The night deepened as tendrils of darkness mixed outside with a few stars as the night sky stood in its complete glory above all. Chanyeol stared up at the sky; his breath held. The lights in all the neighboring houses were already turned off, however there was still a little movement in the city – few bikes sped up on the roads, as people rushed to their houses. He could hear the distinct murmuring of some people in this stillness. Still, the loud voices of his parents conversing in their bed, thanks to the thin walls of their houses were audible.
Then the clock ticked and his alarm rung – 12AM. It was midnight.
Every soul stopped.
The voices of his parents came to an abrupt stop. The murmurings around the city stopped. The honking of the vehicles suddenly became a distinct memory to his ears. The silence of the night filled every empty space, as the whole world fell into the deep state of slumber, as it did every midnight.
All of it, except one soul.
Park Chanyeol.
His eyes were wide, and lips parted. There was some fear and unrest in his chest as it suddenly got harder to breath for him – knowing he was the only one awake.
It wasn't a new discovery – he had been aware for quite some time. He was sure of it ever since, he had kept his parents awake until midnight on his birthday when he was ten and they fell asleep simultaneously in the middle of their conversation.
And they didn't even realize it in the morning.
Same with his friends – nobody realized, except Park Chanyeol, who stayed awake. In the span of the past eight years, he had dealt with this discovery all right, but that didn't mean the phenomenon ever failed to render him breathless and mildly shocked. Every night, he'd sit by his window, watching the world fall asleep – sometimes, he'd be brave and go out for short walks before running home, crying, because in the night, where he was the only one awake, the silence and the dark seemed like his worst enemy. It was as if he was walking through a dead land, filled with breathing corpses and sometimes, he felt they would never wake up...
He blinked as he felt trembles beneath his feet. He was used to it – in the night, it seemed the weirdest of things happened. Maybe, it was a mini earthquake. He wasn't much alarmed, because in the night, when everybody would be asleep, it was useless to be alarmed. If the house fell, nothing could stop it.
Chanyeol got up from where he was perched on the window sill. That day, he had turned eighteen. He was going to try and be brave once more – maybe, this time he'd be able to enjoy the dark, the earthly glory of the sleeping world where only his footsteps echoed in the dark.
He locked the doors of his house when he stepped out – useless, but something that was a habit. He walked randomly, away from the house. If he lost his way, he had until 4:30 AM to find it again, when the spell of the sleep would break. His footsteps sounded heavy against the asphalt – they were only noises except for few loud snores that he infrequently encountered. He gulped, the cold air hitting the back of his throat and making him thirsty. He had always wondered why he was an exception but he had never arrived at any answer. He had categorized and re-categorized himself many times, but had never found anything different in him than others.
So, he didn't know.
And, since he was the only one awake, he would never know.
Chanyeol had walked really far away from his home and was currently walking in a highway sort of area. He already lived near the edge of the city, where there were more houses as compared to apartments in the city and now he walked further to the countryside, surrounded by huge farmhouses and spreads of green land. There were many silent, smooth, big and clean roads here that he felt he could walk upon endlessly. He didn't feel weirded out by the silence here, since the countryside was always silent, however, he did feel feelings of dread tug at his heart as he wondered how he'd get back home.
He kept walking.
Suddenly, there was a sound. His eyes widened as his footsteps stopped, planting himself in the middle of the road. It was the sound of a car, driving really fast. It came from the road right to the intersection ahead. He couldn't see any car, thanks to a huge farmhouse blocking his view, but there was a sound of a car. He wasn't imagining it. And unless this was something robotic, it was a human – who had to be awake.
He ran towards the crossroads. His long legs helped him to run fast towards his destination and upon reaching the center, he looked to his right to see a car coming straight at him. He couldn't move. The flashlights of the car blinded his vision and he stood paralyzed, his chest clenching when he made contact with a pair of eyes behind the window shield of the car. The other pair of eyes widened and the car swerved and skidded across the road, the back of the car spinning to the front and ultimately crashing into the fence of a farmhouse.
Chanyeol only stood still; perplexed, confused, scared but relieved. He let out a breath. He was alive. The door of the car – a big, black SUV – opened and a figure jumped out. Chanyeol tensed once again, watching the figure. It was small as compared to his huge body stature and was wearing a black hoodie, with jeans and a pair of high-tops. The figure inspected the damage of the car and turned towards Chanyeol, who couldn't breathe, because he realized that it was a human, who was driving the car in the night, awake. He briefly wondered if it was already 4:30 AM, but he realized that the last time he had checked the time about fifteen minutes ago, it was a quarter to one. It couldn't possibly be morning yet.
