Black Moon Rising

Chapter Four: Bloody Queen

Chapter Four: Bloody Queen

Lunarians are a mysterious species. The few surviving records of them are hundreds of years old, though there is a small handful of highly classified documents from NASA, speaking of the members of the Apollo missions encountering the moonfolk, as they dubbed them.

Their physiology and genetics are very similar to those of humans, except for one major difference. Their highly developed brains possess a pineal gland the size of an egg, far larger than that of a human's. This enlarged gland in the center of their heads acts as a 'third eye' of sorts, which allows them to perform various psychic abilities. Each Lunarian has two separate abilities that are seemingly unrelated to each other, along with the power to materialize their soul into a weapon, often in the form of a blade.

That is our general knowledge of this race, but even more remains unknown. According to records, a Lunarian has not been encountered on Earth in the past 100 years. Their appearances were more commonplace in ancient times, but they have all but faded since then. Because of their extreme rarity, it can be assumed that the Lunarian species is either extremely endangered or extinct. However, the Moon has shown strange activity in recent times. Whether or not the moonfolk are connected to these odd occurrences has yet to be determined. Further investigation is needed.

-Excerpt of a Planetary Defense Agency report on lunar activity

In the dead of night, a gang of thugs pinned a frail-looking young woman against a brick wall in a dark alleyway. Two skinny-looking fellows held her back by her arms, while a rough, hard-built man threatened her with a knife, teasing the blade against her pale throat. "Come on, are you trying to bore us to death here?" he growled. "At least try to struggle, scream or cry or something. It's so damn easy it's almost unfair. Do you really want to die that badly?"

The woman said nothing. She loosely rested her back against the wall, not flinching at the painful pressure of the goons gripping her wrists, or the poking of the knife. At least, it would have been painful if she had the capacity to feel such a thing. It was all numb, like her body was a stiff plank of wood. Whatever these men planned to do to her, it would be nothing compared to the hell she had already lived through, in the belly of that beast.

The knife-wielding thug cut open her blouse, tearing through the fabric and exposing her delicate top half. "We just wanna have a little fun," he teased. "Least you could do is play along."

He traced his blade along the length of her collarbone, slicing into her skin. Pearls of blood dribbled out, creating a grim red necklace. The woman didn't react. She did not scream out, or cry, or even flinch. The gaze in her sapphire eyes was hollow and devoid of emotion.

One of the skinny thugs took concern. "Hey uh, boss? Something ain't right here. She's not even moving or anything, like she can't feel what we're doing. It's like she's a doll or somethin'..."

Rather than taking notice of this, the leader chose to ignore it. He gripped the girl by the jaw and shoved her into the wall even harder. "You wanna play games with me, little bitch? Let's see how much you can take." He raised his knife and leveled the tip at her left eye, clearly intending to stab it.

The other goon warned his boss, sensing that something was not right. "I uh...I don't think that's a good idea-"

He was cut off by the sudden pained howl of his boss. The man wrenched back, screaming in agony. He dropped his knife, instead moving to clutch his right arm, which was twisted in a horrific position that could only be described as inhuman. All of the bones in his arm had to be broken, because the flesh was twisted like a screw.

The other goons quickly backed off, horrified at what had happened to their leader. The woman rested against the wall, still silent. Her eyes shined a vibrant red, glowing in the dark with a demonic gleam. A brief moment later, a gaping hole was blasted through the thug's chest. Blood and guts splattered across the concrete. It was like someone had shoved the muzzle of a shotgun against his chest and pulled the trigger. The invisible projectile had gone cleanly through. The wall of the other building was visible through the horrific wound. The man's bloody corpse crumpled like paper, and the other two were too terrified to even move, at least for a moment.