The cursed Moon.
Chapter 29

Moon's eyes flickered through the large tent, her gaze finding an enormous figure. He was staring into the flames of a fire, his back facing away from the women. Mena gave Moon's hand a squeeze, making her aware she wasn't facing the monster alone.

“I suppose you think you are here to kill me. Your mother tried, her mother before her. I am afraid you are on a fruitless mission.” Max's tone was flat, eerily calm.

He turned to face them, his eyes fixated on Moon. It was as if, to him, Mena wasn't present.

“Meet my eye father, I want to watch your expression when you realize we are not like the women before us, when you beg for mercy.” Mena's expression was hard, but the hurt she felt at her father's arrogance towards her leaked into Moons soul.

“I will never meet your eye. Every time I do all I see is disappointment, all I feel is disgust. You could have been great Mena, and instead you are a pitiful reminder of what could have been, soon you will only be a memory.” his words were venom, each one crushing Mena's certainty of herself.

“If a memory is all she becomes, if she perishes today, I can assure you she will be grieved, she will be missed, for she is loved. You Max will be nothing, celebrations will be had when your life is lost. No one will grieve you, no one will remember you for greatness. You will only be known for brutality, and pain, that is all you will be remembered for, that is a promise” Moon would not tolerate his treatment of her sister, Mena was brave, beautiful, kind, and fierce, her father a fool.

“I am brutal, I cause pain, I killed generations of shifters, with my own hands, and by my orders. I was not always the way I am now, rejection has a way of changing a man, or god. I simply changed for the better, wiping this plain of something that was never ment to be. I must say you have changed too, I like this fierce, confident Moon, I shall have fun breaking you in.” he stepped closer, his hand brushing Moon's cheek, her body shuddering with repulsion.

"Now Mena!” Moon spoke into her sister's mind loudly, it was time to act. Mena moved swiftly, her blade now pushed to her father's larynx, her face inches from his.

Max's eyes flickered to Mena, Moon felt his rage build, her own starting to boiling over with it.

A menacing laugh left his throat, a laugh that rumbled through the whole canvas. Moon was slightly bewildered by his demeanor, it was frightening, deranged.

“Foolish girl!” he shouted as his fist connected to Mena's face, her gown billowing as her frame crashed to the floor, unresponsive, and limp.

“You should not have done that.” Moon growled as a gust stirred in the tent.

“I am a God!! You cannot defeat me, enough of this, submit!” Max's face was almost as red as his hair. His gust of power mixing with Moons, both were building energy. Papers flew around the shelter, the canvas flapping, the storm building inside its walls.

Moon let a ball of force shoot through her, striking Max, but he did not fall the way she had hoped. He only stumbled, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.

“I expected more from you sweetheart.” Max approached her once more, his impossibly large arms wrapping around her, crushing her, the breath leaving her lungs. She sent out another shock wave, this time sending them both crashing onto the table, the wood splintering under his weight, with her ontop of him, his grip loosing.

Moon crawled from his arms and panted, catching her breath as she moved towards Mena, she watched the rise and fall of her chest, she was alive.

Moon had no time to relish in the relief Mena's breathing bought, she felt her hair being tugged hard. She clutched onto the roots, trying to ease the pain as Max dragged her through the dirt of the ground, and out of the canvas shelter.

Max's hand grasped her chin hard, forcing her to look in the direction of the pack house, the place she now considered home. A wall of flames obscured her view, the woods were alight.

“They will all die because of your selfishness, because you refused me, because you chose to lie with dogs. It's begun Moon, the battle has begun, there is nothing you can do to save them.” Moon heard his words, but her attention was elsewhere. Under her hands she held the earth, she received the pulse of energy, creation, life, it was at her fingertips.

She dug her fingers deep into the soil, feeling its magic fill her. This was not his plain to own, she was not his to own. Everything, including the earth beneath her was alive, it's real mother was furious. Moon channelled that fury, bringing strong winds and smoke with it.

"She is here." Moon squealed, half in pain, half in delight.

Titus looked around for a figure, a physical being, sensing his sisters prencense, for the first time Moon felt a fear in him rise.

“Titus.....” she heard Ria's voice whisper on the wind as Max looked around, bewildered.

“Show yourself, sister!” Max's voice shook through the trees.

“Leave this earthly plain, leave my creation, leave now or in your mortal form you shall perish.” Ria's cry became louder as the wind whipped furiously around Max.

“You cannot hurt me here sister. On this plain I am almighty, while you are nothing but a whisper on the breeze, now show yourself!.” Max looked around for the source of the voice, his feelings betraying his words.

Moon rose to her feet, feeling light, and warmth radiate around her, hearing the snapping in her bones, her shape-shifting.

“I am here! I am her, and she is me!” Moon screamed into the wind as the transformation was complete. There she settled, her paws on the ground, towering over Max.

He swung at her, his fist shooting towards her face, he connected with force, but Moon was unmoving.

He then tried another tactic, this time his arms reaching out for her throat. Before they could grasp her, a white flash emerged from the tent, latching on to his arm, shaking it violently. Mena's wolf growling as his blood dripped into her fur.

“Get off me mutt!” Max wailed in pain as his fist blew into Mena's head repeatedly, she would not release him, her teeth only sinking deeper. He then grasped her muzzle in his free hand, pulling her from his flesh and flinging her against a tree, a yelp escaping her as she rose to her feet.

