Ch. 321..330

Chapter 321 - Queen (Part II)

Everyone who were watching her were simply awed. And the reason was not because of the magical light she had commanded. It was because of her. It was like the princess had truly become the queen now. The look in her eyes had changed ever so subtly, but it was obvious to those who have met her before. The sight of her sitting there so majestically, like the throne was made just for her gave shivers run down their spines. She was indeed a force to be reckoned with! Anyone who thinks that she is a pushover just because of her gentle demeanour and soft-spoken conduct would be in for a rude awakening. Her men were all filled with pride as they literally witnessed the birth of the new queen of the light faes.

They watched her closed her eyes for a long while. Their hearts and minds filled with anticipation at what was going to happen next.

Then she rose gracefully from the throne.

When her eyes opened, everyone was shocked.. Her eyes… they were like two shining suns!

The rays of light from her eyes spread out, touching every crystal in the hall. Then she spread out her arms wide – as though she was opening her arms to embrace a beloved and welcoming that person home. The comfort and gentle joy could be felt from the aura spilling forth from her. Her silvery hair was now undulating in waves behind her as if a breeze was passing by.

The atmosphere became incredibly heavy but not the suffocating and deadly kind of heaviness that they usually feel around their prince. The aura surrounding the princess was the pleasant and warm kind, completely the opposite to their prince's darkness.

Everyone was unable to speak. What had happened within that few short moments that she had closed her eyes? When did their princess turn into someone so formidable like this? She was like a goddess now! And she seemed to be filled with so much power! Power that they were sure was not there the first time they came here. And to think that it was not even that long since then. In fact, it was only a few days since then!

Zanya on the other hand was not surprised in the least. She knew all along that the princess was powerful. All queens always had the strongest magical powers of all. It was simply innate within them. And since Evie was the prophesied one to be the saviour of the light faes and the queen who would bring them into a new era for their kind, how could she be lacking in this department? It would only make sense if her powers would actually overshadow all the previous rulers of the light faes.

Previously, when Zanya was teaching Evie magic spells, she had already realized there was really no need for her to learn. The princess was fast learner, but Zanya knew that only she could actually teach herself when it comes to her real magic and abilities. Zanya could not possibly teach the princess because the princess' magic and powers were something that only she possessed. And Zanya had already known that queens do not need any mentors. They could only rely on themselves. Because they were the only ones who could understand their own powers and control them.

Looking at her, Zanya could not help but tear up with overflowing emotions. She knew why her real power and abilities were coming forth now like an uncontrollable surge of waves. It was because the princess had finally embraced and accepted herself for who and what she truly was. During the first time when she was here, she was still filled with doubts and fear and many uncertainties. But now, none of those emotions could be seen in her eyes. In fact, her eyes had that crystal clear quality that held no imperfections whatsoever. They were so clear they resembled a mirror that if one were to look into her eyes, their own flaws would be drawn out and be reflected in hers. As though they were the kind of eyes that could stare and extract the deepest secrets within a person – even to the extent of stripping their soul bare.

To Zanya, she had now become the queen to the light faes. She had now accepted her fate willingly and was now more than prepared to do everything needed to achieve her goals.

Within just a few seconds, all the crystals started to light up as well, reflecting the amber lights coming from its source – Evie.

Then her voice came forth. "Awaken." That command came forth as it reverberated evocatively around the hall. Her voice was like a voice that came from the heavens – powerful and authoritative, yet still bearing a hint of gentleness and understanding within it. Those who that voice was directed to, heard it and could only shiver and fall prostrate to the ground in awe and worship.

And with just that one word, the light coming from her strengthened in its brilliance and every crystal shattered into glittery sprinkles in unison. The dark crystalized dust flew around like black glitters were being carried by the breeze.

The view in the throne hall was so magical, so breath-taking that Evie's men could not respond for a long time but just stand there in utter wonder and admiration, their mouths hanging wide open.

Once the glittery black dust settled down and slowly vanished as they landed on the hall floor, the lights coming from Evie's body slowly receded as she drew her powers back into herself. The dark crystals were gone and numerous light faes, beautiful and ethereal creatures were now left standing where there once was a large dark crystal, their adoring and worshipful gazes all fixed on Evie who was seated again on the throne.

And suddenly, before Evie could say a word, Zanya took a step closer to the throne and her voice echoed. "Hail to our queen!" she saluted loudly, and she went down on one knee.

To Evie's surprise, all the light faes fell on their knees as well. And the words "Hail to our queen!" echoed once again. And this time, all of the light faes chorused out in unison, sending a little shiver running through Evie and her men's spines.

Chapter 322 - Light Faes

The chorusing roars of the light faes hailing their new queen made not only Evie but the vampires present in the hall stood there frozen as they looked at the hundreds of light faes on their knees. They could not help but feel awed as the beautiful voices of the faes acclaiming Evie as their ruler rose in a fevered pitch until they felt their skin prickling. Until Zolan nudged Samuel and their eyes met.

'I guess we should kneel too, don't you think?' Zolan said through their telepathy. 'Since she's also our queen as well.'

'Future empress.' Samuel surprisingly corrected. And then the big man slowly bent and went down on one knee, kneeling to show his respect and obeisance to his soon-to-be empress and current queen of the kingdom of Crescia.

Seeing what their leader had done, Zolan smirked and followed suit. Then the rest of the vampires knelt as well. Somehow, they did not feel strange with their current actions at all. In fact, they felt as though this was just so right..

'Ah… I think our princess has really stepped into her role as a queen now.' Levy said dramatically, giving a few sniffles and acting as though he was crying without tears. 'She has grown so much since the time we accompanied her after the wedding. I'm so proud of her.'

'Stop that, you, drama king. And keep your head bowed!' Zolan's rolled his eyes before his hand shot out and landed a little roughly on the crown of Levy's head, pushing it down to make him bow.

