The Messenge (Iva and Nick) novel Chapter 423

Departure Preparations

That was enough.

He didn’t want to destroy that peace by appearing before her and reminding her of the man she

now feared.

So he simply stood there.

Watching.

His son.

His mate.

His entire world.

Youssef suddenly laughed, and Iva smiled at him.

The sound nearly broke Caleb.

He lowered his eyes.

He wanted to walk toward them.

He wanted to pick up his son.

He wanted to hold Iva.

He wanted to tell her that he loved her.

But love, he had learned, sometimes meant staying away when the person you loved was afraid.

So he remained in the shadows.

Then, quietly, almost as though she could somehow hear him despite the distance, he whispered,

“Iva.”

She didn’t look around.

Caleb swallowed.

“Wait for me.”

His voice trembled.

“I will get you back.”

He looked at Youssef one last time.

“I promise.”

Then he turned away.

He walked through the castle corridors without looking back.

The armoury doors opened before him.

His gear was waiting.

His weapons.

His protective clothing.

The maps.

Everything he would need.

Caleb tightened the straps across his chest and stared toward the enormous doors leading beyond the castle.

Tomorrow, he would leave the world he knew.

Tomorrow, he would cross into a realm from which nobody had ever returned.

And somewhere inside that impossible world waited the Velinthra.

===

The Oasis

The ancient archives contained forbidden arts and rituals.

Caleb knew this. Every wolf in the kingdom knew this. The archives, buried deep beneath the

castle, contained knowledge that was never meant to be accessed by the living-secrets of the old world, of the gods and the monsters that had walked the earth before the first shifters/drew breath. The doors were sealed with blood magic, warded with spells that had been cast by the first Lycan King himself.

But Caleb didn’t care.

He had spent three days searching for answers. Three days of poring over ancient texts, of consulting with the few scholars who still remembered the old ways, of praying to gods he wasn’t sure he believed in. The Genie had given him one week to find the Velintra-the stone of power that would free it from Iva’s body. One week to save his mate from being erased completely.

But the Velinthra was a myth. A legend. A stone that existed only in children’s tales and the fevered

dreams of madmen.

There had to be another way.

And there was.

The Gate.

According to the oldest texts, the Gate was a doorway between worlds-a passage that could lead to any realm, any dimension, any plane of existence. It was said that the Velinthra had been hidden in a world beyond the Gate, a world that no mortal had ever returned from.

But if Caleb could open the Gate, if he could find the stone, if he could bring it back-

He could save her.

The ritual was carved into the walls of the deepest chamber of the archives, written in a language

so old that even the scholars couldn’t fully translate it. But Caleb had pieced it together-the

symbols, the incantations, the blood sacrifices required to open the doorway.

*Blood of the Alpha.*

*Heart of the Beast.*

*Soul of the Mate.*

He had all three.

He knelt in the center of the chamber, his hands pressed against the cold stone floor. The symbols were carved around him, a circle of ancient power that hummed with energy.

Chaos,* he called to his beast. *Are you ready?*

*For her,* Chaos growled. *Always.*

Caleb closed his eyes.

And he began the ritual.

The pain was unbearable.

It started in his chest-a burning, tearing sensation as if something was being ripped from his very soul. He screamed, his voice echoing off the stone walls, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

The symbols beneath him began to glow, a pale blue light that spread outward like ripples in a pond.

*Blood of the Alpha.*

He bit into his wrist, letting his blood drip onto the stone. The light intensified, turning from blue to

white, so bright it was blinding.

*Heart of the Beast.*

Chaos surged forward, and Caleb felt the beast’s essence pour into the ritual. It was agony-a thousand knives piercing his flesh, a fire that consumed him from the inside out.

*Soul of the Mate.*

He thought of Iva. Of her smile. Of her laugh. Of the way she looked at him when she remembered,

when she loved him, when she was his.

The light exploded.

And Caleb fell.

He landed on … sand?

The impact knocked the breath from his lungs, and for a moment he lay there, gasping, his body aching with the aftermath of the ritual. When he finally managed to push himself up, he looked around.

Desert.

Nothing but desert.

The sun hung directly overhead, a relentless orb of fire that beat down on him with an intensity that made his skin prickle. The air was dry and hot, carrying the scent of dust and heat and something

else-something ancient and strange.

*What is this place?* Chaos asked, his voice uneasy.

*I don’t know,* Caleb admitted. *But we’re here. We made it through the Gate. So I presume that this

is the Genie’s Realm.*

He stood, brushing the sand from his clothes. His body was drained, his limbs heavy with exhaustion, but he forced himself to move.

But he had to find the Velinthra.

He started walking.

The desert stretched endlessly before him. Sand dunes rose and fell like waves on an ocean, their crests shimmering in the heat. The sun never moved, never dimmed, and the heat never relented.

The horizon stretched in every direction, completely uninterrupted.

Above him hung an enormous sun.

It was too bright.

Too large.

And somehow wrong.

There was no moon.

No clouds.

No birds.

Not even wind.

Caleb walked.

And walked.

And walked.

He walked.

Ten minutes.

An hour.

Then another.

Nothing changed.

The sun remained directly above him.

It never moved.

Caleb eventually realized something horrifying.

He could not tell whether time was passing.

His watch had stopped.

The compass spun uselessly.

Even his supernatural senses seemed confused.

There was energy everywhere.

He could feel it.

It surrounded him like an invisible ocean.

It pressed against his skin.

Hours passed. Or maybe days. Time had no meaning here. His body grew weaker with each step, his mind fracturing under the weight of the endless expanse. He was starving, his throat so dry he couldn’t swallow, his skin burning from the relentless sun.

*Keep going,* Chaos urged. *For her. For us.*

*For her,* Caleb echoed.

He walked.

And then, in the distance, he finally saw something.

An oasis.

A shimmering pool of water surrounded by palm trees, their fronds swaying in a breeze he couldn’t feel. It looked like a mirage-a trick of the heat and the light-but it was real. He could smell the water, could almost taste it.

He ran.

His legs carried him across the sand with a speed he didn’t know he possessed. The oasis grew closer, larger, and the promise of water drove him onward.

He reached the edge of the pool and fell to his knees, his hands reaching for the water.

And then, he saw his reflection.

But it wasn’t his reflection.

It was a face he didn’t recognize-ancient, terrible, with eyes that burned like coals and a mouth that stretched into a smile that was not human.

*Welcome, traveler,* the face said.

And then the water reached up and pulled him in.

Caleb fought.

He thrashed and kicked, trying to break free from the invisible force that dragged him down, down, down into the depths. The water was cold-so cold it burned-and the pressure was crushing.

“No!”

The water pulled harder.

Caleb activated every ounce of supernatural strength within him.

His muscles bulged.

His claws emerged.

Chaos roared “Fight!”

“I am!”

Caleb dug his heels into the ground.

But the force beneath the water was stronger.

*EVA!* he screamed in his mind. *YOUSSEF!*

The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was their faces-Iva’s smile, Youssef’s tiny hands reaching for him.

And then there was nothing.

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