11 The Awakening

-Yunlan-

The lighting dragon, which had caught them right after they begin to fall, called by Yunlan's command had release them about a meter and a half from the floor, because he saw a few more demons moving inside the bigger ice cave in their direction. Although the fall wasn't too high, they had fell over a pile of old bones that broke like fragile cookies with their weight, apparently too old for not to break under the pressure of two bodies.

Yunlan had taken the fall fully on both his back and front, because Shen Wei was still hooked to his harness atop him, but despite losing the air from his lungs for hitting the bottom first, falling over bones and his lover body over him, he was glad Shen was unharmed. He gasped for some new air, as Shen Wei worriedly side looked at him.

"Yunlan! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Shen asked, trying to get enough hold on something stable to move away from him, but his movement only manage to sink Yunlan more into the pile of broken bones.

"I'm fine, just don't move… let me unhook you first." Zhao said, as he struggle to free him from their bond, but he didn't have Shen Wei's night vision and he could barely see him in the darkness and the professor's body was still too close for him to reach the harness. He also didn't have enough space to move his arms, as he was half submerged in bones.

"Babe, move your hips up… you are too close for me to reach the harness." Zhao said and Shen Wei did try to move up, but as he did, a chain sound and something moving closer to them caught his attention. To his horror, just like before, he saw that thing professor Ouyang had hastily draw on his notes.

It was bigger than he initially though, with a heavy chain over his short neck, fiercer, thinner, deformed with some bones overlying his spine and with longer claws and fangs, ready to tear both flesh and bones. His heart begin to accelerate at the sight, because he was sure this time they would not be able to escape it in time.

"Yunlan hurry, a demon is coming." Zhao cursed as Shen moved his hips up to give him the needed space to release the harness and Shen was relieved as Zhao manage to do so with nervous hands just in time.

However, as he just thought, the demon jumped over them before Zhao could push him away from the danger, as he was sure he will do if he didn't act first, for which Shen Wei twisted himself to cover Yunlan's body with his own, to protect him from the beast sharp claws.

"Forgive me, Yunlan…" Shen Wei whisper to his ear, as the demon came to Zhao's limited view.

"Oh, no, no, no… NNNOOOO!!!" It was all Zhao could do, as he saw now in horror, the hideous thing coming too close to Shen Wei's unguarded back, with its claws ready to kill him. He try to move under Wei, but he was half burry and Shen was forcing him down to keep him safe. From there on everything seems to happen in a slow motion for Zhao at the same time multiple images from a distant past begin to overflow his brain at fast speed and he understood what Shen had told him before about them been lovers in past lives.

"Oh please, no…" Zhao inwardly prayed, just when the demon was about to rip Shen Wei's back, but right at that instant in which his heartbeats were off scale with the worse fear he had experience in that lifetime, the bead bracelet on the professor's wrist flared to life, creating a kind of shield around them, expelling the demon several yards away from them before it could tear apart Wei's porcelain skin.

Zhao who was already full of adrenaline for the fear to lose his other half so suddenly, when he had just found him again, took the opportunity, now with the demon gone, to somehow flip Shen Wei under him sitting over his lap, then pulling him up with obvious anger. It had been so close… Oh, so very close to lose him, that even if he put his life in danger to protect him, it had make his world crumble under the mare thought of watching him get killed right in front of him.

"Have you gone mad?! Why the hell did you cover me like that? Forgive me Yunlan? Are you so eager to die and meet me again in another lifetime?! Aaaahhhh, Shen Wei…" He pull him closer in a tight hug, then kissing him passionately for what felt like an eternity.

"Damn it Shen Wei, never do that again… I love you too much to lose you like that… so please don't risk your life like that, not even for me. You are not a Ghost Slayer this time." The name and meaning had left his lips so naturally in the heat of the moment that he was even more surprised of what he said, than Wei was, because he really had no idea of who he was talking about.

"Ghost Slayer? What do you mean?" The flushed Shen Wei asked a bit confused.

