Chapter 498: The Way That Should Not Exist

Chapter 497: The Way That Should Not Exist

Orion did not answer immediately.

He leaned back slightly in his chair, one arm resting along the edge of the table as his eyes stayed on Sophia.

"A Trihydra nest is not simple," he said at last.

His voice was calm, but there was a weight behind it.

"It never is."

The others nodded. They were used to things like this, and they had had members die from being in a Trihydra nest too, but Sophia was still new to this... a bit.

Sophia’s shoulders lifted faintly as she drew in a breath.

"The place you woke up in," Orion continued slowly, "was not the full nest."

Sophia frowned.

"It was the inner chamber," he explained. "The place where the eggs are kept. The most protected part."

Ronan shifted beside him.

"The heart," he muttered. "It is built to look like a dead end on purpose."

"The chamber where the eggs are kept is always isolated," Orion went on. "The walls are reinforced differently. The resin is thicker. The structure is layered in a way that hides movement marks. It is designed so that anything that does not belong there... cannot easily trace how the nest is entered or exited."

Sophia felt a chill move slowly down her spine.

"But there is always a way out," Orion said firmly.

"The paths are not made for people," he added quietly. "They are made for Trihydras."

Brynhild nodded. "True," she said. "And most times, those paths are filled with lingering Trihydras."

Sophia’s eyes widened in shock.

"The tunnels and secondary exits are rarely empty," Orion said. "They are living corridors. Movement routes. Guard routes. Feeding routes. The nest protects itself by occupying its own escape paths."

Sophia’s stomach turned faintly.

"So... even if I had found one..." she began.

Orion nodded slowly.

"You would have run straight into them." He frowned, then shook his head. "I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if you did run into them."

Sophia didn’t want to think of it too.

"But they are... how are they able to build something like that?" she asked in shock.

"We don’t know," Caspian told her softly. "But when there is a reason we say these beasts are intelligent. And honestly, we tried to understand it at one point, but people died, and so we gave up. It’s better to avoid the nest than try to understand how it is built. It’s better we understand the mechanics of how it works and what connects it."

Daniel let out a quiet breath.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we need to check the test grounds again. There must be something," Daniel went on, his voice low but steady. "Some sign. Some disturbance. A pattern in the terrain. A collapse. A hollow. Anything that hints at the presence of a nesting structure beneath or beside the grounds. A path that could lead to the nest. I’m sure the scouts may have missed it."

Orion nodded. If Sophia was taken into the nest, then there had to be an access point close enough for the Trihydras to use.

"Maybe not only the testing grounds, but everywhere," Mary added. "Just to be certain."

Brynhild nodded immediately.

"I agree," she said.

She straightened slightly in her seat.

"When we are done here, I will gather a team," she said. "We will sweep the test grounds properly. We’ll check everywhere, both inside the pack and outside... at least anywhere close to settlement areas."

"Even after that, how about we put a team in place for regular checks?" Orion suggested. "It’s like the Nirvana we know is changing, and we can’t risk our members."

Brynhild nodded. "I’ll arrange a team."

Daniel inclined his head in agreement.

Brynhild turned towards Sophia.

"You were lucky. I’m glad the luck helped you," she said simply.

Sophia stared at her.

Then she let out a small, breathless laugh.

"Lucky?" she repeated quietly.

She shook her head once.

"Luck doesn’t even begin to count it."

A faint smile touched Ronan’s mouth.

"That bad, huh?"

Sophia glanced at him.

Then at Orion.

Then back to the others.

"There is something else," she said softly.

Orion’s expression shifted.

Something alert slid into his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I wasn’t alone in the nest," Sophia told them.

Orion frowned. "You mean Tarin?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"No. I’m not talking about Tarin."

Ronan lifted a brow slowly.

"Well," he drawled lightly, "if you’re not talking about Tarin, then I sincerely hope you don’t mean the bodies."

Sophia looked at him.

"The ones the Trihydras use as feed," he added with a faint shrug. "For the hatchlings. If they can’t get humans, they use other beasts. Sometimes even their own."

Sophia’s stomach tightened again.

But she shook her head.

"No," she said quietly. "Not them either."

Ronan’s amusement faded.

Sophia inhaled slowly.

"There was someone else in the nest. It was a woman," she told them.

"Um... this is going to sound very strange..."

"More strange than that beast you and Orion killed in the cave?" Ronan asked her.

She nodded. "Exactly."

Ronan whistled. "Okay, hit us with it."

"She wasn’t... exactly real," Sophia told them.

Sophia lifted one shoulder slightly, as if uncertain how to explain it.

"But she was also... real. She was the one who led me and Tarin to the path we used to get out of the nest," she told them.

Madam Tyler’s mouth formed an O.

Sophia turned to Orion. "Remember how you told me you saw some strange woman before?" she asked him.

Ronan and the others in the hall quickly turned to stare at Orion, who avoided their gaze.

"Yes," he told Sophia softly.

"Could it be that she’s the goddess?" she asked him. "I mean, after what Oculum told us, there’s a probability that she could be the goddess."

"Sister-in-law, just tell us what you saw," Ronan said to Sophia.

She focused her gaze on him. "I suspect I may have seen the goddess. I’m not so sure, but I think she’s the one. She led me and Tarin out of the nest, but immediately she was sure I could use the path, she disappeared."