MOON OF ASHES のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

The lamp clicked off and the room drowned in darkness.Ava’s breath caught. For a moment she couldn’t move, couldn’t even think. The silhouette beyond the curtain didn’t retreat; it lingered, those gold eyes fixed on her. Then, as if some invisible cord snapped, the shadow melted back into the mist and was gone.She fumbled for her phone, thumb shaking on the screen as she dialled Rowan. It rang twice before he answered, voice hoarse.“What’s wrong?”“There’s—someone outside,” she whispered. “Looking in my window. I saw—” She stopped herself. “I don’t know what I saw.”“Stay where you are. I’m turning around.”“No, just…just tell me what’s going on,” she said, forcing her voice steady. “I’m not a child, Rowan.”He was silent for a beat. “Lock the window. Stay away from it. I’ll explain when I get there.”The line went dead.Ava crept to the window, yanked the curtain aside. The yard was empty, only mist curling between the trees. Her reflection stared back at her in the glass—pale fac

The fire snapped and hissed as Rowan stepped inside, rain dripping from his coat. His eyes flicked from Ava to Silas and back again, a storm of anger and relief crossing his face.“Ava,” he said again, more quietly now. “What are you doing here?”Ava rose slowly from the chair, the heavy book still in her hands. “I…I don’t know anymore,” she admitted. “Everything’s upside down.”Rowan’s jaw tightened. “You disappeared. The whole station’s looking for you. Elias is ready to send out a search party.”Silas leaned against the wall, arms folded. “Of course he is. Can’t have his prize wandering off.”Rowan shot him a glare. “You stay out of this.”“No,” Ava said sharply. “Both of you stay out of this for one second and just tell me the truth. Who’s been lying to me? Who’s actually on my side?”The question hung in the air. Rowan’s face softened, but there was a tremor in his voice when he said, “I’m on your side. Always. That’s why I came.”Silas’s golden eyes glinted in the firelight. “Th

The forest changed as they approached Gray Hollow. Trees thinned into pale trunks like bones, and the air grew colder even though the rain had stopped. Mist curled along the ground, veiling roots and stones. Every step felt like walking into a dream that remembered its own nightmares.Ava tightened her grip on the dagger Mara had given her. The carvings on the hilt pulsed faintly, matching her heartbeat. She could almost hear whispers under the wind — not words, just a low hum, like something calling her name from a long distance.“Not far now,” Silas said quietly. His eyes flicked from shadow to shadow. “Stay close.”Rowan trudged behind them, jaw tight, his hand never straying far from his gun. “This place is cursed,” he muttered. “I can feel it.”Mara gave a dry laugh. “Everything’s cursed now.”Caleb adjusted his satchel. “Gray Hollow was once a sanctuary for hunters and wolves alike, before the first Blood Moon split them apart. My notes say the old wardings still sleep beneath t

Dawn bled slowly through the trees, pale and cold. The air had the brittle stillness of glass about to crack. Ava cinched her coat tighter, the dagger hidden beneath its folds. Every step away from the lodge felt heavier, but also sharper, like she was finally walking toward the truth instead of running from it.The others moved with quiet efficiency. Mara walked point, her eyes flicking from tree to tree. Silas stayed just behind Ava, his presence a steady hum. Rowan limped but kept up, the fresh stitches pulling tight under his shirt. Caleb clutched the rolled-up map to his chest as though it were a lifeline.The forest shifted as they moved. Pines gave way to skeletal birch; the earth beneath their boots turned from loam to a grey ash-like dust. Birds didn’t sing here. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath. Ava felt a pressure behind her eyes, a faint ache that pulsed with the same rhythm as the dagger at her side.“How far?” she asked, her voice low.Caleb glanced at the map. “H

The roar wasn’t just sound; it was force. It drove the breath from Ava’s lungs and bent the trees outward as if they were made of straw. The beast moved faster than something that size should have, a blur of bone and ash with claws like scythes. It hit the ground where they had been standing a heartbeat before, and the impact threw up a wall of hot dust.Silas slammed into Ava, knocking her sideways just as a claw raked the earth where she’d been. They tumbled together into the red moss. She rolled to her feet, coughing, dagger burning in her hand.Rowan darted left, sword flashing, drawing the monster’s gaze. He struck at its foreleg. The blade bit but didn’t cut — the limb rippled like smoke around steel, then reformed. The beast swung its head and snapped at him; only a desperate leap saved him.“Normal weapons won’t hold it!” Caleb shouted over the roar. He had already dropped to one knee, drawing frantic sigils in the ash. Sparks flared under his fingers, but the Hollow sucked th