I haven't been able to sleep since I had that nightmare. It's been a couple of days and I was fidgeting around restlessly. I was in the study room, my fingers tapping against the desk as I thought it over over, again. It was weird- abnormal, completely unlike any of the dreams I'd ever had before. For starters, the fact that I didn't know where I was. It was a hallway... most houses have hallways. Then, the lighting that was following me- it was as if I were being chased with that lighting, and not casually followed by perhaps the other mages. Finally, being grabbed. Never in my other dreams had I been grabbed or even touched by another person.

Was it the next mage? Was that the dream that was going to lead me to him? No- that's impossible. Other than the slight fear I felt when finding Chen, I had never felt so afraid of what I saw. If that really was the next mage who I saw in my dream, I was definitely debating against finding him. Perhaps the dream would be different if I closed my eyes and tried imagining it again, but I was so frightened that I didn't want to risk seeing it again.

"Yun Seung-" the door to the study room opened and in walked Sehun. I hadn't told any of them about my nightmare or the lack of sleep I was facing, though something told me that they already knew. The six of them skirted around me and left me alone most of the time unless it was time for a meal.

After checking the wall clock for a quick moment, I agreed that it was time to go and eat, though I felt myself stumble for a second before I got to the door. Sehun caught me as I stumbled, his arms wrapped around my waist and his face pressed against my hair as he spoke.

"Are you still not sleeping properly?" his tone held aggravation, but I could do nothing as he held me up and guided me down to the dining room. We still didn't have a way of getting real food for the seven of us, but we decided to at least eat together since there were so many of us together now.

"I'm fine, Sehun. Really." I didn't say anything more than that, since even speaking that much was taking a lot out of me. As we sat down, I felt all of them looking over at me because even to me, it was obvious I wasn't fine. I was fidgeting again, my fingers fumbling with the bag of food and trying to open it. I don't know when I became so uncoordinated, but I must have sat there for over half an hour just trying to get my food.

Suddenly, just as I was about to burst into tears, someone reached out and opened the bag in seconds, and though I was exhausted, I looked up to see Suho looking back at me with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know what you saw in your dream to stop you from sleeping all these nights, but this is getting ridiculous." he was right, of course, but I didn't want to think of sleeping again so I flinched and looked back down at the bag of food now within my grasp.

"Yun Seung, what did you see in your nightmare?" That was the first time anyone had asked me what I saw, and I was surprised that it was Xiumin who asked, leaning closer to me and resting a hand on my shoulder.

I almost pulled away from his touch when I reminded myself who these mages were. I had no reason to hide the dream from them, because if they knew what it meant, then they could help me figure it out. So, instead of trying to eat the food that had been sitting before me for a while now, I told them every detail about the dream and hoped that they'd be able to help me.

"I've never heard anything like it." Chen muttered under his breath, his eyes then darting over to where Kai was sitting across the table, "Could it have been Baek-?"

"Couldn't be." Tao cut in, his gaze shifting from the coffee table that had the map covering it and then back to us, "He's the mage of light, he wouldn't be inside like she described from her nightmare."

I heard the sound of a chair scraping against the ground, and when I looked up, Tao had reached me and gently pulled me off the chair, "No matter what you saw, Yun Seung, you can't treat your body badly like this."

He was right, I know he was right, but I didn't want to risk seeing the nightmare again. I tried to pull away from his grip, and I tried to tell him to leave me alone, but Kai had chosen that moment to get up and walked over to us, taking me away from Tao's grasp and leading me up the stairs.

"I'll be with you, Yun Seung, like you were with me when I was afraid." he was talking about back when he was in the box, wasn't he?

My lips curved into an exhausted grin and I shook my head as I looked up at him, "Kai..."

He didn't answer until we got into my room. He had shut the door behind us and led me to the bed, sitting down with his back pressed against the headboard. I glanced at him warily before remembering he wouldn't do anything to me and climbed ontop of the bed next to him. There was a large amount of space between us, and I couldn't help but gulp because it was as if Kai and I had been arguing, with how silent he had become.

"Jongin." When he spoke, I was surprised and turned my head to him with furrowed eyebrows. His eyes were shut as he leaned back, his feet crossed before him, "Call me Jongin."

"Why do you want me to call you that?" Why did he trust me enough to tell me to call him something else? Why did he have another name, anyway?

"When we became mages, most of us had our identities changed so no one could recognize us." he explained it, but I still felt like that wasn't enough. What could I know about them based on their ages, "You deserve to know that much about me, at least... considering what you're doing for us."

Ignoring how he was speaking of a time before they had become mages, I rested my head back as well, my eyes finally drifting closed as he spoke. With him being there, I wasn't frightened about my nightmare and I felt at peace with my mind, "Jongin? I like your name. It suits you."

He let out what sounded to me like a breathless chuckle, and I opened one of my eyes just barely in order to look at him, and I almost choked on air when seeing his gentle smile. Kai smirks so often that whenever he smiles, I just find it to be fascinating. Again, I just chose to ignore his actions and finally let myself go to sleep, though I was still terrified I'd only dream of that eerie hallway again.

