The final rune locked into place as Tariq stepped back, sweat beading his temple despite the cold in the underground chamber.
The Null box now pulsed faintly, its every inch covered in overlapping sigils and blinding glyphs.
Sera knelt nearby inspecting the lower ward line, her fingers brushing over the etched silver symbols checking for the telltale signs of any instability.
"Its holding" She confirmed "Darius let's move it"
Darius nodded and helped guide the Null box into the reinforced dolly. The Null box was massive, more than five meters in length. It was heavy enough to require a specialized loading mechanism.
The team stood back as the truck's rear hissed open revealing a reinforced interior lined with suppression runes. Then slowly and with practiced coordination the Null box was loaded inside and sealed.
They departed the facility at 0300 hours.
The night air wasbrutally cold, their breath fogging inside the vehicles before the heaters kicked in.
Engines roared to life as the convoy rolled out, leaving the site in complete darkness.
5 vehicles in total were inthe convoy, 4 armored SUV s and one reinforced semi-trailer with the Null box secured safely in its steel womb. Alric rode point in the lead vehicle, eyes tracking both the road ahead and the leyline reader humming quietly on the dashboard.
They couldn't deviate from the leylines, not entirely at least. The Null box had to be kept aligned with them or else it would weaken. Too far off and it would destabilize.
Null boxes were used to contain objects with immense power by nullifying their power. One was virtually powerless within a Null box but it required a lot of magic to fuel them.
The greater the source, the greater its power of nullification.
But sticking to the leylines was hell.
Any direct path had been ruled out early on, instead they followed winding mountain trails and overgrown back roads, often veering of asphalt and onto mud churned paths meant for hikers and goat herders.
More than once, they were forced to cut through dense forests with wheels skidding over mud chocked terrain. The trailer creaked and groaned with every jolt but was held down securely by its magnetic chains.
Each off road detour added hours to the journey and worse each deviation placed them deeper into uncharted territory. By the time they crossed into Austria half the team was beyond exhausted.
Sera had gone even paler, something Tariq thought was impossible given her already pale like skin. She was exhausted due to re stabilizing the Null box each time they went off course.
"Null boxes aren't meant to be moved," she said "They're meant to be held in place. Too much movement and they destabilize. Reinforcing it constantly is depleting"
Tariq agreed, he himself despite his age had begun to feel the weight of the task. Null boxes drew on the magic of the caster or in this case leylines. They had to continuously reinforce those runes with their own magic.
Whatever was inside that demanded this level of binding and security had piqued his interest beyond measure. It had better be worth the trouble he thought.
So far other than the constant detours, they encountered no incidence.
Well so far at least.
Slovakia brought more trouble. The leylines dipped sharply east cutting through the country side, a snow squall forced them to divert to an abandoned mining site, the path was narrow framed by cliffs and old rail tracks.
Crossing into Ukraine was the last straw.
The leylines twisted sharply through the Carpathians, a path no sane convoy would follow but they pressed on, they had no choice. The road climbed steeply, at a sharp angle so they had to drive slowly.
A light fog had begun to roll in as they climbed, but it was winter and fog in the mountains was a common thing, so no one paid it any attention.
But as they climbed it grew thicker, subtle at first, the change almost unnoticeable until they suddenly noticed how dense it had become, how dim daylight was now.
Then by nightfall it was a whitewall. Headlights struggled to cut more than a few feet ahead.
Velari senses, normally unhindered by the darkness or weather were useless now. The fog clung to everything like tendrils of smoke. When the lead vehicle slowed, the others followed suit.
Alric stepped out into the haze scanning the thick white soup all around them with narrowed eyes.
"Somethimg's wrong" he said to himself, eyes scanning the road.
Tariq and Sera joined him moving slowly through the fog. Arms raised Sera's hands began to flicker.
"I'm dispelling it" she said "Give me a moment"
For a moment the air stirred, magic shimmering like heat in the cold and it looked like itwas working but then nothing.
Sera tried again but this time the fog only thickened.
