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Thud.
A sharp pain radiates from the back of Lucia’s messy platinum haired head where she made contact with the cold, wet stone of the cave as she passed out; her vision cuts to black. Lucia’s consciousness emerges into an endless vanta void, gasping for air as she shoots up to her feet. She whips her head around wildly, searching for any visual stimuli to ground her as she comes down from her panicked state. Lucia pauses to take trembling deep breaths, and with careful, timid steps, her surroundings start to blur, disorienting her gradually. The prolonged strain causes her eyes to burn and ache with fatigue. Determined to find something in this nothing, she pushes through the pain until it becomes unbearable, covering her eyes with her hands as burning tears pour down and stain her pale cheeks.
When she forcibly opens her eyes once more, Lucia’s breath is taken at the pure resplendent splendor of unearthly cosmos the nothing transfigured into. Colorfully expansive galaxies and brilliant stars reflect in the spilling trails on Lucia’s visage. Potential wishes dart across celestial paths of comets in her pupils as she stares in awe filled wonder. Mindlessly, she floats around before stopping at the sight of two elven people, a man and a woman, in glowing pearlescent robes with radiant white hair. They stand with their hands neutrally behind their backs and soft smiles on their faces.
“Mom? Dad?”
The apparitions nod as they beacon Lucia to come closer. Lucia follows, but looks at this display confused. Something was missing. Someone was missing.
“Where’s Mary?”
The man’s eyes saddened for a moment at the memory of their child before speaking softly, “She's alive, but... remember when we told you she was sick with the monster blight-” Lucia’s mind flashes back to her childhood hut. Mary was laying in a cradle made of twisted straw and shivering in the middle of summer. Dark circles sat under dulling hazel eyes as the color was slowly draining from her hollow face. The village Elders didn’t know how to cure this sudden sickness and so, in fear, the Shay family waited for Mary to pass. Lucia looked upon Mary with puffy eyes as she tried to cope with the possibility of becoming an only child again. Then piercing cries ring through the hut as a slit rapidly forms in the middle of Mary’s forehead. She starts to scream as it bleeds and then shoots open, giving Mary a third eye. A white sclera monster eye. Lucia braces herself against the wall, startled, as she looks on. Mary starts to soothe and Lucia quietly heads back over. She looks down and gently places her hand to Mary’s cheek, feeling how cold her skin is. Mary instinctively nuzzles into it, showing a hint of a smile as her shivering stops, and she goes back to sleep for the night. In a flash, Lucia is back in this celestial void and listening as Robert continues, “-that Mary would be a little different. But if she was with us and that we loved her, she would be fine. But, Lucia… she did not grow up with us."
Tears start to well up in her hazel eyes as Lucia looks away, her mind wanders to one of the many nights she and Mary were alone together.
Low fire light flickers against the twisted straw floor that holds up two giggly little girls as they play on the hand woven rug their mother, Elanor, made. A manchineel wood comb parts through soft platinum hair, detangling it gently. A pair of tiny pale hands divide strands of hair into sections, twisting and braiding them until they are satisfied with their work. Carefully, she adds little flowers to adorn the little girl's head like a crown. “There we go, Mary! Just like a king!” Lucia says with a giddy smile. Mary turns around with a wide toothy grin.
While the monster blight didn’t take little Mary’s life, it forever continued to alter her appearance. Her teeth had gotten sharper and more pointed over time. Earthy green scales ran up both sides of her neck, elbows, and ankles, while her left eye had shifted from hazel into a green and yellow slitted monster eye. To top it all off, she had recently sprouted a small tail, that matched her scales, that would wrap around her body and wag with delight as she’d sit and look up to Lucia. Drastic changes from the unscathed elven baby she was a few short years ago. Even so, her mind was untouched. She spoke in short sentences, on track with the other elven children in the village she should be playing and socializing with. But, with the monster blight and everything they don’t know about it, Robert and Elanor keep Mary hidden in the hut at all times, only letting her outside on special occasions when they know she won’t be seen. They were scared. Scared of the possibility of it spreading to others in the village. Scared of what the Elders would do, or worse, make them do to Mary if they ever saw her in this condition. Scared that their love wouldn’t be enough to save her, and fate had already chosen Mary to be taken from them forever.
