Chapter Sixty-Eight

Prophecy of the Final Moon

The canyon was quiet now—eerily so.

No more whispers, no more echoes. Only the low wind that moved like breath through the broken stone.

Selene stood at its edge, the golden-silver light of the merged suns glinting off her hair. Kaen prowled beside her, restless. The child stood a few feet away, eyes fixed on the empty air where Lucien’s echo had vanished.

“It’s over,” the child whispered. “But it doesn’t feel finished.”

Selene nodded slowly. “Because the void never ends with silence. It ends with truth.”

The Heart pulsed inside her chest, faint and slow, as if agreeing. A faint hum trembled through the ground beneath their feet.

Kaen’s ears twitched. He growled once, turning toward the center of the canyon.

A shimmer appeared there—soft at first, like heat rising off stone. Then it thickened, shaping itself into a sphere of light and shadow. Inside it, images began to swirl: Lucien, Kimberly, the first Blood Moon.

Selene’s breath caught. “Memories.”

The sphere flickered, and a voice—Lucien’s voice, but calm now—echoed around them.

If you hear this, the void has remembered me. That means balance still bleeds.

Selene stepped closer, heart pounding. “Lucien…”

The Heart cannot destroy what created it, the echo continued. It can only reshape it. When the Blood Moon rises for the last time, the bridge will choose its true form—light, dark, or both. That choice will decide which realm survives.

The words hit her like cold rain. “The bridge… the child.”

The being looked at her, startled. “Me?”

Selene turned to it. “Lucien’s prophecy—it means your choice will decide everything.”

The child’s glow flickered nervously. “But I don’t know how to choose.”

You will, Lucien’s echo said. When the Blood Moon calls your name.

The sphere cracked, splitting into fragments that dissolved into the air. One shard drifted into Selene’s hand. It pulsed once, warm.

The child’s voice was small. “If I choose wrong, the other world dies?”

Selene closed her fingers around the shard. “If you let fear decide, yes. But if you choose from balance—from love—it might save both.”

The child’s golden eyes shimmered with tears it didn’t understand. “How do you know?”

“Because that’s what Kimberly did. What Lucien did. What every life before ours has done. Balance isn’t safety—it’s sacrifice.”

Kaen pressed against her leg, as if agreeing.

The Heart within Selene beat faster. The Blood Moon stirs, it warned. The choice draws near.

Selene turned toward the eastern sky. There, above the jagged peaks, hung a faint red curve—like the first line of a wound reopening.

She whispered, “It’s starting.”

---

They made camp at the canyon’s rim that night. The stars shimmered between colors, never settling. The air itself seemed to breathe.

The child sat by the fire, silent, its glow flickering in rhythm with the flames. Selene watched it, heart aching. It looked so young—born only weeks ago, yet burdened with the fate of everything that existed.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” she said softly.

The being looked up. “But what if my balance isn’t yours? What if what I choose hurts you?”

Selene smiled faintly. “Then I’ll still be proud of you.”

It blinked. “Why?”

“Because choice means life. And life… means love.”

For a long moment, they sat in silence. Then Kaen raised his head, ears twitching.

A sound came on the wind—distant bells, low and rhythmic. Not mortal ones. They rang from the sky itself.

Selene stood. The horizon glowed crimson now. The moon was rising—half shadow, half flame.

The child rose too. “It’s calling me.”

“I know,” Selene said. “But we go together.”

The Heart’s voice thrummed again inside her mind. When the Blood Moon is whole, the choice must be made. The bridge cannot hesitate.

Selene exhaled. “Then we’d better reach it before it’s whole.”

She turned to Kaen. “Find the path.”

The wolf sniffed the air, then darted toward the ridge, barking once. The path east glowed faintly red, carved by the moon’s reflection.

Selene looked back one last time at the canyon. “Goodbye, Lucien. Thank you.”

The wind answered, gentle and warm. Finish it, Selene.

She smiled, wiping a tear from her cheek. Then she turned and followed Kaen into the crimson light, the child walking at her side, silent but determined.

Above them, the Blood Moon grew brighter, its reflection trembling across the world. It was no longer a curse—it was an invitation.

And somewhere deep within its glow, the void whispered, waiting for the bridge to choose.