Empire of Nightfall

Chapter 2: The light

Moonlights pov

Moonlight rose from the ember sofa and began pacing throughout the attic as she tried to think of a suitable plan to solve her predicament. She admitted, conceded that her sister had locked the attic door, making it impossible for her to go out and escape, nor were there any windows, and even if there were, she wouldn't risk descending from the high castle; Moonlight wasn't stupid enough to undertake something so risky and unpredictable, where she could fall and suffer severe injuries or perhaps die.

As Moonlight pondered her options for escaping the confines of the attic, a sudden memory flooded her mind as she recalled the existence of secret tunnels built in the castle obscured within the walls, hidden from plain sight - hidden from everyone. She began to worry that the tunnels might have gotten locked away for good and that she wouldn't be able to leave. But they were the only viable option she could vouch for. A flicker of hope sparked within her, and she felt optimistic as she recalled playing in this hidden labyrinth of tunnels with her sister Starlight when they were young and bored and had nothing better to do.

The tunnels were centuries old and built by hundreds of workers during the castle's construction - they were designed as an escape route in case of an enemy attack, offering a safe passage out of the castle.

Moonlight decided that this was the best plan she could think of in the limited time she had begun her journey to find a way out of the attic and into the tunnels. She is aware of her dramatic way of thought and knows that if she stalls a second longer than Moonlight has already, she will keep overthinking -about everything- and may never leave the attic.

Time passed - it could have been hours or minutes, but she couldn't tell anymore as there were no windows or a clock anywhere in the room - she checked - Nothing she could use so she could figure out the time. She wondered if it could already be dark out, and her coronation may have begun; all she was aware of was her being tired and hungry- She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep; she would sleep on the dusty and crusty ground if there is nothing better to rest on. Her stomach rumbles, and foreign hunger pains pulsate in her abdomen. She had not eaten lunch; she was too excited - and equally nervous- by her upcoming coronation.

''What if I die because of hunger? and then get eaten by rats.'' Moonlight cringes when she thinks of this.

''Okay!'' she blows out a puff of air, "enough thinking about stressful thoughts; time to focus on what's useful.,' she reminds herself.

In the middle of her mental breakdown, as her thoughts spiral out of control, Moonlight notices a ball of floating light near the storage boxes.

"where did that come from?" she thinks out loud. "it wasn't there the last time I looked, only a few moments ago."

As if the ball is beckoning her closer, calling her to come closer to it, it further illuminates its light intensity and glows brighter. Moonlight stands cautiously. She hesitates for a moment before moving closer to the light.

The white light moves behind an old storage box. The box begins to move slowly, and what is behind the box causes Moonlight to gasp loudly. Behind the storage box is a black metal door.

"Oh! At last," she exclaims. That could be the door to the tunnels. Leaving where she had been in shock, she ran to the door. She noticed that the door was covered severely by spider webs. " I hate spiders, with their six legs that are either pin thin or hairy." She groans and searches around with her eyes to find something to remove the spider web with- something like a cloth.

Getting distracted in the middle of her search, she turns to the ball of light and instinctively moves to touch it. As her fingertips touch the glowing surface of the ball, its warmth and energy get absorbed into her hand, and the white ball disappears.

Moonlight gasps and brings her hand up close to her chest. A few seconds go by like this before she moves her hand up to her eye and starts to inspect her palm. It looks normal, but it feels different. She feels warmth and pressure on the tips of her fingers on her wrist and arm.

Not anticipating it, she remembers a distinct memory of her parents reading her and her sister a bedtime story not long before they had passed away. The story mentioned a ball of floating light relating to some Holder of great power.

She was always curious about what it would be like to have the intense power of the Holder. But it is not real. It's just a myth, She reminded herself. What does this unfamiliar feeling mean? And how did her hand absorb the ball of light? And most of all, WHAT IS THAT BALL OF LIGHT?!

As the white ball of light heard Moonlight's string of Questions, her hand started to glow, and after a few moments, her hand started to become hotter, and the pressure intensified. The ball of light appeared out of her hand and led her to the old storage boxes. However, this tie, instead of moving, opens. Inside is an ancient brown leather-bound book titled 'The History of the Holders'.

Flabbergasted, Moonlight takes steps away from the book, the storage boxes, and the ball of light to move away from it all. But the ball of light has different ideas. It silently lifts the box using its strange floating magic and follows Moonlight. Not knowing what else to do, she takes a step back, then another and another. But no matter how many steps she took, the ball of light would follow her with the book.

Giving up the chase of cat and mouse that isn't going anywhere, she decides to wait and see what the ball of light would do next.

The ball of light brings the book near Moonlight, drops it by her gold high-heel-clad feet, and disappears. She stares at the book for some time before bending and timidly picking it up.

She looks at the book and then turns to the black metal door. She figures she will read the book once she gets out of the attic and delts with her sister. So she places the book in her skirts for safekeeping. After doing so, She locates a piece of white cloth in the storage box and cleans the spider web for the door. The door opens without any problem. The door is not locked, which is surprising to Moonlight. She feared that someone might have locked the door leading to the tunnels, as the tunnels (to her knowledge) have not been in use in decades.

Glancing through the open door, she discovers that the tunnel is too dark to see nothing but a dark void. Moonlight walks further into the room and picks up one of the lamps she had lit while she searched. Using the light from the lamp, she walks into the tunnels without looking back.

Authors note: so what do you think of this chapter? what do you think will happen in the tunnels.

make sure to vote, comment share and follow!

i Hope you guys have a good day,