The carriage gradually slowed as the terrain began to change, the once stable path giving way to a more uneven trail, surrounded by twisted trees and vegetation that seed to have been drained of any natural vitality. The air had also changed—colder, heavier, as if each breath required a little more effort, albeit almost imperceptibly. Outside, the horses began to show a slight discomfort, their movents becoming more cautious, as if instinctively recognizing that they were approaching sothing... wrong.
Kael opened his eyes slowly, as if he had sensed the change even before seeing it.
He leaned forward slightly, pushing back the window curtain with two fingers, allowing his gaze to reach the horizon ahead. And it was at that mont that he saw.
It wasn’t a wall.
It wasn’t a physical structure.
It was sothing much larger.
A do.
A massive barrier of dark magic rose at the edge of the vampire continent, curving into the sky like a do invisible at first glance, but impossible to ignore when observed closely. Sunlight, as it passed through that layer, seed to be swallowed, distorted, weakened until it beca only a pale, almost nonexistent reflection. The sky beyond the barrier wasn’t blue—it was dark, like an eternal twilight trapped in a single mont.
Kael remained silent for a few seconds.
Observing.
Analyzing.
His eyes narrowed slightly, not out of distrust, but out of recognition of the level of power involved.
"So that’s how it is..." he murmured, almost to himself, still looking at the do that stretched across the visible horizon.
He let out a small sigh through his nose, leaning back slightly in his seat while still keeping his gaze fixed on the altered landscape.
"That explains how they survive."
The sentence ca out simple, but laden with imdiate understanding. Vampires weren’t creatures made for sunlight—and yet, an entire kingdom existed, expanded, and strengthened itself under an artificially obscured sky.
That wasn’t just protection.
It was a complete adaptation to the environnt.
In front of her, Exelia calmly lifted her eyes from the clipboard, as if she had expected that kind of reaction. She didn’t seem surprised, nor particularly impressed—but there was a slight glint of interest in her gaze as she noticed Kael’s focus.
"Yes," she replied, slowly crossing one leg over the other while elegantly adjusting her posture. "This do isn’t recent. It’s been around for generations."
Kael finally looked away from the window, turning to her with a curious expression, but still carrying that natural calm that never seed to completely leave him.
"It doesn’t seem like sothing vampires would do on their own," he comnted, resting his arm on the back of the chair while tilting his head slightly.
Exelia gave a small smile.
Not out of humor.
But out of confirmation.
"It wasn’t." She said, closing the clipboard with a slight movent and resting it on her lap. "This was the result of a contract."
Kael raised an eyebrow slightly.
"A contract?" he repeated, his tone slightly more interested now.
Exelia nodded.
"Between the Vampire Kingdom... and the Witch Kingdom." She explained, her voice remaining calm, almost didactic, like soone revisiting a well-docunted historical fact. "An ancient agreent, established at a ti when both sides had... aligned interests."
Kael remained silent for a mont, absorbing the information.
His eyes moved briefly back to the window, observing the do again, now from a different perspective.
It wasn’t just a barrier.
It was a symbol.
Of cooperation.
Of shared power.
And, possibly, of forgotten consequences.
"So this thing..." he began, making a small, vague gesture with his hand toward the darkening sky. "...is witch magic."
Exelia tilted her head slightly.
"More specifically..." she corrected, a slight glint of restrained pride appearing in her expression. "...it’s our Queen’s magic."
There was a short pause.
And then Kael blinked.
Once.
Slowly.
He turned his gaze completely outward, observing the do once more, but now with a different level of attention, as if recalibrating his own perception of it.
"..."
The silence lasted a few seconds.
And then he let out a light exhalation.
"Grandma..." he murmured, running a hand through his red hair as he tilted his head back slightly. "...is too powerful."
The comnt ca out in an almost casual tone, but there was sothing there—not exactly surprise, but a kind of belated recognition of the true extent of Eleanor’s power.
Exelia couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
"That’s a... simplified way of saying it." She comnted, crossing her arms slightly as she observed his reaction. "But yes. Queen Eleanor doesn’t do anything halfway."
Kael made a small sound through his nose, sothing between agreent and resignation.
"I noticed." He said, still looking outside.
The carriage continued to move slowly, drawing ever closer to the actual border. The closer they got, the more evident the do’s influence beca. The light gradually diminished, as if the world were being filtered by an invisible layer that drained any trace of warmth or vitality.
The colors seed more opaque.
The air denser.
And there was sothing... too silent.
Kael slowly uncrossed his arms, leaning forward slightly again, his eyes more attentive now, more focused.
"They depend on it." He comnted, more as a conclusion than a question.
Exelia nodded.
