🌙 CHAPTER 1 — THE NIGHT THE MOON CRIED
1872 Words
The moon bled for the first time in a thousand years.
It hung above the forest like a wounded god, its silver glow slowly drowning in deep crimson. The light dripped across the treetops, soaking the earth in a strange, shimmering red that made the shadows stretch long and alive.
Aria had seen many strange nights… but none like this.
She stood at the edge of the old ruins—the place everyone in the village feared. Her breath fogged in the cold night air, shaky and uneven. She didn’t know why she had come here. She only knew that something ancient was calling her name.
The wind whispered first.
Then the ground trembled.
Then her necklace—her cracked moonstone—began to glow.
“No,” she whispered, stepping back. “Not again.”
But the light grew, bright enough to paint her skin in silver streaks. She felt something burning beneath her ribs, spreading like wildfire through her chest. Her pulse quickened. Her vision blurred.
And the voice came.
Soft.
Ancient.
Female.
“Aria…”
Her name drifted through the trees like a lullaby from a forgotten world.
Aria froze.
That voice did not belong to anyone living.
“Who’s there?” she called, though her legs refused to run. The forest held its breath. Even the wind stilled.
“My daughter… the night has come for you.”
Aria’s heart slammed painfully against her ribs. She stumbled back, clutching the glowing necklace, but the ruins behind her pulsed with silver light—as if waking up after centuries of sleep.
“No. No, stop,” she whispered, shaking. “This isn’t real.”
But the moon disagreed.
It flashed—one violent burst of red—and suddenly the world bent.
Aria fell to her knees as visions slammed into her mind:
Flashes of a burning palace.
Warriors in golden armor.
A woman with silver hair holding a baby close to her chest.
Screams.
Blood.
The sound of a breaking moon.
Her throat tightened as the last image lingered—a woman with soft, sorrowful eyes reaching out to her.
The same voice whispered again, closer this time:
“Run, Aria. They have found you.”
A c***k echoed behind her.
She spun around—
And her breath caught.
A man stood between the twisted trees, half-hidden by shadows. Tall, dressed in dark armor that gleamed faintly in the moonlight. His posture was calm, controlled, but the aura he carried felt dangerous… lethal.
He didn’t look like someone who got lost in the woods.
He looked like someone who hunted.
Aria stumbled back, her heartbeat thundering.
The man took one step forward, his face still unreadable in the darkness.
Then another.
Slow. Deliberate.
His voice was deep, cold, and commanding:
“Don’t run.”
Which, of course, made her run.
She turned and sprinted into the trees, branches whipping at her arms, heart pounding hard enough to drown out the world. Her necklace blazed hotter. Her vision sparked with silver at the edges.
Behind her, she heard his quiet curse.
Then the unmistakable sound of someone giving chase.
The forest blurred.
The moon roared in her ears.
Her power surged again—uncontrolled, wild.
And as she crossed the boundary of the ruins, the earth answered her fear.
The ground cracked open, a ring of silver light bursting around her in a protective circle. The forest exploded with energy, forcing the man back with a shockwave that shook the trees.
Aria collapsed to the ground, trembling, breathless, terrified.
The moonlight dimmed.
The air stilled.
Everything fell silent again.
Except the voice inside her head.
“You are the last, my child.
Run… before the Sun finds you.”
🌙 CHAPTER 2 — THE WARRIOR IN THE SHADOWS
The forest seemed alive with whispers. Every branch, every leaf trembled as if warning her: Run. Hide. Survive.
Aria’s lungs burned as she stumbled over roots and jagged stones, the glowing moonstone heavy against her chest. The pulse of its light mirrored her own heartbeat — fast, chaotic, alive.
She dared a glance over her shoulder. The shadows had shifted. He was still there. That tall figure, moving with predatory precision, silent as the night itself.
Her first instinct screamed: fight, run, hide.
Her second, quieter, more dangerous instinct whispered: watch him.
Kael. She didn’t know his name yet, but she would remember it. Somehow, everything about him demanded notice. The way he moved, the calm in his deadly eyes, the way the moonlight traced the edge of his dark armor… he was not human. Or, if he was, he was the kind of human the world feared.
He stopped. Just stopped. And in that moment, the forest seemed to hold its breath. He scanned the area once, twice, then crouched low, melting into the shadows again.
Aria pressed herself against a tree, chest heaving, mind spinning. Her hands trembled, the moonstone glowing hotter, almost searing her skin. Why is it reacting like this? she wondered. What is he?
A sudden rustle—too deliberate to be the wind—made her whip her head around. From the corner of her eye, Kael emerged, like a phantom stepping out from darkness.
“You can’t hide,” he said, voice low, almost velvet, but threaded with steel. “I know what you are.”
Aria froze.
Her first thought: How does he know?
Her second thought, darker and more immediate: I can’t let him take me.
