CHAPTER 1 - Gemini Lunae

Four of them.

The three smaller ones shouldn't be too difficult to take down. The larger one, just big enough to swallow a few adults at once, would be the challenge.

Glimmering green eyes peered out under the fronds of an enormous fern. The hunter gazed down a mossy slope toward the larger of four beasts lumbering through sunbeams in the denser vegetation below.

White dapples lined its sickly yellowish skin, seeming to undulate as it plodded on six thick legs. Its toadlike head was expressionless. Its eyes, two per eyelid, darted about as the creature trudged through. Three smaller, identical creatures trailed behind past its flanks. Duplicates, not spawns. All of them demons.

Sever smiled in anticipation. Finally, some excitement!

She unhooked a chakram from her belt. Green runes blazed along the surface of the razor-edged metal ring.

The hunter darted under thick leaves to get into position, the sunbeams projecting bright splotches on her golden fur. Tall ears, angled back to clear the undergrowth but flared out to keep her senses keen, showed her rabbit form. A pair of swords sheathed at her back and a lasso dangling from her belt showed she was ready for anything.

Her ears perked at a particular chirp—a signal that to anyone else would sound like a bird call. Her twin brother Zephyr had called from nearby, flanking and out of sight, waiting for her to make the first move.

Sever whistled back, her prominent rabbit incisors perfectly shaping the pitched noise as another mock birdcall for an acknowledgement. She came around to where she assumed she was out of her preys' sightline, to the side and behind them.

Green runes subtly glowed along Sever's throwing arm as she focused her aim. More runes flashed along her upper cheeks as guiding marks appeared in her vision. Just a few more steps…

The larger creature stopped, one of its four eyes flicking back and catching Sever.

It whipped around and roared while its smaller counterparts darted toward her.

Sever gasped and leaped out, flinging her chakram at the closest rushing demon. The bladed ring sliced along its flanks, but the creature kept charging.

Sever unsheathed her swords and slashed as it reared up in front of her. Sparks flew as the blades struck its hardened footpads and Sever rolled back to dodge the beast slamming its feet down where she'd stood.

“Zephyr, anytime now!" she shouted into the dense wilderness.

The chakram curved around in the air and, runes lit, arced back toward Sever.

The rabbit stabbed one of her swords into the beast's leg and caught the ring, then twisted and flung it back out at the second creature moving to flank her.

“Zephyr!!"

A voice called out among the demons' bellows, “Already busy over here!"

The rabbit grumbled and backed away, seeing the sword she'd stabbed into the beast not slowing it down. Nearby, she saw her chakram had gone wide and embedded into a tree.

Sever grinned at a sudden idea. She dodged another swipe and jabbed her other sword under her prey's chin, then broke away and dashed to the other creature. As it moved to swing at her, she skidded under its legs while her arm's runes lit up again. She flung out her palm toward its stomach and summoned her chakram. The ring shot through the creature, bursting from its body and returning to her hand.

Dark ichor spilled from the wound, covering Sever's arm. She rolled away before it toppled onto her, right as the first beast rushed at her with both swords still stuck in it. Threading her arm through the ring, Sever grabbed one sword and slashed, catching the other as she followed through and then slashing again in a deadly whirl that sent more ichor splattering around her.

The beast toppled over and deflated, its flesh pulsating and disintegrating. The ichor steamed away and disappeared. Sever let out a breath and turned to see the other creature also evaporating.

Now to take out that big one—*CRASH*

Sever whirled to see the larger beast falling on its side as Zephyr, covered in shimmering white fur, landed on top of it and point-blank shot an arrow through one of the creature's eyes.

The beast roared as more ichor sprayed from its injury, but it continued rolling. Zephyr flailed out his arms and leaped off to grab an overhanging branch. “This one's tough!"

Sever grunted and rushed in, “Keep your distance, I'll distract it!"

The huge demon rolled back onto its feet and saw Sever closing in. It lashed out with its long tongue and snatched the rabbit's legs.

Sever yelped as it yanked her forward. She hit the ground hard on her wrist, a sharp pain spiking through her arm as the creature dragged her toward it.

An arrow pierced the tongue and pinned it in place.

