The Moon's Fangs | 1
52 | ashes + darkness

Reks Arlen

“Amelia!” he smashed through the grappling hands – to run to her, to stop this somehow.

Sio struck her, pushing its elongated fangs into the soft skin of her neck.

“Sio, no!” his howl vibrated viciously through him.

Nox was still bonded to her. If Sio did this now, it could permanently ruin her mind. Combining two Guides would cause their souls to clash, making the two go insane. Amelia would die and whatever reincarnation of Ellison would come back fragmented or possibly brain-dead.

His knees crashed into the marble at her side, and he didn’t waste a single second on the detrimental consequences of laying hands on Sio's body before doing so.

Sio squirmed violently in his grip as he tried to get a handle on its opalescent body. Cold pain lanced up his hands as it lashed against him. It was so frigid, it burned. Scale-like frost crept up his skin as he tried to pry the cobra free from Amelia without hurting her more than it already inflicted.

Tremors of fury arched through the muscles of his forearms as Sio tried to shake him off. A strength belonging to something powerful. Its red-slitted stare bore into him with a growing vendetta as it retaliated against him. But he refused to let go, no matter the pain. He would not lose her. He couldn’t bear it.

Luk hissed and writhed in pain, but was just as persistent as him. Luk whipped out from his wrists, coiling around Sio's lashing body, and struck for its piercing eyes. Agony slashed up his veins like frigid lightning.

But together they warred against the superior Guide, squeezing its body tight enough to break bones as he worked to slide his hand closer to the head, to get a better hold to pry its wicked fangs free.

Its brilliant opalescent color drained from its body, as if Sio poured itself into Amelia through its fangs alone.

He cursed, but a sudden force of energy drowned him out as it pulsed outward. The energy surged through him, stealing the very breath from his lungs. It moved like an avalanche, rippling through him, through everything and everyone.

Everything – the ground, the citadel, along with everything within the oasis convulsed from the sheer magnitude of the pulse of energy Sio released.

Over half of its scales drained of color.

Countless shrieks and screams rose beyond the citadel’s walls, then everything went dark. The astral energy powering everything within the oasis shut off all at once from the power surge.

The only reason he could still see was due to the abundance of moon and starlight pouring into the ballroom from open alcoves lining the opposite wall.

His muscles seized from the burning cold, scales lingering up the sides of his arms, up his triceps as if Sio planned to wholly devour him if he didn’t let go. But he had a hold of the cobra’s head now. And Luk succeeded in gouging out its Fate-damned eyes.

Reks howled against the pain, using every ounce of strength left to not let Luk's opening go to waste. The cold fire crashed into every nerve-ending, into every blood cell in defiance as he pried its deadly fangs out of Amelia’s now bloodied neck.

The consequence was instant.

Sio writhed against his hold, tail slithering up his arm as the cobra squeezed his flesh with enough force to break his arm if he didn’t get free.

A piercing yowl crashed through his senses, having no idea if it belonged to him, to Luk, or to the monster in his hands. Sio struck him. Over and over and over again. His body shook violently as if fighting a potent venom. Blood pumped hotly against his eardrums as he and Luk grappled Sio. Fangs ripped through the skin of his hands as he shoved them in Sio's mouth - to wrench the serpent asunder.

Black edged his vision as Sio’s thrashing body suddenly slackened, losing strength. Reks tore its mouth agape, cracking bones before feeling its scales suddenly... disintegrate in his hands. Sio was turning to ash.

Ash like he’d never seen before – more like a dusting of stars littered across the night sky. The ash seeped into his arm, as if even in death, Sio intended to haunt him. Pain ripped through his arm as each particle dug into his flesh to disappear under the surface.

A violent tremble rocked through him, his strength quickly depleting along with it. Whatever the ashes were doing to him, it made Luk writhe with agony, forcing his Guide to flee towards his spine, away from the ash threatening his very blood.

