The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 236: Finding Help from the Unknown

Chapter 236: Finding Help from the Unknown

The next couple of days went by as things became normal once again, or as normal as they could ever be amidst the insanity going around in their world.

Annalise spent most of her time either with her staff to take care of the castle or in the library as she read through as many books and scrolls as possible, learning hundreds of new spells and information about things related to the four realms. It seemed like the more she explored through the library, the more there was for her to learn.

She even attended her first weaponry class at the end of the last week where Kaito taught her how to aim a dagger at her opponent in the best way possible while using her body and height as an advantage.

She also had another combat training session with Damien early this following week and it was just as bad and painful as the first one, she ended up sprawled on the ground through the two-hours long torture. At this point, she heated the combat training the most among all three.

Ezra, Elijah, Leela, and Marley also departed for the Sky Castle nearly a week ago and so far there had been no good news from their side as they had been unable to find anything useful about the man who stole the Wish Jewels.

On the other hand, Valerius had been spending his entire time looking into the Portal Hall incidents to dig up something that would give them some answers or at least a lead to search for more.

She had also been thinking of ways to help in his investigation but her options were limited. She did try a couple of times to summon the Little Snow Lion but it was of barely any use as the beast refused to listen to her command. It was either she didn’t know how to use her master’s status in tge proper manner or the little snow was not one of those beasts who would go around listening to their master’s every command.

Other than that, she also thought about confronting the King to ask him about what he knew of the Portal Hall incident in Millerville City considering he was the one incharge of the investigation team back then but when she told Valerius about her plan, she found out that it wa also a dead end as he had already talked with the King and it seemed like nothing useful came out from their conversation as the King and the investigation team didn’t find anything useful during their investigation and was told to stop the investigation by the late King all of a sudden without any proper explanation other than the words that he, the late king, would take care of it on his own.

Now, they seemed to be standing at the dead end of an alley that was an important point of their route to their destination. If they even needed to take a different route to get to their destination, they still had no idea what route to take.

That’s why, after a lot of thinking, she decided to do something really stupid, one that she would probably end up regretting if things went completely different from what she had in mind.

Knowing that her connections would be cut off from the dark lords as soon as she would enter the room, she had prepared a note to leave with Sera to hand over to her husbands as soon as they would come searching for her. She didn’t want them to worry too much even though her decision was really worrisome considering what happened the last time she stepped inside this particular room.

Taking in a deep breath, she pushed her palms against the wooden door and felt the wards giving way almost immediately. The doors flung open and she was met with the same bright light that blinded her the previous time, it was just as blinding as it was back then.

Pushing past the magical barriers, she stepped inside the room and felt herself landing on the familiar land of a magical sphere with the hidden secret city of Seelies. Her eyes took in the greenery and beauty of the place before she turned them to the tall trees standing nearby.

She was still taking in the view before stepping past the illusion ward when she noticed a sudden movement next to her. As she turned to fully face the shimmering black light that shone brightly all of a sudden, she wa taken aback when a person appeared out of it without any warning.

Her hands curled into fists as she was ready to launch an attack on the uninvited guest but her entire body came to a standstill when she recognized him, he wa the same masked man whom she met during her last visit to this place.

"How..." She tried to speak but her throat was suddenly too dry for her to muster out a single word.

"How did I know you are coming here?" The man asked in his usual raspy and deep voice as he stepped slightly closer to her, almost tempting Annalise to take a step back to maintain as much space between them as possible. Still, she remained rooted to her place without making any sort of movement and thankfully, the man stopped right after taking a single step in her direction.

He remained silent for a while as if studying her from behind his mask, his dark eyes raking over her from head to toe before following the same path back to her face. Once, he was finally done, he answered her unasked question - "I know everything about you. Didn’t I make it obvious during our first meeting?"

His words didn’t sound pleasing to her ears at all but there was hardly anything she could do about that. This masked man - he was still one of the biggest mysteries in her life, one that had no trace of answers anywhere.

When she asked Sir Nile and Silas about this masked man, both of them told her that neither of them had ever known anyone like this mysterious person. They even had a ledger that carried the name and other information about every single person living in the Secret City, whether the original ones or the ones who were born in the city in the past ten thousand years, but there was no mention of any person who first the description of the masked man which made his presence in the Secret City even more of a concern.

"I’m here in search of some answers." She finally found her voice to muster out the words that she kept practicing in her head ever since this morning when the idea first struck her. For some word reason, she had a feeling that this man could help her if she succeeded in getting a bargain from him.

The man tilted his head to tge side as if he was both surprised and amused by her words. "From whom? Me?" He was undoubtedly mocking her, his words and tone made it pretty clear. She might indeed be stupid for thinking that someone like him would be able to help her but this was her instinct telling her that despite the weirdness of the situation, it was actually true. Her instincts had never failed her so far, so she was ready to take a risk this time.

"Yes." She responded in a calm and determined tone as she stared at the man while trying her best to appear as calm and serious as she could muster. She couldn’t let him see just how much he affected her, as it would only end up doing no good to her. "I know that you can help me with what I want to know."

The masked man chuckled or the one known as Esme, that was how he introduced himself during their last visit. "You are such an interesting person. What made you so sure that I will help you."

There - despite his mockery, he didn’t deny that he could help her which only made her more confident in her instinctive feeling for seeking his help. And now, she even felt like he was very well aware of just exactly what she was looking for from him.

"Didn’t you say that we are each other’s halves?" She spoke while reminding him of his own words that he filtered inside her head but she didn’t get to finish as the man spoke up - "And you think that’s enough to make me help you?"

Though his words were more than discouraging, Annalise wasn’t ready to give up on it just yet. She was ready to try her very best till the every end. "Since I’m your other half..." She spoke while taking a step toward him, surprising both herself and him if his body movement was to be taken into account.

"... I’m undoubtedly the most important person in your life. I’m sure you will help me no matter what you say."