Lucian's gaze lingered on the door a moment longer. He could still hear Halcyon just beyond it… her breathing fast, uneven. She was worried.
The air felt heavier with each passing second.
They both were… Undecided, hesitant and unwilling to say what's needed.
After a long sigh escaped her lips, then a pause, she squared her shoulders and walked away.
No matter what we do now… things won't go back. We'll never be close again.
His fingers curled into a fist. They used to fight side by side… inseparable, even before everything changed. Whatever they were now… it had torn them apart.
Lucian exhaled slowly, his grip loosened as he turned to his wooden wardrobe. Inside, in the shadows, rested his mask… black, streaked with pale white lines and spider-cracks across the top and bottom.
It called to him. He wanted to answer.
That part of me is no more. I have changed…
He ran his finger along the cold night runes etched into its surface. His only leash on the beast within.
"Fastest way to the info… think." he murmured, pulling his cloak up to cover his mouth.
Especially, he knew dawn was always the best time to gather information… when the world still believed it was safe. By night, predators ruled. And while most avoided him, he preferred the dark… But daylight offered opportunity.
He pushed open his creaking door. Sunlight spilled in, across him.
Lucian covered his eyes. "Damn daylight," he muttered.
He loathed the sun… not just out of dislike, but because of what it meant to his nature. He thrived in the shadows. Halcyon, by contrast, found peace in the light. She could walk between both worlds.
He frowned, as despite it… she'd chosen the night for him when he needed her to.
He then stepped into the morning chaos.
Vehicles rumbled across cracked roads. Crowds bustled along grimy sidewalks. Cloaked figures slithered between alleyways, the city was alive in the light… a sharp contrast to the truths that crept out at nightfall.
Lucian moved like a shadow… unnoticed, but never unseen.
As those who knew the world and those who pretended not to… felt him. The peace between humans and creatures was always fragile. The killings hadn't stopped, they'd just become quieter.
How could such a deal come about? What happened that made it no longer?
His gaze drifted to some passersby. He could see a red pulse beneath their skin… He could feel it, hot and relentless.
They lump us all together. Call us Sins of Humanity… But the true sins? Only my kind bears that name with honesty.
Finally, a while later…
Eventually, Lucian stopped before a ruined cathedral.
Black and white stone, charred and broken. A thick air of incense and damp stone, as few dared enter this place.
But Lucian knew its purpose.
A true neutral ground… unspoken, unofficial… a haven for those with power or purpose. Just as its creator intended.
As he stepped inside, he descended some worn steps. Shadows curled around him as his gaze traced the intricate carvings lining the walls.
He entered a long hallway, the doors opened into unknown chambers. Within, hooded figures knelt? All performing silent rituals in alcoves
"Huhh…"
"Hmm…"
Even amid vile acts, Lucian walked steady, his gaze unwavering. He heard multiple hearts beyond the robed figures… some panicked, some calm… all human.
In this world, you learn to close your heart to the darkness… even if it leaves you hollow, even turns you ice-cold. Because the moment you feel, the moment you hesitate, that's when the abyss reaches for you…making your heart dead.
He stoppped at the end of the corridor, into a grand chamber… filled with both humans and creatures.
Vendors hawked forbidden relics, cursed trinkets, and vials filled with unidentifiable liquids. Lucian ignored them… His destination lay deeper within.
He stepped into a vast library… ivory shelves stretched endlessly, filled with ancient tomes bound in leather and silver. Crystal lanterns floated above, casting an angelic glow across the marble floor. The air smelled sweet… a strange contrast to the world outside.
He arrived at the Idle Hour Archive.
"Scholar Lucian. You're early."
A soft, melodic voice echoed around him… Gentle, yet commanding.
He looked up the staircase.
"Pak. Pak."
Heels echoed against the marble as someone descended… They body looked angelic.
A tall and statuesque, the woman wore a robe of black and ivory, shimmering like flowing ink. Her skin pale and flawless, silver filigree markings pulsed along her arms. Her eyes, bright gold. Her hair white and silver cascaded down her back.
Lucian nodded he more at ease.
"I doubt this is a social visit," she said, her rare, bright smile something almost extinct in this world. "So let's hear it."
