Chapter - 15 - The Serpent Beneath the Silver Veil

Above, in Aethis — the Realm of Moon Gods — the air shimmered with divine tension.

In the Hall of Oracles, where the sky bent into spiraling towers of lunar stone and starlight threaded the floors like veins, a council had been summoned. Aetheris, the Prime Moon and sovereign of celestial order, stood at the helm. His crown glowed with ancient moonsilver, his presence pulling all tides—seen and unseen—into silence.

Around him gathered the lesser moon and sun deities, their auras casting shades of pearl, obsidian, and sapphire into the ether. But the chamber, once filled with harmonious balance, now buzzed with unease.

Magical beings—nymphs, star weavers, and dusk folk—had begun disappearing from Everland. Entire constellations that once danced over that realm had dimmed. And no soul, God or mortal, could trace the cause.

Aetheris's voice, deep as the void between stars, broke the quiet:

"Something stirs in Everland. Old protections fail. The balance we so carefully wove unravels. Who among you will speak of this disturbance?"

Murmurs scattered. Some gods claimed it was the doing of dark mortals. Others blamed forgotten curses. But one figure, draped in a flowing veil of silver mist, remained silent—watchful.

Selene.

She stood apart from the others, her hands folded with elegance, her gaze fixed not on the council... but on the moonstone map of Everland flickering before them. A sly smile ghosted her lips—subtle enough to be missed, but meaningful enough to hold secrets.

Selene did not flinch as accusations bloomed in the chamber like poisonous flowers.

The others debated blindly, tossing theories like shooting stars, none landing true. But Selene already knew the truth—for it was she who had pulled the threads.

She was the one sending the magical beings into Neverland—a realm unmarked, unrecorded, and untouched by the gaze of any god. Aetheris himself had never seen it.

It had been born in the shadows between moonlight and time, an accidental echo of Everland—one that Selene had quietly discovered centuries ago through a rift beneath the twilight lagoon.

To the gods, she offered silence and grace. But beneath her veil of light, she was crafting a kingdom in secret. A sanctuary for exiled power. A graveyard for threats. A garden for her own rise.

Her inner voice coiled like a serpent:

Let them bicker. Let them fear what they do not understand. For when the last light of Noctis fades... they will beg me to save Everland.

Selene stepped forward, her silver eyes aglow with false concern.

"My lord Aetheris," she said, voice smooth as moon wine, "perhaps these disappearances are signs. Perhaps Everland is weakening because of an ancient rot. Maybe the balance we trusted is no longer enough."

Aetheris studied her, unmoving. Behind him, the Moonstone Map began to flicker again—one small corner pulsing faintly in violet, like a bruise.

Selene's gaze flicked to that flicker.

Neverland.

No god in this room had noticed it.

Not yet.

The chamber of Aethis pulsed with divine tension—each god seated beneath their personal sigils, their celestial essence shimmering like starlight veiled in flesh.

Selene stepped into the center, a halo of moonlight trailing her steps. Her voice, smooth as silk woven from dusk, carried across the council:

"Each of us has duties we were born to uphold. I govern the tides and time of Everland. Ira protects the gates of dawn and dusk, Mira blesses harvest, Aetheris guides the divine realms... but Noctis, he was our shield. The barrier he placed upon Everland was not a privilege—it was protection."

She paused, letting the weight of her words sink into the cosmic silence.

"Now, Noctis is gone. Vanished. And without him, Everland's barrier has weakened. Dark magic creeps in, and sacred beings disappear without trace. This council waits for answers while mortals suffer."

Several gods stirred at that. Murmurs bloomed like restless winds.

Selene took another step, voice rising like a hymn to inevitability:

"We must not cling to silence. I propose that, in the absence of Noctis, the command of Everland be entrusted to me—until his return."

She turned slowly, silver gaze brushing across every divine face.

"Let me become its Prime. Not out of ambition... but necessity. I will restore its barrier. I will cleanse its darkness. I will keep the balance."

The chamber shivered.

Aetheris did not yet speak.

Because while the gods debated justice, Selene already knew that Noctis had not vanished.

She had seen to that herself.

The gods murmured among themselves, the pressure mounting in Aethis's grand celestial court. Selene's silver robes shimmered under the high lunar dome as she made her final plea for dominion over Everland.

Just as silence threatened to seal her victory, a calm, melodic voice rose—cutting through like a drop of honey laced with steel.

Mira, goddess of fertility, of spring rains and renewal, stood gracefully, but her eyes held something sharper than suspicion—memory.

"Selene speaks of balance," Mira said softly, "yet balance cannot be restored by shadows dressed in silver."

Selene's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Speak your meaning clearly, Mira," she said, her tone still poised, but tighter now.

Mira did not flinch.

"I speak of the past. Of alliances forgotten, perhaps conveniently so. You once walked beside those who nearly unmade the order we now protect. Noire—once God of darkness—banished for seeking dominion beyond his domain. And Lord Annahi, the Destruction-Bringer, whose thirst unraveled entire timelines. You called them... brothers."

Gasps echoed across the chamber. Some gods shifted uncomfortably. Others stared hard at Selene.

Selene responded without hesitation, her voice crystalline with wounded pride.

"I walked beside them only to study the abyss. If not for me, their deeds would have gone unnoticed until it was too late. You mistake witness for allegiance."

Mira tilted her head, a smile playing at her lips.

"Perhaps. But it is odd, is it not, that beings you once defended have disappeared... just as you ask to claim what Noctis once guarded."

Silence thundered through the air.

Selene did not lash out. She simply lowered her gaze and said:

"I mourn Noctis as much as you all. But mourning will not restore Everland's safety."

Aetheris remained silent, fingers steepled beneath his chin. His gaze drifted from Mira to Selene—and then to the great divine orb at the chamber's center, where the shifting essence of Everland flickered like a heartbeat.

The vote would come soon.

But the seed of doubt had been sown.

Just as Mira's accusation settled over the chamber like fog, Aetheris stood, his towering form bathed in cold silver fire.

"Enough of shadows. Enough of speculation," he declared. "Let us call upon the one who does not falter before masks and lies. The one who follows truth where gods do not dare."

A pause followed. Then, his voice rang out:

"Aenor. You are summoned to the Council of Aethis."

The moment the name echoed, Selene froze.

It was a fleeting shift—so subtle only Mira noticed. But her fingers, once poised and elegant, now clutched the edge of her moon-cloak. A tremor ran through her breath.

She tried to speak. Didn't.

Her eyes flicked to the broken corner of the room where Noire once sat... and then to the crescent carving on the chamber wall that led—secretly—to the maps of forbidden realms.

Neverland... He couldn't have sensed it. Not through the barriers. I sealed them myself. The veil cannot be pierced—not even by him... not by Aenor...

But doubt crept in.

Aenor was no ordinary hound of truth. He had been forged in stillness, born of the rare moonstone water that only flowed once in ten thousand years. He bore no loyalty to any god—only to balance, only to what was hidden.

And he had once been close to Noctis.

Selene's breath caught.

He will smell it. He will know. That place... that boy...

Her voice, when it came, was unusually small.

"Perhaps it's not wise to summon Aenor. He... He walks paths even we cannot trace."

But Aetheris only gazed at her with the weight of a thousand millennia.

"All the more reason to summon him."

As the gods rose to prepare for the summoning, Selene turned slowly, her moon-pale eyes now shadowed by something she had not felt in centuries—

Not guilt.

Not shame.

Fear.

She looked toward the sealed gate of the chamber where moonlight curled like mist—and whispered under her breath:

If he comes... everything I've hidden will be torn open.