Chapter 434: A Tenuous Peace
“Caligo!?” Stryg coughed. “I don’t understand, why would a god attack Hollow Shade? The city has the largest temples dedicated to Caligo in the entire realm. What does he hold against Hollow Shade?”
Lunae stared up at the night sky deep in thought. “...Caligo despises the ebon lords for killing my brother, Solis.” She sighed bitterly, “Unfortunately, the truth is more complicated.”
“The ebon lords killed Solis…?” Stryg mumbled.
“That is the lie Bellum and I told Caligo, and the lie Holo spread to the rest of the world. Solis,” she bit her lip and furrowed her brow, her eyes full of pain, “Solis was never fond of the ebon lords and they feared him, that much was true. When Holo’s Shade was first founded Solis was angry; the city had been built in the heart of Dusk Valley, my brother’s lands.”
“I can imagine why he was angry,” Stryg said meekly. If some noble Houses had abruptly built a city in the middle of Vulture Woods and claimed all the surrounding lands as their own, he’d be furious too.
“Solis had plans on how to deal with the ebon lords’ encroachment and the one who helped them, Holo.”
“Holo? As in…?”
“Holo’s Shade. She is the city’s foremost founder.”
Stryg recalled his time in the Dreamscape and the woman known as Captain, the one the Monster had referred to as Holo. She had saved his life in the Dreamscape and also when he had foolishly gone to the Shadow Lake. He owed Holo his life, but the way Lunae spoke her name made it seem as if she was the enemy.
Stryg didn’t know who was right, so he held his tongue instead.
“Holo had figured out a way to create the shade wall, a barrier that not just hosted an army of shades, but that had the power to keep even gods out,” Lunae explained.
“How is that even possible?” he mumbled. Stryg had known the shade wall was an amazing feat of magic, but now he realized it was something entirely more.
“The wall’s creation did not come without its price. A very steep price, but I digress. At the time, Solis prepared the valley tribes for war, and then something happened, something none of us could have predicted.”
“What…?” he whispered.
Lunae waved her arm at the horizon, “The Schism. A reality-warping calamity of nature. Some believe the Schism was an amalgamation of echoes from the Sundering’s aftermath. Others thought it was mother nature defending itself against the avarice of people. Whatever it was, Solis thought he could stop it.”
Lunae stared at her palm and slowly formed a fist. “My brother obtained a unique object, a crystalline structure formed from the darkness of the Null itself. …It was called Selyndra’s Key. With the key, he believed he could stop the Schism, but even he did not truly understand its power. Had he gone through with his plan the realms would have been torn apart, countless thousands would have died. I—We couldn’t let him go through with it… And so, Bellum, Holo, and I, we… we stopped him.”
Stryg swallowed, “Stopped him…?”
Lunae closed her eyes and took a long slow breath. “In the aftermath, Selyndra’s Key was destroyed and the Schism tore apart the world anyway. The realm bridges fell apart and anyone nearby was swallowed into the void.”
Lunae opened her silver eyes. She seemed tired and for the first time Stryg did not see a young girl sitting at the edge of the balcony, he saw an ancient being whose soul seemed worn by the eons.
“When Caligo heard of Solis’ fate, he was furious. Bellum and I lied and said Solis had mishandled Selyndra’s Key and that its power had backfired, weakening him. The Ebon Lords took advantage of that weakness and murdered him. It was plausible, and with Solis’ sister and daughter confirming the story, Caligo believed the lie.”
“It should have ended there,” Lunae sighed sorrowfully. “As for Caligo, in many ways, it was his fault that Holo’s Shade was built, and therefore it was inadvertently because of his actions that my brother came to possess Selyndra’s Key. Caligo blamed himself for everything that had happened and he withdrew into himself… as did I.”
