Sora of the Moon

PROLOGUE ~N5

“What the hell were you thinking Laylath?” I shouted furiously at my older sister who was sitting as usual on the roof of the castle.

“What am I doing? Your job of course!” she responded aggressively.

“It isn’t my job to kill her!”

“Yet…”

Her cold voice echoed along with the sound of the air.

“That way would be easier for us to get what father asked for!”

“By killing her? I clearly prefer killing that i***t, Ilay, and his little dog Aaron instead of her!”

“But she is on their side!”

“We will take her to ours then without following the orders of that bastard!“

She laughed.

“You have outrageous expectations brother. We both know that the thought of a different way from his, is out of the question. You saw what happened the last time you disobeyed him!”

Without my will, memories of what I endured ten years ago made their appearance on my mind. Things I was trying to forget. All the pain, the despair, the screams… those were things that didn’t fit me…  I frowned while kicking a small rock off the roof. It fell into the void.

“Who cares about that, there’s nothing left for him to do to me! The only thing that’s left is killing me, something that concerns you a lot. With me dead you’ll be the only heiress left”.

She smiled proudly.

“I can’t argue with that...”

“In any case you, my sister, haven’t got anything to be afraid of. You always were his favorite, his weakness, he could never hurt you… Me on the other side, he will be laughing as he sucks my life out of my chest”.

“You know why that happened, don’t you Nathan?”

“Why? Because I happened to be born with a soul unlike you? Because I happened to take this from mom?”

“That’s exactly the reason!”

“Let me tell you something! I’m proud of my sensitivity! I’m proud that I inherited mom’s ability to feel! I could never imagine myself as a heartless and flinty monster!”

“And that’s exactly why you’ll always fail… That’s exactly why you’ll die just like her! No one will cry for you, no one will care, no one will remember you. Everyone will be glad with your loss. At least I’ll make sure about that!”

“Watch your mouth while addressing mother, she is the one that gave birth to you!”

“Yes but father raised us!”

“If that monster hadn’t killed her because she protected me instead of the throne, she would be able to raise us as well!”

She stood up furious. I must have provoked her because I felt my eye color changing into this deep sparkly blue. This deep blaze was always appearing, especially when I was emotionally charged.

“It would be better to let you die. Now I would have been relished from your unbearable babbling and I would have the throne right into my pocket. Contrary to that, I ended up having you in my way. Go on! Follow your plan, you will be doing me a favor! And don’t you dare, I repeat, don’t you dare shine those eyes to me ever again or else, you will be sorry!” she threatened me before spreading her black wings and flying to the horizon.

I sighted. Her wings were the only thing I was envious of. Those and her ability to fly. I jumped down in front of the lake and looked at my reflection on the water. I was a mess…

Gently I took off my shirt unveiling mine. My wings were destroyed.  I looked at them. The only thing that remained was dried blood and some feathers here and there.  The rest of it was just my dirty skeleton. They would still hurt if I tried to move them. The ability to use them I lost it ten years ago. I might have forgotten even how to actually control them.  I felt my eyes changing again, just as they were about to calm down. I took a rock from the shore and threw it as far as I could into the lake.

“f**k!”

Only at the thought of how useless were my wings I got irritated. I looked over at the place my rock had landed. The water in that area began to darken and seething dangerously. That water’s reaction to my power, I knew well. I turned my back and lifted the palm of my hand on the sky counting down to three with my fingers.

Two, one… here comes the explosion. I stiffened waiting for the sting on my wings. And so did happen. In less than a minute I fell to my knees panting.

“Good God!”

My sister’s voice echoed from above and the air created by her wings’ movement froze my hurting back.

“Look at those wings! To think that you’re actually an heir. You’re done brother!”

“Shut it!”

She laughed in disgrace.

“You can’t even control your own power. Pathetic!”

She landed next to me and contemplated my damaged wings trying to hold her laugh.

“Poor thing,  may I?” she asked ironically and using her fingers yanked a feather of mine.

“Don’t touch them!” I threatened gazing at her.

