Chapter 1: The Prince in the Mirror
The first time Elara saw the prince, he wasn't real.
At least, that's what she told herself.
It was midnight in the Royal Library, and she'd sneaked in again, chasing the myths her grandmother used to whisper about the Moonbound Realm — a place between worlds where time stood still and cursed royals watched from mirrors.
A cracked mirror in the forbidden wing had called to her. And when she touched it...
He appeared.
A boy — no, a man — trapped behind the glass. Dark hair, a silver circlet, and eyes so haunted they stole her breath. He pressed his hand against hers, perfectly mirroring her movements. But his lips didn't move when he spoke.
His voice was inside her mind.
"Elara. You've awakened the bond. Now we are cursed together."
She stumbled backward, heart pounding.
How did he know her name?
Chapter 2: The Curse
Elara hadn't slept.
The prince's voice still echoed in her mind, like the memory of thunder after a storm. "You've awakened the bond." What bond? What curse? She didn't believe in magic — not really — but the pain in her palm where she'd touched the mirror still throbbed, as if marked by fire.
The next morning, she returned.
She didn't tell anyone — not her handmaiden, not her father, the Duke, and especially not her fiancé, Crown Prince Darius. If he knew she was sneaking into the forbidden wing of the palace, he'd have her locked away. Or worse — watched.
Elara crept into the library like a shadow. The cracked mirror waited.
"You came back."
The voice didn't come from her ears. It bloomed inside her skull, soft and sad.
Elara stared into the mirror. Kael stood within — regal, ethereal, and somehow older than yesterday. His eyes were a storm, silver shot with violet, and though he didn't move, she felt the air shift.
"You said we're cursed," she whispered. "Explain."
He pressed his palm to the glass. "Touch it again, and you'll see."
Part of her screamed to run. But curiosity was stronger than fear.
She placed her hand against his — glass separating them — and suddenly the library vanished.
She stood in a dreamworld. Stars swirled above like lanterns in water. Cracked pillars and broken thrones stretched into an endless void. And at its heart: a shattered mirror, bleeding mist.
"This is the Moonbound Realm," Kael said beside her. "It exists between moments. Between breaths. Between life and death."
He wasn't a reflection anymore — he stood beside her, as real as flesh. Elara reached out, but the moment her fingers brushed his arm, pain spiked through her chest.
She gasped. Her knees buckled.
Kael caught her.
"You're not ready," he said, holding her gently. "The bond is incomplete. Every time you touch me, you give me life — but it drains yours."
She pushed him away, breathless. "Why me?"
He looked away, jaw tight. "Because you were born under the same moon as me. A rare eclipse — a silver eclipse. Only one soul every hundred years bears that mark."
Elara's mind reeled. "So what now?"
"To break the curse," Kael said, eyes meeting hers, "you must find the Seven Mirror Shards. Each one is hidden in a different kingdom. Each guarded by a Trial of the Gods."
"And if I fail?"
Kael's voice broke.
"Then I die. And so do you."
Elara woke on the library floor, gasping for breath.
The mirror was whole again.
But her hand still burned… and a silvery mark now shimmered on her wrist — shaped like a crescent moon.
The curse had begun.
Chapter 3: The Crescent Mark
Elara didn't know how long she lay on the floor before forcing herself to stand. Her breath still came in shallow bursts. The silver crescent on her wrist pulsed faintly, glowing like moonlight trapped beneath her skin.
She tucked her wrist under her sleeve and fled the library before the sun rose fully. No one must know. Not yet.
Back in her chambers, she washed her face and forced herself to act normal. It wasn't easy, especially with Darius waiting for her at breakfast — regal in his polished armor, eyes sharp with suspicion.
"You look tired," he said, not bothering to mask the accusation in his voice. "Were you up late… wandering again?"
Elara smiled. "Just reading."
He leaned closer, voice a whisper. "You know what my father would do if he caught you in that wing."
Elara met his gaze evenly. "Your father isn't king. Yet."
Darius's smile didn't reach his eyes. "For your sake, let's hope he never finds out."
Later that day, Elara found herself in the royal archives, pretending to search for ancient poetry. In truth, she was looking for any record of the Moonbound Realm or the Mirror Shards.
After hours of fruitless searching, she finally uncovered something — a tattered scroll buried under volumes of forgotten myths. The parchment trembled in her hands as she read:
"Seven Shards, Seven Trials. Only she of the Moonborn Line shall awaken the cursed prince. Bound by light, broken by truth."
She was not dreaming. The curse was real. And someone — long ago — had written about it.
But she wasn't alone in the archive.
A breath tickled the back of her neck.
"Elara."
She whirled, scroll clutched to her chest.
Kael stood in the shadowed corner, his form faint but visible — only to her. "The bond grows. I can appear to you now, even beyond the mirror. But only briefly."
She stepped closer. "Why is this happening now?"
Kael's voice was somber. "Because something has awakened. The first Trial is near. You don't have much time."
A sudden tremor shook the floor. Scrolls toppled. Dust filled the air.
Kael's eyes turned stormy. "They've sensed it too. The guardians of the first Shard."
Elara knew she had to leave the palace.
