"Do you see something ?" Nikolai asked, trying to balance Taemin's feet on his shoulder. The latter had clung to a branch and looked far away where to find the castle.

"Yes i see it, it's northwest!"

Nikolai let go of him letting his buttocks fell to the ground "Well, let's go there."

Taemin grimaced trying to get up and saw the wolf get beside him as if to ask him if he was gonna walk.

"All right .." he said, still drenched by his dive into the river. He was going to caress the top of his head when the wolf put the side of his face against his palm. Taemin immediately remembered that Kai had done the same when he had offered him the pancakes.

"It's a demonstration of gratitude to the wolves."

Taemin looked up at Nikolai, who was waiting patiently for him to follow him.

"Oh..a kind of thanks?"

Nikolai shook his head "The gesture of affection that you give only to your soulmate.The translation would be 'thank you for taking care of me sweety, I promise to love you in exchange' gna gna gna, now you're coming ?"

Taemin was far too shocked to move.

"Yes Taemin, I know the Alpha did it in the living room this morning, but we don't have time to think about it. Maybe tonight if you want to talk but for the moment follow me and take all the pieces of wood on the ground that you can find because we are going to make a small campfire to keep the animals away. "

Taemin finally got up and decided to follow Nikolai in the jungle.

ᚪᛤᛄᛩᛊ

Nikolai tried in vain to create a fire without magic as the sun went down. The sound of birds in the jungle echoed around them.

Taemin removed sandwiches from his bag "Fortunately I took some precautions." he handed a sandwich to the wolf who took it in his jaw and moved a little away from the camp.

"Where is he going ?" he asked curiously.

"Surely monitor the surroundings." Nikolai answered absently, his eyes on the wood.

There was a hesitant silence before Taemin called him.

"Yes ?"

"For Ignis .." he took a bite of his sandwich "you really didn't know?"

Nikolai remained silent for a moment "Of course I knew it."

Taemin stopped chewing his eyes wide "You ... knew?"

"It was a grimoire like the others until the day when I took it in hand ... and felt it different, as if during the night someone had replaced it. The book began to be challenging, not wanting to obey, to intentionally miss my spells, I knew that something was living in the book, had taken possession of it, but I didn't feel anything dangerous in it, so I said nothing, I finally learned what he was doing there and decided to keep his secret. "

"His secret?"

Nikolai took a breath "Nemesis."

"Nemesis ? What about Nemesis ?"

"They have the same creator, it's his brother."

Taemin froze "Wh ..."

"Nemesis is still unaware of his existence, the Sovereign had asked for a soulmate for Fate who has to be as powerful as himself, so the creator of Nemesis had to decide against all odds to recreate a surnatural, Ignis. Unable to bring him to earth without him appearing in Fate's book of life, Ignis was created by magic, in my book.I have gathered the pieces of the puzzle only recently."

Taemin frowned, "And now what?"

"And now we pray to find someone who wants to sacrifice himself to bring this fool of Fate back to life." a flame finally lit in the middle of the woods "That's it i made fire!"

Taemin went to enjoy it when he saw a black smoke being created just above, he turned pale "Nik..Nikolai ..."

"What ?"

"L..Look over there...what's that?"

Nikolai looked over the fire and stepped back as the black cloud grew big like a portal.

"Nikolai .." say Taemin shaking.

"Prepare yourself to use your powers." say the latter slowly as the wolf joined them with a threatening growl.

Suddenly something fell from the gate and crashed against the fire. It was a man.

Taemin and Nikolai had the same appalled expression.

"He seems familiar to me." said Taemin softly.

The man in question got up and frantically panicked as he saw the end of his black cloak on fire.

"AHHHH IM BURNING, IM BURNING !"

"Very familiar." repeated Nikolai annoyed "apparently Fate to succeed in resuscitating himself."++++

Fate rushed into the river to plunge his cloak and went back to the camp when he realized that Taemin and Nikolai still stared at him.

He stood at the entrance of the camp in the dark looking at them, and said in a mocking but nervous voice, "Have you ever wanted to do this in the dark with a complete stranger?"

Taemin looked at Nikolai who had turned his back on them after he had spoken so as not to show his expression.

"That crappy humor .." trailed Taemin with hope.

"It's him." Nikolai confirmed in a low voice.

Taemin turned with a smile towards Fate and extended his arms "I can't believe it!"

Fate went to him and hugged him. "Me neither, I thought I would stay there for good."

"I'm really glad you're here, Nikolai was so worried...Nikolai ?"

Nikolai still had his back to them, so Taemin went to join him "Are you okay ? hey, Nik ... Oh."

Nikolai wiped his tears in haste.

"Ah , so it worried you a lot more than you showed it right ?" asked Taemin, patting him on the shoulder.

"This idiot has worried us all for nothing." Nikolai said, trying to contain the trembling in his voice.

