Their first destination was the Frozen Moon—a pale, drifting world veiled in mist and silence, barely holding onto its existence. Guided by the Star Compass, Tara, Jasmine, and Neha crossed a shimmering rift and stepped onto its icy surface.
A Dead Silence
The air was biting cold, and time felt... strange here.
"There's no wind, no echoes," Neha whispered, her voice swallowed by the quiet. "Even thoughts feel frozen."
Crystalline trees stood in eerie stillness, their branches humming with trapped energy. Snow crunched beneath their feet, but left no footprints behind.
The Echoling Children
In the distance, they saw movement—small figures darting between the trees.
Children.
But their faces were faded, as if drawn in chalk. Their laughter was like wind chimes on a dying breeze.
"They're echoes," Jasmine murmured. "Souls caught in time."
One of them approached Tara, holding out a shard of a frozen star. "You're the one who remembers," the child said.
And then, they vanished.
The Frozen Palace
Following the trail of echoes, they reached a palace sculpted entirely from ice and starlight. Inside, the Queen of Silence awaited.
She was tall, regal, but sorrowful. Her voice rang like a song: "You carry the Veil's fracture. The Shroud sent you dreams, didn't it?"
Tara nodded. "I saw it devour worlds. I saw this place... dying."
The queen lowered her gaze. "The Frozen Moon cannot be saved. But something within it might help you stop what's coming."
A Gift of Memory
From her throne, she gave Tara an orb—an ancient Memory Core. It pulsed with warmth and grief.
"This contains the history of a hundred lost civilizations," she said. "Use it wisely. But beware—some truths may shatter you."
The palace began to tremble.
"The Shroud knows you're here," the queen warned. "Go. Now."
Escape and a Warning
As the trio fled through collapsing ice corridors, shadowy tendrils burst from the sky, chasing them toward the portal.
Jasmine threw up a barrier. Neha activated the compass.
With a final leap, they dove back into Moonshine's sky.
Behind them, the Frozen Moon cracked—and then was still once more.
Back in Moonshine
That night, Tara held the Memory Core and stared into it. Faces, cities, languages lost to time flowed before her eyes.
And in the center of it all: a symbol. A key that would unlock the truth behind the Shroud.
But some doors, she realized, should never be opened.