Chapter 416: Echoes That Refuse Silence

Brynhild’s eyes narrowed. She gazed in the general direction where Eldric was, her arms now folded across her chest.

"Visions?" she repeated. "What exactly do you mean by visions?"

Madam Tyler leaned forward slightly in her chair, her sharp gaze glinting with sudden interest. Even Caspian shifted, the lazy ease in his posture tightening into alert attention.

Eldric adjusted his glasses and licked his lips nervously.

"I... see things," he said carefully. "Not the way most people dream or imagine. My visions come through drawings."

Mary tilted her head. "Drawings?"

"Yes." His fingers curled slightly, remembering the sting in his knuckles, the ache in his chest. "When it happens, my hand moves on its own. I don’t choose what I draw. I only... receive it."

"But how are you so sure that it’s a vision?" Daniel asked him.

Eldric stared at him. "It’s because the things I have drawn have always come to pass," he told Daniel.

Silence stretched as everyone in the hall fixed their gaze on Eldric.

"I can see what is about to happen in the near future," Eldric added quietly. "Not always clearly. Not always with context. But the outcome—yes."

Caspian’s gaze sharpened. "And you’re saying you saw Sophia in danger."

Eldric nodded once. "Yes."

Caspian leaned back slowly, eyes narrowing in thought before flicking briefly toward Daniel — a silent exchange of caution and calculation.

Then Caspian looked back at Eldric. "That ability sounds suspiciously close to the Luna described in the prophecy."

Madam Tyler nodded eagerly. She had always been someone who believed the prophecy was right after all — that the Luna in the prophecy was real and would come at a time when their kind needed it.

Besides, this was a time they needed the Luna... at least that was her thought.

"The Luna," Madam Tyler said slowly, "from the prophecy was foretold to have the gift of vision, using it to save our kind."

Mary straightened slightly. "But the Luna was described as a woman, right?"

Caspian nodded. "Exactly. And more importantly — the prophecy never mentioned anything about the Luna inhabiting another person’s body."

The room’s attention snapped fully back to Eldric.

"But you have visions, and you do not belong in the body that you are in right now, correct?" Madam Tyler asked Eldric.

There was something ancient about the Eldric she was speaking to. And it was painfully obvious that it wasn’t Eldric. Eldric tended to talk in circles before he answered people, but this person was giving straightforward answers.

"That is correct," Eldric told her.

"So?" she asked him. "Clarify this for us."

He shook his head firmly. "I am not the Luna from the prophecy."

Madam Tyler tilted her head. "Really?"

"Yes." His voice was steady, unwavering. "The Luna is female. You are correct. And I am obviously not her."

Everyone was quiet. Brynhild’s gaze remained locked on Eldric, deep in thought.

After a long moment, she spoke. "Do you know who the Luna is?"

Eldric turned to her. He stared at her for a heartbeat too long.

"I’m not in a position to say," he answered quietly.

Madam Tyler leaned forward further. "So the Luna from the prophecy is real? She exists?"

Eldric nodded. "She is real. She exists."

Mary exchanged a glance with Caspian. Caspian exhaled slowly, fingers tapping once against the huge table.

Brynhild didn’t look away.

"You just said that once a vision is foretold, it must come to pass," she said evenly.

"Yes," Eldric confirmed.

Her jaw tightened slightly.

"Then I know a vision that didn’t come to pass."

The room stilled.

Eldric blinked. "You do?"

"I always thought it wasn’t truly a vision," Brynhild continued slowly. "I thought it was coincidence. Or instinct. Or desperation."

Her gaze hardened. "But now I’m not so sure."

Madam Tyler turned to her in shock. "Really?"

Brynhild didn’t answer her, though. Her mind was on Sophia. Sophia had been the one to rush to the medical facility when Brynhild was in labour. It was because of Sophia that Brynhild was even here right now. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe Sophia had a vision about her... she wasn’t sure, but if that was true, then could it be that Sophia was the Luna foretold by the prophecy?

"Have you ever seen anything about me?" she asked Eldric.

He searched her face carefully, as if scanning through invisible threads of possibility.

Then he shook his head. "No."

Before the discussion could deepen further—

A loud knock shattered the stillness.

The door to the council chamber rattled violently under hurried fists.

Daniel turned sharply. "What is it?"

The door flew open.

A guard stood there, breathing hard, face pale and strained.

"Sir," the guard said urgently. "Genevieve and Miles just arrived at the compound. They’re heading straight for the medical facility."

Daniel’s brow furrowed. "Why?"

"They have an injured boy with them. Badly hurt. They’re running."

The guard paused, then continued. "It looked like a Trihydra bite."

"Is Orion or Sophia with them?" Brynhild asked him.

"No." The guard shook his head.

"I don’t recall a boy going with the trainees during the test," Caspian said with a frown.

"That’s because no boy was a trainee..." He paused. "Wait, do we know who this boy is? Does he look like young Joren or Dren?" he asked the guard.

"No, sir. He is a young child. He can’t be more than eight or ten. He’s not from the pack either," the guard replied.

"You said it was a Trihydra bite?" Brynhild asked, already standing up from her seat.

The guard nodded. "It’s nasty. I think we will need Elder Lysander."

"And also answers to questions," Daniel said.

Brynhild ran out of the council hall, with the guard following behind her. It seemed Lysander wasn’t going to get the rest he so craved for right now. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Madam Tyler sat with Eldric while the others left shortly after Brynhild did.

"You don’t need to watch me. I’m not going to run away, and besides, if I do so, I’ll just be harming myself — and I want to hold on until I see Sophia," he told her.

"I know..."

Suddenly, Eldric’s hand twitched in pain, the urge to draw so intense that he groaned.

"I need a quill and a parchment... now."