When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in bed again as if I hadn’t left it at all. I would have thought that my sudden fainting spell was just a really bad dream, but the wet cloth pressed against my forehead said it wasn’t. Who moved me to the room, I didn’t know, and why I had fainted earlier was also beyond me.

Glancing out of the window, I noticed that the sky was now dark, meaning I’d better get up and move around or the whole day would have been spent sleeping. I walked out of the room and slowly tiptoed down the hall and stairs; I didn’t know what time it was, but I didn’t want to wake the three mages up in case they had already decided to call it a night.

However, that didn’t seem to be the case as I walked into the living room to see the three mages sitting on the couch and playing… video games? I hadn’t even noticed the television earlier, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves even if they hadn’t been around for over 300 years.

They were boys, alright; competitive and childish boys who seemed to be really immersed in the game they were playing together.

I crouched so that I wouldn’t be in their way as I walked by, and took a seat on the floor in front of the three, my eyes glued to the screen despite the fact that I didn’t particularly care for it.

The first to notice that I had suddenly appeared before them was Tao, who tossed his controller aside and practically jumped off the couch to press the back of his hand against my forehead. I wanted to laugh and say I was alright, but I smiled at the attention I was receiving from Tao.

The next minute, the game was paused and Kai pushed Tao aside to check my forehead himself. This time, I really did laugh; because Kai sometimes became so childish that it became hard for me to take his actions seriously.

Sehun pushed Kai away then and held out a bag of food for me, and I felt my lips curve into a smile. None of us knew how to cook, and there was nothing to cook, so we were more than lucky to have the unlimited supply of bags of food for times like this.

“I’m fine.” I told them, pulling the bag of food out of Sehun’s hands and opening it with the intention of eating it. However, I could only finish a small portion of the food before I felt my stomach reject the rest.

“Are you sure you’re feeling better?” That was Kai’s voice, and I tilted my head back far enough for me to look up at him and nod gently.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I fainted earlier.” I reassured him and then turned my attention back to the game they had started to play again. I scooted back until I felt my back bump against a pair of legs and when I turned to see who it was, I noticed Sehun’s lips curl into a grin as he continued playing and not so subtly nudged me with his feet.

“Have any dreams?” Tao asked then, and the other two turned their gazes to me as if they just realized that was actually something they should have asked earlier on.

Slowly, I nodded and wrapped my arms around my legs as I recalled the dream. It wasn't like I'd never been scared by my dreams before, but this was the first dream of the mages that made me cringe even slightly. 

There were storm clouds directly above me, and around me, and stretching around for miles without end. I didn't know how I'd gotten there, or what I was looking for there, but I felt my breath hitch in fear. Being in the town my entire life, the barriers prevented us from being in situations like this. As far as I knew, this was the first storm I'd ever be a part of, and I wasn't excited in the slightest.

There was grass beneath my feet like when I was in the wind turbine field, yet there was no gentle breeze and no sun, just clouds and strands of lights that filled the sky and then quickly disappeared. I gasped every time I saw a strand of light, because some of them looked like they actually would hit the ground, and I certainly didn't want to get hit by the lightning.

My eyes were restlessly searching the area around me, and I knew what I was looking for without thinking too much about it. The next box was around here, yet I didn't know where it was and I was caught in the middle of those strands of light filling the sky.

I closed my eyes then, praying I would just wake up from this awful dream, but when I opened my eyes, I knew I was still in that strange place. I wasn't in an open field anymore, but seemingly inside of a forest with the storm clouds peeking out at me from between the tree branches.

I looked around again, though my eyes weren't as frantic as they were before as my search for the next velvet box continued. The strands of light started actually hitting the ground then, and one had caught a tree that stood only a few meters from me, and the tree went up in flames and quickly spread it's fire to the trees around it.

Horrified, I turned and bolted away from the fire. I didn't know these light strands would be so dangerous, but just seeing the damage even one strand of it could do was overwhelming and I wanted nothing more than to just run as far away from that thing as I could.

I didn't know where I was running, or where I'd end up. I didn't know if I'd outrun the fire behind me, either; yet my feet kept going and kept throwing glances over my shoulder to make sure the fire really hadn't gained speed against me.

