Makeshift Day - Chapter 1
Makeshift Day - (1/?)
OT12; Kai/Krystal, Sehun/Sulli, Luhan/Nana, Chanyeol/Jiyeon, Baekhyun/IU, D.O/Luna, Suho/Chorong, Xiumin/Eunji, Kris/Sooyoung, Lay/Lizzy, Chen/Naeun, Tao ~4,365 words
Fantasy | Romance AU; PG-13
In a parallel universe, a world called Nydel grows a patriarchal nation built upon the folklore of guardians that are said to be messengers to the special planet called Earth. At a progression once a century, a couple of female special beings are collected from the said planet. With the planet Earth’s apocalypse nearing, the final set of boys are sent to pick up the remaining Nydelians for purpose of a new labor force, and carry on a new world for the next generations. They must be able to perform this within a month before the world ends.
Chapter 1 - Tomorrow or Yesterday
-o0o-
He goes by the name of Kris.
And he is amused. In fact although there is that air of fear, maybe not to all, but most definitely to Kris when he eventually finds out about the news, he is still in his amused state as he sits in the room, its four walls of pure white and also everything that co-existed with this slightly daunting. With his pale appearance and brownish training clothes, Kris and the more colorful figure beside him, seem to give life to the shabby tools shed. At why they are inside a tools shed is also another funny story in which he simply tries to forget because of the more important matter at hand.
“Year 2000,” she whispers. “So it has already been a hundred years since I left Earth. Imagine that.”
He eventually does some imagining indeed, at how young the planet Earth is to just die. It isn’t year 2000 in his time anymore and though Nydel lives surprisingly a billion immeasurable light years away, at an approximation closest to that of the Andromeda, he hates how this responsibility fell on them. Why the twelve of them? They aren’t as experienced at this game long enough to live up to expectations.
“They are in our image because they are our past,” Kris says. “They’re the ones living on planet Earth. And it’s a heavier duty we have to serve in order to save humanity. We are obliged to bring back a few of the ones like us, like you and me. Of all the people on Earth... how are we supposed to look for the Nydelians in that kind of mess?”
She merely laughs at the end of this, patting his shoulder for comfort. “Eh, it will be nothing. I promise.”
“How can you be so sure, Sooyoung?”
Sighing, she puts her hands together, closes her eyes and for a moment Kris leaves her to meditate. She does her thing and knowing Sooyoung and her nature of being one of the special kind of girls in their little nation, Kris decides not to interupt at all. And before he knows it, she smiles and opens her palms, a tiny plant coming out. It is something she is commonly known for, the reason why she is one of the earlier pick ups, from a hundred Earth years before this one and he feels lucky to have her as one of his closest friends.
“Ah, that was rather difficult,” she mutters, frowning as Kris picks it off her like a normal flower they normally see on Sundays at the Mok forests (which Kris has only been to once in his entire slowed life). “It’s like how I was found then, too. It wasn’t difficult for the rest. Siwon told me I was easier to find than the rest of the girls. So... don’t worry. Your boys are with you.”
“But aren’t you nervous yourself?” he inquires and the girl shrugs.
“About marriage, you say? The person I am supposed to be with for the rest of my life?”
Kris nods instantly. “Yes, that. It’s randomly picked. Aren’t you frightened?” In any way, perhaps, he himself is because of the tiny ache inside his heart, the muscle in his heart that seems to operate more often now that he is going through his early adulthood life and from then on, a forever stage. He doesn’t understand why this is so; but he knows it’s quite a rare kind of emotion in which he must learn to intellecutally disregard more often.
“I seem to be fine with everyone around the nation,” Sooyoung answers. “So I believe I am okay with whoever I am partnered with. It’s fine. I am twenty-two already after all. Or say a hundred and twenty-two Earth years. And I will look twenty-two for the rest of my life.”
Staring at the flower and twirling it in between his two large fingers, Kris silently chuckles as he remembers how time -much like Peter Pan in Neverland, a fairytale he has heard from the Earth-born beings on the nation -is on their side almost every minute and every second. They will not grow old once they turn twenty-two, go rusty and useless at once.
“All I do... is fly,” Kris rolls his eyes. “I don’t want to fail the nation.”
“It’s going to be okay, Wu Fan.”
He goes by the name of Kris. But he likes how she calls him Wu Fan instead.
-o0o-
“It’ll be in the next twenty-four hours. Earth. A new world.”
“I know, I know,” the shorter one resounds, gazing lazily at the interchanging colors of the morning sky from blue to yellow to red and then restarting. It is silent today though, no random chirping of birds and other forest creatures that usually lurked in when the two visits the place.
The other boy smirks and throws the pebble across the river, skipping four times before finally dropping a few feet away. “It still seems a bit weird, though. How did your mother react again, Baekhyun?”
With a condescending smile, he shakes his head at the memory of telling his family about the whole possible adventure. “She keeps saying no. I won’t live to it. She keeps saying, ‘Chanyeol, I’ll understand but you? Your names must have been put together into one piece of paper to be drawn out for this kind of heroic acts.’ She doesn’t trust me.”
“Then prove her wrong,” chuckles the taller one.
They are by the fish pond that bright morning of a day, and the only reason is they get a day off from all the hype about going away and being the messengers of this century -and as Chanyeol also understands, the last batch.
