The Matchmaker - The Arrax Saga Book 1 Chapter 213

The sun had dipped lower by the time Saphira and Nikolas returned to the garden. The air was cooler now, tinged with the scent of lavender and scorched earth.

Raven stood waiting, the spellbook open in her hands, her expression focused but eager. Her fingers traced the edge of a page, glowing faintly with residual magic.

She looked up as they approached. “You’re back. Good timing, I’ve been working on something.”

Nikolas raised a brow. “Something to test us?”

Raven nodded, her eyes gleaming. “Three spells. One’s a binding illusion, meant to trap you in a false environment. The second is a pressure weave, designed to disrupt coordination. The third is a pulse barrier. It reacts to magic and tries to push it back.”

Saphira exchanged a glance with Nikolas, a flicker of anticipation passing between them. “Sounds like a challenge.”

“That’s the point,” Raven said. “I want to see how far your bond can go. How it reacts under pressure. If it’s as instinctive as it felt earlier. Plus, it will be good to see how I perform with a fight-like situation.”

Nikolas cracked his knuckles, his grin sharp. “Alright. Hit us with everything you’ve got.”

Raven stepped back, giving them space. Her voice dropped into a low chant, fingers weaving through the air. The garden shimmered and then vanished.

In its place rose a dense forest, thick with fog and shadow. The trees loomed high, their branches clawing at the sky. The air turned damp and heavy, the scent of moss and pine replacing lavender.

Saphira blinked, momentarily disoriented, but Nikolas was already moving, and she followed without hesitation. They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. Her body responded to his, her magic rising in tandem.

A flicker of movement, phantom wolves darting between trees. Illusions. Distractions.

Nikolas slashed through one with a burst of flame. Saphira spun, casting a shield of light that scattered another. The forest twisted around them, trying to separate them, but their bond flared like a beacon, pulling them back together.

Then the pressure weave hit.

It was like walking through water, thick, dragging, disjointed. Saphira stumbled, her magic faltering. She reached for Nikolas, but the weave distorted her senses. His presence flickered.

*No,* she thought. *Not this time.*

She closed her eyes, reaching inward, not for her own magic, but for his. For Vaelora and Vorthar. The bond surged. She felt his heartbeat, his breath, the fire in his blood.

Nikolas moved first, breaking through the weave with a roar of heat. Saphira followed, her light slicing through the fog. Together, they struck. Nikolas from the left, Saphira from the right. The illusion cracked like glass, and the forest dissolved.

They landed back in the garden, but only for a moment.

The pulse barrier rose around them, a shimmering dome of energy that pulsed with every breath. It repelled their magic, absorbing and redirecting it like a living wall.

Saphira instinctively threw a bolt of light. It bounced back, nearly striking her shoulder. Nikolas tried using flame, but it was the same result.

“This one’s different,” he muttered.

Saphira nodded. “We can’t overpower it. We have to outmatch it.”

They circled, moving in sync, their magic weaving together like threads of fire and starlight. Saphira raised her hand, and Nikolas mirrored her. Their energy surged, not separate but together. A single current.

They struck together.

The barrier trembled.

This time with more force, more unity. Their dragons stirred beneath their skin, Vaelora’s grace and Vorthar’s fury entwining.

On the third strike, their magic didn’t just hit the barrier, it unravelled it.

The dome shattered in a burst of light and wind, scattering sparks across the garden.

Raven stumbled back a step, eyes wide. “Wow.”

Saphira and Nikolas stood in the centre of the clearing, breathless but steady. Their hands still glowed faintly, the bond between them pulsing.

Raven stepped forward slowly. “I could feel it. Through the spells. Through the air. You two… you definitely have magic that much is clear. Not just dragon magic. Something else. Something deeper.”

She looked at them, awe flickering in her voice. “And I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of it. Whatever’s awakened in you, it’s evolving. Fast.”

Saphira glanced at Nikolas, her heart still thrumming with the aftershock of their fusion. “Then we need to keep pushing. Find out what it really is.”

Nikolas nodded, his voice quiet but resolute. “We’re just getting started.”

He looked at Raven, then back at Saphira. “But for now… we all need to eat. And rest. We’ll need everything we’ve got for what’s coming.”

The dining room buzzed with low conversation and the clatter of cutlery. The long wooden table was packed with pack members, shoulders brushing, laughter rising in soft bursts.

Saphira sat beside Nikolas, her plate mostly untouched, her gaze drifting across the room. Across from them, Jed, Jasper, and Finn sat with the ease of warriors who had earned their exhaustion.

Nikolas leaned forward, his voice low but clear. “How’s training going?”

Jed wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then leaned his elbows on the table. “Good. Better than expected, honestly. We’ve been pushing harder, tighter formations. They’re responding. Faster. Smarter. More flexible in the air.”

Jasper nodded, his tone thoughtful. “We’ve started rotating leadership mid-session. Keeps everyone sharp, adaptable.”

Finn added, “And we’ve paired the younger ones with veterans. It’s working. They’re learning faster, leaning into the rhythm.”

Nikolas gave a small, satisfied smile. “Good. Tomorrow morning, keep the separate sessions. Push them hard. But in the afternoon, we come together. Full coordination.”

He glanced at Saphira, then back to the table. “We will work together as a pack the day after too. Then on the third day, we leave early. I want us at the matchmaker’s territory by dawn.”

A ripple of silence moved through the table. Forks paused. Conversations quieted. The timeline had shifted from theory to reality. No more room for hesitation.

Raven, seated a few spots down, looked up from her plate. “Are we training together again? Or should I re-join the witches?”

Nikolas turned to her, thoughtful. “Re-join them. They’ll need your guidance, help them break past their limits. Keep pushing your advanced Elder spells too.”

Raven nodded slowly, absorbing the weight of it. “Alright.”

“But,” Nikolas added, his gaze steady, “If you find anything, any spell, any thread of magic, that could link with our bond, bring it to us. Saphira and I are still unlocking what’s inside us.”

Saphira met Raven’s eyes, her voice quiet. “We’re close to something. I can feel it. If your spells can help us reach it, we need them.”

Raven gave a small, knowing smile. “Don’t worry, I will let you know if I find anything.”

The conversation gradually shifted back to food and stories, tales of near misses in training, teasing jabs between friends, the occasional burst of laughter, but beneath it all, a current of tension lingered. Not fear. Readiness. The kind that coils in the chest before a storm breaks.

Saphira reached beneath the table, her fingers brushing against Nikolas’s. He laced his hand with hers.

Three days. And everything would change.