Moonbeam: A Timeline series companion

chapter 50 teaser

CHAPTER 50 TIME.  AAA. the next chapter is a gaze one, her and epiphany bond, it's very good and sweet. i was thinking, "luce" is a valid nickname for epiphany to give gaze bc her full name is lucidgaze. thoughts???? idk i have been considering it.

gaze is learning to control her power in this one through these weird dreams. i don't think this is really happening, obviously her power isn't an independent person. it's just the only way her brain knows how to make sense of things. given prophecy and dreams seem like they have some kind of link, that doesn't seem like that much of a stretch, and anyway, i needed some way to make the process of learning to control her power tangible to the reader.

the motif of the river of blood will come back later. like, a lot later. :)

***

In the dream, I'm standing on a precipice, overlooking a roaring river. It takes me a moment to realize that it's not water—it's blood, rising higher and higher.

It feels familiar. I don't know why.

"Hello?" I shout across the canyon. The sky is dark black, swirling around me. But they're not regular clouds; they're made of sand, and slowly, it drifts down toward me, landing on my shoulders.

"ANYBODY?" I shout.

Nothing.

There's something writhing and kicking in the river. A glowing ball of silver light.

It's me. But not me at all. I'm taller, I'm stronger, my eyes glowing silver. I'm shaking the blood off, I'm scaling the rock wall like it's nothing through the onslaught of falling sand.

I let out a shriek, running away as fast as I can.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Not-Gaze says. Not kind, but not mean either. I notice the stars dotting her scales, lines connecting them into a constellation.

"Then what are you here to do?" I ask, gasping for breath.

"What are you here to do?" she challenges.

"I'm—to—to be the hero! To save the kingdom! To be a leader, a good one." I hesitate. "To prove to myself that there's such thing as a good leader in the first place."

"But what kind of hero are you without your power?" she asks, almost curious.

"I don't know! You're the one who took it!" I exclaim. "Do you want me to fight you for it? Is that it? Because I will. I'll always win. I always win. Maybe—maybe not the battle, but always the war."

"But you can't win against me," she says softly. "You'd be a fool to try."

"Then what do I do?" I ask. "How do I control it? How do I win?"

She watches over me for a moment. "You tell me. I'm just in your head, after all."

"I don't understand!" I shout. "Why am I broken? How do I fix it?!"

She starts to run along the narrow cliff, off into the distance.

I chase after her through the rising sand, pinning her to the ground. "Please. Don't leave me," I beg. "I need you."

"I'm not going anywhere. You're just not looking in the right place."

"Do you think this is funny?!" I shout. "I'm one of the only dragons on the continent who can do this! If I don't get myself together—"

"If you'd just stop screaming, it'd be obvious," she says importantly.

My talons sink straight through her shoulders. She's silver starlight fading into the sand--

***

Anyway. Then she wakes up.