Fall back? The sorceresses are here? Panic started to well in my heart as I heard the voice calling, and I looked up in the air to see a weirdly colored bird flying straight towards us- towards senior Lee Jinki.

As it got closer, the bird changed shapes into Jongup from BAP, and I stifled my gasp upon seeing the cuts lining his body, "There were too many of them. The soceresses knew we were planning this."

"But how?" senior Lee Jinki asked, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "How are the others? And the mages?"

"The six of us were separated." Jongup explained, panting heavily," We haven't even spotted the mages."

It didn't make sense to me as to how they'd predicted all of our movements, but I didn't want anyone to waste time trying to figure it out when what we really needed was to stop the sorceresses before it was too late.

"Senior Lee Jinki." I said, and the warriors all turned to me in surprise that I was addressing them at all, "Take SHINee to the border. Do whatever you can, just make sure my mages and your warlocks stay safe."

With his eyes narrowed for a moment, senior Kim Jonghyun looked from me back to his leader, "Let's go, Jinx."

As the other SHINee members nodded and walked off, readying their weapons to blast through them once more, senior Lee Jinki stood still in front of me, "We can't leave you alone."

"I can handle myself, senior." I insisted, pulling out my pistols and holding them up by his face in case he didn't believe me, "But my mages are powerless against my ancestors. You need to help them, and I need to find Kris."

Sighing again, senior Lee Jinki dragged a hand down his face and then quickly pulled me into a hug before letting go and heading off with his impatient team. I watched as the five of them disappeared from my view, blasting at their targets without even pausing to reload their ammunition. I wanted to help them, trust me; but my job was to simply find the last mage so at least the twelve mages could be reunited.

The castle smelled of decaying flesh as I stepped into it, my pistols drawn before me in case one of them would jump out from the shadows. I had no idea where the last mage would be found, but I had the nightmares to lead me and the sounds of their footsteps in the distance to remind me at least some parts of my nightmare would be familiar to me as I searched.

My first destination was my own bedroom. It had been a while since I'd seen it and I wanted to make sure everything was as I left it- even though I had no use for anything in it. That's why I continued walking down the long hallways of my castle towards my bedroom. My room was just one of many, but I was surprised to see that the closer I got to my room, the more of them I saw. I didn't want to start fighting since I was obviously outnumbered and still ended to get to the last mage, but it seemed being found out was my only fate.

As lights flickered over my head and I found myself growing ever closer to my bedroom, one of them had turned and spotted me. That caused for it to screech, and then the rest of them that were waiting around turned in my direction and I started to run. It was especially terrifying how fast they had become between now and the last I'd seen them, but my powers worked even faster. In order to keep them off my back, I made sure a wall came out of the floor and separated me from whatever was behind me. Yes, it meant I couldn't go back, but it also gave me time to find another way to my room.

Unfortunately, like all castles, my castle had too many hallways and staircases and dead ends. Each time I found a dead end, I punched the wall and ran in another direction, flinching at the sound of them as they continueously followed me. Usually I knew my castle better than this, but considering the amount of time I spent away from home, I wasn't surprised by my lack of direction skills. 

I eventually found the fork in the hallways that I had seen in my nightmares, and remembering that the bright hallway didn't really have a good outcome at the other end, I turned and began running down the dimmer one; only to notice they were coming towards me from the dimmer hallway. I pulled out my pistols and started firing at them, but I knew my only shot was to run, so I pulled a wall up behind me and ran down the bright hallway.

Of course, more of them were waiting for me down that hallway, and with a hiss, I turned back and ran as quickly as I could. I was back at the fork and slammed into the wall I had created to separate me and the dim hallway, but then I figured out exactly where I was. The portrait was hanging on the wall across from me, and just next to me was my bedroom. Not only was I relieved to know the last mage was just inside my room, but I was relieved to go inside my room once more after so long.

The lights were off when I walked into my room, but as I reached for the light switch, I remembered I could just borrow Baekhyun's powers. Call me paranoid, but I was afraid that the light showing underneath the door of my room would let them know I was in the room. The small orb of light let me see around the room, but I was looking around the room without spotting anything that made it obvious a mage was hidden somewhere in the room. My room was absolutely plain and I would have noticed if a mage was in it... right?

I groaned as I started tossing clothes onto the ground from inside my closet and wardrobe. I was checking every part of my room, but there was still no sign of the last mage. Was I just being played after all? I wanted to cry, and I did cry; because I didn't know what else to do. The mages were fighting, BAP was fighting, SHINee was fighting- all so I could find this last mage. What would we do if he isn't found here?

Finally, my gaze went over to my bed. My parents have always told me not to move the bed, because underneath was something that kept the whole town supported, and now I felt like it was obvious. As I moved my bed I couldn't help but think of my parents' knowledge of everything. Were they really hiding the last mage in our castle and then telling me not to move the mage because they didn't want to risk letting all of the rings be found?

Underneath my bed was a cupboard, and as I opened it, I was both relieved and horrified to know the last ring's box was in there. It meant that my parents were hiding the ring and all the ancestors that lived in this castle before me. It meant my mages could finally be reunited and freed from their curse. It meant I won and my ancestors lost.

At least, I hoped it would be that easy, As I pulled the ring box out of the cupboard, I was left horrorstruck as the box fell apart in my hands. Thankfully, I was holding onto the bottom, so that when it separated from the top, the ring wouldn't be shattered.

