Chapter 72 Darkness Awakens

Chapter 72 Darkness Awakens
Lara

At first, the dream felt normal.

I stood in the middle of a snowy forest surrounded by silence while white fog curled around my feet. Distant whispers echoed somewhere beyond the trees and my body moved forward slowly without understanding why.

Then I noticed them.

Men.

Tall figures dressed entirely in black standing between the trees.

They were watching me. My heartbeat quickened instantly. I couldn’t see their faces beneath the shadows of their hoods, yet somehow I knew they were staring directly at me.

One step.

That was all they took.

One synchronized step forward.

The fog thickened immediately around them.

Another step.

My breathing became uneven.

I turned around quickly only to find more figures standing behind me now. Cold terror crawled through my body.

I stumbled backward as the whispers grew louder around me. Suddenly, every single figure stopped moving.

The forest became silent again. slowly, one of them lifted his head toward me. I still couldn’t see his face. But somehow, I knew he was smiling.

I woke up gasping. My entire body jerked upright violently while panic clawed at my chest. Beside me, Elijah immediately woke up too.

“Lara?”

His voice sounded distant beneath the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. I pressed a trembling hand against my chest while trying to breathe properly again.

“It was just a dream,” I whispered quickly.

But somehow, even saying the words didn’t make me believe them. Sleep never came back after that.

Even after Elijah pulled me back down against his chest and told me it was only a nightmare, my body refused to relax completely. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those figures standing between the trees again.

Watching me.

Waiting.

Morning eventually arrived in soft shades of grey creeping through the curtains. I stared at the ceiling for a long while before finally slipping out of bed carefully so I wouldn’t wake Elijah.

Unfortunately, Elijah was a light sleeper.

“You’re awake early,” his voice came quietly from behind me.

I turned slightly to find him still lying down, though his eyes were already open.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

His gaze lingered on my face for a moment before he sat up slowly. “The dream?”

I hesitated briefly before nodding.

“It felt real.”

Elijah leaned forward, resting his arms against his knees. “You want to talk about it?”

The answer should have been yes. Instead, I found myself shaking my head. I didn’t even fully understand why the dream unsettled me so much. I had visions all my life. Strange dreams weren’t exactly unfamiliar territory for me anymore.

But this felt different somehow.

Too vivid.

Like those men weren’t just appearing randomly inside my mind. Like they were searching for me.

By the time Elijah and I headed downstairs, the house was already awake. Ron sat at the table eating while Tristan leaned lazily against the window nearby. Axel stood near the fireplace speaking quietly with one of the patrol guards.

The moment Elijah entered, the guard straightened immediately.

“The eastern route has been cleared,” he reported.

Elijah nodded once. “Anything unusual?”

The guard hesitated briefly. My stomach tightened instantly.

“We found markings near the forest edge.”

The room became quieter.

“What kind of markings?” Axel asked immediately.

The guard pulled folded paper from his coat and handed it over.

I frowned slightly while Axel unfolded it. Strange curved symbols drawn in black charcoal. A cold feeling settled heavily in my stomach the second I saw them.

Something about the markings felt… familiar.

Not because I recognized them.

Because my body did. Like some part of me reacted before my mind could.

“You’ve seen them before?” Elijah asked suddenly.

I blinked quickly. “What?”

“You’re staring.”

I looked away from the paper immediately.

“No, I just…”

The lie died in my throat because honestly, I didn’t know what to say.

Axel’s expression hardened slightly. “We found three of them carved into trees near the eastern woods.”

“Could be travelers,” Ron suggested casually.

“No,” the guard replied quickly. “These weren’t random carvings.”

The room grew tense again. I looked back toward the paper slowly. The symbols twisted together strangely almost like circles overlapping each other unevenly.

The same feeling washed over me again. I recalled the dream I had.

“Elijah,” I whispered.

His attention snapped toward me immediately.

“What is wrong? Are you okay?”

I swallowed slowly while trying to steady my breathing.

“I think…” I paused. “I think I saw something similar in the dream.”

Ron’s posture straightened slightly while Axel exchanged a brief glance with Elijah.

“What dream?” Ron asked.

“You’re sure?” Axel asked carefully.

“No,” I answered honestly. “I don’t know.”

But deep down, I did know. At least enough for fear to begin crawling beneath my skin.

Elijah took the paper from Axel slowly before studying the symbols himself.

“Send more patrols east.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

The guard left quickly afterward.

I looked toward Elijah immediately. “You think the markings mean something?”

“I am not sure but it’s looking like a pattern.”

That answer didn’t make me feel any better. The rest of the morning passed strangely after that.

Nobody openly discussed the symbols again, but the tension lingered quietly beneath every conversation. Even Ron seemed more alert than usual while Axel disappeared outside shortly afterward to inspect the eastern woods personally.

I tried convincing myself it was all harmless.

Maybe travelers really did carve random symbols into trees. Maybe the dream was simply a dream. Maybe I was overreacting because everything lately felt emotionally overwhelming.

But even as I tried reasoning with myself, the uneasy feeling refused to disappear.

By afternoon, snow began falling heavily again.

I stood near the window upstairs watching patrol guards move through the village below when I noticed Elijah speaking quietly with Axel near the entrance gates.

Tristan stepped inside carrying fresh firewood.

“You people here are turning tume to a slave.” He cried playfully but I just gave him a small smile. “You look worried,” 

“I’m not.”

He gave me a look that clearly said liar. Unfortunately, he was correct.

Tristan placed the wood down near the fireplace before glancing out the window himself.

“Elijah’s been tense since you guys razzle-dazzled your way out of the Silver Pack,” he admitted after a moment.

Tristan folded his arms loosely. “He probably thinks Alpha Jacob’s planning something.”

“He is planning something.”

Tristan glanced toward me briefly. “Yeah.”



Ma Prudy

“No.”

Maria sighed heavily from across the room. “Ma Prudy?”

Ma Prudy gripped the edge of the table tighter while staring at the symbols sketched across the paper before her.

Max remained unusually quiet near the window while Maria watched her carefully.

“She has probably seen them already,” Maria said softly.

Ma Prudy closed her eyes tiredly. She knew this day would come eventually. She just hoped it would happen much later.

“They found the symbols near Moonlight territory,” Max finally spoke. “That cannot be a coincidence.”

“No,” Ma Prudy whispered. “It isn’t.”

Ma Prudy looked back down at the paper again and felt cold dread settle heavily inside her chest.

The symbols only meant one thing.

And if they had truly appeared again after all these years…

Then, Korvus was no longer hiding.