Kill The Luna

45

Elda slowly raised both of her hands into the air, keeping her palms flat and wide as she gave a sharp, subtle nod to the soldiers standing in the corners. In perfect unison, the seven guards lowered their heavy military rifles, though their fingers remained wrapped tightly around the triggers, their eyes still locked onto my chest.

A cold, fearless expression remained on her face as she leaned back against her golden chair. "Fine. You can go right ahead and pull that trigger to kill me if that is what you truly want," she murmured, her voice smooth and completely steady despite the weapon pointed at her face. "But if you do, my men will instantly blow you to pieces, and you will just end up dead right beside me. The cycle of pain will continue, and the bloodshed... it will never truly stop for you."

I tightened my fingers around the cold grip of the gun, my chest heaving with deep, angry breaths. "What on earth makes you think I am afraid of dying?" I demanded, a bitter, mocking laugh escaping my lips. "I have absolutely nothing left to lose in this world. And don't you dare sit there and try to preach to me about bloodshed, because you are nothing but a crazy psycho."

Elda didn't seem bothered by my words at all; her features merely softened into a calm, patient look. "Fine, Fedora. You have two choices right now. Either you choose to put your doubts aside and trust me, or you shoot me dead on this spot. But you need to realize something critical. If you kill me, no one else in this world might ever truly understand you, your powers, or everything that is currently happening to your life the way that I do."

Her words hung heavily in the quiet room, striking a deep chord inside my mind. I hesitated for a long, painful moment, my arm trembling slightly as the internal battle raged inside me. I desperately needed answers about my identity. With a frustrated sigh, I lowered the weapon and dropped it back onto the smooth surface of the golden table, letting it slide away from my hands.

"When I first walked through that front door, you looked at me and said 'welcome back,'" I stated coldly, crossing my arms over my chest as I glared at her. "What exactly does that mean?"

A triumphant smile slowly spread across Elda’s lips, her eyes lighting up with a strange excitement. She stood up from the golden table, smoothing down her skirt before gesturing toward a set of large glass doors at the back of the room. "Come with me."

I hesitated for a second, but my burning curiosity forced my feet to move. I followed her steps through the glass doors, breaking out into the open air. My eyes widened in pure amazement as we stepped into a massive, beautiful garden hidden behind the house. The grass was a vibrant, perfect green, and gorgeous flowers of every single color bloomed in neat rows, filling the afternoon breeze with a sweet, rich scent. It felt like stepping into a completely different world, far away from the dusty front porch.

"Wow..." the word slipped out of my mouth before I could even stop it, my eyes darting around the paradise. "This place is incredibly beautiful."

Elda stopped walking, turning her body around to face me as a look of deep nostalgia washed over her features. "Yes, I know it is," she replied softly, her voice filled with a strange warmth. "When you were just a very little girl, you used to run around and play in this exact yard for hours. Your favorite thing to do back then was plucking fresh, ripe apples from that massive tree over there in the corner."

My brow furrowed in deep confusion, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of my neck. "How on earth was I ever here?" I asked, my voice dropping into a tense whisper. "I don't have a single memory of this house or this garden. I have never remembered being here in my entire life."

Elda took a slow step closer, her eyes locked onto mine as she continued her story. "That is because you were far too young. I was an incredibly close personal friend to your father back then. Because of our deep bond, he and your family used to make regular visits to this estate almost every single weekend."

I stared at her, my mind spinning into a wild circle as I tried to process the information. "If you and my father were such great friends, then why did he suddenly stop coming here? Why did he cut you off?"

Elda’s smile completely vanished, replaced by a dark, heavy look that made my heart drop into my stomach. "He stopped coming here immediately after he noticed the terrifying truth," she explained, her voice dropping into a solemn, quiet rumble. "He realized that you were the child of prophecy. The legendary child that everyone in our world thought was nothing but a fake myth."

She paused, taking a deep breath as she stared at the apple tree, lost in the memory. "One beautiful afternoon while you were playing outside, your father and I were sitting in the living room discussing business. Suddenly, we smelled heavy smoke and noticed that your small wooden playhouse had completely caught fire. The flames were huge, roaring into the sky. Your father completely panicked and ran toward the backyard with all his might, desperately trying to come and save your life."

A heavy silence fell over the garden, and I could feel my throat tightening as I listened to her every word.

"But before he could even reach the structure, you simply walked right out from the middle of the roaring fire," Elda continued, her eyes wide as she relived the shock. "You were completely unharmed, laughing happily because you had successfully rescued your favorite toy from the flames. The fire hadn't burned a single hair on your head."

She turned back to me, her expression turning incredibly serious. "Me and him were in total, absolute disbelief. We immediately went to his private study to check the ancient pack books, and the words written in the old texts were completely true. The child of prophecy would be entirely immune to fire, and she would carry a distinct, sacred mark on her skin. We checked your belly right then, and the dark mark was resting there perfectly. And right there, in that very room, we confirmed the terrifying truth."

Elda’s voice dropped into a dark, chilling whisper that seemed to freeze the very air around us. "We confirmed that you were the cursed child. The dangerous creature that would bring absolute destruction, ruin, and chaos to the entire world. And the ancient texts made one thing completely clear... if the world wanted to survive her wrath, the world had to..."

She stared directly into my eyes, her jaw tightening as she delivered the final, crushing blow.

"Kill the luna."