Chapter Text
done by my lovely @gaydreaming__
done by myself (I'm no graphic designer, sorry not sorry)
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“Riae ael’a tehaelir daen ner jeziael riae gar’un’haen tebiarr.”
We are bound by a fate we cannot see.
—Ariaen proverb
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The Nothingness, A Thousand Years Ago
To Helios, the Nothingness tastes of dust.
Fine but persistent dust that sticks to every part of your body, invading you until it finds your soul, only to attack that too.
He didn't think there would ever come a day where he, too, would curse it. Where he, too, would become its victim, not only its servant.
He isn't but an observer, now forced to become an active participant in the games of the place between here and there, the dark river that crosses all our minds, and has stolen everything from Helios.
A bated breath leaves his mouth.
He came too late.
Here, in the portal, he can't feel the effects. Fate hasn't unraveled yet in this space untouched by time. But the vision that unveils itself before his inner eye—a present from the Nothingness itself—has Helios clutching a hand over his heart.
Helios was cursed with knowledge long before he could even spell the word.
And now, after everything has been lost, Helios makes a pact. He swears an oath—not to the Nothingness but to himself. To the person he got separated from, and the love that hasn't drowned, but will live on in the only place that matters.
He vows to do everything in his power to undo that of which the mortals don't know.
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Jimin wakes up covered in sweat, breathing heavily, tears running down his face and his heart beating wildly in his chest, as if this sensation was unfamiliar.
After a few minutes of calming his breathing down and trying to get a hold of the sadness that comes crashing down on him, he sits up and blinks once, twice. He closes his eyes again and sighs deeply. If he could only remember what he was dreaming about that leaves him like this, but no matter how hard he tries, or how hard he's been trying for years now, he simply can not recall even one detail. The only thing that always remains is the intense feeling of sadness. A sadness so great it sometimes leaves him paralyzed in bed, feeling like it fully consumes him until he's no longer able to feel anything else.
With one look at his phone that lays on his nightstand, he realizes it's already 7:30 am, which means he must have been jolted awake by his alarm. He throws the covers to the side and puts his naked feet on the cold ground.
He's used to this.
Used to the recurring dream that has been pestering him since he was a child. Used to the dizziness that follows after these dreams. Used to the way he feels like dying whenever he wakes up.
Used to the fact that he has absolutely no recollection of what happens in his dream that affects him so immensely.
Pushing his thoughts about the dream to the side, Jimin carefully tries to stand up, and is relieved when the rush of dizziness stays away.
He does not turn the light on as he walks out of his room because it is already starting to get bright outside and the first sun rays are bathing the space in a warm color.
Inside the bathroom, he gets rid of his sweaty clothes and hops into the shower. He lets the warm water wash away the aftereffects of his nightmare. He wishes he could stay under the hot stream a little longer, but his time is limited. After grabbing the towel from the sink, where he placed it before stepping into the shower, he dries himself and idly thinks about what he should wear today, but a voice from outside the bathroom throws him out of his thoughts.
“Jimin, do you want breakfast?” his roommate, Hoseok, asks.
Hoseok and Jimin have been roommates for one year now, since Jimin moved to Seoul for university. Hoseok is great, Jimin could not ask for a better roommate; he does not leave the kitchen dirty, always tells Jimin before he brings friends over, and most importantly they get along perfectly.
They're best friends now—well, Jimin considers Hoseok his best friend, solely because he has no other friend like Hoseok in Seoul.
“No, I'm good, but thanks for asking!" Jimin answers. He's never been a breakfast person, but he appreciates Hoseok for asking anyway.
“Are you sure, Jimin? You probably won't have time to eat something later since you're working, right?”
Oh, right. Today is Monday, which means Jimin only has one class and after that he's working his part time job at the café from 12 to 7. He briefly thinks about taking Hoseok’s offer but dismisses the idea when he remembers that if he eats something now, he will get nauseous. Another consequence of his dreams and also the reason Jimin usually eats lunch as his first meal.
“No, I'll eat something later, you know I can't eat breakfast," Jimin says with a light chuckle. "Now let me get dressed or I'll be late to class."
“Yes, okay, I'll let you get ready in peace. But don't forget to eat later, you idiot!" Hoseok calls out.
