The Moon’s Last Knight

Her eyes snapped open in a cold sweat, the heaving rush of adrenaline pounding like a war drum from the painful dream. The bed sheets were damp, and her body was shaking. Just another dream, she thought, like so many others before. She could almost feel the tingling of heat across her clammy skin, her heart throbbing so hard, it shook the beads of sweat from her forehead.What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I always dream of things I have never experienced?At the age of twenty-three, Mei Ling was a gorgeous young woman with dark, silken hair and tender skin. She worked as a city detective and lived alone . .unless the occasional balcony pigeon visited for handouts.Mei sighed, feeling her heartbeat calm as her mind phased back into reality. She tossed back the damp comforter and slipped from the bed, tiptoeing across the cold floor to glance out at the early-morning sky. There was a blanket of low fog covering the empty streets, making the nighttime curfew ever more eerie as the sound of silence prowled freely among the congested buildings and dark alleys. She looked up at the moon that always seemed to hang directly over the city, its radiant glow fighting to shine through the thick haze. The city had changed drastically in the past fifteen years, the rising towers of bustling commercial enterprises now glowing like a cluster of stars amid a void of space. "Where does the time go?" she mumbled, making her way into the bathroom.It was the year 2112 and the world had been ransacked by the warring countries that sought ultimate power over the globe after 2012. The end of days, as it had been predicted, were only the beginning of the chaos that cast the once profitable future into isolated populations, now scattered across barren continents. Governments had crippled and given rise to tyrants and next generation leaders who only served short terms in power before they were overthrown themselves. Thankfully, over the past thirty years things had settled and remained stable, mostly in part that there just wasn’t anything left worth laying claim to.Nightmares were nothing new for Mei; she’d been having them since childhood. But recently they had become much more terrifying and increasingly more frequent. Being part of a civil service meant she was privy to the gruesome sights of murder and death on a regular basis, but the bad dreams had nothing to do with her job highlights; she was certain of that.Blood, rape, and drug overdoses, were each likely candidates for bad dreams when the lights went out. But Mei’s dreams were different. They revolved around a group of mysterious people and a violent explosion, little of which she knew anything about.“What the hell is a Moon Knight?” The words were among the few she could understand from the riddling nonsense that came along with some of the visions, one of the most common revolving around a curious young man she had yet to identify. Although she had never met anyone like him, somehow she felt connected in an assortment of tragic ways.She debated whether it was worth going or not. “Oh, just go, damn you.” There was no hope of returning to the dream world tonight. Mei knew her curiosity was relentless. “But you know you’re not going to find anything new.” She sighed and went to the dresser to change.Mei slipped into a pair of warm sweats, pulled on a jacket, then tucked her badge and gun safely underneath. The curfew mandated no public activity after hours and turned the entire city a ghost town.She kept the police cruiser at a mild speed and avoided the main roads as she made her way toward the city’s outskirts. The paved roads immediately turned into patches of grainy dirt and broken rubble, scars from a history of gang violence and civil disputes. A majority of the population lived safely within the crowded apartments that surrounded the inner commercial districts, but out here, miles from the nearest working phone booth, the abandons were a haven for those few who preferred to live anonymously.Mei shivered as the road conditions deteriorated and the fog became dense. Her visibility was barely more than twenty feet, but she already knew the way. She had driven this path many times before. Do you really expect to find anything new, Mei?Ever since she had become aware of her visions, Mei had been investigating any and all possibilities to solve her problem. Unfortunately, all had turned up as fruitless endeavors. She was on a journey down a road that had no signs, no directions, and never any answers. So why should tonight be any different? Mei pulled the car over to a slow stop and dimmed the headlights. Just one quick look; then I’ll go home. Her mind began flipping through the same questions she had each time before, hoping something would trigger a clue as to why she kept returning to the same spot. She stepped out of the car and kept the engine purring.She was standing along the curb of an old building complex where reports of an incredible explosion had taken place fifteen years ago. There was hardly anything left standing since the original blast had incinerated most of the structure. After years of erosion and weathering, only a few rusty supports poked out from a gaping crater.The fog seemed to get thicker as Mei cautiously weaved around the heaps of rubble, taking extra care not to lose her bearings. There was no urban noise this far away from the city, only the quiet stir of her footsteps against the earth. Mei felt as though she were trespassing into a graveyard, and the silence made the ring in her ears sound like a humming beat.She stopped in the center of the mess and looked around at the scattered debris. She remembered the hours spent researching files about the accident, as it was reported. There were no witnesses, no culprits, and no leads, only a single casualty was reported; unfortunately, he had died.She closed her eyes and tried to visualize the scene. What went on that night? Mei felt her head spin as the thoughts whirled. She knew there was a meaning to it all, but what, she would never know. What am I supposed to do?She sighed heavily and opened her eyes, rubbing her temples with the tingling inside her head. She winced as the feeling transitioned into a throb and the pulse beat like a rhythmic drum, tuning her senses into a feeling she had when leaving one of her horrid crime scenes. Damn it, another migraine? Not now, I don’t need. .She froze as her eyes detected a looming shadow standing directly across the crater.Oh my god. Mei held back a shriek as the fog dissipated momentarily, revealing the silhouette of a cloaked individual locked in simultaneous eye contact. Her body screamed to run, but something kept her poised in the surrounding haze.From the opposite side, the mysterious man stared back with a pair of glowing blue eyes, the surprise clear in his stance as well. He wore what looked to be a hooded cape and he carried a deadly sword strapped over his shoulder.Although Mei had no idea who he was, she knew this individual did not come here tonight by mere coincidence. “Hey,” she began, but before she could speak another word the man stepped back and vanished into the heavy shadows.“Wait!” she shouted, still frozen in place, but it was too late; the man was gone and suddenly so was her headache. “Who the hell was that?” She looked back toward the idling car and wondered if she should be running herself. How many years have I been coming here and never finding anything unusual? She wasn’t sure whether to compliment herself for coming out or to scold herself for misjudgment but the sudden release of pressure in her head spoke for itself. "That’s never happened before."It was fifteen years to the day the fire had taken place, the fire she believed was in her dreams.