When Leo was finished in his domain, he explained everything to his three companions. Their faces betrayed the weight of his words, Briva, especially, looked shaken, her devotion to the Goddess of Nature making the revelation hit harder. Seeing their reactions, Leo decided it would be wiser to let Alina learn the truth during the next gathering, not now.
Afterward, they split into groups to explore the city. Leo, Elna, and Alina went together, their steps echoing through streets bathed in soft, unnatural light. Up close, the city's beauty was even more striking, the glowing plants and crystalline fungi painted every corner in shifting hues, like a dream made real. They spent hours wandering, marveling at the reborn wonderland.
On their way back, Alina suddenly froze. Something had flickered at the edge of her vision, a blur darting inside a nearby house. Her hand tightened at her side.
Leo noticed her tension and stopped. "Something wrong?"
"There's… someone, or something, in that house," she whispered, eyes locked on the half-broken doorway.
Leo turned, narrowing his gaze. His Moonlit Gaze revealed nothing, only the stillness of shadows. But with his Vampire Gaze, faint threads of life force shimmered within the house, subtle, but moving.
"Do you see it too?" he asked quietly.
Elna nodded, her brows furrowing. "Yes. But I can't tell what it is."
Leo stepped forward, Thorn was emerging from his palm, ready. Alina and Elna followed a few paces behind as he entered the ruined house. The air inside was colder, unnaturally so, and dust motes hung in place like they were afraid to move.
In one of the side rooms, Leo's eyes locked onto the faint life force. His normal vision showed nothing but cracked walls and empty space. Yet through his other gaze, something lingered in the corner, unmoving, watching.
"Show yourself," Leo commanded, his voice firm.
For a moment, silence. Then, slowly, a figure bled into view, almost transparent, its form wavering. The upper half resembled a human torso, featureless, faceless. Below, it dissolved into smoke, swirling faintly against the floor.
"Please… don't hurt me." The voice was distorted, warped, as though spoken from beneath deep water.
Leo narrowed his red eyes, curiosity pushing past caution. "What are you?"
Before it could answer, Elna's soft voice came from behind. "I think… it's a ghost."
"A ghost?" Alina whispered, her arms prickling with gooseflesh, hair standing on end.
Leo raised a brow at her, still half curious, half amused. "You've been living in the Shadowland all this time, and this is what scares you? A ghost?"
"I've never seen one before," she shot back, her voice thin but defensive.
Leo shook his head and turned back to the apparition. His tone sharpened. "Why are you here?"
The faceless figure wavered in place, smoke swirling at its base. "I… don't know."
Before Leo could respond, a sudden voice whispered right at his ear: 'It must be one of the old citizens of this city.'
Leo jolted, nearly stumbling back. The sudden movement startled Elna and Alina into yelps of alarm.
"What? what is it?!" Alina demanded, heart pounding.
Leo turned toward the silvery form of Ilandra now floating at his side. He exhaled sharply. "Could you please not do that?"
Alina's eyes darted wildly around the room. "Who are you talking to?" Her fear deepened, trembling at the thought that Leo might be speaking with something she couldn't see.
Elna, however, seemed to understand. A small, knowing smile tugged at her lips. Meanwhile, Ilandra giggled behind her hand, clearly entertained by the reaction she had caused.
The ghost, frightened by the commotion, flickered once and vanished.
"Great," Leo muttered, lowering Thorn. "Now its gone."
In his mind, he pressed Ilandra: 'What do you mean, an old citizen?'
'When this city fell, their souls must have been trapped here. Now, with my power flowing again, they can manifest in a more tangible form.'
'Will they remain?'
'Yes. At least until the Shadowland is cleansed and Lilith regains her full strength.'
Leo exhaled and turned, leading the others back outside.
Arthur was looking for them. His eyes snapped up the moment he saw them. "You saw them too?"
The three nodded together.
"I think they're ghosts," Arthur continued slowly, his tone grim.
"They're the spirits of the people who once lived here," Leo confirmed. His gaze swept over the glowing streets, the weight of the revelation settling on him. Then he looked back at Arthur. "Can you use a diviner's spell, or something similar, to draw them out?"
Briva, paled visibly. "Why? Spirits are dangerous… unpredictable." Fear pinched her voice as much as Alina's earlier.
Leo's expression hardened. "Because they might know things we don't. And right now, information could be more valuable than any weapon."
Arthur thought for a moment, brows furrowed in concentration. "There's one spell that might help—but it's not divination. It belongs to the Light Path."
Leo tilted his head. "What is it?"
Arthur's gaze softened, almost reverent. "Light of Reunion. It calls spirits who have unfinished business. If they're trapped here, it might draw them out."
Before anyone could object, Arthur lifted his hand. A warm, golden glow spread outward, wrapping the place in its embrace. The light pulsed gently, pushing back the darkness. Then, shapes began to stir, hazy outlines at first, until one by one, dozens of spectral forms shimmered into view.
The air grew colder. A faint whispering filled the silence as the ghosts gathered.
Briva instinctively ducked behind Arthur's shoulder, trembling, while Alina clutched Elna's arm so tightly her knuckles turned white. Even Elna's composure wavered as more and more spirits materialized, their hollow eyes fixed upon them.
Soon they were surrounded.
"Who are you?" one of the apparitions asked, its voice hollow, echoing as though spoken through a cavern.
Leo stepped forward, meeting its faceless gaze without flinching. "We are allies of the Goddess of Nature. We came to free this land, and to free you. Do you remember who you are?"
