The thump in Rachel’s chest felt like someone was trying to beat a punching bag as the morning Florida beams bathed her in light, warming her skin and leaving her utterly thoughtless for the first time in what seemed forever.

Her mother squeezed her hand, leading the way on the sidewalk; it didn’t feel real—how could her mother have a Seed—how could she not reveal it for over a month?

All Rachel could do was continue down the sidewalk, expecting the world to return to normal every second or to be somehow hit by any piece of reality that would bring her sky-bound thoughts back to earth, yet all that met her was an unnerving silence.

“You… can stop time, Mom?” she whispered in complete shock, observing every piece of her vision in full focus; nothing could grab her attention, though.

It was as if she’d stepped into a still framed picture—morning joggers, flying birds, barking dogs, and bees on their mission for pollen—life had been put on pause. Yet, her mother continued their stroll, wearing nightwear she typically wouldn’t be caught dead in outside.

Her mother’s soft hum drew her into a spiral as they kept a gradual pace around the block; the warm, wistful flame within her illuminated irises displayed a torturous vision of her mother’s world falling apart, but there was a smile on her lips.

Molly cleared her throat. “At the spark of light, a shadow was cast—the beginning of Existence—and from that effulgence came a rabbit!”

Rachel’s ears tilted to the left. “A rabbit?”

“Not just any rabbit,” her mother chided. “A rabbit of such blackness that it swallowed the brilliance it was born from, and within the shadows cast by that initial beacon was born his sister—a hare so burnished, the darkness was chased away; light from darkness, and darkness from light.”

That her mother was so casually talking about Existence and the beginning of something so large it boggled her mind made her tail stand on end, but she wasn’t going to let her rest as she continued the story.

“The gods and goddesses that came after fought over these two precious creatures—the dark rabbit that carried light and the white hare that held darkness—Luck and Misfortune; brother and sister. And thus, the Pure Onyx Rabbit and Limpid Jade Hare were born…”

A shiver ran through Rachel’s spine. “Wait… Are you talking about me—my Seed—those bedtime stories you made up about the Limpid Jade Hare when I was little… those couldn’t be about me?”

The dots connected in Rachel’s brain like a supernova, embracing everything she’d learned thus far. “Scarlet’s mom was given visions from Revilla… You saw visions about your future? Have you been in contact with… from which goddess—the lunar goddesses—who told you to manipulate everything so all this would happen?!”

Her mother sighed with a soft chuckle, lifting her hand to kiss it. “Patience, Rachel… don’t jump to conclusions. Just listen and let me enjoy this… Please?”

“I don’t like that!” Rachel hissed. “How can I enjoy this?”

“You will,” she returned, a somber hope in her mother’s flaming eyes.

Grip tightening, unsure her mother wouldn’t drift away with every passing second, Rachel shook her head. “It sounds like you’re saying goodbye—you can’t do that to me—to Scarlet, Nam… you can’t do that to Dad after telling him you’d make him breakfast!”

A vice gripped Rachel’s chest with the emotion that hit her nose as her mother stopped them in the middle of the neighbor’s sidewalk driveway and gave her a doleful look; the panic began to set in.

“What do I need to do—Mom, tell me—if there’s not much time, tell me how to save you! I don’t care why or what happened, just—just tell me how to stop whatever this is from happening!”

“Oh, Rachel… You are so stubborn and hasty… Hehe. My little fighter,” she whispered, moving in to push up onto her tippy-toes to kiss her forehead and embrace her. “If you want to save me… then listen. I’ve both feared and looked forward to this moment for an eternity.”

Rachel shook her head, choking, “I can’t lose you!”

Her misfortune-sensing ability was useless right now, and the fact this Jade Hare was some archetype for bad luck put a mirror in Rachel’s mind—there had to be a connection—yet, at this moment, when she needed it the most, it wasn’t working, and she couldn’t understand why.

She should have felt something like this coming, yet the threads of misfortune weaving around them bowed as if there wasn’t a thing Rachel could do to stop whatever was coming, and that scared her.

