Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 527

Cain

I raced up the tower, the families safeguarded within the Lunar Heights. I got up onto the roof and froze dead in my tracks. I had to hold my chest to tame my heart. The roaring in my head was my mind running through every hair-raising scenario.

The Deltas were in the tower attending to the gammas and civilians. So there was no one there but us. There should have been no one but us.

But when I rounded the satellite dish, all I saw was a hole in the metal hollow circle. The place where she had been had been melted by the sheer amount of heat that her absorbing the Bloodmoon's rays had generated.

The odor of charred flesh hit me in the face like a punch, leaving me reeling from the impact. I knew her scent even when it was burnt. I doubled over gagging. Still, through the tears forced out of my eyes, I kept my sights on the now-empty dish.

She was gone.

But there was no body—even a burnt one, or a glowing one. There was just nothing.

My eyes darted around, looking for answers, a clue, anything that could give me some much-needed answers.

The silence and utter emptiness of the roof mocked me. I took a deep breath, only to take another lungful of the fumes of charred flesh.

I retched.

I rose with my hand over my mouth, mind spinning with possibilities of what the hell could have happened. If she... died, she should have been here. Where could she have gone?

I turned to face the edge of the roof, a lump forming in my throat.

Unbidden, the image rushed at me: she would have been in so much pain, trying and failing to find respite, only to...

I did not wait for the scenario to play out to completion before I ran to the edge. I did not hesitate when I reached there. I looked over and... nothing.

I clutched my chest. Relief—only for more worry to sink in. Everyone had been occupied with rescues. She had been alone. The Deltas had told me she'd told them to go and help once the Bloodmoon had passed. She had been left alone for fifteen minutes.

The world whirled around me. Nothing made sense.

Had she been taken?

My heart sank.

Or had she gone on her own? In her condition?

I clicked on my comm.

"This is Commander Cain. Has anyone seen Ellen Valmont? I repeat—has anyone seen Ellen Valmont?"

Static.

Then—

"Negative, Commander."

"No sign here."

"Nothing at the medical tents."

My jaw tightened.

"Keep searching," I ordered. "Expand the perimeter. Check the shelters, the evacuation routes—everywhere. She couldn't have gotten far."

If she's even alive.

I didn't say it. Couldn't.

But the thought hung there.

Heavy. Suffocating.

I looked back at the melted dish. At the charred remnants.

Ellen.

Where are you?

---

Hades

I flew at superspeed—wings beating with renewed strength, Orion's power surging through me.

Below, the landscape blurred. Trees. Rivers. Mountains.

Then—

There.

The Malrikian Eden.

At first, it looked like nothing. Just dense woods. An ancient forest untouched by time.

But I had Orion's memories now—and Thea's previous vague directions.

I knewl.

I focused, letting the exhaustion fall off my weary bones after the journey. The speed had taken its toll, but I had a reservoir. Orion's absorbed horn.

And the illusion flickered—like a door had unlocked in my mind, exposing me to the true form of the space beneath.

The woods shimmered. Dissolved.

And revealed the city beneath.

Gold and gossamer.

Towers of shimmering crystal. Streets paved with obsidian glass. Walls carved from white marble veined with gold.

The Malrikian Eden.

Malrik's stronghold.

My eyes locked on the highest tower—the central spire, rising above all others.

There.

I could feel it.

The Chalyx. Vassir's horn. My horn.

I let the tether pull me like a yanked string. I could feel it call, and I had no doubt that it was what was left of Orion beckoning me closer to where I ought to go.

I had only one chance at this. Everything hung precariously on me being successful in this mission. Even at the speed I'd flown past Dawnstrike, Darius's army had dwarfed ours by five to one—and by then there were still more coming, filtering through the border of Obsidian.

It had taken all I had to keep flying.

I let air rush into my lungs, letting Orion lead me.

I could see the flashes of an interior—clues. A painting of Malrik in red garments like the leader of some insidious cult. A statue of pure onyx in his figure. A dark room, fortified with a heavy door, locked, guarded by... a person.

But I could feel the Chalyx. It called, pulsing with stolen power, calling me.

I folded my wings and dove.

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