Chapter 6

In the next two days while they were still in the village, the newly mated pair was busy – and not just in their moss bed to where they liked to sneak off to on every occasion when they had the time. Otherwise they were occupied with preparing for the road and teaching the villagers how to protect themselves and fight better against ghouls and witches.

But another important part of those two days were the time the trio spent on that clearing next to the – with Paolo's words – “puppy love nest,” discovering the visible and invisible changes on the mates.

For one, they shared their sensing. And with them paired as a warrior and a shaman it seemed to be very useful. Corey was still himself and sensed everything like a shaman did. But he could also see the practical way of thinking and seeing things, and trying to plan ahead as a warrior like Matt did. Not just feeling the spirits and the vibes and change of feelings around him and going with the flow. It was a very new experience of both how they looked and felt around the forest or when they practiced fighting one-on-one.

On the other hand, Matt was able to rely more on his instincts and senses like a shaman does. That, paired with his warrior way of thinking and fighting completed him just as much as his logical thinking helped Corey grow. A more physical change in his powers was that now he could control his reddish energies more. Like Corey, now he could form fire balls and walls. One of poor Paolo's pant legs was given the short end when during practice one of Matt's fire balls landed too close to him.

But Paolo despite his grumbling was happy about all the changes. The comments were mainly for humor anyway. He was happy to feel his friends’ powers settled and not restless and the way their skills have developed surely will get useful during their long life while protecting Jukai.

After packing enough supply into their bags, they finally thanked all for the villagers and continued their patrol on the ancient paths between the clans.

As nice as it was to stay among those friendly demons, it was also good to be back on the road. After all they were born to do this and they loved the jungle more than anything else in their world. After all they grew up in it, often living far from their home town as kids too. Those trainings were to teach them about surviving in the wilderness. To know where to take camp, what and how to hunt and gather. Or where dangers could lurk and so on. So back in the wilderness was like home for them too.

That day after a short lunch break, the mates tried to work on how to rein in their massive power. Because it was a bit hard yet not to walk around like a glowing torch in a dark forest with all that spiritual power – even if to most it would be probably invisible. But any enemy who could sense or see energies would be drawn to them. So the mates spent a couple of hours practicing and meditating to get a better grip on that.

Dusk was starting to fall by the time they were on the road again, the familiar fog thickening around them when first the mates sensed it. In the distance there was an odd presence they'd never felt before.

Corey went ahead, as he insisted on doing so, because he felt some dark energies ahead of them. And after a few turns they could see it.

A large blob-like, kinda round swirling thick black smoke. It was floating in the sky, like some huge dark balloon, making a dark aura follow it around and the plants somewhat dry out under it.

It was an unexpected, if not a bit shocking, discovery. They'd never seen anything like this before and neither has heard about it from their masters or the books they've been learning from.

"What kind of abomination is that?" Matt voiced the question on their minds as he was looking up at that... thing with a deadly serious face, his brows slightly furred, black eyes trying to size that thing up in search of a weak spot.

Paolo took a step forward to get in line with the mates, his jaw flexing as he pressed his lips together. But he was looking at the withered plants around it. "It's sucking life force away. Right?" he asked Corey without looking at him.

"Yeah. It's like... some kind of dark force that… Hmm how to put it... Like it sucks out vital energies and like… stores it inside. It's practically harvesting life force from all around and store it for something or someone for later," Corey said as he felt up more the cloud before them. He was sure Matt could feel all that too. "It's caused by the magic of the Earth witches’ dark forces. But why do they do that here? And... What do they need it for...?"

"Yes, I can feel it too," Matt nodded, his expression becoming graver. "It's probably somehow connected with them attacking and taking children... You say it stores life energy. Maybe it helps them opening portals from the other dimension with its help," Matt voiced his theory, but they had to examine it from closer to prove it. "Is it safe to go a bit closer? We should take a look and if we can, as protectors of Jukai, it's our duty to destroy it."

"Yes. I don't sense any self-defense mechanism on this thing. But as it's formed with magic, I'm not sure if it has some kind of conscience or programmed mechanism. But we surely examine it and try to stop it from working," Corey said, already stepping closer as he let his power scan the strange object more.

