Eden is packing her luggage with some clothes and research work from the DPO about, the soul bearer or the breeders into her backpack bags. Her medicine, alongside the doctor's prescription for her drugs; also got packed inside her small sling bags so everything would go smoothly at the airport later.
It's been a week since the incident between her and Caleb took place. Yet she doesn't hear anything from home about what he has been up to after coming out of CU without his mate. Her brother, Jacob also did not tell her anything like he always did if something was going on with their future Alpha King. She's just concerned about Caleb after seeing how upset he is when finding out that he mistook someone else as his mate.
For Eden, the feelings are surreal. She'll never think the same incident between her and Caleb four years ago will get repeated back again. Even though it is not a hundred per cent the same, the feel is much the same. Four years ago, when she was still studying at high school. After recess, Eden walked towards the restroom when suddenly— Victoria alongside her three devils friends; Alice, Rowena, and Mila blocked her way from getting out of the restroom. Eden will always remember how Victoria with her friends had bullied her. Ever since she joined high school instead of junior high like the others who share the same age as Eden, Victoria had been consistently bullied her.
Eden was thin with a little figure since childhood. Her pale skin always made her look like she had a severe disease. People do sympathy with her every time saw her walking around town with her parents. But she feels much more energetic than any normal kid around her age. She also doesn't have any problems with food —as she eats almost anything as long as it's edible. Only her allergy to fur and dust made her life a bit miserable. She also had a small surgery on her little heart when she was still an infant. According to her mother, her biological parents were still alive when she underwent the surgery at the time.
When Eden is still pretty much an infant, she has a hole in her heart. She had to undergo surgery to close the hole so she could breathe as a normal kid would do. Which does not depend on oxygen one hundred per cent to breathe. Despite all the hard times she faced while growing up, Eden still feels blessed and thankful for her brain and smart mind. She was one of the genius kids when she was just four years old. Even if she does less with her studies, she still excels in every single subject she takes. Thanks to both— her biological and current parents for giving her such great and good genes.
As she reminisced about the past and her current life, Eden received an email from Dean Rasmussen. He informed her about the work trip she will make the day after tomorrow in London. Dean Rasmussen also sent the names of the candidates that the werewolf clans have selected— to be the next soul bearer or the breeders. They all will come together to London with King Alpha, Queen Luna, and of course, the future heir of the werewolf clans; Caleb will also be there with them.
The other clans also have submitted their candidates to the DPO. All of the candidates will gather, to perform a small ritual led by a group of elders who know about the magic and the rituals. To see who got chosen— to be the next soul bearer. Only after these small rituals performed ended without a mistake, were they blessed with the breeders, or the soul bearers. With an identified sigil that can be seen visibly around their wrist. Scrolling through the names that the werewolf clans submitted, Eden was surprised to see her sister's name, Hailey, as one of the potential candidates. 'What is she thinking? If she took part in the ritual, she surely only embarrasses herself!'
The ritual is not something they can take lightly. Summoning the death from the other side as the guide or the seekers to mark the real soul bearer are performed within these rituals. Eden sighed, displeased by Hailey's act. She is not supposed to agree when her name gets chosen and picked by the pack elders. Cause she knows very well about herself and why she can't be one of the candidates.
The other names mostly come from omegas. The werewolf sent about six people— with two being she-wolves and four omegas, which include her sister. Human beings sent about 10 candidates —with a 5:5 ratio that conveyed five from the Witches and five from humans. All candidates aged between 18 to 21 years old. As the candidate must be a virgin maiden. And know fully about the supernatural world; they must prepare themselves physically and mentally well. Because the ritual has a certain rule that needs to be fulfilled by all candidates. After the soul-bearer gets identified, only one heir from the three main pacts will favour doing the mate ceremonial.
Either the breeders or the soul-bearer comes from human beings or the Werewolf clans; the heir will also be chosen among the three heirs. The soul bearer and the heir will live together for some time until the souls or the mates of the three heirs are safely born. Eden is also not sure if there is another ritual procedure after the mating ceremony takes place. Because there is no basic information about how it is supposed to do or what they should do when the full moon festival begins. Should they just go with the mating ceremony? Or are there certain things or rules in between after the soul-bearer is identified? because there is no inscription connecting the soul-bearer and the heirs after their mate has appeared so far, not even from the old writing.
Eden pulls out her phone and clicks Queen Lena's number— the Queen from the demons clan. She's been involved with prophecy far too long from Eden and knows a lot of things which Eden doesn't. Eden needs to speak with her about their trip to London and what should she bring and prepare while there. One still stuck in Eden's mind is, how they'll do the ritual once the soul-bearer or the breeders are identified. Eden talked for almost thirty minutes with Queen Lena on the phone. They'll be meeting tomorrow to make sure everything is packed and ready before taking the flights to London the day after. Eden closes her heavy eyes and almost immediately she drifts away into a deep slumber as she feels so tired lately.