Baekhyun smiles. “It is a bit doubtful, is it not? I didn’t do well at the academy as you guys did and it surprises me that I’m still going.”
Chanyeol shrugs and sits with him. “We topped the finals. Wasn’t that their basis?”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Baekhyun then says. “I glow in the dark. That was why I finished the race seventh.”
“Zitao finished first because of his time control,” Chanyeol bursts into laughter. “I don’t see why you can’t use your glow in the dark thing. Besides, have you read the objectives of the mission? A month on a different world, different time! Can you imagine it how the people are like there? The... more normal ones?”
“And to think this is the last time we’ll be recruiting the Nydelians,” Baekhyun reflects. “We must not fail.”
Chanyeol pats him at the back. “We are told to have fun and enjoy Earth at its last days. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to leave. We get to see how they live and learn about them.”
“It’ll be the death of me,” Baekhyun adds, inhaling. “This mission isn’t a vacation. It’s to be open to the world beyond our own and realize what they lack as mere mortals, as Humans.”
“But if you keep thinking that, it’ll be no fun at all,” he reacts. “And to be honest, we are in their image you know. We are of the same species, Nydelians and Humans.”
They have known each other as far as Baekhyun can recall, and ever since their childhood, they always have those conntradicting views about life in general, that it often leads to smaller squabbles and bickerig that can last for months; sometimes it is a little physical that they are shooting each other light beams and fireballs. Cuts, burns and bruises - their mothers always agree that it is all part of growing up. Now they are both aged twenty.
“Two more years and we’re adults,” Baekhyun adds. “We’ll be married and obliged to have children of our own.”
Chanyeol and Baekhyun both fall serious for a minute after this has been said, and then, as they look at each other, laughter rises and the natural conversations ends with them heading back home. Tomorrow is a new day, the two friends decide.
-o0o-
He can’t seem to finish the bowl of porridge prepared for him by his dear mother, because something else is clouding up his mind more often than not. It bothers him to no extent, and he doesn’t quite understand how two different emotions, agitation and overwhelming excitement exist in one go.
“Sehun, eat up. You know it’s not advisable to pass through the portal with an empty stomach,” enters his mother in her apron, arms by her hips.
At this he immediately smiles at the presence, turning away and shaking his head. “Sulli, stop it.”
At the statement, in a blink of an eye, the older woman changes into a younger image, her hair braided into pigtails and parts of the fringes covering her eyes. Her smile is wide as she rushes towards him happily, sitting daintly on the chair beside him.
“You actually recognized me,” the girl says.
Sehun puts a spoonful to his mouth, bemused. Pointing to his throat where a small brown spot is, he looks at her, and Sulli mimicks the same thing. “Your mark.”
She scowls, giggling unhappily. “Oh yeah. Our Human birthmark. I have been trying to change forms and hoping it disappears. It gives away my identity. I sometimes force myself to put a scarf on other occassions when I want to sneak in.”
“Plus points on the voice too,” he says. “You sound like mother already.”
She claps her hands. “I figured if I have to do well in the spying division, I might as well do better at it.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Sehun wonders.
“I came to see you off,” she says in a sing-song voice. “I will probably miss you.”
The other boy chuckles. “Then come with me if you wish.”
“Can I do that?” Sulli’s eyes twinkle, very hopeful.
“Of course not,” he takes it back. “You weren’t at the finals. You can’t just pass through the portal without recognition.”
“I could have been first in the race if I was a boy,” Sulli pouts. “I mean, I could have changed into a boy but they still will find that out and that will disqualify me and maybe even... you know, take away my powers.”
It is a little unfair, she thinks, that only the boys get to participate in the finals at the academy. The finals set the standards and the possibility of leaving the nation as a reward and obligation for all the hard work one has exerted through his years of studying at the academy. Some graduate earlier than others, for example Sehun and Sulli as they often are regarded to be Human-raised prodigies, while there are a few who extend their stay in order to fulfill better understanding of their powers.
“How is your mother, Sehun?”
“She’s at the market right now,” Sehun answers the out of the blue question. “Selling fish as usual.”
Sulli sighs, looking at her shaky hands. “I’ll always be proud of whoever my mother is and wherever she comes from.”
This very sensitive subject, Sehun thinks and he can’t help but critically see it the way she does. They are, after all, an inseparable duo because also to the isolation and special treatment they get from other people. What Sulli feels most of the time, is what he sometimes experiences too. It is the way they are associated with the word Human and the way they know each other inside and out. He knows how to hurt like her, being both half-Human and half-Nydelians.
“She came from Earth, because she is Human,” Sehun says before her. “Your mother is with your father because they love each other. And even if it accounts to slavery for the rest of her life... just so she is able to feed her children and take care of them, I think that is also another way to see love. Because she loves you, that’s why she’s slaved.”
“Our mothers grow old, Sehun-ah. They are helpless, because they don’t possess powers. They are growing old faster than the rest. If at the maximum speed, we age in about 300 Earth years, they for some reason only a hundred’s pace.” Sulli counters, tears in her eyes.
“How old is your mother?”
“One hundred and eighty-two earth years, and she says she looks somewhere between forty to fifty if it were on Earth.”
“If your mother isn’t under slavery right now, Sulli, you are supposed to be dead. A daughter of a Nydelian and a Human, it is above the law.”
Someone else suddenly appears at their dinning table, his rogue-like appearance always brimming with confidence. He grins at seeing the two of them but eventually it fades, because he realizes he is in a rather clandestine moment.