“I’m not lost, Rachel… Will you listen to your mom… let me be your mother?”

“What does being my mom have to do with—with…”

“Hehe. You don’t know, do you?” her mother snickered, tapping her on the nose like she was a little girl again. “So, let’s continue our walk, and I’ll explain it.”

Rachel couldn’t resist as she was drawn back into their gradual stride, the slow pain and dread digging into her chest wouldn’t let up.

The warmth of the passive sun somehow heated Rachel’s skin, and she couldn’t grasp how any of this was physically possible or how she could see at all—the light wasn’t reflecting off her eyes—yet the impossibility of the time stop was entirely overshadowed by her mother’s ominous tale.

“Gods, heroes, villains…” she sighed. “Every creature envied, feared, or hated the all-encompassing ability of the two powerful embodiments of Luck and Misfortune. Yet, there was one Supreme Goddess that was the Limpid Jade Hare’s greatest nemesis… Seonangsin.”

The name triggered her memories, linking dots of the shimmering white-gowned woman that her mother told bedtime stories about, always chasing the mischievous Jade Rabbit—a goddess of village protection, boundaries, and war—the pious defended against disease and misfortune, bringing luck and plenty.

“I… fought Seonangsin—I was the mischievous—ack… Mom!” she cried as she pinched her tail.

“Shhh! I’m telling a story,” she huffed, pulling her lips in that cute, motherly way that made Rachel quiet down on instinct, trained from a little girl.

“Ahem… Seonangsin battled and drove the Jade Hare away, hunting her since the dawn of time. Misfortune—the Jade Hare—fought endlessly against those who sought to claim everything she was… yet the one foe she could never beat or rest from was Seonangsin, for the Pure Onyx Rabbit—the Jade Hare’s brother—that embodied the luck in all Existence rode with the protector…”

Rachel had liked the story as a little girl with the heroine always stopping the bad stuff that happened wherever the Jade Hare went and her trusted black-furred companion, but now it took on an entirely different meaning—she was the hunted—and it wasn’t like the Jade Hare wanted to cause bad luck.

Her mother trailed off, downcast eyes falling to the sidewalk; Rachel frowned as her mother’s story took a turn she hadn’t heard before.

“…until Luck—the protector’s companion—abandoned her, and an unknown, powerful outside force absorbed him.”

“I don’t remember that?” Rachel muttered, thinking back through all the small, bite-sized tales she’d been told as a little girl. “Onyx always was with Seonangsin, saving her from all the traps Jade made?”

“Haaa… that’s the trouble with a personification creature—one that hasn’t been gifted an Intelligence and is without thought—it went to that which most took after itself… the luckiest being was always invincible because they had the personification of natural luck with them.

“Unfortunately, maybe by some unwilling design of Jade herself… this invader to our Existence now took hold of Onyx the Rabbit and created a fiend so untouchable that no hero or deity could stand in its way… Onyx the Lucky became the Beast.

“And, one by one, all life was swallowed by this Beast that had once been their personification of luck, and thus, The End of Eternities began.”

Rachel’s marrow ran cold; Jade—she—could have caused the destruction of an entire Existence. Obviously, as her mother explained, it wouldn’t have been her fault, but simply performing a function of Existence.

Still, it was horrifying to contemplate the scale of such an act—she’d turned her brother into the destroyer of Existences. She couldn’t imagine doing that to Nam, yet there was a keyword her mother used that stuck in her mind.

“Our… You lived in that Existence… Unless… Is this Existence ours—this maelstrom the Eldritch and Anthony talked about—what are you saying, Mom?! Did Seonangsin give you these visions? Adele did mention I had multiple essences in my Seed…”

“Shhh… Hehe. You never did let me finish my stories without always asking so many questions,” her mother scolded, giving her a loving glare. “The only rules you followed were in my kitchen.”