The fog is so thick and dense that it blinds Eden's visions. The eeriest sound from the animals howling, hooting, chirping, screeching, screaming, whistling, etc.; brings goosebumps all around Eden's body as all voices sync as one. She had been walking for more than an hour inside this misty and vague area without knowing anything about her whereabouts. Still keep walking up ahead; Eden can feel the tension in the air around her. She keeps on going until she stumbles on something and her body falls on top of the elastic thing that feels soft and delicate. Eden's eyes were still pretty much closed from the drop. She is afraid to open up her eyes and see something that she doesn't want to see especially in a strange place like that.
As she still hesitates, she can hear the soft mumbling voices not so far from her. The voice is incredibly soft and Eden can't hear what it says clearly. So she decides to open up her eyes and see where she is now. She was in a bedroom and lying on the softest bed she had ever felt so far. Eden got up and opened up the bedroom door. She look out to see if there was someone out there, but she didn't see anyone. Eden walks around the living area to the dining area which is located close to one another, but still, no one is there. She'd then walked into the kitchen area, which was still empty without a single presence of people. Continuing to look and search Eden finally got out of the house and stood on the backyard patio where she could finally notice the person. Eden breathes out a sigh of relief as they are glad to see the actual person there.
Both of them look delighted while talking with each other with their bright and beautiful smiles. They are a young couple and look pretty much in love with each other. The young woman has long brunette hair and fair skin with golden-brown eyes. While the young man looks attractive with his tan skin, iceThe fog is so thick and dense that it blinds Eden's visions. The eeriest sound from the animals howling, hooting, chirping, screeching, screaming, whistling, etc.; brings goosebumps all around Eden's body as all voices sync as one. She had been walking for more than an hour inside this misty and vague area without knowing anything about her whereabouts. Still keep walking up ahead; Eden can feel the tension in the air around her. She keeps on going until she stumbles on something and her body falls on top of the elastic thing that feels soft and delicate. Eden's eyes were still pretty much closed from the drop. She is afraid to open up her eyes and see something that she doesn't want to see especially in a strange place like that.
As she still hesitates, she can hear the soft mumbling voices not so far from her. The voice is incredibly soft and Eden can't hear what it says clearly. So she decides to open up her eyes and see where she is now. She was in a bedroom and lying on the softest bed she had ever felt so far. Eden got up and opened up the bedroom door. She'd look out to see if there was someone out there, but they didn't see anyone. Eden walks around the living area to the dining area which is located close to one another, but still, no one is there. She'd then walked into the kitchen area, which was still empty without a single presence of people. Continuing to look and search Eden finally got out of the house and stood on the backyard patio where she could finally notice the person. Eden breathes out a sigh of relief as they are glad to see the actual person there. blue eyes, and jet-black hair. He also looks gorgeous with his strong jawline and wonderful smile. Eden's brain is looking for a perfect word to describe both, but she can't choose the exact words to illustrate their defined look. 'Come here, honey! Let's have dinner together!' The woman spoke and tried to reach for Eden's hand. Just after their skin touches and connects, Eden abruptly opens her eyes with a panic gasp.
"What happens? Are you alright?" Eden looks at the person sitting beside her. Jacob watches her with an anxious and concerned look. Eden put, smiled and nodded slowly before telling her brother that she had just a bad dream with a hoarse and dry voice. Eden can't believe that she falls asleep as soon as they take-off. She must be overthinking about their trip this time and that is why she had a bad dream earlier.
Eden feels relieved that her brother is coming with her and they're overprotective mothers or fathers. As she still needs a guardian when she travels overseas. Eden and Jacob flew a day earlier from their exact schedule because she wanted to examine the tomb and the mummy first. before the arrival of the candidates and the royal family the next day. Queen Lena also flies early but doesn't share the same flight with Eden and her brother.
"We will arrive in forty more minutes. Try to get some more sleep and rest. I'll wake you up when we're finally landing on the ground" Jacob spoke with his caring voice. Eden gets herself comfortable back in the plane seat and leans on Jacob's shoulder. Jacob gives her his sweetest smile and pats her arms gently. "Relax okay, we'll be landing safely, I promise!"
After going through the immigration, Eden and Jacob ride a limousine cab from the airport to their hotel. Which is located near the old cathedral, not too far from London's bridges. After packing off the luggage and settling in for a few minutes; Eden then freshens up. She'll be meeting with her brother and Queen Lena at the hotel restaurant for lunch later. After finishing grabbing their lunch together, they start to go out and visit the cathedrals and proceed with the job immediately.
