Chapter 662 Welcome To Elaris

Liam finally began to slow down.

The change was so sudden that Irina immediately noticed it. The violent rush of wind that had been tearing past them gradually weakened as his wings beat with more controlled movements, each powerful flap reducing their speed until the landscape below stopped looking like a blur and began returning to something recognizable.

Liam looked ahead, his eyes narrowing slightly as he searched the terrain beneath them, and then he suddenly angled his body downward. Irina’s stomach dropped as they began shooting straight toward the ground, the earth rushing toward them at a frightening speed. She instinctively tightened her arms around him, but Liam remained completely calm.

At the last possible moment, his wings opened wide and beat hard against the air, pushing back against their momentum. The enormous force beneath them slowed their descent until their feet finally touched the ground with surprising softness. There was barely a sound beyond the rustling grass beneath their feet.

For a moment, Irina didn’t move.

She had been prepared for another violent landing, but Liam had brought them down so smoothly that it almost felt as though they had simply stepped onto the ground from a short height. Liam released his arms from around her waist and stepped away, but Irina immediately discovered that her legs had not quite recovered from the flight. The sudden loss of his support left her feeling strangely unbalanced, and she stumbled forward slightly. Liam reacted instantly, catching her hand before she could fall.

"Thank you," Irina said quietly, steadying herself before looking at him. She glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings and then back at Liam with a slight frown. "Why did you stop? I can handle the ride."

Liam stared at her for a moment.

He genuinely had no idea what she was talking about.

"What?"

Irina blinked, seemingly confused by his confusion. "You stopped so I could catch my breath, didn’t you?"

For half a second Liam simply looked at her before a quiet laugh escaped him. He shook his head, still holding her hand until he was certain she was steady on her feet. "No. We’re here."

Irina’s expression slowly emptied.

She looked at Liam.

Then at the landscape.

Then back at Liam.

"What do you mean we’re here?"

Liam gestured casually toward the area around them as though the answer should have been obvious. "We’re at Elaris Village."

Irina’s mouth opened slightly.

Nothing came out.

She stared at him as though he had just told her they had landed on another planet.

According to the map the dwarf had shown them, reaching Elaris Village on horseback would take approximately two and a half days of continuous travel. Even accounting for rest and other necessities, it was still a considerable journey from the city. They had prepared themselves mentally for a long trip, one that would involve stopping along the way and potentially sleeping outdoors if necessary.

Yet Liam was standing there looking completely relaxed.

They had been in the air for barely fifteen minutes.

Irina slowly turned around, scanning the horizon again. "No."

Liam raised an eyebrow.

"No?"

"You can’t possibly mean this is the village."

"I do."

"You’re telling me we traveled for fifteen minutes and reached somewhere that takes more than two days to reach on horseback?"

Liam nodded.

Irina stared at him.

He wasn’t smiling.

He wasn’t exaggerating.

There was no smug expression on his face and no hint that he was trying to impress her. He simply looked at her as though he were stating the most ordinary fact in the world.

Then, as if he wanted to make things even worse for her understanding, Liam casually added, "Actually, I would’ve arrived about ten minutes earlier if I wasn’t carrying you."

Irina’s eyes widened.

She looked at him in disbelief.

"You’re serious."

"Completely."

There was something about the absolute certainty in his voice that made her realize he wasn’t bragging. Liam genuinely believed that he could have crossed the distance even faster. The statement wasn’t meant to boast about his strength or speed. To him, it was simply an assessment of how long the journey had taken.

Irina didn’t know whether she should be impressed or offended.

She eventually turned away from him and walked toward a small hill nearby. Her curiosity refused to let her simply accept his words. She climbed the gentle slope, her boots pressing into the grass as she reached the top and looked across the landscape.

Her eyes widened.

She couldn’t see the entire village yet, but she saw the unmistakable road leading toward it.

There was no mistaking it.

The road matched the direction shown on the map.

She slowly turned around and looked back at Liam.

He was still standing where she had left him.

He gave her a small, knowing smile.

Irina’s expression tightened.

"Don’t look so pleased with yourself."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You didn’t have to."

Liam chuckled softly before walking toward her.

Together they began following the road toward Elaris Village.

For the first few minutes, neither of them spoke.

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable in the usual sense. It was simply strange. Both of them had too much on their minds, and neither seemed particularly eager to be the first one to bring up what had happened earlier. The carriage ride was still sitting somewhere between them like an invisible wall neither knew how to cross. Every now and then Irina would glance toward Liam, only to quickly look away whenever he happened to turn in her direction.