'What! Gimme a break! I know you're feeling all proud too! Don't hide it. It's obvious from your annoying face!' Levy shot back unhappily as he looked sideways at Zolan from his bent perspective.

Meanwhile, Evie could only look at the sight before her in silence and a regal bearing. She looked to the side and saw her men who had also dropped to their knees in respect and the beatings of her heart picked up a notch. What the light faes and her men did, took her by surprise. However, aside from the surge of strong emotions and the surprise, Evie felt an even stranger feeling – she did not feel it to be that strange at all, as though it was to be expected even though it happened somewhat suddenly.

There was nothing strange about everything that was happening even though she should have felt more than extremely overwhelmed from what she understood herself to be usually. This was the first time something like this had ever happened to her. But she did not feel even a hint of self-doubt that she is not deserving of this. She was filled with a strength and confidence instead. It was as if she already, subconsciously, recognized herself as their queen. When did she even become like this? She could hardly believe it – the way her mind, body and soul were reacting over this.

Somehow, she could not help but feel amazed at the realization that she was no longer the same old timid and weak Evie from the past. That little missy is no more, and in her place is someone who had evolved and grew into who she is now. It was as if she had metamorphosised from a little insignificant caterpillar into a wondrous and stunning butterfly.

"Arise, everyone." Evie then finally found her voice, and everyone lifted their faces and looked at her before getting up to their feet.

Evie tried to look at each and every one of them. All of them looked to be beautiful and young specimens of light faes – all within their peak. They should be as young as Zanya. And she could tell that the ratio of females to males were quite even.

Levy's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he looked at all the female light faes who were standing around the throne hall. His eyes were literally screaming 'oh my god! Everyone is a beauty! This is the first time I saw so many beauties all at once!'

Zanya did not waste any time in explaining everything about who Evie was and her identity as well as the relation to the prophecy to the light faes. She had also explained to them everything that happened from the time when they were frozen in the dark crystals up until now and what was going on at the moment.

The light faes were all shocked upon realizing that it had been thousands of years since they had last been awake. Most of them became sad, but it was obvious they fully understood what was going on. These young generation of light faes had been born during that long war so they were not that shocked at the news they received from Zanya. Back then, they were gathered in this same throne hall, willing to fight to their death alongside their queen. They also knew that during that time, there was the possibility of dying because even though they fully believed in their queen, they were more than aware that they were sorely lacking in numbers and were on the losing side.

"I know every one of you deserve to be given some kind of break to gather yourselves from the thousands of years of sleep. But forgive me because I cannot give you that luxury." Evie told them, a little apologetically but very straightforwardly and without pretense. "I believe this war that is going on right now, is our only chance to destroy our enemy once and for all. That's why I am asking for everyone's cooperation to ally with me on this… we will be setting out immediately once I awaken the tree of light."

A tall and beautiful young man stepped forward. He was, according to Zanya, the best male warrior among all the light faes. He was also a high noble light faery and Zanya's cousin.

"Your Majesty, it is not necessary for us to take time for resting or thinking anymore. We had already rested for thousands of years. All of us will willingly aid you in this war. We are your people, and we will follow you no matter what." He declared and all the light faes, expressed their agreement.

Chapter 323 - What's Going On?

Hearing the light fae's declaration of loyalty and support to her, Evie's determination became even stronger. She was so glad she did not need to put in too much effort in convincing or forcing anyone here to follow her and her orders. Though she did feel a little sorry to them for bringing them to war the moment they were awaken, she knew it was imperative that it is done immediately. They could rest once this war and the enemy has been destroyed. Because if the enemy is not dealt with, there was no way they would be able to rest and relax in peace.

Glancing at Zanya, Evie nodded at her. Zanya had told her before that the light faes would definitely follow her without question. She was right and Evie could see in everyone's eyes, the same loyal gazes she always observes in her vampire men's eyes.

"Now it's time for me to awaken the tree of light." Evie then said and she descended from the throne.

However, before she could begin to move out of the throne hall, a commotion broke out at the side. Upon lifting her face towards the commotion, Evie immediately realized they had forgotten to explain about the presence of these vampires here..

Thankfully, Zanya was quick to stop the male light faes who had surrounded the vampires from attacking them. "Stop!" she shouted out, and everyone halted. The tension was a palpable thing as faes circled around vampires. The light faes surrounding Evie's men were bristling in rage and had their eyes narrowed in fury.

The light faes completely missed out and did not notice the vampires' presences as their focus were fixed towards their queen, until one of the vampires started to flirt with the female faes near them.

"They are not enemies." Zanya immediately explained. She had also told them that the one leading the ongoing war, and their queen's husband was a vampire. Of course, the light faes were shocked, just as she was when she first heard about it. But Zanya managed to explain everything to them in ways they could understand. And she did it quickly as to calm the ruffled feathers and avoid any clashes from happening.

But it was obvious they were still unable to fully erase their hostility, so Evie also spoke. "I know it's still hard for you all to trust them and accept them as your allies but…" she smiled and then looked at her men. "These men… these vampires were the ones who brought me here. If it were not for them… I'm not sure if I would still be alive now. I'm not going to force anyone of you to trust them now. But I am hoping that you all would give them a chance to prove themselves to you. They are not those vampires from your past… they are our allies now."

Everyone fell silent and just like that, the light faes backed off while the vampires suddenly smiled a little smugly. They were savouring the fact that the queen had favoured them and made it such a known fact to everyone.

"Levy." Evie raised a brow at him. "Do control yourself and stop trying to hit on the ladies. You should at least wait until they're more comfortable with you lot." She chided him mildly and Levy rubbed the back of his head, a little ashamed of his thoughtless behaviour.

"Forgive me, princess." Levy apologized. But as soon as Evie walked away, Levy murmured, feeling sorry for himself. "But it's their fault for being so beautiful that I can't help it –"

The man was then elbowed squarely in the stomach by Luc, making him groan as he doubled over and wheezed in pain.

