The Moon's Chosen

ORPHAN OF ASHVALE

Kael dragged me through the forest before the sun even thought about rising.

"Walk faster," he said. His hand was locked around my wrist. Not painful, but firm. Like he was afraid I’d vanish.

"Where are we going?" My voice came out hoarse. I was still shaking.

"Away from them," he said. "They track blood. They track fear. And you’re bleeding both right now."

I looked down. My nightgown was torn. Scratches ran down my arms.

"What were those things?"

"Shadow Beasts."

"And you?"

"A problem you don’t need right now."

We reached the edge of Ashvale just as the sky turned from black to gray. The village was still asleep. Smoke curled from chimneys. It looked peaceful. Normal.

Like nothing had happened in the forest.

Kael stopped at the treeline. "Don’t tell anyone about tonight. Not yet."

"Why?"

"Because the more people who know, the faster they die."

Then he vanished into the trees. No sound. No footsteps. Just gone.

I stood there for a full minute, staring at the empty space where he’d been.

Then I ran.

I made it back to the orphanage and climbed through the same window I’d left from. My heart was hammering.

"Luna Ashford!"

I froze.

Sister Miriam stood in the hallway in her night robe, holding a candle. Her face was hard.

"Where have you been? You’re covered in scratches! And your feet are filthy!"

I opened my mouth. Closed it. "I... I sleepwalked."

"Liar." She stepped closer and grabbed my chin. Her eyes narrowed at the scratches on my neck. "Did someone hurt you?"

"No! I fell. In the garden."

She didn’t believe me. But she let go. "Go wash. And if you ever scare me like that again, you’ll be scrubbing floors for a month."

I nodded and slipped past her.

In the girls’ room, Lyra was awake. Sitting up in bed, eyes wide.

"Luna?" she whispered. "Where were you? I woke up and you were gone."

I climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over my head. "Bad dream."

"Your hands are shaking."

"I’m fine."

But I wasn’t fine.

My wrist was on fire.

I pulled my sleeve up. The silver crescent was glowing. Faint, but there. Pulsing with the dawn light coming through the window.

I quickly covered it again.

All day I tried to act normal.

Morning prayers. Garden work. Fetching water from the river.

But every time I looked at the moon, even in the daytime sky, my wrist burned.

Lyra followed me everywhere. "You’re acting weird," she said while we were weeding. "You didn’t eat breakfast. You jumped when Sister Miriam dropped the bucket."

"I’m tired."

"You were never this jumpy before."

I wanted to tell her. God, I wanted to.

But Kael’s words were in my head. _The more people who know, the faster they die._

So I smiled and said, "Just didn’t sleep well."

That evening we sold flowers in the marketplace. Violets and daisies.

People were talking.

"Did you hear about the wolves near the west forest?"

"My dog wouldn’t stop barking last night."

"Something’s wrong with the moon."

I kept my head down.

When we got back, Sister Miriam called me to her office.

"Sit," she said.

I sat. The chair was hard.

"Luna. You’ve been here 17 years. You’re like a daughter to me."

"Thank you, Sister."

"So I’m going to ask you once. Did something happen last night?"

I looked at my hands. At the faint silver glow under my sleeve.

"No," I lied.

She sighed. "Alright. Go to bed early tonight."

I nodded and left.

That night I locked my door. First time ever.

Don’t leave the village. Don’t go near the river. Don’t trust anyone with red eyes.

Kael’s warnings looped in my head.

At midnight, I woke up gasping.

The voice was back. Fainter. Like it was far away.

`"They’re coming, Luna..."`

I sat up. The room was freezing.

That’s when I saw it.

Outside the window.

A shadow.

Tall. Still.

And two red eyes staring directly at me.

I screamed.

Sister Miriam burst in with three other sisters and candles. "What? What is it?"

I pointed at the window. "There! A man! With red eyes!"

They rushed to the window and threw open the shutters.

Nothing.

Just the empty yard and the moon.

"There’s nothing there, child," Sister Miriam said gently. "You’ve had a nightmare."

But when they left, I looked down at my wrist.

The Moon Mark was glowing brighter than ever.

I didn’t sleep the rest of the night.

At dawn, I snuck out again.

Not to the forest. To the hill behind the orphanage.

Kael was already there. Sitting on a rock, cleaning his sword.

"You shouldn’t have come," he said without looking up.

"They were at my window."

"I know."

He finally looked at me. There were dark circles under his eyes.

"The Shadow King sent a scout. They know you’re here."

"What do we do?"

"We run."

"I can’t run. This is my home. Lyra is here. The other girls—"

"Then they’ll die."

The words hit like a slap.

"Don’t say that."

"I’m not trying to be cruel. I’m trying to keep you alive."

I hugged my arms around myself. The mark was burning again.

"Kael... what am I?"

"You’re the Moon Chosen."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means you’re the only thing standing between the world and eternal darkness."

He stood. "And it means we start training tonight. Because next time, I might not get there in time."

He walked away, leaving me alone on the hill with the moon above me.

That night, I lay in bed and stared at my glowing wrist.

The orphanage was quiet.

But outside, in the dark, something was watching.

I could feel it.