Chapter 108: Moons
Lloyd sat on the destroyed hull, of the destroyed remains of his personal flying vessel.
Soft, white light reflected over his skin, and his long black hair draped over his handsome face as he looked longingly above him. And it was there, to the skies and beyond, that his gaze landed on three moons that hung beautifully in the sky.
Thrice moonlight illuminated, while shifting the waves of the seas, and shifting the waves in the heart unseen.
In resonance, the silent night sang in soundless hymns, stirring the soft, whispering emotions in the swordsman’s heart.
It touched his heart so deeply, and so profoundly, that it was then at that very moment, that he decided his own voice should accompany it.
“There are three moons, and each are independent of the other.”
“Lilith may be in waning crescent, Aanya might be in first quarter, while Nila may be in new moon.”
“Tonight is magical, for all three moons are full and bright.”
The swordsman sighed, “...But I stare at only one.”
“...All three moons are full and bright.”
“So why can I only see half of the blue moon’s beauty?”
“To me…all the moons are in first quarter.”
A moment of beautiful silence took place. And if actions were judged solely by the intensity of emotion behind their creation, that same silence would have lasted an eternity.
However, it was cut short.
“...I like your poems, swordsman.” A rough voice spoke from up above.
Lloyd raised his head, his eyes first landing on a ruin of white cloudmetal. Then, because of the structure’s height, his head continued to raise and his gaze continued to follow upwards.
Moonlight reflected over his black irises, tracing skywards a tall, thin, but sturdy tower. Shades of soft moonlight diverted and enriched his vision, as pale fires blended with the gleam of the cloudmetal.
When the ship was about to be struck by that heavenly sword, Lloyd could have sworn he heard the tower’s cloudmetal hum in resonance…and as fate would allow it, the lookout tower was just barely missed by the sword that cleaved the ship in two.
Now that giant rod of white metal was before him again, creating the scene of some otherworldly relic, striving to reach the moon and stars.
Lloyd very much liked to plan out his next steps on that tower. Yet now, on the crow’s nest, sat a young man with red hair and a single, glowing red eye.
The tall and thin tower no longer stood straight like it did before. Among the gigantic rubble it leaned slanted and improper, yet, even when ruined it still reached upwards like a defiant needle, wishing to pierce the cloth of the sky.
Zan too sat on the destroyed remains of the gigantic vessel, looking towards the three moons. And as to his personality, he sat on the ruin that reached furthest to the sky.
“I wouldn’t really consider them to be poe—” Lloyd’s voice suddenly stopped, before he decided to let it go.
“...Thank you.”
Although his emotional silence and deep reflection was interrupted, Lloyd did not show a single trace of displeasure.
“And also…”
A different expression found itself on the swordsman’s face, one that exuded both sorrow, yet also sincere gratitude.
“Thank you. For previously.”
“Mm?” The young man roughly groaned.
The two’s eyes met, before the swordsman shifted his sight downwards.
Zan’s eyes naturally followed to what Lloyd wanted him to see.
“Mm…”
There, beneath them for as far as the moonlight illuminated, were thousands of freshly dug graves.
Thousands died when that calamitous sword came down from the heavens.
Of the half who survived the first battle, only a tenth survived a single swing of that disaster.
And to most, that’s what it was. A natural disaster that struck them without rhyme or reason. A misfortune that came down on them because of cruel fate.
Perhaps the goddess of rain was punishing them for failing to destroy her enemies, or maybe this was karma exacting its price for previously spilling rivers of blood onto the earth.
Yet no matter how hard and how long anyone tried to find meaning in that catastrophe, that meaning always seemed to elude them.
Contrary to everyone else however, young Zan thought differently. To him it was not some random calamity or misfortunate event, but a sky above a sky that he would one day topple. A wall to be broken and a goal to be achieved.
‘One day I will challenge that sword.’ He thought to himself, as the giant sword started to return to the endless skies.
The young man clenched his fists in anticipation. and with his herculean strength the compressed air produced two soft claps, exploding at his unnatural might.
Within him he felt a rush of driving adrenaline, pushing him forward to achieve his ambitions. Looking towards the sky with a stubborn and burning gaze, he watched the enormous thing ascend, causing storms and tempests of wind from its heavenly might, it rose upwards and upwards until it was but a thin needle in the sky, and then until it totally faded from view.
Then, he plunged downwards.
And so did the ship. And the bodies.
A thunderous sound boomed as the gargantuan ship collided with the earth, and what followed, were a few loud splats and thumps that colored the dirt red.
Death and devastation now filled Zan’s view, and his single-minded focus on his goals and ambitions, started to waver.
Before he knew it he suddenly had a shovel in hand, with dirt all over his body. And it was then, when he was digging the graves of those thousands of people— putting thousands of people he did not know into the dirt— it was then when his heart started to feel a touch…complicated.
A path paved with corpses. His single-minded drive towards a goal met not obstruction nor opposition— but something else entirely.
