Luna Felix

53 | Desperation

REI'S POV (Inside the moon mirror)

Desperation. A state of despair, typically one which results in rash or extreme behaviour.

That's what the dictionary tells you. What it doesn't tell you is that desperation is a snake. It slithers in like betrayal and squeezes the last of your hope.

It injects the venom of fear and watches as the will to fight trickles out of you.

She is out there until all alone. Injured probably. She won't till I get out. Because of course, she won't.

It was thousands of my reflections staring at me. Afraid. Helpless. Frozen. That brought me out of my stupor.

I needed to leave. And leave as quickly as I can. This mirror is filled with mirrors. Mirrors on the right and left. Going along a long passage with barely any light. Where all I can see is myself and light sources hung from out of nowhere. The mirrors seem to go taller and taller to the point I can't see their end due to both lack of light and the sheer height.

I look down and I see my face staring back at me. Mirror on the floor too. Which makes the unknown celling the only non-mirrored surface.

I try to run around and see if I can see the end of this passageway. But to no surprise, I just see different angles of haggard and confused Orief Vadeus.

It dawned on me that running won't give me anything here. Nor will my plan to somehow climb out and scale this mirror wall.

I need to find a door. A door is hidden among these illusions. If Felix was here she would have loved to find a brilliant way to use less energy and figure out some logical explanation to get out of here. But sadly for this shitty mirror, all he gets is me. Adrenaline pumped man who believes that violence and force are always the solution.

So I took off my jacket and tore both sleeves of my shirt and tied them around my fists.

I am breaking every single mirror here, exit or not.

And I did exactly that, I kicked, punched, smashed every single mirror I could see. With no pattern, no efficiency just brute force.

Even though the mirror-lined path seemed unending I stopped after breaking enough of them.

I cleaned off a little area to rest. I know I have been at this for more than 30 minutes, and I can go longer but I know my energy is vital right now.

Whatever the situation is outside this place is not ideal. Something big has been lurking under my nose that I haven't completely caught on to. I know its dangerous when I heard Felix off-handedly talking about just me making it out alive.

But if Luna Felix is hell-bent on saving me, so am I. With my resolve stronger I decided to utilize the ace I had been hiding.

There is a reason we Vadeus are the only family that had ruled the werewolf nation. We have strength, that is given. But a lot of wolves have strength. Heck, Acimer fights better than me. We have special abilities, that are given too because almost all the royalty across the supernatural have them.

But Vadeus, we aren't just plain strong or special. We are connected to our goddess more than any other community. She listens to us. She lends us strength when she requests her to. This has been a secret no one knows. Only the kings know about this. A day before our coronation, there is a separate oath that is taken by the king which allows us to read a language written by the goddess. But this ability will be taken back when the king steps down the throne and so will the memory of its existence.

The language is written in multiple places around the castle. But most essentially on the inside of the crown is the spell that allows us to plea to our goddess to lend us her strength in dire times.

However, nothing good comes for free and so doesn't this. The cost of this strength is payed by your lifeline. It's arbitrary how much your life span will shorten after you are granted temporary god-like strength by the goddess. Which is why it hasn't been used a lot throughout history.

But I vow to myself, that even if it means not to live long enough if I sense even a slight chance of death on Felix, I am going nuclear.

Just as I had come to a conclusion, I heard sounds of something clicking in place. Like a puzzle being put together. This change only means one thing, Felix is relatively safe and trying to get me out.

So, I too got up and kept scanning, which of the broken mirrors showed signs of escape, or did I need to break more.

It didn't take long for me to see light filtering through a broken mirror further on the right. But before I could get near it another door on the left started glowing softly due to the light coming in. Which one is exactly the way out?

It wasn't long before another one did the same thing. So this place won't let me go to the same space it had left me at. I need to choose.

I had already made up my mind, I am not using any logic whatsoever. So I confidently chose the last opened passage and ran through it.

As I exited to what seemed like another corner of the jungle, the mirror closed behind me.

But it was so eerily calm that I wondered whether this was reality or another illusion. To check I took off the make-shit bandage from one hand and put the bruised skin against the cold snow.

When I felt the bitter-sweet zing of cold on my skin I realised this is in fact reality. With that surety I made a mad dash to the exit of the labyrinth, hoping to leave as soon as I found Felix.

But alas when I reached there, all I saw was dead bodies. Scattered around. And no sign of Felix. But a blood trail leads ominously towards the temple of the moon goddess.

At the end of the trail, a lone body covered in snow lay still in a pool of blood.

Blood. It's so vibrant, so lively, so red.

Blood. The rich colorful evidence of our beating heart.

Blood. Staining my hands.

Blood. Dying the snow red.

Blood. That felt disturbingly warm on touch.

But she wasn't warm. No, she was cold. Absolutely freezing covered in fresh blood, snow and scars. The signs of struggle are visible. Eyes shut, barely breathing. That's how I found her.

Never had such ire/rage filled me. I know she fought. She didn't give up. She didn't let them take her.

Retribution shall be paid for every drop of blood and for every trickle of fear.

It's time they realize why did the world shake in terror, when the King decides to play the judge, the jury and the fucking executioner.

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Hope this all makes sense. If it doesn't you can DM me on instagram, the handle is in the community post and bio or just leave a comment and I would make a separate post explaining the timeline.