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.
Chapter Three
Tao had never liked the rain.
It fell in torrents, plummeting from the grey skies like millions of watery arrows. It is but a ramification of nature his grandfather had said to him back when he had hidden beneath the covers, too young to understand what 'ramification' meant.
He still hated it, even now. The humid air was like a pillow on his mouth, stifling his every breath. Each of his senses were dulled, especially the sixth which allowed him to see flashes of colour in a world hidden beneath reality.
Sighing, he pushed open his umbrella and stepped out, wishing that his stubborn grandfather would finally relent and give him a chauffeur. It was a pain, having to trek home every day just because he was a "Warrior of the Huang family". He was in good physical shape from training, so there was really no need for the additional exercise and 'bonding with nature'.
Besides, he had a sudden craving for strawberries shortcake and there was not a single café on the way.
He caught sight of a familiar figure walking in front of him, a blazer draped over his head to shield himself from the rain.
"Kris!" Tao called out, jogging towards the upperclassman. Kris was soaked through, his white shirt clinging to his tall frame, his grey pants covered with dark stains.
"Are you heading this way too?" Tao asked, stretching up to cover him with the umbrella. Kris nodded. Without a word, he took the umbrella from Tao's hands and held it above them. Tao smiled to himself. It was nice having tall friends.
"How come I've never seen you walk this way?"
Kris shrugged. "I've never gone home this early."
Tao was about to ask why, but bit back his curiosity. He knew Kris hated personal questions and remembered how his face had closed up when Luhan had innocently asked about his family.
They walked on in silence, past neat rows of brick houses with lush lawns and wide driveways. Finally, Kris cleared his throat.
"My mother's moving out today. She insisted on saying goodbye," he said in a gruff voice before looking away. Tao thought of his own mother and imagined what it would be like to never again see her smile or feel her tender embrace. It would be like losing his inner compass, the helping hand that guided him through all paths of life.
His throat clogged up at the thought of Kris wandering the world with no one to comfort him, hiding his loneliness behind his mask of indifference. His heart ached for the Kris behind the facade, so broken he could not manage a genuine smile.
"Tao...are you crying?"
He sniffed, wiping his eyes in embarrassment. He cursed himself for being such a crybaby, especially when he wasn't the one suffering.
"Thank you," Kris said, his eyes softening. "For caring". A ghost of a smile passed across his lips, and for a fleeting moment, his aura was a golden yellow, as bright as a lighthouse on a stormy night. Tao could feel the light envelop him as warmth blossomed at the centre of palms.
The sudden silence pulled him out of his mind sight. Around them, the world had become a frozen tableau. There was no sound of distant traffic, of wind tearing through trees nor of rain bouncing off the pavement. Instead, the rain hung suspended in the air, perfectly spherical droplets of water like transparent pearls that had tumbled from the clouds above.
Kris stared at the raindrops, his eyes full of wonder.
Tao smiled. Perhaps rain wasn't so bad after all.
***
Today just wasn't his day, Luhan thought, wiping his muddy hands on his rain-splattered gym shorts. The wind tore relentlessly at his drenched hair and equally wet t-shirt, the cold air seeping into his bones. His right knee still stung from his fall, the torn skin covered with dirt and bits of grass.
It had all started when he had been woken from his nightmare by the pummelling of rain on his window at five in the morning. He had been running in his dream, chased through a burning forest by menacing shadows whose red eyes glinted in the firelight. They had wanted something from him, something that he was guarding, something more important than his own life.
The dream had left him unsettled for the rest of the day, and he had trudged from class to class without hearing a word his teachers had uttered. He would have skipped P.E., if it weren't for his last horrific experience in the infirmary. He had felt like a zoo animal, feigning sleep while trying to ignore the girls peering at him through the window.
"Get up, Lu" the ever-merciless Coach Yao hollered from the sidelines. Sighing, Luhan grudgingly stood and returned to his position between the goalposts. After tripping over his feet and making a complete fool of himself, playing soccer in the rain had lost its appeal (not that there was much to begin with).
He watched from afar as Xiumin steadily made his way down the field towards him, expertly weaving his way through the throng of players at the halfway line.
"Red, defence!" Coach Yao yelled. It was futile, for Xiumin spun past each of the red-pinnied defenseman into the penalty area. Luhan tensed as Xiumin approached, his heart pounding in anticipation. Nothing but grass and open air lay between them.
Luhan crouched as Xiumin aimed, pulling back his leg for the final kick. With the speed and precision of a bullet, the ball soared through the air towards the upper-left-hand corner of the goal. He jumped, fingers stretching skyward, but it was too late.
Suddenly, the ball changed its trajectory and veered sharply to the right, as if it pulled by a magnetic force. It landed lightly into his hands; all the force that Xiumin had put into the shot had somehow disappeared. Luhan looked up and met Xiumin's widened eyes, his own jaws slackening in surprise. He was sure that Xiumin too had seen the unnatural way in which the ball had curved.
Coach Yao blew his whistle, signalling the end of class.
"That was some save," Xiumin said casually, flopping down beside Luhan. They were in the locker room, surrounded by chattering students happy to be out of the rain.
Luhan bit his lip, shaking his head. "The ball, it should have gone in."
"But it didn't," Xiumin mused as he pulled a bottle of coke out of his duffle bag. "How did you do it?"
"I don't know. The ball just turned in midair and the next thing I knew, it was in my hands." He couldn't have imagined it, yet it was starting to sound increasingly implausible.
The sound of a body slamming against the lockers pierced through the students' chatter.
"I know it was you, you little piece of shit!"
The speaker was Hangeng, student council president and sole heir to the largest restaurant chain in the country. His white blazer was covered with what looked like the contents of an airplane barf bag.
"My father is going to hear about this," he seethed, the arrogant smirk absent from his livid face.
The figure slumped against the locker let out a laugh. It was unmistakably Henry, the troublemaking musical genius with a penchant for pranks and pissing off the more pretentious members of the student body.
"What are you going to tell him? That you threw up all over yourself?" Henry grinned impishly.
With a snarl, Hangeng launched himself at Henry, shoving him roughly in the chest. Beside him, Xiumin leapt to his feet, his eyes burning, his body tensing in preparation for combat.
"Xiumin, no!" Luhan urged, grabbing his arm before he could join the fray.
"Stop it. Now!" Coach Yao's booming voice roared over the cacophony of insults and blows. Hangeng paused, his fist an inch from Henry's face. "You two, get out before I call your parents. And I don't give a damn if they're richer than Gates."
Luhan glanced up at Xiumin. Though he was no longer scowling, his arms were still taut with residual anger. His hands were clutched tightly around his bottle, yet the plastic had not changed shape.
"Look at this," Luhan whispered. He took the rock-solid bottle and held it up for Xiumin to see. The dark liquid had become a pale chocolate-brown, its top layer caked with tiny shards of ice.
Xiumin unscrewed the lid and peered into bottle. "How is this possible?" he murmured. Luhan had no answer.
His phone let out a sudden beep.
"It's a message from Chen." Together they looked at the screen, then back at each other with similar expressions of shock.
Beneath a picture of a scorpion-shaped crack in the pavement were the words: Have strange things been happening to you too?
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