บททั้งหมดของ Echoes of Moonfire: บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 110

~Halric It took us two days to reach Obsidian. Two long days winding through the black spines of the northern forest, the snow melting to frostbitten mud beneath our horses' hooves. The trees were stripped bare, their skeletal branches clawing at the grey sky. Crows circled overhead, following us for miles like omens in the fog. At night, we huddled close to the fire, taking turns sleeping and watching the dark for anything that might follow. Even now, the shadows felt... wrong. Like echoes of what we’d witnessed still clung to our skin. Selene still hadn’t fully recovered. She slept more than she spoke, her body healing slower than usual, no doubt from the effects of Lyric’s spellwork. Nilo barely left her side, riding close to the cart we'd fashioned to carry her. He hadn’t smiled once. I wasn’t sure he would again until she stood on her own. Selene was Nilo's mentor and his role model. She was the one who vouched for him when he was having problems getting into the Alpha's mage

~Halric The cold bit into my face like a knife. Even with layers of fur and thick cloaks we wore, the blizzard clawed at every exposed inch of our skin, as though the storm itself was warning us to turn back. I wish I could because I was honestly terrified of both Alpha Reed and Luna Lyric and right now, the chances of us facing them both were very high. Snow crunched underfoot, muffled by the shrieking wind. Before long, the temple's silhouette finally loomed into view, like a fang of obsidian tearing into the sky. I slowed my steps, lifting a gloved hand to shield my eyes. "Hold." Behind me, the men that accompanied us staggered to a stop. Alpha Aeron, his cloak snapping in the wind, came up beside me. "What is it?" Alpha Aeron asked, voice taut. I pointed to the snow. The hooves were clear—frozen impressions leading straight to the shadow of the temple. Fresh, barely half-covered. "Alpha Reed has already been here," I said, lowering my hand slowly. Alpha Aeron’s brow

~Serik "You know I won't just give it to you freely, right?" I said. "I know." Veyrith said. "I saw potential in you, Serik. I was willing to let you rule alongside me but you decided to insult me by running away." "You wanted me to have just stayed put in your dungeon?" "Precisely." Veyrith said. "My dungeons are impossible to escape so I would like to know who helped you." "No one helped me. I'm just very smart." I lied. "Even smartness isn't enough to escape me. Tell me the truth and I'll make your death swift." Veyrith said. "How considerate of you." I said. "But I don't plan to die today." "You and your child are the ones that hope to stand against me and men?" Veyrith chuckled. "I always knew you were a crazy one but I never knew you were mentally deranged." "Too much power does that to you at times." I replied. Veyrith laughed. "You're not even worth my time. My men can handle you." Veyrith snapped his finger and his men came pouring in. The first wave hit like

~Halric We ran. Not with panic, not yet—but with the mounting urgency of something scraping at the edge of reason. The kind that digs its claws into your gut and whispers, "Something is wrong, terribly wrong," with every breath you take. "Taren!" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the wet stone walls. Only silence answered. Alpha Aeron took the other corridor, boots slamming against the ground as he disappeared around the bend. Our lanterns bobbed like severed will-o'-the-wisps in the darkness, shadows flaring grotesquely with each step. "Taren!" The air grew warmer again, but not in any way that comforted. This heat was stale, cloying. Like the breath of a dying animal, trapped too long in a room with no windows. I passed a chamber to the right—a long-abandoned shrine. Dust blanketed a dozen kneeling mats. A half-melted candle still flickered, untouched. That shouldn't have been possible. My breath caught. The candle flame bent. Toward me. I backed away. "Alpha!" I called

~Omniscient POV Seventeen years had passed like a long, aching breath held beneath the surface of a still, cursed lake. The land had changed, but only in the ways time insists upon—weathered trees leaning further to one side, temples half-swallowed by vines, names of heroes faded on old stone walls. There was no sign of the gods anymore. It was almost like they just vanished. Everyone knew they were still there but had no way to prove it. Even the moon goddess had no reason to use her powers so she basically disappeared alongside the rest to be with her family. The world staggered back into a fragile sort of normalcy. And Ivy, daughter of a once-revered goddess and a man who had the powers of a demigod had grown up away from the temples and ruins—tucked instead into a quiet woodland house, where divine legacies felt more like bedtime stories than burdens. She had her father’s wit and her mother’s eyes—not the glowing kind that lit up the sky, thank the stars, but the sharp, cle