Vanessa froze.
Yes, when she thought about it carefully, it really was rather strange.
The blood moon would appear abruptly when the moon was at its most incomplete. One moment, only a crescent remained; the next, it suddenly became a blood-red full moon.
Once the blood moon ended, the moon became a waning crescent again.
According to astrophysical theory, during a blood moon, the sun should have been completely blocked, with not a trace of light reaching the moon.
And the moon itself did not emit light.
Then where did the blood moon's scarlet light come from?
Was it reflecting the light of another Fixed Star?
That was impossible. Stellar Heaven lay right beside Highest Heaven, extremely far from the moon. And would it only reflect that light during the blood moon each month?
What other explanation could there be? Surely the moon itself could not be blood-red?
Vanessa looked up out of the window. It was growing late, and the moon had only just risen.
It was a full moon that day. Vanessa instinctively activated [spirit vision] and looked toward it.
The moon's surface was a cool silver-white, utterly smooth. It was said to be an ocean made of pure aether.
"Our world may not be the center of the universe." Victoria's voice came from beside her. "Try placing the sun at the center of the universe, with all the celestial spheres beneath Stellar Heaven revolving around it. Recalculate the ecliptic plane that way, and many problems will resolve themselves."
Vanessa listened in a daze, feeling only that her entire worldview was gradually collapsing.
But her mind did not stop. She still instinctively followed the line of thought Victoria had laid out. After a long while, she spoke in a hoarse voice. "But that-still doesn't explain the blood moon."