Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 647: Frozen in time

Chapter 647: Frozen in time

"We could die, you know?" Ana intoned as she worked her magic, pulling on golden threads connected to members of the Constellations.

Due to their constitution, she couldn’t manipulate the threads of Alex and Elena.

She’d have to make do with ensuring good luck for the other three that were with her.

Considering Alex wasn’t with them, she had to step up, taking her position as his right hand very seriously.

"Yes, I do," Nadia responded to her words, seated beside her while watching her work with slight intrigue and a great deal of worry.

Ana let out a sigh as she continued to weave the golden threads. "How can we even trust this man claiming to be Arwen’s father?... What if he is just playing us?"

"I doubt it," Nadia remarked. "As a contractor of the Devil of Pride who holds authority over the Domain of Deceit, I can detect when someone is lying to me."

"You said it yourself that the person appeared to be stronger than you." Victoria calmly pointed out with Nadia nodding.

"He was, but it doesn’t change the fact that I can tell when a person is lying."

"If it comes down to it, you guys should run away." Ulysses suddenly remarked. "If I let go, I alone should be sufficient to deal with the banshees."

"Shut your mouth." Ana chided. "That’s not happening."

"But..."

"That’s enough, Ulysses," Nadia spoke up.

Realizing that his plan of self-sacrifice wasn’t acceptable, Ulysses raised his hands in surrender.

"Since Nadia is certain of the man’s aid, then all we can do is hope for the best... and even if he turns out to be a traitor, it doesn’t change the fact that we need to save Arwen and Alex."

"Risk abounds." Victoria calmly pointed out.

"I have mitigated most of it." Ana intoned. "Unfortunately, there’s not much time else I’d have cursed every banshee in this mountain with sufficient bad luck."

"So what now?"

"The plan is simple. We cause as much chaos as possible while one of your Spirits tries to rescue Alex from wherever he’s been kept. After that, we retreat."

"What about Arwen?"

"We need a plan specifically to deal with her and we can’t say what condition she’s in currently. It’s better to carry out a hit and run than to go all in."

Albeit unwilling, Nadia understood that Ana was only looking out for their safety and so, she remarked. "Alright then."

"Good. You are in charge of disrupting the enemies. Victoria, you are crowd control, and Ulysses, you are the healer." Ana intoned, quickly delegating the duties of each person.

"What about you?" Ulysses asked.

"I’ll be the tank," Ana replied before calmly adding. "I read that my ancestors had a rather awkward relationship with the Banshees. I plan to see why that is."

Then, she got to her feet, having completed her weaving.

Clasping her palms together, she parted them, revealing a purple ball within which a temporal phenomenon persisted.

"Let’s begin."

The next instant, the orb expanded and everything it touched, except members of the Constellations, was frozen in time.

***

In another location, Gregory was making steady progress, dealing with the banshees he came across by putting them in a deep and silent sleep.

Utilizing the ties he had with Arwen, he quickly tracked her down to a room guarded by several Banshees.

Just as he was about to make his move, they noticed him and immediately tried to attack... but they never did.

They were frozen with Gregory confused as to why that was.

Of course, until he felt the movements in the aether allowing him to understand that Nadia and the others had made their move.

Taking a deep breath, he plunged into what he considered as the area of frozen time only to discover that he was unaffected by it.

Satisfied with this, he immediately hurried into the room only to realize that it was unaffected by the frozen time phenomenon.

Of course, this was to be expected once one factored in what was contained within this room.

The Silent Curtain is a strange relic holding the title of the only one to be birthed in the current cycle.

It was also the first that didn’t contain any destructive aura, instead filled with the distinct aura of death.

Appearing as a pale, illusory material floating in midair, it conjured invisible flames constantly burning about it, causing those in its periphery to age rapidly.

Gregory paused just outside its area of influence, just in time to watch Arwen appear accompanied by a strange man with an even stranger aura.

He nearly yelled out her name instinctively but he held himself back, instead preparing to knock her out.

Unfortunately, she noticed his presence as she glanced in his direction.

"Arwen, no!"

The next instant, he was engulfed in green flames.

Watching as Gregory struggled to extinguish the flames before finally succumbing to them, Arwen frowned, seemingly unsatisfied with the result.

In the next instant, everything went silent, including her heartbeat.

She staggered, caught off guard by the sudden attack.

Alex seemed to be affected as well as he dropped to his knees, on the verge of collapsing.

Gregory suddenly appeared next to Arwen and grabbed her before proceeding to pull her into DreamWorld.

Within that dimension filled with fog and containing the dreams of all living beings, Arwen stood across from Gregory, both staring down the other with differing emotions.

"Arwen..."

"I thought I warned you to stay away," Arwen remarked, cutting Gregory off.

"You can’t expect me to do that in your current state."

"I am fine!"

"No, you aren’t!... And stop trying to act like my daughter; I know my daughter, and you are not her!" Gregory exploded, unable to hold himself back any longer.

Arwen paused before her lips curled into a twisted smile. "And here I was planning on guilt-tripping you into setting me free."

"That won’t happen. If you want to leave this place, you’re going to have to get out of my daughter’s body."