The white light that came was expected by now, and I had my eyes shut tightly until the light faded and I was able to see again. It was a good thing, too, because it was just in time for me to watch Jongin wrap his arms around the tenth mage and hug him tightly with choked sobs escaping his lips. The new mage seemed to know who it was immediately, for his arms wrapped around Jongin just as tightly and he was smiling gently.

"Jongin," his voice was gentle like Joonmyun's, but there was something distinct about the way this mage talked to Jongin that had me interested, "don't cry. I'm here, Jongin."

That didn't seem to calm Jongin down, as the mage of teleportation just sobbed louder and his knees started failing him as he leaned onto the other mage for support, "I thought I'd never see you again."

Feeling like I was intruding in their moment, I backed away from them and searched for another way to get back on top of the cliff before I noticed something. The mages that had been up there earlier were all gone, and it took me a few minutes of staring in disbelief before I heard sounds in the distance and turned in that direction. I don't know how they managed to do it, but the eight other mages had gotten to the ground and were walking to the new mage and Jongin.

Well, all except for Sehun, who had an unimpressed expression on his face and his lips pressed into a firm line as he stood before me with his hands out. I knew what was coming immediately, and my eyes shut again as the wind blew through me and dried my clothes. 

"Do I need to put a leash on you?" he was joking but I knew he had been worried, so I launched myself forward and hugged him as tightly as I could. As he was the one who usually initiated such contact, Sehun's arms lay limp at his sides before he realized what had happened and wrapped his arms around me in return.

"I've never met anyone crazier than her." that was Chen's voice speaking, and I pulled back slightly in order to see that the rest of the mages had slowly gathered around Sehun and I. The mage of lightning had his arms crossed over his chest but the grin on his face told me he wasn't upset.

"What were you thinking?" Joonmyun obviously wasn't upset, and I had quickly ducked behind Sehun so I wouldn't be scolded anymore.

Sehun was a sneaky little thing and pulled me away from his back with a little smirk on his face, "No, you need to hear this."

Joined with Joonmyun's unamused scowl was Minseok's scrutinizing gaze and Baekhyun's raised eyebrow. I didn't want to look at Tao because I had a feeling he was also part of the scolding party, but my eyes landed on Chanyeol, who was still smiling as if all of this was regular and didn't affect him. 

"Give her some space." Yixing let out a deep sigh and walked over to me. For a moment, I thought he had come to save me from the angry elders and Baekhyun, but he flicked my forehead and then put his hands on his hips, "Do you know how lucky you are? I've treated dead bodies of people who fell off cliffs like this."

Finally, my eyes landed on Jongin. He was rubbing at his eyes with one hand while the other was clasped firmly within the hand of the tenth mage, who stared at the rest of us in obvious confusion. I wanted to greet the newer mage, of course, but I was aware that the elders were still staring me down and I cleared my throat.

"What else was I supposed to do?" I asked them, though I was looking at the ground as I spoke. I heard a quiet murmur before Minseok spoke up.

"Let it go, it's not like she knows what can happen." 

Know what? What can happen? My eyes snapped over to Minseok as he spoke, but he had already turned to Joonmyun and Yixing, and the three were discussing the shortest route back home. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Chen had already ganged up on the two youngest mages. That left me with Jongin and the new mage. The tenth mage had shifted his gaze from the rest of the mages and their conversations before fixing his gaze on mine.

"Who are you?" I asked him, and as the other mages stopped their conversations to hear us, the mage beside Jongin let go of his hand and got down onto one knee, though his head had been tilted up.

"They call me D.O., master." his voice was still gentle, but the emotion he used on Jongin had been locked away and I smiled just slightly. 

I slowly crouched down in front of him, and even though he didn't flinch as I got closer, his eyes watched me with caution, "I'm Yun Seung, D.O. I'm glad we've found you."

"Master, you are speaking to me informally." his eyebrows furrowed at this and he stood up so quickly that I almost fall back. I stared up at him as he stood and he waved his hand around in dibelief, "They scolded you and touched your bodies, yet you're speaking to us with such kindness."

"Hyung, don't-" Jongin's words were cut off by D.O. once more.

"And what's this bull that Jongin's been telling me about you freeing us?" his eyes narrowed into a glare as he continued, his hands shaking and his feet getting closer to me. I stood up so I wouldn't get trampled, but it was as if the mage didn't even notice and he continued on his rant, "Don't think that I'll let you put a finger on these mages ever again-"

"D.O. Watch your words." Joonmyun's voice was firm, but I was petrified and frozen in place. While Baekhyun had seemed to have complete trust in me, D.O. was the complete opposite.

With that, D.O. turned and stomped off with a sputtering Jongin on his tail. To make sure the two of them would be okay, Yixing ran after them, and the others slowly moved to catch up. 

"Don't worry about it." Chanyeol's voice wasn't excited like it usually was, but he stood beside me and leaned down slowly, ruffling my hair as we stood there together with Chen and Baekhyun on his other side, "He's the mother of our group. He means no harm, he's just worried, is all."

