Chapter 606 - THE SORROWFUL SOULS

Hope stared apprehensively at the scene before her eyes. Her breath quickened as her legs gave up her weight, and she fell down to a ragged ground of the cave.

There were around thousands of carcasses there. Hope closed her eyes and hoped, whatever she saw now would disappear the moment she opened them. 

Unfortunately, that didn't happen when she peeked through her lashes. 

Closing her eyes again, she leaned her body against the damp wall of the cave while adjusting her breath. 

Those fireflies…

"I really met with the ghosts," Hope whined. Why did she have to see all of this? 

It took a while for Hope to set herself out and opened her eyes again. The flames of the torches danced in her eyes, as she stared at the cave ceiling and proceeded to turn her head and looked at the piles of bones on her left side. 

That part of the cave was in an oval shape with a hole in the center at the ceiling of the cave. The bright sunlight highlighted those poor dead bodies. 

When Hope managed to calm herself down, she could see that they were children's bodies. Their tiny head and tiny arms were akin to those human skeleton models. 

If Hope didn't see the clothes that they were still wearing, she wouldn't be so sure like this. Those ragged clothes and cloak were the distinguishing clothes in this realm. 

Hope didn't have any idea what those poor children had gone through, why their corpses looked like that. 

But then, another thing happened. The fireflies came back. But not only that, they morphed into something. 

Hope could see the presence of someone or… many of them…

Right before her eyes, hundreds of ghostly children were standing. Floating above the carcasses, staring at Hope with their, almost translucent eyes.

Hope's breath caught in her chest. What she was seeing couldn't possibly be true… could it?

"I can't believe it…" Hope whispered in disbelief. "You are… ghosts?"

In all honesty, Hope had not seen this many ghosts, besides the ones from her nightmares. But she didn't know what else to call them.

Hope was pretty sure that her face was horrified as the children looked at her sadly. She felt bad for that. 

"Why are you taking me here?" Hope wished they could understand her. She waited for any response, but it didn't come. 

"They couldn't talk."

Coming a soft voice like a breeze from the back of the crowded children. Those children dispersed and gave a way to a beautiful young woman, with white hair and a crystal blue jade on the center of her forehead. 

Her hair was extremely long, and she was wearing a white cloak. Adding to the fact that she was also a ghost, her body was completely like a white thin smoke, floating in the air. 

Even so, her voice was strong and gentle at the same time. She walked, no, she glided from the back of the crowd straight in front of Hope. 

"You are… dead," Hope stated in a low voice. When the priestess smiled, Hope grimaced with her own words. 

"Yes, I am." She nodded to emphasize her statement. 

If the priestess was dead, then why would Chiron say that she could meet her in this mountain? Kace wouldn't agree to come here if the only person that they were looking for was already dead. 

Hope wouldn't agree to go too.

However, in a way, Chiron didn't lie, Hope indeed met with the priestess. Her spirit…

"What happened? I come to…" Hope stammered, she didn't believe her journey here was a naught. Not to mention she was separated from Kace. 

"I know what your purpose is to come to this mountain," the priestess kept a sad smile, "unfortunately, I no longer belong to this realm."

Hope was crestfallen. She threw the candle off her hand angrily. Ghost or not, the fact that the sole reason why they were here right now, had gone, Hope was mad beyond words. Their time and efforts were wasted. So many unfortunate things happened for nothing?

However, she didn't know to whom she could vent her anger. 

"Don't be so upset," the priestess frowned when she watched Hope's body was shaking from head to toe. "If the only reason for you to see me is to heal your mate's wound, then you already had the cure for it."

Hope raised her head. "Where?"

"Before that, will you take a walk with me? There is something I want to show you." The priestess opened her arms, in an inviting gesture.

Hope didn't immediately follow her, she was hesitant. She didn't want to walk among the ghosts, yet there was something in the way those children stared at her. The sadness from their eyes crept in her heart and she could feel it in her soul. 

"What do you want to show me?" Hope knitted her brows, averted her eyes from those children. 

"Your friends," but before Hope could interrupt her, she added. "Don't worry, your mate is on his way."

============== 

Kace didn't believe it that he lost Hope right under his nose. He didn't feel anything when he realized he had dozed off. How could he be so stupid to fall asleep?!

"Hope!?" the beast roared "HOPE!" 

He had been running without stopping for this whole morning, and afternoon. Sweat dripping from his forehead as his clothes stuck uncomfortably to his skin. 

"SHIT!" he cursed loudly. 

His heart was beating fast, and his whole body was trembling. His instinct forced him to shift and scour the entire mountain in his beast form. Yet the moment his bones began to dislocate, wave after wave of strange pain washed over him.

He couldn't shift, or the pain would be so unbearable. This was what Chiron was talking about. No supernatural creatures were allowed to enter this place. 

Whether this barrier was put by the priestess or the demon woman, but it sure worked. 

Kace cursed again, again, and again.

His mind was in complete disarray when he caught her scent. The only scent that belongs to her…