While Chanyeol jumped up in excitement, screamed Baekhyun's name, and ran up the stairs with a frantic Chen running after him to make sure he wasn't left to get punished by me, the other five mages stood where they were and turned to look between myself and Suho. Suho held a hand out to them, and after a moment, the other mages climbed up the stairs and I was left with Suho.

"I-is something wrong?" There was a stern look in his eyes, a question that he was trying to keep in. He was still standing beside me as I sat in the chair, and slowly crouched before me.

"Why did you call him by name, Yun Seung?" He wasn't angry, but I felt some sort of anger as he spoke, he was questioning me and doubting me, and I had no idea why, "And don't tell me you don't know. I've heard stories from the others- how did you know their names before you claimed them?"

"But I really don't know." I shook my head frantically, feeling like an idiot because I didn't know what to tell him, "They kept telling me I said the names of the mages before I found them, but I never learned their names before meeting them."

Suho didn't seem to be very convinced, but sighed and ran a hand over his face in resignation, "I don't understand any of this." His eyes snapped up to me then, and there was a mix of desperation, anger, and longing in his eyes, "Why is it you? Why are you the one who's able to claim us? Why not someone else?"

Was he expecting me to answer that when I myself have been asking those same questions without getting an answer? I was the loser, the outcast of my town, and all of a sudden, I became someone who had dreams about rings, found mages, and promised to free them. I had no idea what I had to do with them, and I had no idea why it had to be me and not someone else. I could barely shoot a target during training, and had clumsy feet.

"I don't know the answer to that, either, Suho, but I do know this." his eyes hadn't strained or moved away, but softened just a touch as if he knew it was just as hard on me as it was on him, "I have the ability to claim you all and to free you, and I'm going to do it no matter what it takes."

Dropping his head for a moment, Suho's shoulders shook, and though I thought he had gotten angry, it was just that his shoulders were shaking in laughter and he looked up at me in relief, "I know you will, Yun Seung. Though this entire situation is completely strange, I know that you are never going to betray us."

As his last statement swirled in my head, Suho got off the ground and made his way up the stairs to get ready for our next adventure. We had just gotten Yixing, and the short amount of time that separated finding the next mage was surprising, but also relieving. Though it was weird and exhausting to have to go and find them all so quickly, I wanted to reunite all twelve of them, because I knew they were imperfect even after losing just one.

Slowly, I stood and climbed up the staircase to change into dry clothes, but I stopped at the top of the stairs when I was blocked by someone's body. Xiumin's, to be exact.

"There's something about you that makes it easy for us as mages to trust you." Xiumin's lips were curved into the lopsided grin I was seeing often from him, and he brushed past me to get down the stairs, "Don't betray us."

Suho said I wouldn't betray them, but Xiumin warned me not to betray them as if he was sure it would happen one way or another. I still wasn't even sure if they trusted me or not, but either way, my job was just to unite and free them.

When I had returned to the living room after changing, the front door was wide open, and I could hear the mages' excited voices shouting about either how excited they were to find the next mage, or how annoyed they were to find the next mage.

"I swear if that guy puts makeup on me while I sleep, he's going to get it." Jongin's voice was bitter as he spoke, and I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion as I heard him speak.

"Why do I always walk into weird conversations?" I muttered it to myself, but Yixing was standing nearby and chuckled as he heard it.

"They're only going to get weirder here on out." He nudged me as he spoke, too, and I couldn't help but smile at the changes Yixing had undergone since I found him. While he was afraid and only spoke when he needed to before, he was a lot more relaxed now, and I was always breathtaken when I saw his one dimple smile.

"Yun Seung's here, now let's go." Tao quickly walked off as if my sudden arrival was the perfect reason to stop the conversation where it was.

"Don't be so hasty, Tao Tao." Chen walked up to the younger mage and slung an arm around Tao's shoulder, ignoring the way Tao squirmed under his touch, "Don't you want to tell Yun Seung about the time you dressed up like a girl?"

A girl? As Sehun, Yixing, Chanyeol, and Jongin started to snicker, I walked over to them and peered up at Tao's reddened face in curiosity, "You dressed up as a girl?"

"It was a long time ago." the redness from his face was quickly spreading to his ears, and I couldn't help but feel guilty about teasing him. 