…

Evie, Zanya and her cousin named Zirrus accompanied Evie to where the tree of light was while everyone was left to catch up with each other in the throne hall, while waiting for them.

"Are you ready, my queen?" Zanya said as she faced Evie who was now staring at the dead tree in the middle of the glimmering waters below. It evoked a mixture of feelings in Evie as she stared down at the tree. Its thick stately trunk and many branches stretching out far over the waters were so awe-inspiring. However, the fact that it was withered up and dead caused a sense of lonely helplessness within her. She thought that how ironic it was that something so full of power and magnificent at one time could be brought so low to its current state. It just made it seem more poignant knowing how fragile all life is. She reminded herself to never take life for granted.

Evie nodded after taking a deep breath. "I'm ready." Evie's gaze looked at her without hesitation and Zanya smiled.

"I will be needing nine more female light faes for the ritual. Please wait here a moment." Zanya said and then she quickly left them. After a short while, ten female light faes came, now dressed in pure silken white cloaks. Zanya was among the ten.

After Evie gave them the signal to start. The light faes spread out their wings, flying around the lagoon, forming a perfect circle. And then, they descended slowly towards the dead tree.

Evie took another deep breath as she watched them, mesmerised at how hypnotic they looked. However, something strange suddenly happened.

The light faes could not land. It was as if there was an invisible barrier surrounding the tree.

Evie's brows creased as she realised that something was not quite right. "What's going on?"

Zanya immediately broke off form the formation and flew over to her. "There's a barrier surrounding that is preventing us from getting any closer." She reported, her face looked extremely confused.

"Barrier? But there was no barrier the last time we went there." Evie exclaimed in shock.

"You are right, my queen. There's not supposed to be any barriers in there!"

"Bring me there." Evie ordered her solemnly.

Immediately, Zanya helped Evie over and the moment she came into contact with the barrier, her eyes widened in utter shock. No… this was… no… this cannot be…

Evie could not even form a word nor perceive what was happening as she touched this impregnable and all too familiar barrier with a trembling hand. Please tell me… you are not the one who put this here… Gav!

Chapter 324 - Barrier (Part I)

Clenching her fists tight, Evie forced herself to take in deep breaths and calm down before deciding on how to proceed. Then she remembered how she had dealt with the same barrier back in Kirzan. Since that was the only option she has at the moment, she started performing the magic Claudius had taught her, in the hopes that it would work on this barrier as well.

To her distress, the magic did not seem to be working. Though she had somewhat expected it would be as such, it still caused her to feel a pang of disappointment. As for now, the ritual to awaken the tree of life could not be carried out so Evie and the then female light faes returned to the throne room, quiet and with faces that were gloomy. Those who were waiting for them to return were shocked as they did not expect the ritual to be completed that fast. Evie ignored the questioning glances and sat on her throne, brooding over the issue with the barrier.

She remembered that Claudius told her there were two types of barriers. He had mentioned that the protection barrier was easier to break if one was trying to break out from the inside. However, if one was coming in from the outside, breaking it would be impossible, especially if the caster was someone extremely powerful.

Remembering that information made Evie bite down on her lip so hard it nearly bled.. This barrier was exactly the same as the one Gav had used to keep her in that room in Kirzan. She was a hundred percent certain about it. This was the exact same dark magic that she always felt coming from him. And this infuriated her to no end. Why? What exactly was his purpose in doing this?

Evie fell silent for a long while, just clenching her fists tight as she wondered and thought more about the matter. Then suddenly she stood up and stormed out of the throne hall. Her face seemingly neutral but everyone could feel that something had displeased her terribly and angered her as they could sense her fluctuating aura as she moved past them.

The light faes did not dare question her and just cleared out a path for their queen. Every time she passed by them, they would lower their heads and only lift their faces again once their queen had passed them a couple steps ahead.

Zolan was the one who approached her first as he walked up next to her. Of course, the light faes creased their brows in disapproval as they perceived the vampire's attitude to be disrespectful and flippant, but Zanya signalled them not to make a fuss about it.

"Princess, what's going on?" Zolan asked and Evie answered him without slowing down her pace as she headed outside with long, hasty strides.

"I don't know when, but Gav had put a barrier to prevent me from awakening the tree of life." She answered a little bitterly.

Her answer caused Zolan to sigh. "So, what are you going to do now, Your Highness?"

Evie did not answer him this time but only kept walking forward silently. Zolan respected her silence and followed behind her faithfully, waiting until she deemed it appropriate to tell him more. Once they were outside the castle, Evie shut her eyes close and in no time at all, her dragons arrived. She had used her magic to summon them. Silver and Crimson came swooping in and landed perfectly before them.

"Terrific! The princess can summon two dragons at one go now!" One of the vampires exclaimed, wheezing in amazement. They then wondered if the princess could actually call more then just two dragons at a time. Their hearts could not help but lurch and pound with much thrill as they imagined their princess summoning the whole flight of dragons who were under her command. What a magnificent sight it would be when that day comes!

"You all can ride on Crimson." Evie told the vampires and then she climbed onto Silver's back, and they immediately set off.

The light faes followed a few paces behind them. The female ones took to flight with their butterfly-like wings while the male ones spread out their bat-like white coloured wings.

By the time they reached the gates of Crescia, Evie was once again angered because there was suddenly another barrier that appeared out of nowhere now. And this time, Evie immediately realized this barrier was a prison barrier because the magic Claudius taught her was not working, despite her trying to get out from the inside this time.

Gritting her teeth furiously, she faced the vampires with eyes blazing as though it could spit out fire. They were shocked to see the princess looking like this as they have never seen her this enraged.

"How did this happen? Did Gav actually followed you when you brought me here?" Evie asked them. "From what I have been told, he did not come along with us, right? So, what's the deal here?" The men could tell that Evie was getting a little impatient and wanted answers.

