Chapter 7 — The Luna’s Power
963 Words
The silence that followed was heavier than any scream.
The forest that had been alive with howls and whispers only moments ago was now utterly still — as if the trees themselves were holding their breath.
Kael stood a few feet away, his chest heaving, his eyes glowing faintly gold. “What did you do, Aria?”
I looked down at my hands. The silver light was fading, but its warmth remained, humming quietly under my skin. “I didn’t do anything,” I said softly. “It just… happened.”
He shook his head. “No. You controlled the curse. No one can do that.”
The word curse still made me flinch, but something deep inside whispered otherwise. It hadn’t felt like a curse. It had felt like… power.
The Blood Luna’s power.
Kael took a slow step toward me, his movements cautious, as though he wasn’t sure if I was still me. “You shouldn’t be able to hold that much energy without burning alive.”
“Then why didn’t I?”
He didn’t answer. His jaw tightened, and he turned his gaze to the crimson moon peeking through the clouds above. “Because you’re not what I thought you were.”
I crossed my arms. “You say that like it’s supposed to make sense.”
“It doesn’t,” he muttered. “Not yet.”
⸻
We walked in silence for a while, deeper into the forest. The moonlight painted the path silver, reflecting off pools of water that shouldn’t have existed. The air was colder now, but it carried something else — whispers. Faint voices that brushed against my thoughts.
Blood Luna.
Chosen child.
Breaker or maker.
I stopped walking. “Do you hear that?”
Kael glanced at me sharply. “Hear what?”
“The voices.”
He frowned. “There are no voices.”
But they were there — soft, calling, familiar. I followed them to a clearing, my pulse quickening with every step. In the center stood an ancient stone altar, cracked but still glowing faintly with runes.
Kael stiffened. “We shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not?”
“This is sacred ground,” he said. “It’s where the first Luna died — the one who tried to destroy the curse centuries ago.”
I brushed my fingers against the stone. It was warm to the touch, pulsing like a heartbeat. And when my skin made contact, a vision slammed into me.
Fire. Screams.
A woman standing in this same clearing, holding a newborn wrapped in silver cloth. Her eyes were blue — my eyes.
“Forgive me, my child,” she whispered. “May the moon bless your blood.”
“Aria!” Kael’s voice pulled me back. I stumbled, gasping.
He caught me before I hit the ground. “What did you see?”
“My mother,” I whispered. “She was here.”
His grip tightened. “Then it’s true.”
“What’s true?”
He hesitated, then said quietly, “The curse didn’t begin with me. It began with her.”
My heart stopped. “That’s not possible.”
Kael’s eyes darkened. “It’s more possible than you think. Your mother was the Blood Luna before you — the one destined to end the curse. But she failed.”
The words sliced through me like ice. My mother… part of the curse?
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “She saved lives. She wasn’t—”
“She wasn’t evil,” Kael interrupted. “But the curse doesn’t care about good or evil. It only needs balance. One Alpha. One Luna. One bond strong enough to contain it.”
The air around us began to shift again, wind swirling through the trees. The runes on the altar flared with light — and a deep, distant voice echoed through the clearing.
“The balance must be restored.”
Kael grabbed my arm. “We need to go. Now.”
But before we could move, the earth trembled, and the altar split open down the center — revealing a pool of liquid silver beneath it. The same kind of blood Kael had used in his ritual.
Only this time, it was moving.
It surged upward, twisting into the shape of a man — featureless, made entirely of moonlight and blood. His voice was the same one from my nightmare.
“The Blood Luna has returned.”
Kael pulled me behind him, baring his teeth. “Stay back.”
The creature tilted its head. “You cannot protect her, Alpha. She belongs to me.”
“I belong to no one,” I snapped.
The figure’s hollow eyes flickered toward me. “Then prove it.”
The silver light burst from his form, wrapping around us like chains. Kael roared, breaking free, but the energy was too strong. It wrapped around my wrists, searing hot, pulling me toward the pool.
I screamed. The mark on my skin flared silver again — brighter, hotter, burning through the chains. The creature staggered back, its form flickering.
Kael lunged forward, slashing through what remained of the energy, and for a moment, the forest was blindingly bright.
When the light faded, the creature was gone. Only the faint echo of its words lingered:
“You can’t fight destiny.”
⸻
Kael dropped to his knees, breathing hard. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head, trembling. “No. But I think… I think I just fought a ghost.”
He gave a dry, humorless laugh. “Welcome to the Blood Moon’s curse.”
I stared at the shattered altar. My mother’s vision. The voice. The power.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t just Kael’s curse anymore.
It was mine too.
- Writer
