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✹✹✹
The universe, in its great turmoil, made life out of everything. Stars, rocks, void. It made and transformed and gave. Pulled waves of matter and rippled the light. The universe, in its grand pattern, created.
Since the beginning, held within the universe’s expansion, there was a planet, existing and constantly evolving until it reached the borderline of perfection. It had mountains, plains, grasslands. Red and orange skies and giving sunshine. It had rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, and rain. It shone in its warmth and buzzing energy.
And beyond the plains of this outside planet, above the mountains and between the clouds, there was a Tree. It was vibrant, with solid branches and leaves that did not seem to fall. Twelve branches that did not seem to die. The planet’s existence revolved around it, drawing energy to power the world. But it could not do it on its own.
Born as legends with the sole purpose of protecting their source of energy, eleven known forces worked around every corner of the planet. Full of power by themselves, the legends nurtured the Tree together and their planet knew nothing but peace. In their gentle pace as masters of everything, they lived.
The planet’s streams, the rivers, and lakes bow to their keeper. As Suho works his tasks, he guards, he stands.
"The council is looking for you," the fire legend tells him one morning, with his cheeks blushed after spending the early hours of the day under the sun.
The holder of the water branch thanks him, before going to the council’s chamber immediately. It’s cold and quiet, just like any other room in the manor is. The temperature drop makes Suho dizzy as soon as he enters, so he hurries his step and tries to tame his hair before knocking on the metal doors.
They are evidently waiting for him, the two elders seated and facing him. Suho walks to the center and bows.
“Have you felt it?” The right one says, not much of anything in his voice. Suho quiets because he is still not sure of the meaning behind the words.
“Have you heard about it?” The left one prods, and Suho knows he must respond.
“No,” he mutters.
“It is only normal that we know about it before any of you do,” one of them says. “Guardian, this rumor is dark.”
“Dangerous.”
“Life-threatening.” Suho looks up and sees how their worry drips from their eyes. It gives his stomach an unpleasant pull.
“It is said that something dark and heavy is coiling close to us, that soon will target us.”
“Us?”
“The Tree of Life, guardian,” they expose.
“But the city–”
“We are well aware of what it would mean, and you already know the solution.” He does. As long as the twelve forces survive, their planet does too.
“It is time, guardian.”
✹
Hours after, with a clearer mind, the water force ventures beyond the limits of the city to find their eldest brother, and such a simple walk decreases his nerves slightly. Suho hikes through the woods with no more than two pieces of cornbread that he took from home and spots him sitting on the edge of a lake, the one that is just outside the city. The trunks that surround them are glistening like freshly cut diamonds, but the water guardian knows better than to believe his eyes.
“It’s a bit early in the year to start freezing your surroundings, Xiumin,” he tells the ice legend, who remains centered through it all. “Are you trying to summon a blizzard again?”
At that, the second force giggles, opening his eyes and focusing on his companion.
“Never so close to the city,” he answers. “I respect Chanyeol’s wishes to rest around this time of the year.”
“Is there something bothering you, then?” Xiumin gently shakes his head.
“Not at all, I merely needed time on my own.” And even when Suho’s smile is genuine it is not difficult for Xiumin to know there’s something hidden there. “Unlike you, who so clearly need to tell me something.”
When Xiumin turns his body toward the other force, waiting, Suho’s expression falls although he manages to keep himself calm, in check. One look at Xiumin’s still gaze encourages him to talk.
“The council heard a worrying rumor,” he starts, breaks one of the pieces of bread in half, and hands it to the other boy, “the Tree of Life is in danger.”
Xiumin knows what that means. His relaxed posture stiffens, shoulders drop, and he straightens his back. As much as they want to fill it, the silence extends itself over them.
“It’s going to be hard for all of us,” he whispers. “Saying goodbye to this place.”
As two of the first legends to be found, they have always felt the need to carry the worry, sometimes even the whole world. Water and ice, they wish to have the strength to protect them from all. But they can’t. What they have to do next is not something they can decide by themselves. The ice legend stands up and walks away, looking back just to say:
“We have to tell them it is time to go.”
Their common room, a room that is barely used, is filled with laughter, nagging, and complaints, things that stop as soon as the guardian walks in.
Everyone in the room knows this is unprecedented: the call, the meeting, the serious expression that Suho is wearing. They had not been together since the last time a legend joined them and since then, each legend kept moving, doing little tasks for their world that made life painless and fluid, not so close to the city at all times. Being away for so long heightens their expectations. As each legend had read the summoning letter, red-wax seal in place, their mind could only go to the extremes.
