WHISPERS ON THE FOREST
570 Words
Episode 2:
The forest was alive with shadows.
Branches whipped against Luna’s skin as Elias pulled her deeper into the night. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her legs trembling from fear and exhaustion. Behind them, the Watchers’ footsteps echoed like thunder, steady and unrelenting.
“Faster, Luna!” Elias urged, tightening his grip on her hand. His voice shook, but his resolve was iron. “We can lose them in the trees.”
Luna stumbled, nearly falling, but Elias caught her. She forced herself onward, even as her heart screamed in terror. All her life, she had been told she was cursed. Tonight, that curse had come for her.
“They won’t stop, Elias,” she whispered between gasps. “They’ll never stop.”
“Then we won't stop either.” He glanced back, his dark eyes blazing. “I promised I’d protect you. I’m not breaking that promise now.”
The forest thickened, moonlight filtering through the canopy in slivers of silver and red. Luna’s chest burned, and her tears blurred the path ahead, but she kept moving. Her mother’s face flashed in her mind,brave, defiant, standing between her and the Watchers. Was she safe? Had they hurt her?
The thought nearly broke her.
“Elias,” Luna whispered, her voice trembling. “I can’t leave her,”
“We’ll come back for her,” he said quickly, though his tone betrayed his fear. “But right now, you’re the one they want.”
The words sliced through her like a knife. She didn’t want to be the one who was hunted. She didn’t want her mother to suffer because of her. She wished, more than anything, that she had never been born beneath that cursed moon.
And then it happened.
A sharp pain surged through her chest, forcing her to her knees. She cried out, clutching at her heart, and the forest seemed to hold its breath. The Watchers’ footsteps paused. The air grew heavy, charged, as if the very earth was waiting.
Elias dropped beside her. “Luna! What’s wrong?”
Her vision blurred, but in that blur, she saw something impossible. Silver threads,like strands of moonlight,wove around her hands. They glowed faintly, pulsing with each frantic beat of her heart.
“I… I don’t know,” she stammered, staring at the light. “It’s happening again.”
The Watchers moved forward, their glowing eyes fixed on her. For the first time, Luna saw hesitation in them,fear.
One of them hissed, voice like broken glass. “The power awakens.”
Before she could comprehend the words, the silver light burst outward. It rippled through the forest, bending branches, shaking the earth. Elias shielded his face, shouting her name, but Luna barely heard him. All she knew was the overwhelming rush of energy coursing through her, tearing her apart and remaking her all at once.
And then… silence.
When Luna opened her eyes, the Watchers were gone,scattered into the trees like shadows swallowed by the night.
Elias helped her to her feet, his hands trembling. His gaze searched hers, wide with awe and fear. “Luna… what are you?”
She shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I don’t know.”
But deep inside, where her fear and sorrow lived, a voice whispered: Blood Moon’s child. Cursed and chosen.
And for the first time, Luna wondered if escaping the Watchers was only the beginning.
- Writer
