Len's voice sliced through the midnight still like a frozen blade.
He remained anchored to the spot, his back still turned to the void.
"If you intended to speak with me, why did you not reveal yourself sooner?"
He asked, his tone devoid of childhood warmth, replaced by a chilling authority.
"Why spend these days merely haunting my footsteps? I had assigned you a different task."
As his words faded, the darkness ahead began to warp and thicken.
A massive, towering shadow started to manifest from the gloom.
As it stepped into the circle of silver moonlight, its formidable silhouette became terrifyingly clear.
*L
It was a creature of ancient nightmare, crowned with great, curved horns.
Its eyes burned like twin embers within the hollow of the dark.
Massive, razor-sharp claws dug into the earth, anchoring its weight.
While a long, sinuous tail flicked rhythmically through the air.
The moment the full moonlight struck its form, the creature seemed to ignite.
Its skin was of a pristine, spectral white.
Reflecting the lunar glow with such intensity that it looked as if it were carved from polished moonstone.
It was a terrifying union of horror and majestic beauty.
Then, with a sudden, sweeping motion, the beast unfurled its expansive wings.
Casting a wide shadow over the desolate path.
It lowered its massive frame, kneeling into the dirt in a gesture of absolute submission.
A voice, deep and resonant like shifting tectonic plates, vibrated through the ground:
"My Lord..."
In that single utterance, the hierarchy was set.
This monster, a bringer of doom to any other, was nothing more than a loyal servant in the presence of the boy named Len.
The massive white dragon tucked its wings tighter, bowing even lower as the moonlight danced off its scales.
Len fixed his cold, hollow gaze upon the beast.
"And why are you here?" he asked. "You were meant to be with him."
The dragon's voice vibrated through the earth, a deep, cavernous rumble.
"My Lord... I am a dragon of the old world."
"I do not understand why I must remain with that human child."
"I have watched him for days now... he is nothing but an ordinary, fragile boy. He is beneath us."
Len's expression remained a mask of stone.
"I ordered you to protect him, not to judge him. You will stay by his side."
Len took a step closer, the air around him turning razor-cold.
"You know, perhaps I have told you this before... why I chose to let you live that day?"
"It was your white skin. Beyond that, I had no reason to spare your existence."
A visible tremor ran through the dragon's immense frame.
It pressed its chest against the dirt, shrinking before Len's presence as if trying to disappear.
"Look," Len continued, his voice now laced with the heavy, haunting weight of a memory.
"I spared you only because of that boy."
"You resemble him in ways you cannot comprehend. Your white skin... it reminds me of him."
"It reminds me of Luka. That is the only reason you still breathe."
The moment the name 'Luka' left Len's lips, the silence of the night felt absolute.
The ancient dragon had no more arguments.
It understood now that its life was held together only by the threads of a ghost from Len's past.
The icy midnight air seemed to crystallize Len's words into ancient laws.
The white dragon's cavernous voice rumbled one last time.
"Then... shall I bring the boy to you, My Lord?"
Len didn't so much as blink, his pitch-black eyes piercing through the dark.
"No," he replied, his tone flat and absolute.
"There is no need. It is best that he remains where he is."
"For now, his destiny is bound to that place of shadows."
Upon Len's command, a mystical mist swirled around the dragon's massive frame.
The sound of shifting form filled the silence as the beast began to shrink.
Within heartbeats, the monstrous creature had transformed into a human form.
He stood as a tall, graceful youth with skin as pale and flawless as marble.
In the moonlight, his shimmering white hair was breathtaking.
Cascading down past his shoulders and falling gracefully below his waist.
The strands were so silken that they swayed like a silver waterfall in the faint breeze.
He bowed low, his silver tresses sweeping forward over his shoulders in a gesture of absolute devotion.
"Very well, My Lord... as you command. I shall return," he murmured.
His voice soft yet filled with unwavering reverence.
With those words, the white phantom began to dissolve back into the shadows of the night.
