Diana's fingers twitched, contracting ever so slightly around the hilt of her blade, the leather of the pommel cutting into her palm. She was still calm, for the time being. She cleared her throat and tried again. "But if you'd just listen to what I've found-"

The elder directly in front of her hissed and leaned forward out of his chair, effectively cutting her off, and not for the first time. "We see what you've found quite clearly!" He practically screeched, gesturing at the armor and blade that now adorned Diana's form. "It's treason, you bringing that traitorous armor into one of our holiest of places! You're a heretic, Diana!"

No one dared to speak, or to challenge his ruling. It was so utterly silent, Diana would have sworn the elders could hear her heart beating frantically; hear the uneven breaths she tried so hard to hush. He held his stance over the table, pointing accusingly at Diana across the room for a few seconds more before collapsing back in his chair, his hand going under the cowl across his face to rub his eyes. "But you're young, and naïve." He consented. "There is forgiveness to be had yet. Discard the so called Lunari artifacts, renounce this unfounded belief, and pledge your allegiance to the sun once more. You can be saved."

Diana's eyes, the icy blue eyes so different from every single Solari on the accursed mountain, narrowed to slits. She squared her shoulders, tilted her chin up in defiance.

"I will not"

She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard the elder sigh. "Then die with your heresy."

Almost instantly, the Solari guards that always stood vigil outside the elders chamber's poured into the room, brandishing the traditional spears they always carried. Diana shifted to a more defensive stance, crouching low and bringing her scythe to bear. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and tried to still her pounding heart. There were too many, too many guards for her to defend against. She resigned herself to her fate; she would die valiantly defending the truth.

The guards hesitated for only a second, perhaps because of the reluctance the kill a small woman all alone, then rushed forward together as a unit. Diana whipped her scythe in front of her, preparing for a painfully abrupt end, when all at once everything seemed to stop. The guards stopped moving, the elders all made strangled noises of surprise, some even removing the trademark cowls from the faces in an effort to get a better glimpse. Silvery light radiated from Diana's skin, bathing the guards closest to her in a pale glow. And then she felt different, weightless, impossibly strong. This new feeling flowed through her muscles, from her feet to her legs, from her torso to her neck… It was heady, intoxicating, and made her feel like nothing else she had ever experienced… Until it reached her face. The power stopped at her forehead, collecting into a central point, then coalesced into the most blinding, debilitating pain that Diana had ever felt. She fell to her knees, dropping her beloved moon blade to the floor beside her. She clutched at her forehead, screeching like a wounded animal. Her forehead was on fire, she was sure. Her mind was being cleaved in two, it was burning…

Everyone in the room stared, rooted in place at the sight of the glowing woman, keening in pain and clawing at her face. And then all at once, the room was silent once more. Diana gasped, raggedly trying to suck in air. It seemed to come quickly to her, filling her with new strength. She took one last breath, grabbed the hilt of her blade, and then rose from her position on the floor. The elders that had been so enraptured with the scene before them now gasped in horror. Where Diana had once had smooth skin, was now marred by a crescent shaped scar, spreading across her forehead and glowing brightly. Diana grinned wickedly at the elders and the guards that stood warily before her. They now seemed so… insignificant. Harmless. She barked one short, mirthless laugh before lunging at her first target in the group of guards. Her blade glowed with the luminance of the moon, an arc of light flowing from it, connecting with the soldier and marking him for dead. She dashed from him to his comrades, from man to man, slashing and hacking and cutting her foes down with impunity. They tried to fight, to strike down the moon worshiper where she killed, but she was intangible, she was nothing but moonlight slipping through their grasps. It seemed like years later that the beam of light that left screams and blood and death in its wake finally stopped moving, once more turning back into Diana. Her blade was stained red, her new scar glowing brighter than the moon itself. And her eyes, the eyes that had been impossibly blue before, now shone silver, focused on the elders before her.

"I tried to show you the light that existed even in the dark. I tried to reason and enlighten. But you would cast me out and strike me down, even in the face of truth. Your ignorance has doomed you. Rest easy knowing the Solari shall be better off."

Diana gave them one last second to absorb her judgment, one last second to appreciate the living embodiment of them moon before them, before she dashed into their midst and dispatched them like she did with the soldiers; effortlessly and without prejudice. She was methodical, she was pure light. She was merciless.

She spared the head elder that had doomed her for last. He was struck from his mighty position, reduced to cowering on the floor beneath the might of the moon. He shook as Diana approached him, flicking the blood from her blade with one quick twist of her wrist.

The elder shut his mouth, tilted his chin back much like Diana had before in the face of inevitability. But where Diana had been saved, there was no moon to absolve the elder from his fate, no beloved sun to cast away the darkness.