The figure marched up to Chanyeol who stood still. He hadn't moved an inch. He was too surprised, this new discovery both shocking and scaring. The worst 3'S. As the figure stopped right in front of him, Chanyeol had a few seconds to realize that it was a boy before the figure started shouting at him –
"Why the fuck were you running? And why did you stop right in front of my car? You could have died or I could have died and you damaged my car! Hello, are you listening?" The boy waved a hand in front of Chanyeol's face and Chanyeol couldn't help himself as he grabbed his hand. The boy squealed, jumped and let out a string of curses that Chanyeol didn't resister. He was too busy grabbing the boy's hand and letting his big, long fingers slide across the thin wrist. He noticed a pulse.
"What the fuck are you doing? Let go of my hand, you dickhead!" The boy's words registered in his mind this time and he said –
"Fuck, you're actually alive," The boy's eyebrows furrowed and it seemed as if he was going to shout at Chanyeol again before his expression changed. It sort of softened for a moment – his eyes dipping down, the fiery trails of anger lost from his face, a sympathetic look washing over his whole being –
"Oh, I see," He said, before his expression hardened, the soft, relaxed muscles pulling into a serious and somber look, "You need to come with me, now." His voice was commanding. Chanyeol creased his forehead.
"What?" He asked; genuine confusion mixed with apprehension. This was a stranger after all.
Suddenly there was some sort of movement beneath his feet. The smaller's hand reached out to grab Chanyeol by the wrist.
"Now!" The smaller said, pulling Chanyeol towards his car and just in time, because there was a long sound, like thunder and the ground upon which Chanyeol's feet were was sketched with a huge, long line.
Chanyeol's eyes widened immediately. He resisted the movements of the little guy and stared at the road in fear and wonder. The guy grabbed his wrist tighter and tried to shake him but Chanyeol's weight was too much for him. He entered Chanyeol's vision – good-looking features that were staring at him in confusion, controlled anger and impatience.
"What are you doing? Hurry up!" He commanded Chanyeol and the pause after his words finally made Chanyeol able to speak again.
"You mean come somewhere with you? Are you gonna kidnap me?" He said, pushing the guy away with a strong force but the guy just came back and said –
"If you don't come with me now, you're going to wish you were kidnapped." He said, gritting his teeth and trying desperately to pull Chanyeol towards the car.
Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't know what was happening.
"What do you mean-" At that exact moment, as if in response to his half-uttered question, there was a loud rumple and another sickening, crunching sound, and the ground beneath Chanyeol burst open, pushing both him and the little guy into the sky. Chanyeol screamed as he was suspended in the air and then he fell down again, landing near the car. His face was contorted in fear. He didn't know what was happening. He sat there; shocked, stupid and stupefied. And then suddenly there was huge movement in front of him and the ground in front of him burst open, the asphalt breaking, rocks and hard material raining in all direction and something huge creeped out from the ground.
His first thought was:
Oops, zombie apocalypse.
His second thought was that zombies weren't huge pieces of slab which were brown and cut and bleeding green and white. Ropes shot out from the weird thing and Chanyeol, panic-struck, crawled backwards; his heart beating faster and faster and he realized that there were tears in his eyes. He just moved backwards, eyes never shifting once from the weird object. His brain registered the smell of damp earth and the soft core of trees that he recognized thanks to working with his grandfather, who owned a large farmhouse.
And it was then that he realized that this... this was a tree.
So the weird figures must be branches.
They turned towards him – the branches - pointed, and ready to grasp him and he just scooted even more backwards... until his back hit the car.
Shit.
He was so surprised he couldn't do anything. But suddenly there was another movement from his right, and light poured in the dark – a lot of light. Chanyeol's eyes instinctively shut, protecting themselves from the intense brightness, however he opened them back again and saw the little guy jumping at the tree with a shard of light. It went on for some while – light against tree and Chanyeol was scared for his life as he tried his best to get up. Just then, the light shard shattered, breaking into pieces and then completely bursting. And the tree went back the way from which it came and soon, it was gone, the roots were gone, everything was gone. The only signs of the attack were the cracked roads and the cuts on Chanyeol's hands.
It was all silent.
