Free Web NovelChapter 702: The Circle in the Shadows
Chapter 701: The Circle in the Shadows
Tobias’s eyes remained wide for a moment longer, as if he was still processing whatever had surfaced in his mind. The room waited, the silence stretching until finally he spoke.
"I have met Selith before."
Sophia turned to look at him fully, as did everyone else in the room.
"I know the priestess," Tobias continued, his voice quieter now, more serious. "She is the one helping Victoria with her black magic. And yes, she is quite scary."
Ronan’s eyes widened in realization. "The one you met when you went to the west?"
Tobias nodded. "Victoria brought me to her. Showed me off like a new toy. Selith studied me the way one might study something they wanted to take apart."
He paused, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I did not think of it before. Everything happened so fast—the escape, the poison, the journey back. But now..." He shook his head. "There is something bothering me."
Daniel leaned forward. "What is it?"
"How did Victoria even meet Selith in the first place?"
The question landed strangely in the room. It was not the kind of question anyone had thought to ask before.
Tobias continued. "Selith looks like someone who is so rooted in black magic that it has become one with her. Like Sophia said, she looks even uglier than the beasts of Nirvana. People like that do not simply appear in someone’s court. They are found. Or they find you."
He paused, choosing his next words carefully.
"But that is not what I am speculating about."
Eldric adjusted his glasses. "Then what is?"
Tobias met his gaze. "I am wondering if Selith could be part of that faction. The one that does not worship the goddess."
Eldric blinked once, then nodded slowly.
"That should be obvious," he said, adjusting his glasses again. "Selith practices black magic. Obviously, she does not believe in the goddess. The two are fundamentally incompatible."
Tobias shook his head. "That is not what I mean."
He straightened, his expression tightening.
"I mean a high position. An elder. Someone with influence beyond just being a priestess who helps Victoria. Selith spoke to Victoria like an equal. Maybe even like someone who had power over her in some way."
Madam Tyler’s hand tightened around her staff.
"What are you suggesting?" she asked quietly.
Tobias exhaled.
"I am suggesting, perhaps, that our enemies may be more than just the Enclave and Victoria. If Selith has a network—a faction of people who do not worship the goddess, who practice black magic, who have been waiting for something—then maybe they will see this war as an opportunity."
He looked around the room.
"There are structures right here in Nirvana like the Nir’thal Circle. Places tied to ancient magic. Places that people like Selith would want."
No one spoke as the weight of his words settled.
Caspian leaned back in his chair, his hand pressed against his back. "So you are saying we may be fighting more than the Enclave."
Tobias nodded. "Yes. I do not know for certain, but the probability is there."
Lysander, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke.
"Does it make a difference?" he asked.
Everyone turned to him.
Lysander’s expression remained calm, almost clinical.
"If they are our enemies, they are our enemies," he said. "Whether there are more of them or fewer, whether they worship the goddess or curse her name, they still want us dead. The preparation does not change."
Ronan rubbed his jaw. "That is true."
"But," Madam Tyler said, "if they use black magic on the battlefield, that does change things. Even on the battlefield, these vile people may use the blood and corpses of the fallen for rituals. They could make themselves stronger with every life lost."
Her voice hardened.
"We must put measures in place. Strategies that account for more than just swords and claws."
She turned to Sophia.
"Child, did you see anything in your vision that could hint at some of our enemies using black magic? Anything at all?" freewēbnoveℓ.com
Sophia frowned, her mind reaching back into the vision.
She remembered the pillars. Selith’s chanting. The sickly glow of the symbols. Victoria’s smile. The bound version of herself, helpless and waiting.
But the battle itself—the actual fighting—had been chaos. Smoke and fire and screaming. She had seen the pack fall, but she had not seen how.
She shook her head slowly.
"I am not sure," she said. "Perhaps I saw something, but I cannot say for certain."
Orion spoke then, his voice cutting through the murmurs.
"If that is so, then we must be fully prepared."
He looked around the room, meeting each pair of eyes in turn.
"Even if other worshippers of whatever come along and use black magic, we will fight them. That is why we must be prepared. Because this fight is not just against the beasts and the Enclave."
His voice hardened.
"It is against stupid black magic too."
A few of the elders chuckled despite themselves. The tension in the room loosened slightly, just enough to breathe.
Ronan shook his head. "You have a way with words, brother."
"I try," Orion said dryly.
Sophia smiled, but it did not quite reach her eyes.
Her mind was still stuck on what Tobias had said. A faction. An elder. People who did not worship the goddess and who had been waiting for something.
She thought of Selith’s blackened lips and missing teeth. The way she had looked at Tobias like she wanted to take him apart. The way she had spoken to Victoria like an equal.
She thought of the ritual. The blood. The pulsing symbols on the pillars.
And she wondered if Tobias was right.
If the war they were preparing for was bigger than any of them had imagined.
"I’m quite curious though," Mary said then, snapping Sophia out of her thoughts. "We are preparing for war, but there are things still unresolved. The writings on the altar, the ones from the rocks, even Sophia herself and the court that was suspended. We cannot just rush into preparation for war without resolving this first, right?"