Jimin hears Hoseok walking away from the bathroom door, probably back into the kitchen to resume eating breakfast. His friendship with Hoseok is something Jimin is extremely grateful for. They moved in together after Jimin put up an offer on the internet, searching for a roommate. Even though Jimin has enough money to pay for the apartment alone, courtesy of his parents, he wanted to have a roommate to not feel so alone in a new city. Hoseok proved himself to probably be the best thing that ever happened to Jimin. He had multiple interviews with people interested in the spare room, but after one minute of talking to Hoseok, Jimin instantly knew that they would get along. Choosing Hoseok was probably one of the fastest decisions Jimin has ever made. Being an overthinker is not a helpful trait for decision making. And being a perfectionist makes it even harder.
After getting dressed and packing his bag for the day, he steps out of his room, waves Hoseok goodbye, and leaves for university. Thankfully, their apartment is only ten minutes away from campus, definitely an advantage when you have long breaks between courses.
Jimin decides to walk today because it is June, summer is gracious and not unbearable so far, and therefore the weather is lovely all day.
He picks up a coffee on the way, trying to forget the unpleasant night he had. As a psychology major, he certainly has a hard time surviving university and simultaneously trying to keep his life together. His recurring nightmares are an obstacle, but Jimin has dealt with them for such a long time already that they are simply an ornery part of his life now.
He chose his major in hopes that learning about the human psyche would help him understand his own. He just has to survive the next few years and then he can sign up for a master's degree, also survive that, and then he can work his dream job—and perhaps get to the bottom of his dilemma.
Always punctual, Jimin arrives on time for his only class of the day, and finds a seat close to the front. He greets classmates, engages in chit-chat, and finishes his coffee. The professor arrived a few minutes later, wasting no time in starting her class.
As expected, he has a harder time concentrating today due to the rough night he had. The dreams—nightmares—always suck up all his energy.
The lesson ends faster than Jimin would like because he genuinely enjoyed listening to his professor, but a part of him is glad too, because his lack of concentration is draining the little energy he has. And, on top of that, he still has a long day ahead of him. While putting away his laptop, which he used for not taking notes, he worries about the assignment he still has to finish. When was the deadline again?
He's about to check his calendar, when someone taps him on the shoulder. He whirls around, half-expecting to see a familiar face.
There's a boy standing in front of him, a nervous aura surrounding him. Jimin thinks his name is Junghoon, but he's not quite sure. They've never really talked before. "Yeah?"
Junghoon can barely meet his eyes. “Hey, uhm, I wanted to ask if you maybe wanna study together with me in the library or in a café or something?
“Oh yeah sure, we can do that sometime,” Jimin answers with a smile. Is he trying to ask Jimin out?
“Really? Oh, that's– that's cool. Can I get your number… maybe?" Junghoon shyly holds his phone out for Jimin to type his number in.
“Of course.”
Jimin adds his number to Junghoon’s contacts, lifts his head, and smiles at him.
“Just text me the time and then I can tell you if I'm free then, okay?”
“Yeah, I'll text you later!" Junghoon cheerfully replies. Jimin decides he likes Junghoon. He seems sweet and friendly. And he really needs more friends so a study date is not a bad idea. And if it develops into more…well, he's not necessarily opposed to that either.
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After leaving his university, Jimin makes his way to the café where he works three to four times a week. It is also relatively near to his campus, which means a lot of students go there to study and hang out.
He genuinely enjoys working there—the interaction with customers and coworkers alike is a nice distraction from his stressful university life.
At work too, time passes in a breeze, his seven hour shift coming to an end when the day bleeds into evening.
He decides to walk home, instead of using public transportation, because he enjoys the warm weather and also, incidentally, because public transportation often makes him dizzy with the way the scents of people seem to be hanging in the air.
It has always been like this for Jimin. He hates being in a room with too many people because their scents become too overwhelming and Jimin feels like he's getting drowned. In crowded university halls, Jimin often gets headaches, but nothing beats public transportation, where everyone is crammed together like canned sardines. Summer makes it especially bad, with people sweating more.
His mother always said that he has the most sensitive nose she has ever witnessed on a person and uses it to tease him with stories about him as a child refusing to wear, eat, or touch something that smells bad in his opinion.
Jimin can't explain why his sense of smell seems to be so prominent and why it sometimes causes him to get goosebumps when he smells something he likes, or why he seems to associate people with certain scents in his mind.
