Sun & Moon

Chapter 39 - Rio

A shiver.

A gasp.

A feeling of stillness all around me as my body aches to be unstill.

And then, a light that dispels the stillness.

"What have you done?" she asks.

A flood of memories washes over behind the back of my eyelids of love, betrayal, fear and hope. At the centre of it all, stands the searing light that approaches.

"Sister," she utters, the body which I peer through, the Moon Goddess.

The woman of light gently floats by, her hair the color of the sun.

"I have come to set you free," the Sun Goddess says, her voice twinkling in my ears.

"No," my head shakes.

I prod at the mind I possess, curious at her response. But she's shut me out, caged me in a little space enough to have me witness the scene before me. Though my muscles and limbs ache at the chains wrapped tightly around me, the mental fortitude that lies behind this body is still very much active.

"Do not be so stubborn," replies the Sun Goddess.

"I can't."

"The mark has been set."

"You shouldn't have interfered."

"I did no such thing as would upset Father Time. This was meant to happen, now stop your whining, sister."

I curiously prod again at the Moon Goddess's words, but she inches the walls closer of the mental cage she has put me in. I have no choice but to sit and await patiently, though my mind races on the possibilities of her cryptic words. In a far corner, however, where one's line of perception in one's head gets lost, embeds a kink in my neck, a sort of itch that makes me want to look back, that the Goddess herself struggles to control.

But as I push hard to discover what's not being said, the Sun Goddess touches the face I inhabit. The pain is white hot and I feel it spread and travel all the way down my neck, to my hands and feet. And it makes me feel alive. It jolts my body with power, enough to let the twinkling shine of the Moon Goddess's starry skin alight once more. Like a supernova building up inside me, the heat slowly melts the chains around me.

"You need to let it go," the Sun Goddess urges. "Stop controlling your power. Your children need you."

It is then that I notice how hard all the muscles in body are flexing as if to contain the supernova heat, when I know one tap at the dam protecting it inside could easily snap these chains and set me free. I question the Moon Goddess for her resistance, a little disappointed at her lack of urgency and the need of the hour.

Why?

To protect you, my child.

From what?

And there, a small pocket presents itself between the inner struggle for control—over her body and her mind—where I am able to look over my shoulder at the far corner in the back of her head. The dam has no choice but to burst open, distracting me and shaking me to my core, for our bodies are one at this very moment.

The surge of energy makes me gasp and shudder in the most delectable way. The Moon Goddess's skin glows like stars in deep space, her midnight blue hair glowing alight, floating around me like a galaxy swirl. I am in awe of the ethereal being who I inhabit.

And she lets it known that it is I who inhabits her when she pushes against me in her head and shoves me out.

I drift halfway through consciousness when I feel something grip me. Not a hand or something tangible, but a weight lorded over me, anchoring me to this ethereal reality, neither here nor there. Neither in her body nor my own. In all this, I wonder if Astrid is stuck in her deity's head, caged in her mind like I was.