“The elders asked for me two days ago,” Suho states, gaze moving constantly, nine pairs of eyes staring at him. “There is a potential threat, one that is directed at our Tree.” He knows they suspect his next words but that does not make it easier. “We have to leave.”
At a time, he sees how everyone deflates, their defeat evident in their stance. It is not a pleasant sight, so he looks at Xiumin trying to find support. Remaining calm, the freezing force purses his lips and stands up.
“We were warned about this,” he starts. “We were taught not to fight but we have to protect the Tree and–” he crosses his arms– ”the planet.”
“Each one of us will carry a piece of home,” Suho says, and takes a second to smile at Luhan, “or two.”
“But,” the lightning legend whispers, wearing a frown of confusion, “we are just eleven pieces. The last of the Tree’s gifts has not been found.”
The words that kept ringing in Suho’s conscience make a grand appearance at the reminder. The elders’ order to decide whether they leave as eleven or stay to look for their twelfth ringing in his mind.
Suho wants, more than anything, that the eleven can agree on this. Truthfully, it was risky on both ends. They could leave the planet right then, hoping the last force would be safe until their return, or they could try to find them, praying that the threat would not reach them before it is too late.
Just after a few seconds of quietness, he is brought back by their brothers’ remarks.
“You’re not considering leaving them behind, are you?” the light legend asks, shock in his expression. “We cannot abandon them here, all by themselves,” Baekhyun continues, “without knowing if we’re going to come back.”
“They are our sibling,” D.O. adds while Lay starts to nod. Chanyeol mirrors the movement and Chen places his hand on Xiumin’s arm, trying to convey his agreement with a single touch.
Secretly, Suho wanted this resolution. Wanted his brothers to care for someone they've never met before but would be important to them, and he is glad the decision was made unanimously. A heaviness that lays on his shoulders starts to dissolve, and he starts to breathe lighter.
“Let’s get ready, then,” the guardian says. “Let’s find our twelfth.”
✹
Every single one of them is familiar with their planet and thanks to Luhan and Kai, they are able to move fast. Mapping out a plan is easier when each knows what they can handle.
Tao, happily running behind the water and ice legends, gets to see bodies of water as often as he usually wishes. The two older ones are aware that Tao’s training and tasks often hold him in isolated places, the council wary of letting people go through time manipulation. So despite the pressing matter of their journey, they let him splash around for a while.
“Do we even know where to look?” Xiumin says while the youngest takes his third lap inside the lake, the place already cleared out.
Suho looks too serious but smiles when Tao freezes in time a small stream that runs down some rocks.
“It has been years since we tried to look for them the last time,” Suho answers, “which means that they’re either new to his powers–”
“Which means less control over them,” Xiumin quips.
“–or they live in secluded places.”
Xiumin feels there’s more to it and the sudden thought of their sibling being in danger fills his mind. It’s a possibility, one that he doesn’t dare to speak. When he looks at Suho and notes the corners of his mouth drawn down, he knows they feel the same.
As the first chilly air of the day reaches him, Xiumin urges Tao out of the water, and they move to the next body of water.
The way the rocks move under their steps fills the silence with a familiar sound. Baekhyun and Lay have spent the majority of their day walking the woods tracks, running into people who live there, and fishing information from them. Lay sees again how Baekhyun’s power translates not only as a physical mastery of the light, but melts into his mannerisms and tones. Baekhyun is light himself.
“It shouldn’t be too hard to find them,” Baekhyun mutters when they’re on their way again, walking away from yet another small village where no one has seen traces of a legend.
Lay looks at him and sees a faint hint of a shadow, looking so foreign in Baekhyun’s expression.
“We still have time, I believe,” the healing boy tries, and his words do wonders comforting his brother. Gently, he passes a finger over the dead branch of one of the trees next to the path, and walks away as soon as his effect takes over the former dry plant. He hears Baekhyun chuckle.
“No matter if it’s your power or just words, you have life coming out of every corner of you.” He turns and keeps walking. Lay brightly goes behind him.
They walk for what it feels like several more hours, their sun moving at the same pace as always in the sky. Right when the clouds are colored in a deep orange hue, they hear a hushing sound close to them. Kai smiles when he spots them and walks toward them.
“You moved faster than I anticipated, I had to make a few tries on the path before I found you,” he tells them, and they keep walking when Kai gets close enough. “Have you found anything?”
Baekhyun shakes his head. “Nothing relevant to our quest, I’m afraid.” The three of them look at each other briefly, without adding anything else to their troubling thoughts.
“Although, some villagers do need help,” Lay points out. “Maybe if we hurry, we can make rounds before leaving.” Baekhyun agrees and Kai nods, already raising his hand to snap his fingers.