Amelia's hand reached out for him, desperate and shaking. Her lips moved, and he thought she called out his name. He couldn't hear past the war plaguing his body. Fear imprisoned her blue eyes. He stumbled over towards her, taking her hand and pressing it against his chest.

“I’m right here.” he rasped through the pain.

Amelia's neck began to heal, and he noticed her legs twitch with movement once more.

Her lips trembled, chest heaving unevenly. She tried to say something to him, but he couldn't decipher it. He was on the verge of blacking out from Sio's last assault.

He looked over to where Sio threw his gate ring, vision blurring. He didn't have the strength to stand. Damnit. “Etch... Etch Aizling! My gate ring. I need you to bring it to me.” he called out, hoping the cage fighter was still around and willing to help him.

“Reks... Reks I can feel her.” Amelia's voice finally slid through the cracks of frigid pain. And her statement made his heart clench tight. The stunning blue of her eyes faded in color. Yet her fingers clenched against his chest, as if wishing to pull the pain biting at every cell in his body.

Something visceral kicked into overdrive with the intense need to save her, to not let it end like this. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t lose this sweet woman who burned so beautifully to something so ugly and perverted as Sio. To something so wicked and power-hungry as Ellison.

He grabbed her face, fierce and desperate. “You fight her, Amelia. Don't you dare let her in. Fight!” He yelled in urgency, struggling against the ash making everything inside avalanche into something cold and wrong.

Reks tried to will Luk to retrieve his ring, but the ash made it impossible. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit!

Amelia gripped the neckline of his shirt tight, at war for control. Dread sliced his chest the moment he witnessed her losing.

“No– No!” his plea clawed through his throat as Amelia’s eyes glistened an arctic silver, pupils consumed in a white glow. Her champagne blonde hair rippled away, draining the light gold to instead be bathed in the all-too-familiar color of moonlight.

Her freckles lost their unique shade of brown, turning into white specs like constellations across her tanned skin.

No.

"No... no. You can't have her. Shayd damn you!" he seethed through a jaw set so tight, his teeth threatened to crack under the pressure.

He had pulled Sio off before it could finish depleting itself into her. But it wasn’t enough. He lost her. He lost her before he could fulfill any of the promises he made to her. He lost her, just as when he lost everything and everyone else.

“Amelia... you can still fight her. Please.” he whispered, not sure if she could hear him as the change overcame her.

Her silvery eyes stared vacantly as blackness pricked his vision. Something hot and wet slid down his cheeks.

He looked back over at his gate ring, noticing Etch leaning a bloodied, passed-out Shion against the wall before stumbling towards his ring. Etch was hurt too, by what, he couldn't be sure. But if the cage fighter brought him his gate ring and Reks managed to get Amelia back to the lab, maybe, just maybe he could fix this. Reverse this. How? He didn't know. But he'd try anything.

Movement loosely tugged at his braid, and he saw the pink gemmed earring in Amelia's ear do the same.

His stomach twisted.

Icy pain scorched down his sides, forcing blood to pump aggressively against his flesh. Simultaneously, the screams around him warped into something more terrifying and violent.

He turned his head towards the noise to face a kaleidoscope nightmare.

Two women of five feet walked into the room from the middle alcove. One forged from every color of dazzling crystal while the other wore the face of Amelia’s best friend, Blaire Bailey. Behind them stood a large, sleek obsidian monster. It ducked under the alcove, towering over them like a titan's shadow.

“So kind of you to let me in, after all this time.” The Full Spectrum purred in that strange musically grating voice. Her motley crystals swam across her petite frame like living creatures, eager to do her bidding.

Every instinct still working demanded him to get up, fight or flight. With his current state, flight would be the wise choice. Yet his limbs trembled as he pulled Amelia’s body closer to him, guarding her from the kaleidoscope monster.

Cyra's descendent had his ring, yet Etch stopped in his tracks, frozen in place. The boy's instincts knew the monsters standing before them were deadly. If he read Cyra's files, Etch may even realize he's staring at his family's executioner.