"He did, princess. But only until the border." Samuel answered in his deep serious voice as he was the one who felt the prince's presence during their journey. "He stopped following us after we crossed it."

"Then how…" Evie trailed off as she stared helplessly at that irritating barrier that was in her way. Her eyes then widened as a white light flashed in her mind and she suddenly thought of one other option she could try.

She quickly turned and climbed on Silver's back again. Then she brought the dragon up into the sky, beyond the gloomy and thick clouds. As she rode higher, her hopes soared together with their growing height.

Alas! She could only smile bitterly as the dragon too was stopped by a barrier that domed above the clouds above. It was the very same prison barrier that was holding them back at the gates.

"So, this was what you were up to the last time when we were here, huh…" Evie murmured, as a depreciating smile curved her lips. She was in disbelief and anger. Realizing that she was not the only with hidden agendas the last couple of days and nights made her bury her face on her palms, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"So, you actually sent me here to imprison me, huh? Are you going to claim that doing this will protect me again, huh, Gav?" she gritted her teeth as she felt like wanting to scream and vent out her frustration with that impossibly stubborn male. "Why do you always do this to me?!"

Chapter 325 - Barrier (Part II)

Meanwhile, on the ground.

While everyone was looking up at the direction where the princess disappeared to and some light faes even followed after her, Zolan curiously approached the barrier. It appeared invisible but when the princess tried to cross it a while ago and used some magic to break it, the barrier shimmered and became visible for a little while. It was a dark shimmery wall-like barrier that looked like a pillar of smoke had combined with piles of black dust.

When they entered this gate hours ago, Leon had told him that there seemed to be something off with the gate. Samuel also agreed with Leon's observation. However, just as they hesitated to enter, Reed suddenly spoke and ordered them to just go ahead and enter.

At that moment, all of them knew that Reed was under someone else's control – to specifically point it out, under the prince's control. And that indicated to them that he was obviously watching them. When they finally crossed the gate, Reed suddenly coughed and blinked his eyes, looking confused.

Now Zolan understood why the prince's controlling magic immediately left Reed's body as soon as they crossed the gate..

Reaching out, Zolan gingerly let his palm touch the barrier and to his surprise, unlike Princess Evie who was blocked in, his hand actually managed to pass through.

His eyes widened in shock at his findings. A light fae standing near the vampires noticed what Zolan had done earlier, and she approached him. Her expression was that of surprise as well as she looked at Zolan's hand which was now jutting out of the barrier. Zolan himself was still holding out his hand and staring at it curiously, as though searching for some answers.

"Is the barrier broken?" her beautiful voice broke his reverie and caused Zolan to look at the source of that voice.

"I'm not sure actually…." Zolan replied after identifying who the speaker was. "If you don't mind, could you try doing the same as what I am doing right now?" He asked her politely and the lady with a long loose and braided hair reached out her hand towards the barrier.

To their surprise, the barrier reacted differently with the light fae just as it did with Evie. She was not able to push her hand across the barrier either.

Narrowing his eyes, Zolan called for Elias who was the nearest to him. Again, after asking Elias to try out his theory, his hand went through the barrier without any problems.

The female light fae ran off for a while and came back dragging with her, a male light fae towards where Zolan was. She then asked him to do what the vampires were doing but just like what had happened to her, the barrier hardened and prevented any crossing the moment the light fae touched it as if it had turned into a dark wall.

"So does this mean that, only us vampires are permitted and able to leave this barrier?" Zolan thought out loud and the other vampires approached. They all tried and same thing happened to them as well. The barrier seemed to melt at their touches but will harden and turn into a hard wall at the touch of the light faes.

"Seems like it." Samuel agreed. "So far, it is only restricting the movements of the light faes."

"I will try –" Luc enthusiastically offered to try it out too.

"Wait!" Zolan failed to stop Luc in time as Luc was already disappearing into the barrier when Zolan told him to wait.

And then, Luc was gone. The light faes were surprised and they too tried to cross again but it was futile.

The vampires waited for Luc to return but the man did not come back even after they waited for a few minutes.

"What's going on? Why is Luc not returning?" Elias asked. He was feeling that something seemed off as he looked apprehensively at Zolan. There would be no way that Luc just run off on his own. That was not how he operates.

"I think this barrier might be something that couldn't be crossed more than once." Zolan said, thinking aloud. "So, most likely the case is that once you leave, you can never return again as long as the barrier is in place."

At that moment, Silver landed on the ground.

Zolan and everyone focused their attention on Evie as she dismounted from her dragon. 'Oh, she's angry…' the vampires told each other through their secret telepathy.

'Very angry.' As Zolan added on, the men could feel their skin tingling a little from apprehension of the princess' anger.

'She's mad at the prince.'

'For sure. I've never seen her this angry before. I'm actually a little scared!' the drama king then hugged himself.

'Me too.' Reed agreed. 'I never thought the princess could be this angry until now.'

'Man. I'm actually worried about that prince of ours now once she manages to get out of here. But then again, I'm not actually that worried… I think I would say 'serves him right' if the princess catches and beats him into a pulp.' Levy snickered through his telepathy to the other men, and then his shoulders trembled as he imagined the princess beating up that cold and arrogant prince. 'Serves him right for forgetting about us. Pfft.'

'Quit it with your imagination, Levy.'

'It's not an imagination, sweetheart.' Levy smugly winked at Leon.

'Call me that again and you'll regret it.' Leon growled with distaste at Levy.

'Haha. I said it's not an imagination. It's called prediction. Want to make a bet with me?" Levy egged Leon on.

'Bet on what?'

'That a big fight will break out once the couple meets and that princess Evie will beat our prince. And if I win, you will stop getting in the way between me and my darling Zanya.' Levy laid out his terms as he gave Leon a self-satisfied smirk.

Leon's face was deadpan. 'No one's getting in your way, you idiot. And I'm not interested in making a bet with you.'

