SPELLBOUND

"Let's not delay anymore and catch up with them." Zanya said after a long while of them just walking leisurely and holding each other's hands. Though she was loath in letting go of his hands and cutting their sweet time short, she knew that their duties await them.

"Yes. I have noticed that they're moving a bit slowly. They might be doing that purposely to wait for us."

"That's definitely the reason why. And that's why we can't keep them waiting any longer. Or it will be really too selfish of us."

Leon nodded in agreement as well while squeezing her hands that were still held within his grasp. Though he had nodded, it was hard for him to let her hand go and continued to hang onto it.

"Alright, I'll go first." Zanya finally exhaled and let go of his hand and spread her wings decisively, but Leon suddenly grabbed at her wrist again and without warning, he pulled her towards him and kissed her deep and long.

"One last kiss, for the trip." he whispered breathily into her ears then he devoured her mouth hungrily until Zanya's knees felt as though it had become a little weak. "Alright, you can go now," he then breathed out when their lips parted after a long while.

The corner of his lips lifted up as he saw how she was still standing there, a little dazedly. "Go now, Zanya. If you don't, this perv will grab–"

He gasped and his eyes widened as he looked at her. She had snapped out of her daze and was smiling now, wickedly and her hand… was grabbing him. "You will grab what hmm? My little perv?"

When she felt his rod swelling quickly at her touch, she licked her lips and then abruptly flew away, not giving him the satisfaction of returning the 'favour'. She turned around while she was above and stuck out her tongue at Leon before flying off, laughing out in amusement.

Leon could only rub the back of his neck and fight back the flames that had been ignited within him as he watched his naughty little butterfly flew away.

It did not take long before the both of them finally caught up with the rest of their comrades. And as expected, Leon was welcomed by Samuel and Reed's knowing eyes. It was like they already knew the reason why he was late in coming.

"I hope you won't become the next Zolan, Leon… oh well, as long as you know your limit, it's not a problem." Samuel said as he shrugged his broad shoulders and they continued running.

"Apologies for my delay, Leader," Leon gave a sincere apology and Samuel just nodded, as if this was a common occurrence to him. "I'm surprised though that you compared me with Zolan. I thought you'd mention Levy." Leon really did think that Levy was the flirty one amongst them all.

"Levy's always hitting on the girls, but he seldom gets any further than that. Zolan is the exact opposite. Girls just hits on him constantly and he just disappears sometimes. Or should I say, almost every time when we pass by a village or cities. Then he come back, telling us that a female had pulled on him and would not let go of him and that he didn't want to break the poor female's heart for refusing her. Well, we don't have any complaints since he always magically returns when it's time for us to move on or when he's needed. If you have plan to sneak out and meet your lover, you might need to ask that guy on how he even does that – appearing at the right time as if he knows exactly when it's time for him to return every single time." Samuel advised seriously, causing Leon to fall speechless.

…

The countless crystals that were stuck into the incredibly high ceiling of the Great City started glowing again, lighting the city with a soft and bright bluish colour, a bit similar to the brightness of the sky on the surface.

Evie was already awake. She was staring at her husband with a somewhat complicated look on her face. She was glad that Gav seemed to be having a really good sleep, but at the same time she could not help but feel worried because it was so unusual for Gav to sleep for such a long period of time that she actually woke up earlier than him despite the fact that he slept way earlier than her last night. Did the spell take such a toll on him?

Shaking her head, Evie gently laid her hand on his chest. Concentrating for a while, she could feel his magic rolling right below his skin. He had not been weakened or anything of the sort. Then why is he not waking up? Is he experiencing some form of side effect?

Evie decided to leave the bed and get herself ready, thinking that if he was still asleep once she is done getting ready, she would then try to wake him up.

But to her surprise, the man was still asleep even after all the time she deliberately spent puttering around. Bending over, Evie reached out to touch him when she paused and whispered instead. "Gav? It's time to wake up."

His brows creased a little, but he did not wake up. His breathing still as steady as ever, indicating that he was still deep asleep. Looking at how peacefully asleep he was, Evie pulled away and sighed. She did not have the heart to wake him up when he was in such deep slumber. She thought that perhaps it was because it had been really a long while since he had had a good sleep and he must be making up for all the times that he had been sleep deprived.

"Alright, I'll go meet my people first." She continued whispering to him. "I'll come back for you later." Then she kissed his forehead and left the room as quietly as she could.

After a while, Gav opened his eyes.. His orbs blazing with blue flames.