The Moon's Chosen

THE SHADOW KING

We didn’t make it home.

Three hours after leaving the altar, the sky turned black.

Not night black. Void black. Like someone had erased the stars.

"That’s him," Kael said. He stopped walking. "The King."

Thunder rolled. No rain. Just sound.

And then the ground shook.

From the treeline came smoke. Not like the beasts. This was different.

It rolled like a wave. And in the middle of it walked a man.

Tall. Taller than Kael.

Armor made of pure darkness. A crown of broken moonlight on his head.

And his eyes. Red. But not like the Knight.

These eyes were ancient. Tired. Angry.

The Shadow King.

"Hello, niece," he said. His voice was everywhere.

Lyra grabbed my arm. "Niece?"

Kael went still. "What did you call her?"

"You didn’t tell her?" The King laughed. "Oh. This is going to be fun."

He pointed at me.

"You look just like her. My sister. The first Moon Chosen."

My blood went cold. "I don’t have a sister."

"You do. You had one. She gave her life to seal me. And now you’re going to give yours to finish the job."

Kael stepped in front of me. "Don’t listen to him."

"Why not, Guardian? Afraid she’ll choose me?"

The King flicked his wrist.

Kael flew back and hit a tree. Hard.

"KAEL!"

I ran to him. He was bleeding from his mouth.

"I’m fine," he gasped. "Stay away from him."

The King walked closer. The smoke parted for him.

"Luna Ashford. You broke my crystal. Do you know what that did?"

"What?"

"It freed me. Completely."

The air got colder.

"For 1000 years I was trapped by that crystal. Now I can walk the world. And the first thing I’m going to do is erase every trace of the Moon Goddess."

"Starting with you."

He raised his hand. Shadow formed into a spear.

"Any last words?"

"Yes."

I stood up. My wrist was burning. But not with pain. With power.

"You don’t get to decide my ending."

I threw my hands out.

Silver light exploded from me.

It hit the spear and shattered it.

Hit the smoke and burned it away.

The King actually took a step back.

"Impressive. But not enough."

He charged.

Kael was on his feet instantly. "Luna, get behind me!"

"No."

I drew the moonsteel dagger.

The King and Kael clashed. Steel and shadow.

It was too fast to follow.

Kael was good. But the King was 1000 years old.

The King’s fist caught Kael in the ribs. Kael went down.

"Kael!"

"Stay back!"

The King turned to me.

"You have two choices, girl. Come with me. Rule at my side. Or die here with him."

"There’s a third choice."

"Oh?"

"I kill you."

I ran.

The mark on my wrist was white hot.

I remembered Kael’s training. Breathe. Feel the moon.

I jumped.

The dagger came down.

The King caught my wrist mid-air. His hand was ice.

"Strong," he said. "But not strong enough."

He threw me.

I hit the ground and rolled. Pain shot through my shoulder.

Kael was up again. Sword glowing.

He and the King fought. Again.

And again Kael was losing.

"Give it up, Guardian," the King said. "She’s mine."

"No."

"Then die with her."

He raised his hand. A wave of shadow came at us.

"Kael, down!"

We both hit the ground. The wave passed over us.

But Lyra was still standing.

"LYRA!"

The wave hit her.

She screamed.

"No!"

Something inside me snapped.

The mark exploded.

I didn’t feel pain. I didn’t feel fear.

I felt the moon. All of it.

I stood.

Silver light poured from my body. From my eyes. From my mouth.

The ground cracked beneath my feet.

"That’s not possible," the King said. "No Chosen has ever—"

"Watch me."

I raised both hands.

A column of moonlight shot into the sky.

It hit the black clouds and tore them open.

Stars came back.

The red moon turned white again.

The King screamed.

"This isn’t over!"

He threw one last blast of shadow.

It was aimed at Lyra.

"No!"

I moved.

The blast hit me instead.

Pain.

God, the pain.

Like every bone was breaking.

I fell.

Kael was there in a second. "Luna! Luna, stay with me!"

I could barely see. "Is she... is Lyra okay?"

"She’s fine. You took it for her."

"Good."

The King was gone. Vanished in the light.

But his voice was in the air.

`This isn’t over, Moon Chosen. I will have you.`

Silence.

Kael was holding me. Crying. I’d never seen him cry.

"Don’t," I whispered. "I’m okay."

"You’re not okay. You’re burning up."

My wrist. The mark was glowing so bright it hurt to look at.

"It’s... it’s okay," I said. "I did it."

"You saved everyone."

"I saved you."

My eyes were getting heavy.

"Kael?"

"Yeah?"

"If I don’t wake up..."

"Don’t say that."

"If I don’t. Tell Sister Miriam I’m sorry. And tell Lyra..."

"Don’t you dare." He shook me gently. "Luna. Look at me. You’re not dying. Not today."

He pressed his forehead to mine.

"Stay with me. Please."

The last thing I saw was his blue eyes.

And the moon, white and full above us.

Then everything went dark.