Lyn had always wanted to follow the path of her parents: live quietly, marry a good man, and raise strong children. It was her younger sister, Ayla--the only family she had left--who lived for magic and adventure. They were different, but she loved Ayla all the same.

After their parents had passed, Lyn had enjoyed her peaceful life in her family's quaint, but quiet home. She'd found comfort in serving tea to those who had called upon her. Their deep conversations had consumed her afternoons and provided lovely entertainment.

Life had treated her fairly. Life had once been good.

"Lyn!"

The scream hurled Lyn out of her thoughts.

She felt the violence of reality shake her to her core. A shiver drove every pleasant memory from her head, forcing her back into the present. She finally took a moment to witness the disaster that had pulled her peaceful life out from underneath her.

Beyond the window of her friend's house, snow fell in frozen clusters, casting a blanket of white over the Silver City. Lyn watched crowds of city folk sprint past on the streets, their heads bowed low against the blizzard.

Families scrambled over each other as they all careened toward the city gates--their only hope of survival. It was fear, not snow, that painted all their faces white. Above the ice that pummeled their skin, the sky burned with fire. Clouds swirled in waves of flames and flashed like a lightning storm. Lyn likened the scene to a vision of hell.

She knew better than to call it unfortunate weather. There was an unseen battle taking place in the heavens. With the shards of metal that rained from the sky, the city was facing imminent destruction.

"Lyn! For crying out loud!"

Lyn turned to the sound of frantic shouting. An old woman--her friend Pana--stared back at her with fearful eyes bulging from her skull.

They were standing inside the sitting room of Pana's narrow house, its furnace blazing with sufficient heat to combat the cold. Lying supine across one of Pana's couches was Ayla, her face covered with sweat.

A scream of pain erupted from Ayla's throat. Lyn ran over to her sister's side and seized her hand. With fear squeezing her heart in a vice grip, she scanned the large bulge of Ayla's stomach.

Using quick fingers, Lyn moved aside the black strands of her sister's long hair, revealing the oval shape of Ayla's face. Ayla's usual pale skin was blotched in a deep, pink flush.

"Sister," Ayla uttered. Her eyes were awash with tears.

With her pregnant sister, the kingdom's crumbling capital, and an unknown terror wreaking havoc in the skies, Lyn's life had fallen apart in the blink of an eye. But she had to be strong now, for her sister and her sister's unborn child.

"She's going to have the baby," Pana muttered through clench teeth. "Right here, right now."

The words didn't surprise Lyn. Having carried the child for only six months, Ayla had told her that the gods were now requiring its urgent birth. How Ayla or the heavens even had that kind of power for an early birth, Lyn could not fathom. But with whatever powers the heavens had bestowed upon Ayla, Lyn had no choice but to believe her sister.

The baby's father had been killed only a few days ago--on the first day the skies had turned red. Now, Lyn was all her sister had. The city's medical institution had been abandoned, and all the doctors had evacuated from the city. Pana, with her experience as a midwife, was their only hope.

A crash thundered nearby. Both Lyn and Pana flinched. Lyn glanced over her shoulder and out the window. A projectile had fallen from the sky and smashed into the building nearby, generating a tidal wave of snow that washed over the people on the street. Their screams chilled Lyn's bones.

Her sister joined with the screaming. There was no time for the numbing medicine. Pana's wrinkled brow dripped with sweat as she coaxed the baby along.

There was a moment when Lyn could no longer hear the screams and explosions. The raging pulse of her heart shrouded all sound, and for a long minute, she feared she had gone numb to the world. They were in the midst of winter and battle. She could only wonder how they would all survive this day.

After what felt like an eternity of fear, Pana finally shouted, "I see the head!" There was a note of emphatic hope in her voice.

Lyn tightened her hold around Ayla's hand. "You have to push, Ayla. You have to keep pushing!"

Her sister whimpered in agony, her red cheeks glistening with tears and sweat. Lyn's eyes stung, and it hurt far too much to hold back her tears.