The remaining guests trampled over each other to escape through any available exit, causing mass chaos, and crying out about how the astral barrier collapsed.

Collapsed. That surge Sio caused must be the reason. If The Full Spectrum responded so quickly to the vulnerability, would other enemies follow suit?

Undiluted panic swarmed as the obsidian construct stalked toward the fleeing guests, each step creating fissures in the floor like cracking eggs. Its matching greatsword sang from its sheath, the promise of violence in its wake.

The Fates must have damned him to Shayd. He was too hurt to be a one-man army. He couldn't fight them on his own - not in this state.

Amelia’s skin felt cool under his touch. Her features had finally relaxed, as if the internal battle she fought came to an end. Please wake up. Don't leave me here, alone.

“Wow, ohemgee. Amelia got a total makeover.” Blaire chimed. It was unusual to hear the human girl speak so casually despite being controlled by The Full Spectrum.

Amelia laid still in his arms, not registering her friend's voice.

“Oh, that is no longer your childhood friend, my pretty human. It is the holder of my power and the very bane of my existence. My little respawning moon, Ellison Lucil.” The Full Spectrum replied. “And what do we have here? Another anomaly?”

He gripped Amelia tighter, seething up at the motley queen. She stared down at him with an unsettling mixture of pity and delight. She found his weakened state a novelty to behold.

“The Moon’s Fangs, flesh and bone.” a cutting smile arched her lips. She crouched down in front of him, close enough to snatch Amelia away from him if she wanted to. “Protecting his charge, as he has always done.” she tsked, paying no mind to the guttural cries of citizens her obsidian monster conducted with its crystalline sword. “What shame you must feel, for this must be your last moment to do so. Look at you. Your fangs are no more, vitiate. Blunt, as is your pathetic race. You tremble in the throes to keep your thread from being severed.” Her slender fingers moved to brush Amelia’s moonlit hair.

The monster spoke as if she could instantly analyze the pain coursing through his veins, deeming him barely a notch above death. Insulting.

His nose flared as a spike of molten rage erupted through him. He knocked her hand away, a curse flying from his mouth, pinning Amelia tighter against his middle. “For an immortal power-starved bitch, I'm surprised you haven't noticed. What you seek is no longer here. Sio's dead, Spectrum. And if you touch Amelia again, I will hunt you down and crush you to fucking dust.”

Rigid pain enveloped his jaw as she snatched it in her grip, like a crack of lightning. Colors rippled up her arms like an enraged beast. She clenched his jaw tighter, and pain lashed through him as he audibly heard bone crack under the pressure.

The Full Spectrum screamed in his face, making his ears ring from the jarring sound, like a banshee's wails amplified against crystal walls. He covered Amelia's ears as liquid pooled from his, leaking down the sides of his neck. But he tossed her a vapid smile, knowing she screamed because she realized he hadn't lied.

He stared vehemently into those soulless, motley pits for eyes as her tantrum came to an end. Luk pushed against his senses, against the tight muscles down his neck, fighting to defend him and Amelia despite writhing in pain from Sio’s death ash.

Then her screams of frustration warped into disarming cackles. The Full Spectrum laughed in his face. "Oh, how The Moon's Fangs surprises me. It is not the way I envisioned my reckoning, but... how does the saying going, my pretty pet?" she inclined her head to toss a wicked leer at Blaire before turning it back on him. "Two birds, one stone? It makes for a poetic end for the Moon and her Fangs." the crystals turned erratic over her body, congealing and rising in spikes and needles. "I will defile her spun fabrications and twisted ambitions. I will end the war between Fate and Shayd! For Sio and I were never cut from the same cloth."

Reks struggled against her torturous grip around his jaw. His mind reeled with confusion and... partial recognition.

The war between Fate and Shayd was a legend, dating back to the Age of Divinity. A mere story slithering its way through time as it progresses. Though, The Full Spectrum claims this war has yet to see an end? She weaves the legend as though it has something to do with all of them.