"Baekhyun has an obsession for makeup and manipulating us into doing whatever he wants." Sehun joined us as we walked, slinging his own arm around Tao's unoccupied shoulder.

"He promised Tao candy if he dressed up." that was Chen's voice again, and I glanced around Sehun and Tao to see his smirk had widened, "We just never expected Tao to overdo it."

That caused for Chen, Chanyeol, and Sehun to laugh at Tao's distressed state, but I had already turned away and stared at Jongin in suspicion. Though he had handled the map before, he preferred just walking without having the responsibility of leading us to the next mage. He was holding the map then, however, a frown twisted onto his face and a deep sigh reverbrating off his chest.

"Don't worry about it," Chanyeol's voice surprised me and I quickly turned back to see him winking over at Jongin, "He's just sulking because we're finding Baekhyun before the love of his life."

"Chanyeol!" Jongin's growl had Chanyeol's face freeze instantly, and I was surprised to see Jongin so angry at the goofy male. Then again, it was Jongin, and Jongin had some anger issues, "I do not love him! I am in love with-"

The other mages had stopped in their tracks, but I had kept going since whoever he was in love with had nothing to do with me. Before I realized it, a tear had escaped my eye, because I just thought of how all of these boys were probably ripped away from the people they loved and had to go on for many years without love.

"Yun Seung..." Sehun's voice sounded close, and when I looked up, Sehun was watching my expression closely, "Why are you crying?"

Wiping my eyes, I turned back to Jongin to see his own expression was much like Chanyeol's was earlier, "The person you love. Are they still living?"

"Why should I answer?" He got defensive and for a moment, I thought I should just leave it, but my feet had walked over to him and I stopped just before him, causing Jongin to gulp, "O-okay. She's alive. Calm down, Yun Seung. I don't need to be punished like Chen and Chanyeol were."

Now I didn't punish them the way a master would punish a slave, but I did punch them a couple of times, and both mages were too busy trying to protect their faces to fight back.

"Good, then there's a chance you can be together." I smiled at the thought before my eyes wandered to the rest of the mages, "When I free you, you can all... well, be happy again."

"I am happy, though." Tao's voice was gentle and full of sorrow as he spoke, but he turned and continued walking to where the Chapel was shown to be on the map. I stared after him for a moment, and then the rest of the mages passed me, leaving me at the back with none other than Suho.

"They're getting attached to you." Suho's voice wasn't accusatory or anything, but the faintest of frowns was playing on his lips as he spoke, "The other day, Sehun told me that if it meant being separated from you, he'd rather be attached to that ring for the rest of eternity."

That caught me off guard. Sehun had already asked me to stay with them after I freed them, but even saying he'd rather be with me than be free? I didn't like it at all. They've wished for freedom, were mistreated, and left hidden and separated from one another, but they wish to stay with me?

"I don't want that, Suho." Suho turned to me again as I said that, his eyes widened in disbelief, "Even if I can't be with you all after you're free, I'd much rather let you live again in peace."

"Joonmyun. Call me Joonmyun." My eyes widened as much as his own did, since I never expected for even him to become so comfortable that he'd tell me his name. His eyes were straight ahead as we walked, though his frown turned into a small smile, instead, "Sometimes, having someone to tell you how to live is freedom. I learned this when I was still getting ready to take the throne."

"The throne?" My eyebrows furrowed at this, because thrones usually meant castles, which usually meant power and a lot of it.

"Yes, I was once a Prince." Joonmyun's hands folded behind his back, a light chuckle as he continued, "People get so used to being told how to live that when they're given the freedom to tell themselves how to live, they don't know what to do."

"You were a Prince." I whistled at this, because I hadn't expected to be this close to anyone that was meant for a throne, but I wasn't completely entranced by his words that I couldn't formulate a comeback, "Just because you haven't been in control of your own lives for years, it doesn't mean you can't learn to take control of them again."

"Your future is yours to live, Joonmyun, not someone else."

We had lapsed into silence after that, since the trouble makers had caused another argument with Jongin and led Joonmyun to watch them like an angry and overprotective grandparent. I couldn't help but take glances at the male beside me, however, only then seeing all the "Princely" qualities to him. Dignified and stern, calm and calculating, loving yet cautious; just like the water.

"Oh my -" I had walked into Chen's back as he spoke, cutting him off effectively and bringing myself more confusion as to what was going on. 

