One: The Legend of EXO (Prologue)
Title: One: The Legend of EXO
Rating: PG-13
When darkness descends the Dragon shall rise,
Along with twin moons and the Thief, King of Lies.
When Phoenix takes flight and sun covers sun,
When evil is vanquished, the Twelve become One.
Prologue
Of all the places he had hidden in, the chemistry lab was, in Luhan's opinion, one of the worst. Though it wasn't as bad as the boys' locker room, the classroom still reeked of a noxious mixture of vinegar and rotten eggs.
He glanced up at the clock and sighed. It was six. Two hours since school ended and twenty minutes since he had last been accosted by his fan club, a mob of a dozen or so giggling girls who had been stalking him since last March.
It was times like these that he wished he had been born a little uglier. Having inherited his mothers wide brown eyes and pale skin, he had been bombarded by unwanted attention his whole life. He had thought he could finally embrace anonymity by entering the elite SM Academy, but had been ambushed the moment he stepped through the wrought-iron gates.
He made his way to the window, desperate for a breath of clean, untainted air.
It was then that it happened.
***It was no use.
Sighing, Tao grabbed his towel and flopped down on the floor, wiping the sweat out of his eyes. Even after two hours of practice with the familiar feel of his staff in his hands, he was unable to shake off the feeling that something was wrong. The sense of foreboding plagued him like an unscratchable itch.
He thought back to his first lesson with his grandfather, that warm spring day at the top of a hill.
To truly see, you must travel beyond the physical world.
Tao took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The sound of his own heartbeat grew distant as he reached out with his sixth sense.
There!
There was something different about the air. Its usual transparent layers were shot through with strands of shimmering silver, all buzzing like the approach of a thousand bumblebees...
***
Boom!
Chen jumped and nearly dropped his music score. It had sounded like a clap of thunder, so loud it was audible through his noise-cancelling headphones.
Pressing pause on his iPod, he walked to the door, peering outside the tiny window. The darkened hallway outside was empty.
He stood in the dimly lit room and waited. Only silence greeted him.
It was not the first time he had snuck into a practice room after hours, so he was used to being alone. Still, he had to admit that the noise had scared him. The meteorologist had not mentioned any upcoming storms and there was something unnatural about the sound.
It was nothing like he had ever heard before.
***Though it was his third detention of the week, it was totally worth it.
Xiumin knew he was a pretty funny guy, but his own brilliant wit sometimes surprised even himself. Mr. Park, known more commonly as Fish-Face, had made the mistake of leaving his laptop unattended before class. Within half a minute, Xiumin had pasted a dozen pictures of scantily clad women in the slideshow that the biology teacher used daily.
His reaction when the photos had popped up on the screen had been priceless. The class had burst into laughter at the sight of his bulging eyes and Xiumin couldn't resist calling out.
"I thought you said we weren't starting the human body unit till next week!"
Fish-Face had assigned him clean-up duty for his 'inappropriate comment', so here he was, wiping blackboards and scrapping gum off desks.
Suddenly, the ground lurched beneath him.
***
The books that Lay had carefully organized clattered to the floor. Stupid of him, to be concerned over his wasted effort when the entire student council meeting room was shaking like a leaf on a windy day.
It had been an exhausting day of running photocopies for the upcoming elections and chasing after the Events Committee for budget reports. Yet, as the current Secretary and Treasurer, it was his duty to ensure everything ran smoothly.
He had just begun scanning through the list of candidates also running for President when he felt it. His chair began moving of its own accord, the ground beneath his feet vibrating from the aftershock of some sort of collision.
The sky outside had become an ominous shade of black, but it wasn't completely dark. Struggling to maintain his balance, Lay approached the window.
It was a tiny dot of green light, growing bigger and bigger...
***
It was the light that woke him.
As usual, Kris had dozed off on the rooftop of the school. It was his haven, a secret spot where he could escape the cacophonous sounds of the city, the noisy chatter of students, and most importantly, the angry voices that seeped through his bedroom walls night after night.
It was as bright as the sun, a single beam that shot towards the heavens. It was majestic, breath-taking and overwhelmingly terrifying.
Without warning, his body seized up in pain. It felt like millions of tiny electrical currents were passing through him, from the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair. His brain felt as if it were swelling, his heart racing faster and faster as his vision was completely blinded by a brilliant green light.
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