The Ring Bearer

Chapter 37

That night, we slept in the underground bunkers. With the sorceresses looking for us and them everywhere, there was nowhere else for us to go. Youngjae was kind enough to make separate rooms for us, though my mages decided to stay in one room with the last mage's ring so they could spend one last night together.

As I laid down in the bed I was given in a room shared with SHINee, I couldn't help but sigh at my mages' reactions and how dejected they sounded when they told me they wanted just one more night with Kris. I understood it completely, so I let them spend their last night together, but part of me was still hoping it wouldn't be their last night together.

I might have been the only one awake when it got deeper in the night, though I was fighting to keep my eyelids open. I didn't want to sleep, in case we were being attacked some time during the night. Yongguk had gone on night guard duty, and was pacing through the underground bunkers, but I wasn't at ease. Eventually, I did give up on staying awake, but as my eyes closed, I could swear a small shiny metal flew into my hand.

I was in my bedroom... but not. It was bright in the room, but I could see lab equipment lining up the entire room, like I'd seen in one of my nightmares. In the center of the room, instead of a ring box, stood a man- the last mage. He was easily the tallest of the mages with blonde hair that grew past his ears, piercings in both ears, and a glare so heavy I thought I was going to die.

But I didn't, and that was because the last mage turned away from me in order to look at the lab equipment in disdain. I walked over to the lab equipment and started poking around at it, but I had no idea what any of it was for or what it had to do with me or the last mage. I didn't know how I could see him in my dream if I had found him broken, and I didn't know what he was trying to show me.

"What is this place?" I asked him, scowling at a screen that looked much like the screen of a computer.

"Several decades before your town switched to using other magical energy, they used me to power the entire town." He explained, and in shock, I turned to him only to see anger had crossed into his expression, "They used my powers until my ring box fell apart and my ring split in two. Knowing I was then useless, they hid me away and switched to other sources of magic."

I looked down at the ground where the cupboard should have been, but my room looked far too innocent now, despite all the equipment. This mage had answers the questions I had, but I didn't know what to ask him and what to keep to myself.

"Just ask." His voice sounded dull for a moment as he stared at me, but when I stared back at him in surprise, his lips curled upward in amusement, "I can see it on your face. The curiosity is burning inside of you."

I wished he was wrong, but there were things I wanted to ask him, "Why were you hidden here and not where the map said you were?"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment, and then he shook his head, "I know I was placed somewhere in the desert, but someone had brought me here in order to take my powers."

But no one had changed anything on the map? How current was that map, then?

"But why you? What makes you so special?" I covered my mouth as soon as I said that, since I didn't want to offend him, but Kris chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"I happen to be the strongest mage on our team," I stared at him in disbelief, because I wasn't sure if that was possible, "because I'm not from this planet."

Before I could question him on that, he continued.

"I was born on a planet called Malthor, in another galaxy on the far side of the universe. Our planet is composed of shape shifters and magic; we were known as the only planet that could sustain strong dosages of magic for long periods of time. One day, our planet was alerted that another planet was starting to output high levels of magic- which could be bad for the planet- so I was sent out to find out what happened. Because I was a magical being, however, it was easy for them to find me and they grew curious enough to capture me."