The final rune locked into place as Tariq stepped back, sweat beading his temple despite the cold in the underground chamber. The Null box now pulsed faintly its every inch covered in overlapping sigils and blinding glyphs.
Sera knelt nearby inspecting the lower wardline, her fingers brushing over the etched silver symbols checking for the telltale signs of any instability. "Its holding" She confirmed, voice steady " Karl let's move it"
Karl nodded as he helped guide the Null box into the reinforced dolly. The Null box was massive, more than five metres in length. It was heavy enough to require a specialized loading mechanism. The team stood back as the truck's rear hissed open revealing a reinforced interior lined with suppression runes. Slowly with practiced coordination the Null box was loaded inside and sealed.
They departed the facility at 03:00 hours.
The night air was razor thin and bitter, their breath fogging inside the vehicles before the heaters kicked in. Engines idled low with lights dimmed to slits, the convoy rolled out leaving the site in complete darkness. 5 vehicles in total 4 armoured SUVs and one reinforced semi-trailer with the Null box secured safely in its steel womb. Alric rode point in the lead vehicle, eyes tracking both the road ahead and the leyline reader humming quietly on the dashboard. They couldn't deviate from the leylines, not entirely at least. The Null box had to be kept aligned with them or else it would weaken. Too far off and it would destabilize.
Null boxes were used to contain objects with immense power by nullifying their power. One was virtually useless within a Null box. But these objects required a lot of magic to fuel them. The greater the source, the greater its power of nullification.
But sticking to the leylines was hell.
Any direct path had been ruled out early on, instead they followed winding mountain trails and overgrown backroads, often veering of asphalt and onto mud churned paths meant for hikers and goat herders.
More than once, they were forced to cut through dense forests with wheels skidding over root chocked terrain. The trailer creaked and groaned with every jolt but was held down securely by its magnetic chains. Each offroad detour added hours to the journey and worse each deviation placed them deeper into uncharted territory. By the time they crossed into Austria half the team was beyond exhausted. Sera had gone even paler something Tariq thought was impossible given her already pale skin. She was exhausted due to restabilizing the Null box each time it flickered.
"Null boxes aren't meant to be moved," she said "They're mean't to be held in place. Too much movement and they destabilize. Reinforcing it constantly is depleting"
Tariq agreed. He himself despite his age had begun to feel the weight of the task. Null boxes drew on the magic of the caster or leylines. They had to continously reinforce those runes with their magic. Whatever was inside that demanded this level of binding and security had piqued his interest beyond measure. It had better be worth the trouble he thought. So far they encountered no incidence.
So far.
Slovakia brought more trouble.The leylines dipped sharply east cutting through the country side. A snow squall forced them to dovert an abondened mining site, the path was narrow framed by cliffs and old rail tracks.
Crossing into Ukraine was the last straw.
The leylines twisted sharply through the Carpathians, a path no sane convoy would follow but they pressed on, they had no choice. The road climbed steeply, uneven and broken by frost heaves. A light fog had begun to roll in as they climbed, but it was winter and fog in the mountains was common, so no one paid heed. As they climbed it grew thicker, subtle at first almost unnoticeable until they suddenly noticed how dense it had become, how dim daylight was now. By nightfall it was a whitewall. Headlights struggled to cut more than a few feet ahead. Velari senses, immortals normally unhindered by the darkness or weather were useless now. The fog clung to everything like tendrils of smoke. When the lead vehicle slowed, the others followed suit. Alric stepped out into the haze scanning the thick soup aelround them with narrow eyes.
"Somethimg's wrong" he said eyes scanning the road.
Tariq and Sera joined him moving slowly through the fog. Arms raised Sera's hands began to flicker.
"I'm dispelling it" she said " Give me a moment"
For a moment the air stirred, magic shimmering like heat in the cold.
Nothing.
She tried again but the fog only thickened.
Sera blinked " I don't understand, that should have worked"
"It should have" Tariq said " If it were regular fog".
"Someone is casting this fog" she said.
"Indeed"
Alric's eyes sharpened at that revelation and his voice rang out.
"Defensive perimeter around the trailer. NOW!"
Eirik now stood beside Tariq.
"Anything?" Tariq asked.
" No, I can barely see anything, my ears feel muffled. I can't even scent anything. All my senses are dull" he replied " What of you?"
Tariq had already tried to sense the surrounding area with his magic to no avail. Whoever had cast this spell was powerfull.
