Chapter Text
For the Love of Darkness
Book 1 of Darkness’ Love
By N. A. Burnham
Prologue
“Wake up! Wake up!” cried the voice, it had to be my youngest sister Kara.
I steadfastly refused to open my eyes. I was always the one to put her back to bed, or let her crawl in with me, when she woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night (or for any other reason for that matter.) Mother and Father were both thankful that they weren’t the ones that had to deal with it once Mother was no longer breastfeeding her. Of course, all of us girls shared a room, just as my brothers all shared a room next to us. It was easier for Kara to wake me, than to wake Mother and Father. It was a duty as the eldest daughter that I had long-ago assumed.
“Kara,” I mumbled, trying to spit out the few strands of hair stuck in my mouth.
“Wake up!” Was the only response I received.
“Kara,” I murmured louder.
“Wake up!” She began shaking me.
“Kara!” I said sternly, trying not to wake Illith, my other younger sister.
“Yes Shar?” Kara asked meekly.
“Is Celestine up, or is it still dark?”
There was silence for a moment before I heard the sound of the shutters being opened slightly. Soft footsteps returned to my bedside.
“Celestine’s not up, but it’s not dark.” The fuzziness of sleep caused me to take a few moments to think about this.
“Is Luna out?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” Kara replied, likely nodding at least four or five times. “She’s real big.”
I opened my eyes a sliver. Kara was standing in front of me, sucking on her fingers, her stuffed doll clutched to her chest with her other hand. I could see her quite clearly because the light coming through the window, where Kara hadn’t closed the shutters, was almost as bright as daylight. I pulled my blankets back and climbed out of bed. The chill of the Early Winter nighttime air caused the skin on my arms to prickle with the cold and a shudder to run down my spine. I opened the shutters a little more and could see clear out to the forest, it was that light. The confused chirping of birds was clear even in the farmhouse, despite it being the middle of the night.
“Quickly, wake Illith,” I instructed Kara, and as she proceeded to jump on her older sister, I made my way as quietly as I could into Mother and Father’s room.
They were both fast asleep in bed, father snoring loudly. I debated whether to wake them, but decided that their standing instructions not to be woken unless there was a fire, bandits, monsters or flood still stood. In any case, Mother had already instructed me on what to do the last time this happened. I collected the things I needed as I made my way back into my room to collect my sisters.
I instructed them, “put your night coats on over your nightgowns and follow me.”
They did as I asked and we were soon out in the yard near the back door of our house. I dumped the things that I needed and instructed my sisters to wait as I went back inside. I stirred up the coals in the fire and lit a taper. I used this to light a candle to carry outside. Once I had returned to my sisters I placed the candle on the ground and instructed them to sit around it. There was no danger of the candle being blown out by the wind, the night was still.
“This happened once a few years ago,” I explained to my sisters. “Mother and I did this ritual to appease Luna. Remember how it goes because you might need to do it again some time in the future.”
My sisters nodded to me solemnly and I picked up the candle.
“Once I’ve said the words, I’ll pass the candle to you and you need to say the words, then pass the candle to Illith and she’ll say them. Then we do the same with the water and with the mirror.” I instructed Kara, “understand?”
Kara noded, “uh huh.”
“Sister Luna, light above,” I invoked. “We are the light, our light shines as brightly as this candle.”
I passed the candle to Kara and she repeated the intonation word for word. Once Illith had done likewise, I picked up the jug.
“Sister Luna, light above. We are pure, just as this water is pure,” I poured a little water on the ground in front of me before passing the jug to Kara. Kara and Illith performed the ritual in turn and I picked up the candle. As my fingers touched it a stillness seemed to settle around us and silence fell almost instantly as the birds ceased their calls.
“Sister Luna, light above. You are searching Mithras, scouring. I send your light back to show you that your work is done.”
Kara and Illith followed and as Illith finished a wind picked up, blowing out the candle in front of us. The moonlight grew duller and darkness descended upon us. Kara and Illith looked around, eyes wide and mouths hanging wide open.
“Sometimes, Luna searches extra hard for the darkness but if she searches too hard, too brightly then she might burn out. If Luna burns out then we will have no light at night time, nothing but darkness.” I told the girls; the same words that Mother said to me years earlier. They both nodded their understanding. I gathered the things and we all headed back inside.
I put the jug back onto the kitchen table and the candle on the mantelpiece. I headed towards Mother and Father’s room to put away Mother’s mirror as Kara and Illith went back into our bedroom.
“Oh, sisters?” I said, and they both looked to me, “What do we say to Father Mattias about this?”
“Absolutely nothing,” they both said simultaneously.
I nodded to them with satisfaction, “Good girls. Back to sleep now.”