Chapter 167: 167-Strange theories (2)
"Yes, why isn’t anyone talking about that strange illness and why the blood moon’s light cured it?"
One moment the infected students had been weak and dying and the next, they were recovering as though nothing had happened.
The memory still clung to the academy like a nightmare no one could wake from: pale faces, trembling hands, healers whispering behind closed doors, and the terrible certainty that some of the students would not survive the night.
The Palace still hadn’t revealed the cause of the sickness or why the blood moon’s light had cured it. That silence only fueled the rumors.
Some students believed it was a curse and others blamed the werewolves to be responsible for it, while some believed the Palace was hiding something intentionally and a few insisted the blood moon itself had healed them.
"The Palace should tell us what happened," a student said bitterly.
"They won’t," another replied. "They never tell us anything until it’s too late."
"Maybe they don’t know."
"That would be worse for us and the nation as a whole."
A nearby student lowered their voice. "What if they do know, and they’re afraid to tell us?"
The group fell quiet. Beyond them, the academy continued to hum with restless conversation, but their corner seemed to shrink beneath the weight of the question.
For a moment, the excitement drained from their faces, replaced by the cold realization that whatever had happened might happen again and that no one in power had promised to protect them.
Then there was the blood moon. The most terrifying mystery of them all. Everyone had seen it, felt it and nobody understood what it meant.
The blood mirror became a battlefield of theories. Messages collided across its surface, flaring bright red before being buried beneath newer speculation.
The glass gave off a faint heat now, warm against the fingertips of anyone who touched it, as if the moon’s glow had seeped through the mirror from somewhere deeper and it happened due to excessive use across campus.
"When the moon fell on my skin. I felt its magic. It was so strong."
The moon appeared because something awakened. No, it was because of the curse or worse and that was the worst part.
"What if the Palace summoned it as punishment or a warning?"
"That’s impossible!" One mixedblood spoke up. "The Palace wouldn’t do that. The Queen loves the nation."
A male blackblood didn’t buy that "Then explain why everyone recovered when it appeared... maybe something was born."
"Something?"
"Or someone," Another added.
"That doesn’t make any sense," a student argued.
"Neither does a red moon appearing over the academy from nowhere," another shot back.
"What if someone really was born beneath it?"
"Then who?"
"Maybe Maisa awakened under the moon..." one joked innocently.
The suggestion spread through the crowd like a spark racing through dry grass. "Don’t say things like that," someone warned.
"Why not? Everyone is already asking why she was moved into the tower."
"That doesn’t prove anything."
"No, but it makes the theory interesting."
A blackblood student reached across the table and stole a quill from the pureblood beside him. "Write that down before the mirror buries it."
The pureblood stared at him, then laughed and passed over a fresh sheet of parchment. "Only if you spell Maisa correctly this time."
That last theory sent an entirely different wave of whispers through the academy. Some were amused, others were uneasy while a few students glanced toward the Whiteblood Tower, where one narrow window glimmered silver beneath the moon, and quickly looked away.
The thought lingered anyway, crawling beneath their laughter: what if Maisa truly was connected to all of this?
For once, however, something strange happened in the academy for the first time. The differences between bloods didn’t matter.
Purebloods spoke to lowborns, blackbloods argued with bluebloods and blluebloods exchanged theories with mixedbloods.
Students who would normally walk past one another without so much as a glance were suddenly sitting together, sharing information and trying to solve mysteries that were far bigger than any of them.
A redblood even held a place on the crowded staircase for a blackblood student, while a pureblood passed a cup of blood across the table without asking where it came from or who was receiving it.
Nobody cared who came from which bloodline or who belonged at the top or bottom of the hierarchy because if you had a theory, someone wanted to hear it.
If you had heard a rumor, someone wanted to know and if you knew something interesting, there was always another student willing to listen.
The entire academy was overflowing with voices. Laughter echoed through the corridors, bright and sudden beneath the stone arches.
Students crowded around tables, staircases, balconies, and common rooms. The blood mirrors glowed almost constantly as messages appeared faster than anyone could read them, casting restless light across eager faces and raised hands.
It was chaotic, loud and ridiculous and most of all, it was peaceful. No one was picking on anyone, looking for someone weaker to humiliate and no one was starting fights simply because of the blood running through another student’s veins.
When a redblood student stumbled against a pureblood in the rush around the crowd, the pureblood merely caught his elbow and pulled him back into the circle. When an argument grew too heated, a blueblood shoved a plate of sweets between them and demanded they settle it after hearing the next theory.
They were too busy being curious, wondering and trying to understand the strange events that had changed their world to have differences.
That night, Veris Academy was probably the most chaotic it had ever been and strangely enough, it was also the most peaceful it had ever been.
Not because the old divisions had vanished. They were still there, waiting beneath every laugh, every borrowed cup, every shoulder pressed against another in the crowded halls but for one night, something larger had drowned them out.
"This is strange," Sapphire pushed through the crowd.
"I agree with you on that," Maisa nodded, staring at groups after groups in every corner they turned. "And they aren’t the only ones acting weird... everyone is."
"Maybe it’s the curse of the blood moon!" Sapphire said in an eerie tone, trying to build her own theory about it.
"Don’t even joke about that," Maisa cut in. "Let’s go," she ushered Sapphire forward.
Sapphire complied, together they carried Maisa’s things towards the whiteblood tower.