Chanyeol fell back on the ground again, feeling faint. The guy spared him a look and came towards him, kneeling in front of him and Chanyeol unconsciously noticed the beads of sweat that lined up the boy's face and the pure, dead exhaustion in his eyes.
"Hey, it's okay. Up, get up." The boy said, helping Chanyeol up even though it seemed to him that the boy needed more support. Then the boy got into the driver's seat and motioned Chanyeol to enter the passenger seat. And maybe it was the curiosity that lingered on Chanyeol's mind, or the fresh, raw emotions of fear and surprise that made him too tired to argue or think as himself and made him want to submit or maybe it was the tiredness that weighted down on the boy's shoulders that made him feel like doing a good deed and obeying – or maybe all of it combined, that made him follow the instructions and he found himself sitting in the SUV, eyes staring straight up ahead, hands clutching the edge of the snug seats as the boy tried his best to drive the car out of the slight ditch. Chanyeol could still feel some vibrations below him and these weren't the roar of car as it tried it's very best to follow its commander.
"Oh come on," The boy muttered, pressing his feet straight down onto the accelerator and the car moved a bit before skidding back down.
"Do you – uh – want me to push the car or something?" Chanyeol suggested. He didn't know why he felt like helping the boy. He just wanted to. Said boy looked at him – dark eyes looking dead. Chanyeol could see the iris of his eyes – they had no life.
"No. It's dangerous." The boy said quietly before pressing onto the accelerator again and this time the car successfully escaped. The boy whooped, "About time!"
He got the car on the road and drove to his right, carefully avoiding the gashes on the road below. As the car drove further away, Chanyeol felt himself relax, which he found strange because he was literally in the presence of a stranger. And that realization brought him to life.
"Where are we going?" He asked the boy.
"To a safe place." The boy answered, eyes darting across the road, one hand on the steering wheel and another on the gear. Chanyeol looked ahead; the road was big and clean and one-way. They wouldn't be needing that gear anytime soon.
"Which is?" He prompted. The boy just looked at him, "See, I'll explain everything when we get there. I'm just... tired. All right? I haven't slept in two days now and this was the fourth time I used my powers."
Chanyeol seemed to have only gotten the second line, "What powers?"
The boy looked at him; weirdly; definitely judging, "Um... did you perhaps not understand that the light you saw was my power?"
Chanyeol had no reply. He did. He just couldn't believe it.
The boy just shook his head, turning away from Chanyeol, "Start accepting things fast. There are a lot of things that you don't know. I'd say you've only just begun living in this world."
Chanyeol stared at him blankly, "So you're telling me I spent these past eighteen years uselessly?"
The boy frowns, taking a turn at the same time, "I wouldn't say you spent them 'uselessly.' It was important for character building, however from now on, you'll realize who you are, what you are, why you are and upon what you're living. You'll understand the dark secrets of life and you will know why things happen as things happen."
Chanyeol blinked, "See, if you're gonna kidnap me, then please do so without all this fore-talk. This scares me."
The boy nodded fervently, "It should. It's traumatizing."
Chanyeol winced, "I don't want to know about the 'dark secrets of life' then. I'm happy as it is."
The boy took another turn and he slowed the car, looking at Chanyeol dead in the eyes, "See, all these past years that you spent in oblivion weren't useless, however, choosing to stay in oblivion makes you really – and I mean, really – useless."
Chanyeol didn't know what to replied, so he just shrugged lamely, "Ignorance is bliss."
The reply came almost immediately, "And bliss is a double-edged sword. There's a difference between being happy and being obliviously in bliss, while choosing to ignore the misery of others."
Chanyeol couldn't help but frown at this, "Whose misery?"
The guy slowly edged away from the main road and his eyes were carefully focused but he still replied, "A lot of people," He changed the gear, "And non-people. For example, the earth, me, and inhabitants of the earth."
Well that didn't really clear things up. It only stirred the confusion more. And he was about to ask before the guy said –
"See, I'm tired. I swear I'll explain everything. I just..." He paused for a while, searching around with one hand in his car deck and picking out a Star-bucks cup and drinking straight from it, "I just need some... energy in me."
The boy stopped, parking the car at the edge. There was a bush in front of them so Chanyeol couldn't see where they've stopped. The guy turned off the engine and turned to Chanyeol and said –
"But first, hi I'm Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun."
Baekhyun extended an arm and Chanyeol shrugged and took the hand – it was soft. Everything was weird already – nothing could really surprise him anymore.
"Park Chanyeol."