'Urgh! This boring little… you're always getting in the way, admit it!' Levy groaned and grumbled at him. But Leon had already turned around and faced his back towards him. This just made Levy even more frustrated and determined to get at Leon.

Chapter 326 - Wait For It

Zolan had immediately told Evie about their discovery and that Luc was already on the other side. He also mentioned about his theory on how they could only go across the barrier once – thus, the reason why Luc was still on the other side of the barrier and still did not return.

As the vampires expected, the princess refused to just stay back and watch the barrier helplessly. She had called on Zanya for some advice and discussed on the possibilities of light fae magic that could be used to destroy a powerful barrier. Zanya had already taught her all the spells she knew but despite Evie's tremendous power and magic, the barrier remained impregnable. All of them could only gaze disappointingly at the barrier which still stood strong against all attacks.

The light faes also tried to help. They even tried attacking the barrier all at once with their combined magic when it was gathered at its peak. But it was still a futile effort on their part.

"I can't believe a dark magic this strong exists." Zanya's cousin, Zirrus commented as he shook his head. Though upset at failing to dispel of the barrier, he had to give due respect to the amount of power needed to cast such a strong spell..

"Our queen's husband is very strong. I believe he might be even stronger than Thundrann." Zanya replied.

"How could you say such a thing? Did you already meet that traitor?" Zirrus snarled and his eyes were red rimmed as he heard of that name.

"No. But I've met our Queen's husband. Compared with how Thundrann was thousands of years ago, he's definitely far stronger."

"That's the point Zanya. You're trying to compare the queen's husband to a man from thousands of years ago. Being stuck inside the crystal for thousands of years made all of us far stronger. I believe this is because our magic is stuck and remained unused for thousands of years. Not only that, somehow, the crystal had amplified our powers while remaining within it for so long. I think it was our late queen who had done something to it to help us. Now our magic is overflowing like we're volcanos, finally erupting after sleeping for thousands of years. If this is the case for us, I believe the same thing must have happened with Thundrann. That traitor should be far stronger than what he was before now."

Hearing Zirrus words, Zanya knew he had a point. She had not met Thundrann after all and the fact that Prince Gavrael went through all this trouble just to keep his wife away from the war, Zanya could only guess that it was because of an immense danger, and this danger could only be Thundrann.

"Now what I don't understand is that… why is our current queen's husband doing this to her? "Why would he go to the extent of not only barring up the queen, but all of us light faes with her?" Zirrus asked when Zolan who happened to be near them spoke.

"It's obviously because His Highness want to protect the princess by keeping her here."

"He's not keeping her here, he's imprisoning her." Zirrus corrected. "And like what her majesty had said earlier, this war isn't just to be his war alone. This is her majesty's and us light faes' war as well. To be specific, we have more of a grudge on Thundrann than he has. So, what right does he have to keep us away from this war? Moreover, our queen isn't just some damsel in distress who needed to be hidden far away to be safe. She's a queen and she's powerful too. By doing this, he is just insulting his wife and our queen in her face."

"Well, you are right. And yes, His Highness can't just decide everything for his wife like this. But the thing is… His Highness loves princess Evielyn so much he'd do anything to keep her from any harm. Even sacrificing himself for her." Zolan let out a quiet sigh. He knew the prince was fully in the wrong by doing this, but he could not blame him for taking this way. He knows how protective the prince was over the princess. He was not willing for the princess to even suffer a bruise, much less allowing her to go join a war! "I'm not saying that I approve of his methods… but I just want you all to know that our prince isn't doing this for just some simple and mindless reason."

After saying that, Zolan walked away helplessly, not knowing what else to say about the situation. Zanya and Zirrus were watching his back as he left.

"He's telling the truth Zirr," Zanya told her cousin. "I've seen how powerful and terrifying the prince is but despite everything, he really loves our queen so much. I'd even go as far as saying that he loves her more than his own life. And our queen loves him dearly as well. That's why she's not going to give up. One of the biggest reasons why she is trying so hard is because she wants to be there for him."

Zirrus sighed as they both fixed their gazes on their queen who was still zealously trying to break the barrier. Zirrus' gaze was complicated and filled with curiosity and dismay at what he had just learnt. Zanya's gaze, however, was compassionate and filled with understanding as she saw how hard her queen was trying to dispel the barrier, knowing why she was giving her all, even stopping the light faes from helping out telling them that she wanted everyone to store their strength for the war instead.

"I don't think this barrier will be broken any time soon or even later. It's just way too strong." Zirrus murmured after watching their queen going at it for a long while. It had made them speechless that even the queen's power could not seem to do anything about it. "The worse that could happen is we might never even break through it."

"Don't say that. I believe she's going to get us all out of here." The faith in Zanya's eyes gleamed as she spoke and revealed her stand. "Just wait for it, I know she'll break it. Our queen is much more amazing than you think."

Don't forget to cast your Golden Tickets on this book guys! If we stay top 1 in Golden ranking I will give 10 chapters mass release.

Chapter 327 - Without Her

Morning came soon after. Evie had not stopped trying ways and means, but to no avail. The blasted barrier remained strong and unbreakable. Evie had even called upon her dragon to pour forth dragonfire on it, but nothing happened even with that move. Everything was just futile.

"Princess, please take some rest now." Zolan had finally approached to stop her. He was worried that she might overstrain herself in the efforts of trying to break the barrier.

Evie clenched her fists tight at Zolan's interruption. She was aware that nothing was working so far, but she did not want to give up. She was angry at Gav's high-handed methods in doing things his way, but most importantly, she was worried about Gav himself. She must be there for him! No, she needs to be there! Now that she has grown so much stronger, she can now fight alongside him. She cannot let what had happened in Dacria repeat itself.. She refused to be hidden away while he was out there fighting all by himself!

