When Sloane opened her eyes after getting used to the light, she was surprised to find herself in a large bedroom. She had expected to find herself in the palace treasury but when she looked around the room, she began to realise what was the source of the white light.
The bedroom had several shut flowers that had this certain glow to them and looked almost magical with its bright colors; but it was still clear, they wouldn't be blooming anytime soon. Other than the flowers, there was a woman on the large bed in the bedroom.
The woman had this familiar feeling about her and she was very beautiful. She had pale skin, golden brown hair and pale rosy lips. Moreover, she had stand out features, like her pointed ears and large, round belly. The woman also had a slight resemblance to Dante's four wives but she was much younger and more beautiful than them.
Sloane quietly moved closer to the woman and stared at her until, a thought popped into her head
"This must be Dante's original wife, Lady Virginia" She murmured as she continued to watch the woman "She's his first wife but by her appearance, she's probably the fifth princess. It's too bad she's in this condition while pregnant" Sloane said before raising her hand and caressing Virginia's belly; she could tell it was Virginia's magic that surrounded the room and with how strong it was, she could already imagine her giving birth to a children with high mana affinity. "Let's see how many are in there" Sloane said with a giggle as she closed her eyes and a green light surrounded her hand.
The green light from Sloane's hand warmed the room up and the flowers began to bloom as Virginia slowly began to open her eyes. The light from Sloane's hand took on a dark green color as Virginia neared consciousness.
When Virginia could see things, although blurry, the light from Sloane disappeared and she felt to the floor. At this point in time, Virginia's cerulean eyes shot open and she began to breath heavily as though she had just been released from the grip of suffocation. It took her time to get used to her surroundings but, when she did, she was confused
"What is going on?" Virginia let out as she stared at her belly "Little one, please be alive"
******
Meanwhile, the others were awaiting Sloane's arrival before filling her in on the decision that had been made while she was away.
Dante had agreed to train them, all in preparation for the war. They could start whenever they were ready and would try to speed up their progress as fast as he could. However, he had clearly explained to them that he didn't really know much about pure magic, and mostly used the powers of the Outworld. His wives had then agreed to take them on the aspects of pure magic and with that, everything had been settled.
A few more minutes had passed and Sloane wasn't back yet. The others weren't really worried as they thought she was probably taking a dump. However, Mackenzie had sat up on her chair and had turned to face the door.
"You know, staring at the door won't make her finish up early" Rosco said but she simply ignored him and shut her eyes. Tears suddenly began to fall from her shut ears and then, she had opened them which worried Rosco "Are you alright? Did something happen?" He asked with worry as Mackenzie looked around as though searching for something
"It's not here....I can't sense it" Mackenzie murmured still looking around "Sloane's presence....is gone. But I....I could sense it some minutes ago..." She mumbled and the expression on her face was really worrying
"You can't feel her around because she went to the restroom" Allen said
"Don't worry, Mickey. She'll be back" Alexa said but then Mackenzie shook her head and began to pull on Nathan's sleeve
"Dad....you've got to believe me....I can't sense Sloane" Mackenzie said while still sobbing "I don't know how to...explain it....but, I can sense someone's presence no matter....how far away they are. It allows me to know where exactly they are.....if their feeling any emotions...as long as I know them. But, I....I can't feel Sloane anywhere" she cried "Please, you've got to believe me" she added and it looked like Nathan was considering it
"Mickey, she only went to the restroom. I'm sure she's fine" Alexa said before looking at Nathan "Stop considering it. She's just a kid and probably doesn't know what she's saying. Although her family is a bit.....abnormal, you have to keep in mind that she's just human" she added and Nathan looked at Mackenzie.
The look he gave her slightly annoyed her as she thought that he didn't believe her. She clenched her little fists tightly and instantly jumped out of the seat
"Fine. Don't believe me. I'll find Sloane myself" Mackenzie shouted "I'm not making things up and I'm gonna prove it" she said, before running out of the door
"Mickey!!!" Alexa shouted but Nathan had already gotten out of his seat and started chasing after Mackenzie. The others in the room looked at each other before running after the two.
It was easy for them to catch up to Nathan as he wasn't using his werewolf speed and was jogging like a regular human.
