Chapter 67: Moonlit Blood

Etresa was an immense coastal city, the empire’s most important port. It hugged the coastline in the shape of a crescent moon, its southern end climbing up a cliff until it became a promontory that, from below, seemed to touch the starry sky.

At the tip of that promontory stood the temple of Selene, the goddess of the moon and the city’s patron deity.

That the temple was dedicated to the goddess of the moon rather than the god of the sea had more to do with Selene’s closeness to the god of death than with her control over the tides. But according to legend, it was an offense the god of the sea never forgot.

That conflict, however, had little to nothing to do with the sacrifice of a lamb that night. Rather, it had to do with the ceremony held in honor of the full moon.

The lamb itself had already been removed some time before. What remained was its blood, held in a round golden vessel atop the altar, bathed in the light of the moon.

“Are you sure about this, Corenio?”

“Munia, if you’re my twin sister, you should have inherited at least a little of my courage.”

“I don’t think courage has anything to do with what we’re doing, Corenio… This is wrong…”

“Do you want to live on the streets your whole life? Old Tisalo said that just one sip of the blood blessed by the moon would be enough to make us immortal! Think of what we could do with that power!”

“Old Tisalo is always drunk, and you can barely make out what he’s saying anymore… And the blood belongs to the goddess. The only thing we’re going to get is divine punishment…”

“Didn’t I say it was only one sip? No one will notice!”

“…”

From the shadow of one of the temple’s pillars stepped two small figures dressed in rags.

The main chamber was lit by nothing but moonlight, so only their most noticeable features could be made out: hair as white as snow and deep blue eyes, the kind seen among the people of Etresa, who grew up with the sea always before their eyes.

Both children approached the altar barefoot, trying to make as little noise as possible, and once they were close enough, Corenio wasted no time reaching for the vessel.

“To immortality and unimaginable powers!” the boy exclaimed, though he kept his voice low. “Cheers!”

His face twisted a moment later, doing nothing to hide how revolting that sip had been.

“Uegh… your turn…”

Munia took the vessel with a mixture of disgust, fear, and nervousness, but following her brother’s lead, she closed her eyes and drank from it.

“Ueeeegh…”

Corenio took the vessel from his sister’s hands, allowing her to wipe her mouth with her ragged sleeve.

“Now all that’s left is to test our immortality! Let’s jump off the cliff!”

With that, Corenio turned around to return the vessel to its place.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

!!

But at that moment, his blood ran cold.

There, atop the altar, was a beautiful young woman whose golden hair reflected the moonlight perfectly.

Her bright silver eyes looked first at Corenio and then at Munia.

Both children began to feel as though it was hard to breathe.

“First, the offering of faith from my most important temple gets interrupted, and then I find a pair of children about to commit suicide…”

A moment later, the terrifying aura surrounding the young woman vanished, and only her melodious voice remained, soft as a lullaby.