CHAPTER XVIII
"The Witch's Truth and the Marked Soul"
Cael had brought us to the heart of the darkness — the Witch's hometown.
It wasn't like any place we had seen before. The trees were tall, twisted, blackened by magic. The sky above was tinted with a crimson hue, as if stained by centuries of spells and curses. Shadows moved on their own here. Whispers danced in the silence. Every breath felt like it was borrowed.
And yet… Cael walked ahead without a trace of fear.
With a single motion of his hand, he summoned chains of light and bound me, Aurelia, and Carmine tightly against an old, cursed tree — not out of cruelty, but caution. He didn't want us involved in what was about to happen.
Then, his voice cut through the silence — sharp and loud.
"Laila! Come out! Show yourself!" he roared, his voice echoing like thunder across the haunted woods.
"Come out now!"
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
Then… from all around us, black smoke began to rise. It slithered through the trees like serpents of shadow, curling around Cael, swirling faster and faster — as if the forest itself had awakened.
But Cael didn't flinch.
He extended his hand, and as one of the streams of black smoke passed, he caught it in his grip like a living ribbon of darkness.
"Where is Caeli?" he demanded, his eyes glowing with a dangerous intensity.
The swirling shadows slowed.
From them, a figure emerged — graceful, terrifying, ancient.
It was her.
Laila.
The Queen of Witches.
She didn't walk so much as drift, her long black cloak trailing behind her like living mist. Her eyes, deep violet and unreadable, first fell on us — bound to the tree — before settling on Cael.
A knowing smirk curled at her lips.
"Caelum…" she said slowly, her voice like velvet laced with poison.
"I could reveal your secret right now. I could force your truth into the open and break every soul around you. I could make you a monster in their eyes — and leave you no choice but to destroy them all."
She stepped closer, circling him like a predator circling prey.
"But I won't," she whispered.
"Because like you… I too want to see the most powerful soul in existence destroyed."
Cael narrowed his eyes. "More powerful than you? Who are you talking about?"
Laila's expression shifted — not anger, not envy — but something deeper.
Fear.
She raised one finger and pointed straight toward me.
"The one who will die ten days from now… at Celeste's Swayamvar."
I froze.
The world around me seemed to stop moving.
"What…?" Cael asked, his voice lower now — not out of confusion, but concern.
Laila continued, her gaze fixed on me, her voice hard and sure.
"He doesn't know it yet. But the soul that will soon lose all its powers — the one fated to begin a new journey after death… that soul is the greatest threat to this realm. To me. And to you."
She looked back at Cael, something almost human flashing in her eyes.
"And when he sets out on that new journey, I will make sure he never returns. I will trap him beyond time. Beyond magic. Beyond everything."
Cael turned slowly toward me, eyes scanning my face — looking for answers I didn't even have.
"Who?" he asked, breath catching in his throat.
"Who is she talking about?"
Laila didn't hesitate.
She pointed at me again and said, calm and cold:
"Her."
A chill swept through my body, sharp as ice. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Cael's eyes locked on mine, searching, questioning, remembering everything he had seen in me that even I had ignored.
Laila stepped back, her voice quieter now — but somehow, even more powerful.
"Stay close to her, Caelum. If you must destroy her, then do it. But if fate decides otherwise… then maybe… just maybe… through her, you will find what you've truly been searching for all this time."
She turned, her form beginning to dissolve back into black smoke.
"But mark my words," she whispered one last time, "her journey will awaken powers you cannot control… and emotions you are not ready to face."
And then she was gone.
Silence returned.
Only Cael, and the storm inside his heart, remained.
He looked at me — not with anger… but something far more dangerous.
Uncertainty.
I didn't know what I meant to him anymore.
An ally?
A threat?
A key?
But one thing was now very, very clear…
This journey had changed its course.
And I…
I was at the center of it all.
"The Storm Beneath the Surface"
"Enough of everything else," Cael snapped, his voice echoing through the darkened woods. "Why did you kidnap Caeli?"
His tone was sharp, unforgiving — but there was a crack in it, a slight tremble beneath the steel. Concern? Maybe. Anger? Absolutely.
The black smoke around them still danced faintly, like the shadows themselves were listening.
Laila, the Witch Queen, didn't answer at first. She turned her back slightly, her long cloak catching the strange wind that blew only here. Then she spoke — slow, bitter, every word dripping with emotion.
"Queen Aviora…" she said, her voice tightening with rage. "She took my son from me."
Her words struck the air like a curse.
"You know that, don't you?" she turned to Cael, her eyes ablaze. "Don't pretend like you don't know. You, of all people, Caelum. You know everything… yet still you ask me why?"
Cael was silent for a moment, his fists clenched, his jaw set.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter — but colder.
"If Aviora… or anyone else… has done wrong, they will be punished," he said, each word deliberate. "There will be justice. I will make sure of that."
Then, he took a step forward, his eyes locked onto hers with unwavering focus.
"But you didn't need to do this," he continued. "You didn't need to take Caeli. She's not your enemy. She's just… in the middle of it all."
Laila let out a bitter, almost hollow laugh. "Is anyone ever just in the middle, Cael? Or are we all pawns from the start?"
She looked at him for a long moment, as if weighing something inside her.
"Fine," she said at last. "Take her. Take Caeli. But understand this — I didn't release her out of mercy."
Her gaze softened slightly, but there was still a storm in her eyes.
"I read your face, Caelum. I saw the windstorm behind your mask. The truth is coming — faster than anyone in Fairyland expects. And when it arrives, the veils people hide behind will be torn apart."
She paused, her voice dropping into something deeper — more solemn.
"The faces painted with goodness… will reveal what truly lies beneath."
Cael nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. "Thank you," he said. "But I must warn you — the prophecy made about me… the one people have feared for so long…"
He turned, glancing at the path behind him, then back at Laila.
"…Today, I will make it real. I will use it. When I stand before the Mother Fairy, I will claim the blessing I was destined for."
Laila studied him for a moment.
"I know what you'll ask for," she whispered.
A faint, mysterious smile tugged at her lips — not mocking, not cruel — just sad.
"May your fate be kind to you, Caelum. Whatever it becomes."
She looked past him, her voice softening as she added,
"If you hadn't come today, I wouldn't have let Caeli go. You saved her life, whether you meant to or not. Remember that."
Cael stepped forward — not as a ruler, not as a warrior, but something older than both.
He bowed.
He bowed before a witch.
And when he lifted his head, he spoke only one word:
"Thank you."
A moment passed between them — silent, powerful, ancient.
Then Laila vanished into the shadows, her presence fading like mist in the wind.
The darkness grew still again.
But inside it…
Something had changed.
The tides of Fairyland had shifted.
The storm Cael carried was no longer just in his eyes — it was beginning to rise all around them.
And when it broke…
Nothing would remain untouched.
To be continued...