The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 208: The One who Completes Her

Chapter 208: The One who Completes Her

Annalise stared at the miniatures hanging in the middle air in the very center of the room, surrounded by a very heavy presence of dark energy that was filling the entire hologram that was carved on the floor and reaching the high ceiling.

She also immediately noticed the presence of dark spells that were working on the hologram, filling the entire air with a heaviness that made the atmosphere suffocating.

"What is going on here?" She asked out loud as her gaze remained fixed on tge hologram as if she was afraid it would disappear the moment she would look away.

She found herself stepping closer to the hologram, eventually coming to stand right next to it before she raised her hand to touch the black specks surrounding the edge of the hologram to see what sort of dark spells were working on the hologram.

However, just as her fingers were about to touch the black specks, a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her. The sudden action made her turn to look at the masked man who didn’t stop at keeping her from touching the black specks but even pulled her away from the hologram.

Annalise opened her mouth to call him out for his behavior but she wasn’t given the chance as he started speaking first, his voice coming out deeper and way more serious than ever before - "Beware of your actions. Your current body is not powerful enough to handle the dark energy, you should keep your distance from it unless I say so."

He let go of her wrist and gave her a serious look before turning away and walking toward the hologram. In the meantime, Annalise was left a little bit surprised because of his words and actions but she couldn’t deny that she felt a little bit grateful to him as she suddenly recalled her last contact with the dark energy and how badly it resulted. She should really be staying away from the dark energy.

"Why there’s so much dark energy in here and what’s this hologram?" She asked while following behind him but this time making sure to not get too close to the trap. Her eyes noticed the resemblance of the miniatures with different Seelie races which only made her warier against the hologram and its purpose.

She turned her attention to the masked man when she didn’t get any response from him and was surprised when she found him playing with the black specks at the edges of the hologram without any care in the world.

She was about to ask him why he was immune to the dark energy but the man started working first - "The dark energy is here because I’m here and this hologram..." He stopped speaking to look right into her eyes before finishing, "... it’s my gift to the people living here."

Annalise found herself stepping back and putting more distance between herself and the masked man as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just heard. She tugged on her powers, preparing them to use against the man who was clearly no good to either her or anyone else living in the city.

But still what surprised her the most was the lack of warning signals from her powers, body, and soul. It seemed like these three failed to recognize just how dangerous the masked man was.

The man tilted his head to the side as he spoke, "You don’t look too good. Everything’s alright?" Somehow, despite his eyes looking at her seriously and the softness in his tone, the words didn’t sound good to Annalise’s ears.

"Who... are you?" She didn’t like at all the way her voice cracked slightly as she asked the question. Her hands were ready to launch an attack on the man while her gaze remained fixed on him all the time.

The corners of his eyes stretched as if he was smiling and was amused by her question. He took a step closer to her which made her immediately take a step back to make sure the space between them didn’t shorten.

The man suddenly chuckled as he stopped in his tracks and waved one of his hands to dismiss some nonexistent thing before he spoke, "You can never run away from me, so don’t even try. As for who am I... I’m your other half, the one who actually completes you."

Annalise had enough of his nonsense. What she hated the most was how a part of her actually felt like believing his words which scared her to no end. Without even wasting another second, she hurled an energy ball of her powers to attach him but was left totally shocked when it just disappeared right before touching him.

The man stared back at her with a totally carefree but also amused look in his eyes which only infuriated her further as she continued to launch more attacks at him only for her powers to completely disappear right before hitting him.

After dozens of her attacks failed, she was almost drained of energy. She glared at the man as she tried to understand exactly what was going on and she found herself recalling what he told her about being her other half.

"Denying the truth won’t change it. You can try running away from reality but it won’t stop chasing you until it has trapped you right where it wants." The masked man stated as he took another step closer to her but then stopped as if changing his mind.

"Who exactly are you? And what do you want from me?" Annalise almost shouted as she was tired of hearing the same words again and again - about her running from the damned reality and so on.

"I already told you. I’m Esmeray and the one who completes you. I’m your other half and the one you are destined to be tied to for eternity. I’m the one you can never run away from. I’m the one you should trust the most... and fear the most too."