But I didn't.

The sky was red. As if it were bleeding. I was confused to see that, since I'd never seen the sky in such a color before, but when I looked around, I understood why. There was a volcano just ahead, the mouth of it spewing bullet after bullet of lava into the atmosphere and leaving red stains in the sky. I probably should have been frightened, and I probably should have ran off, but I was in awe.

Despite the fact that fire was spewing from all sides of the volcano and getting closer to where I was standing, I was excited and I didn't understand why, for a moment. Tao was tugging on my arm; I suppose to get me away from the volcano, but it had the reverse effect on me and two other mages. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suho and Xiumin getting closer to the volcano like I was, and I couldn't help but wonder why.

I watched in a mix of horror and awe as the two lifted their hands and suddenly, it was raining. Why would they make it rain so suddenly? As I pondered this, rain covered the volcano completely and then froze it over so that the lava would no longer even be touching the sky. Despite knowing that this would be best for us, since we couldn't get closer to lava, I wanted to keep seeing the red sky and the erruption that came along with it.

Then, I was walking toward it. Even though I knew it was strange that the two mages were able to use their powers as the seventh mage used his own, I knew I didn't want to delay finding the mage any longer. No one stopped me, or at least I don't think anyone did, as I walked up the side of the volcano and clutched onto any solid but sturdy edges. It took me a while to climb to the top, since I didn't have gear to help me, but the volcano was surprisingly pretty close to the ground.

When I did reach the top of the volcano, I first peered into the ice that was covering the mouth where the lava was coming from. Even though it had been frozen over, the lava was pushing against the ice and starting to melt it at random places. Unless I wanted to turn into a roasted human, I had to find the next ring box and book it. As I thought this, my eyes roamed over the rim of the volcano and I eventually did spot the ring box I was looking for- across the length of the rim.

I started carefully circling the rim of the volcano's mouth, careful not to fall into the ice that was melting a little faster now. When I reached the ring box, I reached for it just as the rest of the ice melted, and the lava started rushing towards me. With wide eyes, I reached down into the side of the rim where the ring box was sitting and just barely avoiding the lava.

"I got it!" I held my hands in front of my face, expecting to see the ring box in my grasp, but it was only the pillow I had been resting against. With a groan, I threw it back onto the bed before looking around. Kai- no, Jongin had left while I was asleep and the light in the room was shut off. When I glanced out the window and saw the late morning's sun shining back at me, my eyes widened and I quickly yanked the door open, unable to believe that I'd been asleep for so long.

Suho had been standing on the other side of the door as I opened it, and stared at my disheveled state for a moment before one of his eyebrows were raised, "I came to wake you up, but I suppose I didn't need to."

I couldn't help but smile sheepishly at his words, a hand rubbing the back of my neck as I watched him slowly relax his features into a smile, "I was so caught up thinking you're just another one of the masters that limited us that I forgot you're just a human girl. Forgive me for treating you badly."

That caught me off guard, and I was unable to do anything as he turned and climbed down the stairs again. After a few moments of having my jaw hit the ground, I laughed and skipped down the stairs. I felt replenished of my energy and was ready to go out and find the next mage along with my current group of friends.

"Someone looks a little too well rested, don't you think?" Chen's voice was teasing me as I joined them all at the dining table for our breakfast- or lunch.

"Just for that, I'm not taking you along to find the next mage." I admit I was being childish, but Chen also had it coming.

"The next mage?" I glanced over to Sehun to see his eyes had widened in excitement, and he leaned over the table in his excitement, "What did you see?"

My eyes glanced over to where Jongin sat for a quick second, and the teleportation mage gave me another gentle smile and nod to encourage me to continue. Then, my eyes swept over to Tao, whose eyes were shining with hope and I wondered what he was thinking. Finally, I looked over to the newer addition to our group and saw both Suho and Xiumin looking at me with anticipation. I thought of how they used their powers in my dream, but I didn't think they'd answer me if I asked, so I merely took in a deep breath and looked down at my food.

"A volcano. I saw a volcano." I answered, waiting for their reactions.

"Yeol!" Chen was the only one who reacted positively, though I heard Suho let out a hum.

"How about you take Chen and leave us here?" Sehun asked, then leaning back in his chair with his face scrunched up in disgust.

"Why do you say that?" I asked in return, tilting my head in confusion.

"You already have this childish idiot here." Jongin waved his hand in Chen's direction as well before he shuddered, "Put him and Chanyeol together, and you might as well write your will."

"But I need you all to come." I had spoken without meaning to, and they were definitely taken aback by my words, "I can't get up to the rim unless Suho and Xiumin stop the explosion."

Hey all! Before I get started, I'll thank everyone for reading this, again! It means a lot to have even a few readers liking and subscribing and commenting on this. I don't have much else planned for my summer break, so for a while you can expect updates pretty soon. By pretty soon, I mean every other day, if not every day. I have another question for you guys before ending this update!

What pairing do you like so far?

Thanks guys! Enjoy the reading, and I'm looking forward to your feedback!