"Did you find her?" Kael asked the moment he sensed Zen enter the cave as he stood, staring at the batch of still-alive rogues Zen had dragged in.
Zen nodded once, brushing blood from his sleeve. "Yes. It was what delayed me. They did not encounter any rogues on their way to the Redwood territory though. So, your fear was for nothing.
Kael’s hand twitched at that as his fingers curled into a fist before he relaxed them again.
Zen saw it and let out a quiet sigh. He had not expected that Emira would do something so foolish as to defy Kael’s orders. Here they were, trying to find out the truth about everything while she was off creating trouble again, holding hands with that Cassian and going towards the Redwood Territory.
Zen stepped aside and gestured toward the unconscious rogues sprawled across the cold floor. "She is safe. That should matter to you first. Now, can we proceed with this investigation first?"
Kael exhaled slowly and gave a short nod. He had no interest in interrogating these rogues with words. They would never speak truth. Rogues never did. The ones who had been sent here would sooner bite off their own tongues than give information of value.
He needed something quicker and could not be hidden.
Without another word, he stepped forward, knelt beside the nearest rogue, reached out and gripped his head by the temples without hesitation.
He then closed his eyes, pushing into the rogue’s mind. And frowned.
There should have been resistance. Even the weakest mind carried instinctive walls, layers of fear and secrets they did not want anyone to know or at least their first memories and identity. It was natural. It was part of being alive.
Yet as Kael entered, he found nothing. Not emptiness or silence or chaos or even a single thought.
Nothing.
It was like stepping into a place that had never been used. No memories. No names. No voices. Not even the faint traces of instinct or the primal screaming fear that every living creature held when death was near.
Kael’s brows furrowed slightly. He pushed deeper, searching past the surface, past the spaces where childhood memories usually twisted into instinct. He searched for trauma. Nothing.
There was nothing. Not even in the deepest corners of consciousness where secrets tended to hide themselves.
He pulled back, confusion and irritation sliding through him like cold water. He released the rogue’s head and stood slowly, his brow furrowed.
Usually, rogues had chaotic minds. Their human and wolf instincts tangled into a blur of rage, hunger, and fragmented memories or either those they had loved and left behind or those who had harmed them.
Even the ones too far gone to speak or shift into their human forms, still carried echoes of who they had once been. They were broken. But not empty.
Kael had never seen something like this. Someone had erased an entire life’s worth of memories? Why?
He knelt again, this time beside another unconscious body and placed his hands at the sides of the rogue’s head and pushed into his mind in the same direct, efficient motion as before.
Nothing again.
He exhaled through his nose and moved to the next one. Zen did not interrupt this only staring with interest at what Kael was up to.
Kael sighed and stood up. It was like someone had scooped out everything inside and left only a body that could move, kill, and breathe like a puppet.
Zen tilted his head. "Well."
"They are hollowed out." Kael’s voice was steady, clipped at the edges. "Their minds have been entirely erased. There is no self left inside to interrogate or read."
Zen’s eyes narrowed. "Are you certain?"
"Yes." Kael looked at the rogues again, as though seeing them differently now. "This is not madness. This is removal. Someone stripped them clean. Whatever they once were is gone."
Zen’s jaw shifted. A muscle ticked once.
Kael continued, "Rogues lose themselves over time, but they do not lose everything. Their wolves scream. Their memories fracture. Their instincts overwhelm. Even the worst of them have a shape inside. These have none."
Zen glanced at the group on the cave floor. "Then they did not come here on instinct."
"No," Kael confirmed. "They were sent. Programmed to move, fight, and die on command. Nothing more."
Zen finally spoke, voice quiet but firm. "Someone did this to cover their tracks. To ensure we would find nothing. And to ensure the rogues could not betray them. Even in death."
Zen’s posture stiffened. "This is beyond ordinary magic. Beyond anger or rebellion."
Kael’s eyes flicked upward, catching Zen’s. "This is deliberate. And whoever did it has the power to hollow enter a mind and manipulate it without killing the body."
"This is dark Arts. So, the only way to break this magic would also be through the dark arts, Kael." Zen said softly, giving Kael a meaningful look.
As per history, every practitioner of dark arts, every descendant of the dark witches had been killed by magic due to the sacrifice... Now, they had discovered that at least one person had survived... Ember, who was descended from both... And now, her descendant remained- Emira...who they knew had practised at least one dark ancient spell.
Just then, Lance entered the cave and looked at the forms, slowly, having been informed of everything from Kael. "You both are missing out something."
Kael and Zen turned then. "They wanted to attack and they knew who to attack and how to sneak in. So..."
Zen and Kael both nodded and stepped back. If the human or the wolf mind did not have anything, there was something beyond the mind’s reach.
Without further ado, Lance sat on the ground and closed his eyes. Soon, the human was gone, sitting in his place was a large wolf, staring down at the unconscious humans. The wolf cocked his head and let out a low growl as if giving them a command.
In the next minute, the unconscious rogues began to stir and howl in pain as the souls of the wolves separated from their bodies, each feeling the tearing pain.