“What?” Kuma’s voice was a frantic whisper. “How the hell do you know that?”
The Wanderer’s hand drifted to his chest, fingers pressing against the fabric where the Spiral ring lay.
“I just know,” the Wanderer said, his voice distant.
A slow knock against the heavy wooden door. It was soft pounding followed by a voice.
“Come out, Toran,” a woman’s voice drifted through the wood. It was sweet like honey. “The Lunar’s gaze of love lit my heart, just as it did yours.”
The squad froze. Toran’s breath hitched.
Three more knocks.
“I know you’re yearning for a woman’s scent,” the voice purred, closer now, as if she were pressing her lips to the doorframe. “A woman’s touch... come out, Toran.”
Every eye in the room locked onto Toran. He stood up slowly, his movements jerky.
“Sit down, boy,” Valak commanded, his hand hovering near his sword hilt. “If she could enter, she would have. Stay away from that door.”
“But... she wants me,” Toran stammered, taking a shuffling step forward. “I think... I think I love her, too.”
“Are you stupid?” Kuma shouted, jumping to his feet. “A creepy voice calls your name in the middle of a haunted village and you want to rush out to meet it?”
“It’s love at first sight!” Toran screamed back, his face flushing with anger. “What do you know about it? Any of you?”
A loud scream tore through the night outside. Then, total silence. The chanting had stopped. The wind had died.
After a long minute, Valak spoke. “We aren't here for your personal affairs, Toran. Get back to your damn bed. Everyone, sleep. Now.”
The morning came. The soldiers were a mess of bloodshot eyes and heavy yawns, having spent the remaining hours staring at the door with weapons drawn. When the sun finally hit the floorboards, the heavy bolts groaned.
Luna pushed the door open, her porcelain face unchanged. “You may come out now.”
Valak stepped forward, his voice gruff with exhaustion. “One of your women came to our door last night. She was calling for my men.”
“That has been dealt with,” Luna replied shortly. She didn't elaborate, turning her back on them and gliding away into the shadows of the village.
“How about we search the valley for the bandits?” Kuma suggested, rubbing his face. “Sitting around is killing us.”
“The valley is too vast,” Valak countered. “It would take weeks to cover that much ground. We camp outside again and hope the bastards show their faces today.”
They resumed their positions, but the discipline was fraying. Noon came, the sun baking the dirt, yet the road remained empty.
“I am not spending another night in that house,” Kuma muttered.
The Wanderer, leaning against a crate, noticed a movement. Toran had slipped out of his hiding spot and was wandering toward the village center, his eyes darting between the houses.
“Hey, Toran!” the Wanderer called out softly. “Get back over here. What are you doing?”
Toran scurried toward the Wanderer and Kuma, putting a finger to his lips. “Hush! The Sergeant will hear you.”
“Are you looking for that woman from last night, stone-head?” Kuma asked.
“I thought... she might be around here somewhere,” Toran whispered, his eyes unfocused.
“We don’t know anything about this place,” the Wanderer warned. “Keep your head down and wait for orders.”
“Toran...”
The whisper came from behind a nearby dwelling. Toran broke into a run, disappearing behind the corner of a wooden house.
“Damn it,” Kuma hissed. “Where is he going?”
“Come on,” the Wanderer said, standing up. “Let’s bring him back before he gets us all killed.”
They rounded the corner and stopped. Toran was standing a few feet away from a woman in black robes. She was one of the Crescentians, but she looked fragile.
“Hey, idiot,” the Wanderer said, stepping forward. “Come here before Luna shows up.”
Toran ignored him. He was staring at the woman’s hand. She had reached out toward him, her pale skin appearing fractured, like the surface of cracked glass. lines ran up her arm.
“Did Luna do this to you?” Toran asked, his voice trembling.
The woman didn't answer. Toran reached out, his fingers trembling as he touched the fractured skin, rubbing it gently. “I’m so sorry.”
Luna appeared as if the shadows themselves had birthed her. With a sharp flick of her fingers, an invisible force slammed into Toran’s chest, throwing him back several feet. When she spoke, her voice carried a haunting echo, as if she spoke in two tongues at the same time.