Lucian stepped aside. "Keeper Velmora. I need information," he said. "On some wolves… dark ones."
Velmora's smile vanished. "Lucian. I'm not the one you come to for that kind of knowledge."
Lucian said nothing. Instead, he reached for a dusty tome nearby and brushed off its cover. As he opened it, suddenly a twisted little mouth screeched up at him from the pages.
He slammed it shut without flinching.
She's not lying but I know better. As keeper pf Forgotten Truths. She has all knowledge that happens in Ebonhaven… she wasn't someone like give that but that doesn't mean she doesn't have it.
Liberian to the Idle Hour Archive, she knew everything knowledge about the passed…futures?
Velmora's lips parted slightly, her eyes fluttering, her mouth gaped… then she relented.
"Werewolf Sam, was just a low-ranking mutt."
Lucian's brow twitched. "Was?"
She gave a low chuckle. "Funny. Last I heard, he owed half the underworld a blood debt."
She also glided across the room, her six spectral white, golden hands shimmered into view around her, reaching out and pulling a specific tome from the shelves, as they moved with her. It hovered, drifting gently into her grasp.
As the Keeper of Forgotten Truths, Velmora did not merely guard the library…
She was the library, it's shifting halls and cryptic whispers were extensions of her will.
This book she plucked, filled with everything able Sam. She will and always have people come and bring her new information daily, he knew she had it that's why he came here.
"His pack was slaughtered recently… He met a member of the… Crimson Sanctum. They gave him a potion… granted a massive strength boost."
Upon hearing the Sactum. Lucian's fingers twitched. His grip tightened around the tome, his body threatened to shift.
Boost… is he here? No… maybe just some of the members…
However, before his fingers could morph, Velmora snatched the book from his hands. Though not hostile without reason, her duty was absolute.
Protect the Archive's knowledge at any cost.
Lucian calmed instantly.
So, he's not one of them… just arrogant enough to think like them.
Now that, he had the needed intel all his wanted was. What he doing currently and Where? She said, and understood he was planning his revenge.
"That's all I needed." He pulled a few books from inside his cloak. "What else do you have for me?"
Velmora had the shelves shift again with a simple gesture. As Lucian returned the books, it auto checked, while she took couple more out.
"You've been finishing these faster lately."
Lucian smirked. "You know my routine."
"I do," she admitted, handing him a fresh set of books and tomes. "I just wanted a different conversation for once."
Lucian didn't focus on the extra conversation. He tucked the tomes under his arm. "Thanks, as always. Goodbye, Velmora."
"Goodbye, Lucian." Her eyes lingered on him as he left.
"Be careful," she whispered. There was a flicker of sadness in her voice.
Lucian felt a flicker of grief for her.
Also he knew, she was the last of her kind. Not a ghost, but something stranger… a living echo of the past, sustained by forgotten secrets and lost histories.
How long has she been here? Does she do anything else? How did she become a ghost? Is she the keeper of knowledge… or its prisoner?
But his mind shifted back to Sam… the werewolf alpha.
The moment Lucian exited the cathedral, a man stepped into his path.
This person human… but strange.
His skin looked veined like tree roots, hues of green with earthy brown.
"You… I know what you are. A hunter, right?"
Lucian didn't stop walking. "You've got the wrong man. Move along."
"Wait! Please have you heard of the Boneless?"
Lucian's eyes narrowed. "No. Don't care."
"They worship something unnatural. A being that moves when it shouldn't…"
"Save your ghost stories. Old Man."
"A creature," the man insisted, his fingers traced symbols in the air. "Black as night. Eyes that burn. It…"
"Enough." Lucian's voice cut like a blade. "Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying."
He didn't look back… He melted into the sea of people. But the words stuck with him, despite, a hint of doubt.
But the man's voice followed. "You don't understand! The Cursed Seeker is real! People will die!"
The Boneless… again? Why now? Why here?
At first he didn't want bring attention to himself, as you never know who might mark you after showing weakness. Also he didn't want, to lose focus he needed to find out more about the the Sanctum members being here, as he was perplexed.
As he had serious, close pass with them that it could hurt in now or the long run if there here currently. It made him, more wary of what to do.
The last time he felt this dread... everything had changed forever.