"Well, that… I…" But the danger they were in was not over yet, because more demons approached their little safe heaven. Zhao, now quite determined to fight back with everything he got, stood up, helping Wei to do the same. They leaved the pile of bones and stood back to back, not really knowing just how many demons were there and even if Zhao was having a hard time seen beyond the glowing of Shen Wei's beads, which penetrate the thick fiber, he will fight to protect him until the very end. Then the cave was illuminated by multiple lightings the dragon used to get rid of others demons he was fighting somewhere else.

Zhao knew the dragon was trying to keep them safe, but there were just too many demons around to bring them all down at once, for which they were on their own, for now. Zhao instinctively reached for his gun with rubber bullets, even if it was useless against demons and fired a few rounds well aimed and to his surprise, as soon as the bullets hit the targets, the demons shined gold for an instant and turned into a big cloud of ashes, right after.

"Huh? It worked? Has it been upgraded?" Zhao asked himself amazed, looking at the gun which was releasing some kind of golden smoke. Then he keep up firing right, left, front, back and up, with Shen Wei's master guidance. However, as the demons he shoot became ashes one after the other, it was getting harder to see through the scattered ashes, even with the glow coming from Shen Wei and the lightings. Soon, it was simply too difficult to distinguish much inside the cloud.

"Yunlan, watch out!" Shen Wei yelled as he saw two more demons jump out of the cloud of ashes to Zhao's left side, taking him by surprise as the ice cave was left in darkness in that precise second.

Fear ran deeper in Shen Wei's veins and he felt as if something snapped inside him at the same time a distant voice said inside his mind, 'Wake up Ghost Slayer', and it was then when Shen felt a surge of inhuman dark energy gather on his right hand and he moved to intercept the demons halfway over his loved one, while a dao sword materialize in his hand, cutting the demons heads in a fast move, before turning back into more ashes.

Because the demons were too close when exploded, all the ashes fell all over them, making the already dense view of the cave impossible for Zhao to see through it. He coughed as it was also a bit difficult to breath, then a new kind of glow, make him look at Shen Wei, standing so majestically in front of him, ready to strike anything that came too close to him and he almost expect him to be cover by a black cloak. Shen Wei ready himself, so fearlessly and sure of his actions that Zhao was mesmerized by him for a moment before whispering…

"Ghost Slayer…?" He said, as he struggle with the memories and images from before that were still too confusing for him to fully absorb them, then his professor disappeared from his limited view.

"Shen Wei!" He yelled after him, but he could barely distinguish the beads glow, moving faster as more demons were killed by his deadly dance with his inhuman blade.

"Just don't move! I will handle these ones on my own." Shen yelled back, making Zhao wonder just what was happening with both of them. A gun that fire not rubber bullets but some kind of dense gold energy and Shen Wei summoning a sword out of some dark energy, it was just too unbelievable to be true and he wonder if he was just inside a supernatural fantasy dream.

"No, not a dream... he is just beginning to awaken… you too." A voice similar to his said inside his mind and Zhao turned to see just who was messing up with his mind, but saw nothing more than lightings and ashes. Then Shen Wei came back to him, taking his hand and begin running away, chased by more demons, but halfway, the dragon came back to aid them.

"Fire Yunlan, as much as you can…" Shen whisper as he guide him toward a more elevated part of the cave and to his surprise, he begin to see more clearly as Shen Wei held his hand, making it easier to kill a few more demons.

"Shen Wei… more are coming." Zhao whisper after they had halt their mad dash at the top of some higher pick and he keep firing up.

"Don't worry, some guardians of the tower are finally here." Shen whisper back and truth to his words, what looked like hundreds of ghostly greenish figures, emerged from out of nowhere along with a column of fire. Then there was some kind of chanting and the fire dispersed, burning instantly every single demon left inside the cave, sparing only the both of them and the dragon. After that, everything returned to pitch black and Shen Wei stagger at his side, for which Yunlan held him close.

"Wow Shen Wei, are you okay?" Zhao ask him, taking half of his weight on his own, passing one of When's arms over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm fine... it's over... The cave is now clean of demons." Shen whisper, quite sure that part of their task was over, at least for now.

AN: Thanks for reading, it means a lot, you just had no idea.