• Make sure to read the Prolog first! mrgreen

    Moon Child
    By Katherine Lingwood
    Chapter One

    ~One Hundred Years later~
    A young girl, not but five years old, walked along the street. Her tiny hand attached to that of her Mothers. Walking beside them with his arm around the beautiful women was her Father. The young girl had long golden hair that flowed down her back like a silk. She looked like any normal Solar, except for her eyes. Her left-eye a deep liquid golden colour, the right a dark emerald green.
    “Mommy, look at this!” They young girl ran over to a fruit stand. The family often past it on their walks. She picked up an apple and looked at it closely. “They’re so red! How do you get them like that mister?” She asked enthusiastically. The man smiled down at her warmly.
    “Now Naiya, don’t be rude. You know that you are not supposed to take things from the fruit stand.” Her father said as he kneeled down beside her; taking the apple from her hands and putting it back. He stood up, ruffling his daughter’s hair as he did.
    “It’s okay Acton. She was only looking. Weren’t you Naiya?” The old merchant looked down at the girl, who was smiling right back at him. “Here you go you can have this one.” He picked up the same apple she had been examining before. The girl’s eyes brightened even more at the gift before her.
    “What do you say to the nice man honey?” Naiya’s mother reminded her.
    “Thank you.” She quickly said as she took the apple from his hands. After the merchant returned her bright smile she quickly ran a head. Her parents fallowed, calling for her to not run too far ahead. They weren’t very worried. Everyone in the small town Kanan were nice people and would watch out for any child they saw.
    When they finally reached home it had already become black outside. Naiya was asleep in her Father’s arms. He placed her in a small bed with a hand made quilt over it. “Acton can you come in here please?” Her Mother’s bell like voice chimed from the other kitchen of their small house. Acton kissed his daughter’s forehead then hurried through the door.
    “What is it Alexis?” He came up behind his wife wrapping his arms lovingly around her. She smiled up at him with warm eyes.
    “Can you please get some more wood from outside? People in town were saying that it was going to be a cold night.” She asked as a teasing smirk crossed her face. Acton straightened up smirking back at his wife. “Thank you.” Acton walked out side and around to the side of the house where they stored the wood. Inadvertently Acton looked over the trees towards the centre of town. His eyes widened as he saw the flames rising over the treetops. Running inside he dropped the wood on the ground. He slammed the door open making Alexis jump.
    “What’s wrong?” She asked in a worried voice. “What happened Sweety?” Alexis ran to her husband putting her hand on his arm.
    “Get Naiya and get as far away from down as you can. Something wrong, I’m not sure but you and Naiya need to get-” Acton’s directions were cut short by an ear splitting scream. The dread filled the parents hearts; through the window they could see the red glow getting brighter.
    “What’s going on?” A small voice from behind them asked sleepily. Alexis spun around running to her daughter. Naiya was standing in the doorway, holding the doorframe with one hand and rubbing her left eye with the other.
    “We’re going to go for a walk honey. Don’t worry Acton. I’ll keep her safe.” Alexis picked up Naiya and rushed to the back door. “Come back safely Acton.”
    “I will Alexis.” He assured her forcing a smile. She rushed out the back door heading into the forest. Acton grabbed his gloves and rushed in the opposite direction to help out in the town.
    Alexis watched the outline of her husband disappear into the trees. She turned and continued into the trees. “Mommy, why isn’t Daddy coming?” Naiya pointed in the direction her Father had gone. Tears started to form in Alexis’s eyes. How was she going to explain that the village was burning and that she would most likely never going to see her father again? How could a five year old understand that?
    “Some bad people are… attacking the village and Daddy has gone to help. We are leaving so that he doesn’t have to worry about us.” Alexis tried her best to explain it calmly but her voice was shaking.
    “Why didn’t Daddy come with us?” Naiya asked resting her chin on the Mothers shoulder.
    Alexis stopped at a small cave in the side of a mountain that was near the village. They would be able to hide there for a while, but not for long. The attackers would most likely find them if they stayed too long.
    Two hours later and still no word from Acton, Alexis was starting to worry. Naiya had fallen asleep on the cave floor next to the small fire she had built to keep the two of them warm. She looked down on the sleeping form of her daughter. She wanted to stay with her daughter and wait, but the will to go help her husband in the town was too strong. She wrote a note on the cave wall for her daughter. She would do her best not to die and to keep whoever was left alive. She would return to her daughter, with her husband and the rest of the town.
