Nothing could have prepared me for this. No matter how cold I thought it'd be around the lake because of my dream, nothing could have given away just how cold it was. So cold, in fact, that Sehun and I had huddled together as we walked with Tao, Kai, and Chen walking ahead of us as if the weather didn't bother them.

What a lie.

Tao was shivering harder than I was, and Kai had his hands stuffed into his pockets. On the other hand, Chen was skipping and humming as if it were the middle of summer and not freezing cold. I wanted to be envious about his behavior, but Sehun and I had already agreed that we weren't as crazy as either of the three other mages.

The air was light and in the distance, the sun was rising with its radiance bathing us and perfecting the fairytale image that was running through my mind. It was my first time at a beach, and though it was cold, I was awestruck by how beautiful everything was; from the sun, to the reflection of it against the ice, the fact that when I looked into the ice, it was as if I was looking into space. I was alarmed by how much of the ice had frozen over and looked virtually untouched, meaning it was frozen for a long time before we got to it. When I looked up to see if maybe it would start snowing, there were no clouds in sight- like I'd seen in my dream. Puzzled by this, I turned to the other mages to see the looks of horror perfectly on each of their faces.

"Trust him to make it this cold." Sehun shook his head in what I deemed to be disappointment, his teeth knocking violently against each other in the cold. Then, he squeezed onto my hand as if he was scared of something, and I couldn't help but share the sentiment after what I had seen in my dream regarding the sixth mage.

Looking over to Tao, I saw the tears in his eyes, and I slowly pulled away from Sehun in order to check on the tall male. It took me a moment before realizing that tears were in Sehun's eyes as well and even the other two mages, who hadn't seemed to be troubled by any of this earlier.

"We won't be able to break through the ice." Tao was muttering under his breath, obviously aware that I was worried about the group of them and why they were crying. Tao brought up a good point; with the fifth mage's powers working so vividly, how would they be able to break through the ice in order to get him out?

"I'll do it." I heard myself say before I even realized I was speaking, and before long, I found myself putting my pistols onto the sand and walking off the shore, carefully trudging against the ice. My arms were up as I walked, because it was slippery and I didn't want to lose balance on the way there. I knew the ring was underwater, lodged into the ice... but where? How was I supposed to find it when the ice was so thick that I couldn't see past it?

"Yun Seung! Stop, it's dangerous!" Kai was calling out for me and I know he probably started running for me as well, but when I glanced back at him I felt something drop on my head.

So, like any sane human, I looked up because I knew what was going on. It was raining like it was in my dream, and though I was frightened to the core about what was going to happen, I already started to brace myself for it as well. The clouds appeared, and I heard a hiss from behind me, knowing it was Chen. I kept my gaze on the storm clouds, because even though I was terrified of the lightning, I knew it had to be done. I was frightened, and I wanted to run away desperately, but when I did start to turn back to shore, a strand of lightning hit the ice before me.

I was surprised but mostly terrified that it only took that one strand of lightning for the ice to melt and crack away from underneath my feet. Like Chen, his powers were unpredictable and at times terrifying- but at the same time... I was mesmerized by the beauty of it. That one little strand of lightning was just enough to break the defenses that the sheet of ice had formed.

"Yun Seung! Get out of there!" It was Kai again, and when I turned back, I saw that he'd returned to the shore because he knew getting into the water would be a terrible idea. For a moment, I felt like I should listen to his warning and run from the spot I was on, but the ice had slipped away from underneath my feet and I was thrown into the water.

I wanted to gasp, but I thankfully stopped myself before I lost all the air that was in my lungs. If I thought it was cold outside of the water, inside of the water made me feel like I was on Pluto. As I thought this, however, I was quick to notice my vision was being swarmed by fish that were trying to swim around me. I glanced after them for a moment, again surprised that it was so lively under the ice, but my eyes were getting heavy with the water pressure against it and I set to work, looking for the next ring.

"Help me." I couldn't focus on the sound of the voice, but the words certainly stuck with me and I nodded my head silently.

For a moment, I was thankful that I had gone through swim training through our academy, but I knew that even the training wouldn't keep me alive for long when there was so much going on around me. My lungs were already starting to get strained and I'd barely even been in the water for a few minutes. It was then that I saw the ring from my dreams, and letting out a mental sigh of relief, I swam towards it and studied the ice covering it. It was wedged in pretty tightly and I knew I'd need quite a bit of force in order to free it, but I left my pistols back on shore and only had my body to rely on.

Well, you make use of what you've got, right? After moving back a little to give myself room, I rammed my shoulder against the ice and glanced at it. It hadn't scratched yet, but I knew that it would. I also knew I'd get pretty bruised afterward, but I was slamming against the ice again in order to give myself the hope that I could save the ring. I accidentally let out some of the air I was holding in while I worked on freeing the ring and that was a terribly grave mistake, I learned. My lungs were about to make me take in a needed breath, but I fought against it until I finally grasped the ring box in my hand, it's silver "EXO" letting glimmering under the water.

"Help me."

Like in my dream, that was when I started to give up and the rings on my fingers started to glow. My legs had gotten tired and I was starting to sink while keeping the water out of my body and keeping the air in. Before I could let my vision fade fully, I remembered what I saw in the dream about the sixth mage. I had to call on the fifth mage immediately if I wanted to get out of the water alive. Even if he couldn't save me like he did in the dream, he could at least save himself and be free, right? So that's exactly what I did, but fumbling around with a box underwater is never a bright idea, and I was constantly worried that the water would damage the box as well.

