a/n: thought i put this story on private, i was in the middle of finishing it up when i had to go out and when i came back, i guess it wasn't on private. sorry about the horrible foreward, i was halfway though it. hope you enjoy this chapter. this is a fantasy au btw

kim taehyung

I found her just as she was being shoved aside by a group of three bulky looking earth mages on the campus of Rowan University. She was such a tiny thing, what on earth had she said to make herself the target of three super seniors? They close in on her again and I shove the bagel I was eating into my mouth and hurry over to them.

“Give us the dog,” the one in the middle orders. The girl shakes her head, closing her arms around a small cloud of fur protectively.

“ yourself,” she snarled and suddenly I realized why they were so ruffled. She had a mouth on her. And a puppy.

“Stupid ,” the one on the left, and by far the biggest out of the three, reached down for her arm. It looked like he could rip it off her body.

“Hey, hey,” I said, reaching them just in time to grab a hold of him before he could to her. “Let’s take it easy, yeah? Leave the woman alone.” I push his appendage back to him.

“Kim Taehyung,” the one in the middle addressed me, looking me up and down appraisingly. I guess he recognized me, the circle I belonged to had almost won nationally in the mage tournament. “The fire mage, somehow you looked taller on screen.” I inhaled. He just had to bring my height up.

“Dumb, dumb and dumber,” I inclined my head. “You watched my match?” I quirked my lip. It was hilarious how fast their eyebrows slammed down on their forehead. I could feel the vibration of the earth beneath me start up. The girl beneath me in a quiet breath and the tiny dog she held whined. They felt it too.

“Look, let’s just leave it at that,” I say, not sure if I regretted my snarky comments, but definitely not in the mood to brawl with three massive earth mages. I was outnumbered unless you counted the fragile looking girl and the wisp of a dog she cradled.

The concert around us cracked as the biggest earth mage took a step towards me. “You’re going to pay for that.” His fists tightened, mage markings appeared in the center of his forehead and lit up and he began to draw from it.

“I’m paying for it right now, aren’t I?” I muttered, letting the mage marks on my right arm rise, feeling the rush of adrenalin as I called for my flames. They were big, but I was fast and maybe if I could get the first hit.

I shot forward just the first mage did. My element allowed burned everybody but me, giving me sort of edge. Fire tended to cause panic. I ducked under his fist and brushed my lit fingers against his side, setting his shirt on fire.

The earth mage didn’t even blink, swatting the flames away as if it was an annoying fly.

“,” I muttered. The two others drew forward their mage markings, combining their strength. The concrete under me shook with a powerful force and I cursed as chunks began to fly up, aimed directly at me. I had just returned from the tournament, I was still in the process of resting and a regaining my power completely.

I was in the worst possible position to be picking a fight with earth mages as a fire mage. Rocks the size of my fist, whirled around, smacking me as they saw fit. One clipped my temple harshly, knocking me off balance as I fell to one knee and tried to regain my head. Flames exploded around me, they would do nothing to protect me but I hoped they would throw the earth mages off while I waited for the rest of my circle to realize I was under attack and get their asses over here.

The three earth mages roared as they onslaught increased in frequency, trying to make up for the lack of visibility. Another piece of concrete slammed into my shoulder, throwing me forward and I caught myself with one hand. I could feel that my circle was moving closer to me, they were coming to help but I had no idea how long I could stay like this. Only luck was protecting me from getting smacked in the head and getting knocked out.

Expelling my flames further hurt like a , but I tried to get them as close as possible to the mages who had begun to chant. All this for a dog and a snarky comment. My weak flames barely brushed them. Damn. The ground underneath me had begun to split as if it was going to swallow me whole. I struggled to stand up, but the pull of fatigue from keeping up the wall of fire held me.

Suddenly, strength flooded my limbs, setting my flames blue with ferocity and exploded with such intense heat that it shook the earth mages out of their trance and sent them back on their asses, knocking them out completely. Energy had flooded back in my veins, I could feel the cut on my temple and various others on my body close up. Blue flames wrapped themselves around my body greedily, begging for an escape as a power I’d never felt pushed me to my feet.

I extinguished my flames, confused. Normally, tapping into blue flames drained me fast, I shouldn’t have been able to call on them like that. I shouldn’t have been able to knock out three earth mages with one wave. On any other day, yes. But I was barely keeping myself standing just moments before.

Turning to the girl to see if she’d just witnessed that, my eyes widened as I watched her slowly lower herself to the ground from her previous levitation state. She was covered in glowing mage marks, up and down her body.

For magic users, mage marks were the equivalent of Twitter bios. The more you had, the stronger you were. I’d never seen someone with as many mage marks as this girl and because you only had to show your mage marks during combat, I’m glad I hadn’t found out the hard way. Her eyes gleamed blue for a moment before returning dark. Her long dark hair brushed her elbows as her marks faded and I realized she was still holding the dog.

“Damn,” I heard myself say.

The girl smiled cautiously, holding out the dog as if to explain. “Thanks for helping me.”

“No problem,” I say brushing her off, taking a step closer to get a better look at her. She wore a pair of jeans and a hoodie that told me she was a student here at Rowan University. How had I never heard of her? “Thanks for what you did to help me. Promoter mage?” I ask. She had to be one of the strongest in the nation, I had been running on empty when she’d linked with me. What would it feel like if she linked with me when I was when my power level is normal. Probably incredible.

She nods slowly. “Witch magic.”

“My name is Kim Taehyung, I’m a senior,” I say, shaking myself out o