two-thousand years waiting - ateez au

chapter 1

 chapter one

"flower field of memories" - prologue chapter

born to a small but happy family, choi san lived his life as happily as he could think about it, his pure heart just radiates so much love that everyone's anger would just dissipate when you look at him smiling from ear to ear with his deep dimples showing.

It's no wonder that san had a great childhood surrounded by the love of his family and friends and even our adolescent san never fails to fit in with the rest of his middle school classmates. just like in this particular moment in his life...

san was still in middle school, currently having a field trip with his class in a museum full of historical arts.

"hey san, look at those sculptures over there!" a loud voice almost echoed to the entire museum, earning the attention of a little boy named san.

"careful now dong-jo, don't stray away" san called his friend and classmate, dong-jo.

"come on, it's really cool!"

san didn't say a word to his friend but just turned his gaze to their teacher in front. the teacher just gave him a small smile before nodding, to which san replied also with a toothy smile.

with that, san let his friend drag him into the other part of the museum where sculptures of different roman gods are situated. other boys of san's class also joined dong-jo in staring at the statue of the roman god, mars exquisitely carved from a stone.

"i'm so glad the teacher decided to brought us to the museum" his other classmate, hwanwoong said.

"nah, i wanted to go to zoo too~ but i guess this is fine" keonhee stated with a sad tone in his voice.

"i heard there's a lot of pigeons there" youngjo teased which earned him a playful smack from the other and the rest just laughed at their friend's fiery attitude including san. he lovess it when his friends are getting along, he really just want to cherish their smiles forever.

san felt a tug on his sleeves and look at the confused dong-jo who was still gazing with fascination towards the statue, "who is mars?"

san felt himself smile and raised his arm to encircle dongjo's shoulder, "he is a god of war from roman myth dongjo"

"i thought he's a god of love or something" "that's eros, or you can also call him cupid"

"wow san, you really know so much about them do you?" even one can see hwanwoong's twinkling eyes when he said that. san just chuckled and told them that his mother is a fan of myths and sometimes he also asked about it.

the group of friends then moved on to the next sculpture, this time it is some sort of an eagle which they even told keonhee that it was alive. the poor boy almost shivered at the thought of a big bird suddenly opening its stone eyes--snatching them and bring them to its nest to feed its stone eagle chicks, but he immediately dismisses the idea. san wandered his gaze trying to find the teacher to make sure they are not strayed far away, and he saw their other classmates still looking at a painting in the left-wing of the museum.

san was about to remove his gaze when he saw a rather dimly lighted piece of painting not too far away from where they are. as you can see, the museum displays especially paintings and sculptures have installed lights below them akin to natural light so everyone can see its physical appearance more clearly.

but this one doesn't have any light or anything, yet in san's eyes, the little light that seeped into the faraway glass windows of the museum still gave the painting a mystique aura. and he can't help himself but stare at it, curiosity filling up his little mind.

his feet unnoticeably made their way to that part of the museum, passing through the crowd of their classmates, which didn't notice him at all and he stopped at the dimly lighted painting.

it was an image of a grassy field, filled with flowers and a crystal clear water lake. there are also colorful butterflies flying and decorating the whole piece aside from the flowers. even with such minimal lighting, san can still see the vibrant colors and alluring imagery the painting possessed as if it almost felt familiar to san's heart.

he scanned the golden frame to see if anything like the title or the artist can be found but it doesn't have any. but his eyes fell on a single white flower just below the center of the painting. he didn't notice it before due to the colors but he does now, and somehow he felt nostalgic.

he felt familiar.

his hands raised with his fingers pointing, he wants to touch the flower because he felt the urge to feel it.

"wooyoung..."

san blurted out unconsciously, even the name was familiar to him. but he doesn't know anyone named wooyoung... or does he?

just then when his finger touched the rough painted texture of the painting, his vision became blurry and he saw something

it was a figure, clad in white flowing robes and the sleeves fluttering like a butterfly in a gentle spring wind. its face was blurry, but he was running in the field exactly the same as was depicted in the painting.

"sannie~..."

san felt a tug on his heart. somehow the voice of the figure seemed to reach within his heart trying to search for something, as his brain worked hard trying to process everything. trying to search through his memories or just maybe unblurred the face of the figure.

"who are you?"  san desperately wants to ask but he can't move nor make noise, its like he was watching someone but he was not physically there at all. 

just then, the figure stopped running and stepped closer to san but the figure's face is still blurred in san's eyes as he raised its hands to try and hold san's face. it was a dull caress, but then san felt his head begin to ache.

heat spreads from the side of his head making him withdraw his hands and stepped back from the painting to clutch his head, something inside his head was trying to breakthrough. and he wants it to breakthrough, but the pain was unbearable san though his head would crack due to the pain."wooyoungie.." 

he whispered the name again, his vision begin to blacken till he felt himself slowly drifting away from consciousness.