The moon had always belonged to stories.

Children wished upon it.

Lovers promised forever beneath it.

Travelers trusted its silver light more than the stars.

And once every year, the people of Elaris gathered beneath the full moon to celebrate the Moon Festival a night of music, lanterns, and old legends.

Seren never believed the legends.

"They say the moon listens," an old woman laughed as she tied another lantern to a wooden pole. "If your heart is honest, it'll answer."

Seren smiled politely.

"If the moon answered everyone's wishes," she replied, "I don't think anyone would ever stop asking."

The old woman chuckled.

"Maybe that's why it stays so far away."

The streets glowed with warm lanterns, their golden light dancing across stone roads packed with cheerful voices. The scent of roasted chestnuts, sweet pastries, and grilled meat drifted through the cool evening air.

Children raced through the crowds with paper moons hanging from strings.

Musicians played lively tunes while merchants shouted over one another, hoping to make one last sale before midnight.

For one night every year, the world forgot its worries.

Seren helped her father arrange fresh bread on the small wooden stall they had owned for as long as she could remember.

"You're daydreaming again," he teased.

"I was thinking."

"That's just daydreaming with extra steps."

She laughed.

"You always say that."

"And I'm always right."

Her father brushed a bit of flour from her nose before handing a loaf to a waiting customer.

The smile on his face was gentle.

Warm.

The kind of smile that made people trust him before he'd even spoken.

Seren often wondered if kindness could be inherited.

If it could, she hoped she'd received at least half of his.

When the crowd finally settled to watch the lantern release, he leaned beside her.

"Make a wish."

"I thought wishes weren't real."

"You don't have to believe they'll come true."

"Then what's the point?"

He looked toward the brilliant full moon hanging above the city.

"The point is remembering what your heart wants."

Seren followed his gaze.

The moon was beautiful.

Round.

Bright.

Perfect.

For a moment...

The entire city became quiet.

Thousands of lanterns drifted into the night sky.

Tiny stars rising to meet a larger one.

Then—

A sound echoed across the heavens.

CRACK.

Not thunder.

Not lightning.

Something deeper.

Something impossibly wrong.

The music stopped.

Every conversation died.

One by one...

Every face turned upward.

A thin black line stretched across the moon.

Someone laughed nervously.

"It... it's a cloud."

But clouds didn't split the moon apart.

The crack widened.

Another followed.

Then another.

Like glass under unbearable pressure.

The silver light flickered.

A child began to cry.

"No..." someone whispered.

The moon...

...was breaking.

Without warning, countless glowing fragments burst from its surface.

They streaked through the darkness like falling stars, painting the sky in rivers of silver.

People screamed.

The celebration dissolved into panic.

Lanterns fell.

Tables overturned.

Parents grabbed their children.

Some ran.

Some froze where they stood.

One brilliant fragment tore through the clouds directly above the town square.

It crashed into the stone fountain with a deafening roar.

Dust exploded into the air.

The ground shook beneath Seren's feet.

When the smoke finally cleared...

A crystal no larger than a human heart rested inside the shattered fountain.

It glowed with a pale, almost living light.

No one moved.

No one dared breathe.

A young man stepped forward.

"Don't!" someone shouted.

He ignored them.

His hand trembled as he reached toward the glowing crystal.

The instant his fingers touched it—

Silver light erupted around him.

A wave of cold wind swept through the square.

The glow swallowed him whole.

Seren shielded her eyes.

When the light faded...

The young man stood perfectly still.

His eyes shimmered with silver.

He looked down at his own hands in disbelief.

"I..."

He stretched out his arm toward the ruined fountain.

The broken stones lifted from the ground.

Cracks sealed themselves.

Water flowed once more.

Within seconds...

The fountain stood exactly as it had before the impact.

The crowd gasped.

"It healed..."

"It's a miracle..."

His wife rushed toward him with tears streaming down her face.

"You did it!" she cried, throwing her arms around him.

He looked down at her.

Confused.

Quiet.

Almost... empty.

Slowly, he loosened her grip and stepped back.

"I know who you are," he said softly.

"I remember our wedding."

"I remember every year we've spent together."

His voice never shook.

His expression never changed.

"But..."

He searched his own heart as though looking for something that wasn't there.

"...I don't love you anymore."

Silence.

The words settled over the square heavier than stone.

His wife stared at him.

"No..."

"I'm sorry."

"I truly am."