"I know you are worried about the prince, but if you spent yourself up like this, it would definitely cause more problems for you, and you know we can't afford that from happening." Zolan said straightforwardly. "I know you don't want to waste any more time here, but maybe it'll help if you calm down and think of something else rather than forcing yourself to the limit like what you are doing now. Maybe, breaking the barrier through sheer magical attacks is not the way to go."

Despite her frustration, what Zolan said caused her to pause and helped her relax a little. He was right, perhaps, she was doing it all wrong!

"You're saying that attacking it might not work… do you have a suggestion on what might work to break it?" she asked her as she finally sat down after hours of standing before the barrier. She could not help but feel a tingling at the bottom of her heart, hope again growing at the mention of her being able to bring the barrier down.

"I'm sorry but I don't have any suggestions right now. Well, I'm a vampire. We have never dealt with these kinds of things before. However, it is different for the light faes. I think you should call for a meeting, sit down with them, and discuss further about this. I'm sure an idea will be formed if everyone is willing to share a piece of their minds. I think you'll be able to find out something useful if you speak to them. These light faes came from the distant past after all." Zolan explained to her, and Evie took in a sharp and deep breath.

Zolan's words had made her realize she was definitely too pressured and had acted a little arrogantly in thinking that she could just solve this issue on her own. She closed her eyes and reflected on her attitude for a while before opening them again, her eyes much clearer and it could be seen that she was calmer and in a better frame of mind. Also, her anger with Gav had previously made her unable to think rationally. All that rage must have messed with her thinking processes! Zolan was right, she needed to calm down. She must use her intellect to think calmly and rationally rather than blindly using her magic like this despite seeing that it was obviously not working.

Looking up at Zolan, Evie sighed again and then the muscles of her body relaxed as her expression slowly became better. "Thank you, Zolan. You are right. I needed to calm down. Thanks for the timely reminder."

"That's right princess. I think you should put your anger on hold for now. You can always resume it once you meet up again with His Highness. I'm afraid your anger will be spent and long gone at the rate you have been going because you have been venting it all onto the barrier." He smirked meaningfully and Evie finally smiled, catching onto this teasing manner.

"Alright, I will call for a discussion with them. However, would like you to join us, Zolan." Evie told him when Zolan's face became apologetic.

"Actually, I have something else to report to you, princess." He said, causing Evie to crease her brows and looked at him in curiosity.

"What is it?"

"Samuel and I had just discussed between us, and we decided that we would leave first, princess." Zolan's voice came out a little apologetic.

Evie's face immediately darkened as it became severe. Zolan still continued speaking despite the obvious unhappy aura surrounding Evie.

"Luc is already on the other side for hours now. But he's not the reason why we thought about doing this. We are worried about His Highness too. Since we are able to go past the barrier and leave, it would only make sense for us to go ahead and aid him. Would you agree with this assessment, Your Highness?"

"You're saying you guys will go on without me?!"

"Yes. We cannot stay here and delay any longer when we can leave and go aid him, princess. I hope you will understand why we decided on this."

Evie was speechless. She turned and looked over at the other vampires and she saw them looking back at her apologetically. Elias especially felt so bad that he dropped his head and could not continue looking on at the princess.

"We know our task should be to protecting and staying with you wherever you may be. His Highness gave that task to us again before sending us here. However, with all these light faes and dragons with you now, not to mention your own powerful magic, we think that the one who needs us most right now is His Highness." Zolan added in a careful manner.

A while ago, when the group of vampires were talking about this, all of them felt the strange pang in their chest at the thought of leaving their princess behind. It surprised them at how much they were already attached to her and up to this much they were actually feeling a little miserable that they had to be leaving her this soon. Even though it was not even a long goodbye and they were just going to go without her.

Chapter 328 - See You Soon

However, their desire to aid their prince was still a little stronger. The thought that their prince being away at war right now and they were here, just waiting and sitting on their behinds, was something they could not swallow. Therefore, they had discussed and decided on wanting to go aid their prince in the war, real bad. Even if he might not need them, at least they wanted to fight alongside with him this time. They just could not bear the thoughts of letting him fight all by himself again.

And besides, they thought that the light faes were truly the ones who could protect the princess. They could see their extreme loyalty to their queen. They knew that like them, these light faes are fully willing to give up their lives for her if the need ever arises. At first, they thought that it was still too early to trust the light faes too much, but they knew in their hearts that these creatures were loyal. They did not know if their seemingly extreme loyalty was something like an inborn instinct to them but one look, and they could tell that these light faes will do anything for their queen – including dying for her.

That was why Evie's men were not worried about leaving her behind with the light faes. They were just a little sad that she would not be able to go along with them.

"Please let us go, princess. Just think of us as the first batch of reinforcements you send to aid your husband. You'll follow suit very quickly anyway, right?" Zolan coaxed Evie at the sight of her emotional face that seemed as though she wanted to voice out a protest. "If it makes you feel better, we can leave Leon behind to accompany and watch over you."

Leon's eyes widened at what he heard as he opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he snapped it shut quickly. However, Evie saw how Leon responded and he looked as though he was the one who wanted to protest now. His eyes caught Evie's gaze and he turned a little pale, as if he realized she had read his thoughts.

Suddenly, he approached them, and Leon bowed in apology. "I-it's definitely not because I don't want to protect you anymore, Princess. I also don't want to leave you behind but… but –" Leon stammered as he tried to say what was in his mind as nicely as possible.

"I understand, Leon." Evie cut him off and a sad but gentle smile curved on her face. "I understand. I don't want to let any of you go without me… but you are right. Gav needs all of you with him now." She said and then she called for the rest of the vampires to approach.

When everyone was before her, she looked at each one of them. Seeing their faces and the look in their eyes, Evie realized how hard this decision must have been for them to decide on. And her heart swelled at the same time as she felt saddened by it. This would be the first time in a long while that these men would not be with her or close to her. It surprised her how much they have all became so dear to her now.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Leon. I will let you all go…" She smiled at the half blood then she looked at all of them. "But with one condition."