A quick stream of light flashes across the window, catching Mary’s attention. She gets up onto her shaky legs and starts wobbling towards the door as she squeals excitedly, pointing wildy. Lucia raises an eyebrow and panics as Mary heads for the door. She cuts her off before looking out the window to see the trail of the shooting star. Lucia becomes conflicted, thinking to herself, Mom and Dad want us to stay inside while they are gone.. But we never see shooting stars.. One night shouldn’t hurt. Lucia looks down at the toddler and smiles as she picks her up. Mary’s tail wraps around Lucia’s back and she returns the smile. Lucia grabs blankets as she pops Mary on her hip and the two go outside and set up to watch the stars. Hours had passed as the two little girls watched the night sky snuggled together, encased in blankets as they pointed out constellations, shooting stars, and the prophesied comet they’d overheard the parents talking about before they left on yet another monster hunting trip. Lucia looks at the moon, softly saying, “The moon looks so magical.”
Soft yawns slip out of Mary’s mouth, struggling to stay awake as she slowly starts to nuzzle and curl her way into Lucia’s chest, mumbling, “Mhm.. Looks like cheese.. Wanna eat it.” Lucia looks down at her little sister and smiles warmly. She brings Mary closer into the embrace as she begins to gently stroke her hair and hum a soft lullaby. Lucia’s mind wanders to the stories their parents told her about the monsters they encounter on their journeys. How ferocious they were and how brave the hunters were to protect the village from them. Then her thoughts drifted to how scared the monsters were to have strange beings come into their home, threatening and destroying them and their communities. How would the parents treat Mary if she never recovered.. If she fully turned into a monster… Tears slowly fall as her mind races. Is there no way we could have peace between us? They live here too.. Mary looks up from Lucia’s chest and gets sad to see her sister distressed. She raises a wobbly hand to Lucia’s face and carefully wipes away the tears streaming down. “What’s wrong, Cia?” Lucia sniffles as she leans into the touch. Shaking her head as she says, “Awe.. Nothing. Nothing is wrong… Just…-” Lucia takes a shaky deep breath before continuing, “They say helping the guilds is important… but I don't know what could be so much more important than being with us…” Lucia looks down at Mary as tears trickle down faster, “And what if… What if they don’t find a cure… And you don’t get better? Mom and dad fight monsters all the time… And you’re turning into-” she looks at Mary, she’s listening and showing fear and confusion in her face from the way Lucia is talking. Retracting her statement, she shakes her head, “No, you’re not a monster and you wouldn’t hurt anybody.. How could I even think that?” Mary’s eyes start to tear up, not knowing how to help her older sister at this moment. She just tucks her head back into Lucia’s chest and nuzzles into her, sighing softly. Lucia hugs Mary tighter and takes a few deep breaths remembering the words her father said to her. You need to believe in what you want, and you need to believe in yourself to achieve it. That is the power of wishes and stars. So if we love her, she’ll be okay... Lucia mutters softly, trying her best to comfort them both, “If we love you, you’ll be okay… I love you, Mary… so you’ll be okay… I love you so much, so you have to be okay...” Then the thought comes to her, “Mary… what if we are all monsters? Then we could be together forever, no matter what.” Mary doesn’t move from her position. Lucia pouts for a second before loosening her hold and moving her hands slowly into position. “But you know who the scariest monster is?” She pauses for a moment. “The TICKLE MONSTER!” Lucia growls playfully and begins to tickle Mary, their giggles echoing into the jungle around them. Lucia stops, giggling as she catches her breath and Mary’s giggles mix with her deep yawns. They both snuggle together, getting situated under the blankets once more as Mary falls fast asleep and Lucia watches the stars.
Lucia blinks tears away as she looks back to her parents in the celestial void. “I... I'm sorry.”
Elanor’s eyes soften as she says, "None of this is your fault, Lucia."
"I just wish I-I could have..."
"Could have what?"
"I should have been able to stop her. It's my fault she got out. If I had just known how to heal her or how to..."
Elanor’s eyes soften and start to tear up as she says, "Oh, Lucia. If there was anyone to blame, it should be myself and your father. We should have been there. We should have been raising you two. We should have fought harder for her when our village Elder found her..."
Robert cuts her off, "But we didn't. And I couldn't kill my daughter."
Lucia looks to her parents confused, "Then what happened? What I saw?”
Lucia’s vision flashes back to her turning over furniture, searching desperately for Mary. Then the world starts to spin and her breath quickens as she realizes she’s lost her. She failed, the most important job and she failed. There was no telling where Mary was. The minutes of deafening silence felt like hours, making her feel as if she’s going insane being trapped in her head indefinitely. Only snapping to attention when she heard the Elders speak at the village fire. They found Mary.
Lucia peeks out the front door, frightened, as the entire village is surrounded around the glowing fire, including her parents. She sees The Head Elder and her father in a screaming match as Mary is being held tightly in Elanor’s grasp as she violently sobs up to the stars in hopes that they’ll hear her prayers. Lucia closes and has her back towards the door as she slowly slides down the wall. Her entire body shakes violently. She tries to get up, but her legs won't carry her and collapse at every attempt, Lucia freezes in fear as she listens to the war outside her front door. The Head Elder shouts, "Robert! You endanger us all by keeping this thing, this abomination here! Think of the lives you have put at stake for your selfishness!"
