Chapter 264: How Did This Human Lock the Stars in Cards?!
"What evidence do you have that me attacking you means I also killed a unicorn?" Dylan said, his eyes on Orell. "Or, let's rephrase. I only attacked you and drove you away. Did I kill you?"
Orell was stunned. He shuffled his hooves on the grassy, frost-covered ground, making a soft sound. Hesitantly, he rubbed the back of his neck. The moonlight filtered through the dense branches, illuminating his face.
Orell opened his mouth and said, "What you said… it makes some sense."
Diagnosis confirmed. This is a stupid centaur.
Dylan shook his head and turned to Luna. "Just take me to the unicorn's blood. I'll check if it's from a dead unicorn or a living one."
Luna glanced at Orell and then nodded. "Okay." She walked ahead, leading the way for Dylan.
Orell saw them about to leave and stopped them. "Wait! What are you two doing?" Orell glared at Dylan. "Even if you didn't kill the unicorn—I'm saying, it might not be dead, but either way, it's in danger! Aren't you two humans afraid of running into the one who hurt the unicorn?"
Dylan looked at Orell in surprise. This guy was a good Samaritan. With the exception of a few, most centaurs were not very friendly towards humans, like Orell, who had tried to attack him the first time they met. The only reason he wasn't trying to do the same now was that Luna had met Orell and helped him, and Orell couldn't beat them anyway.
So it was a bit strange that this guy was worried they might be in danger. Dylan could only say that intelligent creatures, especially those with high intelligence, were truly a mystery.
"You don't have to worry about that. We know what we're doing."
Orell's eyes widened, and he didn't know how to retort. He couldn't beat them in a fight, and he couldn't beat them in an argument. In the end, he just let out a long sigh.
Dylan looked at him, annoyed. "Don't look at me with that resentful look, as if I did something to you."
Orell's mouth twitched, and his body hair trembled. Taking a deep breath, he spoke in a muffled voice. "If you want to see the unicorn's blood, I can lead the way, but I have to tell you, don't try to collect it. The blood has a strong curse, and the stars don't like it!"
Dylan blinked. As a centaur, Orell was likely to know more about the unicorn blood than Luna, even though the unicorn blood was a recent occurrence. It would be easier to find some clues if they had Orell as a guide. And, if he could find the centaur settlement, he might get another big score. Dylan was very interested in learning the centaurs' astrology.
"Since you're willing to lead the way, please do?"
Orell snorted two puffs of white air from his nostrils and gestured with his lips. "This way." Orell turned and walked in a new direction.
Luna paused. Dylan looked at her expression and knew what she meant. Orell's destination was apparently not the same as the one she knew. This was even better. Luna had only found one spot of blood. Now, with Orell leading them to another place, they might find more clues.
But one thing still bothered Dylan. The Forbidden Forest was huge, and Hagrid patrolled it frequently. If a unicorn was hurt, would Hagrid not notice? Dylan shook his head. When Quirrell attacked the unicorn, Hagrid didn't notice either. If Dylan hadn't gotten the achievement from Quirrell's actions first, Harry would have had to discover the problem and then tell Hagrid.
And now Hagrid was a professor. He was busy planning his classes and his schedule. Before the Christmas holiday, Hagrid was also caught up in a lawsuit. Dylan heard that after the holiday, Hagrid won a lawsuit about himself. Lucius Malfoy had sued Hagrid for not properly managing Buckbeak, resulting in his son being injured. The Ministry of Magic apparently did not rule against Hagrid on this point.
It seemed that Draco Malfoy getting kicked by Buckbeak was for nothing. Of course, Buckbeak would be rescued later, too, so Malfoy really did get kicked for nothing.
Dylan couldn't be bothered with these things. He just wanted to get something out of it.
The two humans and one centaur walked through the snowy Forbidden Forest. The air was cold and damp, but Orell had thick fur. Dylan's robes had a warming spell on them. As for Luna, she didn't seem to mind the cold. Even with the chilly wind, she walked forward without changing her expression.
"It's right here." Orell lowered his voice, pointing ahead with his bow and arrow. His expression was nervous and alert as he looked around.
Dylan didn't feel any magic here, but he did detect the scent of unicorn blood. He was quite familiar with the smell of the pure creature's blood, as he had extracted it periodically for a while.
The snow in the depths of the Forbidden Forest came up to their ankles. Snowflakes clinging to the pine needles fell down in a shimmer of silver light when the wind blew. Orell stopped, with a few snowflakes on his mane. He turned his head, looking at the bushes ahead, and gently pawed at the snowy ground. There was a rock underneath.
"That's it, it's here."
Luna's radish earrings swayed in the night breeze—they actually went well with her carrot-patterned sweater. She followed Orell's gaze and walked forward. Dylan followed her, his boots making a soft crunching sound in the thin snow. They pushed aside the branches.
There was an unnatural depression in the snow—the thin layer of snow was compacted, with dark red ice crystals clinging to the edges, like someone had spilled berry juice and then hurriedly tried to cover it with snow.
Orell stood to the side, his long eyelashes frosted white. He didn't say anything.
Luna crouched down and gently touched the snow with her fingertips before pulling her hand back. "It's a curse. It's unicorn blood." Her voice was very light and calm, and her expression was peaceful, as if she didn't find the curse to be scary at all.
Dylan also crouched down. He didn't wear gloves and plunged his fingers directly into the snow, pushing aside the layer covering the blood.
