Leo's eyes snapped open to find five faces looming over him, their expressions tight with expectation.
"And?" Arthur asked.
"She's been captured," Leo said, pushing himself upright. "In a castle northwest of the Northern Kingdom."
"I know that place," Boris said, thumb running along his jawline. "We've never set foot there, but I've heard the name in passing. They talk about it… like it's a place you don't return from."
"Do you know where it is?" Leo asked.
Boris gave a single nod. "I can point it out on a map."
Arthur glanced sideways at Leo. "Do you want to save her?"
"She might have valuable information," Leo replied.
"Can we trust her?"
"Absolutely not," Leo said, tone flat as stone. "Once we get what we need, we may have to kill her. She's at least an A2, maybe A3 vampire. Underestimating her would be a mistake."
Arthur's mouth tightened. "We'll be ready."
Arthur dispelled the protective shield with a flick of his hand. The shimmering barrier bled away into nothing, revealing the room beyond. Navera was already moving, speaking quickly to her people, steadying their nerves.
At Boris's table, maps and scraps of parchment were spread out like a battlefield in miniature. Boris leaned over them, pointing out paths, settlements, and the rough location of vampire outposts. His voice was steady, but each mention of their enemies carried a faint edge. The planning stretched into hours, candles burning low as notes were scribbled and details debated.
On the other side of the room, Briva and Elna had gravitated to Navera, their voices low at first, then warmer, sharing small laughs as if they'd been allies for years.
Leo stayed with Arthur and Boris, scanning the map, committing every detail to memory.
"This is all we have," Boris said at last, tapping the final mark into the parchment.
Arthur nodded. "Thank you."
Leo straightened in his seat. "By the way, sorry about the attack earlier."
Boris smirked faintly. "Don't worry about it. But you know… you could have just walked in. Would've saved you a lot of trouble."
"We didn't know you wanted him dead too," Leo said evenly. "For all we knew, you could've been on his side."
Boris's smile faded into something more sober. "You're not wrong."
From there, the conversation loosened, drifting to more casual talk before the four of them finally stepped back into the evening air.
"Can we trust them?" Briva asked once they were away from camp.
"I can usually tell by their heartbeat," Leo said. "But they're vampires. They can still their pulse for as long as they want."
"They're probably being honest," Arthur said quietly.
Three heads turned toward him.
"How do you know?" Elna asked.
"I used a divination spell," Arthur said. "It tells me whether the information I've been given will lead to the outcome I want."
"When did you cast that? And why 'probably'?"
"When I set up the shield," Arthur replied. "And I say 'probably' because divination's never absolute. It's a web of possibilities, not a guarantee."
"I thought divination was just for predicting the future," Briva said.
"It is. But the truth isn't always tied to the outcome," Arthur said. "It's… indirect."
"That's a complicated way to use a spell," Briva muttered.
No one spoke after that. The only sounds were their boots on the packed dirt and the wind moving through the empty road. The thought of their next destination weighed heavier than the silence.
The Shadowlands. Even speaking the name aloud could leech the warmth from a man's voice. It was a place of horrors—where the air itself was said to whisper, and the dead walked without chains. And soon, they would be walking straight into it.
…
Near midnight, Leo sat on the balcony of his room, one elbow resting on the railing as he stared out at the view. Half the horizon was swallowed by the black silhouette of the mountain, the other half scattered with cold, bright stars.
"You can't sleep?" Elna's voice came from the balcony next to his.
Their rooms were close—close enough for her voice to carry without effort.
Leo shook his head. "Thinking about where we're headed… it's hard to sleep."
Elna leaned against her own railing, her face faintly lit by starlight. "Don't worry. We'll be fine."
"The enemy is stronger than anything we've faced," he said quietly. "But I'll protect you."
Her lips curved. "Hey, I'm not that fragile."
That earned a small smile from him. He pointed to the empty chair beside him. "Come here."
There was a low wall between the balconies, but Elna simply stepped into shadow and slipped through it as if it weren't there. She took the seat beside him, close enough that their shoulders almost brushed.
For a moment, they just listened—to the faint wind over the rooftops, to each other's breathing.
"You always do that," Leo said.
"Do what?"
"Hide how worried you are. You smile, crack a joke… but I see it."
She glanced at him. "And you hide how scared you are. You act like you've got it all under control, but I can hear it in your voice."
He gave a short laugh. "So we're both liars, then."
"Guess so." Her eyes held his for a moment longer than before.
"Still," he said softly, "I'm glad you're here."
Elna tilted her head, her voice dropping. "And I'm glad you're here. I don't think I'd… feel as safe without you."
His gaze lingered on her, the starlight catching in her eyes. The air between them felt warmer, quieter, as if the rest of the world had pulled away.
Neither of them moved at first, but then Elna leaned in just slightly, testing the space between them. Leo met her halfway, his hand brushing against hers on the armrest.
And in the hush of the mountain night, they kissed—slowly, without hurry, as if time had stopped just for them.
By the end of it, they were both smiling.
Leo held her gaze. "Elna… would you be my girlfriend?"
"I think we're past that," she teased.
"Yes, but I want the world to know it."
Her smile widened. "Of course I will."
