September 2nd, 2509. 

Zitao knew that was a date that would become famous to the world. That was the day he’d gotten his powers. It was also the day of the eclipse and, supposedly, the day all the other so-called chosen empowered had acquired their abilities as well. Even now, there were still news reports detailing the people who’d emerged with supernatural powers, and the world was quickly descending into chaos.

“Zitao?”

Startled, Zitao looked up. He was in his school’s library; he’d completely forgotten. There was a textbook in front of him, but he’d started to read and re-read the same sentence over and over again, and he was glad for the distraction of whoever had called his name. He couldn’t focus on anything anymore.

Oddly enough, Byun Baekhyun was the one who’d approached him.

He stood there, his backpack slung over one shoulder and his expression blank. Zitao felt something in his chest clench. Baekhyun looked relaxed and okay at first glance, but his eyes were guarded. He was afraid.

“Your name is Zitao, right?” Baekhyun continued.

Zitao nodded. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“I need to ask you something.” 

His hands hung loosely at his sides. Zitao could see now that they were trembling. “Um … okay. What about?”

“Can we go somewhere more private?”

Zitao glanced around. The library was empty save for them. He didn’t know what Baekhyun meant by more private, but he didn’t feel like arguing. If Baekhyun wanted to talk, he’d talk. If Baekhyun tried anything—which Zitao didn’t think he would—Zitao could always stop time and leave.

Either way, he’d be fine.

So Zitao nodded and grabbed his things as he followed Baekhyun into the chill, late afternoon air. The sky above was dark with building storm clouds. Zitao frowned up at it. When he’d gone into the library, it had been clear—not a cloud in the sky. Had he been in there that long? He checked his phone, but it had only been half an hour.

Weird.

Baekhyun led him to a spot behind one of the science buildings. There was a little area there with an old oak tree and a few stone benches. Baekhyun sat on one, his head down. Zitao remained standing and wondered if he should speak.

“I’m sorry about this,” Baekhyun said then, “But I … I wasn’t sure who else to turn to.”

Zitao frowned, nervous. “What?”

“You’re one of those chosen empowered whatever, aren’t you?”

Ice laced through Zitao’s veins. “I … I’m not—”

“Don’t play dumb.” Baekhyun looked up at him. “I know you are. I know you did something in class the other day. I felt it. You’re one of the chosen empowered.”

Zitao swallowed hard and considered denying it again, but the look in Baekhyun’s eyes said he wouldn’t buy it. Zitao was out of options. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he said, his voice low and soft. “I—I don’t want anyone else to know, please.”

Baekhyun looked surprised. “I wasn’t planning on telling anyone.”

“Then … why did you do all this?”

“I needed to know if I could trust you.”

Zitao felt more confused with each passing second. “Trust me?”

“I …” Baekhyun hesitated, as if to make sure they were still alone. His voice was quiet when he spoke again. “I’m one of the chosen empowered too.”

What? Zitao went still. A confession was the last thing he’d expected.

“It … it happened the day of the eclipse.” Baekhyun looked down at his lap again. “But I haven’t told anyone else. You’re the first.”

Zitao stared. Something had started to make sense in his head, as if the puzzle pieces that eluded him before were now within his reach. “You said … you said you felt something that day in class and that’s how you knew that I was like you. What does that mean?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t know how else to explain it. I just … felt it. There was a shift in the air, in the space around you, and then suddenly you were on your feet and Mrs. Kim was asking you if something was wrong.”

“I stopped time.”

“I—what?”

“That’s my ability—time. I control time. During that class, I stopped it by accident. That was before I’d really figured out my powers.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun glanced away from him again. Zitao didn’t like the look in his eyes; it was too open, too vulnerable.

“You’re scared.”

It wasn’t a question, and Baekhyun nodded. “Terrified, actually. I have no idea what this means—what any of it means.”

“Neither do I.”

Baekhyun sighed. “I hoped you’d have some insight.”

“I’m working on that.” Zitao clasped his hands together in his lap. “What’s your power?”

“Light.”

“… Light?”

