Chapter 2: Lessons of Obedience

The cold morning air bit into Sera’s skin as she stepped into the Silent Cloister. The towering stone walls loomed over her, casting long shadows that seemed to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. She felt like a ghost, stripped of her name and any semblance of identity. All that remained was the mark—the Blood-Moon Mark—and the collar around her neck, both reminders that she was nothing but a tool to be used.

She had spent eighteen months here in the Cloister, isolated from the world outside. Every day was a repetition of the last: waking at dawn to the sound of the bell that called the cloistered novices to prayer, enduring frost-cold ablutions that numbed her body but never her fear, and then the long, endless hours of obedience training.

"Sera Redveil," the headmistress, Mother Eldra, would say in that soft, clipped voice of hers, "You are not Sera anymore. You are nothing. You are a vessel for the Moon King’s will. Remember this."

Sera had learned to nod, to bow, to speak when spoken to, to live as if she had no will of her own. It was the way it was supposed to be. The way it had always been. The Blood-Moon Girls were meant to serve, to die without question.

But somewhere, in the quiet moments of night when the others slept, Sera would feel the stirrings of rebellion—faint, like whispers from another life. She was always aware of the mark on her shoulder, the strange pulse that thrummed beneath her skin when she thought of escape. The mark was a prison, but it also held power—a power she didn’t fully understand. But she would.

On her knees in the sterile chapel, Sera focused on the ancient scrolls hidden beneath the hymnals, her fingers tracing the forbidden runes that she had memorized. The Silver Oath had been made to bind them all to the Moon King’s will. But the original texts… they were different. They spoke of freedom, of balance. They had been twisted, corrupted over the centuries, to justify their lives as slaves. To make them believe that they had no choice.

"You should not be here," came the soft voice of Sister Leona, one of the older novices who had once been kind to Sera. Now, even she seemed hardened by the endless cycles of conditioning.

"I know," Sera whispered, carefully pushing the scrolls back into their hiding place beneath the pew. "I just… sometimes, I wonder what’s beyond the Cloister. What life would be like if we weren’t chosen for this."

Leona’s eyes darted around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. "You mustn't ask such questions. You know the price of curiosity."

"But I’m not curious," Sera protested, her voice barely audible. "I just—"

Leona’s grip on her arm tightened, pulling her to her feet. "No more questions. They hear everything here. And they will punish us both if you are caught."

Sera nodded, biting back the frustration that gnawed at her. She had no choice but to obey. Yet, deep inside, the urge to break free, to know what lay beyond these walls, grew stronger each day.

That night, as the bells tolled, marking the close of the evening prayers, Sera sat alone in her cell. The moon hung low in the sky, its light casting pale shadows across the stone floor. She traced the outline of her birthmark again, feeling the faint pulse beneath her fingertips.

Her mind returned to the moment in the basilica, when the silver figure had locked eyes with her. The memory was vivid—too vivid to be a dream. He had been more than a statue. His gaze had burned into hers, a silent promise that whatever fate the priests had planned for her, it was not the one she had to accept.

And then, there was the mark—her mark. It was no ordinary birthmark. No, it was a beacon, a key to something greater. She could feel it, deep inside, like a quiet hum that reached the core of her being. It was power, untapped and forbidden, and she was determined to learn how to control it.

In the quiet of her cell, she began to sketch the runes she had seen in the forbidden scrolls. They were crude at first—just a few symbols on the stone wall—but each time her hand moved, the mark on her shoulder pulsed, responding to the motion, responding to her will.

“Maybe it’s not just a prison,” she whispered to herself, her voice barely a breath in the empty room. “Maybe it’s the key to breaking free.”