“DAEMIRAN ZEN!” she shrieked. “You have defiled my daughter!”
The commotion brought Valak and the rest of the squad running. They skidded to a halt, blades drawn, seeing Toran on the ground and Luna hovering in a rage.
“What happened, Elder Luna?” Valak demanded, looking between the two.
“Your man defiled her!” Luna pointed a finger at the girl. “Look at what he has done to my child!”
Everyone looked. Where Toran had touched the girl’s fractured skin, the cracks were vanishing. A healthy pink was spreading through her arm. Blood was rushing through veins. She looked, for the first time, like a living human being.
Valak lowered his sword slightly, looking confused. “I don't understand... she seems fine. Better than fine.”
“Ignorant leader of ignorant men!” Luna spat, her voice no longer human.
She turned her gaze to the sky, her eyes reflecting the dying sun.
“SHA A KEEN... ACK A DOM!”
Before anyone could react, Luna’s hand blurred. Her fingers plunged into the woman’s abdomen. The girl turned her head up, a thick metallic slurry of mercury-blood gurgling from her lips and spilling over her dress.
“What did she say?” Kuma hissed, his voice cracking as he stumbled back. “Wanderer, what did she say!”
The Wanderer’s eyes locked on Luna saying . “The moon is our queen,” he translated. “The night... her kingdom.”
As the last syllable left his lips, the world broke. The midday sun was replaced by a predatory full moon that surged into the sky, casting a bruised silver light over a village that suddenly looked like a graveyard.
“Your night will last forever, Zen!” Luna’s voice echoed from every shadow at once.
The wind whispered howls. Shapes began to flicker in blurs of silver. One lunged at the Wanderer. He spun on instinct, his blade whistling through the air, only to see a horror: a woman-shaped thing hovering inches from the ground, her face split open into a massive, lipless maw of fangs.
The creature lunged for his head. The Wanderer rolled, coming up on one knee, his palm out. He unleashed a ball of fire, but the flames passed through the creature as if it were smoke.
A beam of golden light came from the side, striking the creature. It let out a metallic shriek and vanished into the dark.
The Wanderer looked to the source, to find Kuma saying. “Conjure light”
They fell back-to-back, firing concentrated beams of light into the shifting shadows.
A strangled cry erupted from the gloom. “No! No!”
They sprinted toward the source, they found one of their comrades pinned. A silver woman was draped over him. Her body seemed to become semi-liquid, her torso expanding as she swallowed the soldier whole. As he passed through her translucent, shimmering form, his body dissolved, exiting her back as a puddle of steaming mercury on the dirt.
Kuma froze trembling. “She... she ate him.”
“Focus, soldier!” the Wanderer barked, catching a shape with a light beam and sending it spiraling away. “Move!”
They fought their way through the nightmare, gathering the survivors of the scattered squad. Valak was in the center, his face a mask of grim fury.
“Form a circle!” Valak shouted over the shrieks. “Casters in the middle! Cover the flanks!”
The trio formed a defensive knot. Kuma, the Wanderer, and Valak facing outward in three directions, their magic illuminating the snarling faces in the dark. Then, Luna drifted into the light. Her mouth had split from ear to ear in a permanent grin.
“Stop this assault!” Valak bellowed. “Stop now or face the wrath of Draemir!”
Luna’s laughter sounded like glass breaking. “Your General won't mind,” she hissed. “He will simply have more Moon Dew to harvest from your remains.”
The trio focused their fire, a concentrated barrage of light beams slamming into her. Luna hissed, her form flickering and slowing, but she didn't fall.
“We have to move!” Kuma yelled. “We’re being boxed in!”
“To the gate!” Valak ordered. “Double time! Move!”
The squad broke into a desperate sprint, charging toward the village entrance where they had stood just hours before. They ran until their lungs burned, pushing past the wooden houses and hay bales. But as they rounded the final corner, the gate wasn't there.
They were back at the storage building.
They turned and ran again, pushing harder, only to find themselves staring at the same well, the same broken doors, the same mercury stains on the ground. The village had become a closed loop, stretching for miles in every direction but leading nowhere.
Luna’s shriek tore through the unnatural night, coming from the sky above them.
“No where to hide, Zen! No where to run!”