She couldn’t help a short snort at the redirect, remembering how frightening her mother could become in her personal space. “That’s because you turned into a bear with a wooden spatula whenever that happened—pretty much literally.”

Laughter shook her mother’s frame. “Not wrong. A kitchen is a sacred place which brings life and nourishment… it should be respected.”

“Hehe. I guess… Umm, doesn’t Jade disappear before the Onyx is eaten by the monster… wasn’t he saved?”

“You remember!” her mother chimed, but she shook her head. “Yes, Jade disappeared, but my happy ending with Onyx… wasn’t what really happened.”

Rachel tried to breathe out her anxiety. “So… he’s still in—no, he is the monster?”

“Mhm… Let’s go back to Jade, though; I like this part a lot more!”

“Okay…”

Slowing to a halt, her mother looked at her with a short puff of air. “Well… I sort of like this part a lot more. Misfortune followed Jade… was Jade—inescapable—and she always felt incomplete without her double, yet was always chased away from him.”

“Caught in a perpetual cycle of conflict, never able to sit still or relax, there were some who grew to pity Jade… Of course, there was also a building threat she posed to everyone.”

“The Beast?”

“Hehe. I suppose you could call Jade the first Beast,” her mother mumbled, brushing back her hair and looking into the still heavens. “And so, after yet another battle where Jade was once again chased away, a certain goddess came to her…

“This kind and lovely goddess knew misfortune would follow her without Onyx’s protection, such as Seonangsin claimed, yet couldn’t bring the protector goddess into her plan or else it would be ruined.”

Rachel wanted to rub her arm at the prickles that cascaded down them but restrained herself; she was seeing herself as this unfortunate character now. “Even if someone wanted to help Jade, they’d still be cursed? That sucks—how’s that fair?”

Her mother chuckled. “Jade is the embodiment of Misfortune, and all fortunes come at a price, including her own invincible protection—a balance—which Chungkyun Moju accepted. She knew it wasn’t Jade’s fault; the hare had been cursed since her birth as the personification of Existence’s catastrophe.”

She instantly recognized the name her mother had dropped. “The Empress Mother of the Rightful View… One of Sungmo’s titles—the mother goddess in Korean shamanism. She was the one who gave you the visions?”

“Patience, my speedy little Lunar Hare,” her mother mused, reaching up to flick her ear and make Rachel wince. “Remember, this is my story!”

“Okay… I just don’t want to lose you,” Rachel mumbled, rubbing the spot that surprisingly hurt a lot. “Just let me know I can save you.”

Her mother winked with a toothy grin. “Maybe you’d know if you listened to my tale!”

“Huu-haaa.” Rachel drew closer to press her shoulder against her mother’s, looping her arm around her waist in a way that said she wasn’t going to let go. “Fine. You know how stubborn I am… I won’t lose you—ever.”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm. I love you too,” she giggled, leaning her head over. “You’re right—heh, I’m happy my early years teaching you Korean tales didn’t go to waste!”

“Uh-huh,” Rachel responded, still unsure how to process all of this as her mother went on.

“Sungmo knew Jade would be needed; Seonangsin’s pride made her believe her true purpose in life was to one day slay Jade.

“The mother goddess foresaw the result of the protector monopolizing Onyx’s luck would eventually put so much power in Jade’s paws to balance the scales that an insurmountable price would have to be taken, and it would be by Existence itself… We were creating our own destruction in spurning Jade.”

Starting them back on their slow walk around their block, her mother’s words drew into a thoughtful whisper as if looking back at some past vision.

“The Holy Mother of Heaven was born in the light of that first divide which created the two aspects of Existence, and in her wisdom, gave Jade and Onyx the same offer that would decide the fate of everything—only one would take it—Existence was our judge, setting our ominous path.”

Rachel’s full lips drew in as she recalled bits and pieces from her childhood story, painting a terrifying picture. “Onyx rejected it, and Jade embraced the offer… becoming a beautiful woman. Me? There’s no way.”

