The lonely moon

In a meeting room, somewhere in the universe. Four beings sat around a table made of special ores only found in their home, Aeloaihu.

At the head of the table, a man with light blue hair sat; he had occasional white streaks fall out of his ponytail, his eyes were a cloudy blue, and he wore golden glasses. On his chair, the words, "Dies, the God of the morning sky." we're ingrained.

Across him, a woman with white hair hovered above her seat while silver chains held her from floating any higher. Her hair reached to her ankles, and her skin was as pale as snow. She had gorgeous blue eyes that stood out from her eyelashes which shared the same color as her hair; her chair had the words, "Luna, the goddess of the moon." ingrained.

"Luna, have you given your blessing yet?" Dies said,

"No, not yet." Luna said.

"Why not?" A woman spoke; she had beautiful blue hair that slowly faded into a dark bluish purple. Her eyes looked like a miniature night sky; her seat said, "Nox, the goddess of the night sky."

"She's probably looking for a better human so she can beat my gifted." A woman said while rolling her eyes. She had wild hair, the color of bursting flames. Her eyes, which burned brighter than any flame on earth, narrowed angrily. She crossed her arms and laid back in her seat, which said, "Solis, the goddess of the sun."

"Luna, is that true?" Nox said

"..." Luna didn't say anything.

"Well, whatever the case, Luna, you need to get a gifted; if you don't do so soon, gods and goddesses' might start challenging you."

"Sure…" Luna muttered

*******

"Okay, welcome, class. We'll be doing a roll call, so please raise your hand if you're present." A man said lazily; he had dark eye bags and a coffee mug that said, "#1 Teacher"

"Melody Janeihu" A girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail raised her hand,

"Um, it's pronounced Janiehu." she said.

The teacher ignored her comment and continued, "Avioso Nocturna." A girl with wavy blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes raised her hand.

"Penelope Kanshka." A girl with a bob cut and green eyes raised her hand; she smiled and flipped her green hair.

"Servare Solem." the teacher called; he looked around, then he saw a hand peeking out from the back of the class. "hm, okay, next."

***

"Okay, is that everyone? So, everyone is present except for Haicob and… Oh, it's just Haicob."

"Well, today we are learning about Gods and Goddesses, as well as their blessings; this is a crucial lesson since the day of blessings is only a few days away." He said in a bored tone.

"Let's start with the sacred mountain and the sacred temple." He picked up a book.

"Going to the sacred temple and praying to the gods and goddesses on the day of blessings has always been a tradition of ours. That is when most people receive their blessings; it is said that those who do not participate in this tradition will not get a blessing. But of course, that myth has been proven wrong by many. Can anyone give me an example?" He threw the book he was reading from.

A blonde boy with black glasses raised his hand.

"Yes, blondie?"

"Um, it's derex."

"Yeah, I know that. Now, what's your example, blondie?"

"Um, uh, Gladio. The God of war's gifted."

"Yes, that's correct. He received his blessing and became a gifted before the annual day of blessings. Though I hear he died a few years back, is that true?"

"Uh, yes. He died in battle."

"Oh ho, so that means Bellum, the God of war, might choose another gifted this year. Ooh, interesting." His tone changed.

"Uh, can I sit down now?"

"Yeah, sure." His tone returned to his normal one.

"Gifted, a gifted is a person who has received a god or goddess's blessing." The teacher started reading off a book.

While the teacher spoke, Servare took out her books and rested her head on them. After a few minutes, her eyes started closing; soon, the teacher's words began to fade, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

***

"So, if you use this translator here and translate them from Latin to English, you get the-"

The school bell rang, interrupting the teacher.

"Hm, I guess that's all for today."

He looked at the students who had already run out of the classroom, "kids these days…" he sighed. He looked back at the empty classroom, and in the corner, he saw a girl with black hair covering her face.

"Um, hey. What are you doing here? You can go home now." he reluctantly said,

The girl then looked up; her skin was pale white, her eyes droopy and tired, and her eye bags were almost larger than her eyes.

The teacher stepped back. She looked like an actual ghost; her eyes seemed lifeless, much more than the teacher's eyes, which, compared to hers, looked more alive than ever.

"Oh, sorry. I must've fallen asleep." she said softly while wiping the drool off her mouth

"It's fine, Servare. Just make sure to do your homework." the teacher sighed.

"hm." she nodded while putting her books in her bag; it looked torn and dirty like it was going to fall apart any second.