“Yeah. I don’t know much more than that. I haven’t had a chance to experiment.” Baekhyun shrugged. “All I know so far is I woke up the day of the eclipse, and I was … well, I was shining from the inside out. Light from every orifice, that sort of thing. Then it start to drip from me like it was liquid, and that was when I really began to panic. Eventually I was able to focus it into one point.” He held up his hands. “Every so often, it flickers in my palms, but I seem to have gotten it under control and stopped it from being everywhere all at once.”

“That’s amazing,” Zitao breathed. “It took me days to even begin to get a hold of my abilities.”

Baekhyun gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

“I am working on figuring this out, though,” Zitao said. “I am not content with just accepting it and letting it be. I’ve been doing loads of research. I also want to try and get in contact with some of the other chosen empowered.”

“Why?”

“Well, I was thinking that if we could maybe get them all together, we could pitch in our own opinions of what happened and why and possibly start to get somewhere.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Zitao shrugged. “The only problem is figuring out how to get in touch with others.”

“Well … I think there might be some others on campus.”

“Really?”

Baekhyun nodded. “It’s just a feeling. But the feeling I had before, about you, was right, so why not this one?”

“Do you happen to have an idea of who?”

“ … Maybe. There’s one guy in particular that’s been acting really weird lately, and I keep getting the same vibe from him that I got from you.”

“What’s his name?”

Baekhyun frowned. “Kim Joonmyun.”

V.     

When the stars disappeared, humanity ignored it. They went about their business and did their best to forget. But now everything had been turned upside-down. There were people with supernatural powers all over the planet, people who were living proof that reality was not as clean-cut as everyone thought it was, and the world was descending into chaos.

“So run the plan by me again?”

Zitao hoisted his backpack onto his shoulders and sighed. “Okay, you go up to Joonmyun and ask if he wants to have lunch with us. Tell him that you and I are doing a joint project for one of our classes and we have to ask people from different majors about it for research purposes, and that’s it. Simple as that.”

“Okay.” Baekhyun bit down on his lip. He looked nervous.

“If you don’t want to do this, I can,” Zitao offered.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’m just … a little worried that I'm wrong about him being like us.”

“If you are, there’s no harm done.”

“I know, but …”

“Baekhyun.” Zitao put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, you said before that if you were right about me, then it makes sense you’d be right about this Joonmyun guy too, right? The only difference is that you’re not alone this time. Once you get Joonmyun to me, I can take care of the rest. Okay?”

Baekhyun nodded. “Okay.”

“Good. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria at noon.”

“Alright. Later, Zitao.”

Baekhyun walked off and Zitao watched him go for a bit. He wanted to trust Baekhyun to handle the situation, but the shorter male seemed so timid and nervous. Zitao hoped he did okay. With a sigh, he headed to his next class. He knew he wouldn’t be able to pay attention considering everything that was going on around him, but he figured he should go anyway; he had nothing better to do.

He spent the entirety of class thinking about Baekhyun and whether or not he’d approached Joonmyun yet. He supposed if Baekhyun chickened out, he could always go instead, but he decided to give Baekhyun the benefit of the doubt for the moment. 

When class ended and everyone began to file out, Zitao was caught off-guard. He’d hardly noticed how fast time had passed. Strange. He left the classroom with everyone else and headed to the cafeteria. I hope I didn’t miss anything important. What class was that again? Zitao ran a hand through his hair. , Zitao. A lot’s going on, yeah, but you need to get it together if you want to keep your grades up.

“Zitao!”

At the sound of his name, Zitao turned. Baekhyun was approaching him from across the cafeteria with a somewhat familiar man on his heels. The guy was around the same height as Baekhyun with light brown hair and gentle eyes. He gave Zitao a soft smile as he drew closer.

“Zitao, this is Joonmyun,” Baekhyun said, a bit unnecessarily, “Joonmyun, meet Zitao.”

Joonmyun nodded. His eyes were a strange, dark color that was almost gray-blue but not quite. It reminded Zitao of negative space. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Zitao said.

“Likewise,” replied Joonmyun. He exuded calm like a second skin. “So I hear you two are doing some sort of project?”

“Ah, yes. That’s why we wanted you to join us for lunch.”

“What exactly is this project for?”

