Whispers of Moon Shadows

A collection of missing scenes or alternate POVs from The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros.

All works are part of the Tales Betwixt series. You can read each story as a stand-alone piece, but they are all connected, so if you enjoy one, please consider reading the others.

I call out where each story fits into the official Empyrean series where applicable. For example “Walking on Heir” is Xaden and Lilith’s POV during Violet’s Conscription Day from Chapter 1 of Fourth Wing.

Anything underlined is a link, so just tap on the story or chapter title you’d like to read to view the full work.

Scenes are being written out-of-order and organized chronologically as I post them, so be on the lookout for new additions. Here’s the official order for easy reference:

Prequels:

• X Side:

~ Chapter 1 - Chocolate Cake (T): FW Prequel, POV Xaden, Xaden’s birthday with Liam before joining the quadrant

• I’d Do Anything for Love (T): FW Prequel, POV Dain, Song Fic, Dain manifests his signet

• One Hundred and Seven:

~ Chapter 1 - The Deal (M): FW Prequel, POV Xaden, POV Lilith, How Lilith scars Xaden

Fourth Wing:

• Walking on Heir (M): Chapter 1, POV Lilith, POV Xaden, Violet’s Conscription Day

• Growing Violence:

~ Chapter 1 - Growing Violet (T): Chapter 8, POV Xaden, Before Xaden and Vi spar for the first time

~ Chapter 2 - Shrinking Violence (M): Chapter 9, POV Xaden, Xaden and Vi’s first sparring session

• Silver Blades (E): Chapter 22, POV Xaden, After Xaden and Vi’s first kiss

• Hereditary (T): Chapter 24, POV Lilith, Xaden and Vi stopped on the flight field path by Aetos Sr

Iron Flame:

• *Shatter Me (E): Chapters 34.5-36.5, POVs Xaden, Rhiannon, Aaric, Jesinia, Garrick, Dain, & Lilith. Xaden and co rescue Vi from Varrish. In progress. Updates weekly. Most recent: Chapter 3 - The Catalyst

• Andarna, Please! (G): Chapter 52, POV Andarna, Andarna struggles to connect with dragons her age

• **Speak to Me (T): Chapter 65.5, POV Violet, POV Lilith, Song Fic, After the Battle of Basgiath

Onyx Storm:

• One Hundred and Seven:

~ Chapter 2 - The Price for Love (E): Chapter 55, POV Violet, Violet comforts Xaden after walking into his nightmare of how Lilith scarred him

Post Onyx Storm:

• **A Walk to Remember (E): OS Sequel, POV Xaden, POV Violet, Xaden leaving and coming home to Vi after they’re married

*Newest upload

Chapter four, Bridges, is currently around 8K words and will probably be longer after my next round of edits, so hopefully that will make up for the delay. 😅 It wasn’t in my original draft, but it felt necessary. Plus, I needed some quality Xiolet time before Vi’s capture because that part is going to hurt. 😭

While responding to someone else’s post, I thought, why not share my learned lessons to save others the heartbreak of lost time and minds?

For AO3 writers looking to add formatting to stories that isn’t included in the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editor, you can use most basic HTML code, minus non-breaking spaces. For some reason, AO3 hates   .

WYSIWYG can do some of this, but it’s still nice to know basic HTML that carries over to many other sites—except for tumblr. *grumble, grumble*

AO3 HTML Tags*

—————————————————

<hr> Adds a horizontal line break.

—————————————————

<em> italic text </em>

<strong> bold text </strong>

<a href="https://www.link. com/"> pretty text for links </a>

<img src="https://www.link. com/file-path/image-name.png"> for pics. Must use an absolute URL. Will not work with relative URLs. Should include https://www, the domain name and path where the image is stored, the image file name, and end in an image file extension like png, jpg, tiff, etc.

<p align="center"> center-aligned text </p>

<p align="right"> right-aligned text </p>

<p> separate paragraphs </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p> To stack line breaks, add a space between paragraph tags. The compiler will remove empty <p> tags.

<br /> for single line breaks. Useful for lyrics. Example:

<p><em>Lift me up</em><br /><em>Let me go</em></p>

<p align="right">The Catalyst, Linkin Park</p>

Other Tips

If you nest tags, close them in reverse order. For example:

<p align="center"><strong> <emphasis> This text will be centered, bold, and italicized. </emphasis></strong></p>

Make sure to close tags where appropriate or the compiler might strip out your code.

Don’t use <i> or <b> since they don’t work on AO3.

Use "straight quotes" in code, not “curly quotes.”

Highly recommend copying everything before saving just in case you need to edit only to find that the compiler stripped your code.

If your page freezes or buttons stop working, you can copy and paste the rich text from your browser, and it will transfer formatting, even though this functionality doesn’t carry over from other apps. You can also use the back and forward browser buttons, and your text and formatting should return while restoring button functionality. Do NOT refresh!

Save drafts, and save them often.

This should be self-explanatory, but just in case, add HTML code in the HTML code editor, not in WYSIWYG/rich text mode.

Browse W3 School’s website for a list of other possible tags and easy-to-understand HTML guides if you want to learn more.

