"Well, soon enough, the thing monitoring revealed itself and it turned out to be humanoid." Damien continued his storytelling to Arielle. "When it spoke, the voice sounded feminine so I concluded it was a female."
"When I summoned Cerbe to my side for protection, it was quickly brought under her control after a few words from her mouth."
Damien leaned back slightly, watching as Arielle absorbed everything he had just told her. She had listened without interrupting, but now her brows were furrowed in deep thought.
"You're telling ," she started slowly, "that sothing—soone—took control of your summons?"
Damien nodded. "Yeah. And not just any summons. She took control of Fenrir, Cerbe, and the others like it was nothing."
Arielle's frown deepened. "That shouldn't be possible. Your pact makes it so that only you can command them. That's how summoning magic works."
Damien exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Exactly. Which is why I still don't understand how it happened."
Arielle stared at him for a long mont, processing the information. She wasn't a summoner herself, but she had seen enough to know that Damien's bond with his creatures was absolute. The idea that soone could simply override it was terrifying.
"Did she use so kind of magic?" Arielle asked.
"I don't know," Damien admitted. "She never showed herself. Only her voice reached , and the next thing I knew, my own summons were trying to kill ."
Arielle's fingers tightened against her arms. "And how did you survive?"
Damien sighed. "That's the weird part. I didn't."
Arielle's breath caught slightly. "What do you an?"
"One mont, I was being hunted down by my own summons," Damien said, his voice calm but steady. "And then the next, I just… woke up. In an open field. Like none of it had ever happened."
Arielle's confusion deepened. "That—" she stopped mid-sentence, realization dawning on her.
She straightened slightly, narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait. That ans…"
Damien nodded before she could finish. "It was a dream."
Arielle exhaled sharply. "A dream."
"But not just any dream," Damien clarified. "It felt too real, Arielle. I could feel my summons. The pain of their attacks. The air, the ground beneath my feet, even my own exhaustion. It wasn't like any dream I've ever had before."
Arielle crossed her arms, still looking unconvinced. "But in the end, you woke up, right? If she really wanted to kill you, wouldn't she have done it?"
Damien leaned forward slightly, his silver eyes flickering with sothing unreadable. "That's what bothers the most. She had full control over . Over my summons. But instead of finishing off, I was just… thrown away. Dropped in the middle of nowhere, far from Westmont."
Arielle shook her head, clearly unsettled. "You're saying she let you live on purpose?"
Damien hesitated before answering. "I don't know if 'letting live' was her goal. But if she had the power to completely override my summons, then yeah, she could've killed easily. And she didn't."
Arielle looked away for a mont, deep in thought. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter. "That's not normal, Damien. Whatever this thing was… whatever she was, she wasn't just a normal entity. And if she can interfere with your summons…"
She trailed off.
Damien didn't say anything. He didn't have to.
They both knew that sothing capable of manipulating his summons, even for a mont, was sothing far beyond what they could deal with right now.
After a long silence, Arielle sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Alright. Let's set that aside for now. Even if it was a dream, it doesn't explain how you woke up in a completely different place."
"Exactly," Damien muttered. "That's the part I still don't get."
Arielle shook her head. "No traces of teleportation?"
"None," Damien confird. "No essence trails, no fluctuation of mana, nothing."
Arielle sighed. "So, sohow, you just… appeared in an open field?"
Damien nodded.
Arielle rubbed her forehead. "That's insane. No magic works like that. Not even teleportation arrays erase their traces completely. Soone would have had to physically move you."
Damien shrugged. "That's the conclusion I reached, too. But who—or what—moved ? I have no clue."
Arielle was silent for a mont before waving her hand in frustration. "Fine. What happened after that?"
Damien exhaled and continued. He told her about wandering through the field, about fighting an underwater creature, and about helping a girl he barely knew.
However, he carefully left out the details of her holand and what he had learned there.
Queen Lareen had asked for secrecy, and Damien wasn't about to break that promise.
Arielle listened closely, occasionally nodding but never interrupting.
Then, he got to the part where he had finally reached the city from which he would teleport back to Westmont.
He ntioned how he had arrived just in ti for the lockdown.
And that was when Arielle's entire body language shifted.
Her arms stiffened, and her eyes widened just slightly—a barely noticeable flicker of recognition.
Damien caught it imdiately.
She knew sothing.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You reacted just now."
Arielle hesitated, then sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just…"
She paused, choosing her next words carefully.
"That lockdown," she muttered. "I think I might know what it was about."
Damien frowned. "Go on."
Arielle exhaled. "I heard a rumor. Sothing about a group of investigators sent to search for soone. Soone important."
Damien's frown deepened. "Investigators? From where?"
"Not from Westmont, that's for sure," Arielle muttered. "I don't know who exactly, but they were from sowhere big. The lockdown was supposed to help them find their target."
Damien's mind clicked pieces together instantly.
A group of high-ranking individuals from another region. A citywide lockdown. And then the guard at the gate, the way he reacted when Damien showed his ID.
Damien's voice was calm, but sharp. "Arielle. Who were they looking for?"
Arielle hesitated. "I don't know for sure, but…"
Damien's gaze darkened. "Say it."
Arielle sighed. "They were looking for soone nad Damien."
The room fell silent.
Damien's fingers curled slightly against his knee.
"Then it wasn't a coincidence," he murmured.
Arielle looked at him carefully. "No. It wasn't."
Damien leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. His mind was racing, considering all possibilities.
"That ans soone knew my whereabouts," he muttered. "Soone wanted found."
Arielle frowned. "Or killed."
Damien let out a breath, shaking his head. "Yeah. That, too."
Another silence stretched between them.
Arielle finally sighed, standing up. "You always find yourself in the worst possible situations, huh?"
Damien smirked. "You're acting like this is news to you."
Arielle rolled her eyes. "Fine. But what now? Are you gonna ignore this or investigate?"
Damien leaned back against the headboard. "I don't know yet."
Arielle stared at him for a long mont before shaking her head. "Whatever you do, just don't disappear again."
Damien chuckled. "No promises."
Arielle punched his arm.
He winced. "Ow."
"Good." She turned toward the door. "Eat your food before it gets cold."
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