All Chapters of Echoes of Moonfire: Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

~Laurent The night was kind to me today, it wasn’t too cold neither was it too hot. The air was cool, the forest quiet except for the distant hoot of an owl and the sigh of branches rubbing together. My boots sank softly into damp earth, the moon spilling silver through the canopy like a lantern guiding my steps. I had walked this forests a hundred times and yet every time I walked through this darkness back home, I always felt unease. I told myself that I knew these roads and I had nothing to fear but still… I quickened my pace. The silence today felt too deep. It pressed close to my ears, like cotton stuffed inside. Even the insects had quieted. My breath rasped louder than it should have, mist blooming in front of my face. I pulled my cloak tighter and told myself it was just the cold. Then suddenly, a twig snapped behind me. I froze. Slowly, I turned, eyes combing the shadows. Nothing. Only the trees, gnarled and dark, stretching endless into the night. “You’re tired,” I w

~Aeron The chamber was too quiet, the silence pressing in like a heavy cloak. I stood by the window, staring out at the city below—our city. Obsidian should have been alive with pride, with strength, with trust in me. Instead, I felt the weight of their whispers even through the walls. Seliora sat across the table, her golden hair unbound, eyes sharp despite the shadows under them. She was as tired as I was, but she carried it better—like steel wrapped in silk. She moved like she owned the room. She was a lot better at handling situations like this which was a shock because I’ve been here more times. “They’ll never accept us this way,” I muttered, finally breaking the silence. My reflection in the glass looked harder than I felt. “Every word I hear is the same. They think I betrayed them. They think you—” I turned to look at her, jaw tight. “—that you’re here to take what’s theirs. I don’t think Reed’s son is the only one who has this view. He’s just the only one who made his di

~Caelum The night tasted of iron. I adjusted the strap of the blade across my chest, the hilt pressing against my ribs with a familiar weight. I was never a fan of weapons but decided to try something new this time. It was not like I was planning to use it. At my side, my reluctant ally—Laurent checked the edge of his own weapon. His hands trembled, though he tried to hide it. The faint moonlight gleamed along the curve of the steel, turning it ghost-pale, brittle as bone. We stood just beyond the tree line, shadows clinging to us like a second skin. The house that Laurent told me was where the next lunar sentient resided, stood just before us. It was a dark shape in the valley, a squat thing of stone and timber with smoke curling faintly from its chimney. A ward shimmered faintly against the walls, thin and dying, like the heartbeat of a man too weak to stand. I almost laughed when I saw the ward. He picked the weakest protection spell for his home. This was going to be a breez

~AeronThe night air in Obsidian was crisp, carrying with it the mingled scents of stone, smoke, and something faintly sweet—the vendor’s cart I’d passed earlier selling honey cakes. The streets were quieter than usual, though the torches along the walls burned steady, their glow casting long shadows against the blackened stone. Beside me, Seliora rode with an ease that made her look like she belonged here, even though I knew she didn’t. Her cloak fell neatly around her shoulders, silver embroidery catching the light whenever she shifted. Her posture was proud, but not stiff—grace born of habit, not effort. She caught me watching her and raised a brow. “If you’re this quiet the whole patrol, I’ll think you’re plotting something.” “I don’t plot,” I said, nudging my horse forward as we turned down a narrower street. “I plan.” “Mm. And what’s the difference?” she asked, amusement tugging at her lips. “One gets you killed,” I replied dryly. “The other gets you through the night.

~Ivy The eyes that greeted us from the darkness glowed like coals boring through the dark. My breath hitched, and the tremor in my hand betrayed me as the creature stepped out of the tomb. Its shoulders scraped the stone with its claws dragging sparks as it squeezed through, snarling like it hadn’t tasted air in centuries. That could have been true though seeing that we’d never heard of something like this in this place before. Kyle grabbed my arm. “You did say you wanted excitement, right?” His voice cracked halfway through the joke exposing his fear. “Shut up, Kyle.” The monster’s body was massive, its skin slick like tar, its teeth jagged shards that gleamed in the moonlight. The runes we’d shattered seemed to crawl across its body, glowing and fading like veins. The moment it lunged was the moment I realised that obedience was a virtue. Instinct threw my hands forward, and light burst from my palms, striking it square in the chest. The ground shook, roots tore free, and the