"But I don't feel anything."

She reached for him again.

He didn't move.

Didn't smile.

Didn't cry.

He simply watched her as though she were a stranger asking for directions.

Seren felt her stomach twist.

The crystal still glowed inside the fountain.

Beautiful.

Silent.

Waiting.

Far above the city...

Another piece of the moon broke away.

And somewhere beyond the clouds...

Something opened its eyes.

The city did not sleep.

No songs echoed through Elaris anymore.

The festival lanterns that had once drifted proudly across the sky now lay crushed beneath hurried footsteps, soaked by spilled wine and muddy rainwater. Stalls stood abandoned, their decorations torn by the frightened crowd that had scattered only hours before.

The moon still hung above the city.

Broken.

A jagged wound stretched across its silver face.

No one dared look at it for long.

Seren sat outside her family's bakery as dawn slowly painted the horizon.

She hadn't spoken since the square had emptied.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the man standing beside the restored fountain.

"I remember loving you..."

"My heart is silent."

The words refused to leave her mind.

Her father stepped outside carrying two steaming cups.

"You haven't slept."

Neither had he.

Dark circles rested beneath his eyes.

He handed one cup to Seren before sitting beside her.

For several minutes, neither of them spoke.

Finally, Seren whispered,

"Do you think... he was lying?"

Her father stared into the cup in his hands.

"No."

"But people don't just stop loving someone."

"I know."

"So how—"

"I don't know."

His answer came quietly.

"And I think that's what frightens me most."

By sunrise, the bells of Elaris rang.

Not for celebration.

For assembly.

The entire city gathered once again in the square.

The repaired fountain stood exactly where it had before.

Only the glowing crystal was gone.

The man who had touched it had vanished before sunrise.

Some said soldiers had taken him.

Others claimed he had run away.

Rumors spread faster than truth.

The mayor climbed onto the fountain's edge.

"Citizens of Elaris."

His voice echoed across the silent crowd.

"What happened last night cannot be explained."

Murmurs rippled through the people.

"But until we know more, no one is to approach any glowing stones that may have fallen outside the city."

"If one is found..."

"...report it immediately."

A woman cried out from the crowd.

"My husband says they're blessings!"

Another shouted back,

"My brother watched a man lose his soul!"

Arguments erupted instantly.

"A miracle!"

"A curse!"

"A gift from the heavens!"

"A punishment!"

The square dissolved into shouting.

Seren looked up at the cracked moon.

For the first time in her life...

It frightened her.

That afternoon, travelers began arriving from neighboring villages.

Every one of them carried another story.

A shepherd had touched a crystal and gained the strength to lift an entire wagon.

He no longer laughed.

A healer cured a dying child.

She never cried again.

A hunter could suddenly hear whispers from miles away.

He had forgotten fear.

Each story ended the same way.

Power.

Then loss.

By sunset, people had already given the glowing stones a name.

Moonshards.

The bakery remained strangely quiet.

Most customers came not for bread, but for news.

Seren wrapped another loaf in cloth while listening to frightened conversations.

"They're worth fortunes."

"I heard the king is collecting them."

"They'll start a war."

"They'll save us."

"They'll destroy us."

Everyone had an opinion.

No one had answers.

As the last customer left, Seren locked the front door.

She glanced out the window.

Something moved across the rooftops.

A shadow.

Fast.

Too fast.

It leaped from one building to another before disappearing into the evening mist.

Seren frowned.

"Did you see that?"

Her father looked up.

"See what?"

"...Nothing."

But it hadn't been nothing.

Someone else was searching the city.

Someone who knew exactly what had fallen from the sky.

And high above Elaris...

On the tallest bell tower...

A young man crouched with effortless balance.

A silver crystal rested in his gloved hand.

He smiled.

"Found you."

With one graceful step, he vanished into the moonlight.

The only thing left behind was a faint silver shimmer dancing across the rooftop.

His name...

...was Nalo.

Three days.

That was all it took for the world to change.

By the third sunrise, the streets of Elaris no longer buzzed with rumors.

They buzzed with greed.

Moonshards had become the only thing anyone wanted to talk about.

Some called them blessings from the heavens.

Others claimed they were curses sent to test humanity.

No one agreed on the truth.

Only one fact remained the same.

Every Moonshard granted impossible power.

Every Moonshard took something impossible to replace.

The bakery had become quieter than ever.

People still bought bread.

