Chapter 72
Julian's POV
Atop the cliff, the wind cut like knives.
I sat cross-legged on the rock, Zachary standing behind me with his hands hovering near my shoulders, fingertips wreathed in pale blue light—the ritual to break the seal.
I could feel that long-suppressed power within me beginning to stir, like a beast at the bottom of a frozen lake slowly opening its eyes. But the sounds from below the cliff made it impossible to remain calm.
Explosions, battle cries, the snarls of tearing flesh—each one scraped across my nerves like a dull blade.
My people were fighting down there. My father and mother were down there. My homeland was down there. And her—Ella—that damned, stubborn woman I couldn't ignore was battling on that field.
I could picture her drenched in blood. I could picture her falling.
"Your Highness." Zachary's voice carried a note of warning. "Your mental flow is disrupted."
I took a deep breath, trying to banish those images from my mind. But then came another massive explosion, as if something had shattered, making the entire cliff tremble.
My fingers clenched involuntarily, nails digging into my palms.
"Your Highness!" Zachary's tone grew urgent. "At this rate, I can't complete the ritual!"
"I know." I ground out through clenched teeth, my voice full of suppressed agitation. "But I can't—"
"Do you think the only ones fighting desperately down there are people you care about?" Zachary suddenly interrupted me. "My brothers are fighting too! My young mistress—that girl who has nothing to do with Silver Moon, who was even enslaved by your pack—is now fighting for a homeland that isn't hers! If you truly care about them, Your Highness, the most important thing right now is to cooperate with me to break this seal, not lose your composure here!"
I froze.
Zachary's words struck like a slap across my face. He was always taciturn and respectful, restraining his emotions like all well-trained warriors. But at this moment, his voice was filled with urgency and anger—concern for his companions, dissatisfaction with me, helplessness about the situation.
I closed my eyes, forcing myself to suppress all distracting thoughts.
He was right. My mental chaos here served no purpose except to drag everyone down.
"I'm sorry." I said quietly. "Continue."
Zachary didn't respond, only returned his hands to my shoulders. The pale blue light flared again, more stable this time, flowing into my body like a tide.
I felt that suppressed power within me begin to loosen, like an undercurrent gradually breaking through the ice.
I let my consciousness sink into the depths of my mind, arriving at that familiar realm—a frozen wasteland of ice and snow.
The snowfield stretched endlessly, the sky a dull gray with no sun or stars. Howling winds swept past, whipping up swirling snow. In the center of this desolate world stood a massive block of ice, three stories tall, crystal clear and refracting pale blue light.
Frozen within the ice was Sage.
He maintained his wolf form, his massive body curled into a ball, his silver-white fur covered in a layer of frost. Thick chains extended from all directions, binding him firmly in the center of the ice block, their ends buried deep in the snow like roots spreading outward.
I walked to the ice block and placed my hand on its cold surface.
"Old friend." I said softly. "It's been a while."
Sage didn't respond. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and steady, as if he'd fallen into eternal slumber.
"I know you can hear me." I continued. "Even sealed away, you never truly left me."
I paused, memories of our battles together flooding my mind—on training grounds, on battlefields, in countless moments when I needed him.
Sage never spoke much, but his very existence was strength, was support, was one of the reasons I could keep going.
"I miss those days." I said quietly. "I miss fighting alongside you. Our people need us now, Sage. They need our strength. They need us to stand and protect them."
The Sage in the ice block still didn't move, but I could feel him listening.
"You were right." I smiled bitterly. "I've been deceiving myself. About that slave—about Ella—my feelings are different. I don't know what it is. Maybe pity, maybe guilt, maybe something else. But I know that when I first saw her carefully dressed, standing in my chamber, when I realized she was more than just a lowly servant, my heartbeat faltered."
I looked up at Sage's closed eyes within the ice.
"She's special, Sage. She has a wolf spirit with a particularly fierce temperament, called Ignis. I think you'd like her—though her temper isn't great, she's brave and resilient, just like her master."
The moment I finished speaking, the entire snowfield suddenly began to tremble.
I quickly stepped back, watching as the chains began to shake, emitting a harsh metallic grinding sound. Cracks spread from the chain connections like spiderwebs. The next second, all the chains shattered simultaneously, transforming into countless fragments scattered across the snow.
Then the surface of the ice block containing Sage also began to crack.
More and more cracks appeared, denser and denser, until the entire ice block exploded with a thunderous roar.