CHAPTER 178: THE ALTAI MOUNTAIN

*Back to The Gentle Maiden*

"She is hosting Ezelreth, the son of Cerberus, the God of Darkness and Death. He is the first energy vampire, contrary to the current popular belief." The Leviathan dropped a heavy bomb. And the mention of Ezelreth put a wrench in Lilith’s heart. A profound ache nuzzled into chest, taking root and consuming her.

She remembered the name but couldn’t place it.

"Who the fuck is that? And how do you know?" Ash growled, ready to tear the Leviathan’s throat out.

"He is the enemy, which makes Violet the enemy. She will create an army of monsters that will flood the planet like a plague. If she is not stopped and the soul is not extracted and contained, it will devour her soul, making her no more, taking her out of the cycle, it will simply cease to exist." The Leviathan had a more serious tone now, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the faces that surrounded him.

Ash was caught in a web of confusion and disbelief. He knew his wife, he knew her. But she’s been acting different, and then she came back the other night and she smelled different. She smelled like death. And her eyes, they were slitted, like a dragon’s. And then there was the fact she mentioned an army of monsters with no will of their own, driven by hunger and insanity.

The more he thought about it, the more it added up. And as he looked around the room at his family, it seemed like they all came to the same conclusion.

Ash gathered himself and asked "So how do we stop him? How do you even trap the spirit of the son of a god?"

"With two things, a stone I don’t know the name of, and the daughter of Artemis the Goddess of the Moon and Hunt. The perfect counter to the DarkSon. The MoonChild."

The room went entirely silent.

Ash choked on air when he said that.

The MoonChild.

’So this is the prophecy, this is what the goddess meant by where she needs to be. Away from here, away from.’ Ash gulped at the thought ’Away from the DarkSon, away from... her mother...’

The truth in it all carried a heavy weight with it. The reality was too much to bare for him.

That’s why the witches pulled out.

The Leviathan watched as everyone put the pieces together.

However, he noticed Ash’s face change the most. Like a truth so deep sunk in, threatening to shatter everything.

The Leviathan raised an eyebrow and then asked the room, or more specifically Ash with how intense he starred at Ash, "What do you know?"

The eyes around the room roamed from one another, all wondering the same thing. How do they explain something they can’t say or write? They needed the witches. But they were gone. Arya hadn’t returned, not since Violet’s snap.

Kalvin has been holed up in his tent. Rolland hasn’t been seen either.

They could only really say one thing.

"We know who the MoonChild is." Ash stated through gritted teeth.

"Who is she? Where is she? How do you know the MoonChild, but not the DarkSon, they’re quite literally a packaged deal, if one is here, the other is sure to follow." The Leviathan spoke eagerly.

"Sadly, we can’t say, and we don’t know where she is now, which I promise you is a real bother, only that she’s east and that she is where she needs to be." Oliver spoke next.\

"Wait, wait, wait... You mean to tell me..." The Leviathan started and looked to Lilith.

And if she could read his mind, she said "Yes."

"Fuck, well at least there’s one bit of good news, I know where she is." The Leviathan released a deep sigh.

"Where is she?" Ash jumped out of his chair rushing to the Leviathan.

"She’s with the first shifters. Just as she was before. The first wolf is her sworn protector. A bond forged in soul and heart with the moon goddess." He answered Ash with annoyance.

"Stop speaking in riddles and just tell us where, where is my daughter?" Ash yelled, grabbing the Leviathan by the collar of his robes.

But the Leviathan grabbed Ash’s hand and with little effort slowly removed it from his neck. "It would be wise, young one, not to grab your elders by their collar." He growled low at Ash.

He wanted answers not a fight, so Ash released his grip on the Leviathan and growled back, not moving from his position.

"She’s east alright, she’s tucked deep within the Mongolian Mountains. I can’t go there. It’s out of my domain. That plane belongs to another. A guardian, one I can’t cross, again. The sneaky little bitch, she will sniff me out and tear a limb off. And when she bites, it fucking hurts." The Leviathan grumbled recalling their time together. That little fox demon, the bane of his existence. Phera. She hated hid guts. They hooked up for a bit, and when she found out he was sleeping with other foxes and lied. She burned a part of his tail off. It took centuries to heal. She told him she’d eat his throat the next time she saw him. And nothing crossed into her domain without her knowing it. He wasn’t scared of the fox, but he sure wasn’t trying to nurse a bite or burn from her anytime soon.

How was he going to get to the MoonChild, if that fox still held power over that mountain.

"She’s in the MONGOLIAN MOUNTAINS all the way across the fucking world!" Ash screamed louder than he expected.

"What sneaky little bitch?" Lilith glared at the Leviathan. Jealousy oozing off her.

"A fox guardian, the one who wards over that plane. She’s an old... Acquaintance, of mine." The Leviathan sensed the shift in Lilith’s entire demeanor and was smart enough to tread lightly, regarding this subject.

"An acquaintance?" Lilith raised her eyebrow in question.

"Now is not the time for petty jealousy, mother." Vlad reminded Lilith.

"Yes, we haven’t spoken in thousands of years. And she hates my guts. That’s the problem. I can’t get us there. And with how things are between shifters and vampires, there’s no way we’d get through those mountains undetected." The Leviathan could see Ash was about to say something, but he silenced him with one hand "And no matter how strong you think you all are. You aren’t backed by witches anymore and the moon goddess didn’t create vampires; she will not protect you. But the shifters in those mountains they are favored by her, and they aren’t like the ones you have here. Those mountains house the strongest of wolf shifters. The Alpha King is a nasty little prick. Much crueler and more sinister than his father. Whom I will remind you, you all MURDERED. Getting into that area will take time, smarts, known understanding of the region that we don’t currently possess. And for me to somehow convince a little friend to visit that damn fox."