Darkness was her world.
Sylvana did not know how much time had passed since the Harbinger had brought her to the Moon Goddess's halls. Days, weeks, months. Here, in this place where there was no sun, no stars, not even the shifting of shadows, time flowed differently. It did not move forward but rather stood still, like water in a frozen lake, and each moment stretched into eternity.
She hung from chains of pure Shadow, set into the walls of her cell. They did not rust, did not weaken, did not yield to strength or magic. The Goddess knew how to hold a Blood witch. She had drunk nearly all of Sylvana's power, leaving just enough for her not to die but not enough to resist. Every day, when the goddess came to the cell, she took a little more. Drop by drop. Spark by spark. Slowly, with relish, like a gourmet savoring a rare wine.
This time, she came when Sylvana had already stopped counting visits. The cell door, woven from moonlight, dissolved silently, and in the doorway she appeared. The Moon Goddess. Selene, as the ancients called her, though she herself preferred another name. The one she had given herself when she stole divinity from the Lord of Shadows. The one no mortal dared speak aloud.
She was beautiful. That could not be denied. Tall, slender, with skin glowing with a soft, silvery light, and hair that flowed over her shoulders like molten moonstone. Her eyes, huge and bottomless, were the color of the night sky, and in their depths, silver spirals slowly turned, mesmerizing, hypnotizing, robbing one of will. She was the embodiment of a beauty that inspired not love but only awe. And fear.
«You are still alive,» she said, her voice melodic and cold, echoing through the cell. «I must admit, I am impressed. Most mortals from whom I drain power die within the first few days. You have lasted… how long? Three months? Four? I have lost count.»
Sylvana raised her head. The movement cost her incredible effort, her neck muscles trembling with strain, but she forced herself to look into the goddess's eyes. In her own eyes, violet and still alive, burned defiance.
«I have survived three wars, Selene. I will survive you.»
The Moon Goddess smiled. The smile was beautiful and utterly lifeless, like that of a statue to which a sculptor had given perfect features but forgotten to breathe a soul.
«You are brave. That is good. I need brave servants. Broken, but brave. They make the best hunters.» She stepped closer, and her light filled the cell, forcing the shadows to cower in the corners. «But today I did not come for your power. Today, I wish to talk. You are old, Sylvana. Very old, by mortal standards. You know much that others have forgotten. Perhaps you even know the truth. The truth that the Lord of Shadows hid from everyone, even his closest followers.»
Sylvana remained silent. She did know. Dorian Endragon, Nox's father, had told her enough before his death for her to understand that the goddess standing before her had not always been a goddess. But she was not about to make Selene's task easier. Let her speak. Let her reveal her secrets. Every word she uttered could become a weapon, if used correctly.
The Moon Goddess seemed not to need an answer. She paced the cell, her light garment, woven from moonbeams, flowing behind her like something alive. She stopped by the wall from which Sylvana's chains hung and ran a finger over the cold metal.
«Long ago, in an era erased from all chronicles, I was mortal. Like you. Like those pathetic Endragon children you looked after. I was born in a small village on the seashore, in a fisherman's family. I had no magic, no title, no future. I was nobody. Just a girl who dreamed of more but had nothing.»
She turned to Sylvana, and for a moment, something human flickered in her eyes. A shadow of long forgotten feelings, which she immediately suppressed.
«And then I met him. The Lord of Shadows. The true god of Shadow, who existed long before this world was created. He saw something in me. Some potential I did not even notice in myself. He took me from my village, brought me to his halls, and made me his apprentice. His daughter, as he called me.»
Sylvana listened, barely breathing. She knew that Selene had once been mortal but did not know the details. No one knew. The Lord of Shadows had carefully hidden the story of his downfall, and even Dorian, who had devoted his life to the search for truth, had only managed to learn fragments.
«He was great,» the goddess continued, and despite all her coldness, a note of something like admiration slipped into her voice. «A true god. Not the pathetic imitation I became by stealing his power. He was everything. Shadows obeyed him like living creatures. He could extinguish the sun if he wished and plunge the world into eternal night. He could create life from pure Shadow and take it away with a single finger. He was the beginning and the end of everything connected to darkness. And he loved me. Truly. As a daughter.»
