Chapter 129 - 128. Here For You

Alicia was standing by the table, her head still turned to the two werewolves. Her look drifted away, unfocused, as her mind was already locked on something else. Eden's voice brought her back to reality.

"Explain! You can't just throw something so insane and expect us to back off and let you walk away like that! What do you mean she gave her blessing as a sacrifice? This spirit, Black, how do you know it? Is there something wrong with the system? Can we trust it?"

"We don't have time!" The old witch screamed again, taking Eden aback.

The werewolf looked down when he felt his mate's fingers squeezing gently his wrist that the dominant had grasped. The blond turned to Glen who shook his head. It wasn't the right time to get impatient and press the Servant of Talamh with questions. Alicia's mind was a mess. That very fact was written all over her face.

When Eden looked at the witch again, he noticed the haggard look on her face that she quickly brushed off to regain control of her emotions. But behind the mask of countenance she had put on, he easily guessed the fear.

Gabriella put her hand, palm open, in front of the old woman's mouth and activated a spell that released a fine mist. The spell rinsed away the blood that had stained her grandmother's chin and mouth, then she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Alicia to clean her face.

The brief exchange was enough for the old witch to completely calm her nerves and she decided to sit down and resume her talk with the two werewolves.

"Black is a spirit… Or I should rather say, he became a spirit, after years spent dedicating his knowledge and genius to magic. He was the most gifted, the most powerful. Now that I think about it, after him there has never been such a powerful Servant of Talamh."

"A servant of Talamh? But you said that it was…" Alicia's raised a hand and silenced Eden.

"While his power was at its peak, Black had a strange idea. He asked his most powerful spirit to merge with his body. No one understood why he did such a thing but Black had a goal in mind.

No one knows when he started to think like that, but through delving into the study of runes and our magic, Black ended up convinced that the Servants of Talamh were too weak. He wasn't wrong either. As you can see, when we're separated from our spirits like I'm right now, we're just easy prey. Easier than sitting duck. However, once he became a spirit, he still wasn't satisfied. At that moment, Black realized that there were beings far more powerful than spirits. Gods.

Gods are the ones who give sorcerers their blessing. They also take pity or affection on souls to turn them into spirits. Thus, Black started to research a way to become a god. But years passed and he never find an answer.

By this time, it already had been a while since he was kicked out of the Servants of Talamh. The works that led to his transformation into a spirit were condemned for heresy and burned.

On the verge of madness because of the impasse he was stuck in, an idea emerged. The idea that he would become a God if he corrupted the proteges of an entire clan of witches and forced them to accept what he later called his blessing."

"That's the dark energy that Light uses now, am I right?"

The old woman nodded in response to Glen's question and continued.

"This false blessing is a magic born from the fusion between the powers of a powerful spirit and the blessing of the strongest Servant of Talamh of all times. It's extremely malleable. Probably thanks to Black's unbounded knowledge of runes. Any clan of witches can become his target. The biggest problem is that this pliancy makes his magic undetectable unless Black decides otherwise. It mingles with his victims' blessing and parasitizes it." Alicia chuckled but her face remained cold. "It's laughable how perfect this magic is for him to achieve his purpose."

"Can he become a god that way? Given your reaction, this is not his first attempt. He's tried before, hasn't he?" Eden asked.

Again, the old witch nodded but remained silent. No one dared to rush her this time. The werewolves waited until Alicia decided to resume her story.

"We don't know whether he can become a god that way or not, but, He already succeeded to become a spirit. Do you want to wait and figure the answer out?" She sighed heavily. "I'm won't go into details but the first time he tried ended very badly. We stopped him but… A lot of blood was shed. Way too much…" she muttered as if to herself. "In the Servants of Talamh side and other clans. After that, we signed a peace treaty, the clans shut themselves in their territory and we never heard from Black again."

"Until today," Glen commented.

"Okay. We have a culprit, a motive, all we have to know is how do we stop him?" Eden crossed his arms with determination glowing in his eyes.

"I don't know, that's why I have to talk to the Sages of our clan. This conflict I told you about occurred a very long time ago. This clash soiled the whole country with blood as the clans of witches clashed."

"Huh? But if the culprit of all this mess was Black, why did the clans of witches clash with each other?"

"There are two reasons for this. The first is that Black had succeeded to bend almost an entire clan and that they were forced to protect him. The second is that, due to the nature of our magic and our closeness to Spirits, several clans were convinced that they had to eliminate all the Servants of Talamh to prevent the awakening of another Black." Alicia sighed and her shoulders, which had been straight before, slumped.

Gabriella's hand moved around her back gently to comfort her. Again, a somber expression passed over the old servant's face.

________

Something cold passed over her face and the pleasant sensation made her flinch. This movement reminded her body of all the pain she had been through. Light moaned and tried to move but gave up because her body was weak and sore.