“I’ll tell the others,” he says before a second swoosh is heard and Baekhyun and Lay are left alone once more.
Echo and darkness surround them fully, but Chanyeol is more than happy to provide light and warmth.
“I’ve improved my fire fingers, watch this!” he says before igniting his digits one by one. He takes it one step forward by alternating them in one hand, then the other, then both. He hears Chen clapping, clearly amused, and D.O.'s laughter, a rich sound that comes from his chest that makes Chanyeol swell.
When the effect of his trick passes, he makes a simple fireball and places it on top of his head, lighting up their path. Chen walks to his right, watching carefully the floor’s indents since it would be easy to trip and fall inside the caves, whereas D.O. goes to Chanyeol’s left and stays a little behind, listening to the vibrations on the walls. D.O.’s power turns out to be the most useful, reaching deeper into the labyrinth of the planet’s chambers without having to go there physically. It allows them to spend less time walking and more time going to the next set of caverns.
After a while, the lightning legend notices the silence, and it wouldn’t be so jarring if it wasn’t Chanyeol one of the people next to him. The fire force is still walking at the same pace, his flame has the same yellow glow but now, his mouth is slightly turned downward, giving him an expression that is unusual for him. Chen reaches for his forearm, squishing gently. Chanyeol shakes his head and makes his fringe shake with it. A tiny smile replaces the worry and the lightning legend sighs.
“We’re really leaving,” Chanyeol whispers. “It feels weird.” Chen hums in agreement and the force legend keeps silent, hearing the exchange.
“We’ll be fine, we’ll be together.”
“But we don’t–” the fire branch jumps over a rock– “we don’t know where we are going, do we?”
D.O. catches up with them with two quick strides and places a hand on the small of Chanyeol’s back, reassuring.
“Are you nervous?” he asks but gets no answer. “I am. A little bit. For a moment back there, I wanted to say we should leave without the twelfth piece, just to make sure we had a reason to come back. If we leave complete-” Chen hums again and stops in his tracks to look at his brothers, who turn to him.
“Hey,” he soothes, “it doesn’t matter if we take a while to come back or if we don’t come back at all. We’ll be together, OK?” Chanyeol unsurely nods and D.O casts his eyes down. “Still, we have things to do here. C’mon.”
After the sun goes down is increasingly harder to watch over the city, and Luhan fears he could miss something. It is unlikely that he does, with the help of others and Kai moving constantly between everyone, but the uneasiness at the back of his neck doesn’t allow him to settle.
The night has long been over him when he hears the telltale of Kai arriving. He looks exhausted
“Did you get anything?” Kai asks him when he finally spots him hovering over the roof of the mansion.
Luhan looks down at him and gently lands with a soft thud.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” It appears to be the thing Kai wants to hear less, but it doesn’t change the answer. “It feels wrong, don’t you think?”
The youngest force remains silent with a look of deep concentration, ideas swirling around his mind. It’s after several heartbeats that he answers.
“Yes,” he mumbles. “We know the planet well enough, it should not take us this long.”
“Do you think they’re OK?” They have to be, he thinks. “Kai? What is it?”
The teleporting legend tilts his head to the side, lets his eyes trace the horizon. From the place they’re standing it’s easy to spot the Tree. It’s far away enough to have to squint a little but close enough to distinguish its outline even in the dark. The idea that Kai has been pondering all day comes back with full force.
“I have to check something,” he whispers before snapping his fingers.
✹
Kai feels the change in the air as soon as he gets close to his destination. The Reflection, an area under the Tree of Life that pushes everything away, feels heavier and dense. A civilian would not be able to see the borderline that goes around the great expanse of the Tree’s shadow, but Kai is familiar with it after hours of trying to teleport inside it without success. It pushed him out every time.
“There must be something here.”
He has been mulling a theory for a while, one that does little to comfort him but makes sense. From his place on the ground, he looks up, he sees the Tree, and stares at the branches before counting to twelve. It has always been like that, he knows, but there is something in the way the Tree looks full and alive. As if its fate and purpose have been fulfilled. As if its cycle has been completed.
What if it doesn’t have another gift to give because the twelfth force is already with its owner?
Dread moves awfully on his gut at the implications. Kai’s fear of the twelfth being taken, of not finding them, washes over him. As his breathing becomes shallower by the second, a flash of a place he has never been in crosses his vision.
A desert.
A boy with brown hair dressed in white sitting on a wooden chair, playing with the sand.
A tornado.
Turning bigger and bigger.
