The snow had stopped falling.
But the silence… didn't.
It clung to everything—the air, the ruins, even Luna's breath.
She stood above Solstice's unconscious body, the mark on her wrist still pulsing faintly like a heartbeat that wasn't hers.
---
The Cleanup
Bren's voice cracked over the comms.
> "Luna, extraction is ready. The site's secure."
Luna looked at the fallen Chosen.
Solstice's blood steamed against the snow, dark and slow.
"Don't touch him," she said.
Her tone was calm, but the air around her felt sharp, wrong—like the world itself didn't want to breathe near her.
Bren hesitated.
> "You… think it's contagious?"
Luna didn't answer.
She turned her gaze toward the moon.
---
The Whispers Begin
That night, aboard the transport jet, Luna couldn't sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she heard it—
a faint whisper beneath her heartbeat.
Not words.
Shapes.
Like someone was trying to carve sentences into her thoughts.
She stood and walked to the window.
The moon followed.
It wasn't imagination.
It moved with the aircraft.
Luna whispered back.
"Why are you still watching me?"
The reflection in the glass smiled.
But Luna didn't.
---
The Other Chosen
Back at headquarters, Bren handed her another file.
Six new marks had appeared across the world:
One in Seoul
One in Moscow
Two in Cairo
One in Rio
One… in Japan
Each case the same:
Sudden mass disappearances.
Corrupted lunar light.
A single survivor repeating the same phrase—
> "The eye has opened."
Bren looked uneasy.
"Luna… what is this?"
She closed the file.
"It's not over."
---
The Mirror Room
After the meeting, Luna entered the mirror training room—an isolated space for psychic resonance analysis.
She stared at her reflection.
For a moment, her reflection didn't move with her.
It smiled.
Then it spoke.
> "You can't save them all."
Luna blinked once.
"I can try."
> "And when you fail?"
She didn't answer.
She just turned off the light.
In the dark, the reflection still glowed faintly—eyes like two crescents burning white.
---
The Watcher's Warning
That night, the whisper returned, louder, clearer.
"You think you are saving them… but you are awakening them."
Luna froze in her bed.
The mark on her wrist burned again, brighter this time—like a brand rejecting its owner.
Her voice was calm but hollow.
"What happens when they all awaken?"
"Then, child of silence… the moon will bleed."
---
End Scene
Luna stood before the mirror again, dressed in black.
Her reflection looked back—still smiling.
But now, it wore Solstice's cracked mask.
The lights flickered.
Outside, the moon began to turn red.