"What are you whispering about over there ?" asked Fate suspicious .

"That you made us all worried sick for nothing !" Nikolai shouted.

Fate's eyes widened "Well sorry i'm dead !"

Silence.

Nikolai slowly turned to him "What ?"

"I'm dead" he showed his black outfit "can't you see ?"

Taemin felt as if the ground was shoving under his feet "I have to sit down."

He sat down slowly as the wolf came to him. He took a moment to recover before asking "But I just took you in your arms."

Fate tilted his head from left to right, embarrassed, "Yes..well... I had to become a soul seeker temporarily to get out of this place, I can materialize from time to time, but I'm not alive. . "

Taemin and Nikolai seemed disappointed.

"You should go see Ignis," said Nikolai softly, "he has not left your bedside since..your death."

"Did you think I was waiting for your permission? Death told me that he assigned me to this job just for me to come with you both. Wait a minute" Fate looked at Nikolai hesitantly "Ignis you say? " he went to him literally leaping with excitement, "he's with me now, he's looking at me, tell me what's he doing, is he confessing his love ? is he telling me how much I am beautiful, how much he loves me.."

He was cut off in his tracks, finding himself strangled by Nikolai.

"Nikolai !" shouted Taemin going toward them to separate them.

"You bastard did it have to be my book!"

"Careful," squeaked Fate, pointing to his throat, "si just replaced it."

Nikolai released him angrily.

Fate stared at Nikolai, his hand on his throat "Do you think I had a choice ? I heard what you just said to Taemin, he was created from your magic but it's not your book, it belongs to the creator of Nemesis !"

Nikolai grumbled going to stand by the fire.

Fate not knowing what to do, wanted to make himself useful "You want me to light the fire, let me do it" he pointed his hands at the campfire. A light began to illuminate his fingers.

"NO !" shouted Taemin and Nikolai in unison, tackling Fate to the floor.

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"Fate, don't use magic if you don't want the ugly Shaman with the rotten fingers to spot us' that's what you should have said instead of tackling me like Sebastien Chabal."

Fate continued talking to himself by manually trying to light the fire while Taemin and Nikolai were seated.

"It's a good thing he's here you think ?" asked Taemin dubiously.

Nikolai seemed to hesitate "He's not very discreet. And the more you tell him to be careful, the more awkward and noisy he is."

"I'm not an idiot !" replied Fate blushing.

"I'm sorry to scratch your pride, sir, but that's just the truth."

Ignoring their bickering, Taemin looked over his shoulder in time to see the man who had saved their lives at the river hiding behind a bush. Did he follow them?

"Excuse me for a moment." said Taemin getting up and dusting his pants.

"Where are you going ?" Nikolai asked. He sneezed twice in a row, apparently having caught a cold.

"Going to..pee."

"Not in the river !" Say Fate shaking his head "not even near. Go far, far away."

"Why the river ?"

"I can tell you didn't see this episode of River monsters where the guy goes into the water."

Taemin let him tell his story to Nikolai and went off into the jungle knowing that the man followed him.

Arrived in a place far enough he turned around "You can come out."

After a few seconds the man came out from behind a tree and approached cautiously. Taemin was careful not to show surprise at the sight of his scar-filled body.

He pulled out half of his opened sandwich and handed it to the stranger "You ... do you want some ?" As the man didn't move, Taemin walked a few steps and handed it gently.

The man finally took it and began to eat it without leaving Taemin's eyes.

"What's your name ? "

"Eunwoo."

"Eunwoo, i'm Taemin, do you live in the jungle?" he said, seeing the mud on his legs.

The man finished the sandwich and then looked sadly at Taemin "You should leave as soon as you can."

His voice was tired and low. Taemin swallowed. "Are you stuck here? We could help you leave if you want."

The man shook his head "I'm here in exchange."

"In exchange of what ?"

"The life of my soulmate." he caught his breath "Thanks for the sandwich, go home and forget this place." He turned away immediately.

"Wait ! listen, we have to get something back at the castle and we don't know what to expect."

Eunwoo thought about it  "Beware of everyone, and ... avoid crossing his new creation."

"His new creation ?"

"What are you doing, Taemin?"

At this voice, Taemin turned to see Nikolai and the wolf staring at Eunwoo frowning. The latter recoiled trembling.

"There is nothing to be afraid of !" say Taemin trying to calm his fear.

"A surnatural sealed ?" Nikolai asked puzzled.

Eunwoo ran away.

"Eunwoo wait !" Taemin turned to Nikolai "What do you mean by sealed ?"

"His scars are those of a magic spell that punishes criminals, they can only be done by a high-ranking wizard, I'll put my hand to the fire they've been made by Adonis. you know this boy ?"

Taemin didn't answer looking at where Eunwoo disappeared.

"A criminal ?"