He wasn’t used to it. It was not a wall he could destroy or an enemy he could overcome, instead it was a feeling within his chest that diluted his extreme focus. There were emotions stirring within him that he could not decipher. And he could not make out why they were there in the first place.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He pondered and pondered, and in the end he just kept digging until there were no more bodies to put into the dirt.
“I just felt like doing it, you don’t need to thank me.”
“Still, I want to show you my gratitude.”
“Just consider us even, that’s enough.”
“...If you insist.”
Silence descended, and the two diverted their attention once again to the skies and stars.
Zan was gazing at the black moon. Within his mind, a chaotic stream of random thoughts were brewing like a storm. There were many things he wanted to ponder about, and there were many questions that arose because of recent events.
‘That sword…how massive is it really?’
‘How long will it take me to get strong enough to fight it?’
‘This strength that flows through my veins…it was a shortcut.’
‘I need to do better. I need to create my own path.’
‘Shit. I ate that fucker. Tore a pound of flesh off of him with my teeth like some beast.’
‘How the fuck am I gonna fix this…’
As Zan continued to wrack his brain, a passing cloud passed over one of the moons. And that specific moon’s light flickered and deflected off of the other rays, from the other moons.
Each light from each celestial sphere had a distinctive difference in essence, and the dancing of those spectrums of color did not go unnoticed by the young man.
‘...Huh.’
‘Three full moons…’
‘It was a night like this…’
‘…Sisters…are you still alive?’
‘I will find you both after I sort all of this out.’
‘Where could you girls be?
‘I’ll have to find a map of the lands.’
‘And then, I’ll have to kidnap— err I mean, find someone who can read maps…’
‘But my first problem is how I’m gonna make sure I don’t eat another person again.’
‘That’s right, how will I grow stronger now? I’ve gotta find a way besides just using what I got from someone else.’
‘Energy techniques…’
‘I can’t seem to absorb any from my feet anymore…’
‘And I’m absolutely not going to ask for help from that crazy woman…’
‘Which also means I’ve gotta eat a lot…’
‘And I have to find a way to become stronger without eating anyone.’
‘But if they’re bad people does it matter if I eat them?’
‘...N– Nah I probably shouldn't think like that.’
‘One bite on an enemy, and next thing you know it I’m feasting on a village of innocents…’
‘That’s how that story Elea told me went, right? With the three pigs and the wolf? Yeah something like that…’
‘Huh?’
Whether it was because of his disposition, or the black moon’s magic, but the young man gazing at the dark moon started to fully take in, and admire, the unnatural yet sacred light emanating from the celestial body.
In that moment the storm of thoughts that was previously brewing within Zan’s mind, started to calm, and quiet. What was once a crowd of voices started to hush down into soft whispers.
With the magic of the night— the cold refreshing air upon his skin, the tranquil silence of the stars, and that absurd but calming glow of the black moon “Lilith”— all of it combined into a profoundly serene and spiritual vista. Like a silent lullaby offering itself to those who could perceive it, Zan lost himself within that multiplanar moment.
The previous tempest of Zan’s thoughts, had now totally calmed, giving way to peaceful oblivion. He had lost himself totally within the moment.
Surprisingly, his alien and mighty body also began to relax and easen up. The black blood that flowed through his body like a flooding river, and the black heart that pumped loudly like a war drum even in his sleep, began to rest.
When mind and spirit worked in tandem, the body had no choice but to follow. In fact…Zan’s body wanted to follow whatever mysterious direction the other two counterparts were going in.
Due to the boy's outrageous perception, what his gray body was feeling right now felt so very familiar to home. Those vast, terribly enormous expanses of outer space. In that environment, even a planet-sized horror could feel small and inconsequential. And above all, even a little cozy.
Though, of course, there was another to which an eldritch horror could call home. The spaces between. Those preposterous, impossible spaces that lurked in between the realms and dimensions. They were akin to lightless gaping maws— dark chasms that even ascended deities refused to explore.
Most would steer clear of any trace of void essence, but to Zan’s gray body, it was like a soft bed of roses.
The young man’s eyes closed, as he drifted off into a limbo between consciousness and sleep.
His breathing slowed to a rhythmic pace, and each breath paced with the beating of his heart. The different lights of the moons shined on him, revealing a graceful expression free of all worry.
…Then, within the very fabric of space, something began to stir.
A presence— a consciousness— no, a fragment of a consciousness, had descended unto the scene.
Higher existential vitality filled the surroundings, and there was now quite literally magic in the air.
In planes unseen the energy shift was enormous. The mere presence of that descended entity was triggering life to stir from what humans perceived as lifeless and inanimate objects.
Invisible to the human eye, all the surroundings took on an accelerated evolution. A regular, lifeless rock on the side of the destroyed ship, started to awaken into consciousness.
Yet…the material plane surroundings stayed just the same, and no one noticed a thing.
The presence peered into Zan’s being. The entity’s vision was like a kaleidoscope. Colors swirled into strange and ever changing patterns of shapes, symbols and arrangements. The vision zoomed in over and over relentlessly, revealing universes within universes.
