Like Luhan said, the second the isle hit the water, it was surrounded on all sides by our military. I had never been so scared in my life. Would they kill me and kill my mages as well? Would they take me to my ancestors? Just then, heavy footsteps made their way into the temple and I spun in place slowly, taking in the amount of guards that hard shown up. 

"Hands behind your head!" I supposed the person who growled at me was a higher up, so I obediently folded my arms behind my head and waited to see what they would do. Their weapons were like nothing I'd ever seen before, but their faces had caught me by surprise. These guards could be no older than my age. 

"It's clear!" Another guard shouted, and then, the first to address me had me by the collars and was growling in my face.

"Where are they?"

I knew who they were talking about immediately, and though I remembered they could kill us all without having the mages around, I knew they wanted them alive for some reason. That thought alone made me smug, "Take me to Yunso and Yunjee."

The guards froze and then, before I could process what was happening, one of the guards lunged forward and had a hand wrapped around the base of my neck. I wanted to lash out and maybe knock him unconscious- but I couldn't. There were dozens of guards even if I got rid of this one, and who knew what they'd do to me if they realized I could just fight back; even if I wasn't very good. 

"Kill me and you'll never get those mages." I was surprised I could even speak, since his hand was pretty tight around my neck and I was starting to lose focus on reality.

Suddenly, as the guard's grip on me tightened, a clear and familiar voice called through the group of guards, "Let her go. We didn't come this far just to kill the mages."

The guards parted and in strolled two beautiful ladies who I quickly figured were my ancestors. They looked like me, sounded like me, and even walked like me; but there was something I had that neither of them did- a heart. 

"My my, Yunjee. She looks just like Yuna." I supposed the first to talk was Yunso, whose nose was wrinkled upward in distaste as she came closer to me and practically wrenched the guard's arm off me, taking the ends of my hair in her hands, "Same nasty split ends, too."

After giving the guards a pointed look that made them flee from their presence, Yunjee turned to me with her sister's disgust only amplified on her own face, "Another of our descendants is looking to harness the powers of EXO. Should we be afraid or amused, Yunso?"

Yunso snorted and looked over at her sister for a moment, but then her full attention was on me again and she circled me, leaving me to watch her in disgust and fear, "What is your name, doll?"

"Yun Seung." My throat burned from being squeezed, and Yunso was actually starting to prod at me like I was some sheep, but there was no fear as I spoke.

"Where are the mages, child?" Yunjee began to circle me the way her sister had, though her eyes were far more frightening and her lips curled back to show rows of sharp teeth. Nothing about her seemed human to me; it was like she was simply in a human's body, but not actually a human like I was. 

I couldn't help but glare at her, then, because was I supposed to be nice? Was I supposed to answer them like I cared for their existence other than to kill them after my mages were free? As I glared, her amusement grew, "Why would I tell you anything? You're the ones who ruined their lives!"

Yunso's expression changed then, like she was surprised I was talking to them like that. Suddenly, a sharp pain filled my side, and I looked down to see her arm had actually transformed into sword, and had already pierced my skin once. 

"What is it you want from them? To help you become popular? Are you trying to make another girl jealous?" She hissed at me like I was nothing but a nuisance, and I couldn't help but think that the feeling was mutual.

"I want to undo what my ancestors did to them." 

Then, a slap across the face and someone had their hand pulling my hair back. Their grip in my hair was so tight that my head was yanked back and tears were streaming down my face as I looked over at Yunjee. Her amusement had long been replaced by hatred.

"You dare tell us you're going to free them?" She said it like it was the stupidest thing someone had ever told her; like to her, it was mission impossible. 

"She's found eleven rings." Yunso's voice was also full of hatred now as she pulled one of my hands up and squeezed it so hard I felt something break.

"Why are you doing this?" I couldn't help but ask them, even though I knew they were just hungry for power and I was just a threat to them.

Yunjee glared at me for a second more before she threw me to the ground and crouched before me like I was some vermin she was about to exterminate, "Yuna was brilliant, but even she didn't understand our use for those mages until we helped her understand."

Why did she say it like it had a double meaning? What was she trying to imply? That those two sorceresses had done something to Yuna? Yuna was the one who gathered all the mages together- or at least, that's what Yongguk and Himchan told me. What could they have done to her to "help her understand" anything? If anything, Yuna should have known the most about those mages; considering two of them, and possibly more, had fallen for her.

"I can see the gears turning in her head." Yunso crouched down and pretended to coo at me like I was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, "You're not very bright, doll, are you?"

"You're not getting anywhere near those mages." I didn't notice at first, but there was a weird metallic taste on my tongue, and when I spoke, blood hit the ground. What happened? Why was I bleeding, and what had they done to me in order to make me bleed this much?

"Poison, doll." Yunso grinned like she was so proud of herself, her eyes flickering in amusement, "Either you tell us where the mages are, or we let the poison kill all of you."

"You need them alive." I reminded them, but they only glanced at each other like I was their entertainment.

"We don't need them, but we're going to make sure no one else can have them again." Yunjee stood up then and stepped away from me, looking back over to the shadows where the guards were standing, "Take her away. Make sure she has a nice little place to spend the rest of her pathetic little life."

"It's your last chance to save yourself."

"No, this is." I had almost forgotten I still had the pistols with me- the pistols that could call on the mages' powers. I only remembered when I felt my side for the wound given to me by the sword, and I held it up, firing right away at a wide eyed Yunso.

I watched as everything stilled around me, a small sigh of relief escaping my lips before I realized, well, that I wasn't exactly safe. There was poison in my system, and I only had moments before time would start moving again. So, closing my eyes, I imagined the house, and a second later, I was there.