Zephyr pulled more arrows from his quiver as he leaped across the branches. The arrowheads glowed bright blue as he nocked them into the bowstring all at once, focusing on the demon they would home into.

Sever brandished one of her swords and slashed the tongue from her legs, then grabbed her chakram and immediately dropped it in pain. The fall had to have broken her wrist.

The creature charged at her, but three glowing arrows shot past, sailing into its roaring maw and piercing through into its skull from within.

It jolted and collapsed, already dissolving as it slid on the ground to stop right in front of Sever.

Sever let out a breath and turned to her twin. “Nice shot…"

“Nice distraction," His grin faded upon seeing her quivering hand. “What'd it do to your throwing arm?"

Sever forced herself not to wince. “Nothing serious. I can throw left-handed."

Zephyr carefully took her hand in his own and a glow formed in his palm. “You should really cast some protective runes before we go out on these hunts." Ornamental tattoos decorating his tall inner ears glowed as his power flowed to heal his sister. They were the only marks on his body, leaving his iridescent fur unblemished.

Sever relaxed as Zephyr's power soothed her pain. With her other hand, she gestured to the green runes covering most of her body. “Look around—I only have so much room here, and I need all the destructive power I can get. Besides, if I need healing, I've got you, right?"

Zephyr's ears cocked to the side as he looked back up at her.

Sever flexed her now-healed hand, “Thank you, once again. We do make a good team." She turned to the large divots on the ground where the demon had once been. “You took care of the other small one, right?"

“Of course."

Sever nodded and stowed her weapons. “Then we're done. Let's head back and report to father."

Zephyr kept looking at the divots. “So soon? Do we have to go back immediately?"

“Yes," said his sister. “The hunt's over, and I'm sure father's worried."

Zephyr sighed. “Yeah..." He walked past her without a word.

Sever stared at him for a moment, then followed. “You've been reluctant to stay at home for the past two months… if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to avoid something. Or someone?"

“It's not that," said Zephyr, staring ahead. “I've just… been thinking of traveling, and um…" His ears flattened and he glanced away, unable to find his words. “I'd rather not talk about it."

Sever placed a paw on his shoulder. “I'm not trying to press you. Whenever you're ready, alright?"

“Thanks, Sev."

Sunbeams angled sharply through the canopy as the two rabbits strode back to their home warren. Night would fall before they reached their glade.

Sever stretched her arms high overhead as they walked. “It's too bad that beings from beyond disintegrate when they die here."

Zephyr glanced over. “So they'd leave something behind for us to study?"

“Sure, that, but it'd also be nice to bring back a trophy."

“Like what? A tongue necklace?"

Sever grinned. “Point taken."

“You've already got plenty of trophies from all the wild predators of this world that've threatened our home. And you don't even wear them anymore."

Sever reached up and flicked one of the rings decorating her notched ears, from which dangled a prominent fang. “Only the memorable ones. But we've long since secured our home. All threats are from beyond our reality now, and if it weren't for our reputation for combat prowess, no one would even know because there's no evidence of our kills."

“It's better that way," said Zephyr. “It's bad enough knowing our world is victim to incursions from another plane of reality we barely even understand. I'd rather not carry around a reminder of that."

“Zeph, you existing is a reminder of that. The Fey blessed you as an arcane wellspring. How could you not think about that every waking moment?"

“Why would I want to? Having been born under a dual eclipse is stressful enough."

“I was born under it, too. It's never bothered me."

Zephyr lifted an eyebrow. “Because you're a fighter. You revel in using Fey power with all those runes."

Sever shrugged. “Well, my fur doesn't shimmer and shine like our two sacred moons, so runes are the best I can make do with."

Zephyr ran a fuzzy hand across a fern's fronds as they passed it. “My power is fascinating, sure, but I'm more curious about what else it can do besides just destroying demons and healing. It's proof there are worlds other than our own. Doesn't that intrigue you?"

Sever's ears folded. “So far all we've seen coming out from the beyond are malevolent entities with the basest of intelligence, and they only corrupt and devour." She rubbed her recently healed wrist. “I wish we could figure out what's drawing these things to our glade all of a sudden..."

Zephyr looked away, forcing his ears upright as his nose twitched nervously.

Soon after night fell, the twins arrived home. The glade was a welcome sight.