Broken hearted and full of rage, Robert screams back, "I will take care of this! She is mine and my responsibility! She has not hurt anyone, yet!"
Fear overtakes Lucia’s senses as she blocks out the sound by covering her ears with her trembling hands, “No, no, no, no. No, no, no.” Lucia curls in a ball. She can't move.
Mary doesn't come home that night.
“You just let them do that to her…” Lucia’s face grows hot with anger as her tears fall faster. Her screaming growing louder as it all finally clicks into place, “I thought it was... I thought it was my fault that she disappeared... I thought I killed my sister. Why didn't you tell me? We could have been a family!" A bright glow emanates from their hands and starts to levitate Lucia up as it surrounds her body, cutting her off. As it grows brighter and brighter, her entire vision turns white, and she closes her eyes tightly, and thinks maybe we are all monsters.
Lucia opens her eyes and she is back in the real world, falling from the sky.
The Moonbeast, a 5 headed chimera, made up of Mary and other important people to Lucia and her friends, with the heads of a hawk, a brown bear, a young white dragon, a lion, a serpent, and the body with a black decayed heart in the chest, cries out in pain as the black and red veins, that wrap all around the grooves of the creature, slowly fill with light as Lucia and this monster get closer to the moon. The light begins to spread until the beast is one ball of magnificent light that explodes into stardust. Lucia watches it beautifully disperse, twinkling in the atmosphere as waves of relief wash over her body. The world was saved from Mary’s attempt to eat the moon, to be rid of the source that fuels the magic the humans use, and the magic that fuels the blight within the monsters.
Relief subsides and the process of accepting the knowledge that death has to be the outcome at times feels like a boulder in her stomach. That, in reality, you can’t be a pacifist to most problems that arise. It’s you or it’s them. This acceptance turns to guilt as an invisible hand wraps around Lucia’s body, pulling her down with a powerful stomach-lurching surge of acceleration. The wind whips Lucia’s cloak around wildly as it utters a deafening roar. She loses one sense as it is replaced with voices in her head. It’s your fault. You ended up killing your baby sister after all. You’re all alone, killer. Never forget this was your fault. Your actions killed her. You’re the real monster here. Trapped with her thoughts as she plummets ever faster, Lucia desperately raises her hand, reaching towards the remaining particles of light, extending her final contact with Mary until it's entirely gone. The light fully vanishes and grief overtakes her. She wails loudly, letting every repressed emotion out of her body. She refuses to feel guilty over her choices; Lucia did what she knows is right, she did her best with the deck she was dealt. Every memory of Mary rushes through her mind. Every wish she had for her, every time she ever needed to just hold Mary close, every strand of hair she braided, every nightmare she vanquished, every bowl of soup made, every thing. In the sea of stars above her and her doomed landing pad in the monster filled island below her, all she could do was remember the monster she did nothing but love.
All at once, the plunging feeling stops and she feels weightless, like floating on a cushion of air, feeling stable and buoyant as she descends. All the negative feelings and sensations stop as she takes deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth. Tranquility enters her soul as she opens her eyes to the familiar resplendent splendor that is the blanket of stars above her. Lucia smiles as she looks over the constellations she loves so well. Until a new one catches her eye. Stars move around to create two separate constellations, one of two humanoid adults, and one of a small child with a braid. Lucia’s eyes tear up as she sees the constellation of the child move, rush up towards its parents, and join them in an embrace. Lucia’s breath catches as she sobs happily. “They’re a family again..”
Lucia closes her eyes, finally at peace knowing Mary will get the love she was long overdue. She lets her entire body go limp as she accepts her fate; there was no saving her from a fall from this height. Lucia takes these final moments to look down to the island and admire where she was approaching at terminal velocity. Saurus was a massive, beautiful island with mountains competing against one another. There stood a great lake surrounded by tropical trees, and a massive volcano. To the south end of the island, a big forest stood next to luscious green covered mountains, and rolling hills flowed down to the coast at the island’s edge. In the center stood a large glass egg. And inside there was a swirling structure built almost 50 stories tall, surrounded by gardens and wooden docks. Lucia had only been on this island for a few days, but she couldn’t deny its beauty. She could imagine there would be no better final resting place for her. Lucia looks back up towards the darkening sky with a serene smile. “Mom, Dad, Mary… I won’t be long now… Wait for me, I’m coming home.”
Thud.