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When he got to her room, Orion found the door unlocked, and though the logical side of him knew that it was always unlocked before he came up, he could not help but feel the sharp prick of fear. Tiptoeing as to not wake the king, the sisters, or any maids, he creaked the door open and slipped inside. Only when he heard the sharp click of the door did he relax. Rose was already asleep and from what he could make out, the cleaning women had already been in and out. It had been a weird, long, exciting, tiring day. He yawned and made his way up to his room, but what he saw when he had up there stopped him in his tracks and put his senses on hyper-alert. While he had been away in a shady pub in the crevices of the kingdom, speaking to shady old ladies about prophecies in non-existent languages, Rose had redecorated. He spun around in circles, in utter amazement at the transformation. He did not leak anymore. He did not have cracked walls. No, instead he had more of her gifts, which hung on the walls like art. He had freshly pressed clothes, and boots with no holes. He had a dinner plate, which contained some of the most amazing food he had ever seen, let alone tasted. He was in heaven. For once in Orion's life, he truly felt happy, loved, and safe. Safe. That was a new word for him. Safety. Months ago, he would not have believed the word was meant for him. Nowhere had been safe, but this? He now felt safe. If she Rose stayed near, he was safe.

When he had finally lied down to rest, he could not help but toy with the note in his pocket. The flowers that hung above his head created a soft light, which abled him to read. The note had many phrases in that language she had spoken, and because he had read so much in his last life, he could make out quite a bit of what was written.

"Intelligere est intendere altius in praeteritum, invenire praeteritum significat rumpere muros, rumpere muros vos perceptum esse aperta. Astra inclinant, sed non obligant."

Rewrite the future, and go to the beginning of the story, for then you will find answers to the questions you've asked yourself."

Orion knew that it was asking him to dive into the past, to learn to trust, to open his mind. He knew what it wanted. What the women wanted. But he did not understand. Why did it have anything to do with him? He continued reading the women's script "Give the ring to the girl, for it can help along the way." But then there was nothing. All his questions led to more questions. He was adding 3 and 4 and coming up with a fraction of a quarter. Nothing made sense. He took out the ring that the women had left and stared intently at it. The red stone continued swirling, only this time quicker. It seemed more like the red mass was attempting to create a twister, and only then did Orion feel the scorching heat in his palm. The ring was now glowing red with heat and before Orion could decide to throw it out the window, or drop the damned thing, it stopped, and words began to form on the band. He could read it all in the dim light, but once he had, he wished he did not. It made him sick to his stomach, and he soon began to regret eating so fast. The ring cooled down to the touch, and he could hold it once again. But he did not want to. He wished he had never even picked it up. He set it down on his nightstand, and once again looked at his star flowers. No matter what he did though, the words burned bright into the back of his mind, of a long number inscribed in tiny writing, and then large curvy words that read:

"A wolf's prophesy" 

Rose's Thorns: The Wolf's ProphecyWhere stories live. Discover now