Sora blinks her eyes in disbelief. She knows, she's not dreaming. She heard Nara; loud and clear. As she is lying on the pit of dead leaves, she tries to set her mind and consciousness.
"Are you okay, cub?"
As Sora looks up, she sees Young. He is holding a sacred pestle, belongs to her Omega mother; Arisu. She recognized it so well; because that's the only item that can be used against the Dark Moon twins.
Phaya's oath was so powerful; not even an ant could bite the twins. It was a worrisome aftereffect, some voiced out their concern; What if one day these two will become delinquents? Since they were invisible to others, the way to discipline them became harder as well.
That's when Elder Talay decided to transfer some of the power through an item that can only be used against them. Arisu chose the pestle; as that was the only item she always held. Phaya agreed to tone down his oath through it, with only a few people being able to use the pestle, just in case these Dark Moon twins went berserk.
And today is the day.
Young remembered that, aside from Phaya and Arisu, Elder Talay chose him as a guardian for them, thus he could use the pestle. Since he is an Enigma, the oath doesn't affect him so much. Thus, he can handle the aftereffect well.
"Old Granpa Sarin..." Sora murmurs in her tired voice. Young sticks out his hand and helps the Alpha. She stands up— though wobbling—and manages to recover fast.
A magical power of Alphas.
"I hope your parents will forgive me," Young sighs. He slips the pestle back into its leather casing. Sora nods faintly, unable to reply properly as she is still in a daze. She sees Nara's unconscious body—back as normal—being dragged by Gun and Renyu. They place him under a tree, where he finally coughs and awakes.
"Are you alright, cub?" Young asks subtly.
"Wow, thanks for the hit, Old Grandpa Sarin! I thought, no one can save me..." Nara sighs in relief. As soon as he sees Sora, he lets out a sharp smirk. "Still can't fight me, phi sau?"
"With you turning into The Thing? Even Old Grandpa Sarin needs the pestle..." Sora slumps next to Nara. She places her head on his shoulder, taking a break from using an excessive amount of energy to fight a monster.
"We know that you're tired, but we have no time to spare. As you're the only one who is awake, you need to tell us the whole story..." Gun stabs his machete on the ground.
***
"So far, we have Cirrus and Nara. Fa and Pein are nowhere to be found."
"If what Nara told us—about the Bloodsucker using them against us—is true, we need to prepare for the worst," Young grabs his bag and prepares to leave. "We have a Viber and a Visualizer. Both are strong in mind games."
"We used a lot of energy in the first half of the mission. Now, it's time to work hard on this," Nara pokes the side of his head with his index finger.
As they are packing up and ready to leave, a strong smell of an unknown presence fills their nostril. The scent is so strong, accompanied by a sharp, eerie feeling. Too dark and so grim that the vibe is reaching deep into the skull.
"She's here..." Young silently announces the presence before them.
"She's who?" Ezra asks. As he wants to leave his spot, the wind gets wilder. He hurried up to catch back with the convoy, but unconsciously knocked over a big root that was protruding from the ground. The painful shrieks coming from Ezra attract the convoy but as they run towards him, they too get caught by some vines from trees around them.
"Help!" Ezra screams, as he tries to escape from the veins that bind him. His body is flying, being suck into the deep, dark forest. The convoy is at a loss and they can only watch his horrified face before everything goes silent again.
"Ezra is gone..." Sora blinks her eyes in disbelief. Nara can only watch the figure disappear within his eyes. They try to escape from the bind, but the more they struggle, the veins knot them down tightly.
"At last, you come back to me, Enigma Young..."
The convoy exchange looks, eyes darting towards the darkness from the other side of the forest.
"I've told you, you will miss me when you're gone. See?"
Young grits his teeth, almost cursing under his breath.
"I'm coming from my cubs, not for you!"
The voice turns into an eerie laugh. "Is that true? Don't you even miss me, Enigma Young?"
"You're nothing but a haunted presence that brings trouble to everyone—"
"Ah... ah... not everyone. Only your family."
Suddenly, the convoy felt a jolt all over their body as if they were struck by a thunderbolt. Their skin feels like it's being torn apart. Ears are bleeding and ringing immensely.
"Stop it, you filthy Bloodsucker!" Young curses the presence.
"Stop? Try yourself then..."
From the darkness of the Dark Forest, a figure emerges slowly towards the convoy. As the figure is getting closer and closer, they can't help but gasp.
Peinaire stands before them; a smirk draws on her face. She releases her defense pheromone, but it is a target one, so, the effect is strong. An Alpha female with a sensory ability and absorbs vibes and emotions, Peinaire is like a time bomb. All the harsh and bad vibes that she absorbed and felt for almost all her life have been released, right into their soul, to be shared among them.
"A family should always united, willingly to share the pain and happiness through the bond... Isn't it, Enigma Young?"
Young can only stare helplessly, watching his own grandcub, killing her family slowly and painfully. He shuts his eyes tight as the sound of the convoy being tortured resonates in his ears.
"Sati... I'm begging you... Please... let go of my family. Take me instead. I am old, but I'm more powerful than they are. Just let them live and we end this, once and for all..."
The torture stops. Peinaire turns her head at Young. "I'm afraid, it's too late for that. Right now, I no longer have interest in such an old body of yours, Enigma Young. I found someone better, who can be nurtured within a short time being... someone with a huge desire in the heart. The one who can be fed for a long... long time..."
Young turns pale. His throat feels dry upon hearing that. There's no one else in his mind when the Bloodsucker mentioned that. Someone powerful and still young; he is none other than his precious Golden Alpha grandcub.
ThongFa is in danger now.