Prologue

As the night fell, the azure blue sky lifted to reveal black marble sky. Luan found himself stood at the edge of the ocean.

The moon was high, casting a perfect, unbroken line of light across the water, reaching toward the horizon. The waves made a soft noise like whisper as they spilled around Luan's feet.

Luan had his gaze on the water, waiting for the water to solidify so he can walk on it. Just when the time has come, he leapt over a small wave crashing at his feet.

Half of his brain told him that he was throwing himself into the water and he could drown into it. Luan was now standing on a gleaming path that look as if it were made of hard rock thin glass. The moonlight on the water had become solid and now all he had to do was following the moonlight path.

The path was wide that it seemed to flex and curl under his feet with the motion and the ripple of the tide. Luan felt like he was walking on an unsteady bridge. He walked to the path for so long and so far and his eyes glimmered with pure wonderment when he looked down on his feet. Luan would have expected the ocean to be so dark and deep, but in fact the moonlight made it glow as if from within.

After the endless walk, Luan was far out from the shore now. The wind blew soft tendrils of his hair against his cheekbones. "What exactly am I doing here?" Luan said and for a moment even he wasn't sure where was he at the moment right now. Everything happened around him felt quite surreal and he did not know that the moonlight path was an existing place.

"Who walks the path of moonlight?" The baritone of its voice reverberating through Luan's bones.

He saw a figure approached him and his shadow out on the gleaming path before him. Luan's hand went to clench his trousers as the figure on the path before him had drawn closer.

Stood before Luan now was a tall creature, dressed in a ragged shirt and trouser. His long hair resembled thin strands of gold that glimmered against his dark skin. Luan's eyes latched on his bare feet and his face tightened when he saw his face. "What are you?" He said under his breath.

"Seek you to enter through the Gate of Nefeli?" He spoke, and his voice sounded like the tide at the sunset.

"Yes?" The hesitancy in his voice caught the creature's attention on him.

His gold eyes without irises fixed on him and Luan felt the fear sat on him like a pillow over his mouth and nose.

"You should've be more sure than that to pass through this gate, child." The creature said.

"I would've been that way if I know what exactly are you." Luan said. "This is beyond my imagination to be able to walk on this path and meet you."

His thin lips curled into a smile. "This is a surprise."

"And why is that?"

The creature raised his eyebrows, "It's a surprise to see the child of the Selene here, looking like a lost child."

Luan eyed the creature, his eyebrows creased. The shimmering water bent and flexed beneath his feet. "Child of the Selene?"

"Now answer me child, do you wish to pass through the gate to the Nefeli Land?"

"Yes."

"You have to know one thing, if the King finds you, you will be killed. The Nefelians are not fond to any child with the Selene blood."

"What's the point of telling me this if you want to scare me?"

The creature shrugged, "I'm only asking this for your own sake, child. It is not my concern what befalls you when you pass through this gate."

"So, you are saying that you won't take any responsibility if I lose my life in there?" Luan said and he swore he saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"Indeed." The creature said and continued. "However, you can only pass through this gate when you pay a toll."

Luan arched his define eyebrows, arms crossed over his chest. "No payments," said Luan. "No tolls either."

The creature smiled. "Come to me a little closer child, and speak to me for a moment. Then, you can decide if you would pay my price. I won't force you."

Luan's face darkened, but he stepped forward. The creature bent his head to speak to him. The wind rushed up around him and Luan found himself stood inside a circle of cloud.

"If you're going to threaten me," he paused and settled his eyes on the creature, "please understand that I will hunt you down for it."

The creature laughed. His laugher shrilled in Luan's ears, and its teeth were also gold. If Luan could steal his teeth and sell it to the pawn shop, he would have made a fortune for it.

"Luan Winterlight," the creature said. "I see you have little knowledge of me despite of being the child of the Selene."

Luan's eyebrows drawn together. "How do you know my name?"

