RNP Chapter 30 Making a Decision
Chapter 30 Making a Decision
Back in the Ravenclaw common room, there weren't many people. Karen didn't go straight back to her dorm, but stood by the window, trying to spot the location of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office and see if the professor was observing her.
Night had fallen, and Karen was curled up in an armchair by the window, her grey-blue eyes fixed on the obsidian-covered book in her hands. Moonlight streamed through the stained glass, casting dappled shadows on the pages, while the four gems embedded in the cover shimmered with an eerie glow.
To the traveler who wanders between light and darkness:
This is not a book, but a labyrinth.
Every truth requires a sacrifice.
Each sacrifice brings forth new doubts.
May your eyes see what I cannot see.
"KG," Karen read the words on the title page softly.
His fingertips traced the reddish-brown signature, as if it were written in blood. The abbreviation 'KG' lingered in his mind, clearly different from Professor Victor's initials VE. Professor Victor's true identity, like this book, "The Door to Truth," was shrouded in layers of mystery.
Karen's fingers gently caressed the obsidian cover, where four gemstones were arranged in a perfect rhombus: the ruby like congealed blood, the sapphire like polar ice, the emerald like the eerie light of a deep forest, and the yellow diamond as heavy as the earth.
"This is not a book, but a labyrinth." Karen repeated the words on the title page in a low voice, his brow furrowing involuntarily. This sentence reminded him of the occult works he had read in his previous life, those word games full of metaphors and traps.
He flipped through the table of contents, his fingertip tracing the entry for "Family Alchemy." Strangely, while the chapter detailed various complex alchemical formulas and rituals, it made no mention of who this "family" actually was. Karen's "Eye of Truth" warmed slightly; he saw fine magical threads swirling around the text, as if deliberately concealing something.
"Interesting..." Karen muttered to herself, taking out her notebook from her bag and beginning to record her findings:
First, the author's name KG does not match Victor Eisenberg (VE), and Victor Eisenberg may be a pseudonym.
Secondly, the family alchemy chapter deliberately omits the family name.
Third, there are magical residues on the edges of the torn pages, indicating that they were probably torn off recently.
Karen looked up at the window, where silver ripples spread across the surface of the Black Lake. He suddenly recalled the first time he saw Professor Victor at the opening banquet. The man with the black eye patch stood on the faculty table, his long golden hair tied in a low ponytail, and the ring on his right hand shimmered with different colors in the candlelight, like the jewel on the cover of this book.
"The Hermes Ring..." Cullen murmured the name of the mysterious organization. If Professor Victor was connected to Nicolas Flamel, how much did Dumbledore know? And Ernest had said that Professor Victor was personally sought out by Dumbledore; was Dumbledore also in this organization?
He continued reading *The Door to Truth*, stopping at the section on Herpo in Volume Two. The illustration in this chapter was disturbingly detailed: a giant serpent coiled around an ancient stone pillar, its eyes inlaid with tiny rubies. When Karen's "Eye of Truth" focused, those rubies seemed to shimmer faintly, as if responding to his gaze.
"Helpo's curse system..." Karen read the chapter title and suddenly remembered the thick curse marks on Professor Victor's left hand. Could that curse be related to Helpo?
The words on the pages suddenly blurred, and Karen blinked his sore eyes. He realized he had been reading for hours, and the moon outside the window was about to set. But he couldn't stop, as if he were under a spell cast by the knowledge within the book.
With a snap, Karen slammed the book shut. The obsidian cover gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and the four gems seemed like four eyes, silently watching him.
"The lure of knowledge!" Karen murmured to himself. The book was indeed as he had thought, designed to entice him. The records within about ancient things like Neven and alchemy were too precious to be true, like a spring in the desert for the knowledge-hungry Ravenclaw.
Karen stood up and carefully tucked "The Door to Truth" into the innermost compartment of his bag. He walked to the window, gazing at the dark outline of the Forbidden Forest in the distance. His decision to join the Ring of Hermes grew stronger. Since he couldn't avoid this vortex, he might as well dive deeper and see what lay beneath the surface.
"Very well, let me see what this 'Hermes Ring' is all about!"
Anyway, just like Victor said, if they really wanted to harm him, they would have had opportunities to do so in the past few days, but they didn't. Even if they had designs on him, it would probably take some time.
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Inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, the flickering candlelight cast a long shadow of Victor Eisenberg. His slender fingers gently traced the outline of a yellowed letter, Nicolas Flamel's familiar handwriting on the parchment appearing exceptionally clear in the candlelight.
"Don't worry, he'll come, Nico." Victor's deep voice echoed in the empty office, his long golden hair glowing softly in the candlelight. "The knowledge we possess is exactly what he's been dreaming of." A thoughtful smile played on his lips as his left hand unconsciously touched his eye patch.
Outside the window, a waning moon hung in the Forbidden Forest, casting a pale light. Victor slowly removed his gloves, revealing the black lines spreading across his arm—marks like the Niven curse, spreading at a visible speed. He stared at his gradually eroding arm, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
"Time..." he murmured softly, "enough time to complete this task." His right hand unconsciously turned the ring set with a ruby, the gem shimmering with an eerie light in the candlelight.
Victor rose and walked to the window, his black robes trailing an elegant arc behind him. He gazed toward the Ravenclaw Tower, where a window still glowed faintly. He could almost see the gray-blue-eyed boy engrossed in reading the book he had given him, "The Doors of Truth."
"Don't let me down, Karen." Victor's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. His left hand unconsciously pressed against his chest, where an old pocket watch was hidden, its hands ticking at an abnormal pace. "Our time is running out..."
Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the notebook spread out on his desk, which contained research and speculations about alchemy and curse magic related to the "Eye of Truth."
Victor gently closed the notebook, the candlelight flickering in his deep eyes.