My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon followed Kadelas down the halls and into another wing of the building where the meeting would be held. Since Damon wasn’t in his own body, no one recognized him, but everyone recognized the Elf King, Kadelas Moonveil. After all, who didn’t know of the White Ruler?

Soon, they reached a large door. As soon as they arrived, the elf guards standing beside it opened the doors and stepped aside without Kadelas even needing to say a word.

Damon entered behind him and immediately found himself on a lavish balcony overlooking a vast view of the capital city.

A beautiful elf woman was seated beside a table set with tea and several elven snacks. She had long white hair and wore a grey dress that covered her legs. A thin crown rested upon her head, its delicate shape curling around her long white locks like a serpent. Her dress was adorned with countless tiny jewels, each one arranged in intricate patterns that resembled stars scattered across the night sky.

This was Daphne Moonveil, Sylvia’s mother.

She was also an extremely alluring woman.

Damon looked around the balcony but didn’t see Sylvia anywhere.

”She’s not here. She left the Moon Glades a few months ago, leaving a letter,” Daphne said.

Damon’s gaze shifted toward her.

He walked toward the table, noticing that it only had three seats. Clearly, they had planned for him to sit down and speak with them.

”I didn’t expect to see you looking like this,” Daphne remarked, her eyes briefly traveling over Damon’s current form.

”Well, neither did I, but we can’t control everything now, can we?” he replied as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

Kadelas sat across from him, his expression unusually somber. After a moment, he reached into his robes and produced a folded letter.

”This is the letter Sylvia left us.”

He pushed it across the table.

Damon reached out and took it, carefully unfolding the paper. The moment he saw the handwriting, he recognized it.

”Meeting a friend in the Wild Continent. Will see you both in Valerion in one month.”

Signed Sylvia.

Damon stared at the words for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

”Hmm. She already told you where she went. You guys don’t think she’s with me, right? I haven’t seen her in seven years, which honestly is too long.”

Daphne remained silent.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the teacup in front of her before she slowly placed it back on the table.

”We have only seen her a few times in seven years as well. Each time, she was a little different. She didn’t seem so to others, but I’m her mother. I would notice.”

Damon’s expression slowly changed.

”What do you mean?”

Daphne lowered her gaze.

”What really struck me was one day when she hugged me.”

Her voice became softer.

”After she did, tears flowed from her eyes.”

Her fingers trembled slightly as the memory resurfaced.

”I tried to understand why, but she didn’t tell me anything. I couldn’t understand what was wrong either.”

Damon’s gaze remained fixed on her.

”We assumed maybe she just wanted to see you. As much as it pained my heart, I was willing to bring her to you. I even offered to take her to you myself, but she refused.”

Kadelas’s hands tightened against his knees.

”She said it was not yet time.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Kadelas didn’t like Damon. That much was obvious. But if even he was willing to let his daughter see Damon, then whatever was happening had to be worse than Damon had initially thought.

”So she’s in the Wild Continent. Her letter says she went to see a friend, so I assume she’s meeting Leona.”

Damon could only think of one of Sylvia’s friends who would currently be in the Wild Continent.

Leona.

His eyes lowered toward the letter again.

She had said she would see them in one month.

And judging by the date written on it, that month ended today.

”So she’s on her way here today, then?”

”Yes. We know that.”

Daphne’s voice was soft.

”But that’s not why we are here speaking to you.”

Damon’s expression became more serious.

”Do you know why Sylvia was so sheltered and protected?”

”Yes. She was born with spirit affinity, and you didn’t want her to be harmed by spirits. She had an incident as a child where some dark spirit attacked her.”

Damon answered as simply as possible.

Kadelas remained silent for several seconds before slowly shaking his head.

Daphne closed her eyes.

Her chest rose and fell slowly as if she were gathering herself for what she was about to say.

”If only it were that simple.”

She opened her eyes again.

”But it isn’t.”

Her hands began to shake.

”On the night I gave birth to Sylvia, I had a vision.”

Her voice trembled.

”It was the single most terrifying thing I have ever seen.”

Daphne reached for her teacup, but her fingers were shaking so badly that she couldn’t even lift it properly. She eventually pulled her hand away.

”What did you see?” Damon asked, leaning slightly forward.

He tried to understand what kind of vision could frighten an Oracle to this extent.

Daphne stared at him.

Her eyes did not blink.

”I do not know.”

She swallowed.

”I cannot remember.”

Her fingers slowly curled against the table.

”I only know that it was something unknown to me... and my Sylvia was in its grasp.”

Kadelas sighed heavily and lowered his head.

”I understand if you hate us. I don’t care that you do. But we have been protecting our daughter since the day she was born, and we will protect her until we die.”

He paused.

”But we also made some mistakes.”

Damon frowned.

”How can you be sure a vision you can’t remember was related to your daughter? I mean, it could have been a fluke. You are an Oracle. You receive visions all the time.”

”I am.”

Daphne slowly looked up.

”But that wasn’t all.”

Her voice carried a strange heaviness.

”Sylvia’s spirit affinity isn’t actually spirit affinity. There’s more to it.”

Damon’s brows furrowed.

”She has an affinity for unseen entities in general.”

Damon froze.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything.

That was not a good sign.

”You mean... like a god?” he whispered.

”Yes.”

Daphne’s eyes remained fixed on him.

”Like a god. Or even a demon of sufficient rank... and horrors.”

Damon’s eyes widened.

The implications of those words immediately became clear.

”You people never told Sylvia any of this, did you?”

”No.”

Kadelas’s answer was immediate.

”We wanted to protect her. But more than that, we didn’t want this knowledge to become known.”

His expression darkened.

”So we killed anyone who could have known.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

”After all, the Temple might view her as a calling point for dark things.”

Damon nodded slowly, but neither of them was finished.

”That is why we used old and forbidden magic to suppress this affinity.”

Kadelas lowered his gaze.

”We sacrificed members of our own kin in the ritual.”

For the first time, Damon didn’t immediately respond.

He looked at the Elf King sitting before him.

There was no arrogance in Kadelas’s face now. No hostility. Only the heavy expression of a father who had carried something terrible for years.

”With this ritual, we gave our daughter a semblance of a normal life.”

Kadelas’s voice was low.

Damon remained silent.

For the first time, he could understand this man.

”But something has happened recently to Sylvia,” Daphne said.

Her fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the table.

”And that is why we asked you to come here.”