Gigantic tree trunks the size of buildings towered into the air over the mossy ground. Higher still, massive boughs held aloft a dense, leafy canopy where lanterns flickered all about in a variety of colors amidst the walkways weaving through the branches.

Glows pulsed from in-between cracks and knots of the trees' bark, giving the misty atmosphere an ethereal haze. Walkways, stairs, and the occasional plaza curved about the trees' enormous trunks in multiple levels, where rabbits, squirrels, mice, and other sylvan denizens milled about, preparing for the eclipse festival.

Zephyr and Sever sprinted across a walkway halfway up one of the largest trees. Rounding a bend, Sever leaped off, grabbed one of countless vines hanging down, and swung down to a lower platform. Her brother sailed overhead, held aloft by his own innate Fey-blessed power, and gracefully landed next to her.

Into a door that had been built into the creases of the tree bark and though a tunnel with glowing orbs protruding from wood fibers, the passage opened up into a massive hollow, where it seemed as if another tree had grown inside the larger one, with an enormous core trunk spiraling upward and constructed walkways, platforms, and stairs all connected to it in organized levels. Light came from a variety of lanterns lit with colorful flames, along with more glowing orbs seemingly grown out from the wood of both the outer wall and interior trunk. Other folk traversed along the walkways and congregated in the suspended forums.

The twins descended a set of stairs, passing a family of squirrels who took a single glance at Zephyr's tattooed ears and bowed in respect as they went by.

Zephyr's ears panned back a little, immediately noticed by his sister.

“Nothing wrong with a little attention," she said.

“I'm not a messiah…"

Through a series of tunnels carved through the outer trunk, down a set of stairs, and through more cloth-covered doorways, the twins emerged into a dim chamber. In a haze of incense, a taller, older, ebony-furred rabbit kneeled in a slanted shaft of moonlight from a skylight where the leaves high above outside had thinned enough to show the sky. Before him was a statue depicting an artistic rendition of what many presumed a Fey might look like. The curvy form sculpted from wood was mostly abstract in detail, though at least had the shape of a bipedal creature. Whether the prongs protruding from its head were horns, rabbit ears, or something else entirely was up to whomever gazed upon its unmoving form.

Sever incredulously stared up at it.

The older rabbit straightened, ears panning back and nose twitching as he caught his children's scents through the incense.

He stood and turned, regarding them with a warm smile. “Welcome home." He spread his arms to receive the approaching twins. His entire left arm was a prosthetic shaped from a dark, glossy wood-like material and was tipped with a three-clawed hand.

Sever and Zephyr trotted over and embraced him tight, sharing a quick nuzzle.

Father let go and straightened, clasping his hands behind him. “Report."

The twins stood at attention, back to business.

Zephyr began, “Four invaders from the beyond, a prime and three spawns. Basic, bestial intelligence. Inner parts are vaporized by Fey-rune power. Disintegrated completely upon death."

Father nodded, easing his stance. “Very good." He sighed, flexing his prosthetic hand. “Not so good, however, that these incursions are becoming more frequent. And close."

Zephyr glanced away, ears folded.

“That's why we're here," said Sever. “This is what you've trained us for."

“I did not intend for you to spend your life fighting," said Father.

Sever unsheathed one of her swords with a flourish and summoned a thread of Fey power through the sword's runes. “Maybe not, but the training's paid off! I'd have it no other way."

Father's ears flattened. “Would you feel the same way when these creatures invade our home, Sever? When you see them devouring our loved ones before our eyes?"

Sever's expression darkened. “That won't happen. I won't let it." She sheathed her sword and placed a paw on her hip. “I know I lack Zephyr's power, but that doesn't mean I can't tear these creatures apart with pure skill."

“I'd prefer we never use this power, be it innate or cast through runes, in such a violent manner. The more time spent fighting off creatures we can't comprehend is time robbed from us in our search to understand the gifts the Fey grant us through their magic."

“What's to understand? Just study Zephyr. He's got plenty of power, without even having to ask for it!"

Zephyr's ears swished back up as he held up his paws. “Hey, if I could apply it in other ways besides fighting I'd be all for it, but we've had frustratingly few opportunities to do that."

“Because you're so useful," said Sever with a smirk.

