Whispers of Worlds Beyond: A Series - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: That Night Chapter 63: That Night During Creature Care, Aiden found himself paired up with Emmeranne once again.

They were tending to a strange, spiny creature with shimmering scales that reminded him of a dragon’s distant cousin.

The creature snorted softly, nuzzling against his arm as he reached to adjust its harness.

Emmeranne, as always, was focused on her task, carefully coaxing the animal to eat some of the food it was reluctant to touch.

Aiden had been watching her for a while now, his thoughts racing.

Something about her presence had always been… unsettling.

Quiet and deliberate, yet never quite giving enough away.

As the creature ate, Aiden took the opportunity to ask, his voice casual but with an edge of curiosity that he couldn’t quite hide.

“You know,” he started, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, “I’ve been meaning to ask.

Why were you out the other night?” Emmeranne paused for a moment, the air around them heavy with her response.

She didn’t look at him immediately, but Aiden noticed the slight shift in her posture.

She then spoke, her voice steady, but there was an edge to it that he couldn’t quite place.

“I was ordered to be out there by Headmaster Kairos,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Aiden blinked, surprised by the simplicity of the answer.

He had expected something else- something more evasive- but this was straightforward.

Emmeranne met his gaze, the conversation clearly over.

“Ordered?” Aiden echoed, but he didn’t press further.

The answer was as final as the way Emmeranne had turned back to the creature.

She didn’t look back, her attention fully on the task at hand now.

“Yes,” she said again, this time with no room for further questions.

Aiden watched Emmeranne carefully as she finished adjusting the creature’s enclosure, his curiosity pushing him further.

The bird, the transformation- it didn’t sit right with him.

He needed to know what happened after that moment, especially considering how odd the entire situation was.

“What happened to the bird, then?” Aiden asked, his tone soft but with a hint of urgency.

“You found it, right?

It just disappeared after you showed up?” He paused, adding quickly, “Did it-did it vanish when you came?” Emmeranne stopped what she was doing, her hands stilling as she finally looked up at him.

Her gaze was calm, but there was something unreadable in her expression.

For a long moment, she didn’t speak, and Aiden thought maybe she wasn’t going to answer at all.

Then, finally, she exhaled quietly.

“It disappeared, yes.

I think… it might’ve vanished as soon as I appeared.

But,” she looked at him pointedly, “you were the one who was there.

Perhaps it thought you were something else entirely.” Aiden frowned, not fully understanding what she meant.

“What do you mean?” Emmeranne’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing for a moment.

Finally, she gave a nonchalant shrug, as if the entire thing didn’t matter to her.

“It probably thought you were a Nosferatu.” Aiden’s eyes widened.

“A Nosferatu?

You think I’m one of them?” His voice was almost incredulous, not in anger, but in genuine confusion.

He didn’t know if he should be offended or curious, and neither feeling seemed to be entirely fitting for the situation.

“I’m not saying you are,” she said coolly, her gaze dropping back to the creature.

“I’m just saying, that’s what it might’ve thought.

I can’t say for sure.

But it disappeared once I showed up, so whatever it was, it clearly didn’t want to stick around.” Aiden thought over her words, the mention of a Nosferatu still lingering in the back of his mind.

There was still so much about his own past he didn’t understand, and to have someone hint at something as bizarre as that… it was unsettling.

But Emmeranne didn’t seem to care for the conversation anymore.

She moved on to another task, her body language closed off.

Aiden wasn’t sure if she was trying to end the discussion or if she had simply lost interest in answering him.

Before he could ask more, Emmeranne had already shifted her focus back to the creature.

“Let’s finish this up,” she said, her voice as detached as ever.

Aiden nodded, though his mind was far from the task at hand.  The mention of the Nosferatu, the mysterious events surrounding the forest, and the man who had interrupted his duel with Ivara-the pieces didn’t quite add up.

Something was off, and Aiden couldn’t shake the feeling that Emmeranne might know more than she was letting on.

He hesitated for a moment, then decided to ask the question that had been nagging him.

“Do you know who the guy was?” he asked, his voice low but insistent.

“The one from the forest, the one who interrupted my duel with Ivara.” Emmeranne’s body immediately stiffened, her movements pausing for a heartbeat before she continued with what she was doing.

Aiden caught the subtle change in her posture, the slight tension in her shoulders that betrayed her calm demeanor.

It was enough to make his suspicions grow.

She finally turned to face him, her expression guarded, her eyes unreadable.

“No,” she said flatly.

“I don’t know who he is.” Aiden didn’t buy it.

The way she tensed up, the way her gaze shifted for just a moment-it was too obvious that she knew something.

But before he could press further, Emmeranne’s voice cut through the silence, cool and decisive.

“You should focus on the task at hand,” she said, her tone firm, almost dismissive.

“Not on the questions.” Aiden opened his mouth to protest, but something in her voice told him it was better to leave it alone.

She was shutting him down, and as much as he hated it, he knew he wasn’t going to get anything more from her today.

With a resigned sigh, he nodded.

“Right, the task,” he muttered, turning his attention back to the creature they were tending.

But his mind, restless as ever, still churned with questions.

The man in the forest, the secrecy surrounding him, and Emmeranne’s strange behavior…

he wasn’t about to let it go.