

  A feeling of coldness shivered through the room, like an invisible snake.

  Kyungsoo couldn’t hide the shock he felt, the quivering of his hands. He knew Keira had been trained to be a soldier, and wasn’t always as gentle as other ladies were. But when she had been talking about the Commander, and how she wanted to kill him with her bare hands… the venom dripping in her voice was something he never would’ve expected from a girl, not even one who had thrown forks at him.

  Andrea was looking at Keira, sadness glistening in her eyes. “The Commander is your father,” she said. It wasn’t a question or an assumption; it was a statement she learned from the personal hate coming from the girl standing before them.  There was no pity in Andrea’s eyes, just pure, genuine sadness. As if she could really understand the turmoil and thunderstorms of conflicts and struggles inside Keira’s heart.

  Keira could not thank Andrea more for the lack of pity. “Yes,” she replied, her voice trying to not break over just one word, even a simple word that explained so much. “One does not get to choose who their parents are.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Baekhyun said. “I understand what it feels like to have someone so close to you, someone who is your family, to be… bad. Evil. Not the person you would’ve wished they were. I’ve been through that, so I know what it feels like. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this, Keira.”

  For a moment, everything stopped for a moment, and the girl with silver eyes couldn’t breathe.

  No one, no one, had ever said words like this to her. Of course, she’d never publically told anyone else about her hatred for her father and her goal of stopping him (not even Jungkook), but this was the first time someone had said such gentle words to her. Had said they were ‘sorry.’ Had said they understood what it felt, and actually meant what they said.

  She had thought that she knew more than the Stargazers and was preparing to teach them anything they should know, but she never expected to be thrown off guard by them again and again, and to learn lessons from them instead. Lessons she would never had learned, never had experienced in Magus. Lessons that weren’t about strategy, combat, or cunningness. The people she were associated with back in Magus were considered her ‘family,’ but they were also ruthless, and selfish. They didn’t feel as close as the Stargazers were to one another; they weren’t willing to take a bullet for each other, or fiercely stay by each other’s side because they actually loved each other.

  For another second in her life, Keira wished she had been born among these people instead.

  “Why is everybody staring at Keira instead of looking at me with concerned faces?”

  Seven heads turned toward the same direction.

  “Sehun!” Andrea almost sobbed in relief as she scanned the face of her best friend. “How do you feel?”

  Wincing, Sehun tried to sit up, while everyone else was making their way toward the bed of the injured boy who had finally woken up. “Worst headache I’ve ever had in a long time, but other than that, I think my pride is injured more because you all were more fascinated by Keira’s story than my poor healing soul. Although,” he added with a teasing smile, “It was a nice story.”

  “You could hear when you were unconscious?” Kyungsoo asked.

  “That happened to me a few months ago, too,” Baekhyun said. “I think it’s a natural thing our body does.”

  Kyungsoo looked deep in thought (again), and Keira couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about Junmyeon again.

  “Well, Chanyeol, what do you think?” Sehun asked, breaking Keira’s gaze away from Kyungsoo. A bubble of fear rose up in her again, because Chanyeol was the king and whatever he thought was the most important. It could determine whether she had wasted her last twenty minutes and would still be thrown into a dungeon, or she just gained a whole team of Stargazers on her side.

  In a moment of surprise, Chanyeol spun around to Kyungsoo. “What do you think?” He asked.

  Kyungsoo started, obviously not expecting such a straight-on question. He opened his mouth out of surprise, but then surveyed the room, taking in how everyone was looking at him, and then closed his mouth, a somber expression returning to his face. “The story seems believable,” he finally forced out.

  “Yes, but do you trust her?” Chanyeol asked firmly, his arms crossed. “Do you trust this girl and her… claims?”

  “Why are you asking me?” Kyungsoo bit back, thickening the tension in the room.

  “You are the Duke – “

  “But I have never once stepped foot into the castle for a meeting, if you have any,” Kyungsoo replied. “I’ve never actively contacted you all in years, you were even unconscious for a good amount of those years; yet now, you come to me for advice? Like I’m a Grand Advisor of yours?”

  “Chan,” Baekhyun cut in, “he’s right, there’s no need to force him – “

  “Well then perhaps you should start doing all that, Kyungsoo.” The steel in Chanyeol’s voice made Keira’s spine crawl. Was he taking his anger of Keira’s existence out on Kyungsoo? Was he blaming him for having her here in the first place – a disturbance, a source of frustration, a trouble?

  Nature no, she did not want a bond between two Stargazer friends – friends who should be as close as brothers, even – to falter because of her. That would be the most horrible feeling ever, an action never desired upon someone.

  “Maybe this girl’s appearance is saying something. Maybe her showing up at your manor means that you could never hide from your responsibilities. You tucked and shrunk away from us thinking that you deserve no interaction with us, because you think we still blamed you for what happened to Junmyeon. What you have not yet fully realized, is that we all have long forgiven you. The only obstacle standing in the way is that you haven’t forgiven yourself. And you need to realize that, because the Southern Commonwealth needs its Great Four. It needs its four pillars, its power-holders, its duke. And we need our brother back.”

