Seeing as I had already been given some alone time with Kris, I continued in the direction the warlocks had gone to give the mages some privacy. Their reunion was great for everyone, and I'm included, but we still had a problem; my ancestors were nearby and we were supposed to be running away from them until we had some sort of plan.

There was laughter and tears following me down the dimly lit hallway, and I knew the mages weren't behind by too long. When I glanced at them from over my shoulder, I could barely see them and the smiles on their faces. Suddenly, someone ran over to me and when I checked at my side, it was Luhan.

"This is the first time all of us have been reunited in centuries." There was a childish grin on his lips, and it was so wide that it stretched from ear to ear, "You should be part of our celebration, yet you stayed here! You didn't even introduce yourself to Kris."

"All the more reason for you twelve to catch up without me." I reminded him, and Luhan only let his lips form a frown.

Staying silent for a moment, Luhan looked at me and then slowly turned his head so he could see the group behind us. Following his lead, I turned my head slightly, only to catch Baekhyun's gaze as well as Jongin's and Sehun's. Seeing as I turned their way, the three of them looked away and then back to me, and I saw nothing but adoration in their eyes. I was confused, though; why were they looking at me in that way?

"I don't think I'm the only one who wants you to continue being with us." In confusion, I turned to Luhan again and then threw another glance over my shoulder to see I had caught everyone's gaze.

"Wait. Master." I cringed at the name and turned around, seeing Kris walk over to me with an amused grin on his lips, "You ignore me now that you've freed me? I'm offended."

I couldn't help it when my eyes narrowed up at him, and when Chanyeol and Chen took a step back, I knew they knew what was coming, "If I remember correctly, you're the one who tried to kill me before."

That stopped all laughter immediately and the mages all rounded on Kris. I thought it was amusing how even D.O., who had his fair share of giving me death glares instead sent his death glare to Kris.

"It was too dangerous." He defended himself, his eyes glancing over each of the mages and then back to me, "I didn't think you'd want to risk your life saving me."

"Kris, meet Yun Seung, our suicidal master." When Baekhyun introduced me, I turned my glare onto him, but he snorted and snapped back, "Don't give me that look. You know it's true."

"Running into a storm." Chen began, and I watched with a scowl as the other mages added on.

"Jumping into a frozen lake."

"Swimming in a frozen lake."

"Climbing up a volcano."

"Scaling the side of a Chapel."

"Diving off a cliff."

"Confronting your ancestors."

"Fighting your way through a battleground."

"They're all things I did to reunite the twelve of you." I said quietly, and though some of them grinned, the others shook their heads.

"We know, and that's why we tease you." Joonmyun never smiled much, at least not openly. As he smiled, I could feel the red that started to paint my cheeks, "You never gave up on us, even when it was dangerous."

"What are you all going to do when I free you?" I couldn't help but ask. It had been in my heart for a while and though I never voiced out my worry, I knew I would be worried for them.

"We're going to get revenge." The look in Minseok's eyes was murderous as he spoke, and I noticed that all twelve mages shared the look, "We're going to take everything your ancestors built up and we'll destroy it one by one."

Everything? Did that mean me as well? Was it dangerous to let the mages go and get their revenge? I wouldn't ever change my mind about freeing them, but now I was afraid of staying with them. Would they destroy me or would the desperate need to take revenge destroy the twelve of them? I didn't want to stick around and find out.

"You look frightened." When Baekhyun spoke, the other mages softened their gazes. They probably realized how I felt about all of this, but I knew that wouldn't change their hearts, "Why?"

"When I made the promise to free you, I did it with the hope that you'd create yourselves a new future." I turned around and kept walking then, and I didn't bother turn around as we entered the underground bunker my town's civilians shared, "Not to return to your past."

As I entered the bunker, my eyes roamed for any familiar face I could spot; and I spotted many. It was a large room where the remaining civilians chose to hide and rooms branched off for families to sleep at night. There were a lot of warriors hiding down there as well, and I cringed at their bloody state. Some were missing arms or legs, while others were sitting in corners and rocking themselves as if to convince themselves it was all just a bad dream.

"There you are." Senior Lee Jinki had come out of one of the rooms with the rest of SHINee following him, and as he neared me, he held out a first aid kit, "I'm going to need help checking on the injured."

Before I could grab the kit in his hands, Yixing walked forward and with a smile, took it out of his grip, "I was a doctor once. I'll treat them."

"I'm going to help." I was surprised that D.O. would offer to help, considering he really didn't like anyone, but he trailed after Yixing like a puppy.

"What can we do to help?" Sehun stepped closer to where senior Lee Jinki and I were; but as he did, I stepped away.

"There are supplies and firewood down that corridor." Senior Kim Jonghyun said, pointing to the east side of the room, "We'll need a few of you to grab them."

Chanyeol squeezed my shoulder as he walked by with Baekhyun and Chen following him, "We volunteer."

"C'mon, Lu." Chen grabbed the blonde haired mage by the shirt, even though Luhan whined.

