The Girl Who Dreamed of Moonlight 1
Three months before everything changed
I always knew I was different.
Not because anyone told me.
Not because I had strange powers.
Not because I came from some royal bloodline.
Back then, I knew none of those things.
I only knew that every night, I dreamed of the same place.
A lake made of silver.
The water never moved.
The stars never faded.
And standing on the opposite shore was a girl who looked exactly like me.
Every.
Single.
Night.
“Lyra!”
I blinked and nearly dropped my books.
My best friend, Elara, waved a hand in front of my face.
“You’ve been staring at the sky for five minutes.”
I laughed awkwardly.
“Sorry.”
“You were dreaming again, weren’t you?”
I looked away.
That answer was obvious.
Everyone in school knew I spent half my life daydreaming.
Elara linked her arm through mine as we walked toward class.
“The silver lake?”
I nodded.
“The silver lake.”
“The girl?”
“Still there.”
Elara groaned dramatically.
“If I had the same dream every night for years, I’d lose my mind.”
“Maybe I already have.”
That earned a laugh.
The school grounds buzzed with noise around us.
Students talked.
Teachers hurried across the courtyard.
Everything felt normal.
Safe.
Ordinary.
At least on the surface.
Because lately, strange things had been happening.
Little things.
Impossible things.
Whenever I became upset, nearby lights flickered.
Whenever I felt afraid, cold winds appeared from nowhere.
And sometimes…
When nobody was looking…
Silver sparks danced across my fingertips.
I hadn’t told anyone.
Not even Elara.
Because how was I supposed to explain it?
I barely understood it myself.
The school bell rang.
Students rushed toward their classrooms.
I followed them.
Trying very hard not to think about silver lakes and impossible dreams.
Trying very hard to be normal.
Unfortunately, normal never lasted long around me.
⸻
That afternoon, dark clouds covered the sky.
Classes ended early.
Most students hurried home.
I decided to take the forest path instead.
A mistake.
A very big mistake.
The woods were unusually quiet.
No birds.
No insects.
Nothing.
The deeper I walked, the colder the air became.
My skin prickled.
Something felt wrong.
Then I heard it.
A growl.
Low.
Deep.
Ancient.
I froze.
The sound came again.
Closer this time.
My heart began racing.
Slowly, I turned.
And saw two silver eyes watching me from the darkness between the trees.
I couldn’t breathe.
The creature was enormous.
Far larger than any wolf.
Far larger than any animal I’d ever seen.
Moonlight shimmered across its fur despite the cloudy afternoon.
Its eyes glowed like liquid silver.
For one terrifying moment, neither of us moved.
Then something impossible happened.
The creature lowered its head.
Not aggressively.
Respectfully.
Almost like a bow.
“What…”
My voice barely worked.
The creature stared at me.
And suddenly—
A voice echoed inside my mind.
Found you.
I stumbled backward.
My books fell.
The voice hadn’t come from the forest.
It had come from the creature.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“No, no, no.”
This wasn’t happening.
Animals couldn’t talk.
Especially not inside people’s heads.
The creature took a step forward.
At last.
My pulse thundered.
I turned and ran.
Branches snapped beneath my feet.
Leaves whipped against my face.
I didn’t stop.
I didn’t look back.
The voice followed me.
You cannot run from destiny, Lyra Aurelian.
That was the first time I heard my full name spoken by something that shouldn’t have known it.
And it wouldn’t be the last.
Because later that night, when I fell asleep and returned to the silver lake…
The girl waiting on the opposite shore finally spoke.
And the first words she ever said to me were:
“The Crown is waking.”
