(Regaleon's POV)

Belgor led the way inside the woods. We were going further in, away from the cliff overlooking the sea. We have searched a wide area from noon till sundown, but the ruins go further into the forest. If we blindly searched for the entrance by ourselves, I am afraid that we would have spent days and precious time.

'It was a good call to have a truce with the lycans.' I thought.

"The ruins are quite big." Belgor said, starting a conversation. "As I recall, this ruins was once a palace. It is said that this was a gift of the first ruler to his wife."

"I see." I replied. "It is a shame that this palace deteriorated like this."

"The exterior might be in ruins, but the interiors are at least preserved by us. Well, with a little bit of magic that remained within the palace." Belgor said. "You can still see the palace's interior in it's full splendor. Hahaha." He laughed out heartily.

"It looks like a good lair for you lycans." I said with a smile. "Is that why you were ready to fight us for it?" I jokingly asked.

"Well, it has been my home for hundreds of years. It was a suitable hiding place for us who does not like to mingle with humans. It is far from any human settlements and the exterior has a natural camouflage, tricking passerby." Belgor replied. "We treated you as passerby at first. But when we saw that you were not leaving, we deemed you as a danger. I was not sure if you Atlantians would take back this place from us. It was technically yours in the first place."

"We do not have any intention of taking your home away from you. We just want to get the key fragment that is hidden within the ruins." I replied.

I looked around and only see the ruins of that was once said to be a palace. I cannot think that the interior of this ruins are still intact, seeing that the outside was not in good shape. But looking closely, I can feel faint magic enveloping the exterior of the ruins.

"Maybe this is some type of cloaking magic." I murmured.

"I also think it is some type of time magic that camouflage the surroundings, your majesty." Alex second my thoughts. "I can feel some magic in the ruins, like a veil. But it is so faint that you cannot feel it if you have no high magic perception."

Alex words holds truth. If I did not focus my senses into the ruins, I could never feel the presence of this magic. It is amazing that the lycans were able to find the entrance of this palace.

"Are you talking about the natural camouflage of this place?" Belgor asked. "Well at first I also thought that it was strange, having the exterior in ruins but the interior is completely unscathed. We just came to find it because of our keen smell and sight." He pointed towards his nose and eyes.

"You mean you smelled your way inside?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well kind of." Belgor smiled. "I know the smell of nature, and it was peculiar that we were able to smell the scent of furnitures, cloth, glass and such. That was the time we were able to find the entrance."

I understood as Belgor explained. With such cloaking magic, it was nearly impossible to find the entrance. This place might have been fortified with such defensive magic because the key fragment was hidden inside. If I had not met the lycans, I would have made my own entrance if I had become impatient. Making my own entrance, as in blowing up a portion of the ruins to create a new entrance.

"If I may ask, how did you nullify all the magic traps inside?" I asked in wonder.

"It was made in difficulty and with precision." Belgor replied. "Those magic traps were not a walk in the park. We were very cautious, taking one room at a time. But after many years of effort, we were able to nullify all the traps that were set, except for one. I was also curious as to why they booby trapped a very beautiful palace."

"It was probably to protect anything that is inside that one room you mentioned." I replied. "So that it would not go into the hands of evil people."

"Well you have a point there." Belgor said.

"Come to think of it, how long have you been living in this place?" I asked.

"I lost count actually." Belgor replied. "It has been hundreds of years."

I was deep in thought after hearing Belgor's reply. If it has been hundreds of years, then this place was not the same one where the key fragment was first hidden. This was not the same place where the mad king of Atlantia found the key fragments some twenty years ago.

'Does that mean that the location differs after it has been collected? I thought that the location would be the same.' I thought to myself.

But I have no answers to my questions. Knowing that this will be the last time to use this key fragments, there will not be a next time to search for these things.

"Well, here we are." Belgor made a hand gesture welcoming us. "Welcome to our humble home."

We saw the entrance to the ruins at last. It was a big wooden dual doors, typical for any entrance to big mansions or villas. The door looks quite old, it looked like it would break if given a big amount of force. But Belgor opened it with all his strength, as if pushing huge boulders.

We entered the threshold, and what we saw put us all in awe. Inside was a perfectly maintained receiving hall of a palace. The color motif was of white and gold, it was majestic to look at. We looked around and saw furnitures, fixtures, paintings and such still in their splendor, very much well maintained.

"All of you are surprised, huh?" Belgor had a huge grin. "Told you that the interior is very much different that the outside. We came here and it was just like as you see it, as if time never touched it. It is like magic."

"It really is indeed magic." I replied while looking around.

I held a vase in my hand and felt some magic flowing through. Each and every object here is embedded with magic, a magic that felt quite familiar.

'This is the Almighty One's magic.' I thought while feeling his presence.

If this was gifted by the Almighty One to his wife, then I could tell that his wife is really someone who is very precious to him. For him to embed magic in all of the objects inside this palace to not be touched by time, is somewhat of an overkill.

'If I can do such things like the Almighty One, maybe I would have also gifted something like this to Alicia.' I thought to myself.

"Oh, let me introduce to you my mate, Sanyiah." Belgor said.

A woman that was also tall in height walked near us. She had white long hair and fair skin. Her body was also lean with muscles. But what really caught my attention was her red eyes.

"Sanyiah, this is Regaleon, the Atlantian's leader." Belgor introduced me. "Can you believe it, I made a new friend? And it is an Atlantian human. Hahaha." He said to his wife.

"It is nice to meet you, Regaleon. As my husband had said, I am named Saniyah. I am Belgor's mate." Saniyah smiled and slightly bowed her head as a greeting.

"It is also a pleasure to meet you." I replied with equal respect.

Then I saw a little boy with gray hair at the back of Saniyah. I guess this was Belgor and Saniyah's offspring.

"This one right here is my youngest, Polo." Belgor carried his son on his shoulders. "Say hi to papa's friend. He is our guest here today."

"H-Hello." Polo replied shyly, hiding behind Belgor's head.

"My oldest is also my second in command that you have met, Grey." Belgor gestured to Grey who was not far from us. He seemed a bit shy after being introduced as Belgor's son.

"He is your son?" I has some disbelief. The two of them looked like brothers, Grey being the younger. And also, he did not call Belgor father.

"We lycans stop aging after we fully mature." Belgor replied. "And Grey stopped calling me papa after he came of age, saying that he does not want to be seen as someone that got his position because he was my son. He fought for it tooth and nail with other lycans that wanted to be my second in command. Its just that, I miss him calling me papa while clinging to me like when he was young and asking me to play with him." He made a teasingly sad face.

"Pa… Belgor." Grey irritatingly said. "You have Polo to play with. I am too old for that. Stop teasing me."

"Hahaha." Belgor laughed out loud with his sons embarrassed lood. "Well anyways, I will lead you to the room I have told you a while ago." Belgor said to me and let Polo down.

Belgor continued to lead the way inside the palace. The interior was big and spacious, and like the entrance hallway, the items around are all imbued with timeless magic.

After some time of walking, we reached a door that felt unlike the others. I felt immense magic behind that door.

"Here it is, the door that does not break whatever we do." Belgor said.

"I can feel such tremendous magic behind that door." I said.

I was sure that the key fragment was just behind that closed door. I am very close in getting it.

'Just wait Alicia. I will be there by your side soon.' I silently promised.

edited by: nalyn