Edwin Lunar Chapter 83: Midnight Secrets

Read chapter 83 of Edwin Lunar by MananTayal on NovelPedia.

The academy clock struck midnight. Most students were asleep. The massive towers of Noroel Academy stood silently beneath a sky full of stars, their silver surfaces reflecting moonlight across the campus. After days of storms and strange weather, the night was unusually calm. Edwin walked alone through the empty academy grounds. Humming's message kept replaying in his mind. Meet me at midnight. Come alone. The old headmaster had hidden secrets for decades. Secrets connected to Groader, Wingard, and the Great War itself. Tonight, Edwin intended to uncover some of them. The administration tower stood at the center of the academy like a giant guardian watching over the planet. As Edwin approached, the main doors opened automatically. Someone was waiting. The hallways were empty. No professors. No students. No guards. Only silence. Following the directions from Humming's message, Edwin eventually arrived at the headmaster's office. The door was already open. Humming stood beside the enormous window overlooking the academy. For several moments neither spoke. The old man simply stared at the campus below. Edwin suddenly noticed something he had never seen before. Humming looked tired. Not physically. Emotionally. Like a man carrying the weight of a lifetime. "You came," Humming finally said. "You asked me to." The headmaster nodded. Then he turned around. "I owe you the truth, Edwin." Those words immediately caught Edwin's attention. Humming was not someone who admitted mistakes. The fact that he was doing so now meant whatever came next was important. "The truth about Groader?" Edwin asked. "The truth about all of us." Humming walked toward a nearby shelf and removed a small metallic case. The symbol of the Original Orion was engraved on its surface. He placed it on the desk. "This belonged to your father." Edwin's heartbeat quickened. "Why did he give it to you?" "Because he knew he might not survive." The room became silent. Humming opened the case. Inside were several memory crystals. Ancient data storage devices. The kind used decades before modern systems existed. "I've protected these for years," Humming said quietly. "Why not show them to anyone?" "Because I wasn't ready to accept what they contained." For a long moment, neither spoke. Then Humming activated the first crystal. A holographic image appeared above the desk. Edwin immediately recognized the people inside it. Wingard. Edlin. Groader. And Humming himself. The Original Orion. They looked young. Confident. Happy. The image showed them sitting together around a campfire on an unexplored world. They were laughing. Arguing. Telling stories. Acting like ordinary friends. Nothing about them resembled the legends history remembered. Then Edwin noticed something else. Groader sat at the center of the group. The others naturally looked toward him whenever they spoke. Whenever decisions were made. Whenever plans were discussed. It was subtle. But obvious. He was their leader. Humming noticed Edwin's expression. "Now you understand." "Groader led Orion." "Not Wingard." Edwin stared at the recording. Every history book in the galaxy claimed Wingard was the leader. Every record. Every documentary. Every lesson. Yet the evidence before him showed otherwise. "History changed more than I thought," Edwin whispered. Humming nodded. "Much more." The recording continued. Eventually the group began discussing a mission. A dangerous mission. One involving strange signals appearing at the edge of known space. As Edwin listened, another detail stood out. The name Observer appeared. Not as a title. Not as a legend. As a person. Or at least something they knew about. Groader's smile disappeared the moment the name was mentioned. Wingard became serious. Even Edlin looked concerned. The atmosphere changed instantly. "What was that?" Edwin asked. Humming's expression darkened. "One of the first times we encountered evidence of the Observer." "You knew about him before the Great War?" "We knew