THE LUNA HE THREW AWAY

Fen’s Past

We walked for hours. The land between Ashveil and the Old Growth was all bramble, half-burned fields, and a silence that made you wonder if something was watching. The air smelled of old smoke and damp earth, with a hint of metal, like fires that never really died. Crows called from somewhere unseen, their cries breaking the quiet. Cold wind pulled at our coats, steady and sharp, promising rain. I settled into the pattern of Fen in front, Cass at my side, Kael behind. It felt like a strange, battered parade. No one fully trusted, but no one let anyone fall behind.

We camped in a shallow hollow, hidden enough that a fire wouldn’t be seen from the ridge. Cass took the first watch, Kael cleaned his knife with a rag that was once white, and I sat on a fallen log, tracing the scars on my knuckles. Fen crouched nearby, rolling a cigarette, his tattooed arms always moving.

“Why’d you really come to Ashveil, Fen?” I asked. The question came out before I could swallow it.

He didn’t look up right away. “You want the honest reason, or the one that gets you to sleep?”

“I don’t sleep much anyway.”

“Neither do I.” He flicked away the unlit cigarette. “My pack used to live here. Greymoor, forty-seven wolves. My father was Alpha. He believed in rules, but even more in mercy. Aldric hated that. He said it made us weak. He started a land dispute and accused us of hiding traitors. The Council sent Enforcers on a Tuesday. I was out in the woods. When I came back, everything was burned. My mother, my brothers, my mate....gone. I spent a week searching. I didn’t find anyone. That’s when I walked into the Old Growth. Most people avoid that forest if they can. It’s old, half-alive and half-cursed, always breathing strange things through the roots. People say magic leaks out where the ground sinks too deep. I thought going in meant dying. Instead, it was just the Void. That place deep in the woods where everything is silent and lost, where even the shadows forget your name.”

His voice stayed flat, almost casual. He spoke as if listing groceries. I watched his hands for the usual signs that he was lying, but this time, there were none.

“What did you want?” I asked. “Revenge?”

He looked at me, exhausted. His jaw clenched, and his hands closed into fists, knuckles white on his knees. “I used to think revenge and justice were the same. Now I’m not sure either is real. But I know I can’t walk away from this. Not now.”

Cass listened, hugging her knees. “Aldric hurt more than just you. My grandmother hid in the woods for three days with a broken leg after the Council burned our farm. She always said you can survive anything if you’re willing to become someone else.”

Kael didn’t say anything, but the way his jaw clenched told me he was listening.

I picked at a loose thread on my sleeve. “So you don’t believe in justice?”

Fen shrugged. “I believe in keeping a record. I believe someone should remember the names, even if it’s just a list on a scrap of paper.”

The wind changed and something moved in the brush. We all froze. For a moment I thought it was Enforcers, but it was only a limping fox, its fur marked with old scars. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

“I keep thinking about the Hollow,” I said, my voice rough. “About the things we carry that no one else can see. Being the correction isn’t about fixing the world. Sometimes it’s just about not letting them erase you.”

Fen grunted, but Cass looked at me, her eyes softening for a split second. That’s the trick, isn’t it? Survive long enough to be remembered. Or make them remember what they tried to hide. Kael tossed a stick into the fire. “We’re almost there. Tomorrow we meet Rowan again. Tomorrow we ask him to stand witness. After that….

He didn’t finish. Didn’t have to.

That night, I dreamed of the Old Growth burning, but the fire moved backward. Roots healed, houses rebuilt themselves. My father’s voice, low and tired, said, “Correction isn’t about undoing what’s broken. It’s about refusing to be broken by it.”

I woke before dawn while the others slept. I watched Fen, Cass, and Kael. We were all too tense to ever return to who we were. The world was changing, and for once, I didn’t want to run.

Tomorrow, we would learn if surviving was enough, or if we could build something new from the ashes instead of another cage. The thought kept me awake. What if there was a way to make the world kinder than before? I wondered what rebuilding really meant, and if hope was just another story, or if it could be real this time. I wanted to believe that something new could grow from ruin. When dawn came, would we trade our scars for something better, or just find out what else we could become?