"Just give him some time to come around." After Chen spoke, the two of them ran off to catch up as well and left Baekhyun with me.

"Baekhyun! Yun Seung!" Minseok's voice called us from the distance, but Baekhyun remained by my side.

When he realized I wasn't going to move on my own, Baekhyun took my hand in his and pulled me along so we could catch up to the group. Baekhyun had been silent the entire way to the group, but when we had caught up, Baekhyun let go of me and stopped walking all together with all traces of amusement void from his expression.

"D.O." 

The tenth mage slowly turned around, and when he saw me with Baekhyun, his face contorted into rage once more and I took a step back in fear. A lot of people disliked me since I was a child, but I never thought one of the mages would hate me so blatantly.

"What are you doing with her, Baek?" D.O. grumbled, and the rest of the mages looked uncomfortable to see the mages angered at each other.

Jongin pulled on D.O.'s arm so they could continue, though his eyes remained on me and the smallest flash of guilt took over his gaze, "Hyung, that's Yun Seung-"

"That's exactly my point!" D.O. Jongin faster than I had seen Sehun turn on someone, and the tenth mage threw his hands up in the air in frustration, "She's the master! And if none of you remember, the masters we had in the past turned us into what we are now!"

"She's different, hyung." Sehun walked over to Baekhyun and I, wrapping an arm around my shoulder because he probably knew how terrified I had become of the newest mage, "She cares for us-"

"Cares for your powers, you mean!" D.O. spat back, pulling himself away from Jongin's grip as he walked back towards me.

"I already warned you once, D.O." Joonmyun walked forward as well to meet the tenth mage halfway with his arm out to stop the mage from getting any closer to me.

"She wouldn't have promised to free us only to have friendship in return if she didn't care for us." Tao's gentle voice was now full of disappointment and he joined Baekhyun, Sehun, and I. 

Chen let out a whistle and when I turned to him, the twinkle of mischief in his eyes was temporarily calmed down and replaced with a stern expression I could rarely expect from him, "She wouldn't have run through a storm of lightning to find me if she just wanted the power. That lightning has scared hundreds of power hungry men before."

"I'll admit she's an idiot, but she's braver than we give her credit for." Baekhyun spoke up, and though I should have probably been offended because he called me an idiot, his words made me smile, "No one else would climb up the side of a building for me... except Chanyeol, but he's an even bigger idiot."

"Yeah- hey!" Chanyeol, who had been standing by Chen with a smile on his face again turned to me with the softest smile that I had ever seen from him in the past, "Yun Seung forgave me even though I left her on the side of an errupting volcano. Even the others were ignoring me on the way to finding Lay."

Finally, Jongin had enough of it all and pulled D.O. away from Joonmyun, a small smile sent my way before he turned around to continue on the way he had originally been going with D.O., "She's the first to think of me as fragile."

After hearing Jongin's words, D.O. visibly softened and looked back at me for a moment before his gaze hardened once more and he turned back to the front, "Say what you want. All of you. But we all know that all of the masters we've ever had were the same."

"Like Tao said, D.O., she's different." Minseok kept walking as he spoke and soon passed D.O. as well, though he never turned back to any of us as he spoke, "If she wanted our powers, she would have kept just one of us. What's the use of taking more than one of us if our powers don't work against each other?"

I hated that they were arguing because of me, and I hated that I had nothing to say or do to change it. I was still scared of D.O. because he was bringing up the same point that most of the others did at one point or another; the what if. What if I changed my mind? What if I was just out for their power? What if I was just like the masters they had before me?

"That's not the point, Xiumin." D.O.'s voice was now sounding exhausted and the mage ran a hand through his hair, "This girl is going to get us all killed one way or another. Either she'll decide she wants our powers and not us, or she'll do something as stupid as falling off a cliff."

"What do you mean?" It was the first time I had spoken since D.O. first got angry, and the rest of them froze in their spots as they looked away from me as if they were hiding something that I needed to know.

"Alright, I guess it's time for you to know, Yun Seung." Joonmhyun sighed as he turned back to me, and the group of us stopped walking again as I waited for him to continue speaking.

"If you die, the mages that belong to the rings on your fingers die with you."

So, I finally got the next chapter up, don't hate me. I've been really lazy lately and I'm honestly very sorry for that. I promise that after I come back from vacation, the updates will be daily again. Right now, I'm trying to concentrate on getting the first part done, but writing takes too much of an effort sometimes and I'm just so damn lazy.

But ugh, that's a rant for another time. For today's question:

Should I introduce the next mage in the next chapter or wait another chapter?

As always, thanks for reading, subscribing, upvoting, and commenting! Oh, and don't forget the supporting you're doing, as well! It all means so much to me and I'm always so happy to see another notification regarding this story. I hope to get better at writing this story in the future, but for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a beautiful day!