She fell silent, staring into emptiness, and Sylvana could see the shadows of long forgotten emotions shifting across her face. Pain. Resentment. Anger. And something else the witch could not name. Perhaps regret. Or perhaps its absence.
«He taught me everything. How to feel Shadow, how to control it, how to become part of it. He gave me power I could not have dreamed of. I became his right hand, his voice among mortals, his beloved creation. But it was not enough for me.»
Selene turned to Sylvana, and her eyes grew cold and empty again. «I wanted more. I wanted not just to be an apprentice, not just a daughter. I wanted to be an equal. And he… he could not give me that. Gods do not share their essence. They can give power, they can give knowledge, they can give immortality. But divinity… you either have it or you do not. And I decided to take it myself.»
Sylvana was silent. She knew what came next. Betrayal. A stab in the back. The imprisonment of the Lord of Shadows. But she wanted to hear it from Selene herself. Wanted to understand what drove the goddess who hunted children and drained power from mages.
«I prepared for a long time,» Selene continued. «For centuries. I studied ancient rituals, forbidden knowledge that the Lord hid even from me. I found a way to steal his divinity. Not all of it, that is impossible. But enough to become a goddess. And one night, when he was most vulnerable, I struck. He did not expect it. He trusted me. Loved me. And that was his mistake.»
She fell silent, and silence filled the cell. Sylvana looked at her and saw not an almighty goddess but a creature that had once been human. That had loved and been loved. That had betrayed and was now paying for it with an eternity of emptiness and hunger.
«Do you regret it?» Sylvana asked.
Selene looked at her, and for a moment, something like pain flickered in her eyes. But it vanished immediately, replaced by the familiar coldness.
«Do I regret it? Every day. Every second of my endless existence. I got what I wanted. I became a goddess. But the divinity stolen from the Lord of Shadows is incomplete. It slowly fades, and to sustain it, I need Shadow. All the Shadow that exists in this world. That is why I hunt the bearers. That is why I destroyed the Endragon bloodline. That is why I will not stop until I have gathered all the power that once belonged to him. Only then will I become a true goddess. Only then can I forget what I did. And whom I lost.»
Sylvana looked at her and felt a strange mix of disgust and pity. Selene was a monster. But a monster that had once been human. That had loved and been loved. That had made a choice and was now paying for it eternally.
«You will not get the Endragon children,» Sylvana said. «Nox is stronger than you think. And so is Lin. They will not break like those you turned into hunters. They will fight. And one day, they will come for you.»
Selene smiled. This time, there was nothing but coldness in her smile.
«Let them come. I am waiting. I have waited for centuries, and I will wait longer. And for now…» She walked over to Sylvana and placed her hand on her chest. «I will continue to drain your power. You are strong, witch. Very strong. Your Blood will sustain me for a long time. And when you are drained, I will turn you into a hunter. And you will serve me forever. As all who stand in my way serve.»
She began to draw out her power. Sylvana screamed. Her scream echoed through the cell, rebounding off the walls of moonlight, and faded somewhere deep in the halls of the Moon Goddess.
And somewhere far away, at Noxspire Academy, Nox Endragon woke in the middle of the night with the feeling that something had happened. He sat up in bed and pressed his hand to his chest, where his father's pendant hung beneath his robe. The Shadow Dragon coiled in a ring glowed faintly in the darkness.
«Sylvana,» he whispered.
He did not know if she was alive. Did not know where she was. But he felt that she was suffering. And that feeling burned him from within like fire.
He stood up and walked to the window. The moon hung over the academy towers, huge and pale, watching him. Always watching. Always knowing where he was.
«I am coming,» he said to her. «I am coming for you. And when I come, you will answer for everything. For my father. For my mother. For Sylvana. For everyone you have broken and destroyed. I promise.»
The moon did not answer. But its light seemed to grow a little colder. A little angrier. As if it had heard him. And accepted the challenge.