The first thing I had noticed when I came to was that my clothes were drenched, as was the survival pack hanging on my back. I still smelled faintly of blood, but I had to ignore the scent for the time being; there were things far more important than the blood on me.

My pistols had been parted from me and were scattered at either ends of the cave, separated by the stream I knew from my dream. I picked up one of my pistols and crossed the stream, picking up the second one and tucking them into their holsters before allowing myself to finally look around at my surroundings.

The cave was almost exactly as it was in my dream, with the dim lighting, and the frozen stream of water, though I hadn’t seen the entire stream in my dream. Perhaps that was a good thing; if I knew about the perils I’d face looking for this place, I probably would have given up on it.

Again, I noticed the same things I had felt in the dream; the frozen stream, the velvet box, the fear and the power that it made me feel. Once more, I felt like I should just turn around and escape from the presence of the ring, but before I could even think about what I would do, I found myself in front of the velvet box once more.

Like in my dream, I pushed my finger through the stream of water that should have by now destroyed the box, but again, it was as if I hadn’t even touched the water. It was beyond puzzling, but my gaze had already wandered down to the box in my sight. Again, I felt like running away from it, like it was something that shouldn’t be of any concern to me.

I thought back to senior Lee Jinki’s reaction when I told him of this and thought that maybe his actions were something that should warn me, and I didn’t want to be there with that box. Telling myself that I wouldn’t pull it into my grasp, I crouched down and looked closer at the box that had been in my dream.

Upon closer inspection, I realized it was the perfect size to hold a ring, though the black box was covered in silver lettering that I couldn’t read properly. I had warned myself again not to get too close to that thing, but the power it held was terrifyingly addictive.

“Help me.” I hadn’t heard a voice in my dream, so I was surprised when I heard it then. I looked around the cave in panic, my hands already grazing my sides where my holsters were strapped. I had stood up quickly and felt a dull pained sensation on the back of my head. I had only just remembered that I had gotten hurt so many times trying to find this thing, but had been distracted by the inside of the space.

There was no one around me, so I ruled out the chance of someone speaking around the cave, but the voice had definitely been real. I could feel that much, but I didn’t know exactly where it’d come from.

“Help me.” The voice repeated those words, and for a moment, I just stood in plain shock as I took in those two words. It was a delicate voice, though it was certainly a masculine one. The most surprising thing about the voice, however, was that it came from the box.

I gaped down at the thing and slowly crouched in front of it once more. My eyebrows furrowed at the thought that maybe I was just imagining the voice, but I found my hands reaching out for that box and soon, it was cradled in my hands.

It was a delicate box, reminding me of the voice that had come from it, and for a moment, I could only smile down at it gently as my fingers roamed over the edges of the thing. I was finally able to see the letters that had been haunting me, though they spelled out a word I’d never encountered before in my life, “EXO”.

“Help me.” In my fascination of the lettering, I had forgotten about the voice, and hearing it again so suddenly had me jump ever so slightly, the box jumping in my palms as I moved.

“Don’t do that.” I chided to the voice, though I doubted it could hear me. I took a deep breath before I opened the box, only to gawk at what I saw inside.

It was a thin silver band, though there were gems littered across the entire ring, and at the center of the ring, there was a peculiar pattern of an hourglass. I blinked at it rapidly, since it was certainly the strangest ring I’d ever seen, and then wondered if it could fit on any of my fingers; it was a pretty big ring in comparison to the size of my fingers.

I picked it out of the box carefully and brought it close to my eye level, humming as I wondered how on earth this thing would ever fit. Suddenly, the ring had shrunken so much that I knew just by glancing at it, that it would only fit on my pinky finger.

Blinking rapidly, I ended up jumping again and held it out in arm’s length. I was a little frightened of the ring, but then again; who wouldn’t be?

“This is a bad idea.” I muttered to myself, but I had already decided that whatever were to happen should just be allowed to happen, and I slipped it onto my right pinky finger. Suddenly, the ring started to glow, and I panicked again and tried to pull the ring off.

It wouldn’t budge.

Then, the area in front of me turned white, as if I were staring directly at the sun, and I covered my eyes with my free hand, taking in deep breaths to calm myself down.

But as soon as the light appeared, it disappeared, and I was left to blink repeatedly in hopes that my eyes weren’t going to go blind from the sudden change in lighting.

When I was able to look around again without white spots in my eyes, I noticed a male standing in front of me, his eyes staring at me in calm curiosity. I jumped off the ground and took up a fighting position, letting my eyes take him in to see if he was going to be an actual threat to me or not.