“Not quite…” The secretive and melancholy look in her mother’s flaming irises only escalated the fear twisting Rachel’s gut. “Sungmo used it as a test, measuring the current state of our Existence, and the result was clear, but it was also a means to overcome the inevitable disaster.”

Her mother brought Rachel in a short spin, grabbing her other hand while locking eyes and smiling. “Reborn, Jade saw things through mortal eyes and lived among humans; the Jade Hare became a human girl named Gameunjang-agi—the dark bowl baby—who would become…”

Rachel’s mind fixated on one feared and venerated name in Korean culture. “Samgong… the sweetest goddess ever…”

A gentle sigh caused her mother’s lips to fall with her gaze and shoulders. “Even as a mortal, Jade could not escape the misfortune that was her very essence…

“Hehe. Yet—unlike her previous manifestation—given this new mortal form through the mother goddess, she gained a gift she was never meant to have… Misfortune was given Intelligence. She could learn and grow, allowing Jade to channel her great power to become more than what she was.”

This can’t be real… Rachel thought, trying to process and remember everything her mother told her throughout her early life.

Before the drunk driver had killed her cousin, Rachel had to wonder if her mother actually had been shown a vision of her niece dying.

Did Mom take it so hard because… she knew in advance and didn’t… or couldn’t prevent it? Could it have been my misfortune—no, I can’t think like that!

Her mother pulled her closer. “Misfortune is a lonely life, filled with sorrows—Jade was simply the embodiment of Existence’s weaving threads—but reborn as Samgong… she could perceive those ripples to direct them.”

It was all coming together; her ability to curse people and sense the bad luck of others or cause it, and maybe her Seed had passed through another lunar deity or something similar, but she was getting answers from the person she least expected it from.

“Suddenly, Samgong became one of the most important and implored supreme goddesses in Existence—called upon as Karma itself—creating a new path for Jade that usurped the previous order.

“Battle was all Jade knew, and battle Samgong did, yet now she had will… which came with a search for purpose. The Jade Hare became a God Maker… and destroyer; a new person that people honored rather than hated, and she became a rival to Seonangsin, who couldn’t protect against a balancing force like Karma—Jade won, and all because of the Mother Goddess’ sacrifice in exposing herself to misfortune.”

Rachel couldn’t keep up; now, her mother was mentioning Karma, which the eldritch entities that abducted Anthony had spoken of in the conflict between Fate and Destiny—it was too much.

Her mother began recounting various parables and tales from Korean culture, linking them to the transformed Jade Hare.

“A lesser goddess of childbirth pleaded with a powerful deity of disease to have mercy—if only on the children—yet, he had no obligation to heed the word of a lesser goddess. He refused, and for her hubris in believing she could even speak to one as great as he, the god mocked her for being a weak woman and disfigured the children to prove his point.”

Rachel’s teeth locked together, recalling the bedtime story that she’d been told when ten years old. Had all of it been real?

Her mother squeezed her side. “Grieving for the pained children, the childbirth goddess curses the disease god’s wife—a powerful goddess herself—so that she could never give birth, causing her unimaginable pain until the god begs on his knees for her to lift the curse on his wife.

“How do you suppose a lesser goddess of birth could have the power to do such a thing?”

“…me?”

“So presumptuous!” her mother chided with a smirk that said she was such a hopeless child.

Feeling like a scolded little girl, Rachel couldn’t help herself; it felt like she was losing one of the most critical pillars in her life, yet her mother only continued in the same bitter-sweet tone that made her want to pull her hair out.

“All those that called on Samgong were given the power to curse those that had wronged them—no matter their station or place, be it god or mortal—and when the fated day came that Sungmo feared… our Existence’s embodiment of fortune was turned into the Beast of Oblivion.”

A tear fell down her mother’s cheek, and Rachel pulled her closer; there was nothing she could do to comfort the woman that had given her birth, and it was killing her—so she listened as her mother had asked.