He doesn't care to listen to The Full Spectrum's contention, but it dawns on him that she is an immortal abomination. One of unknown origins, with the ability to create an army from her own crystalline cells. In her long lifespan, she may very well have knowledge of such an event.

"Sio's dead. It's ash courses through my veins now, not hers." He growled, tasting copper.

All this time, he thought the tyrant wanted to attain Sio's power, not destroy it. His need to protect Amelia outweighed that curiosity, and he raked his mind for a way out of this.

Her smile curved into something vile. “Pity the empress has yet to wake. I've grown a taste of watching the light drain from her eyes over the past millennia. I suppose I will have to settle for your howls of misery and her tears of blood instead.” she reached down towards Amelia's face between them.

He jerked and grabbed at The Full Spectrum's crystal-smooth throat, cursing her to Shayd as his suppressed demons muddied his veins, begging for control as the tyrant used a sharpened finger to cut Amelia's skin under both of her closed eyes. Thin streams of blood rolled down her temples.

"No!" he thrashed against The Full Spectrum, agony ripping through him like an avalanche as Sio's death ash seemed to spread further through him.

Pain pierced his hand around her throat as needles sprang through his flesh. The Full Spectrum's motley eyes brightened with elation. "Oh, what a sight to–"

Amber-gold light smashed against the side of The Full Spectrum's head, blinding him as she retaliated. A crystalline foot planted into his stomach, knocking the feeble breath from his lungs and losing his hold on Amelia.

The contents of his stomach covered the floor before he slid to a stop. White light flashed against his vision, and he struggled to suck air back into his lungs.

Etch crouched next to Nolan - whose eyes now struggled to stay open. An astral handgun trembled in his blackened grip, smoking from the shot he took at the kaleidoscope queen.

Her attention turned to them, a sneer of annoyance painting her face.

For a split moment, he thought this may be his chance. The distraction he needed to get Amelia out. Reks tried to find his footing, but broken bones and frigid ash slowed him, tried to stop him. He gritted through the anguish. If he couldn't stand, he'd fucking crawl. I won't stop.

"Take care of the nuisance, pet." The Full Spectrum sicked Blaire on Etch and Nolan. Desperation clenched his chest in a deadly vise as the tyrant stood, dragging Amelia up with her by her neck.

“No!” he rasped through a wet cough, eyes wide while conviction vibrated through him. A guttural sound roared through his throat, eyes burning like his sight was set ablaze.

Luk ripped through his flesh at the base of his neck, its hiss searing through him, through the inner demons sinking their claws into him. He'd never seen Luk coated in blood. Not a single trace of its cyan color could be seen. But he's found his way to his feet, and he feels the violent sway of demons coaxing him forward.

"My, my. The warrior evolves before my eyes. It is fitting for her Fangs to drip crimson." The Full Spectrum tightened her hold around Amelia's neck.

The cuts she made under Amelia's eyes have already healed. The thin streaks of blood resemble warpaint across her new celestial-like features.

Screams of guests still echo from the hall the obsidian monster pursued them through, its blade audible. Etch attempted to hold his own against Blaire, dodging her destructive gems and distracting her while Nolan struggled to find an angle to hit The Full Spectrum without hitting Amelia.

Reks hated the idea of working with Nolan Rhosyn, but if he was willing to push through the pain and fight a shared enemy, fine. He'd let Nolan take his shot, then spring an attack.

He may be standing now, but he feared he only had enough strength for one agonizing blow.

Adrenaline built within him, coursing through Luk, holding The Full Spectrum's attention, buying Nolan time. Make the damn shot!

Then there was a shift in the air. A rough sensation of phantom scales seemed to scratch across his skin as a heavy shadow gradually glided over him. It sucked the oxygen from the air around him–no–whisps of umbrage had coiled around his neck.