She picked it up and swung it over her shoulder; she waved goodbye to the teacher and headed out. She walked to the door, but just before exiting, her backpack suddenly collapsed, and her books poured out. She knelt down to pick it up when a hand touched hers, she looked up, in front of her was a beautiful girl, she had hazel eyes and long brown hair that reached to her back.

She picked up some of Servare's books and gave them all back, except for one. She kept hold of a book with the title, "Opposites attract" and below the title was the author's name, "A novel by: The Hungry Crow"

"You read this?" she said.

"Uh, yes?" Servare said reluctantly.

"I read this too!"

"Oh, really? that's great!"

"What did you think of it?"

"Hm, well, I liked the ending."

"Really? I thought the ending was sad."

"Exactly! That's why I liked it; it's very different from other books." Servare walked towards the exit.

"Hm, yeah. I guess you're right. Well, what did you think about the beginning?" She followed Servare.

"Hmm, I thought it was a bit slow."

"Really? I thought it was just fine."

"What? For real?"

"Yeah!" They continued talking, and after an hour of walking, they reached a normal-looking house.

"Oh, we're here." Servare glanced at the house.

"Aw, really? I had so much fun talking to you I didn't even notice how late it had gotten."

"Thank you for walking with me; I had fun." Servare smiled.

"I'd like to do this again next time!"

"Sure, anytime."

"See you!" She waved goodbye,

"Bye." Servare waved back.

Servare looked at the house and started walking past it. She continued to walk until she reached the yard of an old abandoned one. She opened the door and looked inside; the door's hinges creaked loudly right before giving out and falling to the ground with a loud thud. She walked past it and up the stairs. There, a little girl sat on a piece of cardboard, eating something out of a bowl.

"Hey, Sola! What're you eating?" she said, putting her books down,

"Ramen."

"How'd you get that?"

"I walked over to this guy selling ramen and asked if I could get some."

"And?"

"He gave me some."

"That's it? He just gave it to you?"

"Mhm, do you want some?"

"No, it's fine; I already ate at school."

The little girl continued to slurp the ramen bowl clean before speaking again.

"Hey, ditch chu no?" she said while chewing the ramen.

"What? You should swallow before you talk."

"Ahem, I said, did you know? The day of blessings is two days away!"

"Heh, really? And why do you know that?"

"Well, I was a bit bored earlier, so I peeked out the window to spy on the family who lives across us. They were watching the news, and it said the day of blessings is two days away!"

"Okay, but why? Do you want to become a gifted?"

"No! I thought you could become one, you know. Maybe you'll receive a blessing from the goddess of great big sisters!"

"Hehe, come here, you!" She said, hugging her little sister, "But why do you want me to become a gifted?"

"For money! Duh! If you become a gifted you make a butt-tonna money with all those flashy powers and stuff. Then we can get out of this place and get an actual house!"

"N-not to say this isn't our house! They say home is where the heart is, so as long as I'm with you, anything is okay!" Sola stammered.

"It's alright. I also wanna leave this stink-hole, don't worry, your big sister will get us tons of money, then we can get that house you always dreamed of, what do you say? Hm? Doesn't that sound good?"

"Yes!"

"But right now, what we need is sleep. C'mon, lay down."

"Yes! you got it!"

As her little sister slept peacefully, Servare quietly sat on the piece of cardboard, staring at the ceiling.

'A gifted, huh?' She thought

********

Servare opened her eyes; sunlight shined through the holes in the ceiling. She stood up and quietly grabbed her books. She tiptoed down the stairs and out the broken door.

She then ran to school, hoping to make it in time. After running for an indefinite amount of time, she finally arrived. She ran to her classroom and took a seat.

As soon as she sat down, the school bell rang, and a few seconds later, the teacher walked in.

"Hello class, today will be a half day since the day of blessings is tomorrow, and some of us need some time to prepare. If you're lucky enough, some of you might get a blessing from a powerful god, or maybe some of you might even receive their second blessing. Like our Penelope here." He points to a girl with green hair.

The girl smiles confidently.

"Penelope has already received a blessing from the god of vines; why don't you show us some of your powers?"

"Of course, I'd love to." she stood up and walked in front of the whole class. She raised her hand and yelled,

"Vine whip!" something in her hand started to form, and after a few seconds, a whip made of vines appeared in her hand.

"This is my weapon," she said as the whole class cheered.

She turned to the teacher.

"I'd also love to show my abilities, but for that, I'd need a volunteer. Would that be okay, teacher?"

"Of course, just make sure not to injure anyone."

"Okay then… Um, I'd like to call…. Servare! My good friend." she said before giving an awkward smile.