  Whether or not Chanyeol intended to add more awkwardness to the room, he didn’t move after saying whatever he’d long been holding against Kyungsoo. He just stood there, staring him down as if challenging him to say something back.

  But the look on Kyungsoo’s face was unreadable, and before Keira could stab Chanyeol for being so straightforwardly rude to Kyungsoo, or that he didn’t know that Junmyeon was actually still alive, the shorter male walked out the door.
 

***

  “I don’t think he knows the way back. This is his first time at this village.”

  Everyone’s gaze turned back to Sehun, after continuously switching back and forth between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

  “Oh my stars,” Andrea started half-laughing, half-crying. “Oh my – someone – someone needs to go get him back – “

  To Keira’s shock, Sehun started laughing too, then Baekhyun, and then Kai followed suit with his quiet yet visible shake of head.

  Why – why were they laughing? If they knew Kyungsoo was gonna get lost outside this cottage, why were they just laughing like he was a cute, dumb idiot? Instead of actually running out to get him?

  She decided to categorize Stargazers’ humor under her list of Unexplainable Characteristics of Stargazers. Just like how even though they’ve all be through the horrors of the Great War, they still managed to hold onto an air of naïve. Or that no one here really was serious, or trying to stab someone  in the back all the time.

  “I’ll go get him back,” Keira decided. And before anyone (particularly Chanyeol) could say no and confine her in the room, she rushed out the door.

  Kyungsoo hadn’t gone far. In less than a minute, following the trail of turned-up dirt on the ground, Keira found him at the bank of a river, standing and looking out towards the water and immense patches of trees on the other side.

  “Hey.”

  If Kyungsoo was startled, he didn’t show a sign. He didn’t even show that he heard her.

  “Hey,” Keira tried again, now standing just a foot behind him, to his right side. She could see the side of his face, his jawline, his nose.

  His clouded eyes.

  “You know… I’ve had a lot of… brothers growing up,” Keira said, not knowing why she was even talking about this. But she let her brain just take over. “There would be moments like this when suddenly, out of nowhere, one guy starts being extra hard on another. In the perspective of the latter guy, the sudden harshness would come as so random, so out-of-place that they’d feel hurt and then become angered. And it’s normal to feel emotionally hurt, because they’re brothers. Brothers who stand side by side, not turn their backs on each other. So if one brother is really being so aggressive, maybe… maybe it means that there was always an underlying complaint or issue he had towards the other. And then maybe the right time comes, and that one guy just… explodes. It’s not that they don’t believe in you, Kyungsoo… or that Chanyeol suddenly wants to unmercifully hold you against all the responsibilities you’ve neglected. But maybe he’s just missed you, you know? And in a guy’s way, most guys can’t express something so sincere easily. They hide it behind anger, behind authority. So…”

  She didn’t know what she was going to say after that ‘So.’ Out of nowhere a string of encouraging words came out of her even without her noticing, and when she did it was already too late. She wasn’t used to this. Back in Magus she wasn’t allowed to dwell in emotional relationships between people; the Elites were soldiers who weren’t allowed to let emotions get in the way. They were trained to hide those emotions, and replace it with indifference, with hand-on-hand fights. Otherwise, the consequences were so horrific that she wished she had never learned about.  Yet, when she had secretly read those books in the past and seen how there were different ways to cope with emotions other than hiding them, like actually accepting them and understanding the reasons behind why she felt such things for different people… it was like opening a whole new world in front of her eyes. And right now, she wanted to let Kyungsoo know why he was hurt. He was evidently hurt. So she wanted him to know why, to not resent Chanyeol, and most of all: to not go back to hiding. Because that was the easiest way a lot of people would take, when hurt, sad or upset. And it was also the easiest yet longest way to a bigger conflict in the end of the road. No matter how little she knew about Kyungsoo, Keira knew at least Kyungsoo did not deserve such a fate.

  What was it with her, suddenly caring for a bunch of Stargazers? She was supposed to just come to the South and help them defeat her father, not want to become one of them. She knew she loved the life back at Magus, ordinary, with no complications, with losing herself in the motions of combat.

  Yet something about this place was also making her want to not leave…

  “I don’t know,” Kyungsoo said.

  Keira’s head snapped up. “You don’t know… what?”

  “It’s been years. Years since I’ve… talked to Yeol, talked to… them. I got into all this because of you, but I don’t know if personally I wanted this from the beginning.”

  “When you say it like that, it sounds like you’re blaming me – “

  “I am.” Kyungsoo spun around. She visibly flinched when she saw the anger in his eyes, the hardness painting his irises. “Yeol is also right. All this started when you appeared. Now things have become so complicated – “

  “Life is complicated. You can’t just go back to your hole after this; your friends miss you and need you – “

  “They don’t need me,” Kyungsoo said. “I have no use here, Keira. What can I do? I don’t even remember how to do politics, how to interact with people; interactions bring complications, and complications bring sacrifices. My friends have been governing this place for years and have done well without me. They can continue doing so. Even if what you say about your father is right, they still don’t need me when you are enough to help them.”