And so he bows his head in apology. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Jongin, your countless appearing and disappearing had been reasons for interruptions,” Sehun instantly glares, but they greeted each other with strong pats on shoulders, the visitor standing behind Sehun while eyeing Sulli.
“What’s the matter with you?”
Sulli looks up at him and timidly looks away, Sehun at once noticing the way she hides her tears from Jongin, the way she always can’t become herself around Jongin. It is rather funny scenario at times but he isn’t one to speak about that at all.
“It’s... private,” Sehun eventually answers for her, getting a small slap on the knee from the girl.
Jongin shrugs, feeling a little dizzy so he sits at her side. “Couple issues, I suppose?”
Smirking, Sehun shakes his head. “You don’t get to be coupled unless you’re twenty-two and above. And I bet if it’s our time by then, Sulli and I won’t be coupled because we posses too many human traits.”
“Doesn’t mean you don’t like each other, right?” Jongin defends. “That’s something you two... know well, being exposed too much to human activities.”
“Offensive,” Sehun whisks his finger into the other boy’s forehead. “Offenses like that need to be punished.” Sulli giggles at this, brightening the room.
He rubs his head, frowning at the two of them. “Eh, eh. Finish your breakfast already so we can train a bit more later. Sulli,” he turns to her, their eyes meeting at a second and she feels the butterflies in her stomach flutter endlessly, “you want to come and practice with us too? There’s a free assessment later for respective divisions. We’re both in the spying division back in the academy.”
Sehun is amused at how she ridiculously changes moods in an instant.
-o0o-
It feels like graduation and the announcement about their leave has happened yesterday that a frown on Luhan’s face is still completely noticeable. He doesn’t like the idea of leaving Nydel -it is home, and his heart never wants to just forget home. It is apparently the only thing that keeps him going: the thought of finally graduating from the academy and able to serve his nation; as oddly as others may see it. He quietly sits in his comfortable room, his mat already folded and the rest of his things finally in tack.
It takes a miracle for him to clean up the place but he eventually starts at it by lifting every piece of paper and book and dirty clothing up into the air and suspend them their while he sits. Just sitting down and completely staring into blank air. The thing about leaving bothers him a little too much.
“You’ll end up in pain again, stop that.”
Everything that once floated a while ago definitely falls at the pull of gravity and at the voice of the younger boy knocking on his door. The noise bothers his family from below, his mother he hears shouting every curse word she knows in plain Nydelian language and so Luhan starts laughing at this. He gets up and goes to him.
“I thought I’d clean up before tomorrow,” he explains, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “It’s isn’t really that much, Yixing. I try not to overwork myself.”
“Overwork,” the man says. “You always are overworking your abilities. Doesn’t your mind ever get tired taking up so much energy? All other Nydelians with your power kind of complain of the constant migraines.”
Luhan nods. “Just needs some getting used to. To summon unicorns I personally think is harder.” He snickers at the the word unicorn, because he knows every time he says that Yixing rolls his eyes.
“Ever since the animal rights this year, it got harder,” he exclaims. “When I was younger, my sister and I can call on unicorns at a whistle, even miles away.”
“Jongin and the others are at the assessment center,” Luhan starts. “You want to go and practice or so I heard... well, you know, since I particularly wasn’t developed in any particular division, you want to play with the rest? Just one last time before we all meet Humans?”
Luhan doesn’t seem to qualify to any division, but he knows he should be at least in one. He cannot pass as one of the elementalist, since all Nydelians there are users of an element. He also isn’t meant to be a spy -it isn’t like telekinesis have that much use in the field of data collection and secret operatives. Then there’s the division of communication, trainers of creatures and whatnot that are able to communicate well, which also isn’t quite perfect for his power. Lastly the field of externals (anything that involves one to perform using outside measures) which he knows is something he fits in the most.
“I will,” Yixing agrees excitedly. “Humans aren’t... that bad, I guess. The Humans here in Nydel all seem very nice.”
Luhan scoffed, a short mockering kind too. “I can’t seem to trust Humans that much.”
“Sehun’s half Human, mind you.”
“I know but he’s special and he’s quite a powerful elementalist,” he immediately reasons, shaking his head. “It’s... it is weird that there are Humans that live among us. I feel that we are divided as a nation because we have some who don’t really belong here.”
Yixing points at him. “Ah, I remember. You told me back at the academy how you hated that one Human who spilled on your new shoes! Ever since then you generally think all Humans are rude.”
They are both silent at once. “Rushing into conclusions. I know it’s wrong. But I just feel that... there already is enough inequality in this world, why do they have to come in?”
Yixing pulls on a serious look. “Humans that are also sons and daughters of Humans from before. Obviously it began how the earlier messengers, the earlier guardians carried Humans to live into our world as well. Nonetheless, even in their lower class state, they seem to earn respect from the people and they work so extensively that despite their shortcomings, they really grow into great citizens as well.”
“Slaved forever,” Luhan says. “Life span of merely two hundred while we reach up to five. Humans have these... emotions of fear and anxiety and they show it often. If it continues, there is a possibility of a revolution or a war or -”
Yixing pulls on his sleeves and drags him downstairs to the kitchen. “Stop reading too much, why don’t you.”