The men waited for Evie to state her requirement.

"You all must be safe until I get there too. Deal?" Evie smiled at them helplessly as she stated her condition.

The men smiled wide as some of them laughed. "Of course, princess. Don't worry about us. We'll make sure to stay alive and kicking until then." Levy grinned and everyone nodded.

"The truth is I think this is the best move we could do for now. However…" Evie paused and her face became serious. "I need you all to be safe. Do not worry about me now. Worry about yourselves and your safety. Aid your prince but don't be too reckless…" she paused again. "I will not forgive anyone who fail to protect themselves, understand? Your safety is the most important."

"Understood, Your Highness."

Evie looked at Zolan and then to Samuel and a wordless conversation seemed to have passed on between them.

Samuel bowed. "Rest assured princess, I will watch over them."

"Thank you." Evie smiled and then suddenly, she reached out her hand and put her palm over their chests one by one. A warm glow entered their bodies when Evie touched them.

"What is this?" Reed asked.

"Just a little protection spell I've cast for all of you." Evie said. Then she stepped back and looked at them again. "I will see you all soon."

"Yes, princess. But don't forget what I told you… don't be too hard to yourself." Zolan reminded her and Evie smiled slightly.

"I won't." Evie gave a gentle wave at the men as they stepped back and bowed at her.

"Well then, we're going." They said and Evie nodded.

The men looked at the light faes and Levy shamelessly shouted at them. "We'll go ahead. Take care of the princess while we're gone or else –"

"We will take good care of her even without you asking us to do so, vampire." One of the light faes retorted followed by a snort and Levy smirked.

"Good. That's how you should respond. Well, then, see you soon everyone!" he winked at the ladies before blowing a few flying kisses at them. They could only roll their eyes at his flirty actions. But when his gaze fell to Evie, his mischievous smile faded and only saluted her seriously.

Then all the vampires turned around, single file and bowed their heads at Evie before speedily turning around and crossed the barrier as Evie watched them all disappear.

Chapter 329 - Another

PLEASE READ: I'd like to clarify that the hard copy of both Spellbound and Hellbound With You are NOT FOR SALE. I am not allowed to profit from my books outside webnovel, that's why i can only give it away as gifts to my most loyal readers. This means that the printed books will be limited. Only the Top 10 in top fans and five other loyal fans picked by me will receive both Spellbound and hellbound hard copies. The rest will receive one book only so you have to choose between the two.

___

The moment the vampires emerged on the other side of the barrier, they immediately searched for Luc as they did not see him waiting for them outside the barrier. Though they were not extremely afraid that something bad might happen to him, they were still worried enough and wondered where he went to. To their surprise, after walking some ways off, they found the man sleeping next to Onyx who was still guarding the gates entering into Crescia.

"Man…" Levy complained. "We were so worried about the guy, and here he was sleeping away so comfortably?" Levy kicked Luc's feet and the man woke up with a jump. "What a lazy bum!" Levy snickered mischievously as he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, you guys finally got out! I was afraid that I was the only one who could cross it." Luc said as he yawned loudly and stretched out lazily. "Ah, that was a good sleep. But wait… where's the princess?" Luc was looking around and realised that the princess was not among his comrades.

A short silence passed before Zolan spoke. "We vampires are the only ones who could cross the barrier. After discussing on the pros and cons, we could only leave her behind. The princess also agreed with us and had given us the permission to go."

Luc blinked. His carefree face that was still satisfied with sleep a little while ago was now darkened into a frown. What he heard was definitely bad news! The princess was still stuck behind the barrier!

"Now let's go. We cannot delay any longer." Samuel said and the men began to move ahead towards the dark tunnel that would lead them out of Crescia.

When Zolan passed by the large and dark dragon, he paused and looked into its clever amber eyes that had a sharp and intelligent light within it. "I am not sure if you can understand my language at all but… your master, the princess, is stranded inside." Zolan stared into the dragon's eyes as he said that. He was hoping the ancient dragon could understand him and perhaps find a way to get the princess out of her predicament. But when Onyx did not even move or blink and just remained crouching on the ground, Zolan sighed in disappointment. After determining that the dragon was not going to respond, he too, finally left as Onyx's large eyes watched them disappear into the dark tunnel before his eyes twinkled with a profound light.

By the time the vampires stepped out of the dark tunnel, Leon halted and looked back. "I believed we just crossed another barrier, right?" He stated and Samuel only nodded.

"What? There is another barrier here?" Levy exclaimed. "This means our princess is going to go up against two barriers? It is already seemingly impossible for her to break that first one! Isn't the prince being too much with his protection plan?" Levy stated with much indignance. Zolan only shot him a sharp and warning glare that subdued Levy into a sulky pout.

"Does this mean the princess might not be able to leave at all?" Reed asked. "The fact that the prince put two barriers up… this must be to ensure that she cannot leave at all."

"Knowing him. He must be thinking about that." Zolan sighed like an old man before lifting one hand and massaging his temples. "But we cannot do anything about this now. We can only hope that the princess will find a way to break the barrier on her own. For now, let's focus ourselves in aiding him." However, Zolan silently thought that the prince might have been overreacting by keeping Evie locked behind two barriers. This would only cause more problems in the long run. The prince should trust in the princess and in her powers.

"What if he shuns us when we appear before him to fight alongside him?" Reed questioned the thought many of them had.

"Well, I guess he'd probably get angry. But let's just tell him that the princess was the one who ordered us to come and aid him in the wat and we cannot refuse her, which isn't exactly a lie. However, the prince would not know what the full truth is if none of you decide to blab." Zolan indirectly reminded the rest to keep it from the prince.

"I know there is enough food Elias left for the princess. But how about the light faes. If – I am hoping this won't happen – but if they cannot leave there for days until the war is over, they'll definitely starve. Crescia is a barren land. We have not seen any living things within its lands."