It just makes sense to him that his mother smells like roses, his father like coffee, and Hoseok like citrus and freshly washed clothes. His sense of smell also plays an important factor in his judgment when it comes to meeting new people; if they smell unpleasant and he feels uncomfortable in their presence, he instantly distances himself and tries to avoid them. Growing up, Jimin used to wonder if everyone categorizes people depending on their scents. But when he asked his friends they all looked at him with confused faces and simply said, or chalked it up to him having a very well- developed intuition. Nowadays he rarely brings it up.
Too lost in his thoughts, Jimin only now realizes that he has been walking around for way longer than he planned.
He finds himself in a park that is quite close to his apartment. He and Hoseok often take walks here. His feet must have carried him here subconsciously. With a shrug, he accepts this outcome, and saunters through the green scenery with a serene smile on his face.
Even though it's barely evening the park seems deserted and Jimin is the only person in earshot. He keeps on walking for a few minutes, taking in his beautiful surroundings and the setting sun in the background, before he realizes how exhausted he actually is.
The strap of his bag has been pressing into his shoulder uncomfortably and he feels a headache coming. He regrets not eating lunch (or breakfast) because his stomach is starting to hurt from not eating the whole day. Maybe he should order Chinese takeout when he comes home. Or ask Hoseok if he wants to order for them both. He also has to call his mom, she's probably been waiting for a few days now to get a call from Jimin. With a defeated sigh he starts to walk again. He picks up the pace, determined to get home quickly.
But his day takes an unexpected turn when he walks around the corner.
Later, he'll marvel over this situation. This coincidence. What if he hadn't gone into the park? What if he hadn't turned around the corner?
Though, at this very moment, Jimin simply…freezes.
In the middle of the sandy path, are approximately five people that seem to be gathering around something—like tigers circling around their prey.
Jimin can't make out what exactly they are doing, but the way they are moving—smoothly, like experienced predators—seems strange and unfamiliar. Even stranger is the dark dust that seems to be engulfing them, covering them partially from Jimin’s sight.
He squints and the few glimpses he gets unsettle him, but he finds himself intrigued against all odds.
The strange people are dressed in black clothes and all of them have their hands raised in a defensive manner in front of them. Jimin feels a distilled sense of something urgent raise in his chest without knowing what exactly is even going on. The strangers have not noticed him, too caught up in whatever they are doing. A part of him screams at Jimin to turn around and run away—to escape from this uncanny encounter.
Suddenly, the dark dust around them vanishes as one of them is thrown out of the circle and comes crashing down against a tree. Jimin involuntarily gasps and stares at the scene in front of him with wide eyes. His feet stay planted, however. He doesn't move a damn inch.
The rest of the men—four in number, precisely—are now clearer due to the fact that the weird dust has vanished. Jimin's breath hitches. His skin prickles.
Jimin cannot believe what he is witnessing; mere meters in front of him, dressed in dark leather, big boots adorning their feet, harnesses around their torsos, are four men who are closing in on something.
No– someone.
In the middle is a frightened-looking man that appears half-dead already, blood covering his face and pouring out of a wound on his stomach. If Jimin had to make a guess, he'd say the man is middle-aged.
Terrified to the core, Jimin's eyes wander back to the four men, the perpetrators presumably, and now he can see that one of them seems to be holding a knife that has dark liquid running down the blade. That must be the blade that caused the awful wound on the man's stomach.
Jimin looks back at the man helplessly laying on the ground, panting, with nowhere to escape.
Something in his chest seems to break.
He sees the desperation in the man's eyes and it hits him right then. They are killing him. This must be some kind of group murder. Fear starts to spread through his body, his heart rate picking up at an unhealthy speed. He has to do something, has to help the man, has to call the police, has to make sure the–
All of a sudden, he feels something pulling him towards the murder scene unfolding before his eyes.
And before he knows what he's doing, he finds himself running straight into the middle of the ordeal. His mind slips from his grasp, like getting plunged into a very bad dream, where you are a puppet to someone else's will.
With a thump, Jimin falls to the hard ground, his elbows and knees scraping open.
His entire body feels electrified, a strange energy coursing through his veins. He feels his consciousness slipping away more and more. He has no idea what just happened. Why does he have no control over his body? What is this weird scent?
“What the– shit!"
Jimin hears a voice from somewhere over him. He tries to sit up, tries to blink to get his vision to clear and is pulled back by two strong hands around his shoulders.