-o0o-
Jongdae already misses his family and they haven’t even left yet. As an elementalist graduate, he isn’t too sure how he will be of any help to the others. It is lightning, and it practically stings the very existence of almost killing someone. He knows how electrifying someone can ultimately be the reason of his death. It takes patience and right amount of control; and sometimes it just requires him to stay still and do nothing lest he hurt the ones around him.
A rock flies to his glass window, hitting it and bouncing back off that Jongdae gets up to check, not if something cracked but if it hit some by-passer.
“The others are practicing, you want to come?”
Minseok appears in front of his house, shouting. Jongdae wants to. Then again, he feels horridly tired. “I want to sleep so that I can sleep in.”
“Suit yourself!” the chubby-cheeked friend adds and runs off.
The boy settles by his mat and takes out the parchment sent by the postman the other week. He reads it over and over again, just to make sure he isn’t dreaming of the moment and the obligation, just to make sure this is all indeed reality he must never pass.
Proud parents of Kim Jongdae
Nydel Marshal Academy, an institution that develops young talented Nydelians such as your son, is honored to have taught your son for 8 years. It is our pride to have him as a student as diligent as he is; the academe would never be the same without his excellent skills and craftsmanship in the field and division we have assessed him with.
In line with this, we congratulate him for graduating and completing his training. We would like to inform you that he is one of the twelve boys who topped the finals, therefore granted of a special mission everyone, as you adults may already be aware of, must never miss.
He is one of the best students, as earlier stated therefore we are pleased to announce that he is one of the new guardians. If you are not familiar with this yet, here is a brief idea of how important guardians of Nydel are to the society and the betterment of our nation.
As far as anything can date back, Nydel is a mirrored world of the planet called Earth in the Milky Way galaxy. It holds almost the same features of the planet except it is very different in terms of the vacuumed time and population.
Our time is slower, but progress is quicker. Based on our studies, we live in an age that is non-existent on earth; therefore we are advanced yet time is slower. It is said that someone of ninety nydel years old is equal to a five hundred earth year old person.
We moderate our population, instinctively seen as we are governed and ruled by the male species. In the sense, at the lack of female Nydelians, there are some special ones located on planet Earth; and they are scattered there. Gods beforehand in folklore had separated the females from the males and have planted them on earth instead due to the disgrace and subordination when both can be equally apt.
This is how your son and eleven others are chosen to be the messengers sent to pick up the remaining Nydelians back to where they belong. Every one hundred Earth years, we perform this operation and give it to the most deserving Nydelians. There are still about ten or less Nydelian ladies according to statistics and must be rescued before the planet earth eventually dies from its apocalypse.
Congratulations again for competing efficiently with the rest and being one of the next heroes of this generation.
It still sounds so very wrong. Not for him. This isn’t the destiny he actually wants to hear after eight years of studying, especially mastering such a strong element.
-o0o-
“That was your best shot?” teases Kyungsoo at a time like this, his face smeared with both blood and mud.
It is the equalizer rounds, and everyone although tired now as the sun is setting, patiently watches as the final duel is at its climax. The viewers in the place are also some students who still are in training, and they are amazed at the battle between two elementalists.
The other boy, panting as he starts standing up, slowly lifts his hand also in the air, somewhat sending out a message of defeat in which Kyungsoo yells vehemently and turns away (‘Wrong move!’ shouts Jongin from the crowd), without really realizing the puddle forming beneath his feet that as he steps away while the crowd cheers, he falls into the ice cold water, in exchange with a brighter laugh from his opponent.
“Never turn your back on Joonmyun,” the boy says, as Kyungsoo continues flapping as he drowns. It is because Joonmyun knows swimming has been such a painful subject on the other boy. He holds his hand out, seizing the water back into his system.
“Okay, okay, you win,” Kyungsoo crawls out, soaked and breathing heavily, eyes closed.
These are the last hours they get to spend before the real game begins.
-o0o-
At the ministry office, everything seems too strict. The rooms go from narrow to wide then back again, as the echo of typwriters go from every space. Most of the workers here are half-Humans and half-Nydelians, except they are the ones who aren’t born with powers, earning the title Nyelds, still under slavery into working for the benefit of their children and families. If one is too lazy, death is its companion, no more no less for it is the law. They are more of the middle men, and Zitao’s mother works here day and night.
With tired eyes as the clock strikes 3 in the afternoon, he grips a piece of paper (and not just any ordinary paper) and moves through a bunch of people, eventually reaching the head of the office.
“Why Zitao... what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to submit my withdrawl from the guardians circle,” he speaks solemnly.
The man is wide-eyed to hear this, that he tries so stupidly to smile in great concern. “Why? Is... is something the matter? Don’t you want to go to Earth? Don’t you -”
“I said I’ll withdraw,” he bellows. “Time control requires too many precautions and pre-meditations. It takes a whole month to successfully recharge an energy equipped enough to control time. That is the reason why if I do go, I will be nothing but a worthless Human. I will blend in yes, but the whole point is that it’ll be another waste of time for me and for the government, therefore I withdraw.”
!notes;
Nydel is found in a parallel universe. Also, its origin is from my birth name, only scrambled.
Nydelian - a person who lives in Nydel or someone whose parent(s) possess Nydelian blood.
Human - a person who lives on Earth or is born to both Human parents.
Nyelds - a person who is half-Human, half-Nydelian; but is incapable of powers.