    Naiya’s eyes started to open; she saw the outline of her mother walking away. “Mommy…” She said still half asleep. Alexis disappeared, not knowing she was returning to her doom. “Don’t go Mommy.” She said too quietly for anyone to hear. She tried to move her arm forward towards her mother, her hand closing on only stone. Naiya drifted back to sleep, into a horrible dream full of flames and death. She could see her parents on the ground next to each other surrounded by burning objects. The Mister from the fruit stand, his body sprawled over his shriveled fruit. They all looked like they were just sleeping.
    “Hey guys come over here. I found one! She must have escaped during the fire.” An unfamiliar voice said. She could hear the sound of many feet coming towards her in the cave.
    “Wow, she’s really young. She must be only five, maybe six. What do we do with her boss? We can’t kill a kid. Besides, what is she going to do?” A different voice said.
    “You guys are too soft. If you can’t kill a stupid kid then you shouldn't be here.” Yet another voice said. This one was different though. It was cold, evil and dark. She wanted to move, to run and get away from the men but her body wouldn’t let her. “Ha, she’s probably going to die by herself if we just leave her here anyways. We might as well just kill her now. The footsteps moved to behind her. A sharp pain rushed through her back as she flew through the air out of the cave. She screamed in pain, but that seamed to do it and her body was moving again. Her eyes flew open. The three men she had heard before they all had their faces covered so she couldn’t see what they looked like. Naiya forced her body up. She cried in pain as the fire ran through her back again.
    “Hey kid, don’t move around too much, we’ll end it fast so you don’t feel anymore pain.” The first man said again. Fear run through Naiya like a fast running river, her legs yelled at her to run. She tried to get back up again, this time she was prepared for the pain. Naiya scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could back into the town.
    “Get her you dumb a**’s!” Yelled the man who appeared to be the leader. The men running after her quickly caught up. The fear pushed her faster; somehow she managed to stay ahead of her pursuers.
    The smell of ash soon filled the air. As Naiya came into view of the village everything was burned. The trees, the houses, the stands, everything was burnt. She remembered her dream, her parent’s had been near the fruit stand. She turned the corner, rushing through her short cut. Trying not to look at the bodies that surrounded her.
    The voices of the two men chasing her followed her down the ally. “She went this way!” She pushed on despite the fire that now ran through her whole body. She had to find her parents. The panic was the only thing that kept her running. As she came up to the stand she saw them. They were lying in the middle of the clearing. Naiya’s father was lying over top of her Mother as if he was trying to protect her.
    “Mommy! Daddy!” She sobbed, running over to her parents. She shook her Father trying to wake him up. “Wake up Daddy. We have to get out of here. Mommy, please. You can’t sleep right now. We have to go home.” She pleaded.
    “They wont get up girl. Their dead.” The boss said. Naiya looked up. The three men had surrounded her. Tears poured out of her eyes as she looked down at the bodies of her parents.
    “No, no. Why would you do this?” She pleaded to the men around her. A strong, cold wind blew around the clearing. “We never did anything! Why did you do this?” Naiya stood up, her hair blowing in the strong wind.
    “What’s going on? I thought you said there were only Solars in this village?” One of the men yelled. “This is Lunar magic!”
    “Don’t you think I already noticed that? Just get her already!” Yelled the boss at the two men.
    “Don’t you dare come near my parents! Get away!” On those words the ground around her started to freeze.
    “That’s it! I’m getting out of here. You guys can freeze here for all I care!” One of the men said as he ran away.
    “I’m with him. We can’t fight against Lunar magic. We’ll have to get Fordon to deal with her. Let’s go boss!” The other man pleaded turning to follow the first man.
    “You cowards. She’s a five your old girl!” But his cry was not heard. But of his partners were already gone. “Get back here you two!” He tried to run after them but found he could not move his feet. Looking down he saw the reason why. “Damn it. The brat froze my feet to the ground.”
    “You’re not going anywhere.” Naiya stood up, her eyes livid with hatred. “You will never move again!” She yelled, the hatred in her eyes growing more. The ice moved up the man’s leg. He tried desperately to get away but he had no such luck. The ice quickly covered him completely. Naiya sobbed again, as she fell down onto her knees. “Why? Why did this have to happen? Everyone is dead!” She cried into her parents. “Please, come back. I don’t want to be alone.” She curled up on the ground, huddling into her parent’s cold bodies. “I don’t want to be alone.”