“Upon becoming the Beast… his first encounter was Sungmo…”

Rachel bit her lower lip, heat filling her face as emotion began to crack through her walls.

“The Holy Mother that gave Jade her first act of kindness… a form that others wouldn’t only associate her with misfortune,” Rachel whispered, ears twitching with agitation as she connected herself to the incident.

It could have been the essence her Seed passed through, or she could be the goddess herself—she wasn’t sure—but everything her mother said resonated within her like the pulse of The Oscillation.

By helping the Jade Hare, Sungmo had set into motion the thread of misfortune that ended in being face to face with the Beast of Oblivion—Rachel hated it—it sounded like Fate, and she refused to believe another played with her strings.

“Did she have to die—like some prophecy?”

Her mother gave her a sad smile that said she was so young. “That’s for you to decide.”

Rachel sniffed back the tears threatening to escape her watery eyes; if Sungmo had willingly accepted this path, foreseeing the coming doom to the Existence she’d been born to, then she had chosen to walk a sacrificial destiny that would give all she loved a chance to survive while bestowing the gift of choice to the Jade Hare.

The Mother of Existence… faced her death with compassion—a victory in sacrificing her life for mine?

Her mother cleared her own throat, bottom lip trembling for a few minutes before getting her emotions under control and continuing their path.

“Naturally, after the beloved Holy Mother had been swallowed by the Beast, it shook the other deities to the core, and who do you suppose everyone turned to in order to contend with this insurmountable threat?”

“Samgong…” Rachel mumbled, glaring at the cement cracks they walked over. “They called on the hare they’d cursed, hated, and hunted since the dawn of time… to punish the Beast… her twisted brother.”

“Hmm-hmm. No.”

“No?”

“Mmh-uh,” her mother confirmed.

“Who—Seonangsin?”

“Mhm!” her mother chirped, bumping hips with a gloomy giggle. “The greatest warrior and hunter of the Heavens—a goddess of villages, boundaries, and war—yet… she knew after Onyx abandoned her for this new entity and was transformed, she was no match for this Outer Existent threat.”

Her mother turned to give her a grin and wink, causing Rachel’s gut to churn. “It was Seonangsin that turned to Samgong for support—her bitter rival—and that was when their beloved goddess of Karma turned into the same Limpid Jade Hare that Seonangsin had hunted since her youth—the karma of pride, greed, and prejudice had come full circle.”

Rachel’s fingers tightened into a fist as she put herself in the place of Jade, glaring at the halted sun in the illuminated heavens, and heat filled her breast. “I wouldn’t have helped them.”

“No?” Her mother whispered with a heavy smile and puffy, red cheeks as she stopped near their house again to look up at her. “You couldn’t… Not even to repay my mother for her sacrifice and gift?”

A quake ran through Rachel’s bones as the connection rippled through her veins like ice, and everything that personified her mother drew one name from her lips. “Jowangsin.”

The warm, motherly glow in her flaming eyes and the stress cooking—her mother was the goddess of fire and the hearth—the goddess of the kitchen; her grandmother was the Holy Mother of Heaven.

Lifting herself up on her tippy-toes, her mother kissed her forehead and brushed back her hair with a proud, pained smile as she concluded her tale.

“My mother and father told me that even with the Jade Hare’s aid, we could not face what was coming—we only had one part of Existence—our own misfortune, greed, and fears could not overcome the twisted light that balanced it, yet Karma could bring hope.

“So,” her mother straightened her blouse, “Seonangsin knelt before her life-long prey with many others, offering their own essence to correct their wrongs… to restore balance, and I was given the task to oversee the unification… the honor of being your mother.”

Jowangsin—her mother—drew Rachel in to lean her head against her chest as it felt like she was ripping out her heart.

“Unfortunately… Fate wouldn’t allow that, so… I acted as a decoy after your birth, creating a spiritual double that could only exist so long as no one knew who I was.”

