The Bride of the Moon

Chapter 6

Him.

The world of Gods is a land unreachable to all but us. Divinity and immortality are what we are, what we breathe and we live by. The Gods and Goddesses are funny beings. We never age, we never change, we never die. There is no one like us.

Power fuels our golden blood and they vary per deity. There are strong ones and there are weak ones and then there is me; the most powerful of them all.

Many will joke and tease that I’m not such a God, but challenge me they do not. Because they can’t.

These other divinities, they party and eat and drink and play. They place bets on their creations, wagering on who is the best or the bravest or the prettiest, who they bless and who they love more. It was a cycle of stupidity that I could not stand. It’s why I isolate myself, preferring my darkness and my solitude.

The creations, the mortals that live in the world below ours… they don’t mean much. They cannot do much. Their lives are so fragile and short that it’s but a blink of an eye to us.

Which is why I wonder, after thousands of centuries that have passed since the prophecy was given, why was I still searching and waiting endlessly for this one mortal that could perish so easily? Why do I still walk the mortal world to find this girl that I almost cannot remember anymore? It’s been so long and all I know is light… find the light.

The mortal world is nothing like ours. There is death, destruction, wars and battles and sickness and poverty, so many things that should not be. And I walk through it day in and day out. From one point to the next. From north to south, through the waters and the lands.

Light.

My light.

I will find you.

Soon.

There are days when I return to our world, listening to prayers and whispers of mortals. Nothing. Nothing of her. I was getting frustrated, fists balled up in anger and jaw clenched.

I looked up to stare at the moon and the stars, glaring with hatred. “Give her to me. I have waited and searched long enough. Give her to me!”

Around me, I have recreated the vision of when I was shown my light for the first time in all those years ago when the prophecy was made. It was our glade, the world that I made for us. A vast woodland complete with rushing blue crystal rivers and various clear lakes. The smooth hills and beautiful lush forests of this land are obviously made by a God, for the soft pastel colors of its leaves and bright flowers are anything but natural. And then there was the elegant, luminescent palace of our dwelling high above the ground to see everything.

Magically, this entire glade is locked in springtime with a few elements of autumn with its falling leaves. The harmonic and peaceful feeling of the environment almost lulled me into calmness. It always worked, the memory of this place always managed to keep me anchored.

All it needed was her.

But where was she? Where else could I look? I have all but memorized this mortal world by now and still nothing. Not a sign. Not a breath. Not a word.

It’s as though she’s being blocked from me.

“There you are.” A soft sensual voice spoke from behind me.

I don’t need to look to know who it is. “Get out of my glade, Goddess.”

Her hands, smooth as silk, wrapped themselves around my neck, pulling me down to gaze upon her. “Oh, powerful God, how long will you wallow and isolate yourself from us? This prophecy is a lie. This girl that was promised to you by fate will not come. But I am here and I yearn to spend more time with you.”

This Goddess, she is of the Sun and she is beautiful as she is bright with her skin shining and glowing, her eyes golden and her hair like honey as it gleamed.

But with all her brightness and blaze, she will never be my light. Nothing can interest me but my light.

I slipped away from her hands, detaching myself with a shrug. The touch of another is repulsive. “I will not repeat myself, Goddess. Be gone because you are wasting your time.”

“Don’t you see? I am the Sun and you are the Moon. We are made to be.” She tells me but I have heard all of this before. This was not the only time she has come and not the only time a Goddess has sought me out. “If she is real, she is but a mortal. You will lose her as quickly as you had her.”

I have heard this all too. I move away before she thinks of touching me again. “And I will have her but will not have you.”

The Goddess flinches back like I had slapped her. “You would choose a lowly mortal over me?”

I massaged the sides of my head tiredly. “At this point, I will choose anyone but you.”

“You don’t mean that.” She cries out, peach colored lips quivering. “I am the Sun. You want the light? I’m the brightest one out there!”

