Sun & Moon

Chapter 41 - Astrid

Chapter 41 – Astrid

A searing light sends Rio reeling back to our world. That was all I could think to do when things escalated with the Moon Goddess. I was afraid she would begin her destruction of her children with Rio first. The melancholic tune of the song of my ancestors grows louder in my ears as I channel the Sun Goddess's energy. But with that blast of radiant energy, I feel the Sun's strength weaken and the song of my ancestors rumble at the back of my head, which soon dissipates. I may be tethering her to this western realm, but everything has a limit.

"Mortals do not belong here," says the Moon. "You would be wise to send the girl back, too. They cannot fathom the vastness of time and their miniscule imprint on it."

"And yet, here we are, more than a hundred years later, with history repeating itself," the Sun answers back.

"That is why it is better for it to play out without divine intervention. Perhaps that is where I went wrong the first time."

A sense of anxious urgency builds up inside of me as my mind reaches for answers. But those answers are hard to find especially considering I am one of the mere mortals the Moon Goddess speaks of. Maybe she is right and I wonder what exactly I am doing up here in the Sun Goddess's mind. That's when my host shakes off the doubt that I have just shared and does her best to reassure me, though what good is this Goddess's reassurance now when I have witnessed another's flippant mood.

"I will make things right," the Sun tells me pointedly as the Moon regards her curiously.

"What exactly could that be? We are Goddesses. There is no right and wrong in our realm. Whatever we decide is what we do and it has always been as simple as that."

The Moon turns and walks away, leaving trails of starlight as she moves. Unlike my vision in Sanctuary, this place is immensely darker and colder. Another difference is the lack. The lack of anything, really. This place looks like a void, no objects, no furniture, no surfaces. Just space.

"And might I remind you that you have no agency in my part of the world nor on my children," the Moon calls as she moves further. "So, you best be on your way and let things play out."

I feel the frustration of my ethereal host and take it to be true. Once again, I ask myself what I am doing here and why I was even chosen in the first place.

"How can you say that?" the Sun shouts back, startling me out of my thoughts. "Why create sentient beings only to resort to chaos?"

The Moon stops in her tracks and the air goes stiller if that were even possible. Her body shakes once as I hear a sharp exhale of air like a scoff. When she turns around, stars shimmer around her as her black eyes deepen their darkness.

"Well, well, well," she retorts and I swear when she looks into my host's eyes, she is peering directly at me. "All this talk of honor and humility, yet you've been hiding something from everybody, haven't you, sister?"

The Moon Goddess taps underneath her right eye and smiles knowingly. Her right eye shifts slowly to a shade of blue.

Rio.

My host reacts to this and I prod deeper into her mind to understand what is not being said and what the Moon Goddess could possibly be seeing on earth. But I am met with an iron gate. With all my desperate might, I attempt to push myself out of this world and back into my body. The iron gate in my mind extends itself further until it turns into an iron cage, stopping me from leaving altogether. Suddenly, the feeling is suffocating almost as if a weight were hovering over me, rendering me unable to move.

"It seems history truly has repeated itself," the Moon continues. "Betrayal after betrayal. When will I learn, well, when will any of us learn? Oh dear."

She paces back towards the Sun, whose radiance glows lighter, blinding my vision to almost stifle anything else I hear. Although most of the dialogue exchange is muffled by the ringing in my ears, I make out one disjointed word.

Destiny.

It brings me back to the day I was given the golden eye. The way the Sun answered my question of Rio and I and how presumptuous I had been to think she was responsible. I felt then that there was more to her answer as I feel now with absolute certainty that my intuition was correct. Who really bound me to Rio if it wasn't the Sun nor the Moon?

The more I simmer in my cage, the more I realize how many players are playing in this game of destiny.

Send me back.

I demand the Sun Goddess to break her hold on me, but she refuses. I tug even harder at her and rattle the iron cage, adamantly requesting to be set free—if not back to my world, then at least out of this blinding light. In the struggle, my muffled senses come back.

"...you are selfish and a hypocrite," the Moon hisses.

"I am as you are," the Sun replies. "We both hope to make our presence felt on earth. While the sun rises from the east and set in the west, the moon is always there, no matter how faint its visage may be. And how does the moonlight shine so vividly at night? It is but the reflection of the sun, sister. Our creations were meant to coexist side my side. Their greatness together could surpass our own."

"That is a poor excuse for the real reason you brought Er back to life," the Moon shakes her head as I watch stunned in my place. "You wanted him to bind the Lycans to your tigers because you wish to be ever present as I am—to latch onto both parts of this world. That is why you gave the girl the gift of sight so you could come here and banish me. You want domination."

"How can you say that when my tigers have served your wolves so well in Silver Bow?"

"Yet they scatter in the wind when given the chance. Your children are inferior and underdeveloped. Perhaps, they ought to be cleansed as well."

The shock of the conversation unfurling before me leaves me to my thoughts that are, unfortunately and inevitably, broadcast to my host, the Sun Goddess. For the most part, it is hard to put my feelings of anger, shock and despair into words when the emotions override them so intensely. A sinking feeling of my insignificance in the grand scheme of the heavens begins to form and I feel it confirmed when the Sun responds to my thoughts with nothing. Rio's notions of the destiny bond feel small and fleeting now that I know we were just pawns of our creators and their squabble.

"They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," the Sun responds in her light tone, trilling with agitation. "That means the rot stems not from the apple, but the tree. There is nothing the children have done wrong that they did not learn from us. What ought to be done is cleanse the root of the problem."

The Sun brings up both of her hands, bright lights building up in the palms, emanating a sharp hot sensation. But I don't feel the pain from it and I don't wince. Instead, the energy is smooth and calming and just as strong and jolting, like hot liquor.

The song of the ancestors begins to play in my head again, only this time it sounds different. More urgent, more desperate. Gone is that sad melancholic tune full of minor notes and pentatonics. It changes its tone, but keeps the same key as the melody builds into a staccato rhythm.

Two rays blast forth and form into one, lighting up everything in its path until it reaches its chosen target: the Moon Goddess. Her agonizing scream permeates the empty space as the darkness turns shades lighter and lighter. The sound of the Moon's pain echoes into the vast unknown, then fades out.

A few beats pass as the colors settle down darker and darker. The realm is dark once more, but there is nobody else in it, but the Sun's bright presence. I feel her mind weaken as a mental clock counts down and I am gently released.