Moon was closing in as she heard a howl in the distance. It was filled with loss, grief, it was her mate. They were losing the war, without her they would all lose their lives.

She leaped out at Max as he lunged for her, their impossibly large figures colliding in the air. A loud cracking noise ringing through the woods as they did.

Moon felt the first blow of his fist and the second, after the third there was no pain. She closed her eyes, as her teeth ripped into his flesh, tasting his blood in her mouth. She blasted him with energy, his body smashing through four large trees before slumping at the base of a willow.

Moon darted into the nearest tent, Mena closely behind her, the sisters both shifting back into their human forms, grabbing whatever they could find amongst the clothing to cover themselves.

"Is he dead?" Mena asked.

"No just stunned, Mena you have to go, they need you, the battle has started, just pass the camp, you have to protect them." Moon said hurriedly.

"What about you?" Mena asked as she swallowed down sadness.

"Just be ready Mena, I will do what I can, but the rest is on you." Moon could hear her own voice, knew it was she who was speaking, but the words were not her own.

Max began to rouse as Mena disappeared into the trees, Moon moving her focus towards him.

“You had your chance to leave Max, my power is much greater than yours.” Moon spoke softly as she stepped towards the God.

“Leave, you do not think I would give up so easy sister, just give the girl to me.” he coughed in pain, but there was a humor to his tone that caused Moon to sense that he wasn't finished with her yet.

“No Max, this is the end.” Moon lifted him without touch, just as she had done before, his laughter increasing as he rose higher.

“Do it, kill me.” he growled as Moon wavered. He wanted this, he craved to die, why?

Moon reached into the darkness of his mind. It was cold, no joy, not a single shred of good was here, only death, destruction, the faces of the lifes he had taken flashed before her eyes.

She read it then, he had died a hundred deaths, always reviving, healing faster then shifters, from any wound. He couldn't be killed not here, she would exhaust her mortal body trying, and then he would take her.

Moon's mind raced as she strained to hold him, he was immortal, she could not end it, he would not die on this plain, it was impossible.

There had to be a place, a way, she just wasnt seeing it.

"Bring him to me." She heard this whisper in the breeze as Titus yelled at her to end him once more. She knew what to do now, she had to take him off this plain, and into the next. She moved closer to him.

"What are you doing!" He barked.

"I think you know" she replied as she lowered him, placing a hand onto his chest.

They both entered the light, her grip on him increasing, she would not let him go.

Moon emerged from the light and into the meadow, tossing Max to the ground as she took in their new surroundings.

“How?” Titus looked around, fear encompassing him.

“She told you brother, I am her, she is me.” Ria appeared before them, her voice gentle.

Moon watched on as Max got up and stumbled towards the goddess, falling on his knees at her feet.

“I could banish you, you could join our dearest brother in the under realm for all eternity. I could do that Titus, but I won't, because then you would still be a god. You will still have power, you could still reach my children, I cannot allow that. No instead you will return to the earth, as a mortal. When you die, you will be dead. There will be nothing after, you will be a mere memory. Then and only then will you learn that all life is precious, not just ours.” Ria spoke as her hands cupped her brothers face, tears fell as she did.

“You can't, I am your brother.” Titus pleaded.

“I can, I am the creator, I created you for a much greater purpose, and you repay me with this, with destruction.” Ria replied.

“You need me, I am the muscline. It is the balance, if you tip the scales we all perish.” Titus reminded her.

“Then I shall have a new God a war, one who favours the good.” Ria countered.

Moon saw the pain this was causing for them both, the disappointment, the shame. She then realized that it was only she who could travel between realms, only her who had the power of a god. Was this her destiny, to remain in this realm, replacing Max? The thought saddened her, she would be separated from the ones she loved for eternity, but she could watch over them, ensure that every battle was fair, that the innocent was spared. Then one thought crossed her mind....Zion.

She watched as a light touch from Ria drew all the power from Titus, flickers of light spreading out like dust from him, and into the air around.

"I am sorry for your loss." Moon said sincerely, before Ria sent a mortal Max back to the plain he was so intent on destroying.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you have done what was needed, I am forever grateful. What you did, proves that the power I gave you, my power, will be used for good." She explained softly.

"So I am to stay here? To take his place?" Moon asked with a sadness.

“Of course not, that destiny was never yours. The god of war must be male, ying and yang. He must of lived and died a life of battle, of loss, that way he knows that war and the life it takes is no triumph but a necessity for peace. I had intended that life for Ronan, but his path has changed, he is needed where he is. And so I have another, a life taken in battle that is worthy of the role."

Ria gestured towards Moons favourite hill, overlooking the village she once lived in. A shadowy figure sat perched there, just as she had done many times. Whoever sat there was already dead, whoever sat there would be gone forever to their loved ones because they fought for her. She wanted to tell them she was greatful, and that she was sorry fate had put them on this path.

As Moon got closer and her eyes met his, she was lost for words, her heart broken in that instant.

“Apollo.” she whispered as she rested next to him in the grass.

"Do not be sad for me sweet Moon. I have purpose again, after years of suffering, of pain, I am free." He wiped tears from her eyes as he spoke.

"Zion?" She asked.

"He is still there fighting, which is why you must go back." He said with a smile.

Moon threw her arms around him, holding him tight, before being submerged back into the light.

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