The Goddess of the Sun. The most desired out of all the Goddesses for her sweet temperament and her beauty that dazzled. I suppose this is why she wants to collect me. She has had all the others and now I was the last in her collection.

She moves forward until all I can smell is the first morning of every day. Her charm. The flowers that bloomed. The world waking. The sun shining. “You are the strongest and most desired God. You could have it all with me by your side.”

I nearly laughed. She couldn’t tempt me with her beauty and now she wants to tempt me with power. How adorable. “What makes you think I need anything else? I do not need you. I will never need you.”

Without another word, I flick my wrist and she vanishes in a cloud of black. I return to listening to the whispers and prayers of mortals. They filtered my mind as I searched through them, loud ones, soft ones and ones just thanking the Gods of their blessings.

I was about to give up and return to my other duties when I heard it; an explosion of prayers coming from the creatures of the night, the werewolves, begging for mercy on their deaths. It spread like wildfire, asking for blessings and swearing to their sacrifices.

‘Emma Noor.’ They whispered. ‘The girl born of the eclipse is lost.’

‘She’s going to be the death of us all!’

“What do we do? We need answers!’

And then louder than anyone else’s prayers was the voice… the voice that sounded melodic like a musical note that spoke directly to my soul. ‘Please, help me.’

I moved quickly, quicker than I ever had before, propelling myself through the mortal world like shadows jumping through the night. My heart was beating as though it wanted to leave my chest. The feeling has returned. After years of nothing, it was finally back. The feeling that I could not properly identify, the foreign feeling that was beating through my veins and I couldn’t get enough.

My light was here.

My light has called for me.

I am coming. I am on my way— I broke through the tree line and she was there. I couldn’t believe it. I could see her now. I do not remember my vision from all those years ago, but upon seeing her now, that is exactly how she looked like. The ruined dress. Her arms wrapped around herself. The weeping. The trembling.

What did they do to you, my light? Who has hurt you so? How could they do this to you? Do they not know you were made for me?

A rage unlike any other erupted from deep inside me and I all but left her to kill whatever did this, whatever made my light this way, but her soft sniffles stopped me in my tracks. She needed me. She needed me now.

I will deal with whatever pitiful being decided to hurt her later. They can wait. She cannot.

I approached her, my steps suddenly hesitant and anxious. How would she react? How would she take my presence? Mortals do not normally see Gods. They pray, they sacrifice and they call out, but we never come. Not in our true form. In fact, there has only ever been a handful of blessed mortals to see some of us and that’s over centuries. Not one mortal has ever seen me. Never. My light would be the first but she has not noticed me yet. I hear her prayer in my ears, loud and clear.

My light.

Look up.

And she does, just like the vision from all those years ago, but instead of the moon and the constellations she sees, it is me.

“I’m listening.” I told her.

Beautiful. So beautiful. I still cannot believe I am actually with her now. It’s all coming back to me now. Not a memory anymore, but in the present, in front of me, close enough that I could feel her delicious warm skin. The amber of her eyes is bright and warm, sending a shiver down my spine. My fingers itched to brush through her long black hair. Her freckles are more profound than I remember them to be but I loved them either way. Her small bump of a nose that endears me, her lips that parted almost as if asking for it to be pressed against my own. I’m almost so enthralled by the sight of her that I forget to move.

How could a mortal look so beautiful? Not even the Sun could outshine her.

She stares at me in shock like a frightened puppy and the urge to comfort her overwhelms my eager heart, but I do not know how… interaction is not one of my strengths. Not wanting to disappoint her, I followed my instincts and wiped away her tears with my thumbs. Our touch, it could create worlds with how glorious it felt. Warm. A heat that melts away the coldness inside of me. It felt as though a piece of me had come, completing something and making me whole.

“You are safe now.” I swore to her, wanting to hold her closer.

After so many years of waiting… finally, my light is here with me and I am not letting her go.