All Chapters of Echoes of Moonfire: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

~Omniscient POVThe explosion had quieted, but its aftermath still clung to the cavern like smoke in a sealed tomb. The obsidian walls groaned under the strain of magic, fissures glowing faintly with residual power, while the scent of scorched air hovered thick and suffocating. Rubble blanketed the stone floor, torches flickering violently from the impact’s shockwave.Raven lay at the heart of it all.But she wasn’t gone.Her body remained intact, barely. Wrinkled like dried parchment, skin sagging from once-proud bones. Her cloak was half-burned, feathered remnants scattered around her like the ashes of a phoenix that would not rise again. Her eyes, once pools of wicked fire, now fluttered between unconsciousness and agony.Her magic—the essence she had stolen, hoarded, craved—was gone. Bled dry. Replaced by silence.Eira didn’t look at her immediately. She didn’t care to. Her first instinct, burning through her bones even as the goddess still simmered just beneath her skin, was Cael

~Eira The world was a pearl-lit haze. I stood barefoot in a place that didn’t belong to any world I knew. The air shimmered like it was made of silk. The sky wasn’t blue or black, but some strange violet hue that bent and folded with stars that sang rather than sparkled. Trees made of crystal swayed without wind, and beneath my feet, the ground rippled like liquid moonlight. Then I saw her. A little girl. Maybe nine, maybe ten. She wore a white tunic trimmed with lunar gold, and her hair, pale as starlight, trailed behind her like a veil. Her back was to me, but I could see her shoulders were tense, hunched with caution, or fear. I followed. She walked past silver fountains that spilled upwards into the sky. Past tall towers carved from single pieces of sapphire that reflected no light. We entered a courtyard ringed by floating stones etched with ancient glyphs. There, a group of older children—beautiful, perfect—stood in a loose circle. The girl stopped. They laughed.

~EiraI heard a knock on my door that gently jolted me awake.The knock was gentle. Not demanding or annoying like yesterday. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and expecting Ryan to burst in again with some smart remark. But instead, when I opened the door, Queen Seraphina stood there in robes woven with the night sky itself. Stars moved across the fabric as though her clothes breathed starlight.“Good morning, Eira,” she said with a soft smile. “I hope you rested well.”“I did,” I answered, surprised at how calm her presence made me feel. “You’re up early.”“I never truly sleep,” she replied. “Only drift between thoughts. Today, I wanted to greet you personally. Your training continues—but today, it will be different. More… internal.”I narrowed my eyes. “What does that mean?”“You’ll see. Come.”She turned without waiting, and I followed, the soft pads of my feet barely making a sound against the marble floors. We didn’t walk through the training grounds or the garden. This path led elsewhe

~EiraI had to know.What had happened with Ryan yesterday wasn’t nothing. The way his body reacted to my magic—the glow of his crescent mark, the sudden shift in his eyes—it wasn’t just a fluke. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was telling me something. Something important.So I did what any reasonable moon goddess would do.I snuck out. Maybe that’s not what Lira would have done but who cares? I’m not her.Beyond the polished elegance of the palace and Queen Seraphina’s controlled world of silk and silver, there was a village. I’d seen glimpses of it from the higher balconies, but no one had ever taken me there. The Moon Shadow village lay beyond a gate shaped like a crescent moon, its frame pulsing faintly with power. The moment I passed through, I stepped into something that felt like a forgotten dream.Moon Shadow wasn’t just a palace. It was a civilization suspended between reality and something else—a plane of existence where starlight grew on trees and flowers hummed

~EiraThe moment our eyes glowed and the world around us faded, I felt a pull—gentle yet insistent—drawing me into a realm beyond comprehension. When consciousness returned, I found myself standing beside Ryan in a place that defied wolf logic. The Celestial Realm stretched infinitely, bathed in hues of soft gold and shimmering silver. The sky above was a canvas of swirling stars, each pulsating with its own rhythm. Beneath our feet, the ground was composed of translucent crystal, reflecting the cosmos in a mesmerizing dance of light. Towering spires of luminescent stone reached towards the heavens, their surfaces etched with ever-shifting runes that whispered ancient secrets. “This place… it’s like a dream,” Ryan murmured, his voice tinged with awe. I nodded, equally entranced. “It’s beautiful. I haven't ever seen anything like it.” Ahead, a figure moved gracefully among the ethereal structures. It was Lira, but older than when I last saw her—a teenager now, her presence bot