Chapter 39 The Ambush
“I need every single existing information on land about the black seal.” Sebastian ordered his soldiers when they got back to the royal camp. The soldiers present in the tent all nodded sharply as they took in Sebastian's orders.
"Gayle I need you to leave no stones unturned, find out where they operate from, whoever their leader is and what they do with the stones they brought from Crodor." Since Levi wasn't present, Gayle was Sebastian's next trusted general who could carry out tasks almost as efficiently as Levi.
Gayle nodded firmly.
Sebastian dismissed everyone immediately after he was done giving his orders, only Anderson remained in the tent with him. “Levi... He hasn't reported back for a whole day.” Sebastian said with a sigh.
"That's very unlikely of him but I believe the vice commander is more than capable of controlling whatever situation he might be facing wherever he is.” Anderson said, rubbing his forehead. He had never seen the King looked this way before, filled with so much uncertainty and fear.
Sebastian always had a plan for every situation regarding his kingdom, he never fails to strategize but now he looked as if he'd lost everything. Fernanda had became his everything. “The Queen might not have realized how much she meant to you,” Anderson stated, watching how Sebastian's face hardened at the mention of his wife.
“And it's all my fault, I wasn't trying hard enough to be the kind of husband she wants me to be. I just couldn't seem to, but also at the same time i–”
“You are scared of losing her, and you would do anything to keep her safe even if it means doing it in a way that she can't help but hate you.” Anderson said.
Sebastian's lips set into a thin line. Of course his advisor sees through him once again, there was pity in his eyes this time around and that makes Sebastian wonder how weak he looks right now worrying about Fernanda.
She has that much effect on him. Sebastian didn't say anything in response to what his royal advisor said because Anderson speaks the truth. And Sebastian has been getting a full dose of that lately.
The fog thickened as Levi and his captive moved closer to the stone structure looming ahead. What had first appeared to be a ruin now revealed itself as something far older, its dark stones slick with age and etched with sigils that pulsed faintly beneath the mist. The forest around it stood unnaturally still. No insects chirped. No wind stirred the leaves.
That was what unsettled him.
Levi slowed his steps, his grip tightening around the shadow wielder’s collar. His Lycan senses stretched outward instinctively, probing the silence. It felt wrong. Too contained. Like the world itself was holding its breath.
“Stop,” Levi muttered.
The shadow wielder stiffened. “We are close.”
“I can tell,” Levi replied. His gaze swept the tree line, then the structure again. “This place has been warded.”
The man laughed weakly. “You are standing on sacred ground. No outsider walks this close without consequence.”
Levi pressed the dagger harder against his throat. “Where do we go next?”
Before the shadow wielder could answer, the fog shifted.
Figures stepped forward, their forms bleeding out of the mist like shadows given shape. One. Two. Then four more. Cloaked, silent, their presence heavy with dark magic that crawled across Levi’s skin.
“Well,” Levi said calmly, “that answers my question.”
The shadow wielder tried to move, but Levi slammed him to the ground and planted a boot against his spine. “Do not even think about it.”
The attackers did not speak. They moved as one.
Levi reacted instantly. Ice surged from his palm, sharp and unforgiving, slicing through the fog and slamming into the nearest figure. The man cried out as frost climbed his body, freezing muscle and bone mid-stride.
Another shadow wielder lunged. Levi twisted aside, his dagger flashing as he severed the man’s wrist. Dark energy lashed out, grazing Levi’s shoulder, but he barely flinched.
“You should have stayed hidden,” Levi muttered.
He kicked the frozen body forward, shattering it against another attacker. Ice exploded outward, shards cutting through cloak and flesh. Levi moved with brutal efficiency, never wasting motion, never losing awareness of his surroundings.
But there were too many of them.
Shadows coiled around his legs, slowing him. A blast of dark energy sent him skidding across the damp earth. Levi rolled to his feet, blood dripping from a cut above his brow.
He snarled softly. “So this is how you welcome guests.”
He slammed both palms into the ground. Ice erupted outward in a wide arc, freezing the earth, locking several of the shadow wielders in place. The forest crackled with the clash of opposing magic, cold biting into shadow.
For a moment, Levi thought he might still win.
Then pain exploded across his back.
A blade slid between his ribs, hot and unforgiving. Levi gasped, staggering forward as the dagger slipped from his fingers. He turned, teeth bared, but another strike followed, then another. His legs buckled.
The fog closed in.
Cloaked figures surrounded him, their voices low and sharp.
“How did he find us?”
“This place was supposed to be unreachable.”
One of them crouched, inspecting Levi with visible curiosity. “Doesn’t matter now. Take him and lock him up.”
As darkness crept into his vision, Levi’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smirk.
Good. Now he knew his plan was going smoothly.
The world dissolved into cold silence.
His body hit the ground, but he did not feel it. The fog swallowed him whole, curling around his form like a living thing as the cloaked figures closed in. Rough hands lifted him, binding him in restraints etched with sigils meant to suppress both Lycan strength and elemental magic.
“Move him quickly,” a voice ordered.
They vanished into the stone structure, the entrance sealing behind them as though it had never existed.
Deep within the Order’s base, far below layers of dark stone and ancient wards, Maya stirred.
She had been sitting in silence, knees drawn to her chest, when something shifted in the air. The oppressive weight she had grown accustomed to felt different. Lighter. Familiar.
Her breath caught.
She did not know why her heart suddenly raced, or why warmth bloomed in her chest where there had only been numbness for days. But she knew this feeling. She had felt it once before, in a different life, when she was Maya and not Eira. With Levi.
He was close. She didn't know how but she was certain he was.
Maya pressed her palm against the cold wall, her eyes glistening with something she had not allowed herself to feel in a long time.
Hope.