Len remained motionless, his gaze fixed on the spot where his servant had vanished.
The night air was still freezing, but Len's expression held a stillness.
That gave no hint of the ancient power he had just commanded.
In the midnight stillness, Len's steps moved with a singular purpose.
Having left the towering palace walls behind, he stood on a desolate path where even the moonlight felt dim.
Suddenly, the air before him rippled like disturbed water.
A portal tore through the night, spilling a torrent of brilliant, golden light into the darkness.
Without a flicker of hesitation, Len stepped into the golden threshold.
As he crossed over, the world shifted entirely.
Amidst the swirling golden mist, the only thing visible was the foot of an adult.
Firmly and calmly planted on the ground.
Beyond that single, silent presence, everything else remained shrouded in a mystical haze.
At that very moment, the first light of dawn struggled to pierce through the heavy chamber curtains.
The very curtains Len had closed so meticulously the night before.
Astria stirred, her muscles stiff from a night spent on the sofa.
She blinked her eyes open, her first instinct being to search the bed.
"Len..." she called out, her voice raspy with sleep.
There was no answer. Only the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock broke the silence.
Astria's drowsiness vanished instantly.
She bolted upright, staring at the empty bed.
The sheets remained just as she had tucked them, but the 'little protector' was gone.
She scanned the room.
The windows were tightly shut, their latches secured from the inside—exactly as Len had left them.
The heavy doors, too, remained locked.
"Len! Can you hear me?" This time, her voice carried a sharp edge of panic.
Astria's heart hammered against her ribs.
With the windows and doors locked from the inside, his disappearance was physically impossible.
Every corner of the silent room now felt haunting.
She stood in the center of the chamber, her mind racing.
If everything is sealed shut, where on earth did he go?
The silence within the chamber had begun to suffocate Astria.
The windows were latched from the inside, and the unmade bed felt like a cruel mockery of the boy's disappearance.
She bolted upright and strode toward the massive chamber doors.
With trembling fingers, she threw the latches open and pushed the heavy wood aside.
The two sentries stationed in the corridor remained as motionless as statues.
Yet they flinched at the Queen's sudden and frantic appearance.
"Did Len go out?" Astria's voice was a jagged blend of panic and authority.
The two guards exchanged a look of pure bewilderment.
They had not taken their eyes off these doors since the previous night.
Bowing their heads in unison, they offered a low, steady reply.
"No, Queen... no one has stepped through these doors."
Astria's face paled, the blood draining from her cheeks.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, taking a staggered step back.
If the guards were telling the truth, and the windows remained sealed from within, then where on earth was Len?
He wasn't a phantom that could simply phase through stone walls. Or was he?
The guards' denial sent a wave of cold dread through Astria.
She spun around and lunged toward the heavy velvet curtains draped in the corner.
With a frantic pull, she swept them aside.
The window panels were flush against each other—exactly as Len had left them the night before.
Astria's fingers felt like ice.
She touched the frame; the window wasn't locked from the inside.
It had simply been shut with deliberate, silent care.
She pushed the casements wide and leaned over the ledge, peering into the terrifying drop below.
For any ordinary human, this descent was a death sentence.
But Astria knew Len's preternatural agility and speed made such heights trivial.
She wasn't surprised by how he got down; her only concern was why he had left so silently.
Her gaze anchored onto the distant horizon, where the kingdom's infamous Boundary began.
A line beyond which stepping across meant inviting unwanted complications.
"If he has crossed that boundary..." Astria's throat went dry.
"He will be in grave trouble."
"He has no idea how complex and dangerous the world truly is beyond that line."
Astria gripped the stone ledge so tightly her hands began to shake.
She was consumed by worry for her 'little protector.'
She knew Len had extraordinary instincts, but the conditions and hidden perils beyond that boundary were merciless.
If Len had unwittingly entered that forbidden area, he would find himself in a kind of trouble.
That would be incredibly difficult to escape.