If you know of other tags or tricks that work on AO3, comment below, and I’ll add them to this guide.

Hope this helps!

~*~*~*~

Excerpt

~ Chapter Three ~

The Catalyst

~*~*~*~

Aaric

“Hold out your hands.”

“Huh?”

“Like this.” Ridoc demonstrates, raising a hand, palm up. I mimic the pose but instinctively shy away when he reaches toward me. “Keep them up.” I give him a skeptical glance. “Trust me.”

Gods help me because I already do. So once more, I raise my palms and don’t flinch away when his hand hovers above. And then he does something completely unexpected.

A gentle cooling sensation encases my bleeding and blistered skin, offering sweet relief. When he pulls back, I notice that there is a whitish haze dulling the angry red burns, as if I’m wearing gloves made from clouds.

“Any better?”

I nod, too dumbfounded and relieved to reply immediately. Did I think I was falling for Ridoc? Forget that. I have completely and utterly fallen. Done deal.

~*~*~*~

The rescue in Iron Flame from different POVS.

Rating starts T but will increase to E with later chapters.

Includes F/M and M/M content.

Fandom: The Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros

Relationships: Xaden/Violet, Ridoc/Aaric

~*~*~*~

Excerpt

~ Chapter Two ~

The Humbling River

~*~*~*~

Rhiannon

“You made it!” My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard, relief coursing through me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I had summoned them. Maybe I did? I certainly wanted to badly enough.

Is it even possible to unconsciously summon a human being? Until I know otherwise, I’m not ruling it out.

“It’s unlikely. Previous summoners have described their early trials as magically draining and… messy.”

Well, I don’t feel magically drained, so that’s that. Wait… messy? Feirge sends me mental images of what looks like—Oh. Oh, Gods, that… that’s an animal?! “Why does it look like it’s inside-out?!”

“Because it is.”

~*~*~*~

The rescue in Iron Flame from different POVs.

The rescue in Iron Flame (Chapters 34.5-36.5) from different POVs. Starts immediately after Xaden and Violet part with the journals and will continue past the end of Iron Flame, Part One. Song fic.

~*~*~*~

Excerpt

~ Chapter One ~

The Only One

~*~*~*~

Xaden

“There’s no evidence she’s in danger, just that she’s been cut off from Tairn’s power.”

“I’m not planning to storm the keep. I just want to be close in case she needs me. You can’t expect me to do nothing in this situation.”

“I expect you to use common sense before rushing into danger.”

“So she is in danger?”

“Unconfirmed.”

“Godsdamnit, enough with the fucking riddles! Turn around!”

“You two did not go through all the trouble of stealing the journals just to both get captured. We have our own duty to carry out, which is to get our journal to the mender.”

“Fuck the journal! We won’t live long enough to see wards in Aretia if Violet dies!”

~*~*~*~

Multi-chapter work. Updated weekly. Told in three parts: before, during, and after Violet’s rescue. Rating starts tame but will increase to E in Part Three.

~*~*~*~

Parapet from Xaden and Lilith’s POVs.

~*~*~*~

Xaden

What’s this? My inntinnsic abilities pick up on something fun. I’m the most exquisite man she’s ever seen, eh? Clearly she doesn’t know who I am, or she’d be properly terrified like everyone else. Still, it’s nice to be admired without any prejudice for a change.

“Ready for the next one, Riorson?” Well, fuck. Way to spoil my fun, Garr.

I mourn the loss of those delicious thoughts, turning from lust to shock and finally, fea—not fear, anger. Interesting. Who—?

“You ready for this, Sorrengail?”

My pulse leaps. She’s here. Gaze snapping up, our eyes lock, and…

I have to remind myself to breathe.

~*~*~*~

Liam eats Xaden’s cake. The nerve. Reparations are in order.

~*~*~*~

Don’t worry, Laim makes up for it in Walking on Heir.

Happy birthday, Xaden!

~*~*~*~

Dain

A surge of heat runs through my body, threatening to consume every inch.

“Ground! Now!”

I don’t question the command, digging my toes into my mental haven. The chaos settles, redirecting to my hands, and it feels as if my fingers are lengthening, spreading out, searching. The world goes dark, and visions play across my mind, short vignettes from Mira’s perspective, all revolving around Violet. Violet. Gods, there she is. Absolutely radiant. I could drink in her visage—that smile, that hair—all day. She’s the drop of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy existence.

The visions shift like reflections on water, blending and jumping into each other, only giving me glimpses in a strange, disjointed way. Though I don’t recognize any one particular scene, it all feels familiar, like I’m revisiting a world from a long forgotten dream, and somehow I’m now privy to information I have no business knowing. Vi hooking up with an infantry soldier for instance. Ew. I did not need to know that.

In a blink, I’m back to myself. It feels like I’ve been away for hours, lost in Vi’s stories and smiles, but based on Mira’s expression, it’s likely been a few seconds at most.

Whoa. What was that?

“Cath?”

“That was your signet. You’ve manifested.”

~*~*~*~

How Dain gets his signet. Told as a song fic.

~*~*~*~

Timeline

Prequel set during May of Dain’s first year, just before War Games.

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