"You are a heretic, the very scorn of what you worship. You murder with injustice. In time, the Chosen of the Sun shall end you."

Diana stopped her advance, once again focusing her shrewd gaze on the high elder. He'd said the one thing that could reach her, that could affect her in any way. After a moment of hesitation, Diana carried on, swinging her blade forwards.

"The moon eclipses the sun, Chosen or not."

And with that, Diana swung her moon blade forward and ended the reign of the Solari elders.

Leona could feel the death long before she climbed the steps to the elder's chambers, long before she entered their vaulted hearing room and came upon the mutilated bodies that littered the floor. With the scent of blood and death choking her, she rushed passed the mass that used to be the Solari guard and fell to her knees beside the high elder. Tears stung her eyes and clouded her vision as she pulled his head onto her lap. Her forehead fell, falling to touch his as tears dripped from her nose.

"This is my fault. I was gone, I was tasked by the sun with your protection and I've failed you all'

And she knew beyond a doubt who it was that ruined the Solari so completely. Leona was supposed to be protecting her especially. Diana was small and weak, her mind filled with traitorous ideals and whimsical fantasies about the moon, but still Leona loved her, still she strove to protect her from herself and from the rest of the Solari. She knew that Diana had found exactly what she was looking for in the cave down the mountain, and that she meant to present it to the elders immediately. Leona cursed herself again, gripping the roots of her hair and pulling until she thought she'd rip it all out. She groaned quietly, tears streaming down her face.

'I should have been here!' She chanted to herself over and over again, the mantra that would be the death of her. She stayed in that position for a long time, for hours it seemed like, gripping her hair, gritting her teeth, rocking and crying and cursing herself for her fatal negligence. Finally, when she was sure the moon was well above her, she set the elder gently back on the floor and left the slaughter behind her.

Diana knew that she would find her here. It was her favorite garden to come to at night, when she was feeling stuck and afraid. The moon would always hang silently above her, bathing her in its quiet comfort. Leona used to sit with her here sometimes, to listen to the inner turmoil that defined Diana. She knew when Leona had finally found her; the footsteps on small stepping stones and soft grass were all too familiar. They stopped short, right inside the entrance she guessed.

"You killed them."

It was spoken so softly, but Diana could feel the anguish and the horrible anger that writhed beneath her placid words. Diana flinched, but turned to face her.

"They would not listen. I tried, Leona, to make them see reason. Believe me."

This was the first time that Leona had seen Diana's face since her attack on the elders; she gasped, closing the distance between them.

"What happened to your face? What have you done?"

Leona raised a finger to brush against the scar that now marred Diana's face.

"And your eyes…" She murmured.

Diana tilted her head away. "They are gifts from the moon. They mark me as chosen."

Leona retracted her hand slowly, still gazing at Diana's carefully stoic gaze that now shone silver.

"Diana, you killed our high elders… I was charged with protecting them! They were my responsibility and you slaughtered them! Do you know what you've done, what this means? Do you know-"

Diana seethed, spitting out her interruption.

"What about ME Leona? Was I not promised the same protection you pledged to them? Was I not more in need of it, when they sentenced me to death for finding the truth? You left me to their mercy and I was forced to do what was right! Do not speak to me about responsibility!"

Leona recoiled as if Diana's words had physically harmed her, yanking her hands to her sides and stepping away. Before Leona could speak again, Diana continued.

"I found the truth. I was reasonable, and they deemed me a heretic. You're all the same, blinded by the sun you revere so much!"

Leona was silent, couldn't think of the proper response to her outburst. How could this be the same Diana she knew? The meek girl who was too small for the Solari, too obsessed with books for someone so young, too taken with the moon for her own good. She was now imposing, shining in the moonlight. The crescent blade she carried by her side filled her with fear. Her eyes, once so bright and young and innocent now shone ethereal in their beauty, piercing and dangerous.

This was not Diana.

Diana could feel her assessment, could ascertain the judgment as if she'd spoken aloud. She grabbed her blade from where it rested against the garden wall, twirled it in her hands and stepped away from Leona.

"The sun and the moon share a sky, Leona. We are chosen by the gods. We were meant for more. The verdicts of mere men shall not hinder our work, will not sway me from finding the truth." She paused the turn back to Leona, still standing perfectly still in the middle of the garden, hands held tightly to her sides.

"You can join me."

She slowly turned to face her, her eyes conveying her answer better than words ever could.

"I'm sorry Diana, but I cannot."

Her voice was strangled, and her eyes anguished. They were alight with tears, like Diana's were with moonlight.

"Farewell, Chosen of the Sun."

And like that she was gone, like the last phantom rays of moon light in the face of morning.