The Last Song of the Moonborn

Aria Lunestra lived her life in quiet patterns. She worked in the old city library of Vellorian where ancient maps and forgotten myths collected dust. She preferred silence to crowds books to conversations moonlight to daylight. The night always felt like a friend watching her gently from above.

For as long as she could remember the moon sang to her.

Soft distant melodies that no one else could hear. Notes that brushed the edge of her dreams like silver wind. She assumed it was imagination the result of too many late nights and too many fairy tales.

Until the night the song stopped.

Aria woke with a gasp her room drenched in icy air. The moon outside her window glowed red like an ember. The melody that had filled her entire life was gone replaced by a sharp ringing silence. Something inside her chest felt hollow as if a piece of her soul had been stolen.

Then she heard it. A voice behind her smooth dark and unmistakably alive.

You felt it too.

She spun around knocking over a stack of books. A man stood in the corner. Tall silent and impossibly pale with hair like starlight and eyes of deep silver. His presence made the air shimmer faintly as if reality bent around him.

Who are you Aria whispered.

The man stepped forward his voice soft and resonant like a low chord from a celestial instrument. My name is Caelum. Last guardian of the Moonborn. And you Aria Lunestra are one of us.

Aria backed away. No no I am human. Normal. Ordinary.

Caelum shook his head gently. You have heard the lunar song since birth. Only a Moonborn can hear it. Only one with moonfire in their veins can feel when it breaks.

Aria swallowed. Breaks

Caelums eyes darkened. The Moon is dying Aria. Its heart has been wounded by something ancient and hungry. And with it the power of our people fades. You are the last unawakened Moonborn. The only one whose power has not been drained. The last hope to restore the lunar bond.

Aria felt a chill run through her body. Why me

Caelum lifted his hand and the moonlight in the room gathered around his fingers like liquid silver. Because you carry the oldest note of the lunar song. A power even I do not possess. You were hidden for a reason. Protected. But now the enemy has found the Moon and it will soon find you.

Aria gripped the edge of her desk trying to steady her breath. This cannot be real.

Caelum stepped closer. His voice softened. I wish I could give you more time. But tonight every Moonborn heard the silence. And tonight the Hunters of the Void woke from their thousand year sleep.

The lights flickered. The floor beneath them vibrated.

Aria whispered What is that

Caelum closed the distance between them and touched her arm. His skin hummed with cool energy like winter starlight. They are here.

A deep roar shook the walls. Dark mist slipped under the door twisting like fingers. Aria froze as a shape formed from the mist tall skeletal and wrapped in crackling shadows.

Caelum pulled her close holding her against him. His silver eyes flared bright. Stay with me.

In a burst of light they vanished.

They reappeared in a vast white desert beneath a sky full of giant moons. Trails of silver wind spiraled through the air like ribbons. The land glowed faintly with ethereal light.

Aria gasped. Where are we

Caelum released her gently. The Lunar Expanse. A realm between worlds. A place only the Moonborn can enter.

She looked around in awe. The sky was unreal layered with glowing spheres drifting like ships in a celestial sea. The sand shimmered like powdered crystal.

This is beautiful she whispered.

Caelum watched her with an expression somewhere between admiration and sorrow. It should be. But even here the silence grows.

Aria listened. She felt it a strange ache in her chest a yearning for a melody she had known all her life. She looked at Caelum. What do I have to do

He studied her quietly. You must awaken your lunar core. Only then can you hear the full song. Only then can you mend the broken moon.

And how do I do that

Caelum hesitated. Awakening is not gentle. It requires facing what you fear most. The Moon reveals your truth then amplifies it.

Aria crossed her arms. I am afraid of everything.

His expression softened. No. You are afraid of being seen. Being known. Because the song was always yours and you feared what it meant. But your power was never meant to be hidden.

Aria looked down at her hands. I never asked for this.

Caelum stepped closer his voice barely above a whisper. None of the Moonborn did. But you are not alone. I will stay with you until the last breath of the last moon fades.

Before she could answer the ground trembled. A tear in the sky ripped open and six figures of shadow dropped into the desert. Their bodies looked like night turned solid with glowing red marks carved into their limbs.

Caelum grabbed Arias hand. Run.

They sprinted across the shimmering dunes. The Void Hunters chased them easily gliding through the air like smoke. One shot a blade of darkness toward Aria.

Caelum turned blocking it with his arm. Moonlight erupted from the wound driving the attacker back. He winced but kept running.

Aria panicked. Caelum you are hurt

He shook his head. I cannot die as long as a Moonborn breathes. Now listen to me you must awaken.

How

Caelum turned and held her shoulders firmly. Look at the moons. Hear their silence. Call the song that belongs to you. It has waited your entire life.

The Hunters closed in.

Aria looked up at the nearest moon glowing faintly through a veil of shadow. Her heart pounded. She closed her eyes. She remembered the lullabies she heard as a child the melodies that rocked her to sleep the silver warmth that wrapped around her like comfort.

She whispered Please

A vibration pulsed in the air. The desert lights brightened.

The nearest moon cracked open like an egg of radiance. A beam of pure white light shot down striking Aria in the chest. She cried out falling to her knees.

Caelum knelt beside her whispering It is awakening. Let it come.

Aria felt her fear rise then break into a brilliant rush of warmth. Her heartbeat matched an ancient rhythm. A melody began to fill her ears gentle soft familiar. The lunar song.

When she opened her eyes they glowed like molten silver.

The Void Hunters lunged at her.

Aria raised her hand.

A wave of lunar fire burst outward a brilliant arc of light that swept across the desert disintegrating the Hunters instantly. The sky rippled with silver wind.

Caelum shielded his eyes then looked at her in awe. Aria

She trembled. I did it. The song is back.

Caelum reached for her hand slowly as if she were made of light itself. The moon has chosen you. You are its heart. Its voice. Its rebirth.

Aria felt tears gather in her eyes. I do not know what I am supposed to be now.

Caelum gently lifted her chin. Anything you want to be. But you will never be alone again.

Aria felt the lunar energy settle inside her warm and alive. She looked at the cracked moon still glowing from her awakening.

We have to finish this she said. We have to heal it.

Caelum smiled for the first time. Then let us begin Moonborn.

Their hands intertwined. The lunar wind rose around them carrying the reborn melody through the endless desert. And the moons above slowly brightened answering the call of the girl who had finally embraced her light.