On the night the sky broke, everyone in the village of Elmsworth was asleep—except Lira.
Lira had never liked sleeping. Sleep felt like surrender. And she had never trusted the world enough to surrender to it.
The air smelled of rain and iron. She stood outside her small wooden house, staring at the sky. The stars were trembling. Not twinkling—trembling.
Then it happened.
A crack of silver light tore across the darkness.
The sky split open like fragile glass, and something fell.
It wasn't fire. It wasn't stone.
It was light.
The villagers would later call it a fallen star. But Lira knew better.
Stars did not scream when they fell.
The light crashed beyond the forest line.
Without thinking, Lira ran.
Branches clawed at her arms. The wind whispered warnings. But curiosity burned brighter than fear.
Deep inside the forest clearing, she saw it.
A sphere of pale silver light floated above the ground. It pulsed like a heartbeat.
And inside it—
A boy.
He looked about her age. White hair. Skin glowing faintly. His eyes were closed, as if sleeping inside the light.
Lira stepped closer.
The sphere shattered like mist.
The boy fell into her arms.
His eyes opened.
They were not human.
They were the color of the moon.
"My name is Cael," he said softly.
His voice sounded like wind over water.
"You're not from here," Lira whispered.
"No," he replied. "I am from above."
He pointed to the sky.
Lira laughed nervously. "From the sky? You mean… the stars?"
"From the Moon Court."
Her smile faded.
"My people guard the balance between light and shadow. But something has broken that balance."
As if answering his words, the forest darkened unnaturally.
The shadows moved.
Not with the wind.
On their own.
Creatures emerged from between the trees.
Tall. Thin. Their bodies made of smoke and teeth.
"The Umbral," Cael breathed. "They found me."
Lira grabbed a fallen branch. "You can fight, right?"
Cael shook his head weakly. "I lost my power when I fell."
The creatures lunged.
Instinctively, Lira stood in front of him.
One shadow slashed toward her—
And silver light exploded from her chest.
The forest froze.
The Umbral screamed and dissolved into mist.
Lira fell to her knees.
Her hands were glowing.
Cael stared at her in shock.
"You carry moonlight," he whispered.
"That's impossible," Lira said.
"No human can hold celestial power… unless—"
"Unless what?"
"Unless the Moon chose you."
Lira laughed again, but it sounded hollow.
"I'm just a village girl."
"The Moon does not choose 'just' anyone."
He stepped closer.
"When I fell, my power did not disappear. It searched for a vessel."
Lira looked at her glowing hands.
"You're saying… I borrowed your moonlight?"
Cael smiled faintly.
"No."
He looked up at the sky.
"You borrowed the Moon's."
They did not have time to celebrate.
From the shadows, something larger moved.
A figure in black armor stepped into the clearing.
A woman with eyes like dying stars.
"The Moon Prince," she said calmly. "And the Human Vessel."
Her gaze landed on Lira.
"So it's you."
"Who are you?" Lira demanded.
"I am Serath. Commander of the Eclipse."
She raised a blade made of pure darkness.
"The Moon Court has fallen."
Cael's breath caught.
"Impossible."
"Your king is gone," Serath said. "The Eclipse reigns now."
Serath moved faster than thought.
Lira barely blocked the first strike. Silver light burst from her arms, forming a shield.
"You must run!" Cael shouted.
"No!" Lira yelled back. "I don't run."
Serath smiled coldly.
"Good."
The battle shook the trees. Silver against black. Light against shadow.
Lira felt the moonlight burning inside her—not painful, but powerful.
Alive.
She could feel the sky watching.
Waiting.
"Why me?" she screamed.
The answer came not from Cael—
But from the Moon itself.
Because you were never ordinary.
Memories flashed in her mind.
Her mother's lullabies about the sky.
The silver birthmark on her chest shaped like a crescent.
"I wasn't chosen tonight," she whispered.
"I was chosen years ago."
Serath's blade pierced through Lira's shoulder.
Pain exploded.
The moonlight flickered.
"You are still human," Serath said. "You will break."
Lira collapsed to one knee.
She was afraid.
She was bleeding.
She was human.
But she was not weak.
She stood again.
"I may be human," she said through clenched teeth, "but the Moon stands with me."
She raised both hands.
The sky answered.
A beam of pure moonlight descended, striking her like lightning.
Her wounds closed.
Her eyes turned silver.
The forest became bright as day.
Serath stepped back.
"No…"
Lira lifted her hand.
"This is my world."
Light burst outward.
Serath vanished in a storm of silver fire.
Silence returned to the forest.
The sky healed.
The crack disappeared.
Lira collapsed, exhausted.
Cael caught her before she hit the ground.
"You awakened the First Eclipse," he whispered in awe.
"What does that mean?" she murmured weakly.
"It means the Moon has a queen."
Lira groaned. "I don't want a crown."
Cael smiled gently.
"Too late."
By morning, the village believed the storm had simply passed.
No one remembered the shadows.
No one remembered the crack in the sky.
Except Lira.
And Cael.
They stood at the forest edge.
"You could return to the Moon Court," Lira said quietly.
"There is no Court anymore," he replied. "Only what we rebuild."
She looked at her hands. The glow was faint now—but still there.
"What happens next?"
Cael looked up at the sky.
"We prepare."
"For what?"
"For the true Eclipse."
Far above them, hidden behind the sunlight—
A dark crescent began to grow.
And somewhere in the void, Serath opened her eyes.