Lunae bit her lip, “Bellum never got along with any of the gods, save her father, but after what happened with Solis things between Bellum and I broke apart entirely. We didn’t speak to each other for centuries. And then a few years ago, she contacted me. She told me that Caligo had sneaked into her home and murdered all her children but one. As for the last child, Bellum had fought fang and claw to protect her daughter. The child escaped but Bellum was defeated and she was forced into a pact with Caligo.”
Stryg’s expression grew more horrified the longer Lunae spoke. He couldn’t imagine the pain and rage that Bellum must have felt. Stryg had been broken after losing Clypeus, he couldn’t imagine what would have happened had he lost everyone he loved.
“Because of the pact, Bellum is unable to interfere with Caligo’s actions in the realm, nor tell anyone of what happened,” Lunae explained. “If she were to break the pact, Caligo would know, and the life of Bellum’s daughter would be forfeit. But Caligo made a single mistake within the pact’s stipulation, he hadn’t accounted for a very particular facet of my ocular powers. Despite the pact’s restrictions and her weakened state, Bellum managed to indirectly send word to me without Caligo’s knowledge. She told me that Caligo had discovered the truth about Solis and that this was his revenge; just as he had lost Solis, he had taken away that which was most important to her.”
Lunae glanced at Stryg, her expression troubled. “For reasons I have yet to fully grasp, Caligo has made no move against me. He does not know I am aware that he has discovered the truth about Solis. So we both lie to each other and pretend we do not know the truth. It is a tenuous peace at best.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Why… Why are you telling me all this?” Stryg whispered anxiously.
Lunae glanced at the Silver Keep and the city of Evenhall behind them. “Because this, all of this, the war we march to, will break that peace. I need you to understand the consequences of the choices you wish to make.”
“But you can stop Caligo, right? You’re the eldest of the ebon gods, surely you can,” he said uneasily.
“Just because I am the first of the ebon pantheon does not mean I am the eldest of the gods. And I suspect Caligo may be older than what he pretends to be. I know little of his origins. He came to us almost a millennia ago and the only one he truly opened up to was Solis.”
“But…” Stryg balled his fists in frustration, “You’re the Mother Moon, you’re Lunae! I don’t care if you’re not the eldest, you’re the strongest! You have to be!”
“If I told you I could not stop Caligo, would you still go and fight for Holo’s Shade?”
Stryg lowered his head and bit his lip. “Yes,” he muttered. “Yes,” he repeated with more conviction. “My family and friends are over there. Even if I go alone, I cannot— no, I will not abandon them.”
“Then what difference would my answer make?”
“T-That’s…” Stryg furrowed his brow, he didn’t know how to answer that question.
She smirked. “Worrying has never suited you, little one.”
Stryg looked up at her, bewildered, “Why do you… Why do you say things like that? Like you know me? Why do you act like you even care about me?”
“What makes you think I don’t?”
“I am a bad omen,” his voice grew tight. “Your bad omen.”
She leaned towards him, “What makes you say that?”
He turned away and mumbled under his breath, “I was born under a new moon.”
“Omens are a fickle thing, child. For many people out there you certainly are a bad omen, of that there is no doubt.”
“I know,” he muttered.
“Do you? Ever since you left the forest you have taken many lives. To those individuals, you were a curse, an omen of death. But you’ve also saved many lives and to those people, you must seem like a blessing.”
“I have not been a blessing to anyone.” He hung his head in shame, “Everyone around me gets hurt. I’ve trained and dedicated everything I am to getting stronger in order to protect them. And then I became an Ebon Aspirant and I thought I was finally strong enough to keep my tribe safe. But it turns out that being an Aspirant just put a target on all their backs. Even now, I came to this mountain in search of help and I almost got Tauria and Plum killed.” He scoffed, “What sort of blessing am I?”
“You see yourself as a failure, unable to save anyone.” Lunae’s eyes flickered with silver light. “The goblin child, Melfyn, would disagree.”
Stryg looked up, “Melfyn?”
