Yet down there on earth, things fought amongst each other for survival - of the fittest some scholar had once said - but here, on the Old Moon the creatures evolved even when they remained stationary. An effect of the Blue Moon and Red Moon light he was sure, but Lisa could not risk letting his skin be touched, poisoned, by the foreign glows. He had witnessed rapid evolution on several animals caught under the unforgiving crimson moonlight - one moment a continuity the next something else entirely baptized by the ethereal shine.
On the other hand, he had witnessed too the deep navy blue light slow down or even reverse the effects of the evolution - seemingly unused structures or now inconvenient strappings immediately falling off of any said creature. What was made could be unmade the Scholars had once said oh, so long ago. Lisa recognized his once insatiable hunger had now itself become dormant - only attachment had left him in desire for that taste. His people were the Raven Children. He had never witnessed or been the patron of any child birth yet his Children were many. In the daytime, back on the homeworld, they had flown distances and taken into their sites wonders that most normal humans or even the elite Eye could ever have dreamed of. In their minds was driven the Lessons of the earth, and where the earth felt pain they felt it tenfold. As flies to a rotting carcass were they to the earth - cleaning away what no one else desired acting as detritivores for the planet which depicted them as nothing less than monsters.
That is not to say that some of his kind were not monsters. The Children of the Tree were well known for their interplay with humankind and the Eye of the Dark Temple alike. Blending well with humans and flaying from their former nymph-like fortitude the Children of the Tree brought into the fray the likes of Vlad III, and others with sadistic natures. Lisa, of a more ancient blood than any of the other Children had raised his own to be as pacifistic as possible. Only adding to their number when necessary for survival. Yet that had been the Old World, now the were on the Old Moon which for some reason was made inhabitable by the changes brought on by whatever the Eye had released or opened. Formerly humans who lacked access to the Eye obtained seemingly unlimited levels of it and ripped the world to shreds and were slowly beginning to witness their sin.
His Children had been vigilant in supplanting the newborn organizations that had been forming despite the prior uncontrollable chaos that they had experienced. He knew that the humans now forced into knowledge of the Eye were a weak and brittle branch to be broken - and knew the earth had desired for them to be within her grasp once again. Lisa was willing to act as the Savior to mankind no matter what his original vow had been. To keep the world clean for mankind and the Eye to flourish - no matter how frail she may look the Earth would always find someway to sustain her children is what he had been told.
He was now apart from that world, and he had no idea how the correlated with his pact. Was he free from it? He no longer felt the desire for blood for survival as he had once, now it was just a guilty memory he had of taking the precious life flow from an aware being. He had served the earth many years in an attempt to reach atonement for his sin, however uncontrollable and instinctual that it may be.
"Father," a gentle yet strong feminine voice hummed. Iansan had taken on the attributes of her spirit animal the hummingbird. Hair short but spirited and tinged at the tips reminded him of a hummingbird always on the go searching for its next flower. Her dark features reflected her similar origins in Africa. She had once been with only human features but the Old Moon had merged a hummingbird that had begun to perish in the Blue Moon light and she had taken pity on the creature allowing it to metamorphose with her soul. Within her seemingly fragile frame, she could summon the hurricane and winds with her Eye. She used to rage with it in her palms, but this new and peaceful moon had calmed her.
"Yes, Daughter?" He held no similar relative with Iansan, if they did it was so distant as to be of no import, yet their communal blood and collective consciousness with their environment was more than enough to make that connection.
"We have found another human. This one is oddly by herself, and the creatures react to her as if to a long lost aunt. Furthermore, she seems to have advancing control over the Three Moons. Change at her feet and the wind bends its head to her palms. She may be too powerful to control. How should we proceed, Father Lisa?" Iansan had always been to the point, but within her voice was desperation unnatural to her character. Had she grown comfortable over the last few days in this paradise? Had she not been the one on his side in the Meeting with his fourteen Children?Oh, but he missed Mawu's grace with politics and calming the souls of others. How his People had made it to the Old Moon and were surviving in the fast-changing environment had to be an echoing gift from Mawu - his Moon Wife. He remembered her vividly, despite her frail and silent death all those years ago.
"I shall go by myself to meet this lone woman. Iansan, return to the others and ensure the humans their safety - be careful not to tell them the nature of their captivity. I shall meet with you beneath the Raven's Nest." And he was off. Dancing between evolving elm and disintegrating ash. Trees and animals completely unknown to his far older knowledge were ignored, he was used to the change of the earth. At times helpful and at other times unforgiving.
He easily located the woman through the multi-layered covers of leaves and other flora. He found himself facing a young Asian woman who was bathing in the middle of an already abandoned nest large enough for three women of her size. She was short and had cropped hair. The Red Moon light pouring down through an opening in the top canopy and her fingers had become transparent. She, unlike most of the others who seemingly experienced pain at the light that dispensed evolutionary advance embraced the light and no matter her surreal changes, she was the beauty of the Three Moons. He could hardly breath as he gazed upon her revelry.
Staring at the moonlight, Mawu's dark skin reflected the sanguine and silver moon. Her tall and fallow curves reflected their own refracted light. Mawu required no food, in fact she had refused to the dismay of her Children and Husband. Food and sustenance had always required one living thing to sacrifice its precious life to another. She knew all to well the ways of the world and the heartbeat of nature, yet mankind and the Eye had grown too separate from the source of their Power and used the blessed earth for their own selfish desires. Not only the humanoid Children, but she had witnessed the terrible sport of the cheetah to chase down a gentle antelope and had been all but stunned to see its full belly leave the poor bleeding creature to suffer without feasting upon it. The sneer left its impression in Mawu's sight blurred by her tears of anger. Many of her Children's insatiable hunger had displeased her that day, but they were nothing in comparison with this terror of a feline - she had wanted to make it pay for its sins, but that would only result in the hypocrisy of taking a life for no valid purpose.
Lisa's tall figure approached as if to a summons, despite their mutual equality in the family. "I would wish you would feast upon something. Perhaps a dove's pure blood would be to your liking?"
Mawu's eyes were still watery, but they took in Lisa and his sharp edges. Within his hand struggled a young dove, it had begun to make its escape despite its precognition that it could not do so from one of the Children. Every living creature had to know its place in the hierarchy of life - and that was what had disgusted Mawu and left her with no appetite. No doubt a nuisance to Lisa, Mawu expressed uncharacteristic shock when he clipped the wings of the dove with his relative strength in the Eye. The bird became melancholy and no longer displayed its beautiful wings - cut away in a moment's satiation.
"Who art thou, to have clipped my wings?" Was how Mawu interpreted those solemn and prepared eyes and had reflected those words onto Lisa. Lisa's saddened eyes beat into the frozen heart of Mawi, who ignored them to return her mind to the pristine palace in the sky - shining so coldly to the rest of creation as it bloodied itself in others' remains.
To be continued...
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