For two days after we found Kai, I had no dreams, and we gave ourselves a little break before looking for the other mages. It wasn't like we weren't eager to look for them, of course, but I knew we were all exhausted from the journey, and the three of them were still trying to adjust to the new world they'd awoken into.

We had come to the silent agreement of staying in the house we were in currently until we found the rest of the mages. According to the map, the rest of the mages were scattered in places nearby anyway, and staying in the house would be better than wandering the desert without heat during the chilly nights.

Tao and Sehun liked to bicker a lot, I noticed; especially about which of them was cuter. I tried telling them they were both cute in different ways, but I was ignored and Kai pulled me away from the bickering pair saying they'd never listen.

Kai was cute like them at times; I caught him pouting when he was ignored by Tao or Sehun, yet he was very different from them. Kai was almost always smirking, a trait I would never get used to. He was also confident in himself, and in some ways, cocky. He was also kind, however, like the day I'd found him and he brushed my tears away; that's when I realized it.

Sehun was loud and easy to get angry; I learned that the hard way. Despite Kai's warning, I had gotten in between Sehun and Tao during one of their arguments, and Sehun had easily me with the deadliest glare I'd ever received. Most times, though, Sehun was making aegyos and expecting everyone around him to coo. I usually did, because he knew I thought he was cute.

On the other hand, Tao had his moments where he relied heavily on aegyo to impress someone. Most times, however, Tao was calm and calculating. When Sehun had glared at me during my interruption of their pointless argument, Tao had pulled me behind him in case Sehun were to get angry enough to use force against us. He was also quite mischievous, using his pout to get whatever he wanted.

They seemed to be a trio of varying talents and powers, yet they loved each other greatly and always took care of each other. On the second day after we'd found Kai, I witnessed that first hand.

We all slept in the bedrooms on the second floor. There were seven in all, and each of us claimed a bedroom to stay in until we ever decided to leave; if we ever decided to leave. When I woke up, it was due to an argument between two voices I was getting used to hearing during such arguments.

I've never been fond of being woken up before I was ready to wake up, so I jumped out of bed and practically ran down the stairs so I could find those two and shut them up. Sehun and Tao were standing in front of the couch and were glaring at each other with verbal insults being tossed back and forth.

Kai was there too, though he was seated on the couch and watching the two of them in obvious amusement. My hands flew up to massage my temples for a few moments as I tried repeatedly to block their voices out or at least to calm myself down, but even that seemed to not have been enough.

Right as I opened my mouth to yell at them, I noticed tears form in Tao's eyes, and I wasn't the only one. Sehun immediately stopped his arguing immediately and pulled the taller man into a tight hug, rubbing his back gently and murmuring his apologies. Kai quickly joined them, and I stood back in awe as the two mages calmed the first mage I'd found down.

Tao eventually stopped crying and pushed the two of them away, wiping his eyes before he turned to me and his entire face pinked as if he didn't expect me to be there watching them.

"Sit." I said, and though they looked like they were going to protest, the three of them took seats on the couch and I stood before them with my arms crossed over my chest. Sehun's face was downcast, though I could see his own eyes were slowly welling up with tears. Tao's face was still red and he looked everywhere other than at me. Kai sat between them, and though he hadn't argued with either of them, I knew he felt guilty for not stopping them before Tao had gotten hurt to the point of crying.

"Now, what was the argument about?" I asked them, and the three of them glanced at each other to explain, yet neither of them opened their mouths, "Kai, what was the argument about?"

"They were arguing about which of the other mages they want to be woken up next." Kai looked at the two boys now looking sullenly at their laps and then back to me, "They were each attached to the hip to a couple of the others since they're the two youngest."

I didn't know that they were the youngest of their group of mages, but then I realized that's why the two of them were always competing to see which of them was cuter.

"How about you?" I asked Kai, and he let out a light chuckle as he shrugged.

"I'm the third youngest, but I have no other mage I'm dependent on like these two-" Kai was trying to make himself look cooler, I thought, though he was cut off quickly by Tao's scoff.

"He's lying." Tao announced, and Kai shot him an annoyed glance before turning away to pretend he hadn't spoken at all, "He has a favorite too. We even made up a shipping name for them; Kaisoo."

I raised my hands to my temple and rubbed at it again, since they started arguing again about Kai's attachment to one of the other mages I've yet to meet.