The air between them grew warmer. They kissed again—slow, lingering. Neither spoke, neither pulled away. The rest of the night seemed to fade until there was only the two of them.
They spent that night together. When the balcony stood empty, the stars kept their silent watch.
…
The next morning, Leo and Elna descended the wooden stairs, their fingers intertwined. The sunlight filtering through the windows caught on their joined hands, making the gesture impossible to miss.
When they reached the main hall and spotted Briva lounging comfortably on Arthur's lap, both of them froze mid-step, eyes going wide in surprise.
Briva noticed instantly. A slow, knowing grin spread across her face as she tilted her head toward them. "Finally," she said, her tone half-tease, half-triumph. "You did it."
Elna stopped short, her face flushing a warm shade of pink that quickly deepened. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" she blurted. "How long have you two been… together?"
Briva stood, brushing imaginary dust from her trousers before strolling toward the kitchen with a casual sway. "For a while," she said over her shoulder. "Unlike you, we're honest about it. And why didn't you tell me?"
Elna crossed her arms, trying to sound composed but failing. "It happened last night," she said, the words a little too quick. "What, did you expect me to come barging in during—" She stopped mid-sentence, realizing where she was going, and her blush flared so brightly it was almost comical.
Leo leaned back in his chair, watching the exchange with a small, amused smile tugging at his lips, clearly enjoying the way Elna struggled to keep her composure.
Arthur, still seated, gave Leo a mischievous smirk. "Now that you're a man, I should buy you a drink."
Leo's own smirk widened. "And I should've bought you one a while ago, it seems. But I'm still a few months away from eighteen."
Arthur's brows shot up. "What? But you drank when we celebrated killing the kraken."
Leo shrugged, leaning an elbow on the table. "That was a pirate celebration. Have you ever seen a pirate who actually cares about rules?"
Arthur opened his mouth, then closed it again, momentarily at a loss for words. He stared at Leo in silence for several seconds before finally muttering, "I'm not buying you a drink." He cleared his throat, shifting back to business. "Anyway, we should head toward the Northern Kingdom today."
Briva's voice drifted in from the kitchen. "So soon?"
"The sooner the better," Arthur replied, his tone firm. "We don't know how much time we have." He turned his gaze to Leo. "How's your domain shaping?"
Leo straightened in his seat, his expression turning more focused. "It's coming along. I'm working on bringing it completely under control." Of course he was talking about his new transformation or domain summon which Arthur didn't know.
Arthur gave a small nod of approval. "Don't rush it. We may be short on time, but shaping a domain is tricky business. Push too hard, and it can collapse in on itself, pulling you down with it."
Leo returned the nod, acknowledging the advice.
After breakfast, the group began gathering their gear. The clatter of weapons being strapped on and bags being buckled filled the room as the easy morning banter gave way to the quiet focus of travelers preparing for a dangerous road.
…
In Aclisa, the gleaming capital of the Kingdom of Magic, the air inside the High Council chamber was heavy with power and expectation. This was no ordinary gathering—meetings between the high rankers and the archmages who controlled the kingdom were rare, summoned only when the realm itself faced turning points.
At the center of the great stone chamber, Bernal Galvan—the strongest mage in the kingdom and a man whose presence seemed to bend the air—lifted one calloused hand. The low murmurs of discussion died instantly. Every gaze turned toward him.
"As I told you before," Bernal began, his deep voice carrying easily in the circular hall, "the Kingdom of the North is moving to take action in the Light Kingdom. The king there is sick, and we all know the arrogance of that young prince. So again, I suggest we send a group to aid the Light Kingdom. And I hope," his sharp eyes scanned the room, "that you make the right choice this time."
Bernal stood on a raised dais in the middle of the chamber, the polished surface beneath his boots catching the glow of enchanted lanterns. Around him, tiered rows of stone chairs curved in a perfect circle, each one occupied by a robed archmage. The outermost ring was darker, where three taller, ornate seats—each carved with intricate sigils—were reserved for the kingdom's three S-rank mages.
"We can still let them tear each other apart, Bernal, and act afterward," came a cool, measured voice from one of those seats. Oswald, the S-rank necromancer, lounged with a faint, knowing smile. His eyes glimmered like chips of obsidian under the hood of his dark robe.
Bernal's expression hardened, but before he could reply, another voice cut in. "And what will you do about the Shadow Circle, Oswald? What about the orcs? Or the Shadowlands?" The speaker, Alexia, leaned forward in her seat. "The vampires breached our capital just months ago. We are not as powerful as we think. For the greater threats, we need other kingdoms at our side."
A ripple of unease moved through the room at her words. A few archmages exchanged glances, some shifting uncomfortably.
Bernal took a slow breath, then raised his voice again. "You all have the information. Now it is time to vote. Those who agree that we aid the Light Kingdom—raise your hands."
One by one, hands went up—first cautiously, then in greater numbers, until more than half the hall had voted in favor.
Bernal nodded once, sharply, then brought his palm down against the table with a solid crack. "It is decided. We will send a group to the Light Kingdom. The details will be decided by the council."
The room seemed to exhale as the decision settled in, though not all faces were pleased.