✨ Chapter 19 – The Forgotten Settlement
The room was silent.
Not because there was nothing to say—
but because **none of them knew where to begin.**
The scroll lay open before them, a long, aging piece of parchment filled with symbols, diagrams, and lines of text written in a script older than any academy curriculum.
Ariana ran her fingers across the brittle edge.
Her hands trembled slightly.
Kai moved closer, keeping a respectful distance but staying near enough that she felt grounded.
"We start by translating," Zane said quietly.
He rolled up his sleeves and leaned over the parchment.
"Ancient scripts don't translate word-for-word. They use meaning instead of literal language."
Rylan frowned. "Meaning like vibes?"
Calen smacked the back of Rylan's head gently.
"No, idiot. Concepts. The language carries intent."
"Same thing," Rylan muttered.
Ariana tried not to smile.
But the tension in the room was thick enough to choke on.
Zane pointed to a specific section near the scroll's center.
"There. That symbol appears repeatedly. It's connected to the Blood Seal. And here—this part—looks like instructions."
Ariana leaned closer.
Her wolf stirred uneasily.
"What kind of instructions?" she asked softly.
Zane traced the ancient lines with a slow finger.
"For stabilizing modified vampires."
Calen hissed. "There's a method for that?"
Zane nodded grimly.
"Yes. And it's more complicated than anything humans or common vampires could have invented."
Kai's voice was low.
"Meaning someone with knowledge older than Elmwood was involved."
Ariana swallowed. "Like who?"
Zane lifted his eyes.
"Like someone with access to forbidden lore. Knowledge that was buried because it was too dangerous."
Ariana felt a cold shiver down her spine.
Kai's hand rested lightly between her shoulder blades.
"You're safe," he murmured, sensing her fear instantly. "We're all here."
She nodded but kept her eyes on the scroll.
There—
on the bottom left—
something else caught her attention.
A small, circular emblem.
Not the Blood Seal.
Something different.
"Zane… what's that symbol?" she asked.
Zane blinked, then leaned closer.
A moment later, his face went pale.
"Oh no."
Rylan raised a brow. "What? What does *oh no* mean in your language?"
Zane pointed at the circle.
"This symbol refers to 'controlled incubation.' It means the modified vampire can't survive without periodic stabilization."
Ariana frowned. "Stabilization?"
Zane's voice dropped.
"They need to return to the place where they were… created. Or they start to deteriorate."
Ariana's stomach turned.
Calen's eyebrows furrowed.
"You're saying the vampires that attacked us… were fresh?"
"Very," Zane replied darkly. "Weeks old at most."
Kai exhaled sharply.
"So whoever created them… they're active right now."
Ariana felt her wolf's fur bristle inside her chest.
Fear.
Anger.
Instinct.
Everything mixed until she felt nauseous.
Zane tapped the scroll again.
"There's more. Look."
He pointed at a row of symbols.
Ariana leaned forward.
"It's a location marker," she whispered.
Kai nodded. "Like coordinates."
"And a warning," Zane added.
"Something about the location being abandoned… isolated… forbidden."
Calen frowned.
"An abandoned place near here?"
Rylan snapped his fingers.
"The old settlement."
Ariana blinked. "What old settlement?"
Rylan gestured vaguely westward.
"You know, the one nobody's allowed to visit? The academy map has it blocked off. Supposedly too unstable or unsafe."
Ariana's wolf growled softly inside her.
"Why would modified vampires be linked to an abandoned settlement?" she asked.
Calen shrugged.
"Maybe it's where the Rebirth faction operated originally."
Zane shook his head.
"No. Look at this."
He tapped the scroll again, tracing a looping symbol that resembled a twisted root.
Ariana squinted.
"What does that mean?"
Zane sighed.
"It means the place wasn't just abandoned. Something… poisoned it."
A cold silence settled over the room.
Ariana hugged herself, the wolf pacing nervously inside her.
"But the settlement is inside academy territory, right? That means the school should know what happened there."
"They do," Kai said.
"But the question is—why keep it secret?"
Rylan stood and stretched.
"Well, we won't know unless we go look."
Ariana whipped her head toward him.
"What? No! We can't just walk into a poisoned settlement."
Rylan shrugged. "Why not? We've faced worse."
Calen rolled his eyes. "Name one worse thing."
"The vampires last week," Rylan said proudly.
Calen sighed. "Fair enough."
Ariana shook her head vigorously.
"No. This is different. The vampires attacked us. But this… this place… it feels wrong."
Kai stepped closer to her.
"You sense something?"
Ariana hesitated.
"My wolf does."
Zane's expression sharpened.
"What does she say?"
Ariana swallowed.
"She feels… sickness. Old sickness. Something that isn't natural. Something that shouldn't exist anymore."
Kai's jaw tightened.
"That settles it. We're going."
Ariana stared at him.
"But—"
"Ariana," Kai said softly, "you're our tracker. Our connection to the older magic. Your wolf senses what we can't. We need you."
Her heart hammered.
She wasn't strong like Kai.
She wasn't fast like Rylan.
She wasn't cold or calculating like Zane and Calen.
But she could sense things.
Understand things.
Feel things wolves centuries older had once known.
And for once… she didn't want to run from that.
She exhaled shakily.
"Alright," she whispered.
"I'll go."
Rylan grinned. "Team journey!"
Calen flicked an ice shard at his shoulder.
"We're not going on vacation."
Zane studied the map again.
"The settlement is west of the academy. Beyond the abandoned greenhouses and the old training fields."
Ariana frowned.
"Do the teachers patrol that area?"
Kai shook his head.
"No. They sealed it off decades ago. Probably because of whatever poisoned it."
Rylan cracked his knuckles. "Better for us then. Fewer eyes."
Ariana hesitated again.
"What if it's dangerous?"
Zane raised one brow.
"It will be."
Kai placed a hand over hers — warm, steady, grounding.
"But we'll be together. And we'll be prepared."
Ariana nodded slowly.
She looked at the scroll one last time—
at the Blood Seal
at the modification instructions
at the symbol pointing to the abandoned settlement.
And she felt her wolf give a low, growling agreement.
"We should leave tonight," she whispered.
Kai's voice was firm.
"Then tonight we go."
A/n: You guys should please tell me what you think about this chapter in the comment section