"Anyway." I stopped them from continuing and looked over at the table in front of us. No one had bothered to move the map from the table and I slowly sat down in front of the table with my eyes roaming over the surface of the map, "I haven't had any dreams, so I don't know who we'd find next."

Sehun got off of the couch with a sigh and sat down next to me, his arm reaching over to where the pin showing where he had been now sat, "They're all in the same color, and none of them are labeled; so it's hard to know exactly who's hidden where."

The next thing I knew, Tao had pressed his chest against my back and was leaning over me to point to two pins that were seemingly close together and placed on a lake, "It's not that hard to tell, since we know what powers all of them possess."

Kai had also gotten off the couch and sat down on the other side of the table, and pointed at one of the other pins, "Yeah, but how are we going to find some of these guys?" His finger moved to point at a volcano in particular, "It'd be impossible to get to this one without the use of Suho's help, or at the very least, Xiumin's."

"Hold on." I muttered and got up, running across the room and searching in my backpack for anything that could help us. I finally pulled my hand out with a pack of markers and made my way back to them. I took out a purple marker and wrote down Tao, Sehun, and Kai's names near the pin that showed where they were before pulling those pins out. I took an orange marker next and drew lines where the other nine pins were sitting before pulling the pins out; now it'd be easier to fold the map and mark it as we found the rest.

"Wait, but we know for a fact that the lake has to hold both Suho and Xiumin." Tao hummed, returning to his previous action of leaning over me with his chest against my back. I was beginning to think Tao really enjoyed acts of skinship, "And the volcano has to be where Chanyeol is."

My head was swimming with the information I was receiving, yet I did my best to follow along until my eyes got tired and I leaned away from it, forgetting that the only thing I'd bump into would be Tao until it was too late. The tall male was surprised by this, yet he did nothing but stare at me as I rubbed my forehead again. Slowly, I pulled myself away from him and looked over to Kai, whose eyes were stuck on a specific part of the map, what looked to me like a cliff. Whenever I saw Kai, I felt myself sigh in relief when I remembered the damage his box had gone through before I found him.

I reached out to Kai and put a hand on his shoulder. Kai was surprised by the random act, obviously, but when he realized it was me and not someone who would cause him bodily harm, his lips curved into a smile, "What is it?"

"Why... why were you okay when the box was in bad shape?" I asked hesitantly, unsure of how Kai would react towards such a question. I had avoided asking him about it for the past two days, but my curiosity had finally got the best of me.

It was Sehun who answered, after ruffling my hair, "When we were put into our rings, our powers transformed and created a sort of box to shield us from danger as we slept. The shield protects us from danger, yet with the right amount of damage, it can fall away and leave us vulnerable."

I felt my head nodding as the information sunk into my head and noticed Kai's smile turning into another one of his infamous smirks.

"We have something to tell you." Sehun said gently, and I slowly turned to the male with rainbow streaks in his hair, waiting for him to continue, "We think... that you're somehow absorbing our powers."

That brought me confusion and I blinked at him several times, "What?"

Tao sighed and moved away from behind me so that he was sitting next to Kai across from Sehun and I, "When we found Sehun, you somehow slowed down time enough for you to get close without being pushed away by the wind."

"And when we found Kai, a burst of wind circled his box until you were ready to catch it." Sehun continued before glancing down at the rings on my fingers.

"She did?" Kai sounded just as confused as I probably looked, and he turned to me with furrowed eyebrows, "Are you a mage?"

I shook my head and looked down at my rings as well, "No, I'm just a normal warrior."

"That brings us to another point." Tao said suddenly, and I looked over to him to see his gaze wasn't on me, but on the pistols I refused to ever leave behind, "We think those pistols used to belong to one of our leaders."

Slowly, I took my pistols out and surely enough, the three of them took deep breaths.

"But why would I have his weapons, and what does that have to do with me absorbing your powers?" I muttered, allowing  Tao to take my pistols when he held his hands out for them.

"We don't know, really. We'd have to wait until one of the others to come and explain everything." Sehun said in annoyance, and when I tried to look at him, I felt another sharp pain on my forehead, feeling my eyes slowly start to close.

"We'd better hurry and find them." Kai concluded as he glanced down at the map once more, and more importantly, at the cliff to the side of the map, "There are too many unanswered questions."

"I'll say." I agreed just before my eyes decided to shut and I felt my body lean forward as I lost my grip on reality.