She raised her hands instinctively, feeling the raw surge of her lunar power. Silver sparks danced across her fingertips. The forest lit up with a faint glow. Kael’s eyes narrowed, just the slightest flicker of surprise flashing across his face.
“You’re… stronger than I expected,” he murmured, stepping closer, careful, deliberate. “The moon chose you for a reason.”
Aria’s breath hitched. The moon… chose me? she repeated in her head. Why is he speaking like he knows my secrets?
“I don’t know what you are,” she said, voice shaking. “I… I don’t want to fight you. Just… just leave me alone!”
Kael stopped. His expression softened slightly, though a dangerous intensity remained. “Leave you alone?” He almost laughed, but it was swallowed by the shadows. “You’re already marked. The Sun King doesn’t care if you want peace. He’ll burn everything you love to the ground to get you.”
Aria’s stomach dropped. “The Sun King?”
He nodded, expression grim. “And I’m supposed to make sure you don’t survive to threaten him.”
The words hit her like ice. Her heart hammered. She was hunted, but not by random strangers — by someone trained to destroy her.
She backed up, tripping over a root, her hands shooting out to catch herself. The moonstone flared. A ripple of silver light cascaded outward, brushing the trees. Birds screeched and took flight. Kael froze, shielding his eyes for a split second.
Then, like a shadow stretching, he vanished into the forest.
Aria’s pulse raced. Disappear? she thought. Was he human?
A cold wind blew past her face, carrying words she didn’t hear — or perhaps didn’t understand — but a sense of warning burned in her chest. She knew, somehow, that this encounter was only the beginning.
The forest fell silent again. But Aria did not move. She could still feel him. Watching. Waiting.
And for the first time in her life, she realized that the world was far darker than she had ever imagined.
And far more dangerous.
And that somewhere, in the shadows, was someone she might not only fear… but also be unable to resist.
🌙 CHAPTER 3 — VISIONS OF THE MOONFALL
Aria didn’t sleep that night. She stayed curled in the hollow of an old oak tree, the cracked moonstone pressed against her chest, glowing faintly with a rhythm that matched her heartbeat. Every so often, a flicker of silver light spilled across the forest floor, illuminating her pale, trembling hands.
The moon hung above, crimson and full, as if mourning the fate of a tribe she didn’t even know existed. A whisper tickled her ear, soft but urgent:
“You are the last.”
Her eyes snapped open. The voice came from within her, not outside. She could feel it vibrating through her very bones, a presence both terrifying and familiar.
She pressed her fingers to the stone. And then it happened — the first vision.
The world around her dissolved into silver light. She saw a palace of pale stone and silver towers, gleaming beneath a sky she didn’t recognize. Shadows swept through its corridors. Soldiers in golden armor tore through hallways, burning everything in their path. Women screamed. Children cried. And there, in the center, a woman with hair as silver as the moon clutched a small child to her chest.
Aria.
The vision intensified. The screams became echoes in her mind. She fell to her knees, gasping, as the moonstone flared and wrapped her in a cocoon of light. She could feel the woman’s fear, her determination, her love.
Then the voice came again, warmer this time, like a mother’s embrace:
“You are the last of us. You must survive. You must return.”
Aria’s tears streaked her cheeks. “Return… where? How?” she whispered to the empty forest.
The vision shifted. Now, she saw a figure standing atop a cliff, shrouded in shadows. He wore dark armor that gleamed in the moonlight. His eyes — impossibly dark — were locked on hers, yet she felt something else there, something unspoken: recognition.
Kael.
Her stomach tightened. Why is he in my visions?
Before she could think, the vision dissolved. The forest returned, but she was left shaking, hollow, and aware that the world she thought she knew was gone. Nothing was safe anymore — not her home, not the forest, not even herself.
A rustle behind her made her spin. Her eyes darted through the trees. Nothing. Only shadows.
Then a faint glow flickered ahead — silver and pulsing. The moonstone’s light had expanded, leaving a trail, guiding her. Compelled by instinct, she followed, each step heavy and cautious.
Suddenly, a low growl stopped her. The shadows coalesced into a shape. Two silver eyes glowed from the darkness, and a massive wolf emerged, its fur shimmering under the cursed red moon.
Aria froze. The wolf bowed its head, low and solemn, as if acknowledging her. It didn’t attack. It didn’t move closer. It simply waited.
Then, in a whisper that echoed inside her head, the voice returned:
“You are not alone, child of the moon. You have guardians still.”
Aria’s heart skipped. She had thought herself alone — the last of her kind. And yet, here was proof otherwise. And somewhere deep inside, she felt the stirring of power she had never known she possessed.
And then she heard it — the softest shift in the leaves behind her. A familiar presence, watching, waiting. Kael.
Her pulse thundered. Fear, anticipation, something darker — something she didn’t understand — swirled in her chest. The night had only just begun.
And so had the chase.
- Writer