“Because we're constantly on guard," Zephyr countered.

Father stepped forward. “Enough." He let out a breath. “Sever, seeing as you're so eager to cast more Fey magic, why don't you go patrol the northeast shore before tonight's eclipse ceremony?"

Sever nodded and adjusted her equipment belts, tightening the coiled lasso at her hip, “Yes sir."

Zephyr hopped up next to her. “I'll go too." He grinned, adding, “Clear night out. Since you seem so obsessed with lunar phenomena, maybe you'll get a chance to stare at the moons and shout obscenities at the Fey again."

“I only did that once…"

Silver moonlight bathed the lakeshores in soft, cool light. Beyond the shadows of the forest's leafy canopies, ancient tree roots stretched far across the water in an intertwined web, covered in plush moss with occasional mushroom clusters among grassy ferns and more tiny plants that had developed and thrived in the moss above the water. The same glowing orbs found in the trees further inland were also scattered among the bark of the roots themselves.

Two figures rushed across the root branches above the water. Soft, fuzzy footpaws muffled their footsteps as they deftly sprinted, keeping perfect balance across the ginormous network.

Fey energy flashed as one whipped out a pair of rune-powered short swords and spun at the other, who somersaulted into a twist overhead and countered with a blade of his own.

With runes igniting, Sever and Zephyr traded practiced blows in a sparring match along the massive root system. It was like countless others they had conducted together for years. A dance between two talented performers.

All the while, two full moons hung high in the night sky overhead, silent and ever-watching, moving closer together into an eclipse. It was a rare night where both lunar bodies would align into a dual eclipse above the warren—the same lunar event under which Zephyr and Sever had been born nearly twenty years ago. Their light shifted red as they both lined up in the planet's own shadow.

Sever maneuvered to cut Zephyr off from a position on the roots and he slipped on the wet moss.

“Whoa!"

Sever dropped one of her swords and grabbed his arm. “Gotta watch that footwork," she said with a grin. Her sword bounced off the root they were standing on and plunked into the water below.

Zephyr let her pull him back up and he sheathed his sword. “I'm getting better, at least."

Sever held out a paw and a rune on her forearm flashed. The sword burst from the water and sailed to her palm. She grabbed the hilt and swiped the water from the blade, then sheathed it with her other sword. “Yeah, albeit slowly."

“Y'know, with all the grief you give me about my own power, you sure don't have any problems with your runes."

Sever's ears splayed. “Do you know how much of a hassle it is trying to paint these every day? Plus I gotta account for what might happen on a hunt versus how much space is available on my body where I can safely cast them. It's a huge guessing game."

She let out a breath, looking back at the glittering lights of the home warren in the shadows of the tree cover. Moonlight above faded as the eclipse progressed, darkening the lake and making specks of lamplight from the eclipse festival more noticeable in the distant glade.

Sever looked away. “I just feel like you've had it easy, compared to me."

Zephyr's ears flattened. “Easy? Sev, you're the better fighter. You take charge every time we hunt, and you're competent. Plus, you've got a better handle on combat magic than anyone else in the entire warren, even me. What's to be envious of?"

Sever looked at one of the unlit runes decorating her arm. “I should've gotten it, too. The power. The blessing." She looked over at Zephyr as a dragonfly flitted past. “We were born on the same night, under the same lunar event. But you got the power."

“Then it's jealousy," said Zephyr, crossing his arms.

Sever frowned and flexed her fists. “Why would just one of us get it instead of both?"

“What does it matter? You don't need this power."

“I could be so much better! Faster, tougher, without having to plaster these runes all over my body as a way of pleading the Fey for a fraction of the power they granted you just for being born at the right moment and place."

Zephyr's ears remained flat as his nose twitched in frustration. “How am I supposed to know why the Fey gave me what I have? I never asked to be born like this!" He sighed and slumped his shoulders. “There's more to this power than combat. There has to be." He looked up at the eclipsing moons as they disappeared into shadow. “I've always believed the lunar Fey speak to us rabbits in more than just arbitrary blessings and rune marks." He turned to his sister. “I mean, look at this world. This forest. The Fey are evident in every aspect of our lives, likely in ways we haven't even come close to figuring out yet. Like those weird glowing orbs we make rune paints from in the bark of the trees. Maybe that's—" he froze, then stared down at the water below, where a glow began forming. Bubbles surged up from the glow.

