Under the Moon’s Gaze

The moon hung high over the forest, casting its silver gaze upon the earth like a watchful guardian. It was quiet eerily so. The kind of quiet that only happened in places where secrets slept. In that silence, under the moon’s unblinking eye, something stirred.

Elara moved quietly through the trees, her cloak brushing the moss-covered ground. She had been warned never to wander beyond the river after dark, especially on nights like this full moon nights. But warnings were just words, and Elara was a girl driven by curiosity and dreams too wild for the village she came from.

The stories she had grown up hearing were whispered at the hearth: tales of ancient spirits, cursed lovers, and creatures who roamed the woods under the moonlight. Most dismissed them as superstition. But Elara had always believed especially after the night she saw glowing eyes watching her from the treetops.

And tonight, something had pulled her back.

She reached the clearing the one no one dared to speak of. It was as if the moon had claimed this place, bathing it in a glow that felt almost sacred. The grass shimmered. The trees stood still, their branches heavy with the weight of memory.

Then, she saw him again.

He stood just beyond the tree line, tall and cloaked in shadow, his eyes glowing faintly like moonlit embers. Not a man, not a beast something in between. A guardian. A secret. A myth.

“Elara,” he spoke, his voice a whisper carried by the wind. It had been a year since she last saw him since their first meeting under this very sky. She had thought him a dream, a trick of light and loneliness. But now, she knew better.

“I told myself I wouldn’t come back,” she said, her voice soft but steady.

“And yet, here you are,” he replied, stepping into the moonlight. His features were sharp, almost otherworldly. His silver hair flowed like water, and his skin shimmered faintly. “You always return when the moon calls.”

“I need to know the truth,” she said. “What are you?”

He hesitated, his gaze flickering to the sky. “I am bound to this forest,” he said finally. “Cursed, some would say. Blessed, others. I was once like you. Human. But I broke an oath long ago a vow to protect this land from those who would destroy it. The forest gave me a second life… but at a cost.”

“You’re the guardian,” she whispered. “The one they speak of in old songs.”

He nodded. “I have watched over this place for centuries. I’ve seen kingdoms rise and fall, seen lovers meet and part. But never” He paused, stepping closer. “Never have I felt the pull I feel when you are near.”

Elara’s heart thudded in her chest. She had felt it too. The connection. The unspoken promise of something more.

“But we’re from different worlds,” she said.

“Not as different as you think,” he murmured. As they stood beneath the moon’s gaze, the air between them shimmered charged with energy, ancient and raw. The forest seemed to lean in, listening, waiting. Time stilled. Nothing existed outside this moment.

“Will you stay?” he asked, his hand reaching for hers. “Even just for tonight?”

She took his hand.

And the moment their fingers touched, she felt it a surge of warmth, memories not her own, lives lived under countless moons. She saw his pain, his solitude, his vow. And in that instant, she understood: he was not a monster, not a legend. He was a man burdened by a promise no one remembered.

“I’ll stay,” she said.

They sat in the clearing, sharing stories, laughter, and silence. The kind of silence that felt full instead of empty. Hours passed, unnoticed. The moon watched over them, a witness to a love both forbidden and fated.

But dawn always comes.

And with it, choices.

As the first light crept over the horizon, he stood. “You can’t stay forever,” he said, sorrow etched in every word.

“I know,” she replied. “But I’ll return. Every full moon, I’ll come back. As long as you wait.”

He smiled—a rare, beautiful thing. “I’ll wait. As long as the moon rises, I’ll wait for you.”