"Holy shit," Chanyeol cursed staring at the place he was in. Baekhyun had brought him to this really tall tower type stuff in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a layer of bush and forests and this complex had indoor swimming pools and tennis room and library and everything. The interior was dark – it wasn't really dark as in black tiled but it seemed more like a cave structure – somewhere along the mixture of nature and modern physics./
Even the air inside was chilled and the place seemed hollow.
"It was actually a cave – a leveled cave. It was developed into this." Baekhyun said, next to him, holding a new cup of coffee and drinking it at a very fast and alarming rate.
"Okay," Chanyeol nodded, "And what exactly is this?"
Baekhyun didn't reply quickly. He scrunched his eyebrows as if in deep thought and then relaxed his forehead, taking another sip and finishing another cup of coffee. He walked up to the coffee-maker placed in the distance near the leather couches in the living room that they were in and made himself another cup. Chanyeol shook his head. So much caffeine intake wasn't really good for health.
"You're gonna get sick or something if you keep drinking that," Chanyeol pointed out and suddenly, there was another voice behind him.
"You're damn right but he won't listen. I've been telling him this since forever." Chanyeol turned around in surprise to see a short, white-faced, good-looking man smiling warmly at him, "I'm Kim Junmyeon, the sorta leader here. Call me Suho."
Chanyeol couldn't resist the urge to bow, "Park Chanyeol."
Suho stopped his actions – such as bowing and showing way too much respect to someone who might be his age – and said, "Chill, I am not an old man."
"He's not," Baekhyun confirmed, "Even though he acts like it."
Chanyeol didn't miss the slight glare that went Baekhyun's way before Suho seized up and turned to Chanyeol in a serious demeanor. His serious attitude was a complete switch – the traces of the kind smile were still visible however, the playfulness in his eyes had been replaced by calm, quiet and order. Chanyeol had goosebumps because, Suho, much shorter than him, looked much bigger than him then.
"Anyway, we need to do some basic introductions. So come to our main-office. Baekhyun, follow." Suho said and started walking away, looking back once to see if Chanyeol was following him and then not looking back again. He expected them to follow him and somehow, Chanyeol found himself doing exactly that. He had no idea why but he felt compelled to. Baekhyun was walking right behind him and that gave him a sort of comfort for some reason because Baekhyun didn't have a double personality as far as Chanyeol had seen.
Suho led him through the hallway of the living room leading to another small room, where the stairs and elevators and escalators were present. Suho took the stairs and Chanyeol could just follow him; Baekhyun in tow, rolling his eyes seeming way too tired to argue or say anything. And they started up the stairs and they just kept walking – up and up. Chanyeol lost count of how many flights of stairs he had climbed up. He was sweating profusely and his chest was heaving and he was tired and his legs were aching and he was sure that this was the plan that Baekhyun had in mind to kill him. But like, seriously, they've climbed more than ten floors. Chanyeol thought he was fit – he wasn't. Suho's steps didn't even slow down and Baekhyun – although slow – didn't seem completely dead like him.
Suho turned around after a little while to check up on him, "This is for building stamina. Don't worry, you're doing well. Baekhyun couldn't climb up after the fifth stair and he almost fainted when he tried this for the first time."
Chanyeol didn't have the energy to turn around and see Baekhyun's face. He just heard Baekhyun's reply –
"Yeah, but my low stamina saved my life once." Chanyeol frowned. Suho noticed this.
"We'll tell you once we reach the top floor. Only two more floors to go."
Chanyeol would pretend that he didn't curse everything inwardly.
The twelfth floor was very different as compared to the first floor. When they'd got out of the stair area, they faced a white empty room save for one white couch and one desk. It seemed like a reception. There was a man sleeping behind the desk.
Suho shook his head, "Careless."
Baekhyun shrugged, "Let the poor man sleep."
And they moved on without seeing much of the man. The back wall of the room was all wooden with an almost unnoticeable door, thanks to everything being dark and wooden. Suho walked towards the door and slid an arm around somewhere which Chanyeol didn't catch and the door swung open. Chanyeol's jaw dropped.
The whole room was furnished with wood and there was one L-shaped black leather couch and two similar sofas. On one walls, there were many maps and pictures of some weird things and a white board in which there were many lines drawn and stuff written. On another wall there were weapons hanging from the wall – swords, guns, crossbows. Chanyeol's throat went dry. They were really going to kill him. His eyes went from the walls back to the interior – there were some coffee tables with many thick files and many other weird stuff – it all seemed very business-like and mafia-type and scary and revolutionary.
