CHAPTER 242: CHAPTER 242 THEIR DARKEST THOUGHTS

Eventually, as if he could feel the intensity of her gaze boring into his back, Elric let out a heavy sigh. Just before they reached the northwestern part of the forest, he came to a halt and turned to face her.

"Your Highness," he said, arching a brow, "is there something you’d like to ask, or are you just trying to burn a hole through my back with that stare?"

"Have you been here before?" Addison asked, although she knew that it was very unlikely but she was so curious to know the answer that she just asked what came into mind.

"No, your highness." Elric simply replied.

"Then how did you know it was impossible to get the Moon Flower, yet still led us to fetch it?" Addison pressed again.

This time, Elric looked genuinely taken aback as realization struck that Addison must have overheard his earlier murmurs. Of course, she had; she was a werewolf with impeccable hearing, and for a moment, he had completely forgotten that.

Elric let out a heavy sigh before replying. "I wanted the Moon Flower... not for the barrier, but for us."

Hearing this, Addison tilted her head slightly, confusion flickering in her eyes, silently urging Elric to continue. And so he did.

"Have you not noticed how your negative emotions keep spiking and intensifying the longer we stay here? The closer we are to the center, the stronger that feeling becomes. That’s because dark fairies aren’t just creatures of night and shadow; they can amplify dark thoughts until a person loses their mind."

"It’s the very reason they went berserk hundreds of years ago. Without the light fairies to counter their darkness, our only protection can come from the Moon Flower. It holds the essence of moonlight, a light energy that could shield us from the whispers of the dark fairies’ power."

Only then did Zion and the others feel as if a veil had been lifted. They realized that their darkest thoughts truly were growing stronger, to the point of becoming dangerously unmanageable.

But Addison’s thoughts were elsewhere. "You knew about the dark fairies, too?"

Elric chuckled and nodded. "As a child, I heard the same myths and legends, so I read a few books about them. One in particular described dark fairies, which is how I quickly recognized the type of barrier we’ve fallen into."

"Still, I never imagined I’d encounter one in real life. That’s why, aside from gathering the necessary materials, the first thing I thought of was finding a Moon Flower. But since the Moon Flower grows at the highest part of the cliff, an unobstructed spot where it can soak in the moon’s essence, it should be outside both the fog and the barrier."

"I was just hoping we might get lucky and find one anyway. Since we can’t, our only option now is to face our inner demons." He spoke while starting to sweat as well.

Addison was even more confused. She didn’t feel any of the dark thoughts they were talking about. Could it be that it only affected men? Before she could voice the question, a chilling scream tore through the air. It was unlike anything she’d heard before, part human, part beast, eerie and unsettling enough to make the hairs on her neck stand on end.

Elric jolted upright and started moving immediately. "We can’t stay in one place for too long, or the creatures of the dark, the Night Walkers, will find us. We need to move before nightfall."

"Creatures of the dark? Night Walkers?" Addison murmured, but she still fell into step behind him.

"Yes, they are the summons of the dark fairies. They are neither human nor ghost — they come from the netherworld and cannot be killed. Once they drag someone into the darkness, that person’s soul will be stripped away, leaving behind nothing but a husk and bones." Elric shivered as he spoke.

"I saw this happen with my own eyes when I was young, still under my master’s guidance. We passed through a small village that had been attacked by a dark witch who commanded a dark fairy."

"Many villagers had nowhere to run and fell victim to the dark fairy’s Night Walkers. The witch kept feeding these creatures innocent souls, further corrupting the dark fairy until it no longer required her control. Once a dark fairy fully succumbs to depravity, it becomes heartless, destructive, and far stronger — and so do the Night Walkers it summons."

Just from Elric’s explanation alone, a chill crawled over Addison’s skin. She could almost see the night he described, and the image was truly terrifying.

Sensing her shiver, Levi stepped forward and drew her into his arms, but Addison noticed the way his lips paled and his dark eyes churned, as if he were fighting desperately to keep from drowning in his own deepest, darkest thoughts.

When she glanced back, she found both Zion and Maxwell already bristling, their eyes flickering gold like a broken light. Addison instinctively stepped back from Levi, realizing they were being possessive and territorial, hating how comfortable she seemed in his embrace.

Sure enough, as soon as she created that space, Maxwell and Zion’s tension eased slightly, yet Levi only stared down at his now-empty arms, the darkness in his eyes swirling violently, as if he were reliving memories he wished he could forget.

Addison had no choice but to call out. "Levi, let’s go! And the rest of you, don’t fall behind..." she urged before hurrying after Elric. She didn’t know why she remained unaffected, but she was already starting to regret ever entertaining the idea of venturing into this forest.

Dark fairies certainly sounded frightening, yet before the dark witches had tried to control them, all fairies had once lived in harmony. Each kind balanced the existence of the others, for fairies were born of nature itself—and that meant dark fairies, too, were meant to live among their kin to preserve the balance.

’This must be one of the dark witches’ methods, the same way they set the continent ablaze hundreds of years ago, forcing the Sacred Lands to send their Saintess to purge them,’ Addison thought as she followed along.

Behind her, Levi, Zion, and Maxwell trailed closely, their eyes fixed on her with a possessive glint, as if they wished to lock her away where no one could ever take her from them. If Addison knew what was running through their minds, she might truly be frightened. After all, an Alpha’s possessiveness and territorial nature could be more terrifying than anything else.

She had yet to see that side of them. Maxwell and Zion had been restraining themselves all this time, fighting their instincts so as not to scare her away. But here, under the forest’s influence, even they felt the temptation to act on their darkest desires.

Zion’s gaze clung to Addison’s back with a raw, ravenous hunger. The thought of dragging her deep into the forest and claiming her surged through his mind, fierce and unyielding.

Rejection didn’t even cross his thoughts; if she resisted, he would temper it away, little by little, until she yielded. She was meant to be his. The more he turned the thought over in his mind, the sweeter it sounded, stoking the urge to act on it immediately.