The Sun Shines For You:
Prologue: Waking Dreams
The air was stale and lifeless as the howling wind tore through the decrepit towers and halls. The entire place was empty and hollow, crumbling buildings only a shadow of the great civilization that once stood upon the moon. She wasn't sure how she knew where she was, but certainly this place was the moon. Marble pillars were fallen, pathways made up of stepping-stones that must have led through gardens were broken and the gardens themselves were reduced to ash and choked foliage. Dust lay heavy on the ruins and the impressions left by her footsteps seemed as lost as everything surrounding her. Tears stung her eyes and her voice caught in her throat as she walked as silently as she could, not daring to shatter the timeless sorrow of the dying empire. Here and there were signs of life, a spoon and bowl forgotten on the floor in what was left of the grand kitchen, the throne still standing under the weight of the beams that had fallen upon it, even a solitary crimson rose upon an embroidered pillow in one of the sleeping chambers.
It seemed as though destruction claimed this remarkable site in great haste, banishing the people to the realm of death and then letting the effects of time and weather see to what was left of the palace and surrounds. Strangely however, there were no bones to be found …she thought this peculiar because surely, if the wood had not yet degraded, the bones would not have turned to dust. Yet she was thankful for the absence, her heart still weighted by the pain that blanketed the moon like the layers of dust. How she longed to reach out and sniff the rose, but still the fright of changing this unspoken memorial …and the fear that the rose would dissolve into ash and dust prevented her from doing so. So she continued on, heading in no particular direction until another relic brought her short.
There was a sword imbedded in the stone, the hilt and part of the magnificent blade protruding from the ground and silently beckoning her to approach and wrest the weapon from its improper resting place. But something stopped her, a feeling that it was not hers and that someday the rightful owner would return to claim the superb rapier. This thought gave her comfort and she allowed a small, sad smile to cross her face as she bide farewell to the artifact and took another devastated path further into the heart of the ruins.
Memories filtered back unbidden of a time when the palace stood in glorious splendor and there was a benevolent Queen to watch over the people while guiding her sole daughter on the arduous path to the throne. When she was in love with a dashing knight, a Prince of the Earth and he gave her roses and guarded her from the evil that sprung forth from his home planet. When he alone stood against the malice and was killed for this, and his blade …so powerful and grand …when it slid home in her breast and she fell into death to join her beloved.
She gasped aloud at the force of these memories and crumpled to her knees, holding her hands over her chest as she fought back bitter sobs and strove to conquer the images and sounds assaulting her mind and senses as she remembered: soft, golden laughter; strong arms about her waist; a deep husky voice by her ear; playful teasing; forbidden love; ignoring the warnings of her guardians; stuffy ballrooms; a sense of foreboding; the dreadful attack by the dark witch; sacrifice when the anguish of her loss and the agony of her heart proved too strong. She recoiled instinctively from this place …the place that was the source of her residual pain and sorrow …where Endymion had been slain and where she had taken her own life. Weeping uncontrollably she staggered to her feet and fled, falling several times and scraping her tender palms, somehow tearing the pale white gown she wore and bumping into the wreckage. She ran blindly as tears scoured her cheeks and harsh sobs racked her petite body and she cried out one final time as she stumbled over a cinder and plunged into a well, into inky darkness and terror.