Heteropsis; 4
HETEROPSIS; Chapter 4 - Amber
Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3
This was not the reality Chanyeol wanted.
“It’s dress however you want day!”
An almost naked girl yelled from behind him while running around flailing her arms. Chanyeol was going to puke but he had manners and he wasn’t allowed to. The city was basically a whole mess. This so called dress-however-you-want day is just nightmare.
“It’s quite amusing how you decided to pay a visit at such an important time. It’s dress-however-you-want day!” Heechul said, watching Chanyeol stone out from the seat in front of him. “Or not dress anything at all!” He added.
Chanyeol snapped. “And you wonder why your city is known for its prostitutes,”
“This happens only once a year, you know,” Heechul defended. “Anyway, what brings you here? Have you finally decided to try that drug Jongin told you about?”
“What? No! I’m looking for someo-something,”
“O…kay. What is it?”
“It’s something…black.”
“Alright, and then?”
Chanyeol paused for a moment then realized that’s it. “It’s just black,”
Heechul rolled his eyes. “Oh come on Chanyeol, you have to give me details if you want me to help you,”
“That’s all the details I’ve got,”
Heechul sighed. A really heavy one. With a soft groan, too. And Chanyeol figured Heechul was probably starting to lose his patience but he was restraining it since it was dress-however-you-want day in his city. “Alright…since you won’t find anything in the state of this city now, I think you should start looking for it at the Labyrinth,”
Doomed. Chanyeol thought at the mention of Labyrinth. He was doomed.
“But since the Labyrinth is really complicated for an outsider like you, I’ll send someone to go with you who knows the Labyrinth really well,”
Thank God. Chanyeol thought and sighed in relief.
That afternoon, Chanyeol found himself standing in front of the Labyrinth’s entrance. It always surprises him how beautiful the entrance it. Like the gates had a really long history and it has priceless sentimental value. There were a lot of memories in it and that makes it even more special.
He was distracted when Heechul sudden whistled. He was confused. Don’t tell me…an animal’s going to guide me? He thought and his eyes widened. Suddenly, he heard the leaves being ruffled somewhere. He doesn’t even know where it came from since the wind is also distracting him. And he felt chills. And suddenly everything becomes scary.
“Heechul?” He heard a soft voice. “Is that you?”
“Ah! There you are!” Heechul yelled, looking at someone behind Chanyeol. Chanyeol turned around. And he was instantly mesmerized. The girl had long blonde hair. And she was wearing a white flowing dress that matched her milky skin color. And Chanyeol was sure she was the same age as him even though she was shorter.
“Did you come to visit me?” The girl asked softly.
Heechul shook his head. “This friend here is looking for something. I thought maybe he can find it in the Labyrinth so…can I ask a favor and guide him? He’s really hopeless when it comes to directions,”
Chanyeol glared. He is not hopeless in directions. But whatever.
The girl smiled. “Okay,”
A minute later, Heechul told them he’d come back before the sun sets and left. The girl gestured for Chanyeol to follow her and so Chanyeol did. The moment the girl stepped in front of the gate, it opened. Chanyeol was surprised. But the surprises only start there.
They have walked a few miles since entering and the place greatly amused him. The bushes were really tall, maybe twice Kris’ height plus 5 more inches and it was perfectly trimmed. Also, there were scriptures written at the ground that Chanyeol attempted to read but gave up since he needed to catch up to the girl who surprisingly walks really fast. But that was to be expected since she knew the Labyrinth so well.
So after a few more miles, Chanyeol lost his patience. “You don’t really talk, do you?” He asked and waited for the girl to reply but failed. “I guess that’s a yes?”
“I talk when it’s necessary,” The girl replied without even sparing a glance on him.
Chanyeol cleared his throat. “So, how long have you lived here?”
“I don’t live here. I live in the city. I just come here often,” The girl replied while turning to the left.
“Don’t you get bored at the sight of everything green?”
“I don’t. There are other things that keep me company,”
Chanyeol raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Other things?”
“You can’t see them. No one can, actually, except for me,”
“Oh,” Chanyeol said, a little bit satisfied. “So…what are these floating lights for?” He asks, stopping the girl from walking any further. He liked the place and the idea of the floating lights but it was starting to irritate to him because some of them are blocking his eyes and so he can’t really see at some point.
The girl turned around, surprised. “You can see them?”
“Uh…yeah? I mean, they’re everywhere.” Chanyeol replied and stepped backward when a floating light was getting closer to his face. “It’s really bothersome.”
