Sami looked at Senn with clear shock, confused for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. He stared at her with cold eyes, took a deep breath, and then said in a provocative tone:
"You'd better tell me everything you know before I kill you like I did your other friend... What was his name? Ah, right... Lam. Killing him was truly satisfying."
Rin was lying, and he knew it well. That killing had hurt him deeply, but he wanted to try his luck. If he could anger her and make her reveal some information, that would be a victory for him.
But Senn's reaction was completely outside his expectations.
"Stop trying to provoke me, I honestly don't care..." she said coolly, then continued with a mocking smile. "You killed Lam? Well, good for you. That lunatic deserved to die. I wanted to kill him myself... but it's fine for him to die by the hand of the Knight of the Moon he always hated? It's a good ending, in a way."
"..."
Sami didn't know what to say. Senn stared at him with a forced smile, then lifted herself from the ground and advanced towards the podium. She pointed towards the corpse lying on the throne and said:
"Do you see that person? That's my grandfather... Now, do you want to know the story of our land, Sami?"
Sami's eyes widened in astonishment. His confusion turned to fear. He thought quickly: What's happening?... And why did she suddenly decide to reveal everything?
Senn sat on the podium and looked at him. With her flowing orange hair, sharp eyes, and white robe draped gracefully over her body, she looked like a painting from another world.
She moved her lips and said:
"The story of Lunar City... or rather, the tale of Lunar City."
---
In a world on the brink of destruction, in the war zone of warring kingdoms, weak humans lived in complete suffering. Their situation deteriorated to the point that they sought protection from the Moon Demon tribe.
The Moon Demons had lived in their desert for thousands of years, under an unfading moon. When the fleeing humans came to them, they welcomed them and offered them generous hospitality. The humans rejoiced at the demons' kindness, but they didn't yet realize the price of this generosity.
The demons told them that anyone who lived in the desert would never be able to leave it. The humans agreed to this condition, as they hated their own war-obsessed kind and their destroyed world. And so, they lived under the mercy of the demons, protected from the harshness of the outside world, learning from their new masters, who seemed benevolent in their eyes.
But as expected... humans don't change.
After generations of prosperity, some began to doubt their ancestors' decision. They hated their masters and began spreading false rumors and legends:
"The demons exploited us and imprisoned us to serve them forever. The outside world is full of good humans and is our true paradise. We must escape this hell!"
And one day, one of them decided to venture out of the desert. He was gone for ten years, and when he returned, he claimed he had found a way to salvation, and that the only path to freedom was to eliminate all Moon Demons.
And so... the revolution began.
The demons warned them of the danger of their actions, but the humans, blinded by greed, refused to listen. They killed the demons one by one, denying their grace, desecrating their temples, until only the last priestess remained.
Before her death, she cast a curse upon them that would remain etched in the desert's history:
"You ungrateful humans... You have defiled the eternal Lunar land, and you shall live in torment for four full nights. And on the fourth night, the heir of the Moon Demon tribe shall come, draw his ancestors' sword from the temple, and mete out punishment upon the ungrateful humans, purging the desert of their filth. Only then shall the desert return to its eternal beauty... That heir is called the Knight of the Moon."
And so, the priestess was killed... and with her, the last member of the tribe.
At first, the humans rejoiced in their victory, thinking they had finally gained freedom. But after a while, the moon disappeared from the sky, and a bright sun appeared in its place.
They thought the sun was a symbol of their liberation, but they soon realized the terrifying truth:
The sun wasn't a symbol of freedom... it was a symbol of punishment.
The sun began to burn their crops and kill anyone who walked under it. They fled, searched for shelter, but realized they had fallen into a trap. The paradise they had destroyed with their own hands had turned into an inescapable hell.
And with time, they discovered the most horrifying truth of all:
Anyone who remains under the sun for too long... turns into a monster.
---
The humans gathered around their new leader and accused him of deception. Under pressure, he decided to find a solution.
He gathered all the knowledge they had plundered from the Moon Demons and, after a long study, came up with a salvation method:
"If the podium is saturated with enough sacrifices, the temple will grant the wish of the supplicant."
And so, the king made another foolish decision. He forced every family to sacrifice one of their members, then slaughtered them at the podium.
After thousands of sacrifices, his wish was granted, and the moon returned... but it soon disappeared again.
The king realized he had to continue sacrificing. Over the years, sacrifice turned into a daily ritual, and the lives of humans in the eternal Lunar Desert became an endless series of massacres.
And so the moon returned, but it didn't stay long. They had to sacrifice more. The moon returned again, but disappeared shortly after, as if mocking their desperate attempts.
Then, the king decided to offer even more sacrifices. He began executing a number of people daily at the temple. Whenever blood fell upon the sand, the moon drew closer, but it never stayed long. And so, life in the Lunar Desert for humans transformed from a peaceful paradise into a hell that slowly consumed them.
The sun showed them no mercy. It toyed with their minds, killed their children, and burned their crops. Worse still, it turned them into monsters. It soon became known that anyone who spent too long under the sun would turn into a mindless monster, a mere shadow of their former selves.
And so, just as the demons had promised them, the humans fell victim to their own greed.
The king then decided to summon the best priestess in the city, the only woman who possessed knowledge surpassing all others, the only one who had loved the demons and learned from them, though she hated him intensely. Having no choice after facing pressure and threats, she told him the truth he wasn't ready to hear:
"The humans erred by killing the demons and defiled the desert with their greed. The desert will not return to its original state unless every human living upon it dies... by the hand of the Knight of the Moon."
The king frowned and asked her: "What are the traits of the Knight of the Moon?"
"A youth from outside the desert, appears human, but the sun does not affect him. He will kill the nymphs in the desert oasis, enter the temple, and draw the sword."
"And what must we do to survive?"
"Either kill the Knight of the Moon and offer him as a sacrifice to the temple... or be killed by him."
And so, the king began preparing for the Knight of the Moon as if for a potential prophecy. He ordered the construction of safe passageways in the desert, away from the stone giants, the Moon's guardians. He built houses from temple stones to protect his people from the sun, so they would be ready to receive the Knight of the Moon whenever he appeared.
The king waited for a long time, but he didn't come. He then realized he had to achieve more lunar nights for the prophecy to be fulfilled. He killed more of his followers and continued doing so for decades. Over sixty years, he managed to bring about the night four times... but at what cost?
The sun ate away at his mind, just as it ate away at his followers' bodies. The priestess herself lost her mind, and the city's inhabitants died one after another, leaving only a few remaining.
And so, the last of the survivors decided to abandon waiting and free themselves!
"Do you know who these people are, Sami?" Senn asked in a quiet but weary voice.
Sami didn't answer. His mind was busy, swirling, trying to analyze everything. The revelation he had heard was shocking, but it put everything in its proper place. Now, things were clearer; everything he had experienced became understandable.
But despite the story's importance, he didn't have time to think about it now. Legends and history could be studied later. Right now, he had to decide his fate.
"Yes... I know who they are, Senn." Sami answered in a hesitant tone, as if unsure whether he wanted to say these words or not.
Senn looked at him and adjusted her sitting position, leaning on her right hand.
"And now, I suppose you also know who this person is!"
"Yes, it's the King... and he's also my grandfather. He waited for you for a very long time... though it seems he won't be able to meet you now."
She looked at him with lifeless eyes and said in a cold tone:
"And now, Sami... what is your decision? Will you kill us, or will you kill yourself?"