The creature smiled slyly. "I know more about you more than you can imagine. Listen here child, I'm a fossegrim. Fossegrims are seducers not thugs. When I tell you what I tell you, you will definitely go to the Nefeli Land." The creature said. "Only if you pay a toll."

"And how much is the toll?"

"You have to give me your valuable item." The Fossegrim said flatly.

Luan stood motionless as the Fossegrim spoke and his muscles twitch in his cheek. It did not take it long for Luan to unsnap his Cartier watch from around his wrist and dropped it into the Fossegrim's palm.

"Not this one child."

"Why is that? This watch cost you a fortune."

"What use could a Fossegrim have for a watch?" The Fossegrim asked. "We don't have a pawn shop in here. Besides, time flow differently in here."

"Point taken, Mr. Fossegrim." Luan took back the watch from the Fossegrim and his eyes caught how his eyes flickered to his hand.

"You're not going to take my hands, aren't you?"

The Fossegrim shrugged and his lips curved upwards. "If you said so."

The Fossegrim leaned in and his smelled of salt. "Listen. If you enter the Nefili land, you will get the answer that you're looking for. Also, you will be able to see the face of someone you loved, who is dead."

"What?" Shock stabbed Luan. "You're lying."

"I'm afraid not, my dear child."

Luan's mouth had gone dry. "I mean you can choose something else. Not my hands."

The Fossegrim laughed incredulously. "What an interesting child you are. No wonder they can't take their eyes off on you."

"Sorry?"

The Fossegrim shook his head, "I can't tell you what it means. You have to figure it out yourself. I'm only a messenger and the message is true. Only if you believe it. If you wish to see the face of your loved one, you have to pass through the Gate of Nefeli."

"Now that sound persuading." Luan said and offered the Fossegrim a small smile.

"Show me your hand."

With that, Luan showed the Fossegrim his hand, eyes morphed in surprise as a white flower appeared into thin air from his palm. Luan gazed at it silently, the flower scattering light. He was sure there was nothing in his hand when he outstretched his hand to him.

"I'm taking this."

A pang went through him as the Fossegrim took the white flower from him. "A flower?"

The Fossegrim nodded, "this is Smeraldo, a very rare flower."

Luan heard the sound of the wind and waves slid between them. Behind them, the air swirled and clouded that he could see a shape in it, arched like the shape of a door.

The Fossegrim thrust out his hands, "Nefeli's Gate open." He said. "You may pass through this gate but if you want to flee back toward the shore, you should have do it quickly because the moon's path begins to dissolve already."

Luan heard a sound like a shattering ice, melting under the spring sunlight. The shining path beneath his feet was riven with black and the water was springing up through cracks. Fear consumed his whole body.

"You have to go now, child." The Fossegrim said.

For a flicker moment, Luan saw how the path formed into an archway of water and gleamed into bright gold, the inside of it churning with water and motion.

A loud laughter sliced through Luan's dazed and he saw the Fossegrim leaped from the path with an elegant dive and slipped through the waves. As the Fossegrim has gone, the path began to shattering rapidly into pieces like floating ice in the Arctic.

Seemed mortified, Luan leaped from one solid pieces to another and he saw the path ahead of him solidifying. As he pushed forward, Luan could see an open field, moonlight and trees.

He moved to take a step forward, but the path gave away under his feet. His vain of hope to get away from the shaky path shattered when he tumbled toward the black water and he fell through the arch.

For what seemed like much more than seconds, Luan landed hard on thick grass, tangled up in a lady. His eyes grew larger - the same size of a dinner plate. He was propping over her, elbows on the ground and Luan noticed her pale face luminous in the moonlight.

The air around them was cold, but her body was warm against him. He could feel the expansion of his chest as he inhaled a sharp breath.

"You're not from this world." She said into the ensuing silence and Luan turned his face quickly from hers.

A moment later, Luan was on his feet, reaching down to pull her up after him, but she scrambled up on her own.