SPELLBOUND

The king rose from his seat. Even Beatrice and Gavrael looked at Evie with disbelieving eyes.

"W-what? My dear daughter…" King Belial, who had been calm and unfazed the entire time faltered a little. "You didn't mention about this to us before, Queen Evielyn."

Evie looked at him apologetically. "It's because that time, I still wasn't certain that the wall of darkness I saw in my dream was actually the abyss itself," she answered. "This very same miasma had crawled out onto the surface too and its darkness had covered the entire sky…"

An extremely heavy silence lingered inside the tent. The lords could see how their King's expression had changed. And they all knew what it meant when their King wears that particular expression. It could only mean that things had become extremely severe. How long since had they seen their king become this serious? It had been years… so many years… they had nearly forgotten how scary he could get when his calm was being disrupted.

None of the lords questioned Evie anymore. It was like they were all suddenly extremely cautious now and Evie knew it was all because of the King, as his aura had become dangerously suffocating.

But as soon as Queen Beatrice stepped forward and gently took a hold of his hand, the king let out a deep breath and slowly sat down on his chair. Though the expression on his face was no different from earlier, the suffocating pressure had been lifted and everyone could breathe again.

"Queen Evielyn," the king's expression finally managed to calm down again after a few more moments of silence. "I want you to continue and tell us everything that you wanted to say." He swept a powerful gaze to all the lords, as if that one gaze was enough to warn everyone never to interrupt Evie again. Enough was enough. And they all knew better than to go against their king's warning gaze.

Not wasting a moment longer, Evie lifted her face and looked at everyone with a gaze that was fiercer and more determined than ever.

"I came here not to just to warn the dark faes about what's waiting for you all in the future or to share my knowledge about the monsters. I… we… we all came here to work together with you. Because this is no longer just a war of the dark faes. This war is our war too. Why? Because if the dark faes can't stop the monsters, that only means one thing… that the other races do not stand a chance to stop them as well. If the dark faes lose, the monsters will then come for us… this is why…" Evie faced the king this time and held his gaze, "this is why, we… dark faes, light faes, vampires, including the humans must unite as one. I strongly believe that this is the only way for us to win against the monsters! No, this is the only way for us to stop the disaster that is sure to come."

Something inexplicable blazed in Evie's eyes as she said those last three lines. The strange power in her voice caused them to feel an unfathomable feeling that had actually made their heart shiver a little. All of them, even the King and Gavrael felt it. All of them could not help but wonder what was with that strange sensation.

In fact, King Belial, Queen Beatrice and even Gavrael was shocked to their core at the Evie that was before them right now. It was like she had changed overnight. Since she had woken up this morning crying so piteously, the look in her eyes had changed since then. Even the air around her felt so different. There was something just so peculiar about her now. It was almost like something had been awakened in her and now she was no longer the same Queen Evielyn they had known from yesterday.

The change was just too much and too drastic that it was so unsettling and just unbelievable at the same time. Even the words that were coming from her lips… it almost felt as though her words was the supreme law that they could not even refute.

"Unification of all races… huh?" The King said with a contemplative look in his eyes, one hand rubbing his chin as he thought over it. "That is indeed something unheard of. All of these four races had been known enemies since the beginning of time. And I'm certain you're aware of that, Queen Evielyn… Are you not?"

"Yes, I am aware of it, King Belial."

"Therefore, you would also know that this idea will not be an easy feat to achieve, right?"

"Yes, I am aware of that too. But I do believe that though challenging, it is not an impossible task. Because all of us… no matter what the race we belong to, have this one thing in common. And I believe that this one thing is enough of a reason for us to unite as one."

"One thing…?" the king echoed.

"We all love our homeland. And because of that love, we are even willing to give our lives to defend our lands from our enemies, is it not?"

The king nodded, his eyes gleaming and looking very impressed at Evie's answer. "Yes. You are right. That is indeed the one thing we all have in common. We will do anything… everything even, just for the sake of our homeland."

Evie flashed a small smile because she could see now that everyone understood her point.

"The Under Land is not the only land that is in danger right now. Like I said before, if the dark faes fall… all the other races will be bound to fall as well. And once that happens… the darkness…" Evie swallowed, "might… might swallow the entire land of Lirea and at that time, the darkness will reign supreme." She had to mention the idea as a possibility and make it seem as though this was just her opinion and thankfully, it worked.

"This is why I came to propose this unification. The dark faes are the strongest of the races. But your numbers are nowhere near enough on your own. We, the light faes will offer the knowledge needed, and the vampires can offer their unrivalled raw and explosive strength and stamina. While the humans… though they may be regarded as the weakest of the races, but it cannot be denied that their numbers alone are a force to be reckoned with. If we all come together to fight alongside each other, I believe that we can change the… future."

___

Dear spellbounders, I'm doing a giveaway for my highest tier privilige readers. I will be giving away signed paperback copies of Spellbound volume 1 but ONLY for US and Philippines residents.

Just do this three things.

1. Send me a proof that you bought the highest tier of spellbound's privilege for february(A screenshot).

2. Vote for spellbound with your Golden Tickets

3. Send me the screen shot of your privilege purchase through my instagram account @kazzenlx.x or send it to my email [email protected]

I will be choosing the lucky readers through a spinning wheel. ^^