Appearance of a Nydelian is younger than his/her actual Earth age.
OT12; Kai/Krystal, Sehun/Sulli, Luhan/Nana, Chanyeol/Jiyeon, Baekhyun/IU, D.O/Luna, Suho/Chorong, Xiumin/Eunji, Kris/Sooyoung, Lay/Lizzy, Chen/Naeun, Tao ~4,365 words
Fantasy | Romance AU; PG-13
In a parallel universe, a world called Nydel grows a patriarchal nation built upon the folklore of guardians that are said to be messengers to the special planet called Earth. At a progression once a century, a couple of female special beings are collected from the said planet. With the planet Earth’s apocalypse nearing, the final set of boys are sent to pick up the remaining Nydelians for purpose of a new labor force, and carry on a new world for the next generations. They must be able to perform this within a month before the world ends.
Chapter 1 - Tomorrow or Yesterday
-o0o-
He goes by the name of Kris.
And he is amused. In fact although there is that air of fear, maybe not to all, but most definitely to Kris when he eventually finds out about the news, he is still in his amused state as he sits in the room, its four walls of pure white and also everything that co-existed with this slightly daunting. With his pale appearance and brownish training clothes, Kris and the more colorful figure beside him, seem to give life to the shabby tools shed. At why they are inside a tools shed is also another funny story in which he simply tries to forget because of the more important matter at hand.
“Year 2000,” she whispers. “So it has already been a hundred years since I left Earth. Imagine that.”
He eventually does some imagining indeed, at how young the planet Earth is to just die. It isn’t year 2000 in his time anymore and though Nydel lives surprisingly a billion immeasurable light years away, at an approximation closest to that of the Andromeda, he hates how this responsibility fell on them. Why the twelve of them? They aren’t as experienced at this game long enough to live up to expectations.
“They are in our image because they are our past,” Kris says. “They’re the ones living on planet Earth. And it’s a heavier duty we have to serve in order to save humanity. We are obliged to bring back a few of the ones like us, like you and me. Of all the people on Earth... how are we supposed to look for the Nydelians in that kind of mess?”
She merely laughs at the end of this, patting his shoulder for comfort. “Eh, it will be nothing. I promise.”
“How can you be so sure, Sooyoung?”
Sighing, she puts her hands together, closes her eyes and for a moment Kris leaves her to meditate. She does her thing and knowing Sooyoung and her nature of being one of the special kind of girls in their little nation, Kris decides not to interupt at all. And before he knows it, she smiles and opens her palms, a tiny plant coming out. It is something she is commonly known for, the reason why she is one of the earlier pick ups, from a hundred Earth years before this one and he feels lucky to have her as one of his closest friends.
“Ah, that was rather difficult,” she mutters, frowning as Kris picks it off her like a normal flower they normally see on Sundays at the Mok forests (which Kris has only been to once in his entire slowed life). “It’s like how I was found then, too. It wasn’t difficult for the rest. Siwon told me I was easier to find than the rest of the girls. So... don’t worry. Your boys are with you.”
“But aren’t you nervous yourself?” he inquires and the girl shrugs.
“About marriage, you say? The person I am supposed to be with for the rest of my life?”
Kris nods instantly. “Yes, that. It’s randomly picked. Aren’t you frightened?” In any way, perhaps, he himself is because of the tiny ache inside his heart, the muscle in his heart that seems to operate more often now that he is going through his early adulthood life and from then on, a forever stage. He doesn’t understand why this is so; but he knows it’s quite a rare kind of emotion in which he must learn to intellecutally disregard more often.
“I seem to be fine with everyone around the nation,” Sooyoung answers. “So I believe I am okay with whoever I am partnered with. It’s fine. I am twenty-two already after all. Or say a hundred and twenty-two Earth years. And I will look twenty-two for the rest of my life.”
Staring at the flower and twirling it in between his two large fingers, Kris silently chuckles as he remembers how time -much like Peter Pan in Neverland, a fairytale he has heard from the Earth-born beings on the nation -is on their side almost every minute and every second. They will not grow old once they turn twenty-two, go rusty and useless at once.
“All I do... is fly,” Kris rolls his eyes. “I don’t want to fail the nation.”
“It’s going to be okay, Wu Fan.”
He goes by the name of Kris. But he likes how she calls him Wu Fan instead.
-o0o-
“It’ll be in the next twenty-four hours. Earth. A new world.”
“I know, I know,” the shorter one resounds, gazing lazily at the interchanging colors of the morning sky from blue to yellow to red and then restarting. It is silent today though, no random chirping of birds and other forest creatures that usually lurked in when the two visits the place.
The other boy smirks and throws the pebble across the river, skipping four times before finally dropping a few feet away. “It still seems a bit weird, though. How did your mother react again, Baekhyun?”
With a condescending smile, he shakes his head at the memory of telling his family about the whole possible adventure. “She keeps saying no. I won’t live to it. She keeps saying, ‘Chanyeol, I’ll understand but you? Your names must have been put together into one piece of paper to be drawn out for this kind of heroic acts.’ She doesn’t trust me.”
“Then prove her wrong,” chuckles the taller one.
They are by the fish pond that bright morning of a day, and the only reason is they get a day off from all the hype about going away and being the messengers of this century -and as Chanyeol also understands, the last batch.
Baekhyun smiles. “It is a bit doubtful, is it not? I didn’t do well at the academy as you guys did and it surprises me that I’m still going.”