"Baek..." Sehun's voice was just over a whisper, and the youngest mage was shuddering in place as he stared up at the Chapel I remembered from my dream. 

"He's here?" the next voice belonged to Yixing, full of doubt and heavy with worry as he walked closer to the half destroyed Chapel. I followed after him, ignoring Tao's call to be careful, my eyes following the several swirls and patterns on the underside of the stained glass in search of the spot I was looking for.

"I think I see it." Xiumin's  voice was filled with hope and fear, and when I glanced over at him, he was pointing at the center of the roof, and I looked at it from underneath the stained glass, relieved that it was the dark spot after all.

"Chanyeol! Get down from there!" My eyes snapped to where Joonmyun was standing, and his eyes were fixed on Chanyeol, who was almost halfway up the side of the building before it started to shake and a curse unknowingly left my lips. 

"I can fix it!" I called to the other mages and as they looked at me like I had gone insane, I tried remembering how to call on the mages' powers. I had been able to use Tao's power when needed, Sehun's power, Jongin's power, Chen's power, Chanyeol's power- and there was no way in hell that I wouldn't at least try to use Yixing's power to help us. That was when everything turned the familiar yellow-orange hue I remembered from the dream, fading away slowly and leaving a perfectly structured building in its wake.

"How did you do that?" Yixing's voice trailed after me as I got closer to the building and a giddy Chanyeol.

The tall male tried to scale up the building again, but when I had gotten closer, he turned to me and tilted his head to the side as if to ask me what I was trying to do, and I simply pointed to the building. Chanyeol bent down slightly and cupped his hands together, and after I stepped onto his hand, he raised me up as high as he could, allowing me to do the rest of the work. It hurt a lot more than I figured it would, and I laid on the roof, heaving for a few minutes before finally catching my breath and my dignity and crawling over to the ring box.

Slipping and rolling down the roof also hurt a lot more than I thought it would, and I couldn't believe how many times I had already gotten hurt while simply trying to find the rest of the mages. Thankfully, when I fell off the roof, Jongin had teleported himself closer and caught me in his arms, his lips contorting into a smirk.

"How can I leave you when you're always falling for me?" He winked as he said it as well and I rolled my eyes, shoving at his chest so he'd let me go. He did, laughing as he put me down.

"What are you waiting for?" I almost glared at Chen's expectant gaze but ignored it and fumbled with the velvet box in my hand before opening it.

There was a small ball of light on the center of this ring, and after running my finger over it and admiring the gemstones, I pulled it out of the case and slipped it onto one of my fingers. It seemed that when the white light started to shine, it was shining brighter than any of the other rings I could recall, and when the light faded, my jaw dropped.

In front of me stood a male who was much shorter than Chanyeol was, his eyes traced heavily with eye liner and his lips pressed into a firm line of disapproval. Though it seemed like Chanyeol was going to jump him and suffocate him in his glee, he stared at me and allowed me to get the first greeting done, "Who are you?"

Slowly, his arms lifted and crossed themselves over his chest, and a scoff escaped his lips, "Get on your knees and kneel, you peasants. The mighty Baekhyun has arrived."

I had a feeling that adding Baekhyun to the trouble making duo was a bad idea.

Ugh, this chapter past 2,600 by at least fifty words. I tried to make it less wordy but I'm really, really, really bad at that. I was a little lazy today when writing this chapter, honestly. I was like "I don't really want to update today. They'll understand, right?" But I did it anyway and I'm a little glad that I did because I'm totally loving the way I introduced Baekhyun. 

The first part of the story, titled Finding is almost done. I know, I'm bad with names, but hey, we can't all be good at everything. Soon, the rest of the mages will be found and we'll be moving onto the second part of the story, titled Leaving, and after that, Returning. Again, I'm really bad at the naming thing. The second part of the story will be following EXO's side as they're being freed and after they are freed and have to adjust to being independent again.

Sounds a little complex, huh? Sorry. I'll try to mellow it out as it comes. 

But, like I said, it's following EXO's side and thus I need a narrator! Who in EXO would you like as the narrator?

As always, thank you very much for reading, subscribing, upvoting, commenting, and overall just supporting this story! I'm really proud of its progress, even though it's not very good, and I'm so very thankful you all enjoy it as much as you do! Please continue supporting this story as well as my writing, and I hope to become an even better author in the future. Enjoy this chapter, and have a brilliant day!