The third moon loomed lower now.
Its shadow brushed the edges of mountains, casting violet halos on every ridge and river below. And in its silent glow, something ancient stirred—something Selene could feel in the marrow of her soul.
Not a prophecy.
Not a promise.
But a presence.
Watching. Waiting.
Calling her home.
---
Theron was the first to hear it.
Not with his ears—but with his blood.
He sat by the fire, hands still, eyes open, breathing like he was tethered to something below the earth.
"It's humming," he whispered.
Selene knelt beside him. "What is?"
He turned toward her slowly.
And in a voice not entirely his own, he said:
> "The god who sleeps beneath the third moon."
---
Elira had changed, too.
She no longer walked—she glided.
Starlight spilled from her palms without pain, and every word she spoke sounded like it echoed backward through time.
Selene watched them both from the edge of camp, heart aching with awe and fear.
"They're becoming what prophecy never accounted for," she murmured to Kael.
He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Then maybe prophecy was never meant to contain them."
---
Naeria and Rowan gathered maps and spells, preparing for what came next.
Selene paced the ridge above camp, clutching her mirror shard like a compass. When she held it under the third moonlight, it vibrated gently and spun in her palm—always pointing southeast.
Toward the ancient crater in the Blackstone Range.
Naeria confirmed it.
"That crater is older than any written magic," she said. "It's where the first gods fell."
"And where the last one waits," Selene added softly.
---
They traveled by starlight.
The third moon guided them like a silent sentinel, casting eerie silver-violet hues over the stone paths and dead forests. No beasts stirred. No wind howled. The world simply watched.
Elira walked ahead without fear.
Theron stayed beside his mother, quiet and wide-eyed.
And in Selene's chest, the Hollow Star mark pulsed steadily—not warning her.
Preparing her.
---
By the time they reached the edge of the crater, the sky was glowing.
Not with daybreak.
But with memory.
The air shimmered with half-formed voices, laughter and screams caught in time's throat.
Kael laid a hand on Selene's shoulder. "Are we too late?"
"No," she said, stepping forward.
"We're exactly when we need to be."
---
The crater was vast.
A bowl of obsidian and ancient bones, miles wide.
At its center: a massive stone monolith cracked down the center, from which a dull violet light seeped like slow blood.
As Selene approached, the earth whispered under her boots.
She placed her hand on the stone.
And the world shifted.
---
Suddenly, she stood alone.
The crater was gone.
So were the stars.
She stood in a void—not dark, but empty.
Before her: a figure.
Not monstrous.
Not divine.
Simply human in shape. Wrapped in a cloak of void, hands empty, face blurred.
The Hollow God.
---
"You are not what I expected," Selene said.
The god tilted its head. "Neither are you."
She stepped closer. "Why did you send the third moon?"
> "To warn you. To watch you. To remind you that power must always come with pain."
"You want me to stop," she said. "To return the balance. To give up the Hollow Star."
The god was silent for a long time.
Then:
> "I want you to choose. Because choice... is what made you different from all the others."
---
Selene dropped to one knee.
"I have seen every version of myself. The cruel. The kind. The lost. The victorious."
She lifted her gaze.
"But I choose this one. The mother. The protector. The one who believes we can change fate without being consumed by it."
The god stepped forward.
> "Then you will become more than star. More than prophecy. You will become the breaker of patterns."
---
Suddenly, her mark pulsed violently.
In the waking world, Kael shouted.
"She's not breathing!"
Elira rushed to her, hands glowing.
Theron grabbed her shoulders, whispering something in a language he didn't know.
And just as the third moon flared—
Selene gasped—
And opened her eyes.
---
The god's voice echoed in her chest:
> "You carry the Hollow Star. But from now on, it answers to you."
---
The light around the crater exploded outward—no fire, no destruction.
Only release.
The stone cracked open fully, and from it emerged an object:
A sphere. Small. Black. Pulsing faintly.
Naeria stared at it. "Is that—?"
Selene walked forward.
"No longer a god," she said. "Just a memory."
She held it in her hands.
And it faded into dust.
---
That night, the third moon remained.
But it no longer felt ominous.
It felt... watchful.
Silent.
Humbled.
Selene stood with Kael, arms around their children.
Rowan and Naeria stood nearby, eyes fixed on the sky.
"Do you think it's over?" Kael asked quietly.
Selene smiled.
"No."
She turned to face the stars.
"But for the first time... we're not just surviving prophecy."
"We're writing what comes after."
---