The ghost at the front tilted its head slowly. "No… only pain. Agony, unending. Until a moment ago. Then… it stopped. Was it you?"
'They will remember in time,' Ilandra's voice murmured in Leo's mind.
"Yes," Leo said firmly. "That was us." He drew in a breath, steady and sure. "But you need to understand—we are not your enemies. Soon more of our people will come. They are going to live here. Do not fear them."
The ghost's voice wavered, as though something long-buried stirred within. "You… wish to save us?"
"If we succeed," Leo said, his voice carrying across the spectral crowd, "you'll be freed. You'll move on—to the afterlife, where you belong."
The figures leaned closer, the air around them heavy with yearning. "How… can we help?"
"Fragments of your memories will return," Leo said. "When they do, share them. Anything important, anything you remember, tell us. That knowledge could save lives."
The lead ghost bowed its head in a slow, drifting motion. "We will remember. And we will tell you."
Leo finally turned to Arthur. "We need to inform the others. This changes everything."
Arthur nodded, though his eyes lingered on the spirits. "Go ahead. I'll stay. There are… tests I need to make."
"I'll go with Leo," Briva said quickly, though she kept darting uneasy glances at the ghosts.
"Then I'll stay," Elna added, her smile calm. "I'm curious, too."
Leo gave them all a short nod. Together with Briva and Alina, he stepped away from the gathering of the dead, heading back toward the castle, the glow of Arthur's spell fading behind them.
…
After explaining the situation to other, they were speechless for a few minutes until finally Arlasan find his words.
"So we have to live with a bunch of harmless ghosts?"
"For now, yes."
He then shrugged. "Better than living with monsters."
"How long does it take your people to reach here?" Leo asked.
"It took us two days. They need to go back the same way we came. Even if they go as fast as they could without stopping it would take them one day at least to reach the village and with all of that people, it at least takes them four days to come here."
"So around a week… "
Leo didn't know how long he had until the vampires would be done with their ritual but he couldn't do anything right now. Right now they had to wait.
…
Days passed in relative peace. The group spent their time training and preparing for the journey ahead, wherever it might lead them. Alina practiced her divination under Arthur's patient guidance, while Elna and Briva sparred daily in the yard, their clashes ringing through the air as they pushed each other's limits. Leo devoted himself to strengthening his connection with his domain, determined to bring it fully under his control. When they weren't training, the companions often gathered in the library, poring over the ancient tomes left behind.
At times, Leo tested himself against Arlasan in combat. The man was undeniably strong, but Leo judged him to be no more than a solid B+ at best, a challenge, yet not insurmountable.
After a day or two, the ghosts began to remember fragments of their former lives, and with memory came change, their blurred, faceless forms slowly shifted into the people they once had been. Most of the information they shared concerned the day of the attack; none could recall much of what had come before. Some proved unexpectedly useful, while others… less so. The castle guards in particular became rather irritating, endlessly patrolling and hovering about them as though the group were intruders.
Time moved strangely in the Shadowland. For Leo, the only sure way to mark the passing days was through his Mirror of Truth. Without it, he would have been lost. When he asked Arlasan how the elves measured time, the answer surprised him.
After living here so long, they had adapted. Their bodies naturally settled into a cycle—when fatigue pulled them into sleep, they called it night. Another method involved candles they had crafted, each one designed to burn for exactly a day. That, however, raised new questions in Leo's mind. With no sunlight here, how had they created them in the first place? The answer was both simple and unsettling, beast fat. The Shadowland teemed with monsters, and from those creatures, the candles were made.
He could also use the city. The glow of its plants ebbed and flowed, dimmer during the night, brighter with the coming of day. Using both that rhythm and his Mirror of Truth, Leo found the right moment for the Gathering.
Now, at last, the day of the Gathering had come.
Each of the three members went to a corner of the chamber and closed their eyes. Leo went earlier than the rest, for he had preparations to make.
In his domain, the gardens stretched in perpetual bloom. Ilandra sat among the flowers, a serene figure of silver and white. The Gathering Hall itself rose nearby, an open structure of pale stone. From within, one could only see half the gardens from each side; the other half was veiled.
Leo stood before his stone chair and summoned the others. One by one, their silhouettes emerged from the fog, bowing before the hall cloaked in mystery, before taking their seats around the table.
"Welcome, my friends," Leo said. "Before we begin, I want to introduce our newest member."
As his words echoed, the hall itself responded. The stone walls stretched, pushing farther back, reshaping until the open space enclosed into a complete hall, grand, solemn, yet roofless, open to the endless white sky above. Then, on the right wall, patterns carved into the stone stirred like living script. They slid apart, slowly unraveling, until a new archway formed, opening toward the now unseen garden.
The members stiffened in their seats, eyes darting at the shifting walls, confusion and awe plain upon their faces.
Through the archway, a figure entered. She glided forward in her flowing white dress, silver hair spilling down like liquid moonlight, her presence commanding yet gentle. She smiled as though the hall itself welcomed her.
"This," Leo began, his voice low but firm, "is Ilandra."
The gathered members turned their eyes toward the woman in white. The hall itself seemed to shift with her arrival, the faint hum of unseen life stirred in the stone, and a whisper of blooming fragrance drifted from the gardens. The air grew heavier, charged with something ancient and vast.
Leo let the silence stretch, long enough for every heartbeat in the chamber to thunder in their own ears. His gaze swept across them before returning to the figure.
"You may know her…" he said at last, his words measured, "as the Goddess of Nature."