Edwin Lunar Chapter 72: Home Again

Read chapter 72 of Edwin Lunar by MananTayal on NovelPedia.

The city of Vestella shimmered beneath the evening sky. Thousands of lights illuminated the towering buildings while streams of hover vehicles moved between the elevated transit lanes. From a distance, the city looked almost peaceful, as if the universe had never stood on the edge of destruction. But Edwin Lunar knew better. Six months ago, he had stood before the Final Gateway. He had witnessed the awakening of the Devourer. He had watched reality itself begin to collapse. And somehow, he was still here. Alive. The thought still felt strange. A cool breeze swept across the balcony of the Lunar residence. Edwin rested his arms on the railing and stared at the endless city below. For the first time in years, there were no missions waiting for him. No academy examinations. No mysterious signals. No cosmic entities appearing above Noroel. Just silence. Normal silence. The kind he had once taken for granted. Behind him, the balcony door slid open. "You've been standing here for almost an hour." A familiar voice made Edwin smile. "I know." His mother stepped onto the balcony. Edlin Lunar wore a simple white jacket over dark clothing. Around her neck rested the same blue-white scarf she had worn for as long as Edwin could remember. Seeing her here still felt unreal. For years, he had believed she was dead. Then he had discovered she was trapped beyond reality itself. Now she was standing beside him as if none of it had happened. Life was strange. Edlin leaned against the railing. "Thinking again?" "When am I not?" She laughed softly. "Fair point." For a while, neither spoke. The silence between them was comfortable. Not awkward. The kind of silence that only existed between people who no longer needed words to understand each other. Far below, music drifted upward from one of the city plazas. Children laughed somewhere in the distance. Vestella was alive. Normal. Peaceful. Exactly what so many people had fought to protect. "Do you miss him?" The question left Edwin's mouth before he realized he had spoken. Edlin didn't need to ask who he meant. Her eyes softened immediately. "Every day." The answer came without hesitation. Edwin nodded. He understood. He missed Wingard too. Even though most of his memories were incomplete. Most of what he knew about his father came from stories. Records. Legends. Yet every time he uncovered a new secret, he felt closer to him. As if Wingard was still guiding him somehow. His gaze shifted toward the scarf around Edlin's neck. The same scarf. Always the same scarf. "Mom." "Hm?" "Why do you never take that off?" Edlin looked down at the scarf. A small smile appeared on her face. For a moment she seemed years younger. "It was a gift." "From Dad?" She nodded. Edwin turned toward her fully. This was one story he had never heard. "Tell me." Her smile widened slightly. "Curious?" "Very." The setting sun reflected in her eyes. "It happened before Orion became famous." Immediately Edwin paid attention. The Original Orion fascinated him. Wingard. Edlin. Humming. Groader. Four names that had become legends. Yet most historical records focused only on the Great War. Not the years before it. Not when they were simply friends. "We were young," Edlin began. "Far younger than we should have been for the missions we were taking." "Sounds familiar." She laughed. "Maybe." A memory seemed to surface. "We had been sent to investigate a frozen colony near the edge of Dominion territory." Edwin listened carefully. "Everything went wrong." "The transport malfunctioned." "The communication systems failed." "The weather became so severe that rescue teams couldn't reach us." She shook her head. "Humming spent three days complaining." "That sounds exactly like him." "It does." "And Groader kept insisting he could build a ship from scrap metal." Edwin couldn't help smiling. The image was almost impossible to picture. The legendary Groader. The feared traitor of history. Trying to build a ship from junk. Then Edlin's expression s