Chapter 73 What was erased?

Chapter 73 What was erased?
My heart almost stopped.
“Kael… it’s me. Maya.” I spoke slowly, trying to keep my voice steady, even with my trembling hands.
He stared at me as if he were seeing a stranger. His eyes were too wide open, too empty. The black scar on his face pulsed slightly, alive, as if breathing along with him.
“Who… who are you?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
I felt breathless.
Conrad knelt beside me immediately.
“Kael, it’s me. Conrad.” I said carefully. “You’re in the castle. You’re safe.”
Kael frowned, confused.
“Castle?” he repeated. “I… I was running. Someone was after me.”
The caretaker, still trembling, stepped forward.
“He fell in the hallway suddenly. Before that, he seemed scared… as if he were running from something.”
My chest burned.
It wasn't just loss of consciousness.
It was memory loss.
“What do you remember, Kael?” I asked, gently holding his face.
He closed his eyes tightly, as if it hurt.
“Light… books… symbols.” He murmured. “I discovered something. Something that couldn't be read.”
Conrad and I exchanged a quick glance.
“The erasers.” Conrad said softly.
Kael nodded slowly.
“They came to silence me.” His breathing became irregular. “But… someone pulled me out. I didn't see their face. I only felt it.”
“Then someone saved you.” I murmured.
“Saved my body.” He finished. “But took the rest.”
The mark on my chest pulsed strongly. Not in pain, but in recognition.
“Black magic didn't kill you.” I said. “It erased you.”
Conrad clenched his fists.
“They didn’t want you to die,” I said. “They wanted you to forget.”
Kael looked at me again, lost.
“Do I trust you?” he asked, almost in a whisper.
That broke me inside.
I held his hand tightly.
“Yes,” I replied. “And we won’t abandon you.”
Conrad nodded.
“We’ll help you remember. One step at a time.”
Kael took a deep breath, exhausted, leaning on both of us.
At that moment, I understood something with frightening clarity:
The erasers weren’t just destroying lives.
They were rewriting the world.
And now, Kael was living proof that some truths were too dangerous to remain whole.

The council hall was full when we arrived.
The torches attached to the walls cast long shadows on the alphas' faces, distorting expressions and making everything more tense than it already was. Kael walked between Conrad and me, leaning on both of us. He still seemed lost, like someone who had woken up in a place they didn't recognize.
As soon as we entered, the murmuring began.
"He shouldn't be here," murmured one of the older alphas.
"If he was attacked, we need to know how," said another, more cautiously.
Conrad led Kael to the center of the hall.
"He was attacked inside the castle," he announced, his voice firm. "By dark magic."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Solange rose slowly from her seat, elegant and composed as always.
"Before we jump to conclusions," she began, "we need to remember that Kael has just awakened from a severe trauma. Confusion, delusions, and false memories are common."
I felt my stomach churn. “He’s not delirious,” I retorted. “The mark on his face is erasure magic. I felt it.”
Steven, one of the most influential alphas, crossed his arms.
“Feeling isn’t the same as proving, Maya,” he said, in an almost overly patient tone. “Kael always had an… intense imagination. Maybe he exposed himself to something he didn’t understand.”
Kael frowned.
“I know what I saw,” he said hesitantly, but trying to remain firm. “Or rather… I know I saw something important. Something someone didn’t want me to know.”
“But you don’t remember what it was,” Solange pointed out softly. “That puts us in a delicate position.”
"Delicate for whom?" Conrad retorted, stepping forward. "For the council or for whoever tried to kill him?"
Some alphas shifted uncomfortably.
"No one here is saying he lied," Steven reassured. "Just that we can't accuse invisible enemies without proof."
The mark on my chest burned.
"The erasers aren't invisible," I said, controlling my voice. "They're convenient. They always appear when someone gets too close to the truth."
Solange stared at me with calculated attention.
"Or when someone confuses curiosity with responsibility," she replied. "Kael may have crossed a line."
"What lines?" I asked. "The line of knowing too much?"
Kael was breathing heavily now. I squeezed his hand.
"They came to me," he said, his voice lower. "I didn't seek them out."
The hall was once again filled with murmurs.
Solange sat down slowly.
"Until we have clarity," she concluded, "this council suggests caution. No accusations. No fanfare. The kingdom is already too unstable."
Conrad looked around, assessing each face.
"Then know one thing," he said. "If Kael has been silenced by something he discovered, I will not allow that silence to spread."
We left the hall with the weight of many stares on our backs.
They hadn't declared war.
But they weren't on our side either.
And, at that moment, I was certain that Kael had come too close to a truth that the council preferred to keep hidden.
The doors closed behind us with a hollow sound, too definitive to be just wood against stone.
Kael was breathing heavily. His eyes scanned the corridors as if searching for something he knew he had lost, but couldn't name.
“They don’t believe me,” he murmured, more as an observation than a complaint.
“They do believe me,” I replied. “They just don’t want to deal with what that means.”
Conrad walked ahead, his fists clenched. The anger in him was contained, dangerous. Not the impulsive fury of a young wolf, but that of a king beginning to understand the extent of the rot growing beneath his own throne.
“My mother is buying time,” he said finally. “Time to reorganize the council. Time to control the narrative.”
“Or to find out what Kael saw,” I added.
Conrad stopped abruptly and turned to me.
“They won’t get to him,” he stated. “Not while I breathe.”
Kael let out a weak, almost humorless laugh.
“Funny,” I said. “I feel like someone saved me. I remember the pain… the darkness… but I also remember hands pulling me back. Someone didn’t want me to die.”
My heart tightened.
“So that person is still in the castle,” I murmured. “And in as much danger as you are.”
We walked down a less crowded corridor. The torches there burned low, casting irregular shadows on the walls.
“Until your memory returns,” I said, looking at Kael, “we will protect you. And we will find out what tried to kill you.”
“And if my memory doesn’t return?” he asked.
Conrad placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Then we rebuild everything,” he said. “Step by step. Truth by truth.”
The mark on my chest pulsed again, strong enough to take my breath away.
It wasn’t just a warning.
It was a call.
The attack on Kael hadn’t been a mistake. Nor a test.
It was a message.
And, whether we liked it or not, it had been sent directly to the heart of the kingdom.