The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: The People Behind Starlight

The two maids eventually returned.

They approached quietly and stopped a few steps away from our table before lowering their heads in a respectful bow.

"If you have finished your meal, Master, we would like to ask you to come with us."

I looked at them for a moment.

"Come with you? Where?"

Neither maid answered.

They simply remained there, waiting.

That was suspicious.

I glanced at Draven, who looked just as confused as I was.

"Is something happening?"

The maids exchanged a brief glance before lowering their heads again.

"We apologize, Master, but we have been instructed not to reveal anything until you arrive."

"That’s a rather suspicious way of asking someone to follow you."

There was no response.

I sighed.

"Fine. If you won’t tell me, I suppose I’ll have to find out myself."

Draven slowly stood from his seat.

"I suppose we should follow them."

"Yeah. At this point, I’m curious too."

We left the private dining room and followed the two maids through the restaurant.

They walked with practiced precision, never looking back, while Draven and I followed several steps behind them. The farther we went, the more the ordinary atmosphere of Starlight seemed to disappear, replaced by quieter corridors and doors that clearly weren’t meant for ordinary customers.

Eventually, we reached the strange magical elevator we had used earlier.

One of the maids opened the door and gestured for us to enter.

I stepped inside with Draven, and the two maids followed before the doors closed behind us.

The magical device activated almost immediately.

A faint hum filled the elevator as the floor beneath our feet began moving upward.

I watched the numbers change as we passed one floor after another.

"So this place really does go much deeper than I thought."

Draven looked around the elevator with quiet curiosity.

"I noticed that earlier as well. I have seen many magical structures during my lifetime, but I’ve never encountered a building designed like this."

I glanced at him.

"You’ve been around for that long, and this still surprises you?"

He gave me a faint smile.

"Buildings have changed considerably over the centuries."

"Fair enough."

The elevator continued rising.

Then, after passing several more floors, it finally slowed down and came to a stop.

The doors opened.

The two maids stepped out.

"Please continue following us, Master."

I stepped into the corridor and looked around.

"You’re really committed to keeping this secret, aren’t you?"

One of the maids smiled apologetically.

"I believe you will understand once you see what awaits you."

That answer somehow made me even more suspicious.

Still, there wasn’t much point in arguing with them.

I followed.

Draven walked beside me, occasionally looking toward the strange corridor surrounding us.

We passed several large rooms along the way. Each entrance was marked with intricate magical symbols carved into the wooden frames, and some of the doors were reinforced with enough magic that I couldn’t imagine what they were being used to store.

I slowed slightly.

"What are these rooms?"

The maids continued walking.

I looked at them again.

"You’re not going to answer that either?"

One of them glanced back with a faint smile.

"Please continue, Master. You will understand soon."

I sighed.

"They really thought of everything."

Draven gave a quiet laugh.

"At this point, I think you’re simply enjoying the mystery."

We continued forward.

The corridor eventually widened into a much larger passage, and the two maids suddenly stopped.

Ahead of us stood an enormous pair of double doors.

Two more maids were standing on either side of them.

The moment they saw me, they lowered their heads.

I stopped.

For some reason, the atmosphere had changed.

The corridor was completely silent.

I looked at the enormous entrance.

"...What’s behind this?"

The maids didn’t answer.

Instead, they stepped forward.

The two standing beside the doors placed their hands against the opposite sides.

Then, slowly, they pushed.

The massive doors began to open.

The sound of the hinges echoed through the corridor.

The gap widened.

Light spilled across the floor.

And then I saw what was waiting beyond them.

The ceiling seemed impossibly high, and the chamber stretched so far into the distance that the opposite wall was almost swallowed by the dim lighting.

Rows upon rows of people stood along both sides of the room, leaving a perfectly clear path through the center.

There were hundreds of them.

Every one of them wore the dark attire of the Eclipse.

Every one of them stood perfectly still.

And every one of them was bowing.

At the very end of the chamber stood an elevated platform.

And upon that platform was a throne.

Four familiar figures stood before it.

I already knew exactly what was happening.

But I decided not to let them know that.

If they had gone to this much trouble to prepare something, the least I could do was play along.

I stepped through the doorway.

The moment my foot touched the floor, the entire chamber changed.

Every person lining the room lowered their head simultaneously.

The sound of hundreds of people bowing at once echoed through the chamber.

Draven entered behind me.

He stopped.

"...What?"

I could hear the confusion in his voice.

I continued walking.

One step.

Then another.

The silence was overwhelming.

The people standing on either side of me didn’t move, their heads lowered as I passed through the center of the chamber.

The four women standing before the throne lowered their heads as well.

I kept walking.

The throne grew closer with every step.

Draven followed behind me, his gaze constantly moving from one side of the chamber to the other.

He was clearly trying to understand what kind of place we had just entered.

Eventually, I reached the foot of the throne.

I stopped.

Then I looked at the four women standing before me.

"Wait."

My voice echoed through the enormous chamber.

"You girls..."

I slowly glanced toward the hundreds of people standing behind them.

"What exactly are you doing here?"

For a moment, nobody answered.

Then the four women exchanged glances.

Their expressions changed.

And they smiled.

Aurora stepped forward first.

Her voice carried clearly through the chamber.

"Welcome, Master. It has been far too long since you have stood before us like this."

Herrera followed with a smile of her own.

"We were beginning to wonder whether you would ever decide to visit us personally. To think you would finally appear without warning us first..."

Octavia lowered her head gracefully.

"Your arrival is an honor we had hoped for, even though we were not expecting it today."

Leonora’s smile widened.

"And since you have finally come, Master, we could hardly allow you to leave without welcoming you properly."

Then every person in the chamber spoke at the same time.

"Welcome, Great Eclipse!"

Their voices exploded through the room.

The sound was so powerful that it seemed to shake the air itself.

Draven slowly turned toward me.

"Master?"

He looked from me to the hundreds of people standing around us.

"You’re the master of all these people?"

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