Matt nodded as they got closer. "Just be careful!" he added and looked around like Paolo, before turning back to help Corey.

"Trying," the shaman said moving even closer. His yellow power reached almost the surface of the huge floating dark mess. It seemed the moving smog reacted to that, and the swirling became more fast and moved closer to the demons.

Paolo got next to Corey, letting his own power free to shield them with it from the object.

"I can feel some ghoul powers connected to it, but it's surely from the Earth witches," Corey added stepping back as the thing suddenly grew, or more like formed spike-like shapes all over its surface. "It's protecting itself. But I don't feel intelligence."

"I have a bad feeling," Matt suddenly said and it wasn't just about the thing trying to protect itself. To that he turned back towards the trees, narrowing his black eyes and letting more of his power go to scan the area. It didn't take long to sense then see them. "Ghouls!" he growled and drew his katana, moving closer towards the trees to get between them and Corey.

"They’re protecting this thing too," Corey said backing off and nodding to Paolo about using his own power as a shield and that the guard should go with Matt. Glimpsing at his mate, Corey also let his power reach Matt. It connected and merged into the flame-like essence at once.

As it turned out they could use those united force separately as well. While Matt used it to dodge back the attacking waves of the ghouls, Corey used it to throw blasting missiles at the growing 'thorns' of the blob. Also it seemed to reach out and empower the ghouls who sneaked closer one by one time after time.

Matt could feel their powers connecting and he used it both to shield himself and to be able to cut down the attacking ghouls one by one with his sharp and magic-soaked blade. Corey was probably right about the ghouls wanting to protect that thing. "Careful, these are stronger ones!" he yelled to the other two.

Then he used the newly discovered mind-link to his mate. "Is that thing making them stronger?!"

"Yeah. This shit is feeding them and making them stronger, alright. Be careful. I go behind it where the ghouls go to connect with it," Corey told Matt through the mind-link. Leaving most of the united power to his mate to use, he walked carefully behind the object to fight off the ghouls.

Leaving Matt with stronger powers triggered the enemy, as it seemed. Because the ghouls that got buffed up from the dark powers turned all their attention towards the warrior. And slowly but surely moved him away from Paolo. They kept striking Matt and like that it wasn't hard to pull the fighting demon farther back. And while Corey tried to block the other ghouls from getting close to that energy source, and to find a weak spot to destroy it, the enemy on the other side used the black power and with one common yell somehow commanded it. In the next second the dark fog wrapped around Matt, cutting his bond off from Corey and all of him and his powers got frozen inside that cocoon of dark magic.

Corey felt it at once, of course. He ran around the floating dark force and yelled at Paolo to attack with all they had, but the object suddenly exploded over them. It froze them in their movement and blocked their powers. They could only watch as the ghouls took away the wrapped up Matt and the other two had to bear staying like that till sundown.

 ***

Water splashed into Matt's bloody and a bit swollen face to wake him up after a harder hit. As he opened his glowing black eye, he realized they were still in that cave lit by some torches. He was surrounded by the white-skinned ghouls, some of them with dried blood on their painted and wrinkly skin.

"What do you want from me??" Matt shouted at them after spitting some blood on the floor. He was sitting on a small chair, his hands tied together behind his back. His shirt was wet from water and blood and he was getting angry again.

You see, the ghouls didn't say a word during the hours of torture, just kept hitting him. But now one of them – probably their leader – approached him with a bowl of herbs, the others giving him way.

"You will serve us. You will kill for us. The other two and other demons too," he said with a neutral expression.

"I will never do such a vile thing!"

The ghoul just chuckled as he lit the herbs in the bowl and waved the strong smoke towards Matt's face. "It won't be your choice. Now breathe. We're far from done with you," he said then started chanting some spell.

Matt tried to hold his breath as long as he could but eventually he had to inhale the smoke that was making him feel dizzier by the minute. Also, he couldn't feel Corey or focus enough to use his powers that still felt frozen by that previous black mass.

Hours after what happened to Matt at the ghoul's cave, and maybe half an hour after sundown the spell broke off from the other two protectors.

