A man's soul cannot be corrupted against his will. That was well understood at the time of the great apocalypse. When the few survivors spoke of my downfall, they almost always assume that it came about because of Zoisite.
The prevailing rumor was that we turned to the darkness because our love was forbidden. That we were betrothed to others against our will. As if a man like me could be forced to marry. As if something as trivial as a forced marriage would have kept me away from him.
Some believe our love to be both unlawful and unnatural, therefore corrosive by its very nature. I pity anyone who feels that way because they have never known real love. True love, as opposed to the mammalian lust and sexual barter most humans have never evolved beyond, must be the least evil thing in the universe.
The rumor that angers me the most was that Zoisite, with his exceptional beauty, was never human at all, but rather an incubus sent to corrupt the souls of men and women alike. This one is unfair. Zoisite was an innocent. Far more innocent than I ever was. Yes, he fought and he manipulated and he deceived and he seduced, but only because he had to, and only with the noblest of intentions. Of all people on Earth he was the least to blame for the widening rift with the moon, and the near total genocide that came about as its result.
Then again, on this topic I have never been objective. I will tell you of our beginnings and you can judge for yourself.
-%-
Part 2 : The Hothouse Flower
By the tenth day on the moon I was ready to hang myself.
I asked to remain on the moon with Venus and Mars to help wipe out the Cult of Metalia while Endymion, Jupiter, Mercury, and their princess travelled to Earth. The trouble was, I couldn't actually be of any help, since Queen Serenity never let me leave the palace. I may have been the most powerful warlord on Earth, but on the moon I was merely a diplomat. A special guest to be coddled and pampered just like any other distinguished foreigner. She agreed to my request to stay behind, only because everyone perceived as a thinly veiled ruse to romance Venus, who had to stay behind to impersonate the princess. Everyone with eyes could see we had grown quite fond of one another. In a way they were correct, I did want to deepen my acquaintance with Venus, and to a lesser extent, the lovely firebrand Mars.
I knew Mars to be cruel-natured and abrasive. I considered it part of her charm. The charm wore off quickly. Every evening she would return from hunting and killing the criminally deranged exiles who made up the Cult of Metalia, while I had to stay indoors like a palace pet. She'd greet me with a barrage of openly sexist and xenophobic insults. Sometimes I would snap back at her, and she seemed to enjoy that. I didn't, so I did my best to avoid her company.
Worse, the initial bloom of romance had wilted between Venus and me. That's not to say we didn't get along. We never fought once. In fact, if she felt her affections fading as rapidly as mine did, she gave no indication of it. It was not anything had gone wrong. It was just that we had reached the zenith of our relationship a little too early. Despite our fondness for one another, I found her grating on my nerves.
For one thing, her room was a mess, and she was starting to make a mess of the princess's room as well. Not that I ever went in there, but the fact that she could sleep in such knee-high squalor alarmed me. Even that paled in comparison to my annoyance at the near constant buzzing of her wrist phone. When we were in bed she turned it off. The rest of the time she kept it on. She had gotten me one too, but I never wore it. I kept losing it on purpose, but she'd just get me another one exactly like it. So I kept it on my nightstand in case of emergencies. Since I wouldn't wear it, every morning began with a litany of nonstop cajoling about how I needed to wear it at all time so we could talk. I told her I didn't see the point. I was right there in the same palace. If she wanted to talk, she could come visit me in my quarters any time she wanted.
She told me it wasn't the same as talking on the phone. I could see that. If her example was anything to go by, the phone was a curse. She spent half her day conversing with her wrist. Meals, stargazing on the parapets, strolls through the garden —all of these she experienced only through the periphery of her vision while she turned her full attention to the gossip the moon girls relayed from Earth.
Even the sex wasn't as great as I thought it was at first. I came to realized that the frenzied wrestling of our earliest encounters wasn't as much spirited lovemaking as it was a struggle for dominance. Neither of us liked for the other to be on top. Exhilarating, yes, but it was also limiting. Just for once I would have like for her to lie back and allow me to worship her beauty.
Her beauty. Even that was starting to wear on me. Her body was the best I'd ever seen and her face was absolutely breathtaking if you looked at it head on, but I didn't care as much for her profile. Her nose was too short and her brow was too long. Not by much. Not even enough to be noticeable, except by the light of a hundred other petty annoyances. She was fun, but the type of fun that was best enjoyed casually and in moderation. I used to rue the fact that we were starcrossed by our duties and we'd soon be parted. Now I saw it as a blessing.