He turned to Baekhyun and Suho and tried to form coherent words but only managed to say, "Umh...?"
Suho smiled sheepishly at him, while Baekhyun straight on started laughing at him. Mockingly. Chanyeol turned to glare at him but the latter didn't even see him – choosing to flop down on the leather couch and spread his legs while laughing.
"Stop," Chanyeol whined, sitting next to Baekhyun and hitting him on the arm. Baekhyun just went on laughing. Idiot.
Suho took the sofa on the other side after shutting the door – a table separated him from those two. His smile disappeared suddenly and he switched back to his serious self. Chanyeol got goosebumps die to the sudden change.
"Park Chanyeol, what I'm about to tell you will definitely change your life," Suho paused, as if considering whether to speak his next words or not, "And I don't think it will be a positive change."
Chanyeol's goosebumps intensified and he laughed lamely and airily, hoping Baekhyun would laugh at him. He didn't. Instead, he was staring at Chanyeol with this expression – as if he was sad for him yet with this responsible undertone in them that Chanyeol couldn't really call his expression 'pity.'
Suho cleared his throat and the weight of the dark room suddenly seemed to have been put on his shoulders.
"See, you may have noticed humans normally sleeping at midnight sharp," Chanyeol pretended not to have noticed how Suho used the term 'human' for other people, as if they weren't... "And this is not just a co-incidence. It is actually a program induced by the government."
"The what?" Chanyeol said, crinkling his eyebrows, "And the fuck why?"
Suho nodded and his next words were slow. The air in the room was thick and only then did Chanyeol notice the soft candle burning at the corner of the room – its fumes filling and suffocating him even more. The air suddenly seemed to have gained more mass. Everything was heavy.
And his heartbeat was fast.
"The government releases this sort of gas which compels humans to sleep at midnight. They do this because they're responsible for the country and the citizens and this can protect them from their demise or at least make it painless..." Suho trails off; His eyes looking at Baekhyun, "We are actually a government body – the top secret, yes, but we are. That's why we have such rich supplies and nice accommodation."
Chanyeol raises his hand as if to stop something; he didn't know what – the world, Suho, his headache, his heartbeat or the sinking feeling creeping underneath his skin...
"Wait, what are we exactly?" He asked, getting creeped out by the use of the word 'human,' in such a third-party way.
Suho pauses; looks nervous before he drops the bomb –
"Humans. Just not normal ones. Humans that are connected to the tree of life; Humans with power."
"Please say sike."
"...sike." Suho said, sighing, "But I just said it cause I'm nice."
Baekhyun leaned towards the table, "Nup, he thought he was being funny by scaring you."
"...what?" Chanyeol was scared, confused and lost and these people were weird. In a way, he had no problem believing they weren't humans, however the implication that he was one of them was definitely troubling.
"See," Baekhyun said suddenly, slamming his palms onto the mahogany table, making the big books and maps on it shake and rattle, "The thing is we're humans. But with powers and a secret vision – all right? We can see more than real humans. We can see the tree of life."
"You mean that diagram where carnivores eat herbivores?" Chanyeol guessed, "All of us can see that."
Suho looked at him for a few moments before he started laughing, "Gods, I love him."
Baekhyun just shook his head and turned towards Chanyeol, facing him – Chanyeol wanted to bop his straight, button nose. His lips were pressed in utmost concentration and sincerity. His cheeks beheld themselves in the dark candle glory. And his eyes – his eyes seemed to be the twilight of human existence – somewhere between being the most-alive thing ever and then being the deadest thing ever. The dark eyes bore into Chanyeol's soul, with so much seriousness, so much pain, so much emotion and the flickers of the candle reflected into those dark, dark eyes, lighting them up only to seem inhumane. And when he spoke, his whole existence was serious, dark, painful and non-describable. In the midst of the moment, Chanyeol felt that this, exact minute was going to impact his life largely.
"The Earth is well and alive," He started, "Spirits and the roots of this very Earth move in the dark, ready to feast upon its human inhabitants with one aim."
Chanyeol's throat was dry; his chest tight, "And – and what would that be?"
Baekhyun's voice was heavy; almost ancient and his eyes were shining with a dark glint – one that contained pain and the truth, when he said –
"Revenge."