"Completely." She replied. "Without the do, the Vampire Kingdom wouldn’t be able to sustain itself as it exists today."
Kael fell silent again.
Thinking.
Connecting.
And then a small, wry smile appeared on his lips.
"So that ans..." he began, looking away from the window and back at Exelia. "...that, technically, we have the key to their house."
Exelia didn’t answer imdiately.
But the slight arch of her eyebrow was enough to show that she understood exactly where he was going with this.
"In theory..." she said carefully. "Yes."
Kael leaned back in his seat, relaxing slightly, but without losing that attentive glint in his eyes.
"Interesting." He murmured.
Silence filled the space again for a few monts, as the carriage finally reached the invisible line that marked the border between the two worlds.
And then—
They crossed.
The change was imdiate.
Not physical.
But sensory.
The sunlight disappeared almost completely, replaced by a weak, diffuse glow that seed to co from nowhere in particular. The air grew even colder, heavier, and the surrounding sound seed... muffled, as if the environnt itself were absorbing any excess.
Kael didn’t move.
But his eyes were wide open now.
Attentive.
Present.
"Well..." he said, after a few seconds, in a tone almost too casual for the mont. "...this is going to be fun."
Exelia tilted her head slightly, observing him with a small smile.
"You have a curious concept of ’fun’."
Kael shrugged.
"I adapt." He replied.
The surrounding sounds still seed muffled, as if the very air were being compressed by the constant weight of the magic that covered the entire continent, when a slight movent among the nearby trees caught Kael’s attention. It wasn’t abrupt or chaotic—on the contrary, it was too subtle, too controlled, like predators who knew exactly how to move without announcing their presence.
His eyes slowly moved in that direction, without any hurry, as if he already expected sothing to erge from there.
And then they appeared.
From the twisted shadows of the forest, a small group of figures erged with silent, coordinated steps, crossing the line between the dense vegetation and the road with a naturalness that betrayed absolute familiarity with that environnt. Their movents were light, almost elegant, but there was contained tension in every gesture, as if they were constantly ready to react to any threat.
Vampires.
The sa ones who had followed Elizabeth to the Human Kingdom.
Now, there, they seed different.
No longer out of place.
No longer in hostile territory.
There... they belonged.
Their pale skin seed even more pronounced under the dim light of the do, and their eyes carried that characteristic gleam, alert, predatory, yet controlled. None of them advanced aggressively. No gesture was interpreted as a direct threat.
They simply stopped a few ters from the carriage.
Waiting.
Kael observed the group silently for a few seconds, resting his arm on the window fra while tilting his head slightly, analyzing each of them with the sa thodical calm he had been demonstrating since the beginning of the journey. There was no surprise in his expression, nor evident distrust—only recognition.
He had expected this.
Exelia had also noticed, her eyes briefly glancing out of the carriage before returning to Kael, awaiting his reaction without interfering. Her posture remained elegant, controlled, but there was a slight tension hidden in the way she held the clipboard, as if she were ready to record... or react, depending on what happened next.
One of the vampires took a small step forward.
It wasn’t an aggressive advance.
It was almost... protocol.
He inclined his head slightly, not in complete submission, but in recognition, his eyes fixed on Kael with a mixture of caution and respect.
"We ca to fulfill the agreent." His voice ca out controlled, without trembling, but with evident care in the choice of words. "We were instructed to guide you to the center of the territory."
Kael didn’t respond imdiately.
He just kept his gaze on him.
Silent.
Weighing every detail.
And then he let out a small sigh through his nose, as if this was exactly what he expected... and, at the sa ti, sothing slightly inconvenient.
"You took your ti." He comnted, in a neutral, almost disinterested tone, as if he were talking about sothing trivial.
The vampire didn’t react to the comnt, maintaining his firm posture, although a slight hardening in his expression betrayed that he had felt the weight of those words.
Kael then fully opened the carriage curtain, allowing the little external light to better illuminate his face as he observed the group more clearly. His eyes quickly scanned each of them, registering their presence, levels of control, potential threats... and intentions.
Nothing there seed disorganized.
Nothing there seed improvised.
This only confird what he already suspected.
He tilted his head slightly to the side, resting his chin on his hand for a brief mont before speaking again.
"You know the way." The sentence ca simply, directly, without any unnecessary formality.
A brief pause.
Then he made a small gesture with his hand, pointing to the front of the road, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Then go ahead."
It wasn’t a request.
Nor a suggestion.
It was... instruction.
The group remained motionless for a second, as if assessing the tone, the aning behind those words, or perhaps simply confirming that there was nothing more to be said. The sa vampire who had spoken earlier held Kael’s gaze for another brief mont before tilting his head slightly again.
This ti, more firmly.
"As you wish."
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