"Don't worry about the light faes. They'll be able to survive without food for days. And I don't think this war will last that long. The prince doesn't need to conquer every kingdom in the empire, and I don't think he's intending to do that anyway. Knowing him now, I don't think he would have the patience to do that. He just needs to kill the main enemy. And that's why his plan was to go straight to the capital – to strike where it matters the most. Our prince uses both his skills and his intelligence to fight." Zolan explained with pride colouring his voice. The men were all proud as well, knowing their prince and his exemplary war strategies. He does not fight a losing battle.

Running and leaping forward at their fastest pace, the elite vampires then arrived outside Kirzan in just slightly under an hour. They could already see the city was nearly emptied. Only children and women were left.

The men continued on, following the prince's army's trails until they arrived at the first battlefield located outside the city of Gezt. Countless of dead soldiers were scattered about on the blood-soaked ground, painting the meadow a dark scarlet with an iron scent hanging heavily in the air. There were women and other vampires from the city who came out to bury the bodies.

It was obviously a one-sided battle as they could hardly see a dead body that belongs to the soldiers from the Kirzan army.

Chapter 330 - Break It!

The elite vampires arrived at the second battlefield then on to the third and the similar scenes welcomed them as the first one. The battle had just started last night but it seems the prince had already gone quite far. They could also tell that his army did not even take a break even though it was already daylight. This type of battle strategy was definitely not the usual tactic that their prince Gavriel employed. If it was prince Gavriel, he would definitely not do it this way. He would not just slaughter everyone who gets in his way and most importantly, he would not treat his army like they were machines who did not need any rest, especially when the sun was already high in the sky and shining bright.

Seeing the many battlefields they had passed by, all of them thought that contrary to what the princess believed, the prince's memories might have yet to return.

…

The day went by and then the night ended too. However, Evie was still unable to leave Crescia. They had already done everything possible to solve their problem. She had spoken to the other light faes and they did everything they could think of any idea to break the barrier.

But it was all futile. And now the day was about to end again. She had been stuck here for almost two whole nights and two days now.

Her heart felt it was being crushed to pieces every hour that pass. What was happening with the war now? Her men. Are they alright? Is Gav alright?

With so much frustration piling up within her, Evie hit the barrier with her fists as she pressed her forehead on it. She felt helpless. She could not understand why she was still not strong enough to break this damned barrier. Why? Why is it that she could not break it?! What was it that was lacking in her?

She wanted to scream out her frustrations. The rain that was falling over her head did not even bother her anymore. 'I hate you, Gav… why did you do this to me? Is this your way of proving to me that I'm still that helpless woman you've married?'

Evie could not help but feel emotional again. She was truly reaching her limit. She could not take this anymore! She refused to be treated like this any longer!

"I am a queen. No one is allowed to detain me against my will! I am the fated queen of the light faes, I can't allow myself to be this helpless! I need to break this barrier!" She raged to herself, eyes blazing with golden fire.

Suddenly, as she said those words to herself, with so much anger and overflowing emotion, her eyes suddenly flashed with an intense and bright light. Amber lights burst out from every part of her body without her even calling her magic out. The magic just spilled forth from her body on its own before she even realised it was happening.

All of the light faes looked over at her with awe and wonder. This was their long-awaited queen! Their hearts soared with pride and fighting spirit as they silently looked on at their queen being surrounded with such thick and dense magic.

Then suddenly, the dragons made a piercing screech. All of them cried out, all at once, as if they were being affected by her. The dragons emitted an angry aura that was surprisingly the same type of aura the queen was exuding.

What's going on? The light faes were all stunned at the sight of the dragons seemingly about to go berserk and on a rampage.

"I need this barrier to break!!!" Evie screamed aloud and all of a sudden, all the light faes suddenly heard a loud bang that shook even the ground they were standing on.

Evie was shocked as well and she too, took a step back. Not realizing that her magic was all over her and blazing like a living entity, spreading out from her and into the skies. She had no idea how impressively formidable she looked at that moment. However, in the light faes eyes, they were literally worshipping her as their goddess.

She finally heard the dragon's cries. And then there was another loud cracking sound as though a large fracture occured. Her eyes widened at the sight of a thin but long fissure appearing on the barrier. Who is trying to break the barrier? Was it someone from the outside… Onyx!!!

Forgetting everything, she began to scream again. "Break it, Onyx! Break it!"

As if her scream was heard, another earth-shattering sound echoed and boomed around the area and then the barrier gave a last shudder before it shattered and broke like mirror being smashed by a powerful hit.

Onyx's roar blasted through like a literal shockwave before it breathed out a massive ball of fire and followed by the powerful smash of its massive tail to enlarge the crack.

Evie's face finally lit up, as if her salvation had finally come.

The light faes roared and clamoured out in victory and Evie rushed out of the crack and flew straight for Onyx. She hugged the dragon's leg as she fought desperately to hold back her tears. He truly was her miracle dragon!

"Oh my god. Thank you so much, you're really such a hero. My hero!" She cried as her heart overflowed with gratitude.

She couldn't believe she didn't think of Onyx. Since the dragon is outside the prison barrier, it should be easier for him to break it than her who was inside!

After a while, Evie finally managed to calm down and without wasting a moment longer, she led the light faes out of the barrier. But before long, they were stopped by another barrier. Evie was not really surprised to see a second one. According to his personality, he would definitely have put up this barrier to keep any potential enemies from entering.

To Evie's relief, she was right as she found that this barrier was a protection barrier.

She halted the light faes and she performed the magic Claudius taught her. With her overflowing magic at the moment, she did not even need to take a minute before the light faes saw the barrier starting to dissolve as though it was just mist.

However, the moment the barrier disappeared, she was welcomed by something or someone standing just a few strides from her… a tall, and dark man with strikingly intense blue eyes.