The girl just stared at him trying to push the floating lights away from him.
And she smiled. “I guess I was wrong,”
“Huh? What?”
The girl walked past him and Chanyeol followed immediately. “Wait! Why are you going back?”
“I’ll let you meet someone,” The girl replied and turned right. And Chanyeol got the shock of his life.
“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.” Chanyeol exclaimed in full shock, a bit taken a back with his eyes and mouth opened wide. “IS THAT A UNICORN?”
The girl chuckled softly. And Chanyeol thought it was really cute. But that’s not the point. The point was there’s a unicorn in front of him. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?” The girl asked, caressing the unicorn’s gray hair.
Chanyeol can only nod.
“She’s not shy. The people who can see her are those with pure hearts. So it really shocked me how you can see some of the mythical creatures here,”
“Some mythical creatures?”
“Those lights you see are fairies. Don’t stare at them. Just don’t mind them. They’ll just play a prank on you.”
“Oh,” Well that’s not good. Chanyeol thought. He watched as the girl hopped up to ride the unicorn.
“Come on,” She said. “It’s a long way to go. You’ll get tired with all the walking,”
“Is it alright?”
“She’d love to. Come on,”
This was certainly the first time Chanyeol saw a unicorn so it was really awkward for him to ride on it. In the end, it feels the same as those ordinary horses he’s used to. Except for the horn. And its glowing body. He carefully positioned himself and held on to the girl’s waist. And then they started moving.
At about 30 minutes of travel, Chanyeol yawned. Really loud. First, no one’s talking and no one’s really trying to start a conversation. And since the unicorn can’t talk, that leaves to just two of them not willing to start any conversation. He wanted to but he suddenly ran out of things to talk about. Maybe it would’ve been better if he let the fairies play a prank on him. That’d be interesting.
“Have you found that thing you were looking for?”
Chanyeol was startled. He didn’t expect the girl to speak at such time. And he almost forgot about the reason why he’s here. “Uh…not yet.”
“We’re going to reach the end soon.”
“Oh,” Chanyeol replied. It took a few seconds for him to realize his idiocy. “There’s another end?”
“Why of course. Every maze has an end. You can’t just enter a place with no exit.”
And the girl was right. Before he can even open his mouth to speak, the unicorn stopped moving. And his eyes met a non-ending waterfall. He was in awe once again. The waterfall was there but it looked like it came out of nowhere. The girl hopped down the unicorn and so did Chanyeol. And the unicorn disappeared with just a blink of an eye.
And Chanyeol realized there were other things besides the waterfall too. Large trees were moving, there were birds singing and flying everywhere and the most shocking of all, there were dwarfs. He didn’t vocally express his shock but the girl saw how new all of them were for him and chuckled. It’s always nice to see the people’s expressions like this.
“The dwarfs do not do any harm. They are very friendly actually. No need to be afraid of them,” She said reassuringly.
“I’m not. It’s just that…it’s my first time.” Chanyeol replied honestly while trying to maintain his sanity and still followed the girl around. She stopped in front of the falls and so did Chanyeol.
“Well, have you found what you were looking for?” She asked again. Chanyeol turned to look at her. She was slowly kneeling down in front of the lake that was from the waterfall and dipped her hand on the water. Chanyeol just washed her. And the longer he stared at her face, the more he recognized it. It was very familiar.
Incidentally, fishes from the water started jumping and splashed some water on her. She ended up laughing by herself when she got a little wet. And Chanyeol found it adorable. And very familiar.
She asked again. “Chanyeol? Have you found them?”
Chanyeol flinched at the mention of his name. If she was trying to hide, mentioning his name was a big mistake. And it seemed like she just realized it because she abruptly turned just in time Chanyeol lifted his hand to touch her hair.
Her wig.
“Yeah, I did.” Chanyeol said and pulled the wig down, revealing the latter’s hair that was as black as ebony.
Chanyeol should’ve realized it sooner if only he didn’t fail to remember it was dress-however-you-want day. And that the girl was a guy. And that he was what he was looking for. Who he was looking for.
The guy looked at him with surprise. Doubt. Fear. His eyes were screaming confusion. And Chanyeol can understand why. “Nice try,” Chanyeol said with a smirk. And the maiden sighed at his defeat.
a/n: this took so long because i moved dorms and so the internet connection is a shit.
i'll add another chapter at like...later.