He crashed to his knees, grasping at shadows he couldn't grab - couldn't tear away from his throat. The dark entity seized Luk, forcing both heads to the ground and holding it there like a boot made of shadows.

He wasn't the only one. Unnatural shadows peeled from the floor and dragged nearly everyone in the room down into its inky imprisonment.

It pinned Shion's unconscious body to the wall she leaned on, wrapped around those he presumed dead lying motionless across the floor. It seized Blaire and Etch, forcing them stomach-down on the floor.

Nolan fired his gun on his way down, missing his target before the shadows swallowed his weapon entirely.

Even the screams in the hall came to a choked-off end.

Darkness slithered up the walls and leaked down the alcoves, creating a stygian cage.

Abnormal shadows choked him while an instinctual fear clawed his chest. For whatever controlled the umbrage stood close behind him. He felt the oppressive presence, and he saw The Full Spectrum staring at what he couldn't turn to see. Horror laced her multi-colored eyes, and that in itself was telling. Foreboding.

An archaic language spoken by a dark and imposing voice slithered over him. "Still vying for The Fates attention, I see. How... disappointing."

The Full Spectrum bared her motley teeth at the opposing man standing behind him, but something held her tongue from lashing out. She lifted Amelia higher, crystals congealing from the tyrant's chest to form a weapon.

Reks yanked against the shadows, which only made them fester and coil tighter around him. The ones around his throat barely allowed breath to squeeze through to his lungs.

"Nuh-uh-uh." The archaic-sounding man tsked, like a scolding father. Darkness dripped from the ceiling and splashed against The Full Spectrum's shoulder. Alarm rang through Reks as the kaleidoscope queen cried out in pain from the single inky drop. "Be a good rock and set my pretty moon down. Gently."

His pretty moon?

Reks twisted against the umbrage to get a look at what kind of Shayd-damned scumbag would dare make such a claim. The whisps squeezed tighter, and a large shadow-wrapped hand clutched the top of his head, holding him still.

"You said I could do what I pleased with her." The Full Spectrum protested, though slowly began to lower her.

"No." one of the man's umbrage-sharp fingers tapped the top of Reks' head as he continued to speak in a deadly calm air. "I told you I had no need of rebinding a broken fragment back to my body. Besides, I quite enjoyed seeing how Ellison made it into her own." a dry laugh curled around them. "I admit, I suffered from a slash of jealousy when she refused me, leading to our agreement of lending you some of my blood, permitting you to some fun... but you went too far. You hurt what rightfully belongs to me. Now, I am a generous man. But I am not a forgiving one."

Everything... his bones, his breathing, his thoughts, his pain... all numbed over at that moment as he grasped who stood behind him.

Then his stomach flipped when his stare met glacial eyes, looking right at him. On her feet–standing on her own. Her moonlit hair swayed as The Full Spectrum reluctantly released her neck, revealing a nasty bruise around her delicate throat.

Her Guide–who he prayed to The Fates to be Nox–wasted no time working on healing the wound.

His heart thundered madly against his chest, and Luk squirmed helplessly under the caging umbrage. "Amelia, run! Go no–" Darkness spilled inside his mouth, silencing him, gagging him.

Amelia tilted her head to the side, brows raising as she pointed a single finger at her chest. She shook her head at him and smiled... and it made something inside him violently twist.

Ellison Lucil.

It was like he woke only to lose everything all over again.

The fires within him raged with despair he held no control over. Ellison stole her. She killed her. She took her from me.

Hatred bled from his pours as he felt the man behind him grip a handful of his hair, baring his neck to the revived empress. "Ellison, you've kept me waiting far too long." his archaic voice adopted a sanguine edge as his darkness materialized under The Full Spectrum, forcing her to her knees in another imprisonment.

Ellison tossed a bored glance down at the kaleidoscope queen before the man silenced the monster with invasive shadows.

"The fault is your own, Crowned Prince of Shayd." Ellison said, tone warping into what he remembered the empress to sound like.