"Push!"

She heard Pana give a yelp. Her eyes widened as the older woman rose with something pink and fleshy in her hands--a baby girl. Pana carefully snipped the cord from her belly and wrapped her in a clean blanket. Lyn felt an encumbrance lift off from her chest, and she could no longer repress her tears.

A girl! She had a niece!

Lyn wept, her tears cascading around her smile. Her face ached from smiling, but she didn't care. There was a spurt of joy in her heart, and it was the brightest light she had ever seen.

There was but a second to enjoy it. She watched as euphoria glittered in her sister's distant eyes. A stillness captured Lyn's heart.

"I see him," Ayla breathed. "He is coming for her. I have to go. Please, Lyn. You must protect both of them."

A few seconds later, her delicate hand fell limp inside Lyn's grasp. Lyn felt a chill dart down her spine. Unable to breathe, she placed a shaky palm on her sister's wet face.

"Ayla?" Lyn croaked.

Ayla's eyes were closed, and despite the disheveled appearance of her tangled hair, her face bore a peaceful expression. A faint smile graced her lips.

Lyn shook her head in disbelief as she cried out her sister's name. Her heart shuddered when there was no response.

She burst into sobs, just as she heard Pana give a quiet, disheartened cry.

Lyn's chest heaved as she looked up at the newborn girl. The old midwife was rubbing Ayla's daughter with the blanket and pinched her heel, but there were no cries, no indication that the baby lived.

Lyn's heart sank to her stomach, her tears growing cold. No, that's not possible, she thought. Ayla said he needed her child!

She reached out, and Pana passed her unresponsive niece to her.

The moment her arms wound around her sister's baby, the building shook as something crashed through the wall. In dumbfounded horror, Lyn watched as a stray slab of stone struck the back of Pana's head. The blow was swift. The old woman's body fell with a thunk, and blood pooled underneath her. She lay face down, unmoving.

Lyn screamed and cowered in a corner, shielding the newborn with her body. Snow and dust from the debris formed a whirlwind inside the room. Halfway through the wall was an aircraft Lyn had never seen before. It was an aircraft of black alloy not born from human hands, not of her world.

The building trembled again as the roof was torn away, the sound a resounding roar of cracking stone. She looked up, her eyes widening in terror. Her breath caught in her throat.

Through the blizzard, she saw the opaque clouds that were lit with fire and chaos. Black aircrafts streaked across the sky. She caught a glimpse of a giant serpentine creature as it slid through the smoke and swallowed the aircrafts whole. Seconds later, it disappeared again into the clouds.

Dragon, came a whisper in her mind.

A large hand grabbed the side of the house, and a creature in the form of a giant man loomed over the building. Shrinking as far as she could into the room's corner, Lyn fixated on the celestial being towering above her. Long, imperial horns curved downward from his temples. His translucent, silver-blue skin had begun to flake, falling from his body as if about to disintegrate.

Lyn could not help but stare, her voice trapped. Her heart was an emphatic drum inside her chest. Terror overtook the shock of her sister and friend's deaths. She drew Ayla's baby tighter against her in a meager attempt to protect her.

Fear told her to close her eyes, but she couldn't. Common sense told her not to believe, but she ignored it. Now, she believed.

Ayla had been right all along.

All her life, Ayla had described a deity who had visited her in her dreams--a silver dragon donning the image of a giant man. And now he stood directly in front of Lyn.

He, Lyn regarded with realization, was the Moon God.

He was real, he existed, and he had arrived at last to collect Ayla's promise.

Lyn froze as his eyes gleamed bright silver. His gaze penetrated her, and she felt as if he had glimpsed into her soul. Then, he perceived the lifeless baby in her arms.

Above him, the alien machines plunged to the world in a torrent of flames. With the sky falling on top of his city, the Moon God leaned his dissolving body over the building to protect her and his newborn incarnation.