Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

54 War

A shroud of silence descended across the underground hangar.

Pilots exited their automechs and gunships. Celestials stood as still as statues, gaunt in their dark battlesuits. Non-magic wielders holstered their secondary weapons and joined the rest of the crowd.

Their murmurs had finally ceased, and now they waited, watching.

They formed a ring around five individuals at the center of the hangar. Maeyune stood among the five. But like everyone around her, she watched as the sun warrior approached three elder men dressed in tan robes with golden trim.

Without the light of the sun, the sun temple High Priests had arrived to help Reo ascend.

Each guardian presented Reo with the sun relic from their respective temple. One held an amulet, and another offered a sword with a golden hilt. The third High Priest was the man Maeyune recognized from Eno. He smiled and presented the staff that she and Reo had saved from the Iron Prophet all those weeks ago.

Maeyune ran her eyes over the large gems within each relic. The gems glittered underneath the electric bulbs that were strewn about the cave ceiling. She knew that imbued inside each gem was ancient sun energy--energy that had existed since the Sun Goddess's birth.

"May our offering aid you in the battle ahead," spoke the High Priest of Eno.

Through the heavy silence, there came the soft whispers of surprise.

The sun temple guardians were offering to Reo the energy that they had pledged their lives to protect. It was their source of their temple guardian magic. They were making their greatest sacrifice, but it was ancient energy that would give the sun warrior a powerful chance against the Wobeck.

Reo closed his eyes and bowed his head. "Thank you. Your faith in me gives me strength."

He instructed Deric to gather the relics into the gunship. And when the High Priests departed with their blessings, Reo turned to Maeyune.

He didn't understand why the entire hangar had ceased operations to watch the exchange between sun temple High Priests and the Sun Prince. For a long time, the hangar continued to watch the two incarnations in silence.

"Everyone's staring at us," he murmured to her.

She cast her gaze across the haggard faces that surrounded them. On both young and old, she saw shadows beneath their eyes and the hopelessness that had aged them.

Among the crowd of experienced soldiers were the celestials, most of whom were not a day over eighteen. And yet, many of them had already seen war and death. In their eyes, Maeyune saw the shadow of fear and weariness. They were children, fighting for their planet's survival.

She could feel it like a fog in the hangar: the presence of plummeting morale. They were all tired and without the hope to succeed.

The moon was gone and the sun, hidden behind an enemy that none hoped to defeat. Light was absent.