The Bride of the Moon

Him

At the dawn of time, a prophecy was made to the Gods and Goddesses of the world. It was whispered in the air like a soft morning breeze, gentle and haunting, blowing lightly through us until it was all we could hear. The fleeting words were whispered in my ear and I listened tentatively, my senses muddling the surroundings like it always does when a prophecy is made, when a fate is sealed and a future is formed.

It was told to us then that a mortal would be born during an unforeseen eclipse. The mortal born in this eclipse would be a daughter of the night, a shapeshifter, a werewolf, and she is neither the prettiest or the strongest of her kind. In fact, she would be completely forgettable if not for the time of her birth.

The other Gods and Goddesses shuddered from terror of what it could mean. They always feared the unexplained and the uncontrollable.

Amongst them, I all but ignored the prophecy. What did I care for an insignificant mortal? I thought to myself, already losing interest. Mortals did not matter to me. I did not care for them at all.

Just as I thought of those words, a vision blurred me away from reality and I was suddenly under the stars, staring into the night. This was no longer a prophecy but a nudge towards a reality that would soon come for me.

And it was peaceful and cold.

The night sky was clear, and the stars were shining down brighter than ever before— absolutely beautiful, as if a pile of glistening moon dust that sprinkled across the sky. The moon itself was full and large, forcing the darkness out of the way.

With my arms crossed over my chest, I looked around. It was not a place I was familiar with but my body reacted to the area as if I had been here before, as if I recognized it from somewhere or dreamt of this somehow. I was in a meadow with colorful wildflowers under my bare feet. Surrounding the meadow was a wall of trees so high they almost touched the clouds. The shadows of the night crept out from under them but the moon with its bright light kept them at bay.

It was a tranquil place and the odd connection that I had with it only made my curiosity rise. I will be here soon, I gathered. Someway, somehow, this meadow would mean something to me.

I closed my eyes and observed what the eyes could not see. The smells surrounding me were of fresh grass, floral aromatics from the blooms and sharp peppery mint from the trees. The breeze that brushes against my skin is cool but not cool enough to make it unbearable. Not too far away, I could hear waves crashing and the smell of the sea was profound.

I turned to go there, only to see a girl in a ruined dress in my way. Her arms hugged herself tight, tears fell like waterfalls down her cheeks as she sniffled and whimpered pitifully.

She was not here earlier.

The girl looked up, scanning the skies as though searching for something— an answer, her desperate eyes moving over the constellations of stars and the moon. She whispered a quiet prayer that I could not hear and continued to weep, her entire body trembling.

As if sensing my presence, she hesitantly faces me, her profile emerging from the glare of the evening light. She was not anyone I’ve seen before, yet just like this meadow, I feel as though I know her or will know her.

“Who are you, and why do you haunt my dreams so?” I whispered, my voice echoing in the open field.

She was looking right at me but it was as if she couldn’t hear what I was saying. The girl looked young, possibly only having reached adulthood with her messy black hair and overburdened expression, her tired features looking sad yet beautiful at the same time, like a painting or a sad but melodic song a bard would sing.

She was not of great beauty nor of anything great, yet something inside me stirred with yearning. The need to have her close was overwhelming, but again, I did not know why.

I watched her intently, drinking in the details of her tiny face from her eyes that were the color of amber, the peppered freckles below them, the small shape of her nose and the curve of her soft lips. She looked delicate like she would break with one touch, a piece of art, an art I would have.

The more I looked, the more beautiful I realized she was and the longer I gazed at her, the longer I wanted to be with her.

Strange.

Alluring.

I wanted her.

And I would have her.

“Who are you?” I asked again, my intrigue and fascination growing by the short seconds that passed.

“Noor.” She answered in a voice so soft it sounded like a musical note.

Noor. Light.

She was light.

I wanted her to speak again, to listen to the music of her words once more, to at least calm the beating of my heart. The feeling was foreign to me and yet I couldn’t get enough.

“My light,” I managed, my throat becoming tight. “My light, how do I find you? Tell me where to go and I will come for you.”

The girl pointed to the sky and, with a surprised start, I saw the previously beautiful night sky peppered with thousands of stars above change into a terrifying total eclipse. My breath caught in my chest at the sight, the realization of who she was like a spear through the chest.

The unforeseen eclipse.

She was that mortal in the prophecy, the daughter of the night— and I was supposed to find her. I could feel it in my soul, in my breath, in my heart that I was to unite with her in some way.

Before I could properly grasp this vision, the image of the girl starts to blur and I panic, my chest contracting.

“Wait!” I shouted in alarm, my hand reaching out to grasp the girl, but there was nothing there but a soft warm light in her place. “Return to me! Come back!”

The moment my hands touch the remaining light that she left, a different kind of vision starts. It was flashes of images that ran through my mind. An image of the same girl smiling up at me, teeth white and mouth open as she called my name. Another of her laying beside me on the grass as she pointed to the sky, her laughter echoing and her voice piercing my heart with every word she spoke. And another of her with our hands clasped together tightly, slow dancing under the bright moon. The next is of us running together through the forest, our hands clasped tightly. The last was of us on the beach, splashing water on each other. And then it was just of her, her amber eyes in the sunlight, her lips pink and plush, her tanned nose wrinkled adorably, her hand reaching for mine, her hair glistening and wet… her and her and her.

Over and over again.

Her.

And then nothing.

I tried hard to remember, to reimagine her like it was only a moment ago, but like a dream that I tried to grasp, it left me like water running through my hands and leaving me completely.

Desperation set in. I didn’t understand the vision. I didn’t understand why I felt a connection, a longing to get to her, to understand the pain she was feeling in this field and to help stop it. I didn’t understand why I had the hunger to have those images that flashed, the need to make it happen, to be with her.

I have never felt loneliness or gloom, but in that moment, in the depths of my heart, it settled: emptiness.

The word light kept repeating over and over and over again in my mind until it was all I could hear.

Light.

She needed me.

And somehow, I knew that I needed her too.