Awakening of the Moon and Other Stories

By Candace Gardner

AWAKENING OF THE MOON AND OTHER STORIES offers a trio of short fantastical stories for readers of any age to enjoy. Each story contains a strong female lead who endures various hardships in a world that is not their own.
In “Awakening of the Moon”, young college student Bryn Canter, is tasked with keeping the wild Fenrir at bay, all the while being burdened with the powers of a Norse god. Will she be able to control the power or will the trickster god’s mischievous acts cause chaos on Earth?
“Beast Tamer” tells the tale of a young woman who discovers the secret behind her mysterious birthmark and finds her future. Tamika Roulind lives in a small city country called Dains. Ever since she was young, she could talk to and understand animals. One day while running from her hometown, she and her wyvern Tryl, comes across a large mysterious dragon and an even stranger city where humans are forbidden.
And finally, in “Darkness Descends”, Airi Hunter lived a regular life. Until she finds a severely injured black beast with a golden chain wrapped around it. Airi reads the inscription on the chain and is then swallowed by mysterious flames. She awakens to a demanding figure engulfed with the same violet flames that had brought her there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Candace Gardner
• Release date: Mar 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370629268

Candace Gardner

Candace A. L. Gardner is currently working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing from Full Sail University. She writes short stories and novels based in fantasy worlds. Her first upcoming release will be an E-Book collection of short stories. Candace lives in a small rural town in Upstate New York with her husband and her cat; Munchkin and her dog; Flicka.

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Awakening of the Moon and other stories

By: Candace A. L. Gardner

Copyright © Candace Gardner, 2017

All Rights Reserved

First Smashwords Edition

License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your us only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my family,

who has always pushed me to never

give up and follow my dreams.

Table of Contents

Title

Copyrights

Dedications

Table of Contents

Awakening of the Moon

Beast Tamer

Darkness Descends

About the Author

Awakening of the Moon

The moon. A sole cold mysterious orb that looms over the night sky. It calls to me. Beckons me to be illuminated in its’ silvery beams. Or so I thought.

There is always a darker force that influences from the shadows. A beast as black as night that stalks those that walk the forest at night. This is a warning for all the students of this campus: If possible do not walk alone at night. The announcement blared repeatedly over the sound systems throughout the school grounds.

I sigh and shake my head in disbelief. Darker forces? A shadow stalker? What is up with that description? I could hear a group of girls whispering something about demons. Seriously, we’re out of that age where demons exist. Gods’ don’t even exist anymore. Technology rules the world. I continued walking through the whispers of the scared students and made my way back to my dorm. The sun was starting to set causing the streetlights to flicker on. It was a warm humid day in the beginning of September. The new semester was in full swing and the campus was crawling with freshman. I pulled my hood over my head as a light drizzle started to descend upon the rapidly scattering students. Doors slammed shut and shutters closed as they prepared for the night. My feet softly sounded against the gravel path that led to my dorm. The trees shadowed by the clouds. The sun was just a red patch in the rapidly darkening sky. My dorm sat just in the brink of the trees. The dark pines shadowed my dorm, giving it the appearance that it was haunted. I had the whole dorm to myself, none of the other girls wanted to stay in the Forest Dorm.

Each of the dorms had weird names. For the girls it was the Flower Dorm, the Sea Dorm, and the Forest Dorm. For the boys it was the Sun dorm, the Moon dorm, and the Fire dorm. None of the dorms looked or even were close to what they were named after, except for mine. I didn’t mind staying in the dorm by myself. I really didn’t have any girlfriends anyways. I liked to stick to myself.

I opened my door and shut it, locking it behind me. Just as I set my bag down, my cell phone rang. Looking at the screen I saw that it was one of my friends Wren Voleny. We have been good friends since high school and together with our friend Caldur Vishen we all applied to the same college. Then it turned out that Wren’s friends Levi, Zain, and Rei both applied to the same school as well. I quickly flipped open my phone and brought it to my ear.

Hey Wren, what’s going on? I greeted in to the phone.

Bryn! Did you get back to your dorm okay? he asked.

Yes, but you don’t need to worry about me, I stated holding my phone to my shoulder and opening my bag.

But it’s my job to worry about you. What else is a best friend supposed to do? he said whining into the receiver.

Whatever, I sighed. "So how was classes?

Boring. Did you start your history paper yet? he asked.

The one about mythology? Not yet, I mean it’s not even due for another two weeks, I said, grabbing my history binder out and flipped it open to my assignments page.

Yeah, but you should start researching for it now. It can’t hurt to actually be ahead in a class you know, he sighed.

Yeah… but I have plenty of time to do it, I shrugged my shoulder and tossed the binder closed on my desk.

Bryn, you’re so lazy, he said sighing. The phone crackled a bit as the lights in my dorm dulled and then got brighter.

That was weird, I muttered to myself.

Did you say something, Bryn?

Hey, did your power do something weird? I asked him, pulling back my curtains and peering out into the night. Nothing was around, and the rain dripped from the edge of the roof. The grass glistened in the moonlight. The forest was as dark and eerie as ever.

No, why?

Must be nothing. The power seemed to flicker out for a minute, I replied releasing the curtains so that they fall back covering the glass. There was a thud like something had hit the back of my wall. I squeaked in fear.

Is everything okay over there? Wren asked with concern in his voice.

Yeah, everything’s great. Just a weird noise, I quietly said into the receiver. The loud thudding of footsteps greeted the night air. I quickly moved away from the windows. I think there is someone outside, I whispered.

Don’t move. There should be no one there. Stay away from the windows and stay with me on the line, okay? he said in a panic. The phone crackled once more before going dead. The lights went dark and the only thing illuminating my place was the bright moonlight that filtered in.

Easy for you to say, I muttered. A large shadow started to draw across the ground outside. I dropped to the ground, my knees thudding quietly against the carpet. My window farthest from me was open, and I could hear the gasping breath of whatever was out there. More thudding against the ground and the shadow slowly drew over my slumped form. I held my breath afraid to even let out a whisper of breath. I could make out what looked like a jaw of sharp fangs on the shadow that fell across the wall.

###

There really is a beast that stalks the woods, I thought as I began to shake in fear. I looked back to the shadow and froze in terror as the shadow seemed to be staring into the window above me. I could hear the snuffling like sniffing of the creature above me. Too terrified to move, I prayed to whoever was listening that the thing would just leave.

Oh? What do we have here? Hunting down your prey or are you hunting for your owner? came a voice that sent chills down my spine. I watched as another shadow appeared on the wall.