But how? Under watchful eyes, in a kingdom that would never let its duchess disappear?
She looked at the scroll again. At the words burned into the old paper.
Only she of the Moonborn Line…
She had a destiny now.
And it was about to begin.
Chapter 4: The First Shard
Three nights passed in silence.
Elara felt the bond growing stronger — every time she slept, she saw Kael in flashes: walking alone through a ruined kingdom, bleeding shadows from his chest, whispering her name into the void. The crescent on her wrist burned brighter each time. A warning. A call.
She could delay no longer.
She left the palace at dawn, dressed as a commoner, her handmaiden bribed into silence. With a map stolen from the Duke's private library and the scroll hidden under her cloak, she rode east toward the ruins of Nareth, once a kingdom of light, now swallowed by thorns and silence.
According to legend, the first Mirror Shard was sealed beneath the Temple of Whispers — a place cursed by the god of secrets.
The road was rough. Bandits roamed the outerlands, and twice she nearly turned back. But Kael's voice was always there, guiding her like a second heartbeat.
When she reached the ruins, night had fallen.
Stone pillars jutted from the earth like broken bones. Ivy crawled over the shattered statues of gods long forgotten. And at the center of it all, buried beneath vines and time, stood a door — ancient, iron, and humming with dormant power.
"You must speak the god's true name," Kael whispered in her mind.
She closed her eyes. The scroll had mentioned the god of secrets — one who had no worshippers, only whispers.
She breathed in.
Then whispered: "Veltherion."
The earth shuddered. The door opened.
Inside, the Temple was a tomb of echoes. Cold air coiled around her ankles. Each step echoed like a scream.
At the altar's heart stood a pedestal of obsidian — and floating above it: a shard of silvered glass, glowing faintly.
The First Shard.
Elara reached out — but shadows burst from the walls.
They took shape — twisted figures in cloaks of ink, their faces featureless. The Whisper Shades, guardians of the temple.
Trial One: Silence.
Kael's voice echoed: "They feed on sound. Make a single noise… and they'll tear you apart."
Elara froze. One step. Then another.
Her breath trembled. A stone crunched under her boot.
A shade turned.
She closed her eyes, holding still. Sweat ran down her spine.
They passed her by. One step more. Then another.
Her fingers brushed the shard — cold, solid, real.
She grabbed it.
A blinding light erupted.
The shades screamed and vanished like smoke.
When the light faded, she was alone — and holding the First Shard.
Kael's voice trembled in her mind. "You did it. One down… six to go."
Elara fell to her knees, chest heaving.
But her smile was real.
The curse had begun.
And so had the fight to break it.
Chapter 5: The Shadows Beneath the Crown
Elara returned to the capital cloaked in dust and silence.
The First Shard was hidden beneath the folds of her riding cloak, wrapped in velvet and wards Kael had whispered to her in the dead of night. It hummed softly, resonating with the crescent mark on her wrist.
But the palace was not as she had left it.
Guards stood thicker at the gates. Darius's banner — a silver hawk on blood-red — flew higher than usual. Something had changed in her absence.
She slipped into her chambers through the servant halls just as the sun dipped behind the towers. Her handmaiden gasped at the sight of her.
"You were gone five days! The prince—"
"I know," Elara cut in, her voice hoarse. "Don't tell anyone I've returned. Not yet."
That night, Kael came to her again.
Not in the mirror. Not in a dream. But at her balcony — his form faint and flickering like moonlight trapped in smoke.
"You're growing stronger," he said softly, eyes searching her face.
"So are you," she whispered.
"I can feel the shard. It's like… like breath after drowning."
They stood in silence for a long moment. Then Kael frowned. "There's something wrong here. I can feel it. The magic is twisted. Someone is searching for the shards."
Elara's blood turned cold.
"Who?"
Kael hesitated. "Someone with knowledge of the curse. A bloodline old as yours. But darker."
The next morning, the summons came.
The king was dead.
Elara stood among the nobles in the throne hall as the heralds declared Crown Prince Darius the new ruler of Viremont. He knelt before the altar of light, sword in hand, mask of sorrow painted on his face.
But when his eyes met Elara's… they gleamed.
He knew.
That night, he came to her chamber.
"You've changed," he said, voice like a blade wrapped in silk. "Stronger. Bolder. I wonder… what have you found out there?"
Elara met his gaze with careful poise. "Nothing you'd understand."
He stepped closer, brushing a hand against her wrist — and paused.
The crescent mark burned against his touch.
His smile twisted. "Interesting."
After he left, Kael appeared again, urgency in every line of his fading form.
"You must leave."
"I just returned."
Kael shook his head. "Darius has seen the mark. He'll hunt the shards now — not to break the curse, but to steal its power. The next trial lies in the Ice Kingdom of Haldrim. If he reaches it first…"
"What happens?"
Kael's voice darkened. "Then the curse won't end. It will evolve."
Elara's breath caught. "Evolve into what?"
Kael looked away.
"A war between realms."
🜃
The moon rose full that night — silver and unblinking.
Elara watched it from her window, fingers tracing the crescent on her skin.
The First Shard had awoken something ancient.
And now… the race for the rest had begun.