Sealed by Fate

Chapter 7: Battle of the Dark Tendril

Summary:

Zee and Nu, locked into Elder Brother I'Itoli's realm now facing a new foe. One that seemed to have mutated from its original state. They now knew that they must fight and free those in the maze.

This was a test! How could it not be? This was much like the trials when they first entered Olympus, but this time, it was the battle of the dark tendril.

They could do it. If they can kill all those enemies from their first trial, they can kill this piece of evil. The lifemates seemed to have the same thoughts, and their lifemate bond sang with happiness.

In all five hundred-plus years in Olympus, the two lifemates sent feelings through the lifemate bond to soothe each other.

They never wanted to depend on it as a means of communication. The only time it was essential to use the bond to speak was during warrior training events.

They both knew they still had to return to the mortal realm, and they did not want to be complacent and stop using their words. They still had to live their lives as humans once they returned.

In the God realm, words were only used on certain occasions, and bonds were used the rest of the time. The God bond was absolute in the god realm. The bond was a living, breathing thing that dictated all their lives in Olympus.

Even though they talked aloud with their children and family, hearing others speak became annoying around two hundred and fifty years ago.

That is why they ruled that anyone visiting their home had to speak out loud. It had helped, but they still found that, at times, it became overwhelming to listen to voices versus filtering them through the bond.

Zee and Nhu had already decided that one of the gifts from the parents would be exchanged before they left the god realm to help them with this problem.

Suddenly, they hear the inhabitants below them cry out for help. They both look to the left and see a group of inhabitants who seem to have lost their way.

When the people noticed they got their attention, the roar of their voices was almost deafening. "Help us, you must help us. Show us the way; we can't do it ourselves."

As more lost cried out, the louder it became, and their despair began to crush against Nu's chest.

Nu cried out, "We have to help them, Hia."

Zee could hear but did not understand what Nu had said. Then he felt the warmth of his bond, and he opened it to feel his lifemate's distress.

Zee returned warmth to his lifemate, "We will help them; we could never leave those people defenseless."

Nu knew that Hia was excellent and would never let anyone suffer unnecessarily. However, Nu didn't understand why these people didn't just get up. They refused to find another way.

They just wailed and cried out their despair. It made no sense. The maze had no benevolent feeling; why would they not at least try to find a way out?

While the two were distracted, the tendril began its attack. It wrapped its oily tendril around Zee's arm and pulled it. Zee lost his grip on his lifemate, and Nu lost his balance and drifted a foot away.

Nu cried out in fear and pain when the tendril whipped around and slammed into his back. Zee was shocked when he felt such intense pain. It was excruciating. How could his lifemate stand it?

Zee was only feeling the feedback. He should have closed his bond. He knew better. When they were wide open like this, instead of being able to draw some of the pain from his lifemate, he was hit full force and crippled along with Nu.