The Betrayal

Chapter Twenty One

I stood in the forest, staring up at the beautiful woman in front of me. She floated meters off of the ground. An olive-colored gown hung off of her shoulders and a lengthy slit in her dress made it so her legs could move freely if they needed to. A smug smirk plastered on her face as she stared down at me. "Did you really think you could win this war Luna?" Her head tilted ever so slightly.

My lips parted. "Who... who are you?" I asked. A knot formed between my brows as I tried racking my brain for any hint as to who she could be. Something about her seemed eerily familiar, yet I couldn't place where or when I've seen her before.

"I've been many people," her goddess-like voice said. "The real question is who are you?"

My eyebrows furrowed together for a split second and then I readjusted myself, straightening my back and pushing my shoulders back. "I'm Mae, Goddess of the Moon."

Her brow cocked. "Oh, dearest Mae, I know who you are, but do you?"

What was she talking about? What was she trying to get at?

Her figure floated closer to the ground until her toes skimmed the dirt and then sat evenly on it. "Do you know who you are on the inside? I've known what you are for thousands and thousands of years. Yet, you've seemed to forget since our first gathering. Let's see if I can make you remember."

Suddenly, the world around me darkened. A black sky. A black ground. It was almost as if it were nothingness. My eyes scanned the sky, looking for a star or my moon to brighten the world even if it was just a little.

"Wha-what am I looking at?" I asked, twirling around and trying to find a sense of direction.

Her cackles filled the air, almost as if she was all around me. What way was she coming from?

A distant light beamed to my right. I followed its brightness. As I got closer and closer the light became bigger. Yet, the ground and sky were not here any longer. I was surrounded by a mixture of dark and light, of white and black.

"Do you understand now?" she asked from behind me. I quickly turned to face her. No, I didn't understand. Who would understand a message like tha-

My eyes widened at the monsters the beautiful woman had become. No longer did one woman stand in front of me, but thousands of men and woman of different races, ethnicities, and species. They moved as if they were one. Their lips all parting at the same time, their eyebrows cocking, their smirks tugging at the right corner of their lips.

"Do you understand now?" they repeated in unison.

My eyes widened. A strong urge to run back to the darkness tugged at my insides.

They all took a step closer, yet my body refused to step back.

Their heads tilted to the side. "Do you understand now?" Another step.

My heart thumped loudly against my chest.

"Do you understand now?"

I scanned the crowd, looking for someone I knew. Maybe, I could uncover who was behind this all. This seemed to be another one of my visions. And, this woman – or these monsters did not seem to be on my side by the way they were aggressively stalking towards me. But, there were too many eyes. I could barely concentrate on just one of them.

As they took another step towards me, I stepped towards them, wanting to show them I wasn't afraid of who was behind them – even though my heart was racing a hundred miles an hour inside of me.