"Just stand there, okay?" she pointed at the ground. Once servare stood in that spot, she raised her hand, pointing at Servare. "Vine wrap." As soon as those words left her mouth, the ground started to shake, the floor cracked apart, and vines rose from the ground, wrapping around Servare's legs and arms. The class stared in awe, followed by a loud cheer.

"There's also this." she smiled, pointing at Servare again. "Vine control" The vines wrapping around Servare's legs started crawling up to her torso, and the ones around her arms crawled onto her head; soon, the vines completely covered Servare.

Servare would've been okay with all this if she had been able to breathe. The vines tied around her mouth and nose were way too tight, tighter than any other body part was tied. Luckily, Penelope let her go after a while.

"Oops, sorry," Penelope said as she walked back to her seat

"Uh, is that all Penelope?" the teacher said.

"Oh, of course not, but who'd be dumb enough to reveal all their cards, especially in front of this many people." she flipped her green hair.

"Ah, good thinking." the teacher glanced at Servare, who was still gasping for air. "You can sit down now, Servare."

Servare walked back to her seat and sat back down. She tried to even out her breathing and turn to normal; after a while, she succeeded.

After a few more minutes of talking, the teacher got interrupted by the bell; it was time for them to go home.

As Servare packed her stuff, three girls approached her. In front was a girl with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes; behind her was Penelope and a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail.

"Hi!" Penelope waved from the back, "I want you to meet my new friends!"

"Avisio," she pointed at the girl with blonde hair.

"and melody!" she pointed at the girl beside her.

"I wanted to thank you for earlier," Penelope smiled

"You see, I really needed a volunteer, but I didn't have any friends to call. You were the only one I remembered from the roll call, so I called on you. I'm really sorry. I really didn't want to get embarrassed; I had no choice!" she bowed her head.

"it's fine." Servare turned away and continued gathering her books.

"You see, we were wondering if you'd like to come with us to the sacred temple tomorrow; if you want to, you can think of it as a thank you gift." Penelope smiled again, only this time, the two other girls smiled with her.

Servare stopped putting books in her bag and thought for a bit.

'The sacred temple, "the place where most people receive their blessings." Hm, I would hate to go alone since I don't know what to do, but…'

After a while, she turned around and nodded, "Sure, I'd love to come with."

"Great! We'll meet you at the bottom of the sacred mountain!" Avisio smiled

"Can't wait!" Melody waved

Servare then continued packing her things before taking off; while walking, she thought a bit more.

'Hm, would I be able to get a blessing? If so, who would it be from? The god of poverty, maybe?' she chuckled.

After a while, she reached the abandoned house. She stepped inside and climbed the stairs; she saw Sola looking out the window.

"Sola, I'm back."

Sola turned around. "Sister!" she dashed towards Servare, pouncing on her. "I missed you."

"Me too." Servare paused.

"Sola, I'm going to the sacred temple tomorrow."

"What? You are?"

"Mhm." Servare nodded

"Are you going to receive a blessing!" she jumped excitedly

"well, I hope so." Servare smiled

*******

"Hey, sister! Sister! Wake up!" A little girl jumped up and down.

"Ngh… What…?" Servare yawned.

"Today's the day! Today's the day of blessings!"

"Mhm…"

"Come on! You need to get ready!"

"Sure, sure… Later"

"Ugh… Just get up!" Sola said as she pulled Servare to the door.

"Coooommme ooonnnnn!!!" She struggled

"Fine, fine! Let's go." Servare said.

"Yippie! Come on, follow me!"

"Where are we going?"

"To the barber!"

"To the what?"

"The barber!"

"We can't afford the barber, though?"

They walked down the stairs, and in the middle of the room, an old chair was placed in front of a broken mirror; Sola ran down and stood behind the chair.

"It's time for your haircut! Sit here!" she pointed at the old chair.

Servare smiled and sat down. She looked at her reflection in the broken mirror.

"Welcome to Sola's barbershop! What kind of haircut would you like today?" She said in a fake French accent.

"Why are you french?" Servare laughed.

"Are you making fun of my culture?" she said, stroking her invisible mustache.

"No, no, of course not." Servare giggled.

"Well, I'm going to start now!" Sola pulled a pink hair tie out of her pocket; she combed Servare's hair and tied it up In a cute messy bun. She searched her pocket and pulled out a fake white flower. She looked at it and slid it into the hair tie.

"Perfecto!"

"Wow, great job Sola!" Servare looked at the mirror and smiled. "I look just like mom; she would always wear her hair like this."