Chanyeol shrugs and sits with him. “We topped the finals. Wasn’t that their basis?”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Baekhyun then says. “I glow in the dark. That was why I finished the race seventh.”
“Zitao finished first because of his time control,” Chanyeol bursts into laughter. “I don’t see why you can’t use your glow in the dark thing. Besides, have you read the objectives of the mission? A month on a different world, different time! Can you imagine it how the people are like there? The... more normal ones?”
“And to think this is the last time we’ll be recruiting the Nydelians,” Baekhyun reflects. “We must not fail.”
Chanyeol pats him at the back. “We are told to have fun and enjoy Earth at its last days. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to leave. We get to see how they live and learn about them.”
“It’ll be the death of me,” Baekhyun adds, inhaling. “This mission isn’t a vacation. It’s to be open to the world beyond our own and realize what they lack as mere mortals, as Humans.”
“But if you keep thinking that, it’ll be no fun at all,” he reacts. “And to be honest, we are in their image you know. We are of the same species, Nydelians and Humans.”
They have known each other as far as Baekhyun can recall, and ever since their childhood, they always have those conntradicting views about life in general, that it often leads to smaller squabbles and bickerig that can last for months; sometimes it is a little physical that they are shooting each other light beams and fireballs. Cuts, burns and bruises - their mothers always agree that it is all part of growing up. Now they are both aged twenty.
“Two more years and we’re adults,” Baekhyun adds. “We’ll be married and obliged to have children of our own.”
Chanyeol and Baekhyun both fall serious for a minute after this has been said, and then, as they look at each other, laughter rises and the natural conversations ends with them heading back home. Tomorrow is a new day, the two friends decide.
-o0o-
He can’t seem to finish the bowl of porridge prepared for him by his dear mother, because something else is clouding up his mind more often than not. It bothers him to no extent, and he doesn’t quite understand how two different emotions, agitation and overwhelming excitement exist in one go.
“Sehun, eat up. You know it’s not advisable to pass through the portal with an empty stomach,” enters his mother in her apron, arms by her hips.
At this he immediately smiles at the presence, turning away and shaking his head. “Sulli, stop it.”
At the statement, in a blink of an eye, the older woman changes into a younger image, her hair braided into pigtails and parts of the fringes covering her eyes. Her smile is wide as she rushes towards him happily, sitting daintly on the chair beside him.
“You actually recognized me,” the girl says.
Sehun puts a spoonful to his mouth, bemused. Pointing to his throat where a small brown spot is, he looks at her, and Sulli mimicks the same thing. “Your mark.”
She scowls, giggling unhappily. “Oh yeah. Our Human birthmark. I have been trying to change forms and hoping it disappears. It gives away my identity. I sometimes force myself to put a scarf on other occassions when I want to sneak in.”
“Plus points on the voice too,” he says. “You sound like mother already.”
She claps her hands. “I figured if I have to do well in the spying division, I might as well do better at it.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Sehun wonders.
“I came to see you off,” she says in a sing-song voice. “I will probably miss you.”
The other boy chuckles. “Then come with me if you wish.”
“Can I do that?” Sulli’s eyes twinkle, very hopeful.
“Of course not,” he takes it back. “You weren’t at the finals. You can’t just pass through the portal without recognition.”
“I could have been first in the race if I was a boy,” Sulli pouts. “I mean, I could have changed into a boy but they still will find that out and that will disqualify me and maybe even... you know, take away my powers.”
It is a little unfair, she thinks, that only the boys get to participate in the finals at the academy. The finals set the standards and the possibility of leaving the nation as a reward and obligation for all the hard work one has exerted through his years of studying at the academy. Some graduate earlier than others, for example Sehun and Sulli as they often are regarded to be Human-raised prodigies, while there are a few who extend their stay in order to fulfill better understanding of their powers.
“How is your mother, Sehun?”
“She’s at the market right now,” Sehun answers the out of the blue question. “Selling fish as usual.”
Sulli sighs, looking at her shaky hands. “I’ll always be proud of whoever my mother is and wherever she comes from.”
This very sensitive subject, Sehun thinks and he can’t help but critically see it the way she does. They are, after all, an inseparable duo because also to the isolation and special treatment they get from other people. What Sulli feels most of the time, is what he sometimes experiences too. It is the way they are associated with the word Human and the way they know each other inside and out. He knows how to hurt like her, being both half-Human and half-Nydelians.
“She came from Earth, because she is Human,” Sehun says before her. “Your mother is with your father because they love each other. And even if it accounts to slavery for the rest of her life... just so she is able to feed her children and take care of them, I think that is also another way to see love. Because she loves you, that’s why she’s slaved.”
“Our mothers grow old, Sehun-ah. They are helpless, because they don’t possess powers. They are growing old faster than the rest. If at the maximum speed, we age in about 300 Earth years, they for some reason only a hundred’s pace.” Sulli counters, tears in her eyes.
“How old is your mother?”
“One hundred and eighty-two earth years, and she says she looks somewhere between forty to fifty if it were on Earth.”
“If your mother isn’t under slavery right now, Sulli, you are supposed to be dead. A daughter of a Nydelian and a Human, it is above the law.”
Someone else suddenly appears at their dinning table, his rogue-like appearance always brimming with confidence. He grins at seeing the two of them but eventually it fades, because he realizes he is in a rather clandestine moment.