Zephyr pulled out his bow and backed away. “No, not here…"

A shape burst from the surface, shattering smaller roots. Its enormous serpentine shape coiled around the larger branches, covered in spiked, segmented plating that reflected moonlight off its dark surface. Its angular snake-like head reared up and turned toward Zephyr, glowing red eyes focusing on the terrified rabbit.

A green flash preceded Sever leaping on its back and stabbing her swords at the beast's armored carapace. “Zeph, head in the game!"

The blades slid off the plates, no damage done.

Zephyr whipped out a trio of arrows and let fly, his Fey power charging them into sparking bolts.

The arrows shattered against the creature's armored hide, leaving scuff marks.

The beast charged toward Zephyr, sending the rabbit scurrying away.

“Sev! Find a weak point!!"

Sever, struggling to balance on the serpent's writhing mass, tied one end of her lasso to a sword's hilt and stabbed down between armor plates. No blood or fluids, but the weapon held.

She leaped off, pulling the rope as she went, and swung under the root. The sudden weight shift yanked the creature fast to the branch as Sever's momentum sent her sailing up the other side. She landed back on top and wrapped the lasso to the hilt anchored between the plates.

The demon snarled and bucked, trying to free itself as Zephyr notched another arrow pulsing Fey energy.

“It's because of me!" he called out. “The incursions are getting closer because they're drawn to my power."

Sever forced her weight onto her sword to keep it anchored. “You can't be certain!"

The branches snapped and the demon broke free, sending splintered pieces, glittering sparks, and the rabbit twins flying.

Zephyr grabbed Sever and his tattoos lit up as he channeled power to shift them back to branches still intact. The demon lunged, but the rabbits sailed out of reach. It landed on broken edges of the root system and everything shattered under it, plunging it into the water.

Zephyr and Sever landed on mossy branches and whirled, looking all around to see where the beast might spring up next.

Zephyr held out a paw and his bow sailed into his palm. “I-I can't sense it…" Nose feverishly twitching, he looked all around the water's surface. “I have to leave. I'm the entire reason these creatures are invading."

Sever, drawing her remaining sword, glanced back at him. “Don't say that. You don't know—"

“Yes I do!" Zephyr cried. “Father and I have been studying the incursions for over a year. Every journey we've made, every time an invasion happens, it's within miles of where I am. And they're closing in every time." He looked up at her, wide-eyed. “Father lost his arm. We lost our mother to these creatures, and now they've found our home. Because this 'blessing' led them here."

Sever stared back, ears drifting down behind her head. “Is that why you've been so reluctant to return home when we go hunting? Why you take any opportunity to leave the warren?"

Zephyr nodded. “These beings are drawn to the power I emanate, but I can't endanger our people because of it."

Sever glanced down, noticing a patch of glowing fluids leaking from a cracked orb in the splintered root bark. Movement in the water caught her attention. “There!"

Zephyr's bow pulsed energy through an arrow. An ear flicked at a splash. He whirled and shot the enormous shape bursting through the surface. The charged arrow ricocheted off daggerlike teeth before the creature splintered the branch the rabbits stood on.

The twins leaped away, but Zephyr slipped on the moss and fell to his knees.

Sever spun and charged her sword's runes, then leaped toward the demon's face.

The demon knocked her skyward with its muzzle and then snapped its jaws on the rabbit's legs. Sever screamed, dropping her sword.

Zephyr stared in horror as the creature shook his sister, then flung her away before focusing on him.

Sever hit a nearby branch and grunted, wrapping her arms around it before falling. She tried to climb up, but only felt dead weight. No feeling in her legs.

She wheezed, trying to maintain grip and helpless but to watch the demon charge at her brother.

Zephyr fell onto his back and his Fey power surged, forming a barrier keeping the demon's jaws mere inches from his outstretched paws as it bore its weight down against him.

Sever struggled to stay conscious. She was losing blood. Clutching the root bark for support, she reached down to her belt and unclasped her chakram.

