Chapter 561: The Thread Between Stones

Orion moved through the compound without stopping, his breath fogging in the cold air, boots pressing into the packed snow. The pale light had shifted while they were inside the medical facility, the afternoon sitting lower now, the shadows longer.

He reached his home and pushed the door open.

He knew immediately.

The house had a different quality to it when Sophia was asleep versus when she was awake. He couldn’t explain it. He just knew.

He pulled the door closed behind him and made his way to the bedroom.

She was sitting up in bed with a book in her lap. And given the way she was holding it, he was very certain it wasn’t a novel. Her injured ankle was still elevated on the pillow... at least she wasn’t stubborn enough to risk her health.

She looked up immediately when she noticed him.

"I’m glad you’re here." She straightened slightly. "I wanted to run some things by you."

Orion reached up and unclasped his cloak, dropping it over the chair near the door. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

He took a look at the book in her hands; he knew the book. They had written in it together, after all.

"Why are you reading that?" he asked her. "You’re supposed to be resting."

Sophia gave him a look. "My body is resting. My brain isn’t." She shifted against the pillows. "After everything that happened in the council hall, I couldn’t just lie here staring at the ceiling. I had to do something, and then I remembered we still had the translations from the altar."

Orion said nothing. He couldn’t argue with that.

"Anyway." She turned the book slightly toward him. "This part here."

She pointed to where she had written it out, her own hand careful and deliberate on the page.

She comes.

She comes upon the broken hour.

The signs bend.

The wind knows her name.

She comes, called forth.

O Luna’mera, keeper of the wolf’s breath,

hear us again.

"I think this is a foretelling," she said. "When I first translated it, I wasn’t certain. I thought maybe it was about the goddess herself, or a prayer directed at her. But now..." She shook her head slowly. "I think it’s about the Luna. About me."

Orion looked at the page.

"And this part." She moved her finger down.

The land shifts beneath our feet.

The magic no longer answers as it once did.

The magic is dangerous.

Our knees bleed upon sacred ground, yet still we kneel.

"This." She tapped the page. "It sounds like what we read from the stones. About the land. About what black magic did to Nirvana."

Orion took the book from her.

He read through it slowly, his eyes moving over the lines without rushing.

"It does," he said. Then he kept reading. His brow drew together. "But it’s not just that part."

He went quiet for a moment, still reading.

"It’s not just one part that connects," he said. "Many things connect. The stones, this..." He trailed off, frowning at the page. "I don’t remember the exact wording, but the stones also have something similar to a foretelling."

"The stones don’t foretell anything," Sophia said. "They’re a seal."

"I know that." Orion nodded. "But they said something. About something of the night." He looked up at her. "I can’t remember it exactly."

Sophia tilted her head, a frown settling on her face.

"The sea seeks a new successor of the night," she said. "The First Key has turned. But the wheels turn too, for an ancient shadow may no longer be left a shadow."

Orion rolled his eyes. "I only asked for one part, shorty."

Sophia smiled. "And you got more. You should be thanking me."

Orion gave her a disgusted look, then pretended like he had not just heard her speak and went back to the writings.

"Well, the part about the sea seeking a new successor of the night..."

"...which I told you..."

"Shut up, shorty. No need to rub it in," he told her.

Sophia beamed at that but didn’t say anything more.

Orion set the book down on the bed between them and leaned back slightly.

"I’m not certain," he said. "But I think Oculum was right. There might be something bigger than Dolion and his penchant for trying to kill his wife because he wants power." He paused. "Well... that could be the enclave, but who knows."

Sophia was quiet for a moment.

"...And the part about ’he who has fallen cannot be saved,’" Orion continued, his tone more thoughtful now.

"I think it was written about Dolion," he said. "He had gone too far, after all. Whatever he was before, whatever the goddess loved, that was gone long before anyone could have reached him." He exhaled. "Although personally, I don’t understand why the goddess would want to save him at all. He literally betrayed her. He turned on every person she cared about. He killed them." His voice was flat as he spoke. "I don’t understand the logic in wanting to save someone who did all of that."

A brief silence passed before Sophia spoke up.

"I’m going to show all of this to Madam Tyler and Eldric," she said. "The altar translation alongside what we got from the stones. I may not be the smartest, but at least I’m smarter than you..."

Orion groaned at that, but he was secretly proud of it.

She closed the book carefully. "...Groan all you want, you oaf, it’s the truth. Anyways, I’ll work with the both of them, and I’ll also go back to the shrine."

Orion gave her a look.

"What?" she asked him. "Oculum told me to go to the shrine, and who knows, it may be the connection we are missing in all this. The translations on the shrine sound similar to the ones on the rocks, and they share something."

She paused before adding quietly, "And besides, if I want to save... to prevent you from dying, then I’ll need to go back."

Orion was quiet for a moment.

Then he picked up the book and placed it on the bedside table.

"Shorty, don’t rush it or push yourself too much, okay? You were unconscious not long ago. Your ankle is still healing. And Lysander is feral right now, so I would not recommend giving him a reason to come after either of us."

Sophia’s brow lifted. "Feral?"

"Feral," Orion confirmed.

"Why?"

He looked at her for a moment. Then the corner of his mouth pulled up.

"I have news for you," he said.