The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 149: A Parchment with Secrets

Chapter 149: A Parchment with Secrets

"They only attacked the Portal Halls in the Mortal Realm and the Seelie Empire, stole the Wish Jewels and kidnapped the guardian families." Ezra summed up something that was more or less clear to everyone at this point.

When his team and the Crown Prince’s team reached the second Portal Hall in the Mortal Realm, they found the place in a total mess. The state of the building seemed like there had been a fight and clearly, the mortals lost as no one was left behind there to tell the story.

The same condition was seen in the Portal Hall of the Seelie Empire, the only difference was the state of that place was even worse than that of the Mortal Realm’s Portal Hall. The fight there was definitely way fiercer as both parties had control over magical elements unlike the mortals. But even there, the enemy won and left nothing behind except for total destruction.

"Who can be behind these attacks?" The person who asked the question was none other than the King of the Mortal Realm.

"Forgive me for my boldness, Your Majesty, but we are the ones who should be asking this question and Your Majesty should give us some answers." Annalise decided to bring the focus of the hot topic toward none other than the King. It was time to get some answers from the royal family.

The King’s gaze moved toward Annalise and he questioned with a frown decorating his face, "Princess Annalise, what exactly are you trying to say?" He didn’t seem angry but the look in his eyes told that he was clearly not happy with the unwanted accusing attention.

Annalise didn’t faze at all, probably because she felt her husbands’ support through the bonds and knew that they were encouraging her. She looked directly into the King’s eyes as she spoke, "What I’m trying to say is that Your Majesty should know more about whatever is going on with these attacks. Didn’t you investigate the case when the first Portal Hall in the capital was attacked? What did you find back then and why did you suddenly give up on the case?"

There was a long silence following her questions and only after several minutes had passed did the King reacted. He let out a deep sigh before he signaled toward the Crown Prince who immediately left the Throne Hall.

Turning his attention back to Annalise, her husbands, and the Dragon shifters, the king spoke, "It’s true, we did investigate the case back then and later stopped the investigation when we noticed that no matter how hard we were trying, we were just unable to find out any answers."

"But we got the news that you found some sort of clue and only after that did you abruptly stopped the investigation." Annalise pressed further, not allowing the King to get away so easily.

Once again there was a long silence and it seemed like the King was in some sort of dilemma.

"Your Majesty, if there’s anything you know about these attacks, you should tell us. It’s not like you are unable to see how dangerous things are turning out to be." The one to speak this time was Ezra, the Dragon shifter looked straight into the King’s eyes and waited for the latter to speak.

The King once again let out a sigh but then finally nodded his head as he spoke, "You all are right, things are really serious now. The continuous attacks on the Portal Halls, disappearance of such powerful ancient artifacts and the guardian families... there’s definitely something really dangerous going on hidden from our sight. We can’t make the same mistake from the past and turn a blind eyes to this matter anymore."

Annalise shared a quick look with her husbands who gave her slight nods of encouragement. It finally seemed like the King was ready to reveal exactly what happened during their previous investigation.

"What did you find during your investigation, Your Majesty? What sort of clue it was?" She asked the questions and watched the King turning his attention back to her.

Right at that moment, the Crown Prince returned to the hall carrying a small wooden box that seemed to be charmed with spells. Following him was a man in long blue robes with his long black hair tied in a braid.

The man greeted the King with a deep and proper bow before repeating the same process with Annalise, her husbands, and the Dragon shifters. The Crown Prince handed the wooden box to the newcomer before he moved to settle on his seat.

"This is Alaric, the High Priest of our lands." The King introduced the man who knew again bowed slightly with a soft smile on his lips.

All the Realms and Empires in their world always had a High Priest to work alongside the Monarch. They were said to carry divine sight and had powers that connected them to the stars, moons, and different planets. The position of a High Priest was the most powerful position in a Royal Court after the King, Queen, and the Crown Prince, or Crown Princess.

"Back then during our investigation, our men found a pendant in the destroyed Portal Hall that didn’t belong there." The King told everyone as he signaled the High Priest who channeled his powers to open the wooden box and moved toward the direction where Annalise and the others were sitting.

Annalise watched as the man placed the box right in front of her and her gaze landed on the items sitting inside. There was indeed a pendent made of some black material and reeked darkness even from such a distance. Beside it was a small parchment.

"What is this?" Annalise asked the King as she carefully picked up the parchment while making sure not to tuch the pendant that was reeking of dark energy.

"The reason we stopped our investigation." The King answered, surprising everyone and making them curious about what sort of secret the parchment was holding in it.