When the Moon Touched the Sun #11

The Moon stood straighter, refusing to be provoked by the universe. Behind her the Sun stood and moved back, away from range of the fight, he knew that the deal would be off as soon as he intervened, as much as he wanted to help and keep his love alive.

The universe held out its hand, calling forth a sword of oblivion, it was as black as obsidian and sucked in the light around it, rendering the sky a little darker, like when the Sun just sinks below the horizon.

In reaction the Moon drew her sword. She clapped her hands together, then making two fists next to each other she drew her sword from the air. It had been elegantly made by the Moon's own nimble hands. She had carved one of her moonbeams, perfecting its slender form before intertwining it with a sun ray that she had caught so that it shined brighter. It was a sword that drew power from her relationship and no sword or power could match it.

The universe, upon seeing her weapon, forced a smile. It didn't bow again to the Moon, instead it readied itself for attack, sinking low to the floor, balanced, poised, waiting. The Moon too stood ready, she instead adopted defence, better to see what the universe was capable of wielding before going in for the kill.

Seconds passed, silence enveloped them, the two attackers stared at each other daring the other to make the first move.

When the Moon Touched the Sun #10

The Sun tensed his body, refusing to let himself look weak even though he had the overwhelming urge to hold his Moon and cry in to her, sob for her to stay. He reached out to her and put a hand round her neck, pulling her in closer to him so their foreheads rested on each other.

"You are so strong." the Sun whispered to her, closing his eyes and breathing in her sweet armourer, feeling her hand on his face and the electric sparks that danced through his body.

The universe watched on at this spectacle with a slight curiosity and amusement. It didn't understand why the Sun would let himself near grovel at the feet of a woman, but it enjoyed looking at the man beg.

"May we begin Moon?" asked the universe, a little impatient now.

The Moon removed herself from the Sun's grip, kissing him lightly on the forehead, and stood up turning to face the universe defiantly.

"If you truly wish to fight me, then so be it. But if I win you will relinquish your hold on both me and the Sun and promise to leave the Earth alone." an air of command now surrounded the Moon, her once timid appearance replaced by cool calculation and distinct fury.

The universe gave a single nod of agreement. "If I win, you will go back to the way you were, both of you." it looked at the Moon and the Sun as it said it.

"We agree to the terms." said the Moon with out looking at the Sun.

The universe's mouth curled in to a smile. It knew it was going to win and was filled with a burning fire of excitement. Its eyes glittered with glee and it bowed mockingly to the Moon, ready to start their duel.

When the Moon Touched the Sun #9

"So are you going to fight us or not?" the Sun said after many moments, the Moon had no nerve to speak with the universe eyeing her so greedily.

The universe turned is glittering gaze on the Sun, a faint look of superiority crossing its face as it did so. "You no." it said to the Sun. "But her," it paused and looked at the Moon again.

The Sun looked at the universe and saw a hungry look in its eyes, stars flashed excitedly. "No." said the Sun.

The universe looked down at the Sun, the look of disgust evident. "You," it spat out, walking towards the Sun with deliberate steps. "You are no where near good enough to warrant me even considering to duel you." the universe stopped two steps shy of the Sun. "Move aside." it spat again.

The Sun stood still with determination. "No. We will fight you together, or me alone, but not just her." he pushed the Moon behind him and backed up a little, pushing her backwards.

"Please Sun, don't do this, I'll do it on my own, I can defeat it." she clutched at his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

"No, Moon, I will not stand aside so you can fight this monster." the Sun glanced over his shoulder at her, his stomach twisting as he looked at his love, she was so beautiful to him, he didn't want to see her hurt. He made as if to say something else but stopped himself short and turned back to the universe.

"But Sun, what if you get hurt, or killed? Out child Earth won't be able to survive without you." as if in answer to the Moon's words the Earth moaned in pain.

"And what about me?" the Sun shouted, whipping around to grab the Moon by the arms, pinning them to her side, not caring that he had his back to the enemy. "I can't survive without you. I won't even be able to go back to the way it was before. You understand? Do you!" he shook her hard before falling to her feet, breathing deeply and clutching a fistfuls of earth.

The Moon closed her eyes and took a sharp breath, she dropped her head, hugged herself with one arm and with her other hand she covered her mouth, preventing any sobs from escaping her lips. She fell to her knees and pushed at the Sun's shoulder, encouraging him to look up at her.

"I understand." she said gently. "But while my absence will only hurt you, your absence will kill our whole solar system." she laid a hand gently on his cheek, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "You are far more important than I, please, let me do this, for you."

When the Moon Touched the Sun #8

Before them stood the universe, with eyes of galaxies, a black hole for a mouth and skin a pattern of stars, planets and moons, all following the bidding of their lord and master.

