Chapter 235 Waking Up Again

Chapter 235 Waking Up Again
I drove the heavy silver weapon down toward the cracked cobblestones. I put every ounce of my broken heart, every shred of my raw fury, and the last remnants of my physical strength into the swing. I wanted the metal to hit the dirt. I wanted the deep-earth seal to shatter. I was completely prepared to let the world end.

The Star-Forge Hammer never hit the ground.

A pale, glowing hand caught the solid silver head just an inch above the gray ash.

There was no loud crash. There was no shockwave. The violent kinetic force of my swing simply vanished into the Moon Goddess’s smooth, flawless skin. I clamped my teeth together, tasting fresh copper blood, and pulled on the leather handle. I dug my heavy boots into the dirt, straining my shoulders, trying to rip the weapon free from her grasp.

Her grip was like solid iron. She did not even flinch.

I looked up, ready to spit my defiance right into her face. But the sharp, piercing anger I expected to see in her glowing silver eyes was completely gone.

The Moon Goddess was smiling.

It was not the cold, detached smirk of a deity mocking a mortal. It was a soft, genuine smile that reached the vast, starry depths of her eyes. The bright, prickly static in the air immediately faded, replaced by a calm, gentle warmth that washed over the ruined plaza.

"You would break the earth for him," the Goddess whispered. The harmonious, chiming chord of her voice returned, soft and entirely free of the previous tension.

"Yes," I snarled, my muscles shaking violently as I continued to pull on the hammer.

"You would throw away the crown, the ancient seal, and the heavens themselves, just to hear a single beat of his mortal heart," she continued, tilting her head slightly as she studied my dirty, tear-streaked face.

"I told you," I answered, my voice a harsh, broken rasp. "I do not want this throne if he is not standing next to me."

"Good," the Moon Goddess said softly.

She opened her glowing fingers and released the silver head.

The sudden lack of resistance sent me stumbling backward. My boots slipped on the loose stones, and I fell hard onto my backside, the heavy hammer clattering onto the dirt next to my knees. I stared up at her, my chest heaving, completely thrown off balance by her sudden shift in demeanor.

Behind me, the crushing, invisible weight holding the unified army to the ground vanished. General Ralph Uilleag Wilson let out a loud gasp, pushing himself up from the dirt. Shamus Senán Murray and Sacheverell slowly got to their knees, their battered faces pale with confusion as they watched the deity step closer to me.

"A ruler who submits blindly to duty is just an empty vessel," the Moon Goddess explained, her bare feet making no sound on the ash-covered pavement. "The old council failed because they worshipped the power of the crown over the people it governed. They severed their own hearts to maintain control. I did not give you the starlight so you could become another empty vessel, Eddena Halia Harris."

She stopped right next to Wex’s still, lifeless body.

"The final test of a true Sovereign is not defeating the monsters in the dark," the Goddess said, looking down at his ruined face. "It is proving that your love is stronger than your obedience to a god."

The breath caught sharply in my throat. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, scrambling over the broken stones until I was kneeling right beside her.

The Moon Goddess gathered the glowing, liquid fabric of her gown and knelt in the dirt. She did not hesitate. She reached out with both of her pale, luminous hands. She placed her right hand flat against the center of Wex’s unmoving chest, right over his heart. She placed her left hand gently over his ruined, blackened right arm.

"He broke his own fate to choose you," she murmured, a profound respect coloring her chiming voice. "And you broke the world to keep him. That is a bond the stars themselves must honor."

Pure, blinding starlight poured from her palms.

The magic did not burn. It did not scorch. It flowed into his broken body like a rushing river of pure life. I watched, my sapphire eyes wide, as the dark, toxic necrosis covering his skin simply washed away.

The healing was fast and entirely beautiful. The raw, angry red burns blistering the left side of his face smoothed out, the skin knitting together until his rough, handsome features were completely restored.

I looked at his right arm. The charred, blackened tissue covering his bones began to shift. Bright, glowing threads of magic wove rapidly around the stark white skeleton, spinning new muscle, fresh veins, and thick, tanned skin. Within seconds, his ruined arm was whole again, the thick callouses on his large fingers returning exactly as they had been.

The Goddess lifted her hands and stepped back.