Lower lip now trembling, Rachel couldn’t stop the liquid falling down her burning cheeks. “Mom… You can’t do this…”

“It’s not what I’m doing, my little fighter… it’s what I did to protect you. The moment you pursued the topic of a Seed, everything would unravel, and the only way for me to keep you safe from Fate knowing—from your brother coming—is to let myself return to my spiritual core… where I’ll be caged within the Beast to empower him.”

Shaking arms holding her mother close, Rachel coughed, the golden rays of the sun beginning to slowly drain her Lunar Pools as her mother’s powers faded, yet all she could feel was the hearth of her mother’s warming love filling her breast.

All the memories of her mother came flooding back, from her smile that served every day at the kitchen table, filling her family’s bellies with healthy, life-giving nutrients, to the devastating torture she’d felt after her niece’s death to learning about her secret bathtime romance addiction.

“Mom… I can save you—I will!”

“I know…” she whispered, the pressure against Rachel’s back weakening. “You aren’t just the Limpid Jade Hare, or Dallim, Seonangsin, Pali Kongju, Magu, Eopsin, or Josang… You’re my Rachel—my daughter—and you’re strong.”

“I just have to kill this Beast of Oblivion—Fate—whoever; I’ll do it—I promise! Please, don’t go, Mom… Please…”

“Be strong for my little teacup—and, and my precious Scarlet—she needs you,” her mother cried. “The threads of my Existence are being unraveled to keep you safe…”

“No, Mom! No!”

“Only those like you—Scarlet, Nia, Yseress, and Anthony—will be able to remember me… Obviously, heh, Nia’s going to be crushed since she’s connected to your soul, and after I promised to take her shopping… Tell her I’m so sorry… Rain check?

“B-But I know they’ll be fine with you here, but… but I’m just glad you have Anthony… I’m so sorry, Rachel… I love you.”

Unable to keep her mother from leaving, Rachel’s knees hit the sidewalk as her nose and cheeks burned, arms slipped through her mother’s frame; her clothes fell to the ground, and Rachel’s fingers closed around her mother’s shirt as it also began to fade away with every thread of the woman that birthed her pulled out of the weave.

Nia ran out of the house as emotion flooded through Rachel’s core, with Yseress not far behind Anthony, yet she couldn’t talk to the alarmed girls as she stumbled to her boyfriend.

“Rachel… what’s happening—where’s your mom—what happened?!”

“Mom?! Wait, where is Mom?! Mom,” Nia shouted, causing joggers to pause in confusion. “Rachel, where’s Mom?!”

Alexa made it out of the house, glancing around at the chaos unfolding before locking onto them in utter confusion. “Nia… who? Who’s your mother—wait, Scarlet—she’s inside?”

Rachel’s world spun as Anthony picked her up, glancing back in bewilderment—she couldn’t process this—it couldn’t be real.

“Scarlet’s not—” Anthony turned to Alexa. “Molly—your mother-in-law?”

“Who?!”

Jaenona appeared beside him, bending down to run her fingers through the place her mother had been only moments before. “Hmm… I cannot feel the warm hum of her song… She has left the maelstrom to places unknown.”

Clinging to Anthony’s chest, Rachel ripped his shirt while crying into it, and the worst part was she was too stupid to not leave this alone, but her mother knew she wouldn’t stop digging, which was why she’d chosen to reveal everything while she still could.

“I can’t… I have to get stronger—we have to save her,” she babbled, latching around Anthony’s torso and taking him to the ground. “I have to save her!”

“Breathe! Rachel… Talk to me…”

Emotional Detachment was worthless, shattering in an instant, and all she could do was cry for her mother; she had been the biggest threat to her mother, which was why she’d tried to steer her away, and the emptiness she felt after her mother’s warmth left made her want to rip at her own chest.

She didn’t have time to cry, yet she couldn’t stop; she had an enemy—a true enemy—that had something she couldn’t live without and wouldn’t lose.

Author Note: Possibly one of the most critical chapters in the series to date that shows why the Lunar Goddesses are interested in Rachel. Let me know what you think!