Chapter 2 - The Wings Lab Pt. 1

What if he was alone in this world? There would not be paradise without his brothers. Fear gripped his heart as he prepared for the worse.

Luckily, Ecila grinned and said, "Follow me." Relief washed over Jungkook. He was not alone.

Ecila twirled around and stepped out the door, which was connected to a glass bridge. Each step on the glass caused the faint light emitting from it to ripple as though Ecila was walking on water. Mesmerized, Jungkook stepped out of the room. His eyes were on the ground as he experimented with the ripples. (He also noticed that he was wearing his favorite timberland shoes, which helped him relax a little.)

Jungkook first took careful steps, then walked, then hopped, then finally broke out into a skip. The ripples increased and bounced away from him as if dancing with him and Jungkook laughed with a twinkle in his eyes. Ecila gave Jungkook a gentle smile (while completely unaffected by Jungkook's energy *which the author thinks in impossible*) and continued walking unhurriedly down the glass hallway while careful not to interrupt Jungkook's mini adventure.

But as beautiful as the ripples look, glass is still glass, and it revealed what was outside: the crystal white city and the dark sky. Jungkook slowed down and asked, "Is it nighttime?"

"Well, it is..." Ecila took out a spherical device from his pocket, shook it, peeked into an opening on its side, and said, "Hmmm, maybe 3 in the afternoon?"

Perplexed by Ecila's time telling device, Jungkook doubted that it was 3 in the afternoon. After all, the sky was so dark that it seemed to be more like 11 at night instead. But what can he say? He was thousands of years in the future. The blue skies he'd seen—

His train of thought hit the brakes with a screech as a question popped into his head; "What was he doing 3000 years in the future?"

"Ecila! Do you know how I got here?" he gestured at himself and then at the surroundings.

Ecila raised an eyebrow and said, "How, indeed. That is a good question. My attendant told me Jeon Jungkook was to awake from his slumber today. So—"

*CRASH*

Jungkook didn't notice that Ecila suddenly came to a halt and he consequently crashed into Ecila's back. Ecila yelped and said, "My dear boy, I am too old to be surprised like this!"

Rubbing his nose to soothe the pain, Jungkook apologized and asked, "Why stopping?"

"Right or left? Left or right? Which path was it that we take to the train station?"

As good as his sense of direction was, it was useless in Paradise. "Do you have a map? A phone?"

"Let me see here." answered Ecila.

Ecila reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin; "Hmmm nope." He reached in again and pulled out a lighter; "Oh no, not you," Ecila grumbled and then slipped it back into the pocket of his suit. Once again, he put his hand into the pocket. This time, he took out a book that read; "101 Ways to Get a Girl." Jungkook snickered while Ecila casually puts it into the other pocket on the other side of the suit. "Ahem," Ecila cleared his throat and continued searching through his pocket. Ecila pulled out a handkerchief, which he used to dab his forehead before stuffing it back into his pocket. In the next few minutes, Ecila takes out: a wallet embroidered with floral designs, a cloth with clock patterns, an antique camera, a slice of bread, and a dorayaki (pancakes with red bean filling).

Jungkook wondered just how Ecila was able to fit everything into that suit; that pocket was almost like Doraemon's 4D pocket. (He made a note to himself that he should get his hands on one if the 4D pocket was a thing in this world.)

After countless trial and error, Ecila finally pulled out a small compass...that didn't point north.

"But it does point to where you want to go," Ecila said jovially. He gave the compass a shake and began turning in place to search. However, Ecila frowned as he stared at the compass. The needle wasn't settling in a specific direction. Instead, it wiggled to the South, but then jerked to the West. "Well someone's having a bad day," Ecila muttered.

With a look of resignation, Ecila handed the device to Jungkook. "Imagine the place where you want to go," he instructed. Jungkook looked at the compass in curiosity and examined the simple design carved on the wood. His desired destination was clear: to his brothers.

The needle of the compass shuddered as though it physically felt Jungkook's determination and swung to the right.

"It's unfair to play favorites! I've had you for a couple of hundred of years, and you've never behaved so well!" Ecila cried. Jungkook tried handing the compass back, but Ecila stopped him. "Keep it, obviously it likes you more." With a shrug, Jungkook put it into his own pocket. (Unfortunately, Jungkook's pocket didn't have the same powers as Ecila's so he could see the bulky outline of the compass.)

"Do you really know where we're going?" asked Jungkook. He's begun to doubt Ecila's credibility (it's questionable if Ecila had any in the first place). "The compass points to where you want to go, right?"

"This contraption is just overwhelmed with all the places that I want to go!" Ecila said defensively with an offended look. "I would travel to the Seven Wonders, the ocean, Hawaii, and the Arctic! I can't forget about the penguins in Antartica too! The rainforests in the Amazons should be fun too!" Ecila spoke with passion.

"Namjoon-hyung would like to go to Alaska," Jungkook said.

"Wonderful place, really. Real snow too. None of this artificial white, yuck."

"You don't like it here?"

Ecila faltered, "We've lost a lot in the past thousands of years. And once it's lost, it's gone." Before Jungkook could confirm if he really saw a dark expression on Ecila's face, Ecila returned to his usual bubbly persona.

Without realizing it, they've arrived at a train station (after making a right when Ecila was uncertain).

The place looked eerie even though it was completely white, similar to his room. Strangely, no one else was there. But Jungkook was okay with that since he wasn't too sure if he was ready to meet other people. In the distance, a light shone.

"Please stay behind the blue line and wait for the train to come to a complete stop. This is the Oakload* Station, and the train is headed for the Meadow." a monotone voice announced from a hidden speaker.

As the head of the train sped past him, the wind blew wildly and whistled in Jungkook's ears. He squinted as the wind blew and shouts, "Are my brothers at the Meadow?"

"What did you say?" Ecila shouts back, "The Meadow?"

"Yeah!"

"I wouldn't call it a meadow. There isn't even a single living flower there!"

"No, my brothers!"

The wind and noise stopped as the train slowed.

Straightening his suit, Ecila calmly says, "No, not the Meadow, but the Wings Lab."