The next few moments were silent – Baekhyun was staring at Chanyeol and Chanyeol was staring at Baekhyun. However, they were not looking at each other. Their faces and eyes were merely in contact with each other, however their minds were far away to another realm. Suho coughed and suddenly, both of them slipped back into their bodies.
Chanyeol gulped, "Why revenge?" His voice came out much smaller than intended. Much, much smaller.
Suho answered his question as Baekhyun's eyes were too busy glaring holes through the table.
"There are people who've helped destruct this Earth and defied the very laws of Mother Nature. And you know what they say, right? 'Nature has its way.' And that's what she did – eliminated those who hurt her and brought them home. She liked people coming back home." Suho said, calmly, yet his words drilled through Chanyeol's skin. He felt hot.
"Eliminated and home... you mean-" He couldn't pronounce the next words so Suho finished it for him.
"Killed. Yes," Suho said, his eyes flicking over to Baekhyun once, "Baekhyun told me that you were attacked by her?"
Chanyeol blinked, searching through his memory when he realized Suho was referring to the accident on the road – the tree coming after him. It was as if it had happened years ago. He felt safe in his house and all the things that happened were a distinct memory.
"Ah, yes, the tree..." His voice was airy and weird and Suho continued.
"Yes, that's right. You see you were in a danger zone. The area you were in used to be forest and it was cut down by three people that lived in the big farmhouses. Mother Nature couldn't find them walking around, thanks to the fact that they were asleep in their rooms upstairs and so she targeted you. One of the only people that were awake and walking. Easy target." Suho explained, using his hands to gesture to a map of the city. And Chanyeol noticed how that area was marked in red. It was danger.
"But why – why am I one of the only people awake?" Chanyeol asked, "Why me?"
Suho was silent for a while before responding, "Nobody really knows why, but it must be related to the fact that you're one of the elements that carries forward one of the legends in the tree of life."
Chanyeol's comprehension skills weren't bad but this just went over his head. Baekhyun huffed – a movement of life and sat up straight.
"He won't understand like that, dummy. Let me explain," He said, turning to Chanyeol but Chanyeol stopped him.
"No, your descriptions are really scary."
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, "This world is scary. Don't be a crybaby and listen."
The whine that Chanyeol let out went unnoticed and Baekhyun said –
"Life is basically like a tree, right? It starts with the roots and branches out, right? I mean, I hope you took your science classes well -"
Chanyeol snorted, "I'm a top achiever."
Baekhyun looked at him with distaste, "Ew, but yeah, anyway the root is this Earth and the things supporting this Earth are the twelve legends – I don't know all of them but I'm light and Suho's water and there are more like wind and teleportation and stuff – and these type of people have a strong bond to Nature and they can withstand human stuff – like the stuff that makes humans sleep at 12, also means man-made medicines won't work at you but natural wine does the trick – and these twelve legends can see the tree of life, which is currently, thanks to population, pollution and general ignorance of people concerning environmental issues : dying. And we're trying to make the situation better."
Baekhyun huffed out a breath after he finished.
"So, did you understand now?" He asked, raising a finger and looking at Chanyeol. Chanyeol shook his head.
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and said, "Fuck it," before flopping back onto the leather couch. The sight made Chanyeol smile – glad to know he was irritating seemingly irritating people.
"I mean I did understand, but there ae still so – fucking – many gaps you know? Like how are we making this better? And what tree of life? Is it real or something else?" He shook his head, "I'm lost."
Baekhyun stood up suddenly and looked at Suho, "We need to show him. Not soon like you said. Now. The danger is increasing day by day and we can't take a lot of time. We've finally found the last one."
Suho looked torn and Chanyeol was lost. He was diving continuously into whirlpool after whirlpool and every time he'd think he had found the light, he'd be pulled back into another whirlpool. This process was tiring and emotionally and mentally draining. He might as well see everything he needed to. So, he stood up. His shadow casted across the floor of the room scarily. And with all the talk about the Earth being alive, he wondered if his shadow was alive too. He shivered. Uh Oh, bad thinking there, Park.
Instead he focused on the events at hand, which were just as scary as his shadow.
"I'll see whatever I need to." He announced and Baekhyun looked at him before turning to Suho.
"See?" He pointed towards Chanyeol, "He's ready!"
Suho shook his head, "He's not ready, Baekhyun. He's tired."
Baekhyun deflated and huffed again. He looked lost too. Under the candle light and yellow light in the room, his eye bags were very clear and pure exhaustion on his made Chanyeol sad. A person doesn't deserve this.
