BAP being there at that time only meant trouble for us. BAP was made up of warlocks, and they spent most of their time traveling from town to town in order to make sure the magical borders were kept up and sturdy enough to keep them out. I didn't know them very well, since I was outcasted in my town but they had been in our town several times since I was a child.

Now why do I have the feeling that BAP are who's been watching and tracking us? There was a symbol in the house we were staying in, one that I had found in the study room. It was like a mutant rabbit's head and it was just hanging on the wall as if there was nothing else for it to do. That same symbol was embroidered onto the shirts of all six BAP members, and that was only when I recognized them and realized it was them and not someone else.

They stopped before us, leaving just a few meters of distance between the seven of us and the six of them. Despite not knowing what was going on or who the other six boys were, the mages beside me started leaning into fighting positions and after sparing them a quick glance, I stepped past them towards BAP.

"Yun Seung." Tao's voice had a warning in it, and though I knew he was probably trying to look out for me, I simply kept stepping closer to the six men I knew nothing about.

"You must be the master, then." The male who spoke was tall, skinny, and fairly young- perhaps even younger than Tao and Sehun were.

I frowned at him for a moment before my eyes swept over the other members on his side, finally landing on a bulky blonde haired man all the way to the end, "Who are you, and why are you tracking us?"

"I'm Yongguk." the burly man had a deep voice as he spoke, his hand sweeping the air to his hand over to the warlocks beside him, "This is the rest of BAP. You must be Yun Seung."

I found myself being horrified by the fact that they knew my name, and a younger male with a mask covering the lower half of his face took a miniature step forward, "Some guy from your town tipped off the radar so all magical personnel would know you were doing something as reckless as finding these rings."

"Reckless?" I heard myself ask, knowing exactly who had tipped them off. Senior Lee Jinki had acted suspicious when I told him of the dream, and now I was sure Jinki had someone sent to look after me like a child.

"Why are you helping them?" It was a different male speaking now. A male who seemed to be as tall as Yongguk but with feminine features that had me questioning my own looks in comparison to his, "Surely you know the truth about them."

"What are you saying?" That was Sehun, his voice twisted in an anger I'd never heard from him before.

"You don't know anything!" Chen was the next to shout, and again, I was surprised at the anger in his tone and looked back at them.

"We know that you were put in your rings because-" It was a shorter male with a round face and spiked blonde hair, his finger pointing accusingly at the mages behind me.

Suho was calmly staring at the males in front of us for a moment before taking a couple of steps and standing beside me, "-You shouldn't speak about what you don't know."

"What? Are you going to deceive her?" It was another male of average height and a gaze that was looking into the distace.

"She doesn't need to know our past." I had to agree with Tao, though I never said a thing. Their past wasn't important to me like their future would be.

Just as the feminine male was about to speak again, Yongguk held up a hand and effectively stopped everyone on his side from continuing, "We didn't come looking for a fight-"

"I find that hard to believe." Kai's voice was calm, but held anger and I could only gulp down my fear when remembering how Kai had been fighting through those creatures.

"Look, there are things you need to know before you free them." Yongguk spoke as if Kai hadn't interrupted and I couldn't help but stare at him in bewilderment, "We can't talk while they are around, but when you do want to talk, you'll know where to find us."

"She's not going anywhere near you." Xiumin stepped forward much like Suho had done earlier and blocked my view of the warlocks. Though I was grateful for the barrier, I wanted to know why BAP knew everything about the situation despite the fact that they weren't ever around before this.

Perhaps BAP really did know something about the EXO mages that I needed to learn in the future. Making sure that my mages didn't notice, I caught the gaze of the tall skinny male and nodded. He grinned for a moment before turning back to his sand bike.

The seven of us waited and watched as the BAP warlocks drove off and disappeared, and I was surprised that none of the mages had gone after them. It was sure that they had at least thought about running after BAP, since the group of warlocks seemed to be a threat to them, but their tense postures and the glances they sent me spoke differently. They knew that if they ran after BAP, I'd think it would be suspicious.

"Let's go home." Chen was the first to break the silence, with a wide grin and his arms stretched over his head. He walked over to Xiumin and wrapped an arm around the frost mage carelessly, his lips curving into a lazy grin, "You'll be sharing a room with me."

"Just like old times." Xiumin's excited grin left an imprint in my head as the two walked off with Tao, Sehun, and Kai trailing after them and muttering complaints under their breaths.

"They were right about something." Suho's voice shocked me, as I expected him to ignore me and be the first to walk off, but when I turned to him, I found his gaze fixated on the lake that was now flowing smoothly, "There was a reason why we were put in those rings. When you find out why, you might wish to put us back where you found us."

"Tao was also right about something." Suho's head turned back to mine slowly, his eyes sparkling with confusion and disbelief, "Your past is your past. It can't be changed. Your future can be changed, however; you can start all over."

I ran to catch up with the mages after I said that. Suho might not like me very much, or trust me, for that matter, but I knew what I wanted to do and nothing could deter me from that. I promised Tao that I'd free them, and I would do it no matter what I was told about the mages. Kai ended up teleporting all of us back to the house, since we were actually pretty exhausted and knew we couldn't fight through them again, but I wondered why he was able to even though they couldn't use their powers against one another.

