The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 212: The Secret Sanctuary

Chapter 212: The Secret Sanctuary

Annalise took a step through the entrance after Pristine passed through it and found herself stepping on the other side which turned out to be a circular but very spacious room. There were couches, tables, shelves with books, showpieces, and even a fireplace built inside.

Her gaze found the spiral staircase that was leading upstairs to a single room that looked like a bedroom. The place appeared so comfy but also too magical considering it was inside a tree trunk that wasn’t even half the size of the rooms.

"Pristine, exactly who created this castle?" She couldn’t help herself from asking. After all the magical surprises she had been seeing around the castle, she could hardly wait to find out about the person who built the castle in the first place. The only thing that she could predict about the original owner of the castle was that the person was very powerful magically, like really really powerful and that they had a really creative mind to come up with such ideas.

There was no answer to her question for a long while and to be fair, Annalise wasn’t expecting one from the very beginning. That’s why she was left completely surprised when the fairy finally answered - "This place belongs to no one else but the Immortal Light Fae Queen."

To say that she was left completely shocked to her very core would be nothing but a complete understatement as Annalise could hardly believe what she just heard. She turned to face the fairy and asked, "Are you serious?"

A sad smile stretched the corners of Pristine’s lips as she answered, "I’m very much serious, Annalise. This castle was created by none other than Her Majesty, the Immortal Light Fae Queen during her coronation."

Annalise studied Pristine for a while before she asked, "Didn’t you say that you are just a garden fairy, then how come you know about all this? Have you been taking care of this castle from the very beginning?" Her curiosity was obviously at its very peak.

The fairy chuckled softly as she shook her head before answering, "I’m nothing but a mere garden fairy, Annalise, I can’t even dream about leaving for so long let alone actually living for such a long time."

"Then?" Annalise didn’t give up as she very much needed those answers. At the same time, she did understand that Pristine was actually speaking the truth considering her magical essence was that of a garden fairy and logically, a garden fairy could live for a thousand or so years for the most and even that was a rare case.

The fairy let out a deep sigh before she took a seat on the armchair next to the cold fireplace and answered, "I have been looking after this place only for the past twelve hundred years. The only reason I know about the secrets and history of this place is that my ancestors were the ones who were assigned the task of keeping the castle always in full bloom and the rest I got to know from tge guardian."

"Guardian?" Annalise actually wanted to know more about Pristine and her ancestors but after the mention of the guardian, she found herself asking about them.

"Yes, Annalise, this castle has a guardian, the one who was assigned with the task of keeping this place well protected by the Light Queen," Pristine added more information.

"Where are they now?" Annalise asked hurriedly as she was almost reaching the very edge of her curiosity that was burning throughout her entire body.

Once again, Pristine remained silent for a couple of minutes which only build the anxiety swirling inside Annalise’s body. Only when certain long moments had passed did the fairy decide to speak but it was not what Annalise was waiting to hear.

Instead of an answer, the fairy responded with a question of her own - "A couple of days ago, you ended up finding out about the secret of the first room on the top floor of the castle. Didn’t you check the second room?"

Since Annalise wasn’t expecting to be asked such a question, it took her rain some precious moments to find out how to answer. She slowly shook her head in negative but still answered with words, "I... I didn’t."

"Then maybe you should take a look at that room too. That’s where the guardian of this castle has locked himself for the past ten thousand years." Pristine provided the information with a small but sad smile on her lips.

"Ten thousand years..." As Annalise thought about it, ten thousand years marked the day when the great tragedy happened and the entire Seelie Realm came to an end along with the Light Fae Queen.

"If he has locked himself, how did you meet him?" She asked next as more questions filled her mind.

"Every time a new guardian fairy took over the job, she had to report to him at least once. So when I first took over the job, I got to meet him and that was exactly when he gave me some back story on the castle and the secrets lying hidden in here that I needed to know about." Pristine answered.

Not being able to take any more of the information that she kept receiving, Annalise decided to take some precious moments of rest as she also took a seat on one of the couches. She was busy contemplating whether she should even be thinking about meeting that so-called guardian or not.

After thinking for a while, she asked the one question that she wanted to know about the most - "Do you know about the secret magical sphere in the first room on the top floor?" Her eyes were fixed on the fairy as she waited for later to answer.

Much to her relief, Pristine responded to her question with a positive nod. "Yes, Annalise. I am very much aware of the secret laying hidden in that room. The magical city where several Seelie races have been living in secrecy for the past ten thousand years."