“One of our Earth Sciences classes. It’s about recent developments in the environment and then also some news-related subjects. We’re just asking a bunch of different people some pre-prescribed questions.” Zitao rattled off what he said as if he’d said it a million times already. “Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Joonmyun said as he followed them to an empty table. He already had a tray of food; Zitao hadn’t noticed that before. Before they sat down, Baekhyun excused himself so he could go get something to eat, and Zitao decided to wait with Joonmyun for the time being.

“Are you going to eat?” Joonmyun wondered.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I see.”

Silence fell. Zitao resisted the urge to tap his foot as he waited for Baekhyun to return. He didn’t like the tension in the air. It felt almost as if Joonmyun was suspicious of him, despite this being a completely normal situation. Students did things like this all the time and Zitao thought they’d done well when it came to their cover-up story. So why did Joonmyun have any reason to be suspicious?

“You seem tense.”

Zitao started. Joonmyun’s gaze was on him, cool and steady. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? I’m not making you uncomfortable or anything, am I?”

“No, of course not. Why would you?”

Joonmyun shrugged. “Some people have told me my prescence is unsettling.”

“I think it’s calming.”

“Well, you would be the first.”

Baekhyun returned then, a tray piled high with food cradled in his arms. Zitao gave him a look and Baekhyun returned it with a sheepish smile. “I’m hungry,” he said by way of an excuse.

“Anyway,” Zitao said, “Let’s get started. First things first, Joonmyun, I’m sure you’ve heard of the eclipse. What are your thoughts on it?”

“Just in general?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Joonmyun paused. “Well, I’ve heard that some people are treating it like nothing special, but to me … to me it felt like the beginning of something. It’s too bizarre to brush off as just some natural event, especially when we haven’t had an eclipse of any sort since the stars disappeared.”

Zitao nodded and pretended to write that down in the notebook he’d pulled from his backpack. He wanted to at least try to look professional about this. “Going off that, what is your opinion on the stars?”

“I believe they’ll come back one day.”

“Are you a Star Cultist?” Baekhyun interjected.

Joonmyun gave him a small smile. “I just like to consider myself a person of faith.”

“That’s a good thing to strive for,” Zitao said, “Faith.”

“Any more questions?” Joonmyun wondered. “I hate to cut this short, but my next class starts soon.”

“What do you think of these so-called chosen empowered that have started to show up?” Baekhyun asked before Zitao could stop him. In response, Zitao felt the urge to slap the shorter male upside the head. I didn’t want you to just come out and ask that! He was about to turn to Joonmyun and change the subject to something a little less suspicious, only to freeze when he saw the look in the older male’s eyes.

In the spans of just a few moments, Joonmyun’s entire disposition had changed. His eyes were no longer soft, and his mouth was set in a thin, straight line. “The chosen empowered are just a ruse set up by the star cultists,” he said, his voice as cold as his gaze.

Zitao’s eyes widened. “I thought you said you were a person of faith.”

Joonmyun stood abruptly, his tray in his hands. “I have to go to class,” he said. Then he left without another word. Zitao watched him go, his jaw slack in surprise, before he turned to Baekhyun. He was too shocked to even consider being angry at Baekhyun. 

“What just happened?”

Baekhyun hadn’t looked away from Joonmyun’s retreating form. “He’s one of the chosen empowered.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Baekhyun lowered his voice. “He did something just now. I’m not sure what, but I felt it. He’s one of us. But I think we scared him. He has no idea that we’re chosen empowered too.”  

Zitao frowned. “Baekhyun, I think you’re the only one who can feel the other chosen empowered. Maybe it’s some sort of extention of your abilities?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Either way, now that we know Joonmyun’s like us, we have to figure out a way to get him alone so we can show him we’re all on the same side.”

Baekhyun smiled, and something about it worried Zitao a bit. It was too mischievous. “I think I have an idea.”

VI.     

Before the world could revert to its original state, it had to heal. The parts that had been stripped away by humanity’s neglect and hubris had to grow back better and stronger. 

Humanity had to learn that there were consequences to their actions. 

This was ridiculous.

Zitao was crouched in a bathroom stall with the door locked and his legs pulled up on the toilet seat. He’d been in that position for the last twenty minutes, waiting for Baekhyun to text him about whether or not their plan to get Joonmyun alone was working. Plan, Zitao scoffed to himself. Or lack thereof. 

