<h4>Chapter 633: A New Hope</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    For a while after Morwen finished speaking, neither of us said anything.


    The silence wasn’t ufortable.


    It was... heavy.


    The fire crackled softly between us, its orange glow flickering across the wooden beams of the pavilion while the darkness of the forest slowly thickened beyond the clearing.


    Morwen’s gaze had drifted away from me, settling somewhere in the distance. Her expression looked far away. Lost.


    I had the strange feeling she wasn’t really seeing the forest anymore. She was remembering something else.


    Probably that day - the day her aunt summoned her and finally revealed the truth about the Great Evil.


    I tried to imagine what that must have been like - a thirteen-year-old girl witnessing the chaos of that night. Growing older. Watching everyone else who knew the truth slowly die. Carrying that burden alone for nearly three centuries. And then finally deciding the secret shouldn’t die with her.


    My gaze dropped to the fire.


    What if she hadn’t changed her mind?


    What if Morwen’s aunt had stayed silent?


    If she had taken the truth with her to the grave... then none of us would know any of this today.


    We might still be chasing fragments of history without ever finding the real answer.


    That thought made a quiet shiver run through me.


    Sometimes the smallest decisions in history shaped everything that came after.


    The silence stretched longer.


    Then finally, I broke it.


    "There’s something else I need to know."


    Morwen’s attention returned to me and her expression softened slightly. "Go ahead."


    I took a slow breath.


    This question had been sitting at the back of my mind since the moment I first learned about the soul deaths.


    Even after digging through countless historical records... I had never found the answer.


    "They captured the soul eventually," I said slowly.


    Morwen nodded faintly.


    "But what about the victims?" The words felt heavier leaving my mouth. "Did they ever wake up?"


    The moment the question left my lips, the world seemed to go still.


    I didn’t breathe. I couldn’t. My heart felt like it had stopped entirely. Because the answer to this question meant more than anything else.


    If even one person had woken up back then... then that meant healing the soul dead wasn’t impossible.


    It meant there was a way.


    Somewhere.


    Somehow.


    Morwen didn’t answer immediately. And that silence alone made dread begin creeping into my chest.


    Then finally, she did.


    "No."


    The single word felt like a de through my chest. My lungs struggled to pull in air.


    Her voice continued quietly, "Our ancestors tried. They searched for a solution. They studied the condition. They experimented with different forms of healing magic, potions, elixirs."


    She paused.


    "But they failed."


    Each word crushed a little more hope inside me.


    "And once the soul was sealed," Morwen continued softly, "our entire coven left the vige and withdrew into seclusion."


    Her fingers folded together in herp.


    "After that... we never learned what happened to those victims."


    I stared at her. The fire blurred slightly in my vision. "No one knows?" I whispered.


    She shook her head slowly. "No one ever heard or know what really happened to those victims. We believe your Council sealed away all records of the incident when they failed to heal the victims."


    My chest tightened painfully as a sharp ache spread through my chest.


    So that was it.


    For so long, I had been holding onto this tiny, fragile hope. That somewhere in history... someone had seeded, someone had figured it out, someone had found a way to wake the soul dead.


    But hearing Elder Morwen’s answer felt like watching that hope crumble to dust.


    I had wanted so badly to believe the solution existed. That I just needed to find it.


    But now...


    Now it felt like I was standing at the beginning of an impossible road... a road no one had ever managed to walk before.


    Morwen must have noticed something in my expression because her voice softened again.


    "Evaline."


    I blinked slowly, forcing myself to look at her.


    Her eyes studied me carefully. "Do not misunderstand what I said child."


    My brows furrowed faintly.


    She leaned forward slightly. "Our ancestors did fail to wake them," she spoke each word deliberately, "But that does not mean it is impossible."


    Something flickered faintly inside my chest.


    She continued, "Since the victims aren’t dead, they are still alive. And as long as someone lives... there is always a chance to bring them back."


    The words settled slowly into my mind... like a small spark in darkness.


    "Our ancestors simply failed to find the answer," Morwen said quietly. "But that does not mean the answer does not exist."


    The ache in my chest didn’t disappear. But something else rose alongside it - determination.


    Of course I wouldn’t give up.


    Not when Draven was waiting for me. Not when my mate was lying in that bed, trapped in silence.


    Not when Niara and the others were suffering the same fate.


    I straightened slightly in my chair.


    "I won’t stop," I said quietly.


    Morwen watched me carefully.


    "I know."


    My voice grew firmer. "I’ll find a way to heal them." I felt the quiet strength of my power stirring inside me. "No matter how long it takes."


    Elder Morwen’s lips curved into the faintest hint of a smile. "That is the kind of determination the world needs right now."


    I exhaled slowly.


    Then another question surfaced in my mind.


    One that had been lingering there since the beginning of this entire conversation.


    "There’s one more thing."


    Morwen nodded.


    "Ask."


    I leaned forward slightly. "Is it possible topletely destroy the Great Evil instead of sealing it again?"


    My voice hardened faintly.


    "Because if we seal it..." I gestured vaguely toward the forest, "...then centuries from now, it could escape again. And the soul deaths would start all over."


    Morwen studied me quietly. Then slowly... she nodded. "Once again you are not the first to ask that question today."


    I wasn’t surprised.


    "River?" I guessed.


    She nodded again.


    "Yes."


    A faint sigh escaped her.


    "And my answer to him is the same as the one I will give you." She folded her hands together thoughtfully. "I do not know yet."


    That wasn’t the answer I wanted. But it wasn’t a refusal either.


    She continued, "The ritual used four centuries ago was designed only to bind the soul. Not destroy it."


    Her eyes hardened slightly.


    "But that does not mean eliminating it is impossible."


    A small spark of hope returned again.


    "I will search our records," Morwen said, "I will study the old spells. I will consult every piece of knowledge our coven possesses."


    Her gaze met mine firmly.


    "Because you are right." Her voice carried quiet conviction now. "This problem cannot simply be buried again. If we seal the soul once more... then we are only dying the inevitable."


    Her eyes darkened slightly.


    "And I have no intention of allowing this mistake to haunt the world for another four centuries."


    She straightened slightly in her chair.


    "I will do everything I can to find a way to destroy the Great Evil."


    Her words settled heavily in the quiet night.


    And for the first time since learning the truth about the soul deaths... I felt like we might actually have a chance.