While she floated along where the seas were still calm, Luna made her final preparations. She latched her travel pack to her seat. When it was secure, she opened it only to retrieve the heavy poncho she had purchased from the market. She pulled the garment over her head and made sure it covered every part of her from the neck down.

She looked up beyond the sky’s limit. Night had fallen again, and the moon shown high overhead. The last bit of familiar comfort in this unknown part of the world. She would not shine through that foreboding wall.

“I promise, I’ll return.” She blew a kiss to the moon, and hoped it would also reach the place beyond.

With her vow made, Luna turned her attention to the stormy clouds. She was closer now, and the windy waves began to churn more restlessly. The sky fish were nowhere to be seen; they feared the place where the skies weren’t clear and calm. The docile clouds also dared not venture too close, lest they be swallowed and transformed into their monstrous cousins.

The dinghy drifted into the storm.

All at once, the restless winds suddenly became violent. The storm cloud that Luna entered didn’t take kindly to being disturbed. It doused the trespasser with a deluge of water, and continued raining droplets on her like cold, wet needles.

The poncho she wore shielded her body from being drenched, but her head was exposed. Her ash-colored hair flailed wildly against the howling winds, whipping against her eyes and making it harder to see—not that there was much within the fog of this storm cloud.

As soon as she cleared the cloud, another immediately fell upon her, and the cycle began anew. More rain to fill her boat in an effort to weigh it down. More wind to spin her around and disorient her course. More fog to bar her sight.

Luna fought through this cloud too.

And another cloud.

And another.

Lightning cracked overhead, tearing through the minimal open space and nearly striking the little boat. Luna cried out in shock and ducked her head instinctively. Another bolt whipped through the storm and snapped at the hull. A strong gust of wind slammed in from the other side, threatening to tip the dinghy over. At the same time, another wind crashed against the rudder from the other side.

The rudder broke off.

It was as if the clouds themselves could sense the boat’s loss of control. They took turns rumbling their shrouded bodies against the hull, helped by the perilous winds in their efforts to drag it to its doom. Rainwater sloshed in and out of the dinghy as it rocked viciously. Luna threw herself to the floor, clinging to her pack and the seat it was anchored to.

The storm raised its voice, speaking its ominous tone through the roaring winds. “Leave this place!”

Luna was scared.

Why was she out here? Why did she insist on being alone? She wondered if her chivalry—if insisting her friends stay behind—was instead an act of arrogance.

In the past, Luna had been hailed as brave by the people she met on the road. She had entreated with the tiger kin of the east, despite their reputation for reclusion. The result was a truce between the tigers and their rivals—the dragon kin, equally as territorial—who neighbored to their west. She had retrieved the ingredients needed to create a Vial of Wakening, which were found only in the deepest caverns, guarded by enormous snakes. This potion roused Sarech from his unnatural slumber. She had quelled the rage of a flock of owlkin—a feat even Sage thought impossible, after her own attempts to do so.

It wasn’t bravery; it was acceptance.

And hope.

Each act of “bravery” to the people was simply an act of necessity to her. If she had not acted, she would not have retrieved a shard of her missing soul. It was much the same now.

She was finished with cowering on the floor. Bracing herself against the seat, she rose unsteadily to her feet. Her knees stayed bent to absorb the shock and rocking motions that this menacing storm assaulted her craft with.

“I cannot leave!” she called to the storm. “I will not!”

The storm roared again, another wave of wind causing the dinghy to rise and fall the height of a tidal wave.

Luna braced herself as her boat leveled out once more. She called out again. “Something important has drawn me here! I beseech you, let me pass!”

“Leave!”

This time, rainwater poured down on her like the rush of a waterfall. The force of it all dragged the dinghy closer to the abyss. But it rose back to a safer level of the sky when a wind tilted it momentarily on its side, draining the excess water.

Given another brief respite from the churn, Luna stood and turned her gaze towards the faceless wall of clouds. Her resolve was made. Her defiance was clear in her moon-colored eyes.

The storm itself seemed to be looking at her with some consideration. The clouds were quiet as they prowled around her. The winds subsided and leveled out, leaving the dinghy to bob peacefully in place.

Luna continued to stare into the swirling shroud. She offered a tentative smile, wondering if the storm had accepted her plea.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning surged down from above. It didn’t bluff or bluster this time. Instead, it struck the dinghy with pinpoint precision. The abrupt force was too much for the little craft to handle. It burst apart as if a bomb had exploded from within, spewing wood and parts of itself in every direction. Its charred wings helicoptered pathetically and disappeared into the stormy fog.

And Luna hurtled off the side, plunging towards the abyss.

=-=-=

The last thing Luna remembered was extending her wings and fighting against the violent winds. But the currents were too strong for her to compete with. Her energy had drained to the point of lost consciousness.

It was the feeling of sand against her cheek that caused her to stir. Instead of coarse grains that would more easily pass as pebbles, these sands felt soft and fine like powder. Luna opened a single moon-colored eye, focusing on the powdery ground that served as her bed. These sands were blindingly white. She groaned at the disturbance to her waking sight and propped herself up.

Sand that stuck to her cheek fell away as she turned her gaze skyward. She blinked away the last of her blurry slumber as she took in the strange scene.

The wall of storm clouds surrounded the isle she found herself stranded on. But the storm drew no closer than it already was, swirling ominously a fair distance from the shore. It was as if the isle had an invisible barrier that warded off the shroud, or had a peace pact in place. Moreover, high beyond the sky’s limit, daylight was allowed through a small gap in the clouds. The natural spotlight illuminated the isle with expert precision, along with a few smaller isles that floated freely within this uncanny sanctuary.

A gust of wind rushed past her. “I suppose you’ve never seen the eye of a storm?”

Startled by the thundering voice, Luna instinctively snapped her head around to look behind her.

No one was there. Instead, she saw a forest. And beyond, she saw a mountain rising over it. Against the backdrop of storm clouds swirling about the isle’s border, the mountain’s dark stone looked darker still—even in the spot of daylight.

But she could feel it there—the presence of her missing shard.

Luna stood and faced herself squarely in the mountain’s direction. “Something important to me has called me here,” she called, her voice not carrying particularly far. “I’m here to retrieve it.”

Yet the voice in the mountain heard her. “So, you’re here to steal from me,” it rumbled along the wind. “Come then, if you dare. None who come here ever leave. You will just be one of many.”

On an appropriate cue, lightning flashed threateningly behind the mountain. Thunder rolled and boomed to emphasize the foreboding scene.

None who come here ever leave… So, these were the Isles Beyond.