The feeling of an involuntary teleportation rushes through him. He is not sure who grabs him by the arms and holds him, but he feels safe instantly. The rushed voices around him sound scared and he’s trying his best to tell them to stop, but the heaviness of the Reflection remains installed deep in him.
“Luhan?” he hears a steady voice ask.
“He didn’t say, he just took off.”
“Lay?” the same voice as before asks, and it’s giving Kai enough footing to come back to his senses.
“He is fine.”
“You think he found them?” a different voice says, closer.
Dressed in white.
The memory of what he saw comes back quickly, and the urgency of it makes him want to wake up faster.
“Suho–” he tries but comes out weak, and he is slowly remembering how to form coherent sentences. It’s not easy with the haze over his mind, but he manages.
“Suho!” Lay calls when he makes the name out of Kai’s babbling.
Without opening his eyes, Kai tries to sit straighter with Lay’s help, expression shifting due to the effort. Everyone is silent and the silence makes him open his eyes. Suho and Baekhyun are in front of him, Lay still holding his arm, the rest giving them space.
“I found him.”
They stand in a horizontal line, side by side. The border of the Reflection welcomes them silently, not doing more than standing mightly against them. The fire force looks to his right and sees how the guardian, the bearer of news, stares to the front like trying to puzzle something together.
“Luhan,” he says, and the telekinetic force raises his hand to the almost invisible line. Face strained, Luhan opts for closing his eyes, letting the strength of his power reach each millimeter of the shield.
After seconds, something changes. They’re not looking at an empty shadow anymore, but it has morphed into a mirror that extends itself both sides and upward. They see their reflection, the surprise on their faces, but the guardian's next command comes fast.
“D.O.”
Immediately, the mirror cracks with the shaking of the earth beneath them, and more worryingly, a layer of unknown dust begins to rise. Its color is unnatural, they all think, unfamiliar with that shade, and it’s only when the dirt settles again that Suho realizes they won’t have much time.
Red. Blood-red dust covers their feet as if warning them. Before anything else can happen, Suho moves on.
“Chen,” he murmurs, looking at the boy while he crouches and touches the ground. An electric shock travels to the mirror and what before were mere cracks, turn to holes as they shatter and fall.
The expectation keeps them still while the pieces of the shield touch the floor, and then, the sight of the back of a boy in white freezes them.
They are far enough to only make out the color of his hair, so they start walking. Kai, weakened, stays behind with Lay and Baekhyun as support, but they can see everything from their place.
It feels like ages before they get to him but Tao more than anyone knows it’s only been seconds. For some reason, the boy doesn’t appear to be bothered by their presence, and Suho can't seem to take his eyes off him.
Just before they reach him, Suho makes a silent command with his hand and they halt to a stop while he keeps walking. He is able to see with more clarity his features, and the unexpected familiarity of him comes as a surprise. The guardian’s logic tells him they have never met before, but it feels awfully like finding a missing piece of oneself. When he turns to the others, he knows it’s not an isolated feeling.
The sensation multiplies when the boy turns his face slightly to him and locks his glossy gaze with the guardian’s. He looks younger than the majority of them, probably around Kai’s age, and the thought of him being alone all this time, taken from his rightful place next to them, hurts Suho deeply. He begins to reach for his shoulder when a warning is shouted behind them.
At once, D.O. grabs his hand desperately, and the earth trembles from a wound foreign to the force legend. Just a second later, a rupture cuts through the invisible feeling of their powers, a slice that renders them still. The pain is far from excruciating, but in its strangeness, it remains unpleasant at the back of their minds.
D.O. pulls at Suho’s sleeve again, waking him up from the odd sensation and he faintly sees everyone else is already walking away, judging the shadows and what it’s left of the Reflection safe. All of them wanting nothing more than to put this place behind them.
Suho finally looks at the boy again and he finds a quiet question in those brown eyes. There is nothing left for him but nod, finally reaching for him.
“We came for you,” the water legend tells him, and he swears he has never seen such care and warmth in someone before.
“Who–” the boy tries but he’s cut off by the pressing drag of the D.O.’s stare.
“We’ll have time for introductions later,” he whispers, “we need to leave.”
The statement gets them moving, and when the boy stands to follow them, Suho feels that heaviness from before disappearing completely.
The twelve forces do not resent the coldness of the manor, buried inside their cloaks. When they walk by the rock pillars of the temple, their emblems shine as a sign of their hold on their powers, and just after they stand complete, the stars start to align.
✹
Sehun is lost, wandering by himself again. The place that catches him on this new planet is equal parts familiar and unknown.
A desert.
And he’s dressed in white again.
And another tornado begins to grow bigger and bigger.
✹✹✹