Chapter Fifteen: When Suns Bleed Silver
The moon bled.
It wasn't visible to mortal eyes—not yet—but the Moon Court felt it.
Sheila stood on the highest balcony of the Celestial Court, her eyes locked on the sky. A streak of light had cut across the moon the night before—brilliant gold wrapped in fire—and left a wound in its magic.
She had felt it.
Deep in her chest, where the Moon Crest once pulsed.
Now, the air around her vibrated with energy too familiar… and too foreign.
It wasn't lunar.
It was solar.
---
In the Hall of Stars, Jiwoon paced restlessly.
"The skies are wrong," he said to Hyunsoo, who stood stoically near the mosaic wall of runes. "The pull of the moon feels… heavier."
Hyunsoo didn't answer immediately. His fingers rested on the hilt of his blade, eyes scanning the chamber.
"Last time I felt this was just before the rebellion… just before Taeha turned."
"She didn't turn," Jiwoon muttered. "She broke."
Hyunsoo glanced at him sharply. "Let's not pretend you're the only one with regrets."
Jiwoon's jaw clenched, but he didn't respond.
From the upper corridor, Heeyoung entered—her face pale.
"The astronomers have confirmed it," she said. "A flare from the sun struck the Moon Barrier."
Sheila turned, her voice calm but cold. "That should be impossible. The barrier has held for centuries."
"Not against what they're calling it now," Heeyoung said grimly.
"What?"
> "Solon."
---
☀️ The Forgotten Sun King
In the archives of the Moon Library, Sheila and Jiwoon studied ancient scrolls.
Most were forbidden texts—sealed by her ancestors and concealed beneath layers of magic.
One scroll in particular pulsed in gold.
She opened it.
Inside, written in celestial ink, was a name etched in fire:
> SOLON — THE FIRST AND FALLEN KING OF LIGHT.
He had once ruled beside the Moon Queen.
Before time. Before reincarnation. Before Earth knew gods.
Solon—the embodiment of the sun—had loved her.
But when the Moon Queen chose independence and balance over domination, he declared war.
She defeated him with the Tri-Crest and banished him into the sun itself.
But scrolls said: One day, if the Moon Crest is broken, Solon shall rise in flame and fury again.
Jiwoon looked up.
> "You didn't just have one past life, did you?"
Sheila closed the scroll slowly. "No. I had many. But he… was the first."
---
🌘 Elsewhere: A Burning Rebirth
In a temple buried deep in the Gobi Desert, flames erupted from beneath the sand.
The solar cultists knelt, faces scorched but eyes alight.
A figure rose from the ashes—golden-skinned, his eyes molten amber, hair like wildfire. His chest bore the old solar crest — a sun cracked in half.
Solon.
He breathed in deeply, like waking from centuries of slumber.
"She is alive again," he murmured. "The Queen of the Moon."
He turned to his followers.
"Then it is time… to finish what I began."
---
🏛 Back in Seoul: Fractures
Sheila summoned the full Moon Court.
"Solon has returned," she announced.
Gasps. Whispers. Fear.
Jiwoon and Hyunsoo stood beside her, but the unease in the room thickened like smoke.
"He was sealed," one court elder said. "The eclipse weakened the boundary."
"We were not meant to share the throne," muttered another. "This is the price of defiance."
Hyunsoo stepped forward. "Then we fight. Again."
But Jiwoon noticed it—the murmurs among the guards. The sideways glances.
Loyalty was fracturing.
Solon wasn't just a threat from without—his name was splitting the court from within.
---
🌕 Nightfall: Sheila's Dream
That night, Sheila dreamed.
She stood on an endless field of silver grass under a red sky. The moon hovered above—but something pulled it downward.
Then he appeared.
Solon.
Not monstrous. Not demonic. But heartbreakingly familiar.
He looked like the boy she remembered in her first life. Golden eyes. Warm skin. And sadness like eternity behind his smile.
"You've changed," he said softly.
She lifted her chin. "So have you."
He stepped closer, hand brushing her cheek—but his touch burned.
"Let me protect you again," he said. "The world is not safe in shadow."
"I won't be ruled," she replied.
His smile vanished.
> "Then I will burn it all. And build you a kingdom of ash."
She woke with a gasp—her room scorched where her hand had touched the wall.