Moon Prophecy

Chapter 6- The fall.

Cold air rushed past Mia as she fell. The world spun into darkness and silver flashes of moonlight. Wind roared in her ears as the cliff walls blurred around her. For a moment, there was no pain only the terrifying sensation of weightlessness. Her mind emptied. This is it. Then the first impact came.

Her body slammed against a jagged rock ledge halfway down the cliff. Pain exploded through her ribs and shoulder before gravity dragged her downward again. Branches snapped beneath her weight as she crashed through a thick tree growing from the cliffside. The impact slowed her fall just enough.

Her body rolled across the steep slope until finally she landed hard in a bed of fallen leaves and dirt at the base of the gorge. Everything went silent.

The moonlight barely reached the forest floor here. Shadows swallowed the ground, and mist curled through the trees like ghostly fingers.

Mia lay motionless. Blood slowly pooled beneath her. Her chest rose weakly.

Somehow…

She was still alive.

Hours passed.

The forest returned to its natural sounds.

Owls called from the distant branches. Wind rustled through the pines.

Then footsteps approached. An old man moved carefully through the trees, carrying a lantern that cast warm golden light across the dark forest.

Elder Michael.

He was the pack’s former healer, long retired and living alone deep within the forest. Michael stopped suddenly. His lantern illuminated a small figure lying in the dirt. He rushed forward.

“Oh, moon spirits…” he whispered.

The girl’s body was broken and covered in blood. But when he knelt beside her and placed his fingers gently against her neck… He felt it. A faint pulse. Alive. Michael looked up toward the towering cliff above. Understanding slowly filled his eyes.

“What have they done to you…” he murmured.

Without hesitation, he carefully lifted Mia into his arms. She weighed almost nothing. Her breathing was shallow.

Every moment mattered.

Michael turned toward the deeper forest.

“My child,” he whispered gently.

“You’re safe now.”

And he carried her away into the night.