{«Delomelanicon»}

"The Return of Mary Bell", "MacBeth", "Ancient Logos", ... When Aurora looked around, a few book titles caught her eyes. Amongst them were famous ones considered as classics and representatives of their time, to unknown ones that have been long forgotten by their generation. As for the unlabeled ones, they made up the majority of the books present. All kind of genres stacked next to each other in no particular order. She even found an old receipe book! The print had been so bad, that she was barely able to made out the words.

"What was the ancient language... again?" Aurora wondered. In her hand was an open book with unfamiliar words and letters. They were handwritten with pen and ink. The paper had already turned golden from the years that must have gone by. Aurora however found it hard to put this particular piece away.

She gently flipped over a few pages. "Hm... Let's look for a dictionary or transcription!" Aurora dwelved deeper into the back when she felt the presence of another person.

There in the utmost corner of the room, she saw the shadow of a man. He stood in front of the last bookshelf with a book in hand. It was dark. Dark enough to make one wonder how he was able to read anything in there. His shadow merged as one with the darkness. The darkness looks like it would swallow him - or was he the one swallowing the darkness?

For a moment, she wasn't sure whether he was truly human and not just a piece of imagination her mind had created.

Chrollo noticed that he was being stared at. How could he not, when the woman had no intention to hide her presence. He would act normal. This was a public bookstore and today he was out to read. It's not like a little small talk would hinder him from his work.

The woman in front of him had a pair of deep, shining lilac-blue eyes. There was a mysterious pink glitter in them. Her lush redhair fell over her chest effortlessly. Her head was adorned with a cute, stylish, dark coffee-brown beret that had a little red heart charm to it. It matched the vibrant red of her hair well.

Her clothes were simple and still professional enough to fit in with her surroundings - regardless of the occassion. She wore a simple white, high-collared, longsleeved blouse beneath a dark sleeveless vest. The white ribbon of her blouse sticked out neatly.

Her skirt was a simple black with a slit on the side. He assumed it to be cut like that for easier movement. A pair of safety pants and skin tight shorts, similar to the ones Machi wore, along with calf-long socks and a pair of comfortable loafers completed that attire of hers.

She was just looking at him openly, without any intention to approach or speak to him.

"Excuse me," Chrollo said. "Did you need something?"

His voice flowed smoothly like velvet and yet there was something sinister and cold about it.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Aurora said. She looked around the place as if looking for something. And then responded: "No, not at all."

She whipped her head around a little more, before deciding to close in on the mysterious person in front of her.

"I didn't know someone else was here." Aurora said. "What are you reading by the way?"

The woman stopped next to him and tried to have a proper look at the book in his hand.

"Delomelanicon." Chrollo responded and closed the book, before offering it to her. He had lost his interest in it for now.

"...Or rather, I should say another copy of it."

Aurora took the book he offered her. It was small with a simple leathered surface. It looked plain and not any different from any old, well used notebook.

"Hm..." Aurora said as she continued to assess it without opening. "Invocation of Darkness. Ways to Summon the Devil. ...Written by Lucifer." She hummed to herself before returning it back to Chrollo.

"Though it may be all cooked up, I'm sure it was something the writer deemed possible...," Aurora said, "Within their realm and understanding of realism and fiction of course."

"... Are you not interested," Chrollo asked. "It's the Devil's work we are talking about."

"A devil you say... But a former angel in other works." Aurora refuted. "As for scriptures written by angels, there's a great many if you count prophecies and more."

Chrollo smiled at her response, once.

"Indeed," Chrollo said. "Phrasing it like that, it does seem less interesting..."

"Thank you." Aurora said nonchalantly and she pulled out a random book from the shelf. Unaware of the peculiarness of her responses, Aurora focused on the tomb in front of her.

She blew on it once to get rid of the layer of dust on it, and then cleaned the rest of it with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Say... What about you? Were you looking for something?" Aurora asked without looking at him.

Her eyes were focused on the random page that she had flipped open. She trailed the content with one sleek finger.

The corners of his lips relaxed when he watched her.

"Perhaps..." Chrollo responded mysteriously and put 'Delomelanicon' on top of the book Aurora was reading.

"Huh?" She finally looked at him.

"I'm afraid I have to leave now..." Chrollo said, his voice smooth and demanding. "Take this."

He passed her by without another word.

"..." Aurora was too stunned to speak. She quickly snapped out of it when she no longer felt his presence.

"Hey-" Aurora called out and turned around in a fluid motion. She was just in time to see Chrollo round the corner.

How ironic, this time their positions switched. He was in the light, while she was hidden in the corner of a windowless room.

Seeing the man standing in the light, he was truly beautiful. A man with a mystic charm to him.

Deep black raven hair, sharp features and hollow eyes. Along with that pale, flawless skin of his he looked nothing else but surreal and transcendental.

"What's your name?" she asked. "I mean, I'm Aurora. Aurora Amaranth. So what's yours?"

Chrollo stopped for a moment and with a small sidewards glance he said:

"Kuro ... Just call me Kuro."

Notes

I recommend listening to Hiroyuki Sawano's "SymphonicSuite[AoT]Part2-6th:ThanksAT", while you read this chapter.

Chrollo is written as Kuroro クロロ in Kana/Romanji. In English you could say that he only introduces himself as "Chro". Since it sounds weird I opted for the Kana/Romanji version of Kuro(ro) and made Kuro out of it.

"Delomelanicon" is a real book title. I have never read it and I merely chose it for the story. Everything related to it in this piece of writing is fictional only.

Thank you for reading!
Please continue to love & support Yoshihiro Togashi and HxH for a long time!