Chapter 609: Questions That Should Have Been Asked
The library was quiet.
It always was.
Orion stepped in, snow still clinging faintly to the edges of his cloak. It lted almost imdiately against the warr air inside, droplets sliding down and disappearing into the polished oak floor beneath his boots.
The familiar scent of aged paper and ink greeted him.
His gaze moved slowly across the towering shelves, the flickering candlelight casting long shadows against the carved ceiling above—wolves and crescent moons watching from their silent perch.
Nothing had changed.
And yet sothing felt off.
Or maybe it wasn’t the library.
Maybe it was him.
Orion exhaled quietly and moved forward.
A few mbers of the pack glanced at him as he passed but quickly looked away again, returning to their books and scrolls. The soft murmur of pages turning filled the space.
He didn’t stop walking until he reached the deeper section of the library.
"You don’t usually co here, especially unannounced."
Orion didn’t need to turn to know who it was. He knew he was in the library after all.
Orion turned then. "That’s a roundabout way of saying I don’t usually co here."
Eldric stood a few steps away, one hand holding a stack of books against his side, the other adjusting his glasses slightly as he observed him.
"If the shoe fits," he said.
Then his expression shifted to concern.
"...Is sothing the matter?" he asked.
Orion didn’t answer.
Instead, he turned away again.
Eldric frowned.
Orion moved past him without another word, heading straight toward one of the shelves.
Eldric watched him, brows furrowing slightly.
That... wasn’t normal.
Orion reached the shelves and began scanning the spines of the books. His fingers brushed over leather bindings, so worn with age, others newer but just as untouched.
His movents weren’t rushed.
But they weren’t calm either.
They were... deliberate.
Like he was looking for sothing.
Or trying to find sothing.
Eldric shifted his weight slightly but didn’t interrupt.
Not yet.
Orion pulled one book out.
Flipped it open.
Closed it.
Placed it back.
Then another.
And another.
None of them seed to be what he was looking for.
Or maybe he didn’t know what he was looking for in the first place.
After a while, Orion stopped.
His hand lingered on the spine of a book before he exhaled softly.
Then he turned back.
Eldric was still watching him.
"...Have you ever thought it was weird?" Orion asked.
Eldric blinked once.
Then frowned.
"I find your behavior weird right now," he replied plainly, adjusting his glasses.
Orion stared at him.
For a second.
Then exhaled through his nose.
"That’s not what I’m asking."
"I know," Eldric said calmly. "But your behavior is too weird for not to say anything."
Orion ran a hand through his hair.
That... was fair.
"That’s not what I’m asking," he repeated.
Eldric didn’t reply imdiately this ti.
He just watched him carefully.
Then, after a brief pause...
"...What exactly are you asking?" he said.
Orion held his gaze for a mont.
"Do you have anything regarding the Luna?" he asked.
Eldric stilled slightly.
Then frowned.
"...The Luna?" he repeated.
He adjusted his glasses again, slower this ti.
"...Why would you want anything regarding the Luna?" he asked. "It’s already been established that Sophia is the Luna."
Orion didn’t answer.
Not imdiately.
Instead, he took a step closer.
"You said it yourself that day," Orion said. "That apart from the eyes... Sophia doesn’t look like anything that was described in the prophecies."
Eldric went quiet.
He nodded slowly.
"That’s true," he admitted. "But prophecies change with ti."
Orion tilted his head slightly.
Eldric continued,
"They are passed down. Told. Retold. Written. Rewritten. Things get lost. Details change. Interpretations shift."
He adjusted his glasses again.
"What we know now may not be exactly what was originally recorded."
Orion nodded slowly.
"That’s true."
His voice was calm.
But there was sothing underneath it.
"...But I’ve been having a thought."
Eldric didn’t interrupt this ti.
He simply waited.
Orion’s gaze drifted briefly toward the shelves before returning to him.
"The Nightshade pack... we’re originally from the west, right?"
Eldric frowned slightly.
"...Yes."
"That’s where our roots trace back to," Orion continued.
Eldric nodded.
"That is correct."
Orion’s eyes narrowed just slightly.
"Then why is it that what we believe the Luna is... is different from what others in the west believe?"
Eldric paused.
That—that wasn’t a question he had expected.
"Each region differs, right?" Orion asked. Eldric nodded. "Those from the south believe she has red hair and striking blue eyes. The West believe she has black hair and green eyes. The east believes she has brown hair and golden eyes."
"But we believe she has white hair and eyes like the moon. If we are from the west, why is our belief different?" Orion asked Eldric.
Eldric didn’t answer imdiately because he did not have the answer.
His brows drew together slightly as he processed the question.
Eldric adjusted his glasses again, slower this ti.
His gaze drifted slightly, unfocused.
"...That is..." he started. "...I don’t know. I’ve never questioned the prophecy, but now that you say it, it’s strange. We should be of the sa belief as the west since we are from there."
Eldric’s fingers tapped lightly against the side of the book he was holding.
"...Why has no one questioned it?" he murmured.
The question wasn’t really directed at Orion. The sa belief has been passed down for years, from generation to generation, and no one has questioned it at all.
"...There must be a reason," he said after a mont. "Beliefs like that don’t just appear out of nowhere."
Orion nodded once.
"That’s what I’m thinking."
Silence followed again.
But it wasn’t empty.
It was... building.
Eldric finally straightened slightly.
"I cannot answer your question right now," he said. "I need to et with Madam Tyler regarding the trine of ash and vein."
"We still need to understand what was seen in the heart of Nirvana," he added.
Eldric adjusted his glasses once more.
"But I will look into it."
His tone was firm now.
"There has to be a source," he said. "A beginning. Sothing that led to that belief."
He held Orion’s gaze.
"And I will find it."
Orion nodded once.
That was enough.
Eldric turned slightly, already shifting his attention toward the stack of books he had been holding earlier.
But then he paused.
"...Orion," he called out.
"Yeah?"
"What led to this?" Eldric asked.
Orion huffed a laugh. "Sothing... uncomfortable."
Eldric didn’t ask any more questions. He just nodded.
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