The Moonbinder’s Oath

In the fractured world of Thalareth, where broken moons govern wild tides of magic, seventeen-year-old Kaelen Duskryn—a mixed-blood orphan scraping by as a book-scribe in the scholar-city of Nareth—discovers he bears the Mark of the Moonbinder, a rare and feared mantle chosen every century to tether the celestial chaos above. When a lunar eclipse awakens his dormant powers, saving a noble child from assassins, Kaelen is thrust from his quiet life into the floating Academy of Threads—a mysterious institution that trains its initiates in lunar magic, subterfuge, and survival. But the Moonbinder is no mere mage; he is a political pawn, coveted by the Empire to maintain its dominion over a realm teetering on collapse.At the academy, Kaelen grapples with his erratic abilities under the watchful eye of the enigmatic Lady Yverin, while forging uneasy alliances with fellow initiates: Selis, an ambitious noble hiding her own agenda; Thorne, a brash warrior-prince with a rebellious streak; and Nyari, a mute librarian whose silence conceals a powerful voice. As he learns to weave the Threads—lunar magic bound by oaths—Kaelen uncovers a chilling truth: the last Moonbinder, Lira the Severed, shattered a kingdom in madness centuries ago, and her restless spirit now haunts his mind, whispering secrets and tempting him with forbidden power.The academy’s halls hide darker mysteries. Students vanish under the cover of night, professors guard forbidden vaults, and a secret society, the Crescent Chain, manipulates the Moonbinder’s legacy for the Empire’s gain. When Kaelen discovers he is not the true Moonbinder but a vessel crafted for Lira’s return, his world unravels. A prophecy surfaces: the moons must fall to free humanity from the gods’ chains, pitting Kaelen between two fates—submit to the Empire’s control via an Oath Collar, or unleash a second Collapse by shattering the celestial order.As rebellion brews and imperial forces storm the academy, Kaelen faces betrayal—Thorne’s apparent death, Selis’s ambiguous loyalties—and a final bargain with Lira, who offers mastery over moon-magic at the cost of his body. In the climactic Convergence, with the moons aligned and the academy atop a sentient World-Thread, Kaelen makes his choice: he sacrifices himself to forge a new binding, merging his soul with Lira’s to rewrite magic’s laws. The Empire weakens, the moons pulse with unshackled light, and Selis—revealed as an undercover rebel—takes up the Threads’ mantle. In the aftermath, a new moon forms in the sky, free of chains, hinting at a world reborn—and a legacy Kaelen’s sacrifice has only begun to shape.