CHAPTER 187: Rebuilding the Sanctuary as a City for All Shifters, Shadow and

CHAPTER 187: Rebuilding the Sanctuary as a City for All Shifters, Shadow and


The destroyed shrine was illuminated by the soft light of the peaceful morning, with gold threading the sky.  The area has experienced battle for years.  It was familiar with laughs and hammering now.

Selene stood at the tallest archway of the partially completed tower, looking down at the ever growing structure.  A new city arose where old trees had previously been burned and stones stained with blood.  For all shifters, leopards, dragons, phoenixes, and even the once-outcast shadow-born not just wolves.

Decades have passed.  The wounds of division persisted after the last eclipse fight.  However, a profound and irrevocable change had taken place.  They had sheathed the Moonstone Blade.  With the Eclipse, the Celestial Realm ceased to float.  Additionally, Kael, the once-tormented twilight guardian, had created a haven of togetherness out of turmoil.

That refuge blossomed now.

Beside earthen-rooted domes, marble towers shone.  Formerly warring countries were joined by skybridges of woven silver.  Open streets were flooded with rivers of darkness and brightness.  Wolf pups played in the shadowed gardens below, while phoenixes soared in serene arcs above.

As she walked gracefully across the construction area, Selene nodded to the workmen, a bear shifter and a former moon priest who were laughing together as they lifted tiles.  The Eclipse kid, now an adolescent with ancient eyes, was stabilizing its power by placing a hand on a blazing wall close to the city center.  His two auras, indigo and silver, blazed steadily.

"You're going overboard once more," Selene murmured softly.

Grinning, he turned.  "I could hear the wall singing.  It wanted to inhale.

"Give it time to breathe.  Even cities need time to develop.

With a nod, he pulled away, his hands still glistening.  Whispers were exchanged between creatures that had formerly been deadly adversaries all around him.  Here, resentment was dissolved by teamwork.  Here, dreams and bricks were being used to rewrite history.

However, the adjustment was not universally embraced.

Watching from the shadow of a flaming tower was a hooded person.

The foundation ceremony started a few hours later.  The freshly formed Heartstone, a crystal formed from the combined remains of the Eclipse Core and the Celestial Orb, attracted tribes of all kinds.  Rowan was standing next to Selene, holding her hand.  With his long cloak trailing behind him like smoke and moonlight, Kael stepped out from behind the silver barrier.

Selene said, "Let this city be called Lunaris," and her voice reverberated.  "A place where everyone can live."  A demonstration that light and shadow are balanced rather than antagonistic.

The audience let forth a yell.  In response, the Heartstone pulsed.

And the earth shook as the last shout died down.

Gasps echoed across the crowd.  There was a flash in the Heartstone.

Slowly, Selene turned.  The Eclipse kid did the same.  His gaze expanded.

A fissure had appeared from the remains of the lowest crypt of the ancient sanctuary.  It bled a purple mist.  Prophecies, rather than memories, floated through the atmosphere.

Kael moved forward, speaking quietly but firmly.  "That wasn’t meant to open."

"What is it?"  Rowan inquired.

With sparkling eyes, the Eclipse youngster gazed at the gap.

Slowly, "It's a gate," he said.  "Not to the past, however.  or even another world.

"Then to what?"  Selene inquired.

With a pallid face, the youngster turned to face her.

"To what comes after us."

A claw not a wolf, dragon, or anything else they had ever seen came out of the fog as he finished speaking.

It was pointing directly toward the Heartstone.