The moon had always frightened Elara Veyne.
Not the ordinary moon—the pale silver disc watching over the kingdom in night, bathing rooftops, forests, and winding rivers in quiet light.
It was the Blue moon.
Whenever it appeared in Elara’s dream then the dream make her restless cause in the next day she seem to forget everything no matter how much she try. As if those dreams were meant to be forgotten.
Whenever she dreamed about this Blue Moon, someone called her name.
Tonight was no different.
The sky was unnaturally dark, stripped of every star. No clouds drifted across the heavens. No wind stirred the branches. There was only the enormous blue moon suspended above a silent forest, its strange light spilling through the trees like liquid silver.
It should have been beautiful.
But instead of peace, its light stirred a fear she could not remember learning.
Elara stood barefoot in the middle of a field she had never seen before, surrounded by a dense forest of towering, twisted trees. Their thick branches intertwined high above her, forming a dark canopy that seemed to swallow the blue moonlight before it could reach the ground. Even beneath the moon’s ethereal glow, the forest remained shrouded in an impenetrable layer of darkness, as though the night itself had taken root among the trees.
Yet the darkness did not reach the field.
Flowers surrounded her—delicate and unfamiliar, their petals white at the edges and gradually deepening into a rich midnight blue at their centers. They glowed faintly beneath the moonlight, their soft radiance standing in stark contrast to the darkness beyond. It was almost as though the flowers were the only things in the forest that the moonlight could touch, each one carrying a faint, otherworldly glow— as though each flower held a small piece of moonlight within its petals.
She looked down at herself.
A long white gown flowed around her body, its fabric moving gently despite the complete stillness of the air. Her long brunette hair fell in loose, soft waves down her back, occasionally brushing against her arms.
Her skin looked almost luminous beneath the strange blue light.
She lifted her trembling hands.
She didn't understand what was happening. Her thoughts felt distant and unclear, as though her mind had slipped into a trance, leaving her unable to question where she was or how she had gotten there.
A cold breeze suddenly swept through the trees.
The flowers shuddered beneath it.
“Aelunara”
Elara froze.
The name stirred something deep within her.
It sounded familiar—strangely so. As though she had heard it long ago somewhere. She tried to remember it, but the thought slipped away before she could hold on to it, leaving behind an unsettling feeling she couldn't explain.
A chill ran through her, raising goosebumps along her skin.
The voice had come from behind her.
Deep.
Familiar.
And unbearably sad.
Elara slowly turned.
Someone stood among the trees.
A man.
At first, she could see only his outline—a tall figure dressed in a long black garment that fell almost to the ground. His jet-black hair reached his shoulders, the dark strands shifting gently around his face with the breeze.
She stared at him.
For a brief moment, the blue moonlight touched his skin.
It was fair and warm, carrying the soft, honey-like tone of sunlight rather than the cold pallor of the moon. Against the darkness of the forest, his skin seemed almost luminous.
Elara tried to see his face.
But the moment she focused on it, something seemed to shift.
His features became strangely unclear, as though her eyes could not quite settle on them. She could make out the shape of his face, but the details refused to come into focus.
Then she saw his eyes.
Two deep, cherry-red eyes glowed through the darkness.
Elara's breath caught.
She should have been afraid.
Yet she wasn't.
Instead, a strange heaviness settled over her heart. There was something in those eyes that made her chest heavy—the heaviness was so deep that she could almost feel it herself.
She blinked.
His eyes remained clear.
But everything else seemed to blur around them.
His nose.
His lips.
The faint shape of his expression.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make them clear.
It was strange.
Frustrating.
Almost as though the dream itself refused to let her see him.
Elara took a slow step forward.
For a moment, she thought she could finally make out his face.
Then the image wavered again, fading at the edges like a reflection disturbed by rippling water.
She stopped.
Somehow, the feelings are frightening her more than the man standing in the darkness.
The wind fell silent.
Neither of them moved.
As if her body no longer belonged to her, Elara found herself moving without meaning to.
She took a slow step toward him.
“Why did you do that?”
The man didn't answer.
Instead, he took a slow step toward her.
“Aelunara.”
Again, that name.
His voice sounded clearer now.
Closer.
Her heart began to pound.
“What do you want from me?”
Another step.
The darkness around him seemed to ripple like smoke caught in an unseen wind.
Yet his face remained unclear—not hidden by the shadows alone, but by something Elara could not understand. Every time she tried to focus on him, his features slipped away.
“Aelunara…”
His voice cracked.
Until now, every time Elara had fallen into this strange dream, she had heard only that name spoken again and again.
But this time was different.
For the first time, he said something else.
Something that made her heart stop.
“I want you.”
His gaze settled on her.
A strange feeling spread through her body.
She didn't know this man.
She couldn't possibly know him.
And yet, the sound of his voice stirred something inside her that she couldn't explain.
The blue moon suddenly grew brighter.
The flowers surrounding Elara began to wither.
One by one, their glowing petals darkened and fell silently to the ground.
Elara stumbled backward.
“No…”
The man reached toward her.
His hand emerged from the darkness, illuminated by the blue moonlight. His fingers trembled slightly as he reached for her.
“I don't want to let you go.”
Elara's breath caught.
The man's voice became quieter.
“You can never escape me.”
He took another step toward her.
“I've come to take back what has always been mine.”
Elara stared at him, unable to move.
“You…”
The word escaped her lips in a trembling whisper.
She had never met him.
She had never seen this place before.
She had never—
A sharp, violent pain suddenly tore through her chest.
Elara gasped, clutching at her heart as the world around her began to tremble.
For a brief moment, something flashed through her mind—a fragment of an image she couldn't understand.
Then it was gone.
The pain grew stronger.
“Aelunara!”
The man's voice broke through the darkness, filled with desperation.
She reached toward him without knowing why.
Their hands were almost touching.
Almost.
Just as her fingers were about to reach his, the man stepped closer.
“I have come for you,” he said, his voice low and unwavering. “And this time, I won't let you leave me.”
His fingers stretched toward hers.
“You will be mine.”
The blue moon above them suddenly flared with blinding light.
The flowers vanished.
The trees disappeared.
The darkness dissolved.
Even the man was swallowed by the light.
“No—!”
Elara screamed.
And in the next instant, the entire world turned white.
For one final heartbeat, she heard his voice again.
“Remember me, Aelunara.”
Then everything went silent.
Elara jolted awake.
Her room was dark.
Her heart was pounding violently against her ribs.
She pressed a trembling hand against her chest, trying to remember what she had just dreamed.
But there was nothing.
No forest.
No blue moon.
No man.
Only a single word remained, faint and impossible to explain.
Aelunara.
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