  “But…” but what? Keira thought to herself. Kyungsoo had a point. Technically all the people in the cottage needed was her; she had all the information they should need. But some part in her wanted Kyungsoo to stay; some part in her didn’t want to be left with them, alone, without the familiar presence of Kyungsoo by her side.

  Familiar. A jolt went through Keira’s body when she realized what she had thought. Kyungsoo had become familiar to her, and the realization hit so hard that the soldier part of her, the part of her that knew she would have to go back to Magus after this and leave no ties here, rushed back to the front of her consciousness and shook her so hard it mentally hurt.

  She had let her guard down. That was the first, the most basic lesson every soldier learned in life, to never do. And yet she did it for a guy, a guy who had treated her initially with suspicion, a guy who had questionable motives for keeping her around, and a guy who lived in a very different world than hers that she could never comprehend.

  She turned around. “You’re right,” she said. “You are not strategically needed here. No one is asking you to stay. My purpose for chasing after you was just to inform you that your Head of the Royal Guards will be coming to take you back to your residence.”

  It was a mercy she had her back towards Kyungsoo, because she didn’t know how she’d react if she had seen the look on his face.

***

  Not a full second passed after Kyungsoo arrived back to his manor and Jongin left (not before giving Kyungsoo a sad, silent look), that Jin burst out the front door, running.

  “My lord,” he panted as he ran toward Kyungsoo. “The master bedroom – green lights – “

  That was all Kyungsooo needed to hear before he started running full speed.

  It felt like ages before he finally reached Junmyeon’s room, and he silently cursed for having such a big manor. It served good purposes, but sometimes it was also painfully inconvenient for him on certain manners.

   Bright, green spikes of light were leaking through the creaks of the closed door hinges, and as Kyungsoo slammed open the doors the sudden full-on impact of the pulsing green light temporarily blinded him. But he recovered in mere seconds, shielding his eyes with his hand and seeing through the cracks of his fingers, searching. Until he saw him.

  The boy on the bed, writhing as if having a nightmare.

  It could’ve been seen as simple as that, if the boy wasn’t also the one emanating the blinding green lights.

  They came out of him as if he were a glowing ball of light unable to be turned off, shooting out like spikes of energy. And they felt like energy; as Kyungsoo tried walking towards Junmyeon, he could feel a force pushing him back, physically paining him – not too intensely, but enough to start generating a headache. Yet Kyungsoo kept walking towards the bed, because this had happened before and he was certain he could make it stop by the way he had always made it stop for the last few years, and he ignored the nagging realization whispering in the back of his head that these occurrences were happening more and more often. They used to happen once a year, but recently it had been happening every two months, then every month, and Kyungsoo didn’t know what he should do about it if it was worsening –

  Junmyeon’s panting became distracting as Kyungsoo reached the bed, putting his hand on the former boy’s forehead. It was burning so hot, as if he were a star, burning and shining.

  “Junmyeon.” Kyungsoo started shaking him, gently, adding pressure every few seconds. “Junmyeon, wake up. Wake up. Junmyeon – “

  The white-haired boy’s eyebrows creased in a tight line, and his thrashing became more violent, causing the lights to shine brighter and harder.

  “Junmyeon, please – “ it started getting harder for Kyungsoo to breathe. “Junmyeon, you need to wake up – stop – “

  Everything started getting blurry in Kyungsoo’s vision. He started panicking because none of Junmyeon’s “flashes” had been this severe before; usually he would’ve woken up by now, but this time he showed no sign of calming down.

  “Wake up.” The headache was getting worse, so worse that water was starting to spring into his eyes.

  “Wake up, Junmyeon," he heard a crack behind him that sounded like the windows breaking.

  "Wake up – !”

  Later on, Kyungsoo wouldn’t remember what happened next or what happened first; what was real; and what was his imagination. But if whatever he thought happened were his imagination, he’d let it just be. If the golden light that came through the door, in a shape of a person, was a figure of his imagination, he’d let it be. And if his imagination let him see that the golden lights weren’t just pure gold but also tinges with spiraling green, he’d let it be, too. He’d let that imagination be what had happened before he lost consciousness and fell into a pit of darkness.

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[Author says Hello]

Hi guys :) It's been more than 2 years... and I am out-of-words sorry for doing this to all of you. Entering my last half of college and going through significant changes of a relationship was more than I could've handled at the moment for the last 2 years, but I've slowly learned how to find my pace back again. I also had a major writer's block for half a year, I swear, it could've drowned twenty Titanics LOL. Please let me know if you guys have any questions, or want reassurance that I really am back and this isn't a random hacker continuing my story (wut), or just to get angry at me for leaving you guys hanging for two years ;_; this story was, and still is, my favorite world I've created so far, so I've also been trying hard not to mess concepts up and not generate a lot of holes. Thank you guys with all my heart and soul, for still being here, for still reading, and for still believing in me! I promise, I will never leave this story to rot. All the characters have so much of their story left that has been untold ;)