The Hollowmarsh was nothing like the stories.
It was worse.
Thick fog hung low over the ground, slithering through the gnarled trees like living things. The air stank of mildew and death, and the only sound was the low, constant drip of moisture from the branches. Every step was a gamble—mud one moment, solid ground the next, then water deep enough to swallow a leg.
Aria, Kade, Reid, and Lyra moved in silence. The journey had taken them four days from the last camp, with Lyra now strong enough to walk short distances, though she said little.
Her eyes, once fierce, had changed.
Haunted.
Like she was still in the cell, even if her body had left it behind.
"We shouldn't be here," Reid muttered, pushing aside a curtain of moss. "Hollowmarsh is cursed. Even the spirits won't cross into it."
"I can feel her," Aria whispered. "The next one. She's close."
Her Moonborn mark pulsed, faint but steady, like a compass inside her blood.
"She's scared," Lyra murmured. "Like I was."
They kept walking.
---
It wasn't long before the shadows started whispering.
The first time, it was just a breath of sound.
Aria…
She stopped cold.
"You heard that, right?" she asked.
Kade tensed, scanning the trees. "Heard what?"
"That voice."
Reid was pale. "The Marsh gets into your mind. Don't let it."
But it wasn't just the Marsh.
Aria's mark glowed silver-blue.
"She's reaching out," she said. "Not just calling. Screaming."
---
They reached a clearing where the trees had fallen inward, as if bowing to something long buried. In the center, a broken stone well sat like a forgotten tomb. Runes were etched along its rim, covered in vines.
Aria stepped toward it. Her pulse spiked.
"She's beneath," she whispered.
Lyra stopped beside her. "Trapped. Sealed. I can feel the wards."
Kade circled the well. "Someone buried her alive?"
"No," Reid said grimly. "They sealed her for her own safety. Look."
He pointed to a symbol carved deep into the stone—three crescents, overlapping.
"Containment ward. Old Moonborn protection magic."
"Then how do we open it?" Aria asked.
Silence fell.
Then Kade said, "We don't. You do."
---
The ritual was risky.
They stood in a triangle around the well—Aria at the center, her hands pressed to the stone. Lyra and Kade chanted softly, feeding their power into her.
Aria closed her eyes.
And reached inward.
Come to me, she whispered into the dark.
Below the earth, something stirred.
---
Her mind fell into the void.
Suddenly, she was no longer in the forest.
She stood inside a vast cavern of mirrors. Each reflected a different version of herself—some monstrous, some broken, one glowing like starlight. A girl stood at the center, bound in chains of light.
Black hair. Golden skin. Silver eyes, wide with terror.
"You're real," the girl whispered.
"I'm Aria," she said. "I came to help."
The girl's chains pulsed. "They said if I ever came out… I'd destroy everything."
"You won't," Aria said. "You'll save us."
The mirrors shattered.
The chains cracked.
The world shook.
---
Aria gasped and fell back.
The ground split around the well—and a burst of silver mist shot into the air.
When it cleared, the girl stood there, trembling.
She was barefoot, clothed in rags, but her presence was radiant—powerful, like a storm made flesh.
"My name is Mira," she said softly. "And I remember you."
Aria blinked. "From where?"
Mira's eyes filled with tears. "From before we were born."
---
That night, they made camp in the heart of Hollowmarsh.
Mira slept curled beside the fire, her energy drained from the release. Lyra stood watch. Reid sharpened blades, and Kade sat beside Aria, their shoulders brushing.
"What she said," Aria murmured. "Before we were born?"
Kade nodded. "The Moonborn bond is deeper than blood. Some believe it passes through time—souls linked across generations."
"You believe that?"
"I believe you were meant to find them. All of them."
Aria's eyes glinted in the firelight. "Then we need to move. There's still one more."
"Not just one," Kade said darkly. "Varian's building something. Gathering power. The more you awaken, the more he'll hunt you."
"Let him come," Aria said.
Her mark pulsed again.
And this time… it wasn't calling.
It
was warning.
---
Far away, in the desert ruins of Bleeding Dunes, another mark flared open.
And a boy with golden eyes stared into the flames.
Waiting.