“What did I say about the eyes? Never! Never gaze at me that way! Ever!” she yelled at me pulling fiercely my hair back, forcing me to look at her in the eye. But I didn’t surrender, on contrary I glowered at her. I was not afraid of her!

“I’ll do… whatever the hell… I WANT!” I spelled as I was standing up to reach her height. She laughed sarcastically as she caressed my cheeks with her long black claws.

“To whom do you think you’re yelling Nathanael?”

“To a heartless, selfish, f*****g…”

Her hand landed on my cheek. She must have understood the insinuation.

“…bitch!” I finished my words ignoring entirely her slap.

“Just wait to see what’ll happen when father hears about this…”

“ So be it! What’ll he do? Kill me? He can’t! He needs me because a certain someone can’t get close to Sora the moment I have won her trust! You’re useless!”

She immediately got serious.

“Useless? Useless? Who the hell do you dare call useless? I am useless? Or the boy without wings?  Aw!”

Her words pierced through my heart like a knife. She was right about that but I would never be able to admit it. I didn’t respond, I just looked down. She smiled in satisfaction.

“That’s what I thought… See you later Nathan at the Throne Room, with dad! Good luck with that. You’ll need it!” she said and with a final smirk she was once again flying at the dark sky.

I once again sighted. I was better off dead. I clearly preferred dying to   following the orders of those two. Why do I do this to myself again? Wouldn’t it be better to leave everything behind and look for other skies? No… Because we all belong to the same sky, all three realms… Go to the other edge of the world? They’ll never stop hunting me… Become human? They would never let me breath… My life would be a living hell… Fall in love? Not even dead.  Die? Not even that would save me. I will always be an evader. This will continue for eternity. Eternally I’ll be cursed. Eternally I will suffer. Eternally I’ll be a puppet to their hands, fulfilling dreams and goals that only aim to do harm… Even if I decide to ran away and take life into my own hands right now, tomorrow again I’ll return here carrying a soul more devastated than the one I’m already carrying now…  

I walked towards the garden, my place, as I call it. A place hidden behind some rosebushes. This is where I had secretly buried my mother’s body. I used to go there to relax and get away from those beasts calling themselves my family. I sat down next to the gravestone and rested my back on it. Ouch…my wings…

I gazed at the grave and at the withered roses I left there three days ago. My mother was the only person I could open up too. Even now that she sleeps in the grave, every time I sit there feels like she’s with me. Caressing my back, my wings, giving me strength to keep going, telling me not to give up. Sometimes I could swear that I could hear her singing, whispering to my ear words of wisdom and advice. This was enough to prove to me that she was not completely dead.

Oh mother… I wish you knew what hell I’m going through. Ordering me to drug an innocent girl into the dark side, later forcing me to become her killer. I’m sorry mother but I really want to keep my life…  There isn’t something worse than doing something you don’t want to just to keep living. You know this better than anyone. I’m not as strong as you, I never was. What I am about to do, is something unforgivable. A tear coursed down my cheek and I smiled forlornly.

“Look at this… I can cry, I’m not like them… I have feelings…” I said proudly.

Then it happened. I felt her presence as soon as a warm breeze blew on my face. I saw her next to me, smiling. She gently wiped off my tear and I smiled right back at her.

“Look at you…  An eighteen-year-old man and you can’t control your feelings”.

“Some hundred and eighteen to be exact…” I corrected her.

Her laugh tickled my ear.

“What should I do? I don’t want to… I don’t want to become like that…” I admitted quietly.

“You won’t. Do what you must do my son… and you’ll see that even the worst action can lead to something surprisingly beautiful if your motives aren’t selfish. Because you Nathanael, unlike your sister and father, deserve it…”

Her voice was like music to my ears. Every bit as sweet and gentle.

“I don’t want to hurt her… not again. She doesn’t deserve it”

“Believe me, what awaits her is anything but bad. You’ll understand eventually…” she said her presence left me.

The cold breeze seemed her farewell taking all the warmth that embraced me with her.

A familiar whistle echoed and I stood up abruptly.

My father’s call…