And so he bows his head in apology. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Jongin, your countless appearing and disappearing had been reasons for interruptions,” Sehun instantly glares, but they greeted each other with strong pats on shoulders, the visitor standing behind Sehun while eyeing Sulli.
“What’s the matter with you?”
Sulli looks up at him and timidly looks away, Sehun at once noticing the way she hides her tears from Jongin, the way she always can’t become herself around Jongin. It is rather funny scenario at times but he isn’t one to speak about that at all.
“It’s... private,” Sehun eventually answers for her, getting a small slap on the knee from the girl.
Jongin shrugs, feeling a little dizzy so he sits at her side. “Couple issues, I suppose?”
Smirking, Sehun shakes his head. “You don’t get to be coupled unless you’re twenty-two and above. And I bet if it’s our time by then, Sulli and I won’t be coupled because we posses too many human traits.”
“Doesn’t mean you don’t like each other, right?” Jongin defends. “That’s something you two... know well, being exposed too much to human activities.”
“Offensive,” Sehun whisks his finger into the other boy’s forehead. “Offenses like that need to be punished.” Sulli giggles at this, brightening the room.
He rubs his head, frowning at the two of them. “Eh, eh. Finish your breakfast already so we can train a bit more later. Sulli,” he turns to her, their eyes meeting at a second and she feels the butterflies in her stomach flutter endlessly, “you want to come and practice with us too? There’s a free assessment later for respective divisions. We’re both in the spying division back in the academy.”
Sehun is amused at how she ridiculously changes moods in an instant.
-o0o-
It feels like graduation and the announcement about their leave has happened yesterday that a frown on Luhan’s face is still completely noticeable. He doesn’t like the idea of leaving Nydel -it is home, and his heart never wants to just forget home. It is apparently the only thing that keeps him going: the thought of finally graduating from the academy and able to serve his nation; as oddly as others may see it. He quietly sits in his comfortable room, his mat already folded and the rest of his things finally in tack.
It takes a miracle for him to clean up the place but he eventually starts at it by lifting every piece of paper and book and dirty clothing up into the air and suspend them their while he sits. Just sitting down and completely staring into blank air. The thing about leaving bothers him a little too much.
“You’ll end up in pain again, stop that.”
Everything that once floated a while ago definitely falls at the pull of gravity and at the voice of the younger boy knocking on his door. The noise bothers his family from below, his mother he hears shouting every curse word she knows in plain Nydelian language and so Luhan starts laughing at this. He gets up and goes to him.
“I thought I’d clean up before tomorrow,” he explains, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “It’s isn’t really that much, Yixing. I try not to overwork myself.”
“Overwork,” the man says. “You always are overworking your abilities. Doesn’t your mind ever get tired taking up so much energy? All other Nydelians with your power kind of complain of the constant migraines.”
Luhan nods. “Just needs some getting used to. To summon unicorns I personally think is harder.” He snickers at the the word unicorn, because he knows every time he says that Yixing rolls his eyes.
“Ever since the animal rights this year, it got harder,” he exclaims. “When I was younger, my sister and I can call on unicorns at a whistle, even miles away.”
“Jongin and the others are at the assessment center,” Luhan starts. “You want to go and practice or so I heard... well, you know, since I particularly wasn’t developed in any particular division, you want to play with the rest? Just one last time before we all meet Humans?”
Luhan doesn’t seem to qualify to any division, but he knows he should be at least in one. He cannot pass as one of the elementalist, since all Nydelians there are users of an element. He also isn’t meant to be a spy -it isn’t like telekinesis have that much use in the field of data collection and secret operatives. Then there’s the division of communication, trainers of creatures and whatnot that are able to communicate well, which also isn’t quite perfect for his power. Lastly the field of externals (anything that involves one to perform using outside measures) which he knows is something he fits in the most.
“I will,” Yixing agrees excitedly. “Humans aren’t... that bad, I guess. The Humans here in Nydel all seem very nice.”
Luhan scoffed, a short mockering kind too. “I can’t seem to trust Humans that much.”
“Sehun’s half Human, mind you.”
“I know but he’s special and he’s quite a powerful elementalist,” he immediately reasons, shaking his head. “It’s... it is weird that there are Humans that live among us. I feel that we are divided as a nation because we have some who don’t really belong here.”
Yixing points at him. “Ah, I remember. You told me back at the academy how you hated that one Human who spilled on your new shoes! Ever since then you generally think all Humans are rude.”
They are both silent at once. “Rushing into conclusions. I know it’s wrong. But I just feel that... there already is enough inequality in this world, why do they have to come in?”
Yixing pulls on a serious look. “Humans that are also sons and daughters of Humans from before. Obviously it began how the earlier messengers, the earlier guardians carried Humans to live into our world as well. Nonetheless, even in their lower class state, they seem to earn respect from the people and they work so extensively that despite their shortcomings, they really grow into great citizens as well.”
“Slaved forever,” Luhan says. “Life span of merely two hundred while we reach up to five. Humans have these... emotions of fear and anxiety and they show it often. If it continues, there is a possibility of a revolution or a war or -”
Yixing pulls on his sleeves and drags him downstairs to the kitchen. “Stop reading too much, why don’t you.”