Anymore than it already was.

To my uttermost horror, I found myself holding onto two halves of a ring, split perfectly down the middle where the symbol lay. I cried openly as I sat there on the ground, unable to fully comprehend what everything meant. The ring was broken, and so was our hopes of reuniting the mages. The sorceresses had won, our town had lost. What would I tell the mages? What would I tell Tao, who was so eager to meet Kris again after such a long time?

I had time, I thought, to figure something out. I stumbled over to my desk and pulled out a bottle of glue, clumsily gluing the ring back together and shaking my head in disbelief when it fell apart again. What else could I do? There was absolutely nothing for me to do and I still had to get back to the other mages.

Suddenly, a shot rang out in the air and my bedroom door was knocked down. When I looked over at the door, Yongguk had walked in, clutching onto a bleeding shoulder, "Come on! We have to go underground!"

Without waiting for me to respond, he left the room and made his way down the hallway. I wanted to stop him, to tell him what happened and beg for his help, but there was only one question I could ask, "Are my mages alright?"

"They're underground, waiting for you."

My heart grew more nervous with that as I trailed after him, and Yongguk led me to a door that led into the underground- I assumed that was courtesy of Youngjae. The first face I saw as I headed down into the underground bunk was of senior Lee Jinki.

He didn't look any better than Yongguk, but still, he only worried about me, "Yun Seung, why are you crying?"

Yongguk finally realized I was crying as he turned to me, and then his gaze roamed down to the ring and the ring box held tightly in my hands. His face going pale, he took in a deep breath and made space for Himchan.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know... this was a future I didn't see." Himchan seemed to be in disbelief that he hadn't seen this, but I shook my head. There was no point in dwelling on it when there was something much more important to dwell on.

"Tell me there's a way to fix it. Please!"

But no one answered, and I stared at the sympathetic faces of SHINee and the frightened faces of the BAP warlock. Behind them was another hallway that was lit dimly, and judging by the looks they sent me, I realized my mages were waiting down there for my news.

"I can't. I can't see them like this." Putting the ring and the box on the ground, I crouched down and covered my face as I sobbed. What could I do? Kris had been perfectly alright during my nightmare, but now... now... I didn't know what to think now.

"Come on, you don't want to worry them." I was surprised senior Kim Jonghyun was the one to comfort me as he crouched down and wrapped an arm around me, hoisting me up and bringing me into the other room.

My mages were waiting around like I expected, though they all looked worse for wear. I felt so guilty that I couldn't look up at them, even when they called for me.

"Yun Seung?" Sehun asked carefully, but when I didn't answer, he had fallen silent.

"We got our butts whooped." Jongin's voice was quiet as well.

"I think a hug would make a lot of us feel better." I appreciated Chen's attempt to make everything feel lighter, but we were all obviously wiped out.

Finally, I heard Tao's hesitant voice, and I couldn't help myself but cry again, "Yun Seung...? Where's Kris hyung?"

In alarm, Minseok crossed over to us and pulled my face up so I was looking at him, "What is it, Yun Seung?"

"Something happened to Kris, didn't it?" Joonmyun's voice was thick as if he was hiding his tears, and I didn't want to say anything.

Yongguk pulled forward then and when he got to the center of the room where a table sat, he gently spread out the last mage's ring box and ring's pieces. A sharp gasp was collected in the room and then, Minseok was pulled off of me and Chanyeol was holding me.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

I knew it wasn't my fault that Kris ended up that way, but I didn't want to look at their disappointed faces. I didn't want to see Tao crying again. I couldn't stomach it after everything.

"I'm sorry." I sobbed into his shirt, and then I felt someone else hugging me from behind.

"There's nothing... we can do." It was Baekhyun's tired voice, but I knew he was crying. I knew everyone was crying, because they had lost a brother with no way of getting him back. 

When Chanyeol pulled back from me, the eleven mages pulled each other into a hug of comfort as they cried and spoke wonderful things about their leader. However, one mage was absolutely silent even as his eyes streamed tears.

"It's okay, Zi." Luhan kept rubbing his back, but Tao wasn't saying a word and I was stuck to watch him with my own heart breaking in half.

"At least he doesn't have to be part of this nightmare anymore." D.O. wasn't trying to be funny or lifting the mood, he spoke as if Kris was lucky to have gotten out of it before the rest of them did.

"But he's gone." I said quietly, and my head bowed in shame, "I couldn't find him until it was too late."

"We didn't even say goodbye."

And when we turned to Yixing, I realized that not even the healer could help us now.

Uh, don't kill me yet? It seemed like a good idea when I first thought about it. Right now it's kind of bleh, but it's certainly different from how everyone else was found. So yesterday I asked you guys a question and a bunch of you reacted similarly to "but I thought they were all going to end up together". And they're all going to end up together. The only reason I ask for your guys' opinion on the ships is because I have to make sure there's at least some implications of romance found. 

I actually don't have a question for today, so I'll spare you that.

As always, thanks for reading, subscribing, commenting, and over all just supporting this story! I really appreciate all your guys' support and hope you continue to support me even though I practically killed off one of the mages even before he was found--. Sorry about that, by the way. Haha, enjoy this chapter and please have a brilliant day!