Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

49 Mortal (Part 1)

A/N: Again, this was another incredibly difficult and emotional chapter to write. I give you awesome people all my love for your patience. <3

I am pleased to announce that Moonrise has been added to the Wattys 2018 Longlist and is officially in the running for a Wattys 2018 award. Please feel free to vote and share on your reading list. Thank you for all of your support!!! You guys continue to push me forward to completion. We're getting there, I promise!

Warm euphoria soothed every inch of Maeyune's body. She lay wrapped in cool sheets, their embrace melting her into the mattress underneath her. A smile of pleasure blazoned across her lips.

She could not remember the last time she'd had a restful sleep. No dreams perplexed her. No nightmares disturbed her.

With a deep breath, she submitted to the glory of peace. She caught a musk in the air, something that reminded her of spring. But when she opened her eyes, the vision of spring died.

She saw first the rock ceiling above her and then the rock walls around her. Their surfaces were jagged and dark, appearing like walls inside a cave. Light was faint, delivered by a single lamp near her head.

The setting tugged her out of her peace.

Alarmed, her gaze darted around the room, and she found herself its only occupant.

There were no discernible markings or windows on the walls, nothing that could provide an answer to her whereabouts. Its claustrophobic size offered only enough space for her cot, a wooden stool beside her cot, and a diminutive side table.

On the table was the desk lamp that provided dim light. Beside the lamp sat a meal tray, which bore a meager portion of food: a dry loaf of bread, a cup of water, and a bowl of unrecognizable soup. She eyed the food and its bland color, feeling her mouth salivate despite herself.

A narrow alcove had been carved into one of the walls, and protruding from inside it was a shower head. Maeyune followed the pipes from the shower head down to the metal hand knob, then down to a small hole in the corner of the floor that acted as a drain.

Remembering herself, she peered down at the thin sheets that covered her. She was still garbed in her battlesuit, and the smell of mud beset her nostrils. The thought of a shower enticed her to rise.

She pushed herself up to sit, careful not to disturb the injury in her arm. But she realized that pain was absent. Instead, a fresh vigor flowed through her veins.

Upon quick inspection, she saw that the hole in her sleeve revealed smooth, unbroken skin. The grotesque cut in her arm was gone--healed.

Then, a pair of dark eyes wafted through her mind.

Reo.

Maeyune's chest gave a small flutter.

She remembered seeing Reo's face when he'd found her in the rainstorm, remembered something warm and tender on her cheek—his hand?