CHAPTER 337: UNDER THE TWIN MOONS

Under the Twin Moons

The darkness of the night sky reached wide and limitless, a painting rendered in whispers. Scattered across the blackness, like pinpricks in a velvet cloak, shone stars. Their silver glowed sharp in the cool air. Twin moons hung high above, silent in their rule—one a white, golden coin, the other a blue glowing sphere whose light was barely visible. Their combined light spilled down in soft, overlapping folds, enveloping the world in a loveliness that seemed to be almost too fragile for a kingdom marked by conflict.

Underneath that peaceful canopy, the earth rested. Villages nestled together like children holding onto warmth under heavy quilts. Fields lay under frozen soil, rivers whispered their soft secrets, and the forests were upright sentinels, their shadows engulfing the trails between the trunks. But in the very center of the Moonstone Kingdom, the capital defied the quiet of night.

Moonspire emerged from the earth as if a dream had awakened out of a vision. From a distance, it shone with a constant, otherworldly light. Broad boulevards braided through its center like ribbons of liquid silver, each bordered by white-stone streets that sucked up the radiance of innumerable lanterns. Towers topped in intricate silver filigree pierced the heavens, their spires capturing moonlight and sending it in faint, glimmering colors. It was not the boisterous brilliance of crowded market squares or Tipsy inns; it was soft, measured light—such as moonlight settling upon still, deep water.

From the outskirts of the city inwards, its loveliness came in layers. Amber lanterns brightened cobbled streets in honey-colored halos in outer districts, their light playing softly on rain-washed stone. The faint scent of warm bread wafted from midnight bakeries, blending with the sharper smell of iron and oil in forges that still smoldered in the night.

But the center of Moonspire shone in another way. Light here was gentler—no blazing fires, no blinding white burst. Instead, it was an ethereal, silken light, touched with the soft colors of silver and ivory. And at its very core stood the source of that subdued beauty.

In the city center, the palace of the royal family towered like a dream born of moonlight and marble. Its soaring walls and domed roofs shone beneath the twin moons, one pale yellow, the other soft blue, casting an ethereal light over silver and white stone. In times of peace, it was the very picture of serene majesty. The wide arches and narrow spires appeared to absorb the lunar light, until the whole façade shone faintly, as if cut from frozen light itself.

But tonight, the loveliness was empty. The serenity outside ended at palace gates. Inside its walls, the atmosphere was taut, like a drawn bowstring waiting to break.

Guards paced with crisp precision, boots stomping in accurate harmony down marble halls. The soft ring of armor resonated through the silence. Each man’s eyes were intent, each man’s hand poised to draw steel at a moment’s notice. This was not ritual. This was watchfulness from need.

Far within the palace, beyond sweeping staircases and grand colonnades, existed the royal court—a realm where beauty and power blended together like silk upon steel. The room itself was a temple to power. Pillars adorned with intricate carvings twisted up into vaults where paintings of the kingdom’s genesis stretched across: wars fought upon midnight skies, the founding monarchs crowned in wreaths of silver. Over it all, the Moonstone crest—a black cloud-covered crescent moon—stretched across the ceiling like an unspoken protector.

Under painted skies, the floor was a mosaic of gleaming stone, silver veins reflecting each flicker of torchlight. Crystal chandeliers drooped like gardens in mid-air, casting cold light that seemed to make the shadows deeper rather than dispersing them.

The hallway was packed to the point of being stifling. Silk-robed ministers whispered in hushed tones. Advisors huddled over parchment, scratching out notes in hasty handwriting. Generals, rigid in their uniforms, stood with the unyielding tension of men long accustomed to blood and defeat. The combined smell of parchment, burning oil, and cold steel clung to the air.

At the far end, upon a tall throne of silver engraved with moonstone, sat King Aurelian Moonlight.

Once, his very presence was able to silence a room with the heft of unspoken power. Now, that heft was altered—heavier, not due to power, but fatigue. Clothed in black that devoured the light about him, he appeared to be a man haunted by his own crown.

His hair, once tied with careful precision, fell loose down his shoulders, a fall of midnight against alabaster. His beard, which had been trimmed with the military’s stern discipline, displayed ragged growth, giving evidence of long nights spent sleepless. Those same quick blue eyes—eyes that had glazed men in midsentence—still burned, but the flame was smudged, encircled by fatigue. There was warmth there, yes, but the warmth was the weary warmth of a man who had little time left.

Everyone in that hall understood the cause. It lingered in the air like smoke on the battlefield.

The war.

Ten days had passed since the initial blow—ten days since the Vellore Kingdom broke the tenuous stalemate. Their blow had not been from the eastern front, where armies had stared at one another across no-man’s-land for months. Rather, they had attacked from the south—fast, brutal, and merciless.

The province in the south, over which Duke Leon ruled, had fallen in a tempest of steel and flame. The duke himself was dead. His territories were seized. His daughter—the king’s sole heir—was with him.

And the war was only just begun.

The king’s jaw clenched in contemplation, though his sorrow was not the hot sting of paternal affection—it was distant, clinical. He had never been tied to his daughter like a father should be. To him, she had always been a piece on the board, something precious but replaceable. Leon, though—Leon was another story. Losing him was akin to striking at the kingdom’s very bones. A Grandmaster realm warrior could not be replaced in a season, let alone several. That void would seep into all battles.

Bad enough, the southern line had collapsed. Vellore’s troops had penetrated ten kilometers into their territory before the eastern front broke into full-scale war too. Then came rumors from the west—movements too calculated to be anything other than hostile. Only the north was still unscathed, its great mountains a natural barrier no army could hope to break rapidly, a quiet sentinel keeping at bay yet another catastrophe.

Tonight, the royal court was packed with bodies and voices. Ministers. Generals. Advisors. Men and women clothed in silks and armor, each with his or her own advice ready, each with the belief that theirs would be the balm to heal the kingdom’s wounds.

Aurelian sat upon the elevated seat, seeming to listen—or at least pretending to. The room was thick with tension, but the proposals hurled in his face rattled like dull steel, scraping without cutting. Poses couched in gilded speech, but filled with desperation. His eyes lazily roamed the faces before him, the tedium there concealed but barely so.

The hum of words increased and got knotted together—desperation and pride fighting, fear and show of calm fighting. Aurelian half-heard, half-dreamed, recognizing the cadence of these conversations: every daring proposition always looped back to the same empty ploys.

Then, above the din, a clean-cut voice rang out.

"My lord," it stated—deep and measured, impossible to do without attention.

The king’s eyes landed on the speaker. A big man levered upright from among the ministers, his body soft beneath heavy robes. His skin glistened with a greasy sheen, his grey hair slicked straight back, his bushy mustache framing a mouth set in stiff lines. He bent low, and the gems on his fingers flashed the torchlight in a score of tiny sparks.

Your Majesty." he started, his voice heavy with seriousness. "If I may. please, offer us your advice. These arguments bring us nothing. We require your word. Your verdict."

Round the chamber, the arguments disappeared, one by one, until all that was left was silence—cautious, waiting. Dozens of eyes were upon him, each containing a delicate balance of fear and hope.

Aurelian allowed the silence to stretch, tightening it like a drawn bowstring. When he did speak, his voice was tranquil—near casual.

"I prefer to utilize what we have," he declared. "Nature. The forces of this land can cause more destruction than our hosts if we unleash them."

The room shifted toward the throne, as if the walls themselves were paying attention.