Temple of the Broken Moon
837 Words
Chapter 7: Temple of the Broken Moon
Part 1: The Land That Shouldn't Breathe
The map didn’t show the temple.
It hadn’t in over two hundred years. Not because it was lost—but because the elders made sure no one would dare look for it.
But Axel had memorized the old stories.
We crossed into the Crimson Wilds by dusk. Fog hugged the ground like a living thing. The trees bled red sap. Birds stopped singing.
And the air?
It breathed.
It expanded, contracted—like we’d walked into the lungs of something ancient.
Liam held my hand. His skin was colder than usual. His golden-red eyes scanned the trees, silent.
We reached a jagged cliff edge where moss-covered stone formed a broken arch. Carvings lined its surface, almost glowing.
In the center was the mark—Liam’s mark.
“I’ve been here,” he said suddenly. “In my dreams.”
Axel’s hand tightened on his weapon. “Then the dreams are memories.”
I swallowed hard.
Because Liam’s dreams were getting longer.
And something else… was dreaming through him.
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📖 Chapter 7: Temple of the Broken Moon
Part 2: The Gate of Bone and Truth
We passed under the arch.
It felt like walking through a mirror—one that cracked silently as we stepped through.
On the other side was silence. No wind. No birds. Not even our own breathing felt real.
The temple sat low in a crater, its stone blackened from old fire. Statues of wolves lined the path—each with broken eyes and jaws full of ash.
At the door, Liam paused.
He reached out and touched a carving—then flinched.
“What is it, baby?” I asked.
“It screamed at me.”
Axel stepped forward. “What do you mean?”
Liam's voice came out deeper. Not older. Not his.
> "I remember being bound here. I remember the chains. The crown of salt. The voice that said I was never meant to live."
I stepped back.
“That’s not your voice,” I whispered.
Liam blinked—and was himself again.
“I’m scared,” he said, curling into my side.
I was too.
Because something inside the temple already knew we were coming.
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📖 Chapter 7: Temple of the Broken Moon
Part 3: The Book That Wrote Itself
Inside the temple, the air buzzed.
Runes lined the walls—burned into stone, glowing with quiet malice. The floor was dustless. The altar untouched for centuries.
And in the center: a pedestal.
Upon it lay a book. No title. Just a leather cover made of something that looked too much like skin.
I approached it slowly.
Axel stood guard at the entrance.
When I touched the cover, the book opened itself.
Pages flipped violently—until it landed on a single page… blank.
Then words burned onto it in red ink:
> "The flame reborn. The gate unsealed. The blood of the mother, the ash of the rogue, the soul of the sister—"
It stopped. Then the final line etched itself in slower, almost trembling script:
> "And the boy who breaks the moon."
I looked at Liam.
His eyes were glowing again.
He was humming.
The melody was not of this world.
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📖 Chapter 7: Temple of the Broken Moon
Part 4: The Moon Begins to Crack
The temple trembled.
Dust fell from the ceiling. The statues lining the walls all turned—one by one—toward Liam.
Axel drew his blade. “It’s reacting to him.”
“No,” I said. “It’s waking up because of him.”
Then Liam lifted his hand—and the runes flared.
The book snapped shut and vanished into flame.
A crack split the floor from the altar to Liam’s feet.
And in the distance, outside the temple, we heard a sound we hadn’t heard since entering the Wilds:
A wolf’s howl.
But it was wrong.
Twisted. Hollow. Like something half-alive and desperate.
Then Liam spoke again.
“She’s coming.”
“Who?” Axel asked, voice tight.
Liam didn’t blink. “The girl in the trees. She said she’ll find me when the moon breaks.”
A pause.
“And when she does, I won’t be me anymore.”
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🌕 Teaser – Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
She watches them from the shadows.
Her hair like night, her eyes too old for her face.
She walks without sound. Speaks in riddles. Appears in dreams, then disappears before dawn.
And she has only one goal:
To break the gate wide open.
As Liam’s visions worsen and his body begins to reject the mortal world, Aurora and Axel face a truth they can no longer deny—someone wants to replace Liam’s soul.
And the girl in the trees?
She may already be inside his mind.
Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
Not every ghost is dead.
And not every child belongs to this world.
- Writer