Liam noticed.

He didn’t comment.

His own thoughts were surprisingly occupied by the same awkwardness.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said in the carriage.

That single "eww" had lodged itself somewhere in his mind, and no matter how many times he tried to dismiss it, it kept coming back. Liam had never encountered anyone who seemed genuinely irritated by his appearance before. People stared at him everywhere he went. Women were usually fascinated, men were sometimes jealous, and even those who disliked him rarely had anything negative to say about his face.

Yet Irina had reacted differently.

She found him irritating.

At least, that was what he had understood.

And for some reason, Liam couldn’t stop wondering why.

Was it his personality?

His attitude?

The way he teased her?

Or was there something about his face that genuinely bothered her?

The thought was completely unfamiliar to him.

Liam glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

Irina was walking silently, her expression unusually serious.

He almost asked her.

Almost.

But pride stopped him.

He wasn’t about to ask a woman whether she found him attractive. That would be ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Irina was fighting an entirely different battle.

She wanted to explain herself.

She wanted to turn toward Liam and tell him that the "eww" had never been about his appearance. It had been about the thought of being with him because of his personality. She found him arrogant, reckless, shameless and incredibly irritating at times. That was what she had meant.

But every time she imagined explaining it, the situation somehow became worse.

If she told him she thought he was incredibly handsome but hated his personality, wouldn’t that sound even stranger?

Wouldn’t Liam become even more smug?

And what if he started teasing her about it?

Absolutely not.

Silence was safer.

So they continued walking.

The road gradually became rougher as the surrounding vegetation grew thicker. The distant sounds of birds seemed strangely muted, and even the wind appeared to have lost some of its warmth. Liam’s expression slowly changed as his instincts began picking up something unusual.

He stopped.

Irina took two more steps before realizing he wasn’t beside her anymore. She turned around and saw Liam standing completely still.

"What is it?"

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he looked ahead.

Irina followed his gaze.

A wooden sign stood beside the road.

The paint had faded considerably, and several parts of the wood were cracked from age. Yet the words were still visible.

WELCOME TO ELARIS VILLAGE.

Irina’s expression changed.

Beyond the sign, the village could finally be seen.

And that was when the strange feeling became impossible to ignore.

There was something wrong with the place.

It was afternoon.

The sun was still high enough that the village should have been filled with activity. People should have been moving between houses, children should have been playing somewhere, merchants should have been calling out to passing travelers and smoke should have been rising from chimneys as families prepared their midday meals.

Instead, there was almost nothing.

No voices.

No laughter.

No movement.

The village looked as though someone had simply abandoned it.

A cold breeze moved through the grass, carrying a strange heaviness with it. It wasn’t merely the absence of sound. There was an oppressive atmosphere surrounding Elaris, something dark that seemed to seep from the village itself. Irina’s senses reacted immediately, and the vampire’s expression became serious as she stared toward the distant houses.

She could feel it.

Grief.

Fear.

Something else beneath both.

Something that made every instinct inside her whisper the same warning.

Stay away.

Irina slowly narrowed her eyes.

"What happened here?"

Liam didn’t answer.

He was studying the village carefully.

The rooftops were intact.

The buildings were standing.

There were no obvious signs of battle.

No destroyed walls.

No burning structures.

No bodies scattered along the road.

Yet there wasn’t a single visible person.

Irina folded her arms and looked toward him. "How are we supposed to save this place when its people aren’t even here?"

Liam glanced at her.

She continued, her voice carrying a faint trace of disbelief. "We’re supposed to investigate something killing people, but there isn’t anyone here. At this rate we’re going to end up fighting to save an empty village."

Liam shook his head slowly.

"No."

Irina looked at him.

"You don’t think it’s empty?"

"I don’t."

His eyes remained fixed on Elaris.

"There is something wrong with this place, but I don’t think everyone is gone."

Irina studied him for a moment before looking back toward the village.

"What makes you think that?"

Liam began walking again.

"Let’s get closer."

Irina followed.

The closer they moved toward Elaris, the colder the air seemed to become. The village remained unnaturally silent, its empty road stretching between old wooden houses whose windows stared back at them like dark eyes. Even the birds seemed reluctant to fly over the place.

Neither Liam nor Irina spoke anymore.

Whatever had happened here had left something behind.

And as the two of them crossed beneath the weathered WELCOME TO ELARIS VILLAGE sign, neither realized that the moment they entered that silent road, something deep within the village had already become aware of their presence.