CHAPTER 5
1307 Words
CHAPTER 5: Mystic Moon Heart
Odessa’s POV
Cryptic utterances drip from my father’s lips with each syllable weighted with shadows.
I don’t like the sound of them. Not one bit, and it feels as if he’s inviting death to his doorstep, speaking of it like it’s an old friend waiting at the edge of the woods.
Who does that?
A chill coils down my spine. If he isn’t concerned about his life, I am, and I know Dakota would be too if she heard him.
“Too much emphasis on your death, Father,” I say with my voice trembling despite my attempt to sound firm. “Where are you going with this? Do you mind spilling?”
I need clarity and proof that I heard him correctly.
He only smirks and begins pacing the length of the chamber with his boots scuffing against the stone floor. His movements are deliberate, as if he’s searching for something hidden in the air. The delay gnaws at me, and then he laughs softly at first, but then more fully.
Laughter? Now? My chest tightens. What could possibly be amusing about this conversation? My question is not a riddle; it’s urgent.
Does he think this is some kind of joke? Who jokes about their death?
“No one lives forever, child,” he says finally with his tone almost tender, almost resigned. “We all live to die someday. Know this and know peace.”
So what? Nobody asked him to live for a thousand years. We aren’t vampires. He’s putting words in my mouth and twisting my concern into something it isn’t.
Good job, Alpha Xavier.
Still, unease claws at me. Can he stop talking about dying already? It’s freaking me out and I don’t know if I can handle this.
“I bet Dakota will be damned if she finds out about this,” I blurted, sharper than intended. “Is that your wish for her?”
The clapback isn’t anger; it’s desperation, a strategy to make him stop talking about his death. Maybe the moon guardian foresaw it, but that doesn’t justify rubbing it in my face.
“Your sister must not know about this,” Father warns with a voice deepening.
The mystery thickens. Why should Dakota be excluded? He’s acting as though she isn’t family.
“Because you’re the chosen one,” he says simply.
Another fairytale. My pulse skips as I search his face for answers, but he gives none.
“At the perfect time,” he adds, “your questions will be answered.”
The conversation ends there, leaving me tangled in threads of curiosity.
Then he lifts the crystal from its box with silver light gleaming across his hands.
“Now.. have it.”
Oh, the moon above. For a moment, I thought he would never hand it over.
How do I sidestep this fate?
“Remember your promise,” he murmurs with eyes narrowing.
He has every advantage; I have nothing, not even an excuse to avoid the thing resting in his palm.
Slowly and cautiously, I take the Moon Heart, and the moment it touches my skin, the world shifts.
A current of energy surges through me, alive and wild, like a river breaking its banks, and my breath catches while my heart leaps, then stumbles.
I feel different, like I'm obsessed with something vast, something ancient.
Green spills across my eyes, flooding my vision, and my reflection in the polished surface of the crystal shows irises glowing like emerald fire.
And then come the visions.
Shapes and shadows swirl before me with creatures crouched in hidden corners, beings no mortal should see, and I stand among them, yet they don’t frighten me.
I see myself dining beneath silver branches with the moon goddess herself, and her eyes as deep as night.
A shift, and I’m plunging into the underworld with shadows rippling like smoke. Hayden stands there, my ancestral forefather, tall and solemn, and I never wished to meet him, yet there he is, watching me with a gaze that weighs like stone.
“The chosen one,” Father whispers from somewhere far away, and his voice fades into mist.
I blink, and he's vanished into oblivion for the second time.
A golden opportunity, missed again. Questions claw at my mind, demanding answers I can’t grasp.
Then warmth returns as father’s hands close around the crystal, steadying me and pulling me back.
The visions dissolve, leaving me trembling and breathless.
I crumple to the floor with my heart pounding so hard it feels as if it might tear apart, while my limbs grow heavy and hollow.
I'm depleted and decapitated, and my lips won’t move.
“How do you feel now?” Father asks with a voice edged with concern.
How do I feel? The words swirl, elusive. I can’t find them, can’t shape them into speech.
“Please… take me home,” I whisper at last. “I need to rest.”
It was more than an initiation. It was a brush with death and a journey through something far darker than I ever imagined. I doubt I could survive another encounter with the Moon Heart.
Father slips an arm around me, lifting me gently.
“You’ll be fine,” he says.
But doubt flickers in me like a restless flame. Did he not see what happened? Did he not feel the storm I fought just to stay alive?
He places the Moon Heart back into its rusted box, and its glow dims as the lid closes, but its memory burns inside me.
He gestures toward the box, inviting me closer, offering closure.
I shake my head. No. There’s no way I’m stepping near that thing again. Once bitten, twice shy. I barely survived the first touch; I won’t tempt the goddess twice.
Perhaps she spared me this time and I won’t gamble with her mercy.
Father sighs and then mentions something unexpected, a passcode.
Relief flutters in my chest. A moment ago, I feared he didn’t care, but now he’s sharing a key, a sign of trust.
Majestically, I saunter toward the box with my legs still shaky.
“Odessa591,” he says with fingers dancing over the numbers.
I watch as the safe clicks open, the same combination used to unlock the shelf earlier.
“Why my name?” I ask quietly. “You said this box has existed for centuries, long before I was born.”
He offers only a shrug and a shadow of a smile.
“Prophecy and coincidence, perhaps.”
It isn’t enough, yet it’s all he’ll give. Maybe it’s time I start believing the prophecy is real.
The signs are everywhere. The visions, the trance with the moon goddess and the voices calling me the chosen one.
And Hayden. How could I forget Hayden?
The need for answers surges inside me. I must see the moon guardian. Someone must unearth the truth buried in my past.
Father insists the revelations will come at the right time, but will that time ever arrive? Has he even considered how much tears are waiting for me?
In the span of hours, I’ve learned lessons that could fill lifetimes.
We ascend from the underground, and my father’s voice follows me, low and firm.
“Do not disclose what just happened to anyone,” he warns. “The Moon Heart is sacrosanct. I trust no one.”
His words sting.
Does “no one” include Dakota? My sister, the first fruit of his line, the one who made him a father at all?
Does it ever cross his mind that she deserves the truth? That she deserves his apology for keeping her in the dark?
Maybe there’s still time for him to make things right, but I truly fear where this would all lead us…
- Writer
