Chapter 7: The Crescent Unbound

~Eira

“Eira… Eira…”

The voice drifted through my head like smoke, curling at the edges of my dream. Soft. Distant. Familiar.

“Mmm… five more minutes,” I mumbled, turning over, half convinced I was still home, still wrapped in warm blankets, still safe in a time that didn’t exist anymore.

“EIRA!”

The voice snapped like a whip.

I jolted upright, gasping—and the movement yanked my wrists hard against the cold metal shackling me to the wall.

Pain shot through my shoulders. I hissed.

“What the—?” My vision swam. My head pounded.

The cell was pitch black, save for a flickering torch somewhere near the door. The air was heavy with the stench of mold, blood, and rot. Something skittered across my leg—small, quick. A rat.

Lovely.

Chains clinked across from me. Caelum sat against the far wall, blood dried around his temple, his eyes sunken but awake.

“Hey,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to shake the haze from my skull. “Why are we in a… gods, this place smells like death.”

“I’m guessing this is the elven dungeon..” He shifted, tugging at his own shackles. “How’s your head? Hope they didn’t knock you too hard.”

“A knock is a knock,” I muttered. “Our tour of the elven kingdom is complete now that we’ve seen their dungeon. So how do we get out of here?”

“I have no idea unless you happen to have butter with you.”

I blinked. “Why would I carry butter with me?”

“I don’t know. That’s the only thing I could think of.”

I gave him a deadpan glare. “Have you tried shifting? Our abilities should be back now.”

“They aren’t and even if they were, these are silver chains.” Caelum said, stretching his arms forward to show me. “They’ll burn our skin if we tried to transform.”

“What else can we try?”

He yanked on his chains. “We could try ripping the bolts out of the wall.”

“We’re not strong enough in this form to break out the chain from the wall.” I said with a sigh. “But you’re welcome to try though.”

Caelum grunted, pulling his chain but it didn’t bulge.

We didn’t get much longer to brainstorm. The cell door creaked open, and three elves stepped inside. Their eyes were cold. Spears ready.

I tensed, but they didn’t speak. They unhooked the wall chains but kept our wrists bound, then yanked us to our feet.

“Wait!” I snapped, stumbling forward. “You’re making a mistake. We didn’t come to hurt anyone!”

Nothing. Not a blink.

“We only wanted shelter,” I shouted, digging my heels in. “You poisoned us—now you’re doing this? What did we ever do to you?”

Still nothing.

They dragged us out into the village square—and I froze.

They’d turned it into a killing ground.

A wooden block stained dark with old blood sat at the center. Torches lined the perimeter, casting cruel shadows. Elves gathered in rows, silent, staring. Some curious. Some afraid.

None willing to stop it.

Caelum and I were forced to our knees. The dirt was hard and cold.

I didn’t cry.

But I was shaking.

A massive elf stepped forward, dragging a gleaming silver blade behind him.

They came for me first.

“NO!” Caelum shouted, thrashing. “Don’t you touch her!”

I was pulled up by the arms, throat bared, and shoved forward. My neck hit the block.

It was damp.

It smelled like death.

“No,” I whispered. “Please. Please, this is a mistake.”

The executioner raised his axe.

“I don’t want to die,” I begged, my mind consumed with fear. “I’m not here to hurt you—I just wanted help. Please. I didn’t ask for this!”

The axe came down making me close my eyes in preparation for the impact.

But it didn’t land.

It stopped—in the air—trembling, frozen, vibrating like it had hit an invisible wall.

Gasps echoed around me.

I lifted my head.

My body was warm.

No. Glowing.

I looked down—and saw it.

The crescent mark on my neck was shining like a miniature moon, casting light across the block. My hands tingled. My skin pulsed. I closed my eyes and allowed whatever was happening to happen. I surrendered control to the darkness inside me.

I stood up—but my feet never touched the ground.

I was floating.

The axe shattered into a thousand shards, scattering like light.

The shackles fell from my wrists, ringing against the stone.

I felt… alive in a way I’d never been before. Like every part of me that had been chained and silenced had just remembered who it was.

The executioner stumbled back, eyes wide in horror.

“Please,” he stammered. “P-please—I didn’t mean to—I was just following orders—don’t kill me!”

I looked at him.

I didn’t say a word.

I lifted my hand.

His mouth began to glow.

Then his eyes.

Then every hole in his body blazed blue.

And then—he exploded.

He didn’t fall.

He ceased to exist.

Screams.

I turned and smiled. Their screams were like music to my ears. I closed my eyes, savouring the moment. Enjoying their feeling of fear and relishing the moment.

The crowd had erupted into chaos. They were running, shouting—some begging, some sobbing.

Good.

“She’s a monster!”

“She’s not a wolf—she’s something else!”

“RUN!”

I floated above them all, silent, eyes burning like twin stars.

They begged. They knelt. They crawled.

But I didn’t care. I went after them and I slaughtered.

With a flick, one collapsed.

Another burst.

Another screamed for his life—and vanished in a flash of light.

I didn’t stop.

They had tried to kill me.

They had poisoned me.

And I would make sure they faced the consequences.

I burned them.

I broke them.

And when it was done, the village square was silent. No screams. No sobs.

Only ashes.

Only dust.

Only me and the deafening silence.

Hovering above a ruined garden of bones and fire.

Then I turned—slowly—to the only soul still breathing.

Caelum.

He was staring at me like he’d never seen me before. Like I was something he wasn’t sure he should love or run from.

“Eira…” he whispered.

His voice made me gasp, draining all the power from me in one pulse, one breath, one flicker of my heart.

I fell from the air and saw Caelum running to catch me. His figure with his outstretched arms was the last thing I saw before everything went black.