Chapter 170: The Secret under the Castle
Annalise once again found herself standing right in front of the passageway with one of her hands pressed against the ward. She felt the power of ward’s spell fluttering right beneath her fingers and it made her want to explore that power further.
Whatever secret was hidden on the other side of the ward, it seemed to be welcoming her with open arms, and the more time she spent sensing the ward’s magic, the surer she became of her instincts.
"Are you ready?" Valerius asked as he once again moved to stand right behind her with his chest pressed against her back and one of his hands resting on her waist.
She nodded her head in a positive response and watched as the first dark lord placed his other hand over hers which was already touching the ward.
Annalise took in a deep breath before she closed her eyes and focused on Valerius’ air element that was currently overpowering his ice. She allowed herself to learn its rhythm before she let her powers follow his air element to get a passage through the ward.
Her powers followed Valerius’ air and morphed with it as the dark lord cast the spell to diminish the ward’s powers long enough for them to get past it.
The spell took quite a few moments and Annalise could tell that it was quite a powerful spell considering the strain that she was experiencing on her powers because of all the energy that the spell was consuming.
She felt it right before the spell locked in its place and the ward diminished for a couple of fleeting seconds to allow them entry through the vines-covered passage.
Valerius once again took the lead as he stepped forward through the passage before taking hold of her hand and making her follow him.
There were no more passages or stairs after that. Instead, she found herself standing at the entrance of another clearing but this one was way bigger than the earlier ones, too big to even be a part of some underground basement of the castle.
"What in the world..." She didn’t have any words to express the shock that had taken over her completely. So, instead of wasting time finding the right words, she decided to properly observe the beauty that was filling the clearing.
The most attention-grabbing part of the place was the two trees looming in the distance. They both were standing side by side with their trunks making an oval shape before tangling together and then finally going up.