"Ohh! that's why it looked so familiar!" Sola said in her normal voice

"Thanks, Sola."

"Of course! No problemo!" she said, regaining her French accent. "Well, what are you still doing here? Go! The mountain's very far away, and with you waking up so late, you'll never make it if you don't hurry!"

"Oh, right! I'll see you later then." Servare waved and ran out the door.

"Bye!" Sola waved from a distance

*******

After running for 3 hours straight, Servare finally arrived at the foot of the sacred mountain; she wiped the sweat dripping on her forehead and tried to catch her breath. After doing so, she looked around for Penelope and the others, but the massive line of people in front of her obscured her vision.

She stepped beside the line and looked up. The setting sun shining behind the towering sacred mountain was a beautiful sight.

She walked along the line, and halfway through the first section people Penelope and the others stood next to the line, waiting.

"Hey." Servare waved.

"Servare! Good to see you again!" Penelope rushed towards her and hugged her.

"Hey, servare!" Melody smiled

"Have you been waiting long?" Servare said.

"No, not at all! Come, we want to show you something." Avisio said.

"Sure, what is it?"

"It's a shortcut we found; come here, look." Penelope pointed at a path that led into a forest.

"This path leads into that forest over there; it has a way shorter route than that huge line," Penelope said while walking towards the forest; Servare slowly followed behind.

Penelope followed the path right up until a turn, where she instead turned the other direction.

"Um, the path's that way," Servare said.

"Haha, I know. But from now on, that path leads away from the temple; this way leads to the temple." Penelope said.

Servare looked at her suspiciously, "Don't believe me? Look, some footprints lead this way; someone has clearly been here before."

"Hm, okay," Servare said reluctantly; the group continued walking while Servare started falling farther behind. After a while, they suddenly stopped, resulting in Servare bumping into Avisio's back.

"Ah, sorry. Why'd we stop?" She walked forward in front of them.

"Woah!" She stepped back; in front of her was a huge cliff overlooking a small and shallow pond. Servare turned around. "Um, hey, why ar-" A pair of hands reached towards her, shoving her off the cliff.

As Servare fell to her doom, time seemed to slow down, she looked into her killer's eyes, hoping to see a guilt-filled expression, but instead, she saw a face grinning maniacally. Servare felt disgusted by this, but that didn't matter, as soon enough, she would no longer be of this world. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Soon after, she heard a splash; she waited a bit before opening her eyes. She expected to wake up in front of a white castle or something white and glowy, but to her surprise, she saw the moon, the sky, and the cliff. She was still alive! Although not for long. Even though she surprisingly kept consciousness, it wouldn't stay that way as she could see the pond covered in blood; her vision was also starting to blur.

She sighed; looking at the moon, she realized just how beautiful it was. She looked around the sky. Not a single cloud or star was there to keep the moon company. It looked lonely. Servare, too, was lonely; she closed her eyes and asked the moon to keep her company; the moon shone its light onto her, agreeing to her request.

Servare thanked the moon, 'I'm sorry, my little sister.' A tear fell from her eye;

She once again thanked the moon, and as her consciousness started to fade, three little dings could be heard; Servare forcefully opened her eyes, and in front of her were three little notifications.

[You have received the moon goddess's blessing]

[You have received the star goddess's blessing]

[You have received the God of misfortune's blessing]

Her eyes widened with shock; she didn't receive one blessing, but three! She was ecstatic. She sat up to take a closer look when her head started hurting. That's right; she was still on the verge of death, her excitement slowly faded as she realized how dire her situation was. She tried her best to get up, but her head hurt too much, her vision started to blur even more, and her legs trembled uncontrollably. But even though this was the case, she refused to give up.

She could finally give her little sister the life she always dreamed of; she wasn't going to give up now. She kept on trying again and again, but still, it was no use.

Then just as she was about to lose hope, she heard another ding.

[Luna, the moon goddess, has used "communication (Lv. 1)"]

[Say, "Heavenly descent" hurry!] an unfamiliar voice echoed.

Servare opened her mouth, but nothing came out, her eyes widened in shock, but all her panicked thoughts suddenly got interrupted when she felt a thick liquid dripping from her forehead. She wiped it off with her hand and looked at it.

Her hand was covered in blood; then, unspeakable pain filled her head. Her vision turned red, her body trembled, and her mind ceased to function. It seemed like her time was up; whatever the moon goddess tried to do, it had failed. Her eyes closed, and her head fell back down into the water. She said one last thing before everything went dark.

"Heavenly descent."