"Why aren't you grabbing her already?" Jerald asked
"It's the same as why you're following my lead and not grabbing her" Nathan said "This isn't the direction Sloane was given for the restroom. However, her scent is spread across this place although faintly" He said as his eyes zoomed in on Mackenzie "I myself don't know what's going on. But the fact is, Sloane definitely followed this route and Mackenzie can actually sense someone's presence"
******
Virginia was focusing her magic to her hands and legs so she could move. She slowly got out of bed but as she tried to move, she almost fell and had used the nightstand to hold herself up.
Sweat dripped down her forehead as she moved her shaky legs while using the nightstand and then, the wall as support. She looked at Sloane who was on the floor, and could see the tip of her fingers, painted black. The black color was slowly moving upwards as though trying to consume Sloane's hand.
Virginia looked away and continued on before reaching her bedroom door
"Hold on. I'll go get somebody who can help" Virginia spoke softly to Sloane as she opened the door and left the room.
She continued to use to wall as support while taking deep breaths. She was exhausted from using so much magic and the fact she was pregnant and had been asleep for hundreds of years, wasn't making matters better.
She had just reached the end of the hallway and was about to take a turn when someone slammed into her and her balance became uneven as she fell backwards. Her body didn't even have the chance to fall on the floor when she was suddenly in the arms of someone.
"What the- Virginia, how are you awake?" The person who caught her, asked. When she looked up, she saw it was her husband, Dante and there was a lot of surprise and tender love in his eyes
"Dante..." She let out as her voice trailed off and tears welled in her eyes as she buried her head in his chest "Thank goodness...you found me" she murmured before remembering someone had slammed into her, hard.
When she looked around, she found she a little girl in Nathan's arms and the girl was looking right back at her
"Dad, put me down" Mackenzie said
"You weren't being careful. You almost got hurt" Nathan scolded before looking at Virginia with widened eyes "How are you even awake?" He asked
"Nathan?" Virginia let out in surprise. The last she remembered of Nathan, was when he was still a kid, getting training from Dante. Whenever she saw Nathan running around the castle, it made her wonder what it would be like to be a mother, and watch her kids run around too. Nathan, was pretty much the reason why she was pregnant with Dante's child; she wanted to experience being a mother.
Suddenly, Virginia felt Dante gently let her down to her feet and several people hugged her. She could tell just by the many white heads, that it was her father and her four sisters.
"It's good to have you back, Virginia" Leviticus said
"Thank you, father" Virginia said as she released her grip from her family and remembered the girl in her room "Father, did you send someone to heal me?" She asked and he looked at her oddly
"I sent several healers but none of them were able to do anything" Leviticus said
"Then-"
"Sloane..." Mackenzie said interrupting Virginia. Then all looked at her as she wiggled to get out of Nathan's arms "Dad, put me down. I want to meet Sloane" She said and everyone looked at her
"Girl, we haven't even found her" Jerald said but Mackenzie shook her head
"I can see it. Sloane went this way" Mackenzie said while wiggling. She shut her eyes and opened them again but this time, her vision wasn't like that of an ordinary human. She could see several white lines dancing in the air; these were what she called Sloane's presence. It was a sign that Sloane was there however, this was just the residue of Sloane's presence because, she couldn't sense her.
It took some additional concentration on Mackenzie's part before she could see the white lines taking on the silhouette of Sloane's body. The silhouette began to do exactly as Sloane had done while walking down the hallway and it told her that, Sloane had taken a turn down the hallway Virginia had come out from
"Sloane....took that road" Mackenzie said slightly sleepy as she pointed at the hallway Virginia had just come out from "She...kept walking....straight ahead....and didn't stop....until she reached....a large....door..." she said as she finally drifted to sleep
"A girl....a girl healed me. She's still in my room" Virginia said "When I woke up, she was suddenly on the floor. The only door down that side, is the one to my room" she said and everyone looked at Mackenzie before looking at Nathan
"Well done, Mackenzie" Nathan said as he handed her over to Alexa "I never doubted you" he said and just like that, he was off.
When Nathan came back, Sloane was in his arms but nobody moved due to the frown on his face and the nonexisting sound from Sloane's body; there was no heartbeat and the look on Nathan's face proved they weren't just hearing things
"This....wasn't....how things were meant to go" Rosco murmured