The night air carried the scent of damp earth and distant rain, a whisper of autumn clinging to the wind. Selene Ardent stood by the arched window of her small bookshop, fingers tracing absent patterns on the chilled glass. Outside, the village of Aurelian rested in a quiet slumber, its cobblestone streets bathed in the soft glow of a crescent moon. The old gas lamps flickered, their light barely reaching the edges of the dense forest beyond.
She should have felt at peace. This was the hour she loved best—when the world was silent, when time felt stretched and endless. But tonight, there was something different in the air, a heaviness that pressed against her skin, thick as an unspoken secret.
A storm was coming.
Not one of wind and rain, but of something older. Something deeper.
Her gaze drifted upward, searching. Only one moon stared back. The only one that should exist. And yet, deep in her chest, she knew another would soon rise.
The Second Moon.
Selene exhaled, pressing a hand to her sternum as if she could steady the racing beat of her heart. The legends spoke of its return—an omen of fate rewritten, of lost souls reunited, of echoes from another life seeking their way home.
"Lost love lingers in the echoes of the moon."
She closed her eyes as the words whispered through her mind, like a song half-remembered from childhood.
For years, she had dismissed the old myths as nothing more than poetic nonsense, fairy tales spun by dreamers longing for second chances.
Then the dreams began.
They had started softly, creeping in like a forgotten melody. A shadowed figure standing in the silver glow of an unfamiliar moon, reaching for her with hands she had never touched but somehow knew. A voice calling her name in a tone thick with longing.
Each night, she awoke breathless, pulse hammering against her ribs, the imprint of the dream lingering far too long. The man's face remained a blur, but his presence haunted her as though she had known him once, in a time lost to memory.
A soft chime rang through the air, cutting through her thoughts.
The shop door swung open, and Cassius Renwick stepped inside, his presence as familiar as the scent of old parchment and candle wax.
"You're doing it again," he said, shaking his head as he crossed the room.
Selene arched a brow. "Doing what?"
"Staring at the moon like it holds the meaning of life."
She smirked, turning away from the window. "Maybe it does."
Cass let out a theatrical sigh and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. "You've been acting strange for weeks. You barely come to the tavern anymore, and when you do, you just stare into the fire like some haunted poet."
Selene hesitated. Should she tell him? About the dreams, the strange pull in her chest, the way the night air felt heavier—like something unseen was pressing against the world, waiting?
Instead, she forced a small smile. "I've just been… tired."
Cass's sharp green eyes studied her, and for a moment, she thought he might press further. But then he exhaled, running a hand through his dark hair. "Fine. But at least come have a drink tonight. You know how the old folks are—they'll start saying you've been taken by forest spirits if you keep locking yourself away."
Selene chuckled. "Superstitious nonsense."
"And yet, you're the one obsessing over moon myths."
She sighed. He wasn't wrong.
Cass extended a hand. "Come on. One drink, then you can go back to your tragic moon-gazing."
Selene hesitated, her gaze flicking back to the night sky. Something inside her whispered stay, but Cass's presence was grounding, pulling her back to the world of the ordinary.
With a nod, she reached for her coat. "Alright. Just for a little while."
As they stepped into the night, the wind shifted, cold and electric, whispering through the empty streets. The lantern flames flickered, casting elongated shadows across the cobblestones.
Selene shivered, pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders.
And high above, unseen to mortal eyes, the stars trembled.
Far beyond the edge of reality, the Second Moon had begun to wake.