The confirmation of who stood behind him was paralyzing.

"Oh come now, no need for formalities." the Crowned Prince responded, amused. Ellison took a measured step back, and Reks felt Shayd's darkness slither around him, almost impatiently.

"I hope you haven't been tormenting my favorite vitiate."

"Only vitiate, darling. And on the contrary, I stopped him from causing additional harm to his body. His injuries are... quite extensive."

A look of confusion flashed across her face, so fast, he barely caught it. Did she not remember what happened? Was she missing memories?

Ellison examined her fingers, frowning at her unmanicured nails. "The gesture is appreciated, Prince, but it changes nothing."

"Empress," the Crowned Prince cooed, though his grip on Reks' hair threatened to rip the mane from his scalp. "You're still angry about what happened? Millennia-old grudges are pointless, my pretty moon. Allow me to make it up to you. Accommodations are being set up for you in Shayd as we speak."

His thoughts warred in his mind. On one hand, Reks wanted nothing to do with Ellison. But on the other, he wanted nothing more than to protect her. Protect her, because that body belonged to Amelia. The thought of the damned deity of Shayd taking her and Ellison parading around in what didn't belong to her made him sick with rage.

Ellison gazed at the Crowned Prince through sweeping lashes, a vulpine-like look graced her features in a way Reks knew masked her true intentions. "I'm afraid I must decline, Prince. My empire is in shambles because of what you supplied this bloodthirsty gem."

"I offered you the antidote."

"And I chose to rise from the ashes instead." a rift of darkness slashed through the air behind Ellison and the imprisoned Full Spectrum. It peeled open like a vertical eye, revealing cosmic chaos within. Her moonlit hair lifted around her shoulders as the chaotic energy stemmed toward her, drawn to her.

The Void.

Draconic-faced tendrils slithered from it and caressed her skin, like pets greeting their master. Her lips curled into a smile not belonging to Amelia. "Let go of her. The Queen of Rocks is mine to punish."

The Full Spectrum glared at Ellison from the slight.

The Crowned Prince of Shayd's claws dug into Reks' scalp, breaking skin. Blood trickled down the back of his neck as the deadly man laughed sardonically. "This trick again? Darling. You insult me."

Shapes began to take form within Shayd's surrounding puddles of darkness. Saturated, clawed hands worked to pull their demonic-like figures from the umbrage.

Warning bells blasted through him from the sight of the creatures.

Ellison regarded the Crowned Prince's demons, then sighed. "Take care of my things, and perhaps my little grudge will be gone by my return."

"Very well. Keep me waiting too long, and you may find some of your playthings broken." amusement trickled through the Crowned Prince's tone as Ellison's draconic pets sank rows of fangs into The Full Spectrum. The kaleidoscope queen's body congealed to form weapons to fight against the chaos-born pets as they dragged her into the Void.

Shayd's darkness climbed higher over Reks' body, pulling him down, inch by inch.

Ellison Lucil winked–fucking winked–at Reks as he struggled against The Crowned Prince of Shayd's influence, all while the deity clung to his hair and forced him to watch the empress turn and walk into her Void, abandoning them to suffer at the hands of Shayd.

Some of Shayd's darkness slipped through the rift before it sealed shut without her noticing. To keep tabs on Ellison, no doubt.

"Let the games begin." The Crowned Prince of Shayd laughed in his bloodied ear as the living umbrage swallowed him whole.

A part of him hoped to never see the light of day again. The empress thoroughly burned any shred of good he had left.

Death would be a mercy.

And he craved the numb solitude. He craved to feel nothing.

Author's Note: This concludes the first installment of The Moon's Fangs series. Chapter updates for the second book, The Stargazer's Thread, are posted every Monday!

If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review. Reviews, comments, and interactions have this crazy magical power that somehow makes my fingers type faster! Hehe. ;)

Thank you so so much for your support. Sharing my worlds with you fills me with pure joy.

a m e l i a

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