Part One: Oldland Girl
The luminescent ocean waves crashed against the shore's jagged rocks, the water tainted with the untamed remnants of Earth's Manea. Each swell shimmered with ghostly light, as if the sea itself remembered what it had lost. The girl stood barefoot on the sand, feeling the static hum beneath her tawny skin, the pulse of a dying world that refused to go silent. Her tribe called this place the Rim, where the ocean met the Oldlands or what long ago had been the Washington Coast.
Her hair, woven into long brown braids that brushed her shoulders, framed a face marked with delicate white tattoos, each line etched with purpose and heritage.
"Ugh Where is that cursed creature? Gorchid! Gorchid!"
Luna called out for her family's new rebellious tow-bull, Gorchid. Her family spent half of their saved up Korral shards for this Bull and Luna wasn't going to just let it run away. The merchant had warned them about Gorchid's "proneness to freedom," but Luna—stubborn, confident, and desperate to prove herself—had promised her mother, Pat'ul, she could tame him. It was her duty in the tribe to make sure the animals obeyed the human hand, and she was good at it. Most of the time.
"Gorchid! Please come back, it's getting dark out…and cold."
Luna shivered. She expected to hear Gorchid's hoof's in response to her voice but alas nothing changed. Luna scanned the horizon as the purple and orange kissed sky began to get darker. She noticed the ruins of an oldland city in the distance.
"Please don't say–" Luna muttered, already knowing where her bull had gone.
She glanced up at the sinking sun, gauging how long she had before her absence would awaken her mother's concern—and her fury once she found out Luna had been safe all along.
"Tow-bulls love old ruins" she said aloud, repeating the words the tribe shaman had once drilled into her. The lesson had stuck with her—more than her mother's warning to never set foot inside the dead cities scattered across Earth's scarred canvas.
"I'll be in and out, besides they'd hate me if they found out I lost the most expensive beast we have. Mom's probably just being paranoid like she always is." She tightened the strap of her cloak and started toward the ruins, the wind carrying the scent of salt, rust, and something faintly metallic.
Her fingers brushed the old tanto her grandmother Keko had given her—a relic from a time when the Earth still breathed magic. The blade, though weathered, pulsed faintly with a buried light, its runes whispering across the metal: Retunii. Luna didn't understand the words, but she couldn't help but wonder what they meant.
Luna continued until she reached the border of the city. Then she stopped. And waited. She waited for Gorchid to miraculously run into her at the edge of the desolate city, or at least for her to build up the courage to go in and look for him.
Or Whatever came first.
"Gorchid!? Gorchid!?" she called out, her voice barely above a whisper, as if afraid the wind might carry it to something listening. The stories of creatures twisted by Earth's fading Manea didn't fail to reach Luna's ears, In the Oldlands, they were common tales.
"Abominations" they called them, monsters that used to be man or beast now roaming mindlessly, killing anyone unfortunate enough to grace its path. The bogey man of every oldlands child, the reason many tribes never set foot in dead cities at all.
Luna looked at the sun again, almost fully swallowed by the ocean's horizon, along with any reason to turn back. She was in trouble, going back now and without Gorchid? Wasn't an option it was a death sentence
"I'll be on dung duty for a year if I go home without him," she muttered, stepping across the invisible line she'd drawn in the sand. "It's just an old, dead city. Dead things don't hurt people."
The deeper she ventured, the more the sky vanished behind a forest of broken skyscrapers. The ground beneath her feet turned cold and unyielding—not like the grass she was used to, but more like one endless sheet of stone.
"Why did people choose to live in places like these" she wondered aloud. "There's no planting soil" Her head was on a swivel, scanning back and forth, hoping that each turn would reveal Gorchid—or at least not an abomination. Then she heard it: a snap from behind her. Luna knew that sound well. Hunting with her father had taught her what a twig breaking in half meant.
Her ears had been trained well but, in that moment she'd wished they weren't. She'd rather not hear it coming—better to be taken out clean, she thought, than to go home empty-handed.
She froze. Every muscle locked. She couldn't bring herself to turn around, couldn't bear to meet the gaze of whatever stalked her. The footsteps grew faster, heavier. The louder they became, the tighter her chest felt.
"I'm sorry Mother I should've listened–" she whispered.
She felt a warm moist breath brush the top of her head and she exhaled in relief.
