The night air was heavy with magic.
The Lunar Guard rode fast and silent, wind whipping their cloaks as they cut through the forest on the Queen's command. Moonfire glowed faintly at Selene's side, pulsing like a heartbeat in rhythm with the distant pull of void energy. Every mile closer made her teeth ache.
"We're nearly at the Verdant Temple," Thorne said, his voice sharp through the comms crystal. "The cult is already there. I see fires—red ones."
Selene's jaw clenched. "No killing unless necessary. We need the Vessel alive. But if they force our hand…"
"They'll regret it," Jace finished for her.
Selene glanced sideways at him. "You always read me too well."
"Comes with being in love with the Queen," he replied.
It was the first time he'd said it aloud.
She didn't answer—but her fingers brushed his briefly before turning her attention forward.
When they arrived, the old temple ruins were bathed in crimson firelight.
The stone archways had been rebuilt with bone and blackwood. Symbols of the void writhed across every surface—glowing, shifting, almost alive. Dozens of hooded figures stood in a circle, chanting, their hands raised toward the sky.
In the center, the Vessel stood.
A child. Small. Fragile.
A girl.
She was shaking, eyes wide and filled with tears, yet held unnaturally still—suspended in the air by invisible threads of power. Beneath her, the ground glowed with sigils carved in blood and ash.
Selene felt her stomach twist.
"She's just a child," Mira breathed. "She's not doing this willingly."
"The ritual's incomplete," Lyra said. "We still have time to stop it."
"Then we move now," Selene ordered.
The Lunar Guard struck like lightning.
Thorne and Bram took the left flank, blades flashing. Lyra vanished into mist, reappearing behind cultists with silent precision. Mira channeled protective wards, shielding the team from incoming spells.
Selene and Jace surged toward the center.
Cultists screamed as silver fire met void magic—Moonfire burning through corruption with holy vengeance.
One of the high priests stepped forward, his mouth twisted into a grin.
"You're too late, Queen," he spat. "The Vessel has awakened!"
"She's a child!" Selene shouted, slashing down another cultist. "You're using her like a shell!"
"She is blood of the line," the priest hissed. "She carries the power you never could!"
Selene slammed her blade into the earth, sending a wave of moonlight that blasted the priest back.
Then she stepped into the ritual circle—and everything froze.
Time slowed. Sound vanished.
The child floated there, her eyes glowing red-black, tears streaking down her face.
And then she spoke—but not in her own voice.
"You came, Moon Queen. As foretold.
One born of broken line. One who must choose.
Kill the Vessel… and seal the gate.
Or spare her… and let the darkness rise."
Selene shook her head. "She's not your puppet. I won't sacrifice her."
"Then she becomes me."
The girl shrieked, her body convulsing.
Void tendrils burst from her chest, twisting into the sky.
Selene acted without hesitation.
She reached out—and placed her palm against the girl's heart.
Moonfire met void. Light met shadow.
Outside the circle, Jace watched in horror as Selene's body was engulfed in blinding silver flame. The cultists screamed and fled, but the Queen stood her ground, unmoving.
Mira shouted from behind him. "She's fighting for the girl's soul!"
"Can she win?" Jace asked.
Mira didn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
Inside the light, Selene stood once more in the vision-space.
The child knelt before her, covered in shadow, her aura flickering.
"I don't want to be a monster," she whispered.
"You won't be," Selene said gently. "You're stronger than that."
"I feel it inside me. The dark thing. It whispers."
Selene knelt, touching her forehead to the girl's.
"I know the voice. I've heard it too. But it doesn't own you. You choose who you are."
The girl looked up, her eyes clearing. "I'm scared."
"So am I," Selene admitted. "But that's how I know we're still human."
A howl echoed in the distance—pure, strong, and filled with moonlight.
The shadow snapped and vanished.
Back in the real world, the flames dissipated.
The child collapsed into Selene's arms, unconscious but free.
The void was gone.
The ritual broken.
The remaining cultists fled into the night, scattered like insects.
Jace rushed forward, catching Selene as she sagged.
"She's safe," she whispered, cradling the girl. "She didn't fall."
"You saved her," he said, awe in his voice.
"No," Selene murmured. "She saved herself. I just helped her remember who she was."
Later that night, in the temple ruins, Kael examined the remnants of the ritual circle.
"This isn't over," he warned. "The void will keep searching for vessels. Hosts. Open doors."
Selene stood beside him, Moonfire back in its sheath.
"Then we seal every door. Burn every remnant. And build something stronger in its place."
He looked at her. "You're changing, you know."
Selene smiled faintly. "I have to."
The child's name was revealed to be Aurelia—a distant descendant of the Moonblood line, hidden away by a minor noble family too afraid of what she might become.
Now, she slept peacefully under the care of Saria and Mira.
She would grow up knowing who saved her.
And what nearly destroyed her.
Back at the Moon Keep, the stars were bright again.
The Blood Moon had waned.
But Selene knew the war wasn't over.
A prophecy had been altered. A vessel denied.
But new threats would rise.
And she would be ready.
Queen. Warrior.
Chosen.