Upon their arrival at the cathedral, the head nuns welcome them. and asked to wait for the head pastor inside one of the many rooms in the cathedral. The room looks like a bedroom with plenty of old scrolls that are still much tied like the old times inside the transparent mirror cupboard. After waiting for ten minutes, finally, they meet with the head pastor, who introduces himself as Rev. Arthur Marcus. He has been the head pastor in the cathedral for more over then 50 years and knows a great deal about the supernatural world. He is also aware of certain prophecy which connects the supernatural creatures.
He led Eden, Jacob, and Queen Lena into the pitch-black hallway that was built underground. The only light they had while walking along the long and dark hallway was coming from the fire torch, which they affixed to the wall. While electricity is only available at the upper floors, the cathedral provides a generator for them inside the underground tomb. The generator will help them work in a dark, damp, dense and closed area like the underground cemetery.
To Eden's amazement, the tomb site is consisting of three, and it's got its own label at the top of the tomb lid that sets up from the stone. "Which one is containing the mummy of the breeders?" Queen Lena asked while examining the three tombs meticulously.
"The third one, with some crack stones underneath it. We didn't know about this underground space until three months ago when one of the sisters accidentally touches the old torch holder close to the altar" said Rev. Arthur Marcus in a low voice.
Eden asks her brother to stand not far from them as she and Queen Lena examine the tomb. The stones are still sturdy, but there are a lot of small crack lines on them. Looking at the wall of the tomb from behind, it looks like a typical old stone tomb with no marks or written symbols on it. But the underneath side near the one corner of one of the tombs, is broken. The stone looks like it has been smashed by heavy things, like the big stone hammer, maybe. that makes the stone wall wrecked, and affects only that one particular angle only.
Eden eyeing the tombs hard. There is something about that tomb, and why its corner gets wrecked hard like that. Could it be the tomb of the soul-bearer? or the symbol on the top of the lid is only a bet to lead the enemies from stealing the corpse.
"Someone tried to steal the body while it was still new. Because this broken is looked very old and it's not like it happens recently. How do you know that this tomb belongs to the breeders?" Queen Lena continued their inquiry and pointed at something to Eden. "Can you read that?" Eden examines the carvings, which look like figures or symbols with some ancient alphabets that were unclear because it get covered with thick hard dust that looks like a block of concrete.
"We just assume it is her tomb because it doesn't have any indication like the other two tombs that are very well carved" responded Rev. Arthur courteously, before adding.
"If you look at these two tombs, the jewellery stone that is put on the top of their lid are representing their status and power during those periods" Queen Lena nodded slightly without leaving any comment again.
"Did you open one of these tombs before?" Rev. Arthur shakes his head.
"Well from these three tombs, all of it can be the breeder's tombs as the written on the top of every lid was a bit blurry and some can't be read at all due to the hard soil and dust has covered them for such long time" Queen Lena said while still continuing looking around the site.
"Why don't we do like most of the archaeologists did to the tombs or site that they found, like dusting it?" Eden looks at Rev. Arthur for his genius idea, but shakes her head. She doesn't think that is a good idea, because if they do so, the enemies might know which one the real breeder's tombs are.
"We'll think about it later Reverend, thank you for the idea anyway" answers Eden with her polite gesture.
Rev. Arthur excuses himself when one of the nuns asks for his presence on the top floor because there is another guest that wants to meet with him. But before the old man goes, Eden demands him not to tell or talk to anyone about the underground place. Not even mention anything about it at all to whoever might ask or see him later. The reverend looks baffled at first before nodding, understanding Eden's request.
After the Rev. Arthur has gone, Eden opens up about her thoughts and what she gathers from the short review of the three tombs so far.
"Why can't you just dust it like what Rev. Arthur said? that will be easier for you to recognize and read those symbols for sure" Jacob also voices out after checking out the place for any suspicious. their enemies might plant and set, before their arrival.
"We can't do that, Jac. If we dust it out now and later,someone comes down here and has the same purpose as we did. They can easily find out which one tomb is belong to the soul bearer is. and if they do... at that time, we probably already late to do our ritual because the body of the soul bearer is important as the next soul bearer is. Do you understand what I said?" Jacob shakes his head. He doesn't have any clue about what her little sister is talking about, for real.
"If we manage to identify the next soul bearer by tomorrow, we need to hide the body or the mummy of the first soul bearer until the ritual officially ended on the first night of the full moon festival this year. cause if we can't get to identify the next soul bearer this time, we have to maintain the first soul bearer mummy as well as we can for another 12 years, so we can do the same things back again. We need the sigil to determine whose got chosen to be the next soul bearer..." Eden spoke while her eyes continued to look at the three tombs.