He was a lot taller than me; that was for sure, and had a thin, lean body. I was sure he was trained in some sort of fighting skills, for the way his legs were positioned; as if he was anticipating an attack at any moment. He had short black hair falling gently on his scalp, and his eyes were naturally narrowed with dark skin surrounding them.

“Who are you?” I asked, and only then did I realize how frightened I was, “How did you get in here?”

The stranger seemed to be moving forward toward me, and I took a large step back in fear. I had just fought those things and was not prepared to fight another creature of any sort; but it seemed I had nothing to worry about as he dropped onto one knee, his head bowed in… submission?

“My name is Tao, master.” He said, and I was taken aback by the delicate but piercing voice he used to speak with, only faintly recalling it from the box I was still holding in my hand.

“Did you come out of the box?!” My voice was raising in pitch, and I had to take another deep breath. This was all crazy, and I was starting to regret coming after this box.

Tao looked up at the box in my hand and nodded once, his face stoic, “Yes, master. Once you came into contact with my ring, you’ve summoned me.”

Though it was still crazy, I had started to calm down, knowing that panicking wasn’t going to help me, “What are you, exactly?”

“I am a mage, master.” Tao answered, though his voice and face remained emotionless.

“That can’t be true.” I muttered, and though it was supposed to be to myself, I knew the male could hear it, “Mages were wiped out first.”

“I am the mage of time, master.” Tao said, his voice turning harder as if he was trying to make me stop thinking about the fact that his existence was supposed to be impossible.

“Time?” I asked dumbly, my gaze drifting off to the frozen stream. I almost choked on my saliva when seeing that the stream was now flowing smoothly across the cavern, and my eyes turned back to the strange male, “So you’re the one that froze the stream?”

Tao’s nod was so slight that I thought I was imagining it for a moment.

“Yes, master. I froze time so when I would be found again, I would be found easily.” His tone had changed from the stoic tone to a more bitter tone, and I found myself letting out a sigh of frustration.

“Why do you keep calling me your master?” I asked, my hand rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly, “It makes you sound like a dog or something.”

“You found me; that makes you my master.” He said it as if it were obvious, but I only groaned at his words.

“First of all, I refuse to be called master. You are not a dog.” I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, “And second, why are you on the floor?”

Tao started looking a little annoyed with me as he stood up again and took a few steps forward, so that he could tower over me in an intimidating way. He noticed my slight fear, of course, and his lips turned up into a smirk, though I could see the hesitation in his eyes.

“Are you afraid of me? Most “masters” are, and thus we revert to acting the way we do. We wouldn’t want to upset our “gentle masters”, now would we?” The way he spoke made my eyebrows furrow again and I couldn’t help it when my shoulders dropped in disappointment.

“I’m frightened because my town was just attacked by those things; and I don’t know if you’ll attack me the way they did.” I shook my head as I explained to him, though I doubt he’d listen to my words even if I repeated them a hundred times, “And why do you speak as if you expect me to cut your arm off or something?”

Immediately, Tao hid his arms behind his back and stared at me in utter horror, “Please don’t cut my arms off. I’ll behave, mas-”

With a sigh, I leaned forward and gently placed my hands on his shoulders. He tensed, and his eyes widened, but he stared down at me anyway.

“My name is Kim Yun Seung, not master, and I refuse to let you believe you’re my slave.” Tao looked like he wanted to interrupt, so I held my hand out to silence him, “I will not harm you; heck, the only reason I’d attempt to hurt you is if we’re in combat training, and even then, I’d expect for you to not go easy on me.”

I slowly pulled my arms back and both of us relaxed, though his eyes were still guarded as he watched me, “Do you really mean that? Can I really expect for you to treat me like… a friend?”

Smiling gently, I walked over to the wall of the cave, sitting down with my back against it, “I’d never really had friends, so I hope you and I can become friends someday.”

He didn’t pry into what I said, but his eyes were curious as he sat down beside me, leaving almost a yard of space between us.

“There’s just one thing I need to ask you.” I turned my head to him, with my bottom lip between my teeth.

Hesitantly, he turned his gaze toward me and nodded, “Go on, then.”

“Exactly when were you put into this cave?” I asked, unsure of how he’d react to the question. I didn’t exactly have the right to ask him personal questions, after all.

He didn’t seem to think it was too personal, thankfully, and he hummed in thought, “I think it was 2012 when I was separated from the rest.”

I was curious about “the rest” that he spoke of, but I stared at him in surprise, and he seemed to be fidgeting under my gaze, “Tao. You’ve been in this cave for over three hundred years!”