Chapter 772: The Cycle Beyond Victory
Chapter 771: The Cycle Beyond Victory
13 Days To Go
Orion helped Sophia change out of her clothes as she told him everything they had concluded about the writings.
By the time she had changed into something more comfortable, the fire in the hearth had grown warmer, filling the room with a comforting glow. Snow continued to drift outside the window, but neither of them paid it much attention.
Sophia sat on the edge of the bed while Orion folded the discarded clothes and placed them neatly aside.
He remained quiet for a moment, thinking over everything she had told him.
"Power devours power... endless..." Orion murmured before frowning. "So it’s a cycle?"
Sophia nodded slowly.
"That’s what Jarek suggested, and honestly... it makes sense. Everything we are involved in is a cycle, Orion. And like he said, what is actually the certainty that after we get rid of Victoria another corrupt person wouldn’t rise up?"
She leaned back slightly, her fingers absentmindedly playing with the edge of the blanket.
"The more I think about it, the more it kind of frightens me. One evil falls, and then another rises to replace it."
"Like Dolion?" he asked.
"Perhaps not exactly," Sophia told him. "I wouldn’t want to be involved with anyone who would rather use people as tools. I’m speaking of corruption. Annabeth and Tobias told us exactly how the West looks now. For a place where the supposed Luna resides, it sounds nothing short of the underworld."
She shook her head.
"Parents selling their children for money. People buying positions. Victoria sending her warriors to packs that refuse to bow to her. Victoria using them as tools... sacrifices for her magic. But she’s not the only one, right?"
Orion remained silent, allowing her to continue.
"What is the certainty that those in the South do not suffer the same? Or the East? Victoria may be the head... the one orchestrating everything, but those who follow her are no better. They would rather stand to gain from her, oppressing their people further than actually trying to improve their standard of living. Make life better for their people."
Her expression darkened.
"And I doubt, with the way corruption has eaten so deeply into them, that they would simply sit by once Victoria is gone. They may not be as serious as Dolion or Victoria, but they would remain a threat nonetheless."
The room grew quiet.
The only sound was the crackling of the fire.
Orion sat on the bed then.
What Sophia said made sense.
Corruption was not something so easily rooted out once one knew the leader. The source of it all needed to be removed, then those it had corrupted.
Even then...
There was no certainty another seed wouldn’t grow.
"Dolion and Victoria were—and are—major threats because they are tied to history," Orion said. "Shorty, sometimes threats don’t need to have a history like Victoria or Dolion does for them to be threats, serious ones like you said. Threats are threats, serious or not."
He looked at her.
"And I understand what you mean, though."
He sighed before shaking his head.
"I still blame the goddess for all this mess, but since it’s now fallen to us, we must see it through. Not only do we need to get rid of Victoria, we also need to get rid of those who would use this opportunity to arm themselves with even more power, which means this fight will involve all territories."
He fell silent again.
The realization settled heavily between them.
Neither of them had truly considered what victory would look like.
Winning the war wasn’t the end, it seemed.
Orion gently lifted both of Sophia’s legs onto his lap and began massaging them with his hands.
Sophia sighed softly.
She hadn’t realized how sore they were until now.
His thumbs worked slowly against the muscles, easing away the tension she’d accumulated from spending almost the entire day on her feet.
"Shorty," he said.
"Hmm."
"Someone asked me this before, and honestly, I forgot to ask you too, but... what are we going to do about the other territories?"
His hands never stopped moving.
"I hate the burden on you, but the truth is that the leader of the Enclave’s position belongs to you. You are the one from the prophecy. Defeating Victoria also means you will have to take up that mantle. This change we speak of... it’s in your hands."
Sophia considered his words.
With everything going on, she had not thought about it.
Not once had she paused to wonder how she would now have to become ruler of the Enclave once they defeated Victoria.
She had been so focused on surviving...
On protecting everyone...
On defeating Victoria...
That everything after had remained a blur.
She stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace.
The thought alone was a bit overwhelming. She wasn’t even certain she wanted it. She simply wanted everyone safe.
"Do you think," she asked softly, "that if I become leader of the Enclave, perhaps the cycle will stop?"
Orion answered almost immediately.
"Honestly, no."
"Greed is something that hardly ever stops," he told her. "It only keeps growing and growing until it consumes. Victoria has such greed. And I doubt there’s no one else like her who doesn’t have the same greed."
He looked toward the window, where snow continued to blanket the compound.
"Also, if you decide to take up the position, there will be opposition. Massive opposition, even if you are the Luna from the prophecy."
His fingers continued kneading her calves gently.
"Remember, every region has their own version of how the foretold Luna should look. And you only meet ours, which I’m not trying to boast about, but is actually accurate given who our ancestor is."
Sophia chuckled at his words.
"But then we’ve been independent from those other packs for years now. We do our things ourselves and our way, who would believe the pack that had been labeled traitors are the ones who now, for some reason, had the accurate version of the prophecy?"
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