AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We use them to capture the breath of a dying person.”
“So what does it mean?” Frances asks. Oh. I had forgotten all about her. She’s been standing beside us this whole time, and now she’s staring at us both. But I want to know too: what does this mean?
“I... I’m not entirely sure,” Noah admits. “There must be a reason why Frida had this ring – and why she went to such trouble to hide it.”
I know what he’s insinuating. I shake my head. “No... no, that can’t be true! It makes no sense. If she were a Noctu, you would know!”
But the nod of affirmation that I’m hoping for doesn’t come.
“There are so many of us. It’s impossible to know everyone personally. It’s the same with you Tempes.”
I can’t believe it, but at the same time I know he’s right.
“Frida couldn’t have been working for the Noctu,” I insist. “She was a hunter. Although... after the incident – the supposed accident – her reputation was ruined, and she was demoted to school secretary.”
Noah frowns. He doesn’t know what I’m talking about. This is hard for me because we’re talking about my great aunt committing cold-blooded murder out of pure jealousy. But I tell Noah what I know, and his eyes bulge in disbelief.
He runs a hand through his hair. “Some of the Noctu know no boundaries,” he begins tentatively. “When a person’s life isabruptly cut short – that is, if they’re not old – uh, their dying breath is especially powerful. There are a few Noctu who have taken a life like that.”
I can see he’s against this and doesn’t like to talk about it.
“Are you trying to say that Frida not only defected to the Noctu but that she killed two birds with one stone by killing her rival and capturing her dying breath?”
Noah just looks at me but says nothing, which is enough of an answer.
“Wow, that’s hardcore,” says Frances.
“But that’s not what happened,” I object. Because even though I know so little about Frida, I simply refuse to believe it. “What if she was actually working for the Tempes and this was all a pretense so that she could spy on the Noctu?” I venture.
Noah hesitates, then he shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. To get one of these rings, you have to be officially recognized by the Assembly. And for that, you have to have captured a person’s dying breath several times.”
“So she definitely killed people,” I conclude.
Noah nods. “Also, you have to undergo a ritual to get the ring. You sort of become part of the Odyss, and you can’t simply separate yourself from it again. Your own energy and power are merged with the place from that point on. We nourish it, and we can never really get away from it.”
“It can’t be true,” I insist. But I can’t get the idea out of my head: it’s possible that she killed not just one person but several.
“Maybe she just confiscated the ring from a Noctu she defeated in a fight?” I suggest. And then another thought occurs to me. “Anyway, if she had gone over to the enemy side, then she couldn’t have found her way back into the Tempes premises anymore.”
Noah shrugs. “I’m not so sure. The enchantment keeps Noctu out, that’s true. But part of Frida was still a Tempes. Maybe thatwas enough to preserve her access to their sanctuary.”
“I... I can’t believe this,” I mutter to myself. My world feels like it’s crumbling. Finding out about the murder was hard enough to deal with, but the idea that everything about Frida was a lie?! What’s left for me to believe in?
“We could see if her name is on the ring,” suggests Frances, whose presence has slipped my mind again.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re right,” Noah mutters absentmindedly. “If we take the ring to the urn, the name on it will be illuminated.”
“Okay, now explain it again properly for those of us who aren’t Noctu and don’t know anything about rings and urns,” I say.
“Every breath captured by a Noctu is taken back to the Odyss,” Noah explains. “Just outside of the temple complex, there is a shrine where the urn is kept. That’s where you take the last breath, and it goes in the urn. Once it fills up to a certain level, some of the content is used to maintain the Odyss, and the rest is distributed among the fallen so that they can continue to exist.”
“Okay. And how do you intend to find out if the ring actually belonged to Frida?” I still don’t understand.
“The urn also serves as a verification tool,” Frances chimes in, sounding as if she’s reciting from a book. “When you prove yourself worthy as a Noctu warrior and capture your first dying breath, you receive a ring. The owner’s name is engraved inside it, but the script only becomes legible when the ring is near the urn. It’s kind of like a key or a fingerprint, which the seal of the urn unlocks so that the ring can capture the breaths.”
“And that’s how we read the name of the ring’s owner,” I summarize, and Noah nods.