Corey suddenly fell onto his face with the yell that started leaving his lips when he saw his mate being taken away. Now it echoed through the darkness. The black power had worn itself out, and probably while holding him and Paolo in place, it didn't recharge from the living plants around them.

The guardian just sat down shaking his head and trying to gather his thoughts. And waited out till Corey was done with cursing, kicking rocks and blasting dry wood with his power in his helplessness and frustration.

Meanwhile Matt had lost his sense of time as the fog got thicker on his mind. It was frustrating to say the least that he couldn't move a single muscle as he was completely paralyzed like from that black fog earlier. But this felt different.

His consciousness was slipping more and more out of reach just like his control over his body. No matter how hard he was trying to fight the smoke and the chanting's effects. His hard effort manifested in thick sweat drops sliding down his face and neck, but he still couldn't move just shout at himself in his head for hours to hold on.

Then slowly but surely his mind went blank and he fell into a dark abyss. Completely losing connection with his body and mind. The ghouls have won.

Eventually, Corey calmed down and just like switching a switch he soon got back to his calm shaman self. Paolo walked to him when he saw the buff man put his long hair into a bun and by the light of his power that concentrated in his palm he examined the ground.

"Come here, Corey. We should follow that trail," Paolo called the other boy over when while doing the same he found some tracks of the ghouls dragging the paralyzed Matt away.

Neither of them was in much of a chatting mood. Paolo tried to focus extra at their surroundings. And Corey let his power go ahead, scanning the area. It was dawn when they entered a valley with thick fog.

"I can feel them there. Be careful. We can't make mistakes. At least I can faintly feel Matt..."

Inside the cave Matt was sitting in the same position, the two differences were that his head was hanging forward and he wasn't sweating anymore. The scent of that smoke was still strong in the air and some kept swirling around Matt.

"They are here," one of the ghouls entered the cave, the leader and the others looking at him.

Annoyance crossed the leader's face, but then he smiled. "Very well... It'll give us the opportunity to try the demon out on them."

"Is he ready?" a ghoul asked.

"Oh yes..." he stood up and walked to Matt, whispering some magic words in his direction.

For a few moments nothing happened then Matt lifted his head and as he opened his eyes he inhaled the rest of the smoke, which made his black eyes' edge glow in red.

"Kill the shaman and the guardian outside."

Matt didn't say anything just nodded and stood, waiting for his hands to be freed. When that happened, he took his katana from one of the ghouls and followed the path the ghouls opened to him and which led out of the cave. He had a task to do.

"Something is not right..." Corey mumbled as he sensed Matt from afar and someway blocked from his own power. His mate was probably in a trance or deep meditation or something... He stood there thinking and tried to reach Matt more but it was no use. "They probably know already that we are here. No one attacks... Something is up with Matt for sure…" he whispered to Paolo and started to walk into the valley.

The shaman pulled his short twin swords out without thinking. His senses were ahead of his rational mind again. Even if there was no sign of danger, something was lingering in the air. "They’re just watching us. The ghouls. Can you sense them too?"

"Yeah… I have a feeling we are walking into something. And those fuckers up the threes are the audience," Paolo growled. Then out of nowhere Matt stepped in front of them. His body was straighter and stiffer than usual, his dark eyes had a red daze around them. And he lifted his katana dashing against the two protectors.

The fog was thick and Matt used that to his advantage after his first strike was blocked. Stepping back into the fog it closed around him, making him disappear. He moved around practically noiseless on the soft ground. The echoing voice of the leader guiding him from where to strike.

The next time he reappeared from the fog, he moved his sword upwards and managed to cut Paolo's upper arm, making blood fly through the air as the guardian cursed and tried to take a hold of Matt without using his short blade or bow on him, but Matt was already gone again, like a ghost.

Now he was targeting the shaman. And following his instructions now he tapped into his power to send balls of fire at Corey from the right then moving quickly to attack him from the left.

But Corey dodged the attacks off from both directions as he moved on autopilot, his senses and muscles working together according to how they felt the short future happenings. After the attack Matt disappeared again. The fog by then completely surrounded the other two. An attack could come from any direction.

