Tales of Fate - EN

This was no ordinary rain.

It fell thick, cold, relentless. A curtain that swallowed the city and drew everything into a murky

grey.

Elara fought her way through the narrow streets.

But it was not the rain that threw her off balance.

It was her own mind.

With every step she took away from the sterile, neon-lit corridors of the university, something inside her began to give way.

The framework of logic, numbers and clear definitions was losing its grip.

Marine biology. Classifications. DNA sequences.

Facts that usually carried weight.

Here, they suddenly seemed light.

Almost meaningless.

Professor Aris’s voice echoed in her head. Aris was a paradox.

A man with an alert, almost electric mind, who nevertheless seemed as though he had only just

awakened from a sleep that had lasted far too long.

His absent-mindedness was legendary.

He was constantly looking for his glasses, which were either perched on his nose or had vanished

somewhere among manuscripts and cold coffee cups.

“You must look there, Elara.” His voice had been hoarse.

Dry. As if he hadn’t spoken for a long time.

He had pushed a cup aside to make room for the crumpled piece of paper.“Science only measures the surface. The glistening of the waves.” A brief moment of silence.

“But the Nocturum… preserves the core.”

For the blink of an eye, his distraction had vanished.

His gaze clear. Sharp.

Observant.

Then it was gone again. As if it had never existed.

Yet he had given her the address. And he hadn’t smiled.

Now Elara stood in front of the door.

The wood was dark, almost black.

In the dim light, it looked damp, as if it were breathing.

She hesitated.

Then she turned the handle.

The metal was cold.

Too cold.

No bright jingle sounded as it opened. The sound was deep.

Drawn out. Strange.

It reminded her of

something… old.

A creaking like wood under pressure.

Or the distant ringing of a buoy in the fog.

It wasn’t a metallic sound. There was something organic about it.Hollow. Heavy.

It resonated within her.

“Good afternoon.”

Her voice sounded muffled.

As if the room were swallowing her up before she could fully express herself.

The books stood close together.

Piled up in the shadows.

The air was different.

Thicker.

It smelled of old parchment, of resin… and of something she recognised.

The sea.

Not the surface.

The depths.

Cold.

Still.

“Just a moment. Just a moment.”

The voice came from the back of the shop.

Amidst tall shelves that were almost lost in the darkness.

A dull thud.

A quiet curse.

“Where on earth did I put it again… damn my short-sightedness.” A man

stepped out of the shadows.

Not Aris.

And yet… similar.

He was wearing a waistcoat covered in dark patches of dried ink.His hands were dusty, as if he’d been touching things no one had touched for a long time.

He stopped.

He blinked.

His fingers felt across his forehead until they found the glasses, which had got caught in his hair there.

“Ah.”

A brief, almost boyish smile.

“There they are.”

He put the glasses on.

“Aris told me you were coming.

Elara, isn’t it.”

He adjusted his glasses. For a moment, she saw it. The smile

remained.

But not in his eyes. There was something else there.

Calm.

Alert.

Unyielding.

Like a gaze from great depths.

He didn’t look at her as if she were a student. But as something that had to be understood.

“Welcome to the Nocturum.” His voice was soft. Behind her, the chimes faded away.

A dark echo that lingered in the room.

Almost like a whisper.

“This is where stories come true.”