The morning came with no birdsong.
Mist clung to the ground like breath, curling around Lunaâs ankles as she stepped outside. Dew sparkled on every blade of grass, and the air⦠it didnât feel like morning.
It felt like waiting.
Luna closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky.
The wind didnât touch her skin. It swirled around her, watching.
âAgain?â she whispered to it. âAre you going to follow me forever?â
A soft gust answered, brushing her hair aside like a hand.
She shouldâve felt afraid.
She didnât.
Instead, she felt something she couldnât name.
Like standing at the edge of a memory she hadnât lived yet.
---
Inside the cottage, things were quiet. Too quiet.
Her motherâs old cloak still hung by the door. The tea herbs were drying above the fire. Her fatherâs bladeâunused, dustyâremained untouched on the mantle.
She hadnât moved it.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Luna lit the fire with a snap of dry twigs. It caught instantly.
She didnât touch it.
It just obeyed.
Flames curled upward with a soft whoosh, and for a split second⦠they formed a shape.
Eyes.
Watching her.
And then it was gone.
---
That night, the whispers returned.
Louder.
Closer.
She had fallen asleep by the window, the moon casting silver threads across her floor.
Then came the voice.
âYou are the one.â
Lunaâs eyes flew open.
She sat up, breathing fast, eyes scanning the roomâbut there was no one.
Only the moonlight on her skin. Only the wind in the trees. Only the silence between heartbeats.
âDo not be afraid.â
It wasnât a voice in the room.
It was inside her head. Inside her blood.
Something old. Something royal.
And suddenly, the pendant around her neckâa silver teardrop her mother had once tied around her as a babyâbegan to glow.
---
Luna stumbled back, gripping the edges of the windowsill.
The pendant pulsed softly.
Once.
Twice.
Then a voice, clearer than all the others, whisperedâ
âCome.â
She didnât know who it was.
But she knew where.
The ruins.
The old ones. Deep in the forest, wrapped in fog and legend.
No one went there.
No one returned.
And yetâ¦
The wind was already moving.
Carving her path through the trees.
Waiting.
---
Luna stood at the edge of the woods before dawn.
Barefoot. Unblinking.
She didnât take a bag. She didnât leave a note.
She simply followed the voice.
The pendant at her chest glowed faintly, warming her skin.
Behind her, the village still slept.
Before her, the forest opened like a mouth.
And the starsâ
The stars were shifting.
---
Beneath the earth, something ancient stirred.
A crown lost to time. A throne of flame. A blade forged in stone.
The Elemental Kings were watching.
And Luna?
She had just taken her first step toward destiny.
---
To be continuedâ¦