Story Shorts: The Oath of the Starless Night

The Oath of the Starless Night

Under a starless sky, there exists a realm where the celestial bodies have faded into legend. In this perpetual twilight, communities are lit by the soft glow of luminescent flora and fauna. Among these, the village of Nocturne's Promise thrives, a place where the night is not just a condition but a way of life.

Elara, a young astronomer, believes the stars haven’t vanished but are obscured by an ancient curse. With her late grandmother's journal as her guide, which speaks of a time when the stars danced freely in the sky, Elara embarks on a quest to bring back the stars and unravel the mystery of the darkened heavens.

Her journey leads her to the Keepers of the Night, a secret order that has safeguarded a forgotten truth about the sky’s obscurity. As she proves her worth to the Keepers, Elara is entrusted with a celestial shard—a fragment of a fallen star, still shimmering with a captured light.

With the shard comes a warning: "The night is a guardian that veils the world from ancient terrors that once ruled under the open, star-filled sky." Elara must choose between her dream of a starlit world and the safety the eternal night offers.