If its Fey runes could make the weapon return to her paw, then the opposite should be true with proper focus…

Sever lifted the razor-edged ring and aimed a trembling paw at the only soft spot she could see: the inside of the beast's mouth. Its teeth began piercing Zepyr's barrier. Sweat seeped from Zephyr's fur as he struggled to maintain the power.

Sever's fingers opened up and the chakram hovered in front of her palm, green runes intensely blazing.

A bright flash, and the ring shot right into the demon's maw and ricocheted inside. The demon jolted, then went limp as cracks appeared all over its armor plates, emanating red energy before crumbling to dust with the rest of the serpent's dissolving form.

Sever smiled weakly. “Ha… got'cha…"

Zephyr let out a breath and leaned up, then turned and gasped at the grim sight of his sister barely hanging on. He scrambled over, “No, no no not now!"

He grabbed Sever's arms and pulled her up onto the branch, then stared in shock at her legs, completely drenched in blood. He swallowed and held his paws out over them. Fey energy glowed under his palms, but in the light, he saw deep gashes that continued to bleed.

Tears welled in Zephyr's eyes. “Sev, I… I don't know if I can stop the bleeding…"

Sever winced, clutching one of his arms. “I kept you safe. That's what matters. Tell father—"

“Don't say that!" Zephyr tried to still his breathing while his mind raced. “I'm not losing you, too. After all that talk, you can't be the one to give up."

“You've done your best." Sever's head bobbed. “Don't live the rest of your life blaming yourself."

Zephyr stared down at Sever's wounds. His ears flattened and brow wrinkled. He looked over at one of the cracked orbs in the root bark leaking glowing fluid and punched his paw through it. “I have an idea… call on your rune knowledge." He pulled his paw out, covered in the fluid.

Sever blinked, whiskers twitching in curiosity. “What, like healing runes? I don't even know if I'm capable of those. And… there's not enough skin still intact to paint them on."

“Let me focus on that part," said Zephyr, moving his paw to her shredded legs. “Just guide my paws to paint the right designs. We'll both charge them."

Sever grinned wryly. “Wha… What makes you think I would have enough power? Or even the knowledge? I've only used runes for combat."

Zephyr locked eyes with her. “You were born under a dual eclipse, too, and we're under one right now."

Sever looked up, seeing the moons shrouded in shadow, yet Fey energy now encircled their edges as concentric glowing rings.

Zephyr's gaze was firm. “Give what power you can, anything you can remember, and I'll handle the rest."

Sever nodded and weakly shifted Zephyr's paw as they painted the glowing fluid on her blood-soaked legs. She noticed brief flares as they passed over some of the gashes, closing just enough flesh to keep the rune designs intact.

Moments later, “That's all I can remember. I don't know if it's enough. I've never used…" Sever let out a breath, head still bobbing as she tried to stay awake.

Zephyr breathed deep and closed his eyes with one paw held out over Sever's legs and the other clasped in Sever's own. “Please try…" he muttered.

His tattoos lit up. Glowing trails flowed across his iridescent fur.

Sever's own runes flickered to life, glowing green under her brother's cool blue.

Sever shrieked as searing pain shot through her legs. She felt nerves reconnecting, along with their injuries even as they closed. She gritted her teeth, clutching Zephyr's paw harder before the pain finally subsided into a dullness.

Zephyr let out a breath and the glows faded. Both rabbits panted hard from the exertion.

Sever leaned up and stared at her legs. A toe moved. Her ankle shifted. A knee bent.

Sever smiled through her gasps and a tear ran down her cheek ruffs. “We did it…"

Zephyr smiled, shuddering. “We did…"

The siblings leaned in and gently touched foreheads, still panting, still clasping paws, and now relieved.

After a few moments, Sever muttered, “I meant what I said."

Zephyr didn't move. “About not feeling guilty?"

“Yeah. You never chose this power, remember?"

“But the invasions are here now…" His demeanor shifted. “I still can't stay."

“So, all that talk of traveling... Any truth to it?"

Zephyr paused, then smiled. “Yeah. I've got questions about this world to answer. And I need a change of scenery."

“Then I'll go with you. Power or not, I'm still gonna be there to protect you, no matter what."

Zephyr glanced up at the twin moons above, rings fading as they drifted apart. He calmly closed his eyes under comfortable lunar radiance as moonlight returned. “Like always."