"No" he replied " My magic can't seem to penetrate this fog"
The silence that followed was crushing. The heavy fog pressed on like a sentient entity, it strangled even sound. The usual ambient noises crickets , birds chirping ,wind brushing the mountainside had all but vanished. They had formed a loose circle around the trailer, eyes glowing with a faint cold blue luminescence. Some tried to catch a trace of scent in the air, nostrils flaring but the fog offered nothing. Not even the scent of wildlife. Others cocked their heads, ears twitching with acute sensitivity, but even that sense was dulled. Whatever spell blanketed this mountain pass had muted everything, even time seemed to come to a crawl.
Thud!
A single small thump too heavy for a falling branch. Every Lykan turned sharply towards the sound, claws unsheathing with a small metallic like sound.
Another thud.
Then a sharp crack the sound of something snapping. One of them, a tall broad shouldered man let out a snarl and began shifting. Bones could be heard snapping, rearranging themselves under the skin with a wet, brutal sound. His spine hunched, limbs thickened, clothes began to tear around swelling muscles as he increased in size.
CRACK!
A sickening crunch echoed through the air, followed by the sound of a body against metal.It hit the side of the armoured vehicle with such a force it nearly toppled over on its side. Frozen in place the others watched what was left of their commrade, slide down the steel hull. He was still midshift, though now he was larger and bigger than he was a few moments ago, his grotesque figure suspended between forms. His skin had torn where fur had begun to sprout, except now he was headless. Not much could kill a Lykan but a missing head was the surest way to kill anything. Tariq stepped foward, drawing a rune in the air with two fingers, golden light trailing behind.
"Perthes..... Rak'al infernus" he barked, the air trembling with the force of his incantation.
A flare of fire erupted outward like a pulse brief, violent but then fizzled uselessly. Tariq's eyes narrowed " That shouldn't be possible"
"I never thought there would be anyone capable of nullifying your magic" Eirik said.
"Neither did I"
Alric's voice was a low snarl " Eyes up. Stay close and watch each others back"
Sera stood trembling, her hands glowing faintly with magic. She hated the feeling of being powerless, her magic was of no use to her now. She screamed when the body of a headless lykan flew towards her. Karl stepped foward and kicked it back into the fog without hesitation, but even he was breathing hard, no doubt hating the situation. A lykan without its senses was as good as dead.
Then the truck screeched.
Something massive had crashed into its side, tilting it dangerously.
"What was that?" Lira asked.
A few of the lykans who had firearms on them shot blindly into the fog. But it was of no use, their enemy could see in this haze they could not. And now they were being picked off, one by one. Soft but heavy footsteps echoed through the silence, muffled slightly by the shifting fog. Twin lights pierced the gloom eyes burning like twin suns, glowing fiercely through the fog. The fog parted like a curtain, revealing a form so massive it made even the seasoned warriors among them falter. Before them stood the largest wolf they had ever laid their eyes on. It towered above them, like a giant did to ants, nearly the size of the semi-trailer itself.
Its body rippled with muscle between fur so dark it seemed like darkness itself surrounded it instead of a physical body. Its fangs were the size of daggers, jugged and ivory white while its claws gleamed like swords, sharp and strong enough to shred reinforced steel like paper. But it was its eyes that held them in place like a deer caught in headlights.
One glowed a brilliant icy blue, the other a golden hue of liquid fire.
The sun and the Moon.
A chill settled in Eirik's bones as the wolf locked eyes directly at him. Each Velari had a distinct color to their eyes when channelling their power. This was a fact known to all. Even hybrids ,crosses between different species would have one. It would inherit a color from one of its parents or a blend of the two. But to have two distinct colors to each eye was unheard of.
Heterochromia.
Yes a velari could have two different colored eyes as did all other species such as humans, cats and dogs. But this was not the case when channelling their power.