I could have asked to return to Earth early since they had no need of me, but I would have lost face. I asked for this honor, I would have to see it through. Each day I prayed for a crisis to arise on Earth that would require my immediate attention. I knew that would not happen. We had already defeated Elysium's major enemies so we enjoyed nearly a decade of peace and prosperity. My army, which once spanned the horizon, had dwindled to about a hundred of my most hardened and battle thirsty of soldiers. I got to pick and choose what missions to lead my men on. Mostly quelling riots and securing untamed areas so they can be mined for their natural resources. My second in command, Lieutenant Commander Nephrite, led in my absence. An ambitious fool to be sure, but one with infallible judgment, and popular with the men besides that. Of course, he was a peacetime commander. He had yet to learn popularity will only get him so far when the tide of a battle turns against him. A man will not sacrifice himself for leader who is merely likable. Yet, I could not foresee him taking on a mission that would push him past the boundaries of his leadership ability. More likely he'd want a slew of easy victories so he might catch the eye of the king and make him question whether he put the right man in charge.
After three months or more, Queen Serenity summoned me, along with Venus and Mars, to her throne room. She sat with the light of the torches flickering in the shine of her snow white hair. "The cult of Metalia has been scoured from the face of the moon. Prepare yourself for a journey to the Earth so that I might collect the princess and the others. There is a grand feast being held honoring my arrival in the Earth King's palace. We'll leave as soon as you are ready."
Venus followed me into my room. I changed into my formalwear and packed up my few belongings. My phone was already gone from my nightstand and Venus had a sly look on her face, I should have known she didn't trust me to pack it. In that regard she was absolutely correct. I grabbed the bottle of sandalwood oil I'd bought as a souvenir and placed it in my valise, discarding the sparkly bag it came in. Cute and sparkly things were more commonplace on the moon than ants were on Earth. I hoped to never see another sparkle, rainbow, or unicorn for as long as I lived.
"You'll want to change into something more formal," I told Venus as she took off her princess gown and got into her sailor costume with its high heels and tiny orange miniskirt.
"No need," she said while adjusting her big red bow. "This outfit is a lot more versatile than it appears."
"On Earth all gowns must reach the floor or they are considered pornographic. You can't flash your thighs around the king's palace or you'll create a scandal."
Venus laughed. "Don't worry. This isn't our first diplomatic banquet. I'll be appropriately dressed when the time comes."
We returned to the queen and a porter took my luggage. Mars was also in her high heels and miniskirt and also brought nothing. The Queen wore a stately gown, as always. "Ready?"
We nodded. I expected her to lead us to a mooncraft. Instead, I blinked and found myself on a hilltop overlooking the Earth Palace. The porter was no longer with us and guests filed onto the drawbridge from carriages or covered litters. Venus and Mars watched and commented on the gowns they liked the most. Then to my utter shock and amazement, their uniforms broke apart into bands that expanded and separated from their bodies, leaving them completely naked, and then coalesced into beaded evening gowns. Red for Mars. Champagne yellow for Venus. She still wore her red hair bow, but unless she was impersonating the princess that thing never came off her head. It was probably a breach of moon etiquette to gape at them as I did, but under the circumstances, I couldn't help it.
"Shall we go in?" The queen said.
As soon as we nodded we were at the drawbridge. No doubt the queen could have teleported us right into the banquet room, but moon manners were maybe not so different than ours after all. No sooner had we appeared than the moon princess came running out of the palace, with Endymion following at a more sedate pace.
"Mommy!" She yelled and threw her arms around her mother and laid her cheek against her breast. Then she hugged Venus, then Mars, and to my surprise, she hugged me too. "Mommy, I have the most wonderful news."
"What is it, my dove?" the queen said with a fond smile, brushing her daughter's cheek with her fingers.
"Prince Endymion has asked me to marry him, and I've said yes!"
All decorum vanished from the queen's face and she looked like she had bitten into a rotten persimmon. "No you won't, Serenity. Don't be stupid!"
Endymion stepped forward, his mouth open in protest, but the princess held him back.
"Please my love," she said with absolute certainty. "I know how to handle this."
