Reaper Of The Drifting Moon Novels & Stories

--- ### The Shadow of the Moon As we walked toward the doors, leaving the warehouse behind, I looked up at the sky one last time. The violet moon was fading, returning to its dull grey color. But as the light died, I saw something moving across its surface. A massive, black shadow. It looked like a hand reaching out to grab the Earth. "What is that?" I asked, pointing upward. The Scavenger woman didn't look up. She kept walking into the snow. "That's the **Collector**," she said. "The machines realized the power spike came from here. They’re sending a 'Maintenance Crew' to fix the leak."

“If she takes control, what happens?” Lira’s expression darkened. “Then the moon descends. And none of us will survive.” The wind picked up, carrying whispers and thousands of voices woven together. I couldn’t tell if they were prayers or screams. My heart thudded, echoing the same rhythm as the moon above. “She’s calling something,” Kael said, scanning the horizon. “Not something,” Lira murmured. “Someone.” The ground trembled. In the distance, a shadow moved and a figure dragging chains that glowed with starlight. Each step left cracks in the earth, spreading outward like veins of silver fire.

"My children are on the other side of that door, and I am the healer who is going to excise the shadow from their world!" We hit the slipstream with a force that made the quartz hull of our vessel groan in structural agony. It was a sensory whiteout that exceeded the lunar jump, a sensation of being torn apart and reassembled by the raw resonance of the First Mother herself. On Astraea, the lead Reaper raised his scythe over Lyra, the void energy in the blade glowing with a sickly, grey light. But before the blade could descend, the air in the valley shattered with the sound of a thousand thunderclaps.

Beside me, Reika was gripping her fork so tightly, her knuckles were white, her hand trembled with restrained rage. Finally, she snapped. "Since no one is willing to address the issue at hand," Reika suddenly said, "then I will." We all looked at her. "The Blood Moon is tomorrow," she said, her voice steady but laced with fury. "And not only is Dante missing, but his mate, my daughter, was also hurt. Do we know what to expect?" Odessa and Raymond remained quiet. "Well?" Reika pushed. Finally, Odessa spoke. "After dinner, we'll visit the temple of the Moon Goddess. You'll get to see your daughter."

Approval spread like an infection. Elara stared at the place where the silver thread had vanished. Her own rejection had not done that. No thread. No snap. No clean ending. Only flickering lights and silence that refused to settle. Sella’s words from the old book whispered through her mind. The Moon Recoil. A sacred rite refusing the meaning wolves forced onto it. Cassian straightened slowly. For one moment, his gaze shifted across the courtyard, and somehow, impossibly, it found Elara.

It turned out to be Akira's voice. I looked back and could only see the darkness of the night. "Phew!" I breathed with a relieved voice, as I crossed the bridge of moon city. This was the beginning of my freedom. With the darkness of the night, I set out to wander in uncertainty. The beginning of my identity had come, and I wasn't going to be defined by a common rejection. Suddenly, I felt the presence of some unfamiliar scents around me. Before I could say Jack, they forcefully grabbed me.

A look that was more than new to me. Applauses that went round was almost deafening. “Say something, Luna!” Someone screamed, and I smiled gracefully, as Ryder gave me a small nod. “I'm more than glad to be back to my pack. To my people. I have no one to be thankful to, than the Moon Goddess. I can't exactly remember what happened, or how I got missing. But I'll be finding everything out again, in due course.” “I really don't think it's necessary,” Thyri said loud enough to gain the attention of the whole room.