-o0o-
Jongdae already misses his family and they haven’t even left yet. As an elementalist graduate, he isn’t too sure how he will be of any help to the others. It is lightning, and it practically stings the very existence of almost killing someone. He knows how electrifying someone can ultimately be the reason of his death. It takes patience and right amount of control; and sometimes it just requires him to stay still and do nothing lest he hurt the ones around him.
A rock flies to his glass window, hitting it and bouncing back off that Jongdae gets up to check, not if something cracked but if it hit some by-passer.
“The others are practicing, you want to come?”
Minseok appears in front of his house, shouting. Jongdae wants to. Then again, he feels horridly tired. “I want to sleep so that I can sleep in.”
“Suit yourself!” the chubby-cheeked friend adds and runs off.
The boy settles by his mat and takes out the parchment sent by the postman the other week. He reads it over and over again, just to make sure he isn’t dreaming of the moment and the obligation, just to make sure this is all indeed reality he must never pass.
Proud parents of Kim Jongdae
Nydel Marshal Academy, an institution that develops young talented Nydelians such as your son, is honored to have taught your son for 8 years. It is our pride to have him as a student as diligent as he is; the academe would never be the same without his excellent skills and craftsmanship in the field and division we have assessed him with.
In line with this, we congratulate him for graduating and completing his training. We would like to inform you that he is one of the twelve boys who topped the finals, therefore granted of a special mission everyone, as you adults may already be aware of, must never miss.
He is one of the best students, as earlier stated therefore we are pleased to announce that he is one of the new guardians. If you are not familiar with this yet, here is a brief idea of how important guardians of Nydel are to the society and the betterment of our nation.
As far as anything can date back, Nydel is a mirrored world of the planet called Earth in the Milky Way galaxy. It holds almost the same features of the planet except it is very different in terms of the vacuumed time and population.
Our time is slower, but progress is quicker. Based on our studies, we live in an age that is non-existent on earth; therefore we are advanced yet time is slower. It is said that someone of ninety nydel years old is equal to a five hundred earth year old person.
We moderate our population, instinctively seen as we are governed and ruled by the male species. In the sense, at the lack of female Nydelians, there are some special ones located on planet Earth; and they are scattered there. Gods beforehand in folklore had separated the females from the males and have planted them on earth instead due to the disgrace and subordination when both can be equally apt.
This is how your son and eleven others are chosen to be the messengers sent to pick up the remaining Nydelians back to where they belong. Every one hundred Earth years, we perform this operation and give it to the most deserving Nydelians. There are still about ten or less Nydelian ladies according to statistics and must be rescued before the planet earth eventually dies from its apocalypse.
Congratulations again for competing efficiently with the rest and being one of the next heroes of this generation.
It still sounds so very wrong. Not for him. This isn’t the destiny he actually wants to hear after eight years of studying, especially mastering such a strong element.
-o0o-
“That was your best shot?” teases Kyungsoo at a time like this, his face smeared with both blood and mud.
It is the equalizer rounds, and everyone although tired now as the sun is setting, patiently watches as the final duel is at its climax. The viewers in the place are also some students who still are in training, and they are amazed at the battle between two elementalists.
The other boy, panting as he starts standing up, slowly lifts his hand also in the air, somewhat sending out a message of defeat in which Kyungsoo yells vehemently and turns away (‘Wrong move!’ shouts Jongin from the crowd), without really realizing the puddle forming beneath his feet that as he steps away while the crowd cheers, he falls into the ice cold water, in exchange with a brighter laugh from his opponent.
“Never turn your back on Joonmyun,” the boy says, as Kyungsoo continues flapping as he drowns. It is because Joonmyun knows swimming has been such a painful subject on the other boy. He holds his hand out, seizing the water back into his system.
“Okay, okay, you win,” Kyungsoo crawls out, soaked and breathing heavily, eyes closed.
These are the last hours they get to spend before the real game begins.
-o0o-
At the ministry office, everything seems too strict. The rooms go from narrow to wide then back again, as the echo of typwriters go from every space. Most of the workers here are half-Humans and half-Nydelians, except they are the ones who aren’t born with powers, earning the title Nyelds, still under slavery into working for the benefit of their children and families. If one is too lazy, death is its companion, no more no less for it is the law. They are more of the middle men, and Zitao’s mother works here day and night.
With tired eyes as the clock strikes 3 in the afternoon, he grips a piece of paper (and not just any ordinary paper) and moves through a bunch of people, eventually reaching the head of the office.
“Why Zitao... what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to submit my withdrawl from the guardians circle,” he speaks solemnly.
The man is wide-eyed to hear this, that he tries so stupidly to smile in great concern. “Why? Is... is something the matter? Don’t you want to go to Earth? Don’t you -”
“I said I’ll withdraw,” he bellows. “Time control requires too many precautions and pre-meditations. It takes a whole month to successfully recharge an energy equipped enough to control time. That is the reason why if I do go, I will be nothing but a worthless Human. I will blend in yes, but the whole point is that it’ll be another waste of time for me and for the government, therefore I withdraw.”
!notes;
Nydel is found in a parallel universe. Also, its origin is from my birth name, only scrambled.
Nydelian - a person who lives in Nydel or someone whose parent(s) possess Nydelian blood.
Human - a person who lives on Earth or is born to both Human parents.
Nyelds - a person who is half-Human, half-Nydelian; but is incapable of powers.
Appearance of a Nydelian is younger than his/her actual Earth age.