To my ever growing horror, the trees behind me were also lit in flames and I figured it would be only a matter of seconds before I myself got mixed into the fire. Perhaps, though, maybe looking back so constantly would only be a bad idea because I eventually ended up tripping against a tree's root and rolled down a hill I didn't even see earlier.

Thankfully because it was a dream, I didn't feel any pain; though I was afraid of what would happen when I actually had to go and find this ring. Maybe I could put it off for a few days or something- though I hardly doubt the other three mages would let me.

Speaking of the three, when I found myself still, I also found I had rolled against something solid; and when I looked up, standing there was none other than Kai. He wasn't looking at me, however, and I then noticed Sehun and Tao on either side of him. The three of them didn't look particularly amused with me, yet there eyes were focused on something behind me. At first, I thought it was the fire that had been chasing me, but when I turned to look; it was as if the fire had been stopped by an invisible force.

That's when I looked down at the ground and found a black velvet box wedged into a small crevice. I left the three mages so I could go and inspect the thing, and indeed, it was another "EXO" box. It was covered in soil and though I cringed at the state it was in, I realized I was also in a similar state after rolling around on the forest ground. I reached my hand into the crevice the box was in and wrapped my hand around the box, tugging at it with all the strength I could muster for it to pull out of the small space.

Again, perhaps that wasn't the wisest move, because I used so much force to pull the box out that I ended up losing balance when it was finally freed.

Except, when I found myself awoken from my day dream, I realized I hadn't lost balance, but that Tao had reached down and was shaking my shoulder to attempt to pull me out of whatever thoughts were bothering me, "What did you dream about?"

I contemplated on what to tell them, since I didn't know of what I should tell them. Maybe they'd worry about me if I told them about all the dangers I faced in the dream, or maybe they wouldn't believe me and say I was only making things up so that I didn't have to continue looking for their friends.

"I don't know what it was exactly." I answered, and I absentmindedly rubbed my arm to calm myself down, "It looked like a storm."

The three of them let out sighs and I turned to them in bewilderment. I didn't expect for all three of them to sound disappointed with my announcement, since I just confirmed that we'd be able to see one of their other friends. Then, as if they hadn't heard anything displeasing to them, they smiled so widely that I figured their lips would fall off.

"Think of it this way, at least it's not Chanyeol." Kai let out what sounded like a sigh of relief, but I could only keep staring, because who was Chanyeol?

"Or Baekhyun." Sehun continued with a murmur, and I turned my head to him in further disbelief. Who was Baekhyun?!

The three of them then proceeded to nod in unison, as if they were glad they had all been thinking the same thing. but I could only feel my eyes narrow at the trio.

"What's wrong with Chen?" I felt the need to defend the mage I was soon to meet even though I'd yet to meet him, but it seemed that my phrasing of the sentence was wrong, for they all turned their heads to stare at me.

"You did it again!" Tao said accusingly, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Did... what?" Honestly, I had no idea of half of the things these three told me, so being accused so suddenly made me tense.

"She did that before?" Kai asked the other two hesitantly, though his eyes remained on me.

"Yeah, apparently she mentioned my name to Tao, and then she said your name, too!" Sehun nodded rapidly and they continued muttering to each other like a group of gossiping elderly women.

"Are you saying I called the new mage by name?" I asked, dumbstruck. As far as I knew, I had said 'what's wrong with the new mage?', but I had actually said the male's name? What was even going on anymore?

For a moment, the three of them just stared at me as if they couldn't believe I hadn't realized I was doing something like that, and after another glance shared between one another, they all stood up and Sehun rolled up the map, Tao went to grab my backpack, and Kai pulled me off the ground.

"Where are we going?" I couldn't help but ask. We still haven't decided on what we were going to do, and we haven't talked about the possibilities as to why I was able to call the mages by name without realizing or remembering it.

"To find Chen." Tao was practically bouncing as he stood by the door with my backpack in hand. Why he was so excited I didn't know, but I found it endearing how eager the mages always were when they found out another mage was soon to be found.

"But I don't know where to find him-" I started to protest because I was actually starting to get afraid of what I'd seen in my dream in finding the fourth mage.

"We already studied the map." Sehun informed me, and I only gaped at the three in surprise to see their committment, "We deciphered their hiding spots, now it's on you to do the rest."

Without realizing it, I was nodding and the three of us left the comfort of the house we were in to look for the fourth mage. It was only then that I realized something.

It was still in the middle of the night!