"The sigil of the next soul bearer will only appear if the first soul bearer's corpse or anything associated with it used to find the next soul bearer by touching the corpse naturally or by performing some simple ritual, where we asked the candidates to bleed their wrist and put only a drop of their virgin blood on the mummy clothes or skin. and if they got chosen or connected with the first soul bearer, they will get a sigil or a special tattoo that written on their wrist as the soul bearer or the breeders" continued Queen Lena and made Eden nodding. Jacob also finally understands the importance of the first soul-bearer tombs and why they need to protect them from their enemies.
"I think the DPO might also have other intentions. Why trouble themselves with this kind of prophecy when they shouldn't interfere in the first place at all? Why should they care about the heir in the first place?" Eden queried, making Queen Lena look at them with question mark faces.
"What do you mean by that?" Queen Lena asks in an unpleasant voice and looks. "You know that DPO is serious when it comes to the matters of the heir bloodline continuation, right? What makes you so sure that the organization that holds the entire supernatural world for over 1000 years had its dark intention?"
"I know I sound overreacted about it, Your Grace. But I don't think these are just about the bloodline continuation where the other pact member is also having some pack below them... you know what I mean. Like our clans for example, the werewolves! we got so many packs below us and they also had their heir continuation and looking forward for eyeing the throne. But that is not an issue right now. The important things here involve the cold blood kin and the demons" Queen Lena and Jacob listen very carefully to every single word that Eden spoke.
"If we look at supernatural history, the Werewolf, Demons, and Cold Blood are older than most humans and their evolvement somehow is very fast and un natural. they're also not living like the old way anymore. There are more honoured amongst the community and the society and live like most normal human beings. So if the DPO's actual job protecting the supernatural hierarchy clans like their mentioned, why DPO can't do the simple task of finding the next soul bearer itself? why they dragging us all the way here?" Queen Lena's eyebrows crinkle together. They were lost in their deep thoughts for a moment.
"Your Grace, you know how this organization runs and how their actions are because you are involved with them directly. You even seat in their meeting hall and hear and see everything without any restraint. So tell me, all these years sitting there watching and hearing their thoughts or idea. Did you ever hear anything about the significant which include the soul bearer and the heir continuation?"
Queen Lena shakes her head. She explains everything to Eden about the DPO when she starts joining the hall soon after marrying her husband, King Michael Alexander Tudor II. Most of the meeting she attends are about focusing on strengthening the supernatural world. by creating certain rules to avoid confrontation or blood feuds between the supernatural creatures. They never speak about the heir's future or the importance of their bloodline heir's continuation. or how and what they should do to keep the power in that certain family line forever, without mentioning the replacement if the heir can't produce their next successor.
But now, after 1000 years of existence and 200 years after the special treaty was signed. The DPO suddenly and finally looks concerned about the continuation of these successor things. by asking the heirs to keep producing the next to maintain their power and place inside the hall. Their respective pack members outside the DPO regulations have their own heirs of their certain clans because Werewolves, Demons, and Cold Blood had their decree when choosing their monarch without having to associate with any pact or DPO regulation
Eden got very good intentions and views. She must have done a lot of reading about the DPO in existence. If what Eden alleged is true, they must be aware of the danger of DPO to their pact in general.
"So what are you suggesting we should do if the DPO had their hidden agenda?" Eden opens her backpack and takes out a small notebook and gives it to Queen Lena for further reading. Eden took out her phone and texted her brother and Queen Lena at the same time. instead of talking, Eden text suggests both of them to stay cautious because they are in another country and don't know if there is a threat to their presence out there.
"As I'm saying before, let the tombs be like this and we just check the tombs when we need to find the soul bearer mummy but till then, we keep it close like this" Eden revealed her thoughts in a whispered tone. Who knows, they had put some device to hear their conversation there without their knowledge. DPO is beyond everything and anything. Their foe probably come from their own.
"Okay. So let's start our work then!" Eden nods before handling the first tomb and sets her eyes on the character and symbol on the top of the tomb lid one by one, and writes what she sees into her notebook. Queen Lena also does the same thing, but she focuses more on the symbol and whether it had a connection with the witch's sign or not.
Jacob observes the place and keeps his alert at one hundred per cent. He believes her little sister's words because he knows Eden always predicts the right things. Without even noticing how much he focused on her little sister, Jacob drew a proud smile at Eden's achievements so far. She made the werewolf's clans proud to have her on their side. Even their pack is truly satisfied with Eden's hard work.
He is very happy to have her as his sister and as the future sister achievements. He knows that she always predicts the right things, and that she is an asset to their pack.