The Moon stared at the universe and shivered with displeasure, it was the ugly and unnatural being which stood in front of her that made her feel nervous. Now that she could see its sparkling eyes she was immediately on edge, she didn’t like the way that they focused mainly on her. She was left to wonder what it might do to her, or her precious Sun.

The Sun hadn’t noticed where its gaze rested, instead he asked, “So, you’re the universe?”

It nodded, flicking its gaze to the Sun before focusing on the Moon again. “You challenged me, did you not?”

“That we did.” Replied the Sun.

The universe made the Moon feel very tense. She could have sworn he had addressed the question to her, and just her. Why was she so important to this thing? Silence descended like a wall around them, thick and heavy.

When the Moon Touched the Sun #7

Suddenly the Sun and the Moon stopped fighting, the monsters that had once formed a massive wall of black had fallen away and they viewed the scene of devastation before them. The world let out the first whimper of battle, only now did it feel the pain of everything that had happened. The Sun turned to the Moon and embraced her, kissing the top of her head and stroking her hair.

“It’s over.” He whispered to her.

“You may have won the battle, but the war has yet to end.” A steely voice said.

Turning from each other the Sun and the Moon looked upon a cloaked figure in front of them. A hood obscured the face and folds of cloth masked any flesh, the hem sat heavily upon the floor, the excess material splayed out around him.

“The war is over.” Said the Moon. “The universe has lost.”

“No. The universe can drag you back, it will find you and then everything will be worse.”

“Nothing could be worse than what we have gone through, and the universe knows that it will never find us and it’s scared. Leave us alone, you have no business in this matter.” Said the Sun shifting his body so that he was standing slightly in from of the Moon, ready to protect her.

“I do though. The universe asked me to help and so I am obliged to. For the sake of yourselves, back down now.” His voiced raised with warning.

“Why doesn’t the universe come here itself?”

“Would you like it to?” the hooded man asked curiously.

“Yes, if it was cowardly enough to call off the battle and let us win, the least it can do is come and try to defeat us face to face.” Said the Moon refusing to let the Sun protect her, at a time like this, and stepped aside to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” the Sun asked the Moon quietly.

“Yes, we can defeat it, as one we are powerful.” She whispered back.

He nodded to her then addressed the hooded man. “We challenge the universe.”

The man nodded in acceptance of their wish. He drew up his arms and with fingers still veiled pushed back his hood.

When the Moon Touched the Sun #6

The Sun howled lunging forward to slice through one of the creatures. Black blood spurted from the wound and covered the Sun’s sword, speckling his armour. More of them touched down on to the floor and at once roots tore from their slumber underground, wrapping themselves around the pointless existence and crushing them. The Moon held back for a moment and then ran forward in to the fray slicing away at anything that stood between her and her Sun. She ran to fight by the side of her man, protecting him as he did her.

The Earth fought for its parents and its parents fought for the Earth. The three were no match for the fears that the universe hurled at them, they defeated all that locked them in combat and never grew weary despite the large number of monsters that continued to rain down on them.

No weapon touched their skin and their bodies were unmarred by ripe wounds, like the ones that covered their foe. The Earth was undaunted by the carnage that littered its surface, it strove to defend the Sun and Moon, making everything more difficult for the foe. Lava slid across the surface, setting alight the beautiful world that the Moon had once cried for, waves of salty water drowned the bad and earth rose and fell, crushing all.

The universe grew scared as the battle escalated, it knew at some point it was lose and then they would turn on it, defeat it. It could only do one thing, could only surrender and bargain with them, hope that they came back; if they ran away they would never be found again.

When the Moon Touched the Sun #5

The universe seethed, sending waves of white fire washing over the planets and the stars so they quivered with submission. The Earth drew power from its parents and didn’t shrink back from the displays of anger shown by the universe.

“We will not back down! You can control us no longer!” cried the Sun in to the sky, standing tall and proud.

“You would bring war on your dear child Earth, Sun and Moon?” the universe mocked.

“Our child Earth is stronger than you know, we will defeat you.” Answered the Moon.

“So be it. If it’s war you wish for, it is war you shall have.”

From the darkness of the universe flooded the creatures of nightmares. Grotesque beings cawed and screeched, making their way towards the willing warriors. The Sun and the Moon stood, waiting, ready in armour with weapons at their side, poised to strike the first creature that attacked.

The Moon turned to the Sun, “Promise me that we’ll still escape.”

“Of course my dear Moon, when this is over we will tend to our wounds and run away, playing among the stars.” He quickly leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. “When we are free we can be together again.”

The Moon smiled at him. “Give them hell.” She whispered, unconcerned with the imminent threat that loomed over their heads.