His phone beeped suddenly. Zitao twisted around so he could dig it out of his pants pocket and not drop it in the toilet. A text from Baekhyun flashed across the screen and he opened it, his frown deepening the more he read. I lost Joonmyun. I was going to try and corner him outside his class, but he ran out just now really suddenly. He looked kind of … wet.

Zitao frowned and texted a reply. Wet?

Yeah, like someone had dumped a bucket of water on him or something.

That was strange. Zitao was about to reply, only to stop when he heard the sound of the bathroom door swing open. In any other situation, he wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but whoever just came in sounded out-of-breath. Zitao leaned forward on the toilet and peered through the crack between the stall walls. The odds that it was Joonmyun were slim to none, but he figured he’d look anyway. 

To his surprise, it was Joonmyun.

The older male stood at the sink, hunched over and gasping for breath. Baekhyun was right, he looked soaked, as if he’d fallen in a pool or something. He also seemed upset. The calm he’d exuded the day before was gone and Zitao felt the urge to comfort him. I barely know the guy, he thought, but he also knew he had to leave the stall and talk to Joonmyun. This was as good a chance as any. Zitao took a moment to catch his breath and focus his thoughts, then he stepped down off the toilet and slipped out of the stall.

Joonmyun didn’t seem to notice him at first. He stayed hunched over, his shoulders shaking. For a moment, Zitao hesitated. Should I really do this? Then Joonmyun looked up and saw Zitao’s reflection in the mirror. With a gasp, the older male spun around, terror clear in his expression. His hair hung in clumps around his face, and every inch of him was dripping wet. He looked as if he was about to bolt any second.

“You—” he gasped.

Zitao knew that if he wanted Joonmyun to hear everything, he had to say it fast, so he put his hands up in a sign of peace and spoke as quickly as possible. “Listen to me, Joonmyun. I’m on your side, okay? Both Baekhyun and I are. We’re like you. We’re chosen empowered too.”

Joonmyun shook his head. “I-I’m not one of the chosen—”

“We know you are, Joonmyun. We know, and we want to help, okay?” Zitao took a step closer. “We can help you. Joonmyun.”

For a few moments, Joonmyun didn’t respond. Zitao wasn’t sure if he was breathing or not. He just stood and stared, his gaze far away, water still dripping from his body as if it were a part of him. It looked like there were tears in his eyes but Zitao couldn’t quite tell. Then he blinked and his gaze focused on Zitao again.

“I can’t make it stop,” he breathed.

Zitao started, confused. “Make what stop?”

“This.” Joonmyun held up his arms and gestured to himself. “The water. It … it started the day of the eclipse, but it wasn’t this bad. I thought I had it under control but now I can’t—it won’t stop, it won’t stop.”

“Okay, okay, calm down. Just focus,” Zitao said. “You need to focus on the center of your power. Get it to obey you.”

“How—?”

“Just focus. You’ll understand when you feel it.”

Joonmyun hesitated and then nodded and closed his eyes. Nothing happened at first, then his shoulders began to relax and, as a result, the water dripping off him seemed to slow as well. By the time Joonmyun opened his eyes, he was almost dry again. He looked down at himself and then gave Zitao a tentative smile. “Oh.”

“Did you feel it? The center of your power?”

Joonmyun nodded. He seemed better now, calmer. Not like he’d been the day before, but closer to it. “How did you know to do that?”

“It’s what I had to do to control mine. Though for me, it was more instinct than anything. Martial arts is all about focusing on your center so I figured it would work for this too.”

“Thank you,” Joonmyun murmured. “Oh, and sorry about yesterday … when I ran off like that.”

Zitao shook his head. “You were scared. I understand. Baekhyun and I felt the same when we first got our powers. It was terrifying for all of us.”

Joonmyun hesitated. He looked like he didn’t know what to say. Considering how fantastical the situation was, Zitao couldn’t blame him. “Well … now what?”

“Baekhyun and I wanted to find more like us and figure out what’s going on.” Zitao thought back to the star-world and Wufan, the man with white hair and eyes like the celestial bodies that shined in the sky night and day, and of the eclipse and the emergence of the chosen empowered. It’s all connected. I know it. “Do you want to help?”

Joonmyun nodded. “Count me in.”