Corey – forming a ball like shield from his power over him and Paolo – sat onto the ground and started chanting and focusing on that weak feeling of connection with Matt. He knew. The only way to stop this was to reach his mate. And beside the shield he focused all his powers on that.

"I add my power too. You just help him," Paolo said and let his force out to strengthen the shield, knowing well what the shaman was trying to do.

Using his yellow power now more evenly, Corey sent feelings and emotions through that fading connection he could hardly reach. Some were about all three of them. Good times of joking around. But he knew that the mating held incredible strong powers. And he tried to remind Matt on that special time they became one for life. Also chanted a possession breaking spell, desperately trying to wake up his mate.

The enemy was a hard one to defeat, but Matt wasn't going to give up. Obeying to the whispering voice, he took a moment to size up the shield he had to break through if he wanted to finish his task. And he wanted to do it, because he was ordered. Simple like that.

Closing his eyes for a moment or two, he completely stopped blocking his red powers and blasted it against the shield in strong waves, searching for a crack or causing one through which he could break the shield and kill the targets.

But as he kept doing that while emerging from the fog once again, looking into the short demon's eyes on the other side of the shield, something distracted him. And it wasn't the voice echoing through his mind saying "KILL THEM! KILL! KILL! KILL!"

He led more magic into his katana too to smite down onto the shield repeatedly. It sent magical sparks flying around them, but then that distracting... feeling grew stronger in him and he froze as some images of these two targets flashed randomly in front of his eyes, bringing warm feelings with them.

Shaking his head to see clearly he attacked again, sensing and seeing some cracks appear on the shield. It won’t take long from now. The ghouls didn't know about those pictures or the reason why Matt paused for a moment, though. They didn't know that Matt and Corey were mates and knew little about how such bonds worked.

Finally after another huge blast against the shield it broke down and Matt was on the move, ready to slice the guardian and the shaman in half. But as he silently moved and Paolo jumped in front of the sitting shaman to protect him even with his life, the katana and Matt's burning power froze mid-air. Another wave of those pictures flashed in front of him and he finally started to slowly realize who these two were.

Feeling that his message got to his mate, Corey focused more to hold onto that reacting sense of Matt and remind him about them as the trio of the most powerful ever protectors of Jukai. The joking around during their trainings when they were kids. The first kiss they shared. How it felt to merge into one soul.

He was trying hard to block out the painful moans of Paolo who used his last power to hold up some barrier between them and the spelled warrior. Corey only focused on the love and need they shared as one bonded being with Matt.

The katana started shaking in Matt's hand as the fog began thinning over his mind and as if on cue, around them too. The memories kept coming back, suppressing that echoing – now hissing – voice in his head. He could sense the confusion of the ghoul leader about why his mind-control was starting to fail. The other ghouls sensed it too that something was up and were getting ready to climb off the trees and come out of them to attack in case the spell broke.

The warrior's consciousness was slowly surfacing and once he realized what he was doing, he started fighting that spell again. It manifested in his arms shaking more visibly and the red rings around his irises disappearing and flashing up in turns.

Finally, as Matt mentally grabbed onto the bond between him and Corey, he pushed his mind and soul closer to his mate. His mouth opened, a roar building up in his throat from the mental pain breaking the spell meant. When it finally happened, that loud roar echoed through the foggy valley and he swirled around to cut down the first ghoul that snuck up on them to attack.

His black eyes started glowing and now he unleashed his powers (which instantly found the shaman's to merge) on the ghouls. It took the form of a fire wall, sweeping through the clearing. It burned both the fog and the ghouls away on its path then curled around the trio in a ring to keep the attackers away.

"We have to move. Paolo is injured and exhausted. We can't hold them off much longer. There are more of them coming from the cave. Get up and let's go!" he yelled at the other two. They would have time later to talk about what happened. Now they had to find a way to disappear.

"I have one last thing," Corey said standing up and holding onto Paolo and Matt. He let his own power help Matt's firewall to be more powerful and do more damage to the ghouls. Then murmuring a spell he let his yellow power reach about a yard away and in the next minute all three of them appeared there. Then again. And again till they ended up in a safe cave behind a waterfall.

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