Though humans thought werewolves suffered from lycanthropy, they were wrong. The two were different. Although believed to be descended from the same ancestor, Lykans would shift into a formidable humanoid wolf like form. A creature of muscle and fur standing mearly 12 feet tall, part man part beast. The only problem was werewolves did not exist. The complete transformation of man into beast was a myth. Perhaps this was a beast conjured by the witch who conjured this spell – her familiar – but still its size was astonishing. It moved slowly and deliberately, assessing the people infront of it. Only a few were left tye rest having been massacred. The look in its eye dared anyone to make a move, seeming to send an open invite to anyone willing to make the mistale of challenging it. Like wolves, Lykans lived in a society built on hierachy, strength meant everything. The strong ruled the weak, and the beast before them outclassed them. Every instinct in their bodies screamed submission. The others bowed their heads instinctively, a sign of surrender. Alric stood frozen in awe with Eirik jus as dumbfounded. Karl had lowered his head as well, the gesture unmistakable. Sera had collapsed entirely, unconscious from the sheer pressure of its presemce. Lira held Sera's head in her lap a defeated look on her face. The sound of boots hitting the gravel broke the trance the were in.
Someone was coming.
She appeared from behind the beast, tall her posture regal. Her movements graceful and terrifyngly confident. She had long silver hair that looked like threads of moonlight cascading down her back. A dark cloak hung from her shoulders, edges whispering against the ground. Her eyes a rare shade of violet. Witches could ulter the natural color of their eyes at will. Magic pulse around her, like a heartbeat the air was charged. Eirik gave Tariq a look and without a word he nodded confirming thay she was the caster. The architect of their current situation. She moved wothout a care in the world to the rear of the truck. With a simple flick of her wrist, the armoured doors flung open, landing several feet away. They had to duck to avoid decapitation. Inside pulsing faintly with trapped energy sat the Null box.
"No" Alric breathed, stepping foward. But before he could take another step, the wolf growled a low rsonant sound that rippled across them. The vibrations struck Alric's bones like a hammer. He could not move, the growl having frozen him in place.
The woman climbed into the truck's interior.
" No one could possibly break into a Null box" Lira said, voice low.
" No" Tariq replied " I do not believe she can. There is no record of anyone ever being able to do so. No one wields enough power to do so. To break into a Null box one has to overflow it with their magic. An impossible feat given that it drains and nullifies magic"
"Is that so" The woman replied as she studied the etchings across the box's surface.
"Nice work" she continued " Your work I presume?" She looked at Tariq.
He inclined his head. " I did my best, though I cannot take all the credit. A certain Witch knowledgeable in that area helped. Unraveling those runes won't be so easy"
"Unfortunately your best is not enough, who do you think created the Null box?" She smiled.
She snapped her fingers, light surged acrlss the runes in an instant then shattering. A blinding pulse, and they were gone if stripped from reality.
"That's not possible" Tariq whispered.
It was becoming a night of imposibilities.
He had studied magic all his adult life. Null boxes were powerful enough to contain gods if need be. To tear through one with such brute force was unthinkable. Rune magic couldn't possible be erased. It had to be undone, unraveled like a tightly bound string, retracing the steps of the caster. To obliterate it.... it defied the laws or arcane structure.She placed her hands on the smooth surface of the dark metal. Glowing lines of magic crawled up her arms. Slowly her hands phased through the surface.
With guttaral effort, she pulled her arms apart the box splitting open.
Inside, curled up on the floor was what appeared to be a corpse.
A man, withered and ancient, his skin stretched tight over his bones. He looked mummified – lifeless – probably from prolonged starvation. But to do so, to cause such a state to a Velari would mean he had been imprisoned for decades probably centuries.
He was a Witch Tariq noted.
Why would the Lykans have a witch in a Null box.
He stirred, the woman's face flickered with emotion.
She lifted him as he weighed nothing, his frail body limp in her arms, but given his state he probably did weigh nothing.
"I've got him" she said.
The great wolf turned its head, intelligence glowing behind its mismatched eyes. This was no mere beast.
It lowered itself to the ground, as low as it could given its massive size. She jumped from the truck and laod the man gently upon its back, then climbed on behinf resting his head on her chest, hand around his waist to grab the wolf's fur, securing them both.
"You cannot take him" Lira shouted " He is our prisoner"
" And why is that?" The woman replied coldly " Why would a Witch be held prisoner by Lykans?"
"Why else would one be held prisoner if not for commiting crimes against us"
" Is that what you've been led to believe?" She said " The only crime he commited was trusting your kind. Mark my words pup, you will all pay dearly for this"
Lira's voice rang out again " We will find you!. You cannot hope to attack us and expect no retaliation!. We will hunt you to the end of the world if need be"
"Oh! There won't be any need for that" The wolf replied its fangs displayed in a manner that could only be interpreted as a grin. " We will be coming for you."