"But," Suho started, "You're right. We don't have time."
Baekhyun smiled – a small smile but it was genuine and apparently contagious because Chanyeol found himself smiling too.
This time too, Suho took the stairs. Baekhyun didn't. He motioned for Chanyeol and both of them went down through the elevator. Chanyeol couldn't help but be curious of one thing – a statement that Baekhyun had mentioned back there.
"How did your 'less stamina' save you?" He asked, quoting the words, as the lift went down, feeling the tug and the pull in his stomach. It was too hot and they were too close but he tried not to notice their proximity. Not that it affected him in any way.
Baekhyun smirked as he remembered the story, "Let's just say that on my rookie mission, we were protecting this man whose house had like twenty-one floors and thanks to Nature, the elevators were broken and the whole place had really bad network. So, I was supposed to be in the basement, according to our plan, after landing on the terrace, because I was tired and just sat huffing on the stairs," He said, pausing for a little while, his eyes staring at the number of the floor they were on as if he wanted this ride to end as fast as possible, "The basement got demolished that night because this big tree grew there and destructed it whole so if I was there, I would not have been here now. So, I thank my low stamina."
Chanyeol smiled when Baekhyun clasped his hands in a prayer mode, but it didn't reach his eyes. Baekhyun talked about it so carelessly as if risking his life was an everyday matter now and it probably was (seeing he had almost died twice since Chanyeol had seen him. And one time was directly because of Chanyeol.). Another thing that bothered him was the realization that the life hewas going to live was going to be like this probably – with this amount of danger. It wasn't really inviting.
The elevators binged open revealing the ground floor – the familiar living room. Baekhyun stepped out and said –
"We have to go to the basement. We'll need to take the stairs." He said, before walking down the stairs; Chanyeol in tow. He could hear the footsteps of Suho a floor above him. It was somehow nerve-wracking. The constant steps of foot against the stairs was as loud as his heart which had note stopped pounding ever since he almost crashed into Baekhyun. Literally.
As they went down the stairs, the artificial lights lowered and at one point there was no light at all before this orbs of light of different colors appeared around him. He realized it was Baekhyun's doing.
"Light..." He murmured, "Cool."
He could feel Baekhyun's smirk.
"I'm always the MVP in battles in the dark or the underground and since Mother Nature hates our electricity so much and loves to mess up the switches, my light is useful." They went down the third flight of stairs and immediately Chanyeol noticed the light that was coming from below. It wasn't Baekhyun's light. It wasn't like his at all. It was ancient, different and it changed color – more like aurora than light. The colors changed from white to yellow to blue to green but it seemed more dull and comforting unlike Baekhyun's high quality orbs. It seemed... homey. And when it came in contact with him, Chanyeol immediately felt the surge of nature and its glory – the sound of birds, waterfalls, river, leaves and air radiated in his ears, his lungs were filled with the smell of warm and moist soil and forests and salt from the sea. Breathing was easy. The air and the light seemed to pass through him cleansing his soul and removing any human dirt on him. It eased his mind into a gentle sleep and comforted his human desires and made him forget about his hunger and his tiredness and his panic. The whiff of nature and the light were soft. They were his home.
He didn't even realize but he forgot more about his body and his eyes fluttered shut – he could see a green landscape spreading out below him, rivers raced up valleys, the sky shone a bright blue, there were so many tall trees that provided him shade, the sun was delicious and there were many animals around him. The air was fresh and he felt so good, so alive, and so nice. He had no worries about his hunger or about any of those insignificant humane problems. They didn't matter anyway, when he was so connected to the Earth.
He was at home.
" Don't ," Baekhyun put his hand on his arm; his grip was tight and unrelenting "Park Chanyeol, don't be lured by her. Don't give in. She's merciless; she just wants her creatures to return back home and be turned into dirt. Chanyeol. Snap. Out. Of. It."
Chanyeol's eyes flew open.
He was lying on the stairs, his arm gripped by Baekhyun, who was looking at him intently. Suho also gazed down at him worriedly. In the few moments that followed, Chanyeol felt a lot. His soul returned back to his body and the fog in his mind suddenly cleared. The smell, the light, the glimpse – he hadn't even realized that he had fallen, with his eyes shut, very much like a dead person. He shivered and it was then that he realized that his body was pale and hard and his lips were cold. He felt very much dead. And strange.