"How good are you with needles and thread, grandpa?" For a moment, I thought senior Lee Taemin was talking to Joonmyun or Minseok, as they were the eldest, but his gaze was on Jongin.

Jongin's lips curled into a smirk as he stepped closer to senior Lee Taemin, "Depends. Are you telling me to prick you?"

Senior Lee Taemin narrowed his eyes for a moment before grinning and walking away with Jongin behind him.

Sighing, Tao took Sehun's hand and pulled him along, "We'll go make sure Jongin doesn't kill him."

"The rest of you-"

As senior Lee Jinki turned to the last three mages behind me to give them assignments, he was cut off by Yongguk, who trailed out of one of the other rooms. There was a bandage covering his shoulder and he saw that I was staring at it.

"Yun Seung. We have to discuss the next step." 

Catching the hint that it was about freeing my mages, I nodded and hurried over to Yongguk, though the remaining mages trailed after me. When I looked back at them, the three of them had stared back at me like they didn't know why I'd stopped walking. I didn't think much of it since they were the elder mages; they probably wanted to keep me safe and figure out what I was doing.

"Yun Seung!" The first face I saw as I entered the room was Zelo, who seriously reminded me of Tao and Sehun. Himchan was in the corner of the room like back when we first met in the hidden room under the trapdoor.

In his hands was the spell book he had once given me that belonged to my ancestors. I wondered how he got the book for a moment but then my eyes fell upon my backpack. I had forgotten all about it in my panic to rescue Kris.

"It's time to learn the spell to unbind them." Himchan put the book down and walked over to a crate, lifting it onto the table where the spellbook sat, "In here sits twelve candles. We must retrieve a drop of blood from each mage in order to perform this spell."

For two hours, Himchan and Yongguk coached me on the spell I needed to perform. Joonmyun, Minseok and Kris sat still in the back beside the other warlocks, but I could see the excitement dancing in their eyes every time I turned in their direction. They were more than ready to be free again.

"It's sundown. We must hurry or the day will be lost." As Yongguk spoke, the other warlocks cleared the room and Yongguk himself left the room to gather the other mages.

The nine mages walked into the room in absolute confusion, but as they saw the spellbook, the elders' excitement reached their own expressions. The mages got into a large circle around me and each were given a candle. Then, as they held their candles, Himchan walked around the circle with a small pricking needle and collected a drop of blood from each mage, putting it into a small bowl and handing it to me. There was a large bowl sitting in front of my feet, and as I chanted the spell, I was to pour the blood into the large bowl.

"We only have one shot, Yun Seung. Are you ready?" I was far from ready, and I was terrified, but I couldn't help but nod at Himchan's words. My mages waited far too long and it didn't matter now if I was ready or not- what mattered was that my mages were.

We were all standing for the spell, and right before I closed my eyes to start chanting it, I noticed the soft smiles on my mages' faces. They were more than excited, they were thankful.

"Child of the frost and of the sea,
Of time and of the breeze,
Of the skies and of the clouds,
Of the mind that has been bound.
Child of the fire and of the earth,
Of the lost and of the hurt,
Of the light that has been dimmed,
All the children that have been pinned.
I remove all that was in your way,
And may you burn brightly for another day.
With the power invested in me,
I now declare you as free."

Everything was silent for a moment, and I was frightened. Did I say the spell wrong? Was I not strong enough? Had something gone wrong? But I was the one that was wrong; because a moment later, a large gust of energy escaped from the bowl on the floor, and I was knocked off my feet, covering my head in case something were to jump out and attack me.

Then there was laughter, and a lot of it. It wasn't exactly joyful laughter, but the kind of dangerous laughter a madman would give out as he unveiled a plan no one could stop. I slowly uncovered my eyes and looked over at my mages; well, not mine anymore. Nothing about them physically had changed, although I could see the danger in their eyes shining even brighter than it had before. When I looked down at my hands, my rings were still there but not even glowing at all; they were just ordinary rings now.

"We thank you, Yun Seung." Joonmyun got down onto one knee and the other mages followed, and for a few moments, their expressions had turned into the ones I was used to, "Now we have all of our powers, and we're ready to take back the world that should be ours!"

"No." I gasped, but it was too late. The mages were disappearing one by one and now that they weren't in their rings, even I couldn't stop them.

"What did I do?"

So yeah, now EXO is kind of evil. Hey, don't say you didn't see this coming! I mean come on, they have bloodthirsty revenge coursing through them, of course they're going to do something like this! Geez, but I apologize for my "spell". I usually write good poetry but this one was just plain awful. You're free to throw some tomatoes at me if you can find some. :P

I don't have a question for you today, either. Sorry, I'm too busy planning out this part to think of questions. :'(

As always, thanks for the reading, commenting, upvoting, and subscribing you do! I thank you for all your support, and I'll really need it now that we've moved onto the second part. This is the longest story I've ever written and it's not even close to finished! Hopefully I won't lose too many of you guys before it does end. Haha, but I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a brilliant day!