Chapter 336: When Stones Begin to Whisper

Sophia stared at Eldric for a long moment, the words we need to go to the shrine still echoing faintly in her ears.

Then she sighed.

Not the sharp, irritated kind—but the deep, bone-weary sigh of someone whose body had already reached its limit for the day.

"Eldric," she said slowly, rubbing a hand down her face, "I understand your... obsession with whatever is written on that shrine. Truly. I’m curious too. But you can’t just show up whenever you feel like it and expect me to drop everything and follow you."

He opened his mouth, but she raised a hand, stopping him.

"I’m exhausted, like really fucking exhausted," she continued. "I just came back from training. Brutal training where I fell numerous times because Orion isn’t going easy on me. My bones ache, my muscles feel like they’re stitched together with fire, and I didn’t even go to the library today because of it—which you know is not like me."

"Your main duty at the library is to interprete what’s written on the altar." Eldric said adjusting his glasses.

"True but you are forgetting that for some time now, you’ve been doing a disappearing act. You only show up when you feel like it just like the last time." She told him.

"I told you I have been busy." He told her.

She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "And I’m busy now. I was going to rest, you know. Sleep too if I can. Maybe dream of not being stabbed or thrown into dirt for today."

She gave him a tired look. "Raincheck please. I can hardly move my muscles right now."

Eldric gave her a look, his fingers tightening on the strap of the box, knuckles paling slightly.

If this were to be any other day, he wouldn’t even force Sophia to go to the shrine and he could see it in her eyes that she was tied too but they had to go.

"I know," he said quietly. "I know you’re preparing for the placement test. I know how hard you’ve been training too. I know how brutal the training is and that Orion isn’t going to let you go into the forest if you are not fully prepared."

Sophia blinked. That wasn’t what she’d expected at all. She thought he was going to scoff and say something that would annoy her because that’s how Eldric normally is. He is extremely annoying.

"But the shrine can’t wait," Eldric went on. "It’s urgent."

Her brows knitted together. "Urgent how?"

"The placement test is fast approaching," he said to her.

Then he paused, his eyes staring directly at hers as he adjusted his glasses.

"Everything is fast approaching. And you need to go to the shrine."

She frowned. "You’re not making sense."

"You need to interpret," he added.

That made her straighten.

"That’s my job, of course I know that but you are still not making any sense." She told him.

Eldric glanced over his shoulder suddenly, eyes scanning the quiet path behind him as though he expected someone—or something—to be standing there. But there was no one except the occasional guard that patrolled around Orion’s home.

After a moment, he turned back to her, his voice lower now. "We have to go. Now. There’s no time to waste."

Sophia stared at him like he’d just grown a second head.

"Eldric," she said carefully, "the shrine is not going anywhere. It’s been sitting there for years. Centuries, probably. It’ll still be there tomorrow, and the day after and the next. We can go back there after I’ve finished the test."

"Yes," he agreed quickly. "It’s not moving."

"Then—"

"But if you don’t interpret it, if you do not finish what you started," he cut in, "things may take a turn for the worse."

That stopped her.

The certainty in his voice—the lack of dramatics—was what unsettled her most.

"There isn’t much time," he continued. "You must interpret. You must finish what you started."

Sophia’s confusion sharpened into something colder. "Explain what you mean," she demanded. "You’re speaking just making me confused and it’s sickening. I never planned on not finishing what I started but you are telling me to do it now."

Eldric hesitated.

"I’ll explain in due time," he said at last. "But for now, we need to go to the shrine."

She stared at him, incredulous. "You’re making this sound like a requirement. That since I started it, I must finish it now."

He met her gaze steadily.

"It is."

Silence stretched between them.

Sophia searched his face for something—panic, excitement, obsession—but all she found was urgency layered over restraint.

"I know I sound... stranger than usual," Eldric said quietly. "But this is not something I...we can delay."

She exhaled sharply, running a hand through her damp hair.

"You’re unbelievable," she muttered.

Then she looked at him again. "Fine. Give me a moment."

Relief flickered across his face, quick and unguarded.

"I need to change," she added. "And I’m leaving a note for Orion in case he comes back."

Eldric nodded immediately. "Of course."

He adjusted his glasses as she turned and walked back into the house, the door closing softly behind her.

Inside, the warmth of the room wrapped around her, making the ache in her limbs more apparent now that adrenaline was gone. Sophia leaned briefly against the door, eyes closing for a heartbeat.

She pushed off the door and went to the table, picking up a piece of paper and a quill. After a moment’s thought, she scribbled quickly:

Going to the shrine with Eldric. He’s even more weird than before, and it’s a bit unsettling.

Anyway, don’t miss me too much, I know you will. If you do, just sniff the bed, it’ll be like I never left.

She paused, then added a small dot at the end and placed the note where it would be impossible to miss.

She changed quickly—pulling on dark trousers and a loose tunic, then shrugging into a cloak. Her boots went on last, laces tightened with practiced efficiency.

When she opened the door again, Eldric was still standing exactly where she’d left him, the wooden box resting against his hip like it weighed more than it should.

She looked up at him and tilted her head.

"Well," she said, adjusting her cloak, "shall we?"