Some time later:..
Ciel hadn’t left his room since then.
Aurore hoped that he would come down and eat eventually but he never did.
Ciel’s words hurt, but no more than her own.
She would make amends, Aurore promised herself.
For now, she had other matters to attend to.
Aurore found herself approaching the majestic Academy gates once again.
Looking back on the past week, she had been here far more than she would’ve liked.
It was a vacation after all, why was she still here?
Just outside the main entrance Aurore found her reason.
A hooded figure was leaning against the wall.
Deep shadows obscuring most of their face.
All that could be seen was thin wisps of blond hair the color of honey cascading past the hem.
Aurore made her way slowly, observing her surroundings warily.
Assuming there was no one watching the area outside the academy was foolish, it just depended which eyes were on them.
Aurore stopped in front of the figure, her tone full of frustration.
“Things have gotten worse than you claimed. You turned my own brother against me. And for what? You lied to me!”
Unfazed, the hooded figure responded in a rich feminine voice, “I didn’t lie Aurore. I’m sorry for what happened… really. However, this could lead to unexpected blessings.”
Aurore raised her eyebrow, although it was hidden by her own hood.
“Blessings how? I only agreed to this because it would keep him safe. And honestly, he doesn’t seem very safe right now.”
“Listen, I have a plan in mind, but he has a tendency to make things… difficult. But don’t worry,” the hooded woman reassured Aurore.
“He’ll live. I can guarantee it, we just have to keep working together.”
Aurore frowned.
“It’s just… there has to be another way to catch this organization. Why does he have to be the bait if we want to protect him?”
“Aurore we’ve been over this. They want him dead. Badly. Time is on our side, and they’ll start getting desperate. They’re still playing it safe, but I guarantee you that won’t always be the case. All we need is someone we can track back to them. Please Aurore, we just need to last 2 more days at most.”
Aurore sighed, “Fine, let’s say your plan works, then what?”
The figure didn’t respond for a few seconds as if thinking before finally saying in a small voice.
“I’m not sure.”
What.
“What do you mean you’re not sure don’t you hav—”
“Getting rid of the target on his back as soon as possible is enough of a goal. After that, rest should be smoother right?”
Aurore scoffed, “When did you start losing yourself in the present? You better make sure your plan has a more complete ending than that.”
“The academy will—”
“You know as well as I do that the academy will not solve all his problems,” Aurore interrupted.
The woman opened her mouth to argue, but turned sharply looking at the walls above them.
Aurore followed suit in the opposite direction.
She had considering tailing the figure in order to get more information but stopped herself
“One more chance.” she muttered softly
***
Aurore hadn’t returned by the following morning, which Ciel felt… rather conflicted about.
On one hand, he wanted to ask her more about this Order of all Life, as well as how much she had kept hidden from him all this time.
It was frustrating to find out, but the fact that she had been this honest meant she might’ve been more willing to share her secrets now.
On the other hand, he had no clue how to even face her anymore.
Ciel could tell running away was a stupid decision, but he knew he would have done the same even now.
He knew his words had hurt her, and staying to say more would’ve only made it worse.
Well, now avoiding her wasn’t his choice, since he had no clue where she went, and was no longer allowed to leave the estate, so he had to find other ways to keep himself busy.
Ciel sighed wearily as he realized what he had to do.
Well, I’ve put it off long enough.
I only have today before I leave for the academy.
Might as well look around for anything I can find on that strange language.
Ciel had thought about checking earlier but had been run far too ragged last time.
Diving into it all over again after he had just escaped the dream would’ve been overwhelming, so he busied himself with more mundane things… like getting into an argument with his sister.
On the bright side, having several issues means that if I get stumped or frustrated on one, I can always shift to another.
Is this the benefit of living with two separate problematic realities?
Ciel sighed self deprecatingly as he entered the estate library.
There really is no bright side.
The library was actually two rooms put together, housing books in shelves that took up practically all the wall space.
It was likely one of the largest libraries in the city, but even this would pale in comparison to the one in the academy.
Ciel had considered waiting to do this until entering the academy, but he figured he would probably become even more busy later.
Fortunately for Ciel, the guards remained posted at the door, not following him inside.
It would’ve been rather difficult to explain what he was actually searching for.
After all, he couldn’t say he was looking for the historical accounts from his dream.
Ciel had two avenues he could approach when researching this topic.
He could look from a religious or linguistic perspective.
Although, with only one day, he could only hope to grasp the basics for both.
After some deliberation he took out some historical records and sacred texts for the Church of the Fire God.
He flipped around to peruse a list of the famous saints in history.
Ciel couldn’t go through all of them, but he was only focusing on the ones with prominent titles after all.
Saint of Passion, year 83
Saint of Spirit, year 874
Saint of Vigor, year 607
Saint of Zeal, year 531
As he read, he found the ones he could narrow down too.
Saint of Passion, the first Master in Leichren’s history, as well as the second pope of the Church.
He took part in the founding of the Leichren Academy of Insight and even became the first headmaster.
That was about as old as Leichren’s history got, as far as Ciel was concerned.
Even the early founding years were muddled, leaving many different events that couldn’t have happened all at once.
There really was so much lost to time.
Saint of Ardor, pronounced war hero during the Third Revolutionary War, freeing Leichren from Intrad occupation in 403.
Another fallen sanctuary, it’s like no one ever learns anything from history.
Especially after what just happened…
Ciel stopped his train of thoughts quickly before skipping forward to the final one.
Saint of Spirit, military general responsible for ending the 30 year world war in 851.
Do you have to be a war hero to be a saint?
Ciel scoffed.
And why are there so many wars all the time?
It makes the current feel a bit routine.
Of course, Ciel wasn’t stupid enough to actually believe that, but it helped to calm his nerves.
Regardless, Ciel had no way of connecting these saints to the ones that were written on that branch.
There really was no mention of anything resembling Fertility or Virility, not to mention anything about twin saints.
Maybe it’s not worth looking for.
After all, who knows if that world has anything to do with Leichren.
The only connection he could really find was Ferry, who seemed to know a lot about the academy and Insight.
Ciel wasn’t fully convinced, but he had little reason to deny it.
Just as he was considering this avenue a waste of time, he remembered something else Ferry had told him.
That tree… it’s supposed to be a cosmic pillar, or an imitation of one.
Ciel found that term strangely familiar.
He put away the records before examining the sacred text in front of him.
He opened the first few pages and scanned through it carefully.
It was the creation story, one he was largely familiar with, having read it many times already.
However, this was probably the first time he was actively reading it.
After a few minutes, his eyes lit up in triumph.
“I found it!”