As soon as the ring was on my finger, I braced myself to finally let the water in and end the struggle I was facing. I wanted to look at the mage before I did, though, because I wanted to at least see how he looked, but the mage was blurry and he lunged forward to pull me back to him as I continued to fall.

"Breathe." His tone was light even though we were underwater, and despite the fear I felt, I breathed in. I expected to swallow water and drown, but it was as if I was breathing the oxygen above the water. I glanced down at myself in surprise for a moment because I was able to see and hear again like I would have above water, hearing his amused chuckle as I did so.

"Help me." That must have been the sixth mage, because my head snapped around in worry. This voice was almost as light as the fifth mage's voice, but it sounded much calmer than the sharpness that came from the fifth mage.

"I already know where he is." the mage grabbed my hand like he had done in my dream and then we were going deeper. I wanted to go warn the others first about the next mage, so I tugged on his hand, but he tugged back on mine as if there were no room for debate about his decision.

Finally, we had stopped by the oyster I remembered from my dream. I was hesitant to open it, since I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to get the next mage so soon, but when I looked over at him, he did the same gesturing to the oyster and to the box in my hand and I knew I had no choice about this, either. I swam closer to the giant oyster, my fingers wrapping around the shell in order to pry it apart.

"Help me."

"Hurry, the spell will wear off soon."

They spoke at the same time, confusing me and distracting me for just a moment before I got back to reality and pried the oyster open. Sitting there was the sixth ring box, and I smiled as I reached out for it. I knew then that looking for these two rings at the same time was a trap, because it was honestly just too easy, but I was more than relieved after just claiming the next ring box.

I fumbled with this box as well, finally picking out the ring with the symbol of a bubble on it and shoving it onto my left hand's thumb. I would have put it on another finger, but it only changed sizes in order to fit on my thumb. I glanced at the ring of the fifth mage, only vaguely recalling that I never even wished for it to change size, but there it was with a snowflake, just looking back at me

There was no white light as the sixth mage appeared either, and after a moment of looking at the two of us in what seemed to be apprehension, he swam upwards towards the shore with the two of us following him.

"Suho hyung! Xiumin hyung!" The four of the other mages were chorusing at once when the three of us made our way back onto shore, and though I was glad they were all together again, I was shuddering and wet.

Sehun walked up to me and held out his hands. I didn't know what he was trying to do for a moment, but then there was wind blasting out at me and I stood there with my jaw dropped as the wind dried off all the water that caused my clothes to cling to me.

"You are far crazier than those three." he muttered before pulling me into a hug, his hand patting my upper back lightly, "What am I going to do with all you idiots?"

I laughed as he hugged me, but when he pulled back, I looked beyond him to see the other five mages standing there and staring at us. I slowly took Sehun's arm in mine, and the two of us joined the group.

"You are a lot more trouble than you're worth." Chen flicked a finger against my forehead and I gaped back at him because it was him and not someone like Kai.

I pushed him away before turning my attention back to the next two mages, who I now were able to look at without worry. The one to the left had a round face and a wide, childlike innocent grin, with his hair spiked up on his scalp. The one to the right had soft facial features with hair that was spiked but not as highly as the other. The one to the right also had a calm look in his eyes, though his jaw was set in tension.

"Who are you?" It was the question I asked each mage as I found them, and it was a lot easier than demanding to know their names.

"I'm Xiumin, the mage of frost, master." I gaped at the one to the left because he looked so innocent and happy that something as beautiful as snow was perfect for him.

"You're the one who saved me. Thank you," I bowed my head as I spoke, and when I lifted it again, both of the two new mages were staring at me in shock as if they never expected it, "I only ask that you refer to me as Yun Seung, and not master."

The mage to the right scoffed and when I looked at him, the calmness in his eyes faded and were replaced with irritance, "I don't know what you're trying to pull, master, but I won't let you control my subordinates."

"Subordinates?" I was confused, since none of the others had ever referred to each other as subordinates.

Kai cleared his throat and I turned to him to see what he'd have to say, "That's Suho, the mage of water, and uh... one of our leaders."

My eyes widened as I turned back to Suho, and his eyes momentarily mirrored my shock. I could understand his irritance, now, since he was a leader and trying to protect his subordinates from anyone who could treat them as cruelly as someone from their past.

Just as I opened my mouth to greet him properly and to ask for his forgiveness for intruding in their lives, the sound of an engine came into focus, and I turned my head to the right to see six sand bikes stop down the shore. The worst part about the six bikes was that I knew exactly who was riding them.

BAP had been the ones who made up the map of where each of the EXO members were, and if I'm right about my hunch, they were also tracking down my progress each time I found a ring. All I wanted to know was why BAP cared so much.

What did BAP have to do with this?

Hey all! For one, I thank everyone who's taking the time to read this story! Thanks for all the subscribing, commenting, upvoting, and definitely all the supporting. It means a lot! If there's ever anything you don't like about the story, please let me know and I'll try and fix it! I apologize for any typos or missing words- my brain doesn't catch up very quickly. There's an author who asked to put my story in their recommendation shop and I said yes! If you want to check out the shop (and you should because I read some of the stories in it and they were awesome), the link will be in the foreword!

Before I wrap this update up, I have one question for you guys.

Which mage should be found next?

Thanks again for reading, and I look forward to seeing all your feedback! :)