Reign of the Forsaken Moon - Chapter 64: Chapter 64

The wind carried her home.
Seraphina crossed the Moonlands once more, the sands of Azhar left behind but not forgotten. The Ember Womb’s mark pulsed at her wrists, faint violet flame flickering in time with her heartbeat.
Windrest awaited her like a slumbering wolf—still healing, still watchful.
When her procession entered the gates, the bells tolled softly. People bowed, not just in reverence, but with a different kind of awe. She was their Luna, yes—but something had changed. Something deeper.
The fire in her eyes now burned with purpose.
But even before the cheers could rise fully, a raven landed on Darian’s shoulder.
His expression tightened as he read the sealed message it carried.
Seraphina stepped beside him.
“What is it?”
He met her gaze.
“They found something. Or someone.”
A Strange Return
The message came from Mira, who had returned from a patrol in the western borderlands. An outpost had reported an intruder—a woman with violet eyes and ash-colored hair, unconscious and wrapped in ceremonial robes marked with a flame-shaped crest.
When Seraphina and Darian arrived at the outpost, Mira stood guard outside a sealed chamber.
“You need to see this for yourself,” she said, her voice low. “We ran every test. She’s not a threat—yet. But... she looks like you.”
Seraphina stepped into the room.
And froze.
The woman on the stone cot bore her face. Not entirely identical, but close enough to steal the air from her lungs. Her cheekbones were sharper, her expression less worn. Her hair was loose, flowing, streaked with gold, her hands marked with Ember sigils—almost matching Seraphina’s.
Kael whispered, “She’s an Echo.”
Seraphina’s jaw clenched. “A magical copy?”
“A clone,” Kael confirmed. “Created from emotion, blood, and old Ember rituals. But this one’s... different. She’s stable.”
As if hearing their voices, the woman’s eyes fluttered open.
And locked onto Seraphina.
Mirror Soul
The Echo sat up slowly, confusion plain on her face.
“I… I know you,” she murmured, voice identical to Seraphina’s—but softer, uncertain.
Seraphina stepped forward cautiously. “What’s your name?”
The woman blinked. “I… I don’t have one. But I remember fire. Children crying. A crown… breaking.”
A shiver ran through Seraphina. This Echo wasn’t just shaped like her—she remembered pieces of her past.
“Who created you?”
“I don’t know. There was a man… cold eyes. He called me his insurance. He said… I would end the flame before it consumed everything.”
Seraphina looked to Kael. “Lucien. He had Ember knowledge. He must’ve used pieces of my past… to build her.”
Kael nodded grimly. “This Echo was made not to destroy—but to replace you.”
A Council Divided
That night, the court convened in secret.
“She’s dangerous,” Mira said firmly. “We don’t know what she’s capable of.”
“But she hasn’t acted against us,” Kael argued. “And she may hold memories locked away from Seraphina herself.”
“She could be a spy,” another elder warned.
Seraphina stood.
“She’s not the enemy. Not yet. I saw the fear in her eyes. She doesn’t even know who she is.”
Darian crossed his arms, expression unreadable. “And if she decides she wants your place? Your power?”
“Then I’ll remind her I earned it,” Seraphina said. “But I won’t punish someone for being created against their will.”
The chamber fell silent.
And Seraphina knew the seed of conflict had been planted.
Unquiet Bonds
Days passed.
The Echo—who Seraphina began calling Ashen—remained in the temple under gentle watch. She showed no sign of aggression. In fact, she was gentle, curious, and oddly vulnerable.
Seraphina visited her each night.
“I remember… being held,” Ashen said one evening. “By a man. Not Lucien. He had dark hair… warm eyes. He whispered, You’re not alone anymore.”
Darian.
Seraphina’s heart clenched. Had Lucien truly bound her Echo with memories of their love?
“You’re not just a weapon,” she told Ashen. “You’re not a shadow. You’re a soul.”
Ashen smiled faintly. “Then why do I still feel like I’m made of pieces?”
The Jealous Flame
Darian watched from afar.
He didn’t speak his thoughts. But Seraphina felt them crackling between them like static.
When she joined him in the starlit garden, he barely looked up.
“She looks like you,” he said.
“She’s not me.”
“She remembers things I said to you, Sera. That matters.”
Seraphina sighed, kneeling beside him. “Does it scare you? That there’s a version of me who might not carry the pain I do?”
“No,” he said, voice sharp. “It scares me that I might fail to protect you again—because I was looking at the wrong you.”
She leaned in, brushing her lips to his.
“I’m right here. This me. And I’m not letting go.”
Whispers in the Flame
That night, the Ember sigils on Seraphina’s wrists flared.
And a whisper echoed in her mind.
> “Two flames cannot share the same wick.
Choose one.
Or both will burn.”
She jolted upright in her chambers, heart racing.
The prophecy was clear.
Ashen wasn’t just a copy. She was a counterweight. A creation meant to balance—or undo—the Twice-Born Luna.
And someone had unleashed her now.
Seraphina stared into the mirror.
And wondered just how much time they had left before Ashen stopped being a reflection… and became a reckoning.