“Even now he speaks of you at the temple. Words of your battles inspire the orphans; your actions give them the courage to face their enemies.”
Stryg shook his head. “They aren’t interested in me, they’re interested in the stories of Lunis I told them.”
“No, little one. The orphans admire Lunis and dream of a better future for themselves and the others, yes, but they do not fight for Lunis. They fight in your name, Stryg. To them you are not a bad omen, you are their hero.”
Stryg’s eyes reddened and he swallowed the lump in his throat, “...They said that?”
She smiled sympathetically, “Oh, little one, you’ve been told your whole life that you were the problem, that you actually began to believe it.”
“What are you saying?” he whispered.
“Perhaps your birth is not the ill omen you think it to be. Perhaps it doesn’t matter what any of those fools told you in that village. Perhaps the only opinions that matter are the ones from the people who love you.”
Stryg’s shoulders shook and tears fell down his cheeks. He hid his face in the crook of his arm. She reached over and stroked his head as he cried in a muffled voice.
Lunae looked up at the moon and sighed in contentment, “She really is beautiful tonight… By the time we arrive at Holo’s Shade, she will be a new moon. Her silver light will be gone and we will be standing in a battlefield of darkness. When that time comes, what will you make of such an omen? Will you say the new moon is a bad omen then?”
“I’m not sure…” he admitted.
She flicked him on the forehead.
“Ow!” he yelped and fell back into the shallow pool of the Midnight Mirror.
“We are not heading towards a small skirmish, Stryg. Many goblinkin will die when we march out from these woods. Hesitation and fear will be of no help to you.”
He rubbed his forehead and nodded, “I understand.”
“Good,” Lunae nodded, satisfied.
Stryg got up from the cold water and sat back down next to her, albeit a little closer. The two of them sat quietly at the edge of the terrace, watching the midnight sky in comfortable silence.
“You know,” Stryg spoke up after a while. “Someone once told me that beyond this forest lies pain; I had to be brave and not let fear hold me back. I didn’t really understand what those words meant back then. Now I’m beginning to.”
Lunae stared at him, wide-eyed, her face filled with shock. “How do you—!? Who told you that…?”
Stryg kicked his dangling feet in the air and shrugged. “My old mentor.”
“Old mentor?”
“You know, Sigte.”
Lunae stiffened at the word. “Sigte…?”
“Yeah. He was the old hunter who used to take me out on trips through the forest. Well, actually I just followed him without permission, but he’d let me tag along instead of sending me back home.” Stryg smiled fondly at the memory, “He was the only one in the tribe who really cared about me… I wish I could have thanked him for everything. Did you really never notice him?”
“W-What was his name again? Sigte? Ah… yes, I think I remember him now… How could I forget?”
“You look after the entire realm, anyone could forget one goblin,” he said reassuringly.
Silver light flickered in Lunae’s eyes and she glanced back at the mountain peak and the temple that sat at its top. “Your friends are beginning to worry about you. You should go to them. We will speak more later.”
“Oh, right. Of course.” Stryg bowed deeply, “Thank you for sparing your time. Thank you for standing by me when no one else in this place would. Thank you— for everything.”
She smiled softly, “You’re welcome…”
He jumped to his feet and bowed once more. “I won’t take up any more of your time. Goodnight, Mother Moon.”
“Stryg.”
He stopped in his tracks and glanced back, “Yes?”
“One last thing.” She looked him in the eyes, “Do not hate your mother for keeping the secret of your parentage. I was the one who forbade her from telling you who she truly was to you. If you wish to hate someone, hate me.”
Stryg frowned, confused, “...Why?”
Lunae stared at him with a steady gaze. “Your mother swore an oath of dedication to me the day she became my priestess. She was forbidden to have children and so, when you were born, by ancient rights you belonged to me. You were never hers to claim.”
“...I understand.” Stryg bowed and left in a hurry.
“Do you?” she asked wryly.