"You're awake?"

The unknown male voice forced her consciousness to return and her eyelids quivered then opened. After all the time spent in darkness, the brightness hit her retinas and the witch grimaced. She pressed her eyelids together to protect her eyes from the gleam attack.

The young woman heard a rustling not far away and suddenly she felt that darkness had invaded the place where she was. She opened her eyes cautiously and looked around. She was in some kind of shelter made with several animal skins cleaned and spread over her with the help of cut wood. The brightness had lowered as a man with light brown skin had just lowered the skins used as entrances. His head turned to Light and a smile lit up his face when he met her gaze.

"It's better that way isn't it?" He tied the ropes connected to the skins to properly close the entrance and prevent the sun from bothering her as much as possible. However, the intensity of the rays that passed through the places where the skins were tied together, let Light know that it was probably the middle of the day.

She tried to speak but only a hoarse groan could escape her throat. The witch rose an arm to put her hand on his throat but the gesture surprised her still traumatized muscles and she gritted her teeth to suppress a moan.

"Don't try to move. You barely started to heal, your wounds are still closing and you're probably sore everywhere."

The man walked over to her and knelt. His palm rested on the young woman's forehead for a moment.

"Hmm. I think your fever is finally down." He smiled brightly and pulled his hand away.

Light heard the sound of water and cautiously turned her head. She saw a large wooden container from which the man took out a cloth which he wrung to remove all the water. He folded the cloth and placed it on Light's forehead. The feeling of freshness was familiar. Soothing. Reassuring.

"It's ok. Sleep a little more. You don't need to do anything. Just heal. I'm here for you."

The man's hand remained for a moment on the fabric and he felt the young woman sink back into sleep. When a calm and steady breath escaped her lips slightly parted, he took off his palm from which a black cloud escaped.

Black looked down at Light as the cloud of black energy he had just released was absorbed by the witch's forehead, putting her into a magic sleep. His soft, protective smile had turned into a cold, calculating expression.

His brown eyes with lighter spots scanned the body he had bandaged, cared for. An impatient groan escaped him as he dropped to the floor in a sitting position.

"Ahhh. Hurry up and give me what I want, Light."

He stayed on the ground for a moment, then got up with a nimble jump and left the shelter. The sun which was at its highest point in the sky forced him to put his hand as a shield to protect his eyes. He looked at the small base he had set up in the forest for over a week already and a satisfied smile curved his mouth.

"She will probably be hungry next time. Let's go hunting."

A thick, black fog formed at Black's feet. It thickened and wrapped around his entire body. When it dissipated, a black wolf was stomping the dusty ground and dashed into the forest.

Black returned from his hunting trip with the remains of a medium boar that he had already gutted and prepared along with some vegetables.

Black walked quietly. Being a spirit, he wasn't afraid of anything. Even wild animals couldn't harm him. Therefore, he had no reason to be on his guard. Nevertheless, once close to the base, the presence of an intruder made him drop everything he was carrying.

He was walking to the shelter where Light was still asleep and a vicious smile spread on Black's face when he felt the intruder's blessing. The thud caught the attention of the werewolf, he had no time to react.

In a split second, Black was near him, and even though the knife he was holding wasn't soaked in wolfsbane, even though the man didn't look so strong at first glance, the dominant who was just a low rank, knew that he would die if he moved restlessly.

"You finally decide to stop your hiding game and show your face?" Black's eyes were wide, the expression on his face made him look like he has lost all sanity. "I looked for you everywhere you know. I needed you. You are one of my key pieces. I started to expose her to my energy to prepare the fusion but, I don't know why, she still fights me. And you…" Black tightened his hands around the werewolf's neck.

The latter's face contorted in fear as he felt his muscles squeezed to the brink of being crushed.

"You can help me win her over."

Black suddenly released his grip and the werewolf collapsed to the ground coughing and gasping for air. His arms were shaking and a cold feeling enveloped him. A black fog formed all around him and he soon noticed that it was coming from Black.

"I'm sure when Light finds out it was because of one of the pack members that she went through all of this, she will finally break down and offer me her blessing."

"I had no idea they were going to hurt her like that!" The werewolf coughed again and raised his head, but the image of Black that fixed on his retina made his blood run cold. "I swear! It's her! She made me believe that she loved me and wanted to be my mate that's why she wanted to be a Skinwalker. But the pack and the tribe have their rule so I wanted… I wanted…" Tears flooded his cheeks and a hiccup stopped his ranting.

"Pathetic!" Black sighed, annoyed by the man's whining. "Anyway, I murdered your greedy beauty so stop whining. At least you have some revenge before your death! It's time to get ready.. I can't wait to introduce you to Light when she's strong enough."