"Yun Seung!" I was in the living room, and I knew it; and I was surrounded by the eleven mages who had been waiting for me there. I heard a few gasps as I swayed on my feet, and looked to see Chanyeol had already jumped up and was holding me by my shoulders.

Tao's voice was frantic, but he made no move to get off of the couch he was sitting on, "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"There's poison in her blood." I hadn't realized Yixing was holding my arm up until I blinked slowly and turned to him.

Joonmyun walked over to me then, placing his hands on my face and keeping my face still as he spoke, "Have you been followed?"

I wanted to say no, but I knew that they could easily trace me back to this place. We had to go, and quickly, but there was nowhere I could think of. My eyes fell past Joonmyun to where Jongin was standing, and then it hit me.

"BAP." I muttered, weakly pointing to where the rug had been hiding the trapdoor.

"We can't trust them." Sehun's voice called from behind. I wanted to ask why, but I remembered that to these mages, BAP was a threat and a group they didn't know well.

Minseok looked over at Joonmyun and I and then he pulled Luhan to where the trapdoor was, and the two of them uncovered it so we could see the dim space underneath.

"Are you sure they're going to help us?" Chen's voice was full of caution, but when I nodded, he did the same, and he was the first to jump down the trapdoor.

"The map and supplies. We won't be coming back." Baekhyun grabbed all of the things that were in plain sight and then tossed it down the trapdoor, where Chen and Luhan had already descended down.

D.O. was looking at me, and though I couldn't focus on him completely, I could see the worry that crossed his expression, "Make sure you live, Yun Seung."

Then, he was gone down the trapdoor, and Minseok nodded over to us before following. Someone scooped me off the ground, and then I rested my head against Jongin's chest as he teleported from where we were to where the other mages were.

"Stay with us." Sehun was speaking from ahead of us and I couldn't help but think of the time he asked me to promise that I wouldn't leave them. Right then, I wanted to laugh; because I didn't think this would even be a possibility of how I left them.

"Keep your eyes open, Yun Seung." Jongin kept his lips close to my ear as he whispered, and I knew why. As long as I had something to focus on, I wouldn't lose complete focus on reality.

"Took you long enough." I didn't recognize the voice very well, but when I looked up, I could almost make out the blurred facial expressions belonging to Youngjae. There was light coming from behind him, and I tugged on Jongin's sleeve.

"You are with BAP?" Luhan's voice was light and full of curiosity, and I don't know what kind of gesture Youngjae made, but then we were walking past him and I was watching Youngjae as best as I could.

As we all entered the tunnels connecting our house to where BAP had made a room, Youngjae waved his hand over the space behind us, and it disappeared, leaving a dead end's wall in its place. The mages continued walking and eventually, we were all standing in the space I always went to when I needed answers from the two people that seemed to know everything.

"You made it." Himchan's voice was loud and clear in the room, even in my state of grogginess. The next moment, he had run over to me and almost put a hand on my forehead, when Baekhyun's hand caught his and pulled it away.

"We're only here because she trusts you." Minseok's voice was gentle but I could hear the warning in it. 

"And with good reason, too." Yongguk's low voice retorted. A moment later, the leader of BAP walked forward with his hands crossed over his chest, "I'm Yongguk, and I assure you that if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you long ago."

I laughed, and I could feel the mages look at me like I had gone crazy, but Yongguk chuckled as if he knew exactly what I was thinking; that he'd said the exact same thing to me once before.

"Jongin, put her down." Yixing gestured over to the couch the rest of BAP had left open surprisingly, and when Jongin laid me ontop of it, Yixing started to heal me by placing his hands over my wounds.

"We're thankful you are letting us stay here for the time being-" Joonmyun was trying to be the sweet leader I was used to him being, but he was cut off by a scoff that most definitely came from either Baekhyun or D.O. "-but we can't stay here."

I stared up at the mages and warlocks as they discussed everything, feeling my eyes drooping closed for a different reason than impending death. I was exhausted by today's events and wanted nothing more than a few hours to catch up with my thoughts.

"Right now, this is the safest place you have." Yongguk reasoned calmly, though his arms hadn't dropped from where they were resting against his chest, "They're already starting the search party to find her."

"How do you know about that?" Minseok's voice took on another level of threatening as he inched away from Yongguk and closer to the other mages.

"The world's still convinced we're working for the government." Himchan's voice was laced with amusement as he said this, and he shrugged, "We might have suggested that we might have seen Yun Seung going up north."

"Even if we're safe for now, we need to keep moving." Luhan's voice was still light, but now full of authority like Joonmyun's and Minseok's voices tended to be. 

"Where do we go?" Sehun asked, running his fingers through his hair.

Tao's voice wasn't wavering, but I knew he was worried, "We still have to find Kris."

As the muttering picked up and the mages and warlocks continued discussing our next step with even Yixing joining them, I thought about what we were going to do next, and I could feel myself smile even as I finally let my eyes shut.

"We're going home."

So, I'm late again. It's been a week since my last update, right? Maybe a little less? I don't really remember. I was supposed to update the day after my birthday, but I just got lazy and it took a week of writing this on and off to get this done even though it should have taken me only a couple of hours. 

Today, instead of asking you all a question, how about you guys ask me questions? About the story, the characters, the- whatever! Ask any question you like and I will answer! :)

As always, thanks for the support you're all showing this story! For all the reading, subscribing, upvoting, commenting, and so much more! I know I couldn't have done this without any of you, and hope to make this story even better for all of you in the future. Please continue supporting this story, enjoy this chapter, and have a wonderful day!