"What happened?"
The moment Ava opened her eyes, she heard the Shaman’s voice. She frowned.
"What happened inside!?" the Shaman asked for the second time.
"I— "
Ava got up. She realized that she was already inside her and Matthew’s room. She was lying down. She fainted. She looked at her hands and thought of the last things that she could remember before she lost consciousness.
She could no longer feel Eve inside her. However, for some unknown reason, her chest still felt heavy. She felt a huge amount of resentment inside her.
Obviously, she knew this didn’t make any sense.
"Where is Matthew?" she lifted her gaze and met the Shaman’s curious eyes. "Where is he?"
"That place was fatal to Lycans. Even if his soul isn’t really a Lycan, his body was. It was too late for us to realize that."
Ava said nothing in response. Again, she looked at her palms.
"What happened back there?" the Shaman asked. "I didn’t realize that Matthew brought you to that place. If I did— "
"A Lycan couldn’t get inside," Ava said. "She wouldn’t allow it."
"What?"
"Eve..." Ava looked at the Shaman. "The dark witch who gave three curses to the Lycans. The first victim of the Lycan’s love. She owns this place..." Ava then quickly told the Shaman about Eve and what she saw back then. However, she didn’t tell him that Eve actually possessed her body.
"So... you won? Are you the new owner of this plane?"
Ava said nothing. Instead, she held her hand towards the Shaman. Almost immediately, an electric-like magic covered her arm. Her body felt light and powerful. She felt strong. Was this the feeling of becoming the new plane’s guardian?
Yes.
A guardian.
Just when Eve left her body she heard her call Ava a guardian. Of course, Ava had heard of a guardian from the Shaman’s memories. Guardians are people who guard the realms. They are pretty powerful, especially in their own realms.
She needed to do more research about it, she thought inwardly.
"Please take me to see him," Ava said.
"Are you fine?" he asked. "Becoming the owner of the plane can be an enormous responsibility." The shaman added. You see, there is a big difference between owning a plane and guarding one. Being a guardian only means that they are responsible for making sure that no occupants of the other realm could go in and out of another realm. They cannot intervene in the affairs of the occupants of the realm that they are guarding.
So, even if the realm fell into ruin because of its own occupants, a guardian isn’t allowed to do anything about it. A guardian can only watch as the realm destroys itself.
On the contrary, the owner of the plane — or the one who created the realm or plane itself can alter everything inside that realm. They could let sulfur rain from the sky or floods cover the lands. They own the plane and that plane is just like an extension or a source of their abilities.
But owning a plane had great cons, too.
"I am," Ava said. "It feels heavy, but I will get used to it." Or at least that’s what she thought. Without even hearing it from someone, her body knew that she would soon get used to the heaviness inside her heart. "We should go," she said.
After her encounter with Eve, she inherited the mysteries surrounding this plane and its core. For instance, Eve actually planned to die in her ex-lover’s arms so she could curse him. Eve followed a great rule that most magicians follow.
The law of equal exchange.
For example, one cannot just create something out of nothing. They aren’t gods, so they cannot just do what they want without any consequence. In Eve’s case, she sacrificed her and her mother’s life for the curse. It was extremely sinister, but Eve had already fallen so low she really thought it was the only way to punish her Lycan lover.
Second, Eve wanted to punish all Lycans for just wanting their mates. For some reason, Eve turned insane and thought that Lycans can actually leave their mates because mates are just something that their bodies wanted. Being someone’s mate doesn’t really mean that there is love between them.
So, the core of the plane is actually full of traps that would absorb the strength of any Lycan that would go near it. She did this to kill the Lycan that wanted their witch to own the place.
And third is the fact that she had been absorbing the witches who attempted to own the core in the past. The trials were actually designed to earn the witch’s sympathy and sacrifice their soul without even them knowing it.
She also discovered that the first trial was designed to show Eve what the witch wanted. Obviously, Ava didn’t know what that vision meant. There is no time to think about that now, Ava thought inwardly as the Shaman brought her to another room where they put Matthew.
According to the Shaman, the veins on Matthew’s body became visible after they arrived at the palace. Then he lost his strength and fainted. When the Shaman examined his body, he realized that something or someone seemed to absorb his strength.
"This plane had no owner for so long," the Shaman said. "I always wondered why no one tried to become its owner. For instance, Ulva or the king could have tried it." Ulva was a powerful witch. She must know something about the secrets of this plane.
"But she didn’t." The Shaman continued. "It must be because her kind will suffer if they try to go near that place."
Ava nodded without saying a word.
The thing is, Matthew must have known this even before they came to that place. But he didn’t tell her anything. Instead, he patiently waited for her outside, knowing that his strength will be affected.
One would consider this action sweet, but Ava? She thought it was stupid!
How stupid and careless! She thought inwardly as she marched into Matthew’s room.
"How is he?" Ava asked. Matthew looked like he was sleeping calmly. The veins that the Shaman told her earlier were no longer there.
"It vanished," Baba answered. "I mean... it vanished just a couple of minutes ago. Then that appeared." Baba pointed at Matthew’s neck, where a black tattoo can be seen. "I haven’t seen something like that before. But just a few seconds ago, it started glowing. Now, I don’t know if— "
"He will be fine," Ava said while staring at the tattoo that resembled the one on her back. It had the same shape and even size. Her’s appeared out of nowhere. It seems that Matthew’s tattoo appeared because of this incident?
"Please leave us alone..." Ava said. The Baba and the Shaman gave each other a look before they silently leave the room.
"Someone!" Ava uttered lowly. "I know you can hear me."
"Mistress...." A humanoid shadow appeared behind Ava.
"What is going on?" Ava asked. After she woke up, she quickly realized that she could feel everyone else inside the plane. It felt like... she was watching a large map and she knew exactly where everyone else was right now. She could feel them breathing. Like she was the map herself, like she was the plane herself.
"I can’t feel him," Ava said. That’s right. She could feel everyone else, including the Shaman and Baba, but not Matthew.
The shadow said nothing.
"What is it?" Ava asked.
"The master doesn’t belong to this plane."
"That’s bullshit," Ava said. She doesn’t belong on this plane too! And so does the Shaman! Why can’t she feel Matthew?
"My apologies," the Shadow bowed before it vanished.
A sigh escaped Ava’s lips as she stared at Matthew’s peaceful face. She then touched his forehead and returned the strength that the plane had absorbed from him. Right now, Ava felt so powerful she was confident that she could crush mountains and move seas with just a snap of her fingers.
That might sound a little exaggerated, but that was because she currently owned this plane. Inside this plane, no one would be able to beat her.
"Hm?" Ava lifted an eyebrow when she suddenly felt a weird presence arrive inside the plane.
The one who had just arrived was weird.
She looked at Matthew. She knew he would be waking up very soon. But she could no longer wait.
The one who had just arrived was pretty powerful. The thing is, she couldn’t seem to distinguish its kind. She was certain it wasn’t human or a witch. Perhaps a different shifter?
She quickly kissed Matthew’s forehead before she left the room.
She wasn’t surprised to see both the Shaman and Baba outside, waiting for her.
"He will wake up very soon," Ava said. She then took a deep breath in. "I will be leaving."
"Without waiting for him to wake up?" Baba asked.
In response, looked at the older woman. "We have... visitors."
"Visitors?"
"Yes. And without the King, the Queen will welcome them."
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