But they stayed only long enough to exchange the latest rumor.

"I heard a fisherman can breathe underwater now."

"They say a woman in the north can stop time."

"My cousin swears the royal army is buying Moonshards."

"I'd take one."

"You'd lose your heart."

"So?"

The laughter that followed unsettled Seren.

Only days ago, people had been horrified.

Now...

Some were already willing to make the trade.

That evening, Seren carried a basket of fresh bread to Mrs. Elen, an elderly widow who lived near the edge of the city.

She had done it every Thursday since she was twelve.

The old woman greeted her with the same warm smile.

"You've gotten taller."

"You say that every week."

"And one day I'll be right."

Seren laughed.

For a little while, the world almost felt normal again.

Almost.

As she walked home through the forest path, the evening air felt unusually still.

No birds.

No insects.

Only silence.

Then—

Crunch.

A twig snapped somewhere behind her.

She stopped.

Nothing.

Probably a rabbit.

She kept walking.

Crunch.

Closer this time.

Her heartbeat quickened.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Only the wind.

She turned the corner of the path..

..and froze.

Three men stood in the middle of the road.

Their faces were hidden beneath dark cloaks.

One carried a lantern.

Another gripped a rusted sword.

The third smiled.

"Evening."

Seren instinctively stepped backward.

"We're just looking for something."

"What?"

The man tilted his head.

"A Moonshard."

"We heard one landed near these woods."

"I don't know anything about that."

"Maybe."

His smile widened.

"But you live nearby."

One of the men took another step.

"Perhaps you've seen something."

"I haven't."

"Then you won't mind if we look through your basket."

He reached for it.

Seren pulled it back.

"It's just bread."

"Then prove it."

Before she could answer...

A silver blur dropped from the trees.

THUD.

One of the cloaked men hit the ground before he even realized someone had landed behind him.

"What—?!"

The second man swung his sword.

The stranger leaned sideways so effortlessly it looked like dancing.

The blade missed by inches.

He sighed.

"You people are really predictable."

He kicked the man's legs from beneath him.

CRACK.

The sword skidded across the dirt.

The third man turned and ran.

"Good choice," the stranger called after him.

"I would've hated doing paperwork."

Seren blinked.

Paperwork?

The stranger dusted off his dark coat as though nothing unusual had happened.

He couldn't have been much older than twenty.

Messy dark hair.

A crooked grin.

Eyes that sparkled with far too much confidence.

He looked at the two unconscious men.

"Hm."

"They'll wake up."

"Probably."

He finally noticed Seren staring.

"Oh."

"You alright?"

"...Who are you?"

He pointed at himself.

"Me?"

"Someone with terrible timing."

"You just saved me."

"Exactly."

He smiled.

"Terrible timing."

Seren couldn't help it.

She laughed.

The stranger grinned proudly.

"There it is."

"What?"

"The 'I thought I was about to die' laugh."

"It happens more often than you'd think."

Seren stared.

"...That isn't comforting."

"No."

"It really isn't."

For a brief moment, everything felt strangely normal.

Then Seren noticed something.

His hands.

Thin silver scars traced across his fingers.

Almost like cracks in glass.

"What happened to your hands?"

He looked down.

His smile faded.

"Oh."

"These?"

He pulled on his gloves before she could get a better look.

"Occupational hazard."

"What occupation?"

"I'm between jobs."

"You don't seem trustworthy."

"I get that a lot."

He offered an exaggerated bow.

"The name's Nalo."

"Seren."

"Nice to meet you, Seren."

He looked toward the darkening forest.

Then his playful expression disappeared.

"Listen carefully."

His voice had changed.

Completely.

"If you ever find a Moonshard..."

"...don't touch it."

Seren frowned.

"You know about them?"

"I know enough."

Before she could ask another question,

A whistle echoed through the trees.

Nalo looked up sharply.

"They found me already?"

He sighed dramatically.

"I really need quieter enemies."

Without another word, he stepped backward into a patch of moonlight beneath the trees.

The silver glow wrapped around him like mist.

Seren reached out.

"Wait!"

Nalo smiled one last time.

"We'll meet again."

The moonlight flickered.

And he was gone.

As though he'd dissolved into the night itself.

Seren stood alone on the forest path.

The basket of bread still clutched in her hands.

Her heart raced.

She had questions.

Far too many.

And for the first time since the moon had broken...

She had met someone who seemed to know the answers.