It was yet another shift in my nightmare, but I expected that. What I didn't expect, however, was the fact that this shift was a lot more drastic than the others I'd been faced with. It wasn't pitch black, like the first nightmare I had, but I was too busy running to look around me and notice my surroundings. Perhaps I knew the area well, because my feet were moving smoothly even without my guidance, and my eyes were constantly looking around me.

I wasn't being chased this time. This, I knew because there were no shadows following me. However, I knew I was in danger and had to keep moving in hopes of finding a safe space to hide in or at least to outrun whoever had been following me in my former nightmares. The hallways I was running in were long and had several turns into other hallways or rooms. 

Something was weird about this nightmare, though. Each time I passed a corridor, a wall of earth shot up from the ground and molded itself into looking like another part of the wall, cutting me off from the direction in which I had just come. Knowing that, I continued forward hoping that I'd eventually find what I was looking for, whatever that would be.

The real nightmare started when I came across a fork in the hallway system. To my left, the hallway was bright and seemed to be the more optimistic selection, but the hallway to the right was dimly lit and eerie enough to make me think that it was the very same hallway I had been seeing in my nightmares all this time. Naturally, I took a left and booked it down that hallway, convinced that the shadows would start appearing from behind me at any moment.

I was wrong, because the things chasing me in my nightmares hadn't been behind me at all, but in front of me.

I had been turning another corner to figure out where I was going when I saw them. How had they gotten into my nightmare? What did they have to do with my nightmare, anyway? Why did they choose only now to show up in my nightmare? Because I knew they only stayed within towns, I knew immediately that the last mage and the nightmare I had repeatedly were both set in my home town, in my castle.

Finally figuring out why the hallways always looked so familiar to me, it took me some time to notice that they noticed me and were hissing in my direction. Turning around immediately, I ran back toward the fork I had come across earlier, and while I took a glance over my shoulder to make sure they weren't right behind me, I ran right into the wall.

My hands flew at the wall on their own, and I could feel a scream ripping out of my throat because though I put it up, I didn't have any idea on how to tear the wall down and get back to where I was safe. Then, my eyes flew over to a door and I remembered that the mage in there didn't want anything to do with me. He had already tried to kill me at least twice, but I needed a place to go and hide at least until they passed. 

I ran into the room without hesitating any further and pressed myself against the door, taking in deep breaths. I didn't want those things to come into the room while I was there, and I sure as hell didn't want to face the mage that was no doubt waiting to attempt to kill me again.

Slowly, I turned around to look into the room, grimly noting that the light was on and that the ring box was still floating in the air as if it had nothing else to do- it probably didn't. I didn't step away from the door, because no matter what, I would end up dead by either the mage, or them. Just as I thought it, the ring box started to glow and sent off a wave of wind to all corners of the room, and I was glad I already pressed myself against the door so I couldn't feel the strong wind. A second later, the lights went out and I was left in the familiar pitch black room I had first been in.

"Why have you come- you're crying." the voice was thick and had started out angry again, but the anger quickly faded out and I was left to stare at whatever was in front of be in bewilderment, because I had no idea how he knew I was crying. 

"They made you cry?" A moment later, something was caressing my face, and though I couldn't see or feel anything because it was just a nightmare, I knew it was the mage. What I didn't get was why he was suddenly so gentle with me when he usually spent all his time trying to shoo me away, and I didn't know why. The others didn't trust me or even seem to care for me, so why would he?

"I don't want you to see the state I'm in now, but it doesn't mean I don't care for you." it was as if he could read my mind, and his voice now holding much less aggresion than it had been earlier on, "Our destinies have been crossed ever since you found Tao."

"Beware if you choose to come after me. It will not be anything like the other rings you have claimed."

"Wake up!" someone's voice had my eyes open immediately, and I looked around to see that Chen was squatting down on the ground before me, and that I myself was laying down on a couch in the living room. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were discussing something serious a few feet away from us, and I could hear Joonmyun's voice in the background, obviously scolding the youngest two mages for something they had done.

Suddenly, Chen was pushed aside and Yixing was there in his place with a hand pressed against my forehead and his lips quirking into a sheepish grin, "You spent so much time with Chanyeol that you started to catch a fever. I would have healed you but I wasn't sure if you'd want it or not."