But Baekhyun's arm on his kept him centered and the grip was so tight, he felt that he couldn't slip out again. He shivered again and looking at his hands, he realized they were shaking; from fear or from cold – he didn't know. He just couldn't fucking stop shaking because he was sure that he had left his body for some time. He didn't know how long. God, he had almost died or not? What was wrong with him? Why was his body - ?
A warm hand was pressed tightly onto his chest. He blinked up to see Baekhyun using his other hand to put his palm firmly against his chest. And it was then that he realized that his chest was heaving uncontrollably and his heart-beat must be insane. Heart-beat. He got up immediately; his head swirled from the quick moment but he didn't care. He grabbed Baekhyun's hand shifted it right over his heart. He gulped; nervous; scared; and just shocked. And he didn't know why.
Baekhyun looked at him – there wasn't confusion in his eyes.
Or probably he did know.
"Don't worry," Baekhyun reassured him, "It's all right. It's fast but it's there."
Chanyeol nodded – his throat had never felt so dry. Suddenly he felt Suho move behind him, since his senses were on fire. He wondered if that's how a newborn felt after being born and exposed to the world; so fucking sensitive. Suho kneeled around him and handed him a glass of water. Chanyeol frowned. The catch was that it wasn't a glass of water. It was water shaped like a glass.
Right, Suho controlled water.
So weird...
But he took it anyway and drank it. The 'glass' felt cool. He drank the glass.
He felt better. More connected to his body. His human needs returned – he felt hungry, tired and sore and for the first time he was grateful for these. At least, he was there.
He got to stand on his feet. Baekhyun supported him and while Chanyeol would have normally been embarrassed for relying on someone (especially Baekhyun) so much, but at that moment, he couldn't bring himself to care and he also felt a tiny bit grateful. (Okay, a lot grateful)
Chanyeol breathed after he stood up, "That was... intense." His voice sounded weird to his ears and it was weird because his voice had never sounded weird to his ears. So weird.
Baekhyun nodded, glaring at the bottom where the light was coming from and Chanyeol was shocked by the amount of hatred his eyes held, "That's how it starts for some people who are innocent. Some of them love that feeling so much, they would gladly be killed," Chanyeol gave him a doubtful glance – no matter how strong the feeling was, he was more grateful to have returned to his body; Baekhyun just shook his head, "No, I'm saying the truth. You had just entered that state, Park. It gets worse... much... much worse ," His voice was so bitter, so emotional, and had so much depth, and then, when he looked at Chanyeol, his eyes were dark; so hurt that they were emotionless, "Believe me, I know."
Chanyeol couldn't argue.
Suho cleared his throat behind them and Chanyeol was thankful because Baekhyun had struck him as someone who was chill, cool, popular and meme-worthy material. This side of Baekhyun however, seemed different yet truer and Chanyeol felt as if he had peeked into the darkest secret of someone. Chanyeol didn't think it was possible for someone to have so much venom in their words but Baekhyun did. He wondered what nature did to him but he didn't really want to find out. The thing with Baekhyun wasn't his matter anyway. And some things were too scary to know...
"So, Chanyeol," Suho said, "Like, um, Baekhyun here said, try to be careful," His eyes turned serious. This was no joke, "This was only her light – when you get closer to her you'll feel like that again. So hold on to us tight. Physical touch helps. And don't worry, after your first meeting now, she won't bother you that much."
Chanyeol nodded but then frowned, "So we're... meeting Mother Nature?"
Suho thought about it for a while and then he shrugged, "I guess you can say that. Mother Nature is not a human form you know. What we're seeing now is the Tree of Life."
Chanyeol's eyes widened, "It's in your basement!?"
Suho shook his head, "No, no. It's everywhere. Once you train for a bit, you can see her – it's a layering over the earth you know, like...yeah, cell membrane!" Suho said brightly as he found a comparison.
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, "Nerd."
Suho gave him a look, "Why do you act as if you aren't a nerd?" Suho turned back to Baekhyun, ignoring Baekhyun's 'Because I'm also cool!' "So, yeah, this thing is there you know? But humans can't see it but we can whenever it's messing up or when we want to. Here, you can see it the strongest though, since this place is really deep down."
Well, that made a little sense. Without any words, Chanyeol and the others decided to finally go and see for themselves the Tree of Life. Chanyeol made sure to hold on tight onto Suho and Baekhyun. It was embarrassing but at least, he wouldn't die.
Well, Tree of life, here I come.