"What are you doing! Are you crazy? That's a unicorn blood curse! You're going to get contaminated, it's extremely bad luck!" Orell stared at him.
Dylan sneered. "You centaurs are observers of the stars, not fortune tellers. What's with all the bad luck talk? Even I, a Diviner, don't talk like that." He moved his hand, and the dark red bloodstain was revealed. Under the moonlight, it had an almost translucent sheen, with some viscous, half-congealed threads around the edges.
Orell was stunned. "A Diviner? You—you're a Diviner?" He quickly looked Dylan up and down, as if he was shocked by this information. Centaurs were born interpreters of nature and the stars. Even so, they had to constantly learn and work hard to truly understand the mysteries of the stars, feel the order of the universe, and get a glimpse of the future. He was still diligently learning from his brother, Bane, but he had a feeling his talent wasn't very high. At least, he hadn't made any significant progress.
And yet, this human wizard dared to call himself a Diviner? Human Diviners, even if they weren't as good as centaurs, could still sometimes get lucky and see the future. In his mind, this was something only a very powerful wizard could achieve. What made this human wizard so special?
Dylan looked back. "What, you're surprised? Do you want me to divine the trajectory of your life for you?"
The cold night air of the Forbidden Forest was filled with snowflakes. Dylan crouched beside the bloodstain half-covered by snow. His breath turned to white mist and dissipated before it even reached his nose. He gently tapped his finger on the frozen ground.
Tap.
A soft sound, as if an invisible string had been plucked. The air around him suddenly glowed with a faint, ethereal light. The next second, seventy-eight tarot cards floated out of thin air around him, their faces rotating in different directions, like a star trail under a Hovering Charm.
The edges of each card glowed with a pale purple aura. The cards didn't have the usual images of The Chariot or The Fool. Instead, they had swirling nebulae. The Magician card had a spinning galaxy. The Moon card held a translucent silver wolf. The air stirred by the cards carried a faint hum, like the sound of stardust rubbing together.
It was pure magic that was so potent it seemed to be spilling out, far more intense than any astrological prophecy Orell had ever witnessed. His mane, which had been drooping, instantly stiffened. His eyes widened in the darkness, pupils narrowing into slits, and he instinctively took a half-step back with his front hooves. Centaurs had a natural sensitivity to the magic of the stars, but the power on these cards was too unusual.
They were like tamed star cores. They held the vastness of the universe, but also an organized, controlled power. This completely overturned his understanding of how the stars couldn't be interfered with.
He watched as Dylan gently moved his finger. The Temperance card, which had a unicorn on it, slowly stopped above the bloodstain. The card's silver light and the bloodstain's dark red color touched, creating a ripple of magic.
"This is…" Orell's voice was strained. In his mind, no one could interfere with the stars. No one! Not him, not his wise tribesmen, not even the Chieftain! They had probably never seen anyone condense the power of the stars onto a piece of paper. And with so much freedom.
Luna was also watching the floating cards with great interest. The magic in the cards was so dense that it seemed to be flowing like a river in her eyes.
Dylan gently raised his finger. The star-themed tarot cards circling him suddenly sped up. Pale purple lights flowed across the snowy ground. He looked at Orell and softly chanted an obscure spell. The three cards in front of them suddenly stopped.
The Fool card's stardust was falling toward an unknown nebula, the silver snake on The World card was biting its own tail, and a golden river of light flowed from the horn on The Judgment card. The three cards slightly trembled in the air, and the star charts on their faces suddenly came to life. Countless points of light traveled along the trajectories, finally forming a small star formation at Orell's hooves.
Dylan looked at the twinkling light, then at the centaur's tense face, and let out a small laugh. "Your future is not in this small corner of the Forbidden Forest." He pointed at The World. "You will see much more distant stars in a much bigger world."
Orell's eyes narrowed again. He unconsciously stomped the thin snow on the ground. The lights of the star formation flickered on his fur. He swallowed hard and didn't speak. He didn't know how to react to Dylan's prophecy.
Believe it? That would mean this human wizard was truly better than him at Divination.
Don't believe it? But he was a little hopeful for the future the wizard described.
In fact, he was a little different from the other centaurs in his tribe. At least he thought so. Even his hot-tempered brother, Bane, believed that centaurs should follow tradition. He didn't think it was wrong to follow tradition, and he didn't think centaurs should have too much contact with humans.
But if tradition meant confining his tribe to this forest, then why could they understand the vastness of the cosmos but not go to a bigger, wider world? He wanted to run free, not just stay in this forest!
He just didn't know… if this human wizard was telling the truth. If he truly had the power to see the future, what could he mean by a "boundless world"?
"That sounds like a great future," Luna said. She tilted her head, looking at the cards. Her radish earrings swayed in the starlight. "It's much more interesting than always staring at the same stars, isn't it?"
Dylan turned to look at her, a hidden smile on his face. He didn't say anything more. With a flick of his finger, the tarot cards vanished like stardust, leaving only a few wisps of pale purple mist on the snow. It was a secret that didn't need to be spoken.
Orell remained silent, lost in thought.
Dylan lowered his head again, his finger running over the bloodstain in the snow. He frowned slightly. The feel was too familiar—the slickness when it was warm, the slight stickiness when it cooled, and even the sweet, bloody smell mixed with the scent of plants. It was identical to the blood he used to collect from the unicorn's jugular vein.
(End of Chapter)
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