The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 101: The Abandoned Portal Hall

Chapter 101: The Abandoned Portal Hall

Annalise stared at the huge portal that was supposed to lead them directly to a city close to Lakeshire Town.

The four realms were connected through several portals that had existed from the very beginning. After the Primordial Realm was destroyed, the portals connecting it to the other three realms also disappeared. Something similar happened to the portals connecting the other realms to the Seelie Realm, but instead of getting destroyed, those portals got sealed along with the entire Seelie Realm.

The current working portals were between Midnight Realm, Mortal Realm, and the Seelie Empire but the last was only connected to the formers through a couple of portals that were located at different places around the empire. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single portal located in the Capital City of the Seelie Empire.

One of the portals connecting the Seelie Empire and the Midnight Realm was located in the Millerville City, the second biggest city of the Seelie Empire. The Lakeshire Town was only located at a distance of half a day’s travel from Millerville City. That’s why they were now heading directly to Millerville instead of returning to the Enchanted Forest.

Annalise felt Kenric’s presence right behind her before one of his hands moved to circle her waist while Damien moved closer to the portal.

She watched as his figure disappeared into the portal before it was her turn to move. Kenric followed her and both of them stepped inside the portal at the same time. The sensation of void greeted them for merely a second or two before they were thrown out of the portal on the other side.

Annalise found herself tumbling into the strong arms of Damien who was waiting for them on the other side of the portal. Kenric also kept his hold tight on her as he too followed her into Damien’s arms. The three of them almost ended up landing on the hard and cold floor if not for Damien who somehow handled the force properly.

By the time they all straightened, Valerius was also walking out of the portal with three horses following after him but there was no sign of her carriage. She watched as Damien and Kenric immediately moved to handle the horses while Valerius focused on closing the portal.

Meanwhile, she took a look around their surroundings. It was a huge hall filled with mostly darkness with not a single soul in sight. As far as she could tell by the state of the place, it had been abandoned for a long long time.

"Why is no one here?" She asked out loud as she turned to look back at her husbands who were now ready to leave the place.

"From what I can tell, this particular portal hadn’t been used in over five-six centuries. After the incident of the Seelie Realm, the other realms limited venturing out of their borders, and in the past few centuries, it has almost come to an end. No one likes to leave the comfort of their own realm and travel into another." Valerius answered her question as he took hold of her wrist and started walking towards the direction of the entrance of the hall.

"But shouldn’t someone be, at least, guarding the portal? How can they leave it abandoned like this?" Annalise wasn’t ready to give in yet. She was seriously astounded to see that the city’s officials had left such an important place without any security.

Valerius nodded his head as he too agreed with her point. Even though they had nothing to do with the Seelie Empire, the portals were a different story, especially when it’s one that opened directly into the Capital City of the Midnight Realm. If something or someone dangerous decided to use the portal, no one would be there to stop.

"If you want, we can send a message to His Majesty and inform him about this issue," Damien suggested as he moved to stand on her other side. It was still so new to see him talking all that much once again after all the silent treatment that he gave her in the past couple of days.

Annalise thought for a while but then shook her head while letting out a sigh. "Won’t be of much help. Not only it will take days for the message to reach the Palace but what if His Majesty questioned our presence in the Portal Hall in the first place?"

The flick that she suddenly felt on her forehead made her let out a small cry of pain before she glared at Damien in both anger and question but the man didn’t even look a little bit regretful about what he did.

"When are you going to stop thinking like mortals? A spell will easily transmit the message between both parties in less than half an hour." The man informed her and Annalise found herself arching her eyebrows in amazement. She had no idea such a spell also existed.

"As for our presence here at the Portal Hall, we can mention in the message that we were investigating the area when we stumbled upon this place and found it completely abandoned. Besides, I’m sure His Majesty is aware of the necessity of the protection of Portals, and he would surely take immediate action." The one who spoke this time was Valerius and Annalise did agree with him.

"Alright. If you all think that it’s a good idea, then let’s send a message to His Majesty. After we will receive his reply, we will decide on our next move. We can rest here for the time being." She finally made up her mind because she too was aware of how serious the matter was.

Initially, they should have confronted the City Governor about the issue first before involving His Majesty, however, they all knew that if the City Governor was really doing his job rightfully, then they would not have found the Portal Hall in its current abandoned state.