Sera blinked " I don't understand, that should have worked"
"It should have" Tariq said " If it were natural fog"
"Someone is casting this.." she said suprised.
"I believe so" Tariq replied.
Alric's eyes sharpened at that revelation and his voice rang out.
"Defensive perimeter around the trailer. NOW!"
Eirik now stood beside Tariq having left his vehicle as well.
"Anything?" Tariq asked.
"No, I can barely see anything and my ears feel muffled. I can't even scent anything. All my senses are dull" he replied " What of you?"
Tariq had already tried to sense the surrounding area with his magic to no avail. Whoever had cast this spell was powerful.
"No" he replied " My magic can't seem to penetrate this fog"
The silence that followed was crushing. The heavy fog pressed on like a sentient entity, it strangled even sound.
The usual ambient noises crickets, birds chirping, the wind brushing the mountainside had all but vanished.
They group had now formed a loose circle around the semi trailer, eyes glowedwith a faint cold blue luminescence. Some tried to catch a trace of scent in the air, nostrils flaring but the fog offered nothing.
Not even the scent of wildlife. Some cocked their heads, their ears twitching with acute sensitivity but even that sense was dulled.
Whatever spell blanketed this mountain pass had muted everything, even time seemed to come to a crawl.
Thud!
A single small thump too heavy for a falling branch. Every Lykan turned sharply towards the sound, their claws unsheathing with a small metallic like sound.
Another thud.
Then a sharp crack the sound of something snapping. One of them, a tall broad shouldered man let out a snarl and began shifting. Bones could be heard snapping and rearranging themselves under the skin with a wet brutal sound.
His spine hunched as his limbs thickened, clothes began to tear around swelling muscles as he increased both in size and height.
CRACK!
A sickening crunch echoed through the air, followed by the sound of a body against metal. It hit the side of the armored vehicle with such force it nearly toppled over on its side.
Frozen in place, everyone watched what was left of their comrade slide down the steel hull of the vehicle.
He was still midshift, though now he was larger and bigger than he was a few moments ago, his grotesque figure suspended between forms. His skin had torn where fur had begun to sprout, except now he was headless.
Not much could kill a Lykan but a missing head was the surest way to kill anything. Tariq stepped foward, drawing a rune in the air with two fingers, golden light trailing behind.
"Perthes..... Rak'al infernus" he barked, the air trembling with the force of his incantation.
A flare of fire erupted outward like a pulse but then fizzled uselessly.
Tariq's eyes narrowed "That shouldn't be possible"
"I never thought there would be anyone capable of nullifying your magic" Eirik said.
"Neither did I"
Alric's voice was a low snarl " Eyes up everyone, stay close and watch each others back"
Sera stood trembling, as her hands glowed faintly with magic. She hated the feeling of being powerless, her magic was her strenght but it was of no use to her now. She screamed when the body of another headless lykan flew towards her.
Darius stepped forward and kicked it back into the fog without hesitation, but even he was breathing hard, no doubt hating the situation he was in. A lykan without its senses was as good as dead.
Then the truck screeched.
Something massive had crashed into its side, tilting it dangerously.
"What was that?" Lira asked.
A few of the lykans who had firearms on them shot blindly into the fog but it was of no use, their enemy could see in this haze they could not. And now they were being picked off one by one.
Soft but heavy footsteps echoed through, though slightly muffled by the shifting fog.
Twin orbs then pierced through the gloom revealing eyes that burned like twin suns glowing through the fog.
The fog then parted like a curtain, revealing a form so massive it made even the seasoned warriors among them falter.
Before them stood the largest wolf they had ever laid their eyes on. It towered above them like a giant did to ants, nearly the size of the semi-trailer itself.
Its body rippled with muscle between fur so dark it seemed like darkness itself surrounded it instead of a physical body.
Its fangs were the size of daggers, jugged and ivory white while its claws gleamed like swords, sharp and strong enough to shred reinforced steel like paper. But it was its eyes that held them in place like a deer caught in headlights.
One glowed a brilliant icy blue, the other a golden hue of liquid fire.
The sun and the Moon.