They left me alone when we got into the house; Tao had joined Chen in showing Xiumin their current room, and the other three had gone off to find Suho's room. Though I was tired and a part of me just wanted to go back to my room and sleep, I knew that my thoughts needed to be sorted out before I could. So, I plopped myself down onto the sofa and tilted my head back to look at the ceiling as I pondered what was going on.

Why were the mages put into the rings? Why was it so "reckless" of me to find them? What was BAP trying to warn me about? What were the mages so afraid of me knowing about?

"If you think so hard, your brain might fall out."

When I looked up, Xiumin was standing at the foot of the stairs with a childlike lopsided grin on his lips, his clothes traded in for a pair of pajamas that made me wish I had just gone to sleep instead.

"You and Chen are perfect for each other." I mused, crossing my arms and watching the mage rub the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

"Mind if I join?" he motioned to the spot on the sofa beside me, and after shifting to make space for him, I gave him a nod.

"Where are the others?"

"Oh, the kids? They all went to sleep." He shrugged lazily as he took a seat, his legs kicked out before him and his head tilted back like mine was just moments before, "Suho went to shower, that water imp."

"... the kids?" I asked in confusion, glancing at him and then towards the staircase.

"You didn't know, right." Xiumin chuckled as he ran his hand through his hair, shifting in his seat to make himself more comfortable, "I'm the eldest mage out of the twelve of us."

"You?! The eldest?!" If I didn't know Tao and Sehun were the youngest two, I would have picked Xiumin to be the youngest, what with his excitable personality and young facial features.

"Yeah, yeah. I get that reaction a lot." He shrugged as he said that and I smiled back at him sheepishly, knowing he probably got annoyed when people did it to him so often, "I have a question for you, though. You don't have to answer."

Just hearing him speak sparked my curiosity. He was probably going to ask me why I was finding them all or something, but I knew I had to be polite and ask anyway, "What is it?"

Xiumin's gaze shot over to the staircase before returning to me, whispering as if he was worried one of them would come and listen in on their conversation, "The younger mages. What do you think of them?"

"They're amazing." My mouth moved before I could even think of what I wanted to say, and I felt a smile grow onto my lips to mirror what was shown on Xiumin's, "They love each other and take care of each other like they're brothers or something. Then, they're always messing with each other and trolling each other. If they argue and Tao starts to cry, they smother him in hugs and apologies."

The mage stared at me for a few moments before he stood and crossed back to the staircase, throwing a gaze over his shoulder at me as he climbed the stairs, "They were right. You are different."

What could he have meant by that? Was he thinking something else of me before he decided to talk to me? Why was he so wise-seeming despite his young face and personality? Why did he seem to have such a gentle smile when he looked at me? Did that mean he accepted me or that he was thinking of a way to get rid of me?

It was a long and eerie hallway, the chandeliers above swaying from side to side dangerously. I had no idea where I was, but something about the walls was oddly familiar. My feet were padding against the ground slowly, fearfully, as I walked, my eyes darting around as if something would jump out of the shadows and attack me. Then, I had turned around in a sudden and frightened manner.

Something was following me, and I didn't know what it was. All I knew was that a small light was shining in the distance and it was slowly creeping closer to me. I did the only sensible thing and turned again, running in my original direction and throwing several glances over my shoulder. I was horrified to know I was being followed by the light, whatever it was.

Then, I ran straight into a dead end, barely rubbing my face and groaning because I knew that probably hurt more than it looked like it did. When I turned around,I noticed that there was barely another way to escape from the lights and then my eyes found a door. It was a longshot, but I opened it and shut it behind me, hoping it didn't make a sound for the light to find.

An arm grabbed me from behind as soon as I figured it was safe enough to hide in the room for a few minutes, and I turned my head slowly, my mouth dropping open in order to scream at the top of my lungs.

"Wake up, dammit!" Kai's voice wrenched me from the nightmare I was having, and my eyes darted around at my surroundings as I took in shallow breaths.

I had somehow dozed off on the sofa, though I was surprised to find the mages standing around me with worried and possibly agitated expressions on their faces. I wondered what could have agitated them before my hand flew to my mouth. Could it be that I actually screamed... and loud enough for them to hear me?

Then my gaze went back to Kai, who had been holding me by arms, and I pulled myself away as I jumped up. My arms were still pretty banged up from our adventure and I was freaking out over the nightmare.

"Yun Seung, are you okay?" Tao leaned toward me with his hand outstretched, but much like with Kai, I leaned away and made sure my gaze was fixated on the ground.

"B-bad dream." that was all I could mutter, and after the mages glanced at each other in worry, Sehun gently pushed me back onto the sofa and took a seat on the ground with Chen, Suho and Tao. Xiumin sat on my right while Kai refused to leave from my left side, and we sat there together for what seemed to be an eternity before I found myself being tired again.

Like what BAP and Suho had told me, I didn't know much about the mages I promised to help. But I did know something, and that was that these boys had hearts of gold and would sit with me for hours after I woke them up with my screaming, soothing me and telling me several times that everything would be okay; that they would be there to help, and I almost believed it.

I would have believed it more if their words could stop the eerie hallway from popping into my head every time my eyelids shut.