I shook my head to let him know that I actually didn't want to be healed and slowly got onto my feet, catching the attention of both Chanyeol and Baekhyun immediately. The tall goofy male ran up to me with his arms out uncertainly to catch me if I fall, and though I was still wounded by the mages, I remembered how Chanyeol held me until I fell asleep. 

"I'm fine, Chanyeol." I smiled up at him, and after he smiled back, he stepped away and allowed me to walk into the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, but it felt like my throat had been squeezed dry by my nightmare.

When I stepped into the kitchen, both D.O. and Jongin were there, and both turned to me with widened eyes before D.O. turned away. Jongin stared at me for another moment before he moved toward me.

"I'm sorry, Yun Seung." his voice was just above a whisper and his arms were wrapped tightly around me with his face buried into my hair. I would have pushed him away and continued on my search for water, but Jongin was being vulnerable again and it made me think of when I had first found him.

A few moments later, Jongin was pulled off of me and instead of Jongin, I was facing D.O. Considering the fact that being around D.O. usually danger for me, I took a step back and gulped when his eyes narrowed.

"I'm telling you now. If you don't finish everything on your plate, I'll shave your hair off." I watched as D.O. turned away and sauntered back to the stove.

Jongin took my hand then, and led me to the dining table. A majority of the other mages were already seated there and waiting, so I allowed myself to be pushed into an empty seat in front of a large pile of food and waited with the rest of them for D.O. to join us.

"Yun Seung, I apologize." I slowly looked over to Minseok, but his gaze was on Joonmyun and the two of them were conversing with their eyes, "You trusted me enough to tell me a secret you were terrified of, but we were too afraid to tell you our own secret. As an elder, I am ashamed of how we have been treating you."

Tao dropped his chopsticks onto the table and leaned forward with his head bowed in shame, and I already knew he was tearing up again, "I had no idea you were really alone."

To me, the dinner table wasn't really the best place for apologies or confessions, since we were supposed to eat there, but I knew I would have just locked myself in my room again if they hadn't gotten me down there first.

"Can you tell us what you meant by alone?" Joonmyun's voice was quiet, and almost hesitant. It was as if he was too worried for the answer to ask for one.

But I told them anyway. I told them of how I was raised in a castle and my parents were very influential so I ended up alone most of the time so they could continue working on our town's defences. I told them of how at school, I was always at the bottom of our ranking system and thus no one liked me or would talk to me. Even though I didn't have to, I even told them about Senior Lee Jinki and how the two of us had gone from good childhood friends to simple classmates.

Mentioning Senior Lee Jinki's name had me thinking of him, and of the rest of my town. Was Cook Park still alive? Were my parents still running the town? Were all of our warriors going into battle and coming back in one piece, or have we lost many of our brave warriors? Was one of the mages really hidden inside of our castle, and if so, why? What were they doing inside of our castle, and how can I get them out?

"What are you thinking of? Yun Seung?" Sehun reached forward in order to shake my arm, and I snapped out of my thoughts immediately to look over at him.

"I always warn her about thinking so hard." Minseok mused, and a couple of the other mages chuckled, but my eyes had gone over to Baekhyun and I was watching the thoughtfulness cross his eyes.

"Do you know where those things came from?" Though I was looking at Baekhyun, I was asking all the mages, and after someone asked me to elaborate, I did, and I watched the mages look at each other with discomfort and hesitance. It was another secret they couldn't trust me with, huh? Just as I began to stand up, Yixing held his hand out, and I turned to him, knowing he had more understanding about the mages than the others.

"When the people who created us saw how powerful and strong we were, they had become drunk with power." Yixing explained, his eyes darkening and his face tilted down towards his plate of food, "So they extracted gallons of power from the Tree of Life and used it on other people, creating mixes with stronger power traces than our own. But it was too much power, and it wasn't until it was too late that they realized it."

"They're failed versions of us."

So, I'm finally back from vacation. I know you all missed me so very much because it's been almost a week since my update and cliffhangers aren't fun. Don't ask me about vacation because it , but I'm home and so very happy to be updating tonight even if I'm exhausted from the traveling. This chapter is a lot shorter than the others, but I promise it'll be alright. There's a lot coming up in the next few chapters, and it brings me to today's question!

How much longer would you like this part to be? You have a choice between one chapter longer or ten chapters longer, (and the numbers in between).

As always, thanks for reading, subscribing, upvoting, commenting, and supporting this story! I'll try to have quicker updates but I'm real tired and don't know if my brain is on writing mode or not just yet. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a very brilliant day!