Chapter 73: Expected Encounter
Somewhere in a dense forest on the realm beyond the veil sat a woman shrouded in a dark cloak.
She was sitting in front of a burning fire with a leg of a bird her own size turning above the flames.
The scent was so strong it drew Gadra all around her for kilometres yet not one dared to get close.
On her lap was a black cat, suddenly the woman raised her head, her eyes flickered with panic.
" I need to get to the old council." Without casting a single spell, space twisted as if sucking her body into itself and she disappeared.
Across this realm, multiple beings who had slumbered for ages opened their eyes and turned their gazes to the distance.
The woman appeared in front of a large palace standing on top of a massive earth pillar above an endless abyss shrouded in mist.
The palace was dark and gave an aura of solace, she stood at the edge of a cliff facing the palace " Vela." She cast a spell in witch tongue.
( Note: The language is Zulu, I will SOMETIMES use it as a substitute for the witch tongue.)
A dark bridge of wood appeared connecting her cliff to the island pillar the palace stood on.
She stepped on it and nervously walked forward, the walk across the bridge felt like it lasted ages to her.
But before she knew it she was already standing in front of the palace door, two women shrouded in black cloaks appeared like ghosts, their faces hidden in shadows.
" Siiiiisteeerrr" they spoke as one, their voices coming out like a whisper of a thousand souls.
" The old ones have been waiting for you, come." They turned around and led her inside.
Their bodies seemed to be gliding above the ground, they led her to a giant throne room with nine thrones sitting nearly a dozen metres above the ground.
Five of those thrones were occupied while the other four sat empty, their owners unknown.
The thrones nearly formed a circle across the throne hall, she stood at the centre, each throne facing her.
" My mothers, your daughter cam..."
" We know why you’re here child." An old voice interrupted her.
" You will not find what you seek here, in your foolishness you have sired destruction and death upon the world.
In your foolishness you’ve lost what you hold dear and now you stand here before us, seeking our aid." Another voice spoke.
" Your arrogance and fearlessness knows no bound child, what makes you think we won’t kill you for what you’ve done?" Another asked.
" Because I’m your child and you are my mothers." She answered nervously. " And blood triumphs all, isn’t that what you taught my sisters and I?"
The old ones above hissed, the old voices piercing through her ears like nails.
" Blood? You speak of blood after you risked the lives of all of your sisters for you own selfishness."
" It wasn’t self..."
" SILENCE!" A voice shouted stopping her from arguing, she kept quiet and looked down but her body was shaking.
" The only reason you’re still standing as well speak is because you’re of the old blood but make no mistake child.
Out mercy ends here, the path you’ve forged is yours and yours alone to tread"
The woman took a deep breath and her voice grew cold, "So be it." She turned around and left.
" Fooliiiish." One of the figures sitting on one of the thrones whispered.
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Adrain sprinted, as soon as he left the city he got the feeling that he was being watched and it made him uncomfortable.
He followed the map to where the ghoul was and it didn’t take him long to reach that place.
There used to be a mine there, according to legends, one of the miners turned into the ghoul and murdered all the other miners inside.
The land around the mine had healed and a forest grew there, he walked through the forest and suddenly caught a scent.
Human scent, meat, buns and other things used by humans. He heard voices, somebody was telling stories while the others acted scared.
’ Campers.’ he thought and avoided them, he walked around and a few kilometres away from them he saw the mine.
When he got there he suddenly saw a group of teenagers going inside the mine. " Oh fuck, teenagers are stupid aren’t they?"
Then he caught a unique scent that made him growl softly and with desire, ’ She’s here."
He rushed inside and caught up to them, " You shouldn’t be here." He spoke from behind startling them.
There were 9 teenagers, five girls and four boys, they looked around the same age as him.
He recognised two of those teenagers. " Annie." He whispered and Annie walked towards him.
Her eyes glistened with tears then anger, " You fucken bastard, where have you been? Don’t tell me you’ve been living here."
She looked mortified by that thought, Adrain laughed, " No, nothing like that." Then his face changed.
" Adrain, you two know each other?" Eve asked, the others also looked curious then they turned towards Cyril.
They knew he had feelings for Annie but she kept turning him down, never really giving him a reason why.
They wondered if this guy was the reason for that, looking at him, they could see why, Cyril was handsome but this guy looked like he was sculptured by a God.
Adrain also felt the hostility from one of the guys but he ignored him, somebody like that was worthless to him.
He turned towards Eve and his eyes grew cold, Eve felt a shiver, the spirit around her were terrified.
Knowing this guy took down a literal demon, she too grew scared but she didn’t even understand why he was angry.
" You know you shouldn’t be here Eve, you know that." His voice came out cold but Eve felt the fear and worry in it.
She thought it was meant for her for a split second then noticed Annie in his arms and realised he was worried about her instead.
She sighed bitterly, ’ It seems my prince charming found her princess.’ while this made her a bit sad she strangely also felt happy for her bestfriend.
" Adrain you can’t blame me for this, I’m not you, you know I couldn’t stop them even if I tried, not without telling them the truth but that would’ve put them in graver danger."
Adrain sighed, he knew she was right but seeing Annie being in such a dangerous situation made him scared and irrational.
He took a deep breath and Annie’s scent made him growl. " Fine, you can come along so you’ll see what you would’ve gotten yourselves into."
He walked forward, " Wait, how do you two know each other?" Annie asked while running after him.
Eve smiled cheekily at her, " Long story."