Midnight

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MIDNIGHT
| CHAPTER SEVENTEEN |

A LONG, LONG TIME AGO, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful and righteous queen who ruled alongside with her sister.

The queen was loved by her subjects and she always sought justice in all that she did. She had beautiful hair like a raven and the face of an angel. She was beautiful inside and out.

Her sister was also beautiful, but she had dark, bitter thoughts. She was jealous and she wanted to have the throne to herself. Many of the land's people feared her for she practice magic, dark and evil.

Yet the queen loved her sister. She gave her everything she asked for and did everything she requested to be done, for the queen had no family left, but her. She was blind to her own sister's bitterness and jealousy, and so when sister finally put her plan into getting the throne for herself into action, she fell, down and down, into the pit of sorrow and betrayal.

The sister stroke fear into people's hearts. She killed whoever didn't please her and collected money from poor people on the streets. She was a venomous, evil queen and no one liked her.

The queen who had hid herself amidst the people finally came out during one night when the full moon reigned the night sky. She bounded her own sister who had betrayed her to the moon and the tides and made it so that whenever the moon rose the magic of her sister would be powerless and she would be weak. This made it possible to kill her.

When the evil queen realized this she dismissed all the castle's people and locked herself in her room. She was brewing a potion, something dark and poisonous that was to make sure she was unstoppable and invincible. After her potion was done, she transformed herself as a commoner and went out.

"Dearie," She had said to a beautiful young lady crying by a stall, "Why do you cry?"

"My lover had died and now I am alone." She wept.

"You are in luck! I have made this amazing tonic that is to heal one's heart. Would you like to try?" The evil queen smirked to herself.

"No, I shan't. I do not have a single silver on me," She said.

"Do not worry, young one. I will not ask you to forfeit your own silver or gold for this silly tonic. I only hope to see if it works. I made it myself. It's made with pumpkin and spices and a tinge of rosewater from the East."

The lady, being blinded by her heartbreak, shakily took thee 'tonic' and drank it all.

"I-I feel better," She said and she stopped weeping. "I feel like... like I'm changing..."

As she fell, unconscious, the evil queen quickly caught her.

"Ah the young lady fainted because of her heartbreak!" She exclaimed to the passersby. "I shall bring her home!"

When night came she dragged the young lady to her room. She lifted the hem of her skirt and chanting a verse, she dragged her fingers over the lady's ankle, drawing a new moon on it.

"You are the beginning. You are rebirth for all evilness. You have innocence and for that, you are like my sister. You will have good magic in the day, and bad during the night. You will trick, just like how my sister had tricked the land to believe she is good. You will start the war with your purity and you will reign the water and the tides for I am incapable of doing so, as I am bounded to the moon, and have to summit to it, while she controls the night and the tides of the sea."

While the young lady lied on her bad she continued to stir her cauldron, chanting a magic spell as she did.

The next morning she brought out another potion and walked among the streets. She saw a young man, bitter and cold, sitting on the ground.

"Why do you sit, bitter and lonely?" She asked.

"I am lonely because I have no family and I am bitter because no one helps."

"I tell you this, if you drink my tonic, you will reign above them, and whatever revenge you want to put upon them, you shall."

"And how do I know this will not kill me, strange woman?" He looked up at the evil queen. "Eyes like yours and quick to pretend and the tongue you have is quick to spit lies."

The evil queen did not look offended. Instead she realized she had found just the right guy.

"Boy, if you wish to have eyes and a tongue like mine, and corrupt the world and reign it, you will be smart to drink this."

He looked at it and remembered the bitterness he had. He took it and drank it.

"Woman, this is making my body churn." He choked out. "You have lied!"

"I have not," She tutted before he fell into her arms. "You have only simply been tricked by your own desire."

Night fell and weakness washed over the evil queen. She hid herself in the dark and dragged the boy to the castle.

She pushed up his ragged pants and traced a circle on his ankle to symbolize the full moon.

"You are the end. You are the peak of clarity for the evil and the dark. The full moon means obtainment of desire, and that is what I will give you because you are like me, who desires for something she will never have but has finally gotten. You will reign the darkness and the people of it, for I am no longer capable for doing so, as I am bounded to the moon, and have to summit to it, while she controls the night and the tides of the sea."

Now, the sister heard of this and was worried. The Alpha and Omega are now in her sister's hands, and with them she can kill all. She quickly set to work herself, knowing she needs to stop her.

So she asked the people to gather. "The evil queen is to kill all with her dark creations," She warned. "We must find a person who is brave to retaliate."

Many men raised their hands but the good woman called out a young girl. "Hello," She said and the young girl only peeked up. "Would you like to help?"

"My papa and mama died in the evil queen's hands and I want to help avenge her wrongdoings." Her maturity was spectacular for her age. She was a girl who has been through many sorrows and grew from it. The queen kissed her forehead and brought her to her stable.

She worked on her all night. The moon goddess saw and blessed the little girl with raven just like the good queen so she could blend with the night sky. She was kissed with ivory skin to symbolize purity that contrasted with the darkness of her hair. The good queen realized the girl's destiny and what the moon was telling her.

She was destined to rule over the Alpha and Omega. She was the Ace of all kings. She was both goodness and evilness.

The queen knew she had to work fast and precisely. A wrong move and the little girl would summit to either purity or darkness. She worked all night and when she was done she drew with a needle a crescent moon that symbolized both a waning and waxing moon.

"For waning, you are good to contemplate and smart to let go even if it hurts you, for you have gone through incredible sorrows and have let go of many. However, the waning moon means spells of great power that can bring pain to people around you because you are blinded by your own pain.

"For waxing, you are growth-you grow from your surroundings and also your sorrows and bitter past. However, during this phase you are easy to love because you don't want to feel the bitterness anymore, and you think you can grow from love. You may get your heart broken.

"All in all you are to reign over the new moon and the full, because you are of both good and bad. You rule both the tides and the darkness, and the light that moon gives. You are to bring goodness and justice, and control the darkness. For the world is nothing if it is too good or too bad. Balance. Remember that. For the worst enemy for balance is the fear to lose it. Maintain, my darling, and you will be able to control your own worst enemy-yourself."

---

"I don't understand," Midnight whispered as she looked down at their matching birthmarks. Both were placed on the ankle. Both were the same size. Both were moons. "What does this mean?"

Winter blinked, also unable to fathom what was going on. Silently he pressed the sole of his feet against Midnight's.

And then, all of a sudden, the moons started to glow.