Chapter 344: When Dreams Bear Witness
Orion’s gaze lingered on the word Sophia had just written: Dreams. The way it sat on the page, stark and simple, made the air between them feel heavier. There was weight in that word, in everything it implied—possibilities, fears, and unspoken truths that neither of them could ignore.
Sophia fidgeted slightly in her chair, her fingers brushing against the page she had just written on. Her voice was soft, hesitant, but there was a tremor beneath it that betrayed the worry she could no longer contain.
"I... I don’t know if the dreams have a connection to all of this," she admitted, her gaze dropping to the desk. "But... it’s happened twice now. Two dreams that have... co to pass. And it can’t just be deja vu."
Orion was quiet for a long mont, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the page. He let out a slow sigh, running one hand through his hair as though he were trying to pull the weight of thought out from his skull.
"I... I have sothing to tell you," he said finally, his voice low and careful, yet heavy with a truth he had kept to himself until now.
Sophia looked up at him, the faintest trace of curiosity in her expression. "What is it?" she asked, her fingers gripping the edge of the table lightly, waiting.
"The last ti you had that dream—the one where you ran out of the house to go to the dical center..." Orion’s voice faltered just slightly, as though rembering it still left a shadow over him. "...I had a dream too."
Sophia’s brow furrowed. "You... had a dream? At the sa ti?"
"Perhaps. But I didn’t get the chance to tell you because, well..." He shrugged his shoulders.
She nodded. It was that night she had collapsed, after all. And yes, it wouldn’t have felt right for him to just spring it on her.
Orion cleared his throat. "Honestly, it didn’t even feel like a dream. Not in the sense we usually think of dreams. It felt real. I heard you crying. No," he shook his head as he rembered the sound.
"Instead of crying, sobbing is the more accurate word," he told her.
Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, unable to form words for a mont.
"And then I woke up," Orion continued, "and noticed you weren’t in bed with . I imdiately traced you to the dical facility." His gaze softened slightly, but the seriousness of the mory remained.
Sophia swallowed, looking down at her hands. Her chest tightened.
"I was crying in the dream I had about Brynhild. Although, to be honest, I think that dream was more like a foretelling. I dreamt of Brynhild dying, which was why I ran out of the house like that that night," she told him.
Orion stared at her. "So you tried to prevent it."
She nodded.
Orion was quiet as he mulled over her words.
Sophia let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, unease clinging to her chest. "I... I’ve had other dreams too," she admitted.
"Apart from those two?" he asked.
She nodded. "Do you rember the period when I was training excessively? Pushing myself... to the point of exhaustion?"
Orion’s gaze sharpened. He gave her a long look, then nodded.
"I... I told you I’d explain why I was acting that way, didn’t I?" she continued. Orion nodded again, eyes fixed on her as though urging her to go on. "I... I had a dream. One that felt... too real. And I’ve had dreams like that before, yes, but... this one wasn’t like the ones with Brynhild or Zena. This one... I wasn’t just a spectator. I was part of it. I saw everything happening around . It felt like I was living it."
Orion leaned closer, his gaze darkening with concern.
"I saw the pack... engulfed in flas," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "Houses destroyed, smoke rising... and a Trihydra, Orion. It was... right there, in the midst of it all." Her hands clenched the edge of the table, knuckles whitening.
He frowned, the lines of worry sharpening on his face.
"I watched helplessly," she continued, her voice breaking slightly. "I saw Joren... killed by the Trihydra. But that wasn’t all... I saw you, Orion. Other pack mbers... dead. And... I’ve had a dream like this before, where you all died. I don’t understand. I... I’m scared it might co true. I don’t want it to. I can’t... I can’t imagine everyone dying, especially if it’s because of ."
Orion’s expression softened instantly. He stood, moving around the table to crouch beside her, his hands finding hers and holding them with a firm, grounding pressure. The warmth of his touch and the certainty in his presence seed to pull the panic slightly out of her chest.
"Sophia," he said gently, his voice steady and sure, "there is no way sothing like that would happen. And especially not because of you."
Her eyes searched his, searching for the thread of certainty she so desperately needed. "How do you know?" she asked quietly.
Orion smiled, a gentle, reassuring curve of his lips. "Because before anything like that could happen, the enemy would have to take each of us down. All of us. And they haven’t. Not yet. That’s why it hasn’t happened. And that’s why I’m going to make sure it never does."
Sophia’s chest rose and fell, a shudder passing through her— not entirely fear, but relief too. She stared at him for a long mont, and then, without warning, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. It was quick, tentative, yet heavy with aning.
Orion’s eyes widened slightly, then softened, and he smiled at her. "What was that for?" he asked, amusent and tenderness both in his tone.
She shrugged, a small, sheepish smile forming on her lips. "I just... felt like it," she said quietly.
She picked up the quill again but paused. Her gaze t his, serious now. "Promise ," she said, her voice firm, "that what I saw in that dream... won’t happen? That it won’t co to pass?"
Orion t her eyes without hesitation. "I promise," he said, his voice steady and resolute. "I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen. Not now, not ever."
Her fingers lingered on the quill for a mont longer before she nodded, trusting him completely. Then she began to write again, the weight of the dream still pressing in her chest, the fear still lingering, but now tempered by the certainty in his promise.
The next word she wrote was The Shrine.
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