Lucus and Mada positioned themselves behind two large trees across from each other along the path, gripping their weapons and waiting for the unavoidable confrontation from both sides. Mada was a close-range fighter who felt more pleasure from beating his enemies in a hand-to-hand fight instead of using swords, and other weapons that he felt gave others an advantage in a battle. Though Mada was confident in his abilities, he still clung to the white marble in his hand, awaiting the moment he would have to use this particular item. The marble was a unique item used to summon familiars of different types, this was called a familiar eye, each embedded with a different design depending on the creature it would conjure. These creatures are also known as spirit animals or beasts, able to grant their tamers immense power, as well as a powerful ally in battle.
"Did you ever figure out which beast is contained in the Familiar Eye?" Lucus asked trying to make slight conversation, hiding the uneasy feeling That came over him. He felt that the poor planning of Mada's decision would land them in a tough spot or even dead. Mada focused on the cracking in Lucus's voice, noticing how he truly felt about their position, Lucus always was one to put on a tough guy persona, but at this moment he was terrified. Mada wasn't easily fool by his actions, so trying to lighten up the mood he chose to indulge in the conversation.
"I'm not sure. I wasn't the one that had captured this one, Noir did." Mada whispered holding the familiar eye between two fingers up to the moonlight.
"I can't even tell by the pattern, due to it being so unique, I don't even think we have it on record."
Lucus was stunned, with all of the knowledge being shared upon the tribes up until now, he thought that someone would be able to tell Mada what type of familiar he had in his possession.
"Why didn't Noir just keep the beast and tame it for himself? Seems like a waste of effort to me." Lucus spoke with his eyes still concentrated on the item.
Lucus could sense a strange aura emitting from the familiar eye's center, Forcing him
to look away.
"That's because he's not like us. While it is true that Amourian people contain spiritual energy the same way we do, they can't manipulate it to the same degree as us. So he couldn't emit enough to tame the beast." Mada responded in a firm, but low tone.
After their small but informative chat, Mada and Lucas sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Mada focused on the auras in front of them, the group of individuals stopped for a moment a few miles ahead of
them but eventually started back down the path.
"We know that you're hiding right there behind us in the bushes, ya know." Lucus said looking behind them with a slight smile on his face.
The small aura trailing them was the first to catch up, but for some reason stopped and hid a few paces away from them, as if they were waiting for the others to catch up first. Both of the men felt like this was a strange action for an enemy to take, especially when knowing that there were more of their allies ahead, and this could pose as a good chance to delay them from fleeing back to their village.
This gave Mada a small sense of relief, "Is that you Trayner?" he questioned in a low voice, still aware of the other threats that lingered in the shadows.
Trayner peered through the bushes at Lucus and Mada after hearing his own name being called, surprised at how easily he had become noticed by the others, he became frustrated. Trayner was a seven-year-old boy
with a short, nappy haircut that had the sides cut low to a buzz. Trayner was a close student of Noir, who was the leader of the village's defense corps and peace negotiator. Trayner studied low ranking spirit manipulation, Bojutsu, and martial arts while he did his academic studies under the care of Noir, so he was well versed in alternate ways to defend himself as well as battlefield strategies. Though Trayner was the youngest in some of his classes, he had the mindset of someone much older, even surpassing most of the teenage villagers in both skill and academic knowledge.
Without hesitation, Trayner popped his head out of the bushes where he hid.
"If you two dumb asses don't close your mouths, concealing our energies won't really matter!" Trayner said in a low shout, both trying to warn them of the enemies quick approach, and trying to degrade their abilities due to them revealing his cover so quickly, "They'll be upon us in less then a minute, so keep quiet and get ready!"
"He acts exactly like Noir." Lucus said in an upsetting tone, while raising a middle finger to the bushes.
"I guess that's what happens when you train someone from the time they're able to walk."
Lucus sensed a dense feeling in the air and dived backwards from the tree he was crouching behind, as a ball of energy collided with it, making the tree snap in half. Another ball of energy came towards Mada, but he was prepared so it was easily dealt with as he returned one of his own making the two crash against each other, causing a loud explosion in the air.
"Their here!" Mada spoke jumping back to catch his footing nearly falling on his backside.
With the smoke from the explosion clouding his vision he could only use his aura sense to keep track of the enemies, this gave him a small feeling of comfort, because he was able to see that Lucus and Trayner weren't hurt by the blast.
With the smoke surrounding everything on the path and crowding everyone's vision, Trayner was stuck between a rock and a hard place not being able to depict who was friend or foe. Though the child was looked upon as
a prodigy, his control over aura sense wasn't that great, giving him the ability to sense others but not figure out the slight differences in their auras. He could tell that the others was still alive, but if they didn't clear the smoke quickly it could put them in a dangerous spot. Trayner grabbed a small staff from his hip, it was about twelve inches long, but once he stretched out his hand it began to glow a slight orange color and instantly grew to match the size of his body height. Trayner began twirling the staff in his hands in a perfect circle, he started off slow, but as he continued the motion the momentum sped up creating a wind vortex, pushing air through the smoke and clearing the area.
Once everyone regained their senses, it didn't take long for the members of the Zibiru tribe to noticed that the three men that attacked them were familiar faces, well at least to Mada and Trayner they were.
"Kuma! You traitorous snake!" Mada yelled furiously as he charged at Kuma.
Mada launched himself in the air at a height that would easily clear some of the tallest
trees in the forest.
"Phoenix aura cloak!" As Mada spoke these words, an immense blue and green colored aura, burst from his feet and covered his whole body until it reached the brim of his neck, giving him the appeal that he had glowing armor over his clothing.
Two fluorescent wings sprouted from Mada's back as he began to crash back down to the surface in a kicking formation aimed directly at Kuma. He wanted to attack without giving Kuma a moment to prepare himself.
In less than a second, Mada was within centimeters of where Kuma was standing, creating an intense heat that could be felt by everyone in the proximity.
"I'll end this now without giving you a chance to beg for your life, you bastard." Mada said before contact was made.
With a quick motion Kuma parried the attack and Mada could feel himself being turned off target and redirected in the opposite direction. This was due to Kuma grabbing Mada's ankle and throwing him towards a large tree in the distance, making sure to deal some damage but not enough to kill Mada on impact.
Mada could be seen flying threw several trees before being stopped by a thick tree stump. This caused Mada to cough up a large amount of blood, this was a sign of internal damage and would keep him out of the fight for a small period of time.
"We aren't your enemies Mada. We were sent here on the request of your chief to supply you with support against the ongoing assault on your village." Kuma exclaimed as he seen Mada stumbling trying to stand to his feet.
Lucus ran to go check on Mada, "So then, where is lord Tayaire? cause we never received these orders." Lucus asked while helping Mada stand up straight with an arm over his shoulders.
"Wouldn't he be on his way to the village, or at least here with you?" Mada questioned Kuma's reasoning, not knowing if what he said was the truth or not.
"Tayaire stayed with my men a few miles down this path. At the moment they are engaged in a battle with opposing forces, trying to hold them back while I send word back to your defense corps leader." Kuma said while looking at the two men.
Seeing that everyone had stopped fighting and Kuma's group no longer showed any murderous intent towards them, Lucus urged Mada to listen to the man.
"Ok then, let's head back to inform Noir. Well return with more of our forces and help the chief push back the enemy units." Lucus spoke leading the group back towards the village, allowing Mada some time to recover from his injuries.
Kuma walked at the far back of the group with his two followers in front of him. "Now the true war can begin." He thought with a sly
grin forming on his face.