Seeing such a thing would instantly confound the human mind, thrusting them into a stupefied daze.
Yet, the entity derived meaning from that otherwise confounding cluster of divinity. And within a flash it saw through all the secrets of his body and more.
Surprisingly, instead of revile or disgust befitting of one such as itself, the presence instead reacted with further amusement and intrigue.
The invisible and intangible entity circled around him once, then twice; gazing at the young man in the same way that a bored child would once it found something that could entertain it.
As such, before leaving, the presence bestowed the young man with a trace of profane moonlight.
Whoever and whatever the entity was, it was intent on watching his journey unfold. And…perhaps it would do more.
Then just as unfettered and silent as it came, so too did it leave in the same manner. Though of course, from whatever plane the entity resided in, it would always be watching.
Zan, who kept himself immersed in the infinite present, was oblivious to such things.
Beneath the crow’s nest where more mundane things were taking place, the commander of a fleet— or at least what was left of it— was losing himself in thought.
‘What actions do I take now?’
‘What actions can I take to ensure less people die?’
‘I cannot doubt myself. I’ve been through this before, I must be strong for them.’
‘This is dangerous territory, we need to set out at first light.’
‘What of our provisions? How much of it survived the crash?’
‘How long will it feed us for? Is the surrounding area safe for foraging and hunting?’
‘Everrain is far enough without our ships, how will we make the journey?’
‘How long will it take?’
‘We are somewhere north, but where exactly?’
‘My irresponsibility led to this result, it is my fault.’
‘I should have taken leadership as soon as I woke.’
‘I apologize, I am so deeply sorry…’
‘Guinevere, are you still watching me? From somewhere? Higher above this time?’
‘I want to make you proud.’
‘I want to truly live now. As you’ve shown me.’
‘How can I do it? Am I doing well?’
‘I’ve tried not to think of the sadness of the past, but towards tackling the problems of the future.’
‘Am I on the right path?’
A shimmering glimmer flickered within his eyes, though, it was not tears that came out, for hardship was second-nature to the swordsman.
Instead, he noticed the strange flickering of light was from a ray of bluish white.
A passing cloud once again dispersed the rays that came from one of the moons.
Nila’s moonlight, was tinged with a soft blue glow, and that blue coated the white thread of light in a soft embrace.
Its natural beauty was mesmerizing and enamoring, yet even so, it only served to briefly distract Lloyd from his own tempest of thoughts. It was not even a moment later that he had already returned into the battlefield of the mind.
Time carried on, and the swordsman weathered the mental storm with surprising familiarity and efficiency.
Problems arose like the tides of an ocean, and he would push each one of them down with both traditional and ingenious solution.
Considering the myriad problems ahead, considering all the possible solutions, considering every possibility he could think of and their corresponding contingencies. Whatever strong gale pushed upon his psyche, whatever lightning that struck through the dark night of his mind, was met with a sharp mental sword.
Of course, the burden on top of his shoulders only grew heavier and heavier, and the weariness of swinging that sword over and over started to set in.
In response the blue moonlight seemed to swim around him, and unlike the heavy essence of sadness that siphoned the life of its channeler, this blue moonlight seemed to be straining itself to catch Lloyd’s attention.
It seemingly danced around him like a lighthearted bard, almost like a street performer trying to catch the crowd’s attention.
Anyone with two working eyes could see that the light behaved differently from…well, how light normally behaved.
This light was sentient, and it even seemed to have its own thoughts, feelings and even values. And right now, it was doing whatever it could to shake the swordsman from his bitter and silent spiral of thoughts.
It circled around him, bounced up, down, and diagonally through the air, and even passed through his body a few times.
Minutes passed just like this, to which it patiently stayed with him a few minutes more, but alas, the swordsman was consumed totally and utterly by his own mind.
The gentle blue light wished for only one thing. To share its kind and consoling radiance with all who felt blue, yet, it could not force others to accept its blessings.
The sentience within the blue moonlight started to depart, and although still beautiful, the blue coated moonlight now felt…emptier.
…Under the rich and distinguished moonlights, two silhouettes lost themselves within their own respective worlds.
Contrary to appearances and first impressions, on this particularly calm night it was the mellow swordsman who sunk into battle, while it was the rough pugilist who decided to embrace harmony.
All was silent and perfect, the two outliers finally blended into the scene of the night, and…
…And perhaps fate thought it unbefitting of both of them, for it would be ordained that their silent reveries would not last.
A rumbling began to shake the earth. The gigantic vessel underneath the both of them started to tremble in response too.
The creatures and monsters here in the north, were well and truly awake…
Lloyd’s body moved without thought like a well-trained machine. His hands gripped his thousand-shattered blade even before sharp clarity actually returned to his eyes.
Up above, an undead hand was jumping up and down upon Zan’s blissfully ignorant face. It took more than a few hops, but then his eyes shot wide open, and a red glow activated within one of those eyes not a moment later.
Just as one slumbering monster awakened, so too did this one.