The Scholar Who Knew Too Much

Morning came, but the sky never seemed as bright as it once had.

Even in daylight, the crack across the moon lingered like a scar no one could ignore.

Life in Elaris continued.

Shops opened.

Children attended their lessons.

The bakery welcomed its regular customers.

Yet every conversation drifted back to the same question.

"Did you hear another Moonshard fell?"

Seren kneaded dough in silence.

Her father noticed.

"You've punched that bread at least fifty times."

"It deserves it."

He smiled.

"I don't think it does."

She sighed.

"...I met someone yesterday."

"Oh?"

"He said not to touch a Moonshard."

Her father's hands stopped moving.

"What did he look like?"

"Dark hair."

"Annoying smile."

"He joked about everything."

Her father chuckled.

"I asked what he did for a living."

"And?"

"He said he was 'between jobs.'"

Her father laughed so suddenly that Seren stared.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"It's just..."

"I would've liked him."

Seren blinked.

"You don't even know him."

"I know enough."

"He saved my daughter."

"That's a good start."

A loud knock echoed through the bakery.

Before Seren could reach the door, it burst open.

A city guard stood outside, breathing heavily.

"Is this Seren?"

"...Yes?"

"The council requests your presence."

"My presence?"

"The attack in the forest."

"We need your statement."

Her father immediately stood.

"I'm coming too."

The council hall overlooked the center of Elaris.

Inside, the atmosphere was heavy.

Maps covered every wall.

Red pins marked places where Moonshards had fallen.

There were far too many.

A woman wearing silver robes stood before the maps, quietly reading a stack of worn journals.

She looked no older than twenty-two.

Long dark hair spilled over one shoulder.

Round spectacles rested on her nose.

She barely noticed the room around her.

One council member cleared his throat.

"Lady Meris."

No response.

Another tried.

"Lady Meris."

Still nothing.

Finally-

"Meris!"

She jumped.

"Oh."

"Sorry."

"I was reading."

One of the council members sighed.

"You were reading upside down."

Meris blinked.

"...Was I?"

She turned the journal around.

"So I was."

Seren couldn't help smiling.

After hearing Seren describe the men in the forest and the mysterious stranger named Nalo, the room fell silent.

Meris closed her notebook.

"You said he warned you not to touch a Moonshard?"

"Yes."

"And he disappeared?"

"...Into moonlight."

Meris's expression changed.

Not surprise.

Recognition.

"So..."

"He really exists."

The council members exchanged uneasy glances.

"You know him?" Seren asked.

"I've never met him."

"But I've read about someone like him."

She walked to the enormous map.

Nearly every Moonshard location had been crossed out.

Except one.

"For the last three days..."

"Moonshards have disappeared before anyone can recover them."

"The royal army."

"The merchants."

"The collectors."

"They've all arrived too late."

She looked directly at Seren.

"Someone is taking them first."

"Nalo?" Seren whispered.

Meris nodded.

"I believe so."

One of the council elders folded his arms.

"If this thief is stealing dangerous artifacts..."

"He should be arrested."

Meris shook her head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

She hesitated.

"If he's taking them..."

"...then people aren't."

Silence.

Meris opened one of the ancient journals.

The pages were yellow with age.

Drawings of the moon covered every margin.

She carefully turned to the final page.

"There have been Moonshards before."

The room froze.

"...What?"

"Not thousands."

"Not hundreds."

"But history records small falls every few centuries."

Everyone stared.

"If that's true..."

"Why has no one heard about them?"

Meris slowly closed the journal.

"Because every civilization that wrote about them..."

"...disappeared."

A chill swept through the room.

One of the guards laughed nervously.

"That's impossible."

"I wish it were."

Meris looked out the tall window.

The cracked moon was faintly visible against the afternoon sky.

"My mentor spent thirty years studying these records."

"He left me one warning."

She whispered the words exactly as they had been written.

«"When the moon breaks completely..."»

«"...do not mistake the falling light for salvation."»

«"It is only the beginning."»

No one spoke.

Not even the council.

That evening, Seren walked home in silence.

The city suddenly felt much smaller.

The problem wasn't Elaris anymore.

It wasn't even the kingdom.

If Meris was right...

The entire world was changing.

High above the rooftops, hidden among the church spires, someone watched the council hall.

Nalo.

He leaned against the stone tower with his arms crossed.

"So..."

"They found Meris."

He sighed.

"That complicates things."

Then his eyes drifted upward.

Toward the cracked moon.

His smile faded.

"You're waking up faster than I thought."

For the first time...

The thief looked afraid.

And because Nalo had lost the ability to feel fear...

He knew that feeling wasn't his own.

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