“Shhh, you pretty little thing, don't try to fight me, I need your energy…" says a deep voice in his ear. Jimin is too disorientated to comprehend what the person holding him in a tight grip is saying to him. Without warning, pain erupts in his whole body, feeling like fire in his veins. Like his essence is being pulled out his body.
He opens his mouth in a silent scream.
“Fuck! Get the human out of here, Jinwoo! We need to kill him now or he will get away!” someone screams authoritatively.
Jimin sees a bright burst of light through his closed eyelids and, distantly, like looking through a fog, he feels his body being pulled free from the tight grip around his chest.
Abruptly, his control over his body comes back and the disorientation fades away. He opens his eyes and looks around panickedly. He is lying on grass, a few meters away from the group of murderers. His mind is racing, he can't understand what is happening. Why is everything around him burning in blue flames? Why are trees being pulled from their roots around him? What is this disgusting scent that is permeating the air?
“Hey! Human, are you okay?
Someone leans over him, shaking his body, trying to get Jimin’s attention. But he can't take his eyes off the hypnotizing blue flames.
“Shit, I think he's out of it. Jaebeom, come here to help me with him!"
Jimin is once again being dragged over the ground and lands hard on his back. He still feels the weird energy running through his body, still feels the fogginess taking over his mind. Again, he is unable to move, trapped in his body, and can't react to the person screaming at him and shaking his body. This is it , he thinks. I must be dead.
“What is this? Why didn't you just leave him there?" a melodic sounding voice cuts through the fogginess clouding his mind.
“He's not dead yet, so I just–”
“He's not dead?!" the melodic voice quips. Disbelief is clear in his tone.
Something tugs at Jimin's heart, a weird pull towards that new melodic voice. He wants to open his eyes to look at who is speaking, but he feels as if the connection to his body has been capped. In his frozen state, he can only listen helplessly.
Another person speaks up. “But the rogue completely drained him, he should be as dead as it gets by now. Check his breathing and pulse again."
The melodic voice interrupts before anyone follows the instruction. “No, we should just end him, there's no hope for him anyway. Jinwoo, you do it. I have to get rid of the remains of the rogue." The authoritative undertone is unmistakable.
Jimin wonders if the owner of the melodic voice is the leader of this weird group of people. Wonders if they will kill him now. He wants to tell them that he's not dead, that he can hear them, but he can't even do so much as open his eyes or lift a measly finger.
Jimin can sense one of the men, presumably Jinwoo, approaching him, and crouching down in front of him. He feels something cold pressing against his neck, not yet applying much pressure. He feels Jinwoo leaning in, probably to watch if he is already dead or still alive. Jimin hears Jinwoo taking in deep breaths. Maybe to prepare himself for the killing blow. But before anything happens the cold metal is removed from his neck and Jinwoo softly presses a hand against his cheek.
“Gods– what the– guys! He's an omega! He's not a human!”
Jimin has no idea what Jinwoo is talking about, only that he did not kill him. Yet.
He hears a clamor of surprised voices and all of a sudden there's this unfathomable pull inside him again.
“Did you just say he's an omega?!"
There he is again, the melodic voice.
Footsteps creep closer, voices draw nearer. They all gather around him.
Jinwoo, still hovering above him, calls out, “Yes! I swear I just got a whiff of his scent and it's clearly that of an omega! I couldn't believe it at first so I– I took multiple–"
“Stop rambling and let me take a look at him," the voice from earlier says—it belongs to the man that wanted to check if he's still alive. Jinwoo moves away from Jimin and now someone else is taking in deep breaths against his neck.
"What in the gods' names– it's true. He smells like an omega. But why would an omega…”
“Get off him, Taehyung."
Something inside Jimin awakens.
"Fine. Have at him then. Check for yourself."
The man with the melodic voice replies something to that, something Jimin can't quite retain because blood rushes through his ears.
All of a sudden, the intense scent of something dark, something magical, like nightfall, engulfs him and he feels a gentle hand on his cheek. Feels the control of his body slowly coming back as the gentle hand continues to touch him, pushing back the hair that covers his forehead.
The man hovering over him leans in, closer to his neck than the ones before him, almost touching Jimin’s neck with his lips.
The thing that awakened inside of him ceases, like a trap snapping shut. Jimin's skin tingles. Without warning, the entire control of his body is back, and his eyes snap open.
He gasps for air.
The last thing he sees are two dark eyes that sparkle like the stars.