"Gorchid!!!" She threw her arms around the Tow-bulls neck, giving the fluffy creature a warm embrace "By the Radiance you scared me half to death. Where have you been, why are you even here, this place is horrible," She frowned. "Mom is going to kill us both you–you"
Gorchid's head drooped, his wide eyes glistening with guilt. He had thought he'd done well. Tow-Bulls like him were bred to find dead cities for relic hunters, not sit around all day eating grass and fertilizing crops. "I-I'm sorry boy" She said putting one hand firmly on his fluffy brown spotted head. "It's not your fault you like to stretch your legs, sometimes I wish I was anywhere else but here too."
She looked up at one of the moons—and not at the old, gray moon she'd been named after, but at Akrinn, shining bright and alive. Its surface shimmered with colors she'd never seen on earth: the lush greens, and deep blues always gave her something to dream about.
"One day I'll go there, Gorchid, and taste that blue water for myself" she whispered to Gorchid. The tow-bull replied with a huff and licked her face, earning a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah you can come with me. If they allow stubborn bulls that is. I heard moonies can be finicky." she sighed "Come on let's get you home Gor."
A faint crack echoed through the ruins. Another sound—unaccounted for. This time, Luna knew it wasn't Gorchid. Her hand flew to her grandmother's tanto, gripping the hilt tight. If something was coming, she'd at least put up a fight. She turned toward the noise—her eyes locking onto a shape in the dark. A man.
"Keep your distance stranger, this bull is for towing not eating. He is mine not yours." She tried to sound fierce, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her. The figure didn't respond. He stood there silently, watching her—his eyes as hollow and soulless as the city around them. "You hear me, we have no business. I don't wish to barter and this bull is mine! I-I may be young but I can defend myself" Still, the man didn't move.
Then Luna saw it. Even in the near-black of night, faint purple veins pulsed across his skin, crawling up his neck and into his mouth—where dried blood had turned black with age. Luna's heart skipped a beat, this wasn't a man.
Her stomach dropped. "Abomination!"
She yanked the reins and slapped Gorchid's flank. The Tow-Bull let out a frightened grunt and turned to flee. The bull bolted, but the creature screamed its shriek ripped through the air. The sound wasn't just loud—it pierced her. Luna staggered, clutching her head as a stabbing pain shot through her skull. Her vision blurred, and the world spun as the echo of its cry burrowed into her mind.
"Stop, stop it" She screamed, clutching her head as white-hot pain tore through her skull. Blood streamed from her ears. The shriek of the abomination rattled inside her mind like shattered glass.
She dropped her hands, reached for her grandmother's tanto, and charged. Every step sent a pulse of agony through her head, but she didn't stop. With a final desperate cry, she leapt, driving the glowing blade deep into the creature's neck.
The abomination's scream strangled into a hiss before collapsing into silence. The faint light in its veins flickered out, and it slumped lifeless to the ground.
Luna rolled on her back, the ringing noise still pulsing through her head like knives, tears rolled down her face as she held her head in pain. Then through the haze she saw it. A dim purple glow pulsing from the far end of the ruins.
Shapes began to move. Dozens of them. Abominations each warped and monstrous in its own way emerged from the dark. All of them had turned toward her..
Too far from home to cry for help, Luna forced herself up and ran. She didn't look back.
Her ears so damaged, she couldn't hear the footsteps get closer and closer closing the gap at inhuman speeds
"Help somebody please help me!"
She screamed hopelessly hoping someone could hear her cries. A weight slammed into her back, sending her crashing into the dirt. Rotten breath rolled across her face as thick saliva dripped onto her cheek.
Luna was pinned, she knew life in the Oldlands was often cut short, but that fact didn't comfort her in the slightest. The others circled her, their feet blotting out what little moonlight remained.
The creature above her bared its teeth, jagged, and splintered its mouth stretched, readying a bite that would surely end her life.
Snap! Luna flinched, but no pain came.
The creature on top of her went limp, and around her, the others collapsed one by one. She scrambled to her feet, panting, staring at the bodies. Each abomination had an ethereal pink-and-blue arrow buried cleanly in its skull. Their veins dimmed, their flesh fading to ash.
"What in the-" she muttered, blood still running down her ears.
From the shadows, a group of hooded figures approached cloaked in white, their garments stitched with silver thread, shimmering reflecting the moons light. They looked out of place. Regal. Untouched. And just like that it clicked
Luna's heart pounded. "You're… Moonies?" Her voice trembled half awe, half relief.
One of them laughed softly. "Guilty as charged," said the tallest, his voice warm and teasing. "Although in Akrinn, we usually thank the people who save us—not gawk and call us names."
Another stepped forward, scolding him gently. "Atreus. Give the girl a break—she was nearly eaten alive."
He turned to Luna and offered a small smile, his otherworldly bow fading into mist. His eyes were kind. "Hello. My name is Dimitri. What's yours?"