Forgotten Land

9/28/2010

SUM: Endymion stumbles upon the hidden world of the Moon.

TWO

Endymion's life did not consist solely on damp ground or in the cover of high above tree branches. His life was far more complex than that. He oversaw countless of other duties, was a man where others in his position, rank and age were merely boys. Others who had many of the same luxuries he had when he was home were pampered and spoiled, lazy and weak, arrogant and cruel.

His days upon the Royal Palace grounds were not to the envy of anyone else, he actually did work, oversaw others who did other work and continued to learn. He learned to fight, learned to anticipate the others' moves when they could attack back, similar to his hunt, but also very different. He learned what each tree and plant were called and their uses. He oversaw the maids and the kitchen staff and the musicians and the tailors. He parried words of wit with fellow royalty and noblemen and men who wanted to usurp everything. Endymion kept them at bay.

Endymion even oversaw the other Royalty as even they were lower ranking than his family. His was the Royal Family of Earth. The others fought squabbling battles over territory and land and goods. He sought to keep the peace between them, for he could not understand those desires when he owned all of it, and they were only governors of sections, equal sections. Intended to be divided in such a way that all would be prosperous and none solely land that could not be cultivated or support life. Though even those areas had a way of producing.

He fended off marriage offers easily, most were only seduced by the title, others by the inheritance, and others still for fear of what their families would do if they did not secure the crown and heir.

Not only was he the only boy, but he was the only child his mother could produce. His father had dreamed of raising at least two children, of both genders, but had to console himself with one. His father was one of twelve children, and was the chosen one to rule and carry the line. The other eleven either had no interest in politics or bumped off the Kings and Queens of the other realms, as long as they weren't connected to the family through blood ties. Usually they were ill-suited rulers anyway.

None of the other decedents would ever hold the title he possessed or would yet gain. It wasn't that they were unable to carry out the job, but rather they could not hold it. One was picked and picked alone. Endymion was forced into that position with no reprieve and was forced to learn everything on his own, no siblings to help share their knowledge or enjoy the tasks with. Bodyguards quadrupled the normal amount given to the Royal Family, secondary guards doubled. He was the only heir, and while he was to be raised strong and tough and put through every test a true leader needed, his father ensured no one could kill him and destroy the line forever. Beyond that though, Endymion had to hope that his father did it too because it would devastate him if his only child were murdered and ripped from his hands.

It was a fleeting hope as his father only continued to push him to new extremes.

Endymion sat outside the palace, in the Royal Garden looking out onto the sea of roses, they rose and fell like waves, each section a wildly different color than the last. The Moon shone a single beam upon the roses, highlighting only one section. Endymion didn't think anything of it. It often did that, the trees blocked most of the light through, protecting the flowers from too much sunlight during the day. The section it highlighted was the same as the year before, but what did catch Endymion's interest was the fact that it added a pearl glimmer to the deep red tips. It added a dimension not seen during the day. Nor at nights when the moon did not shine. What particularly caught his attention though, was that it was the same patch as the year before, but it was in a different location, so great a difference, that it was on the opposite side of the field.

The gardeners preferred to switch it up. Endymion cast back into his memory, each year he sat out here at night for as long as he could remember and each year the light shone on these same roses, the same color, the same roses Endymion long ago had come to adore as his favorite of all of them. It had taken a little while to come to that conclusion because there were so many varieties that it could be a different color every day of the year before factoring in the special winter roses the gardeners had created for his mother. These were his favorite, and he could not say what came first, because they lasted and grew all year long or because the moon had always touched them so, or he had just liked the color the best. Which ever came first, all three reasons held true still.

With these thoughts swirling around in his mind, he looked up towards the distant moon, and felt a connection to it only the Earth and Sun could. The Moon was as much his as it belonged to the Earth and the Earth was his and he was the Earth's. The Earth was the Moon's and he was the Moon's. He always watched the Moon and felt like it watched him back.

The darkness on the Moon's white surface had to be cities like those on Earth, clustered together in odd formations, some far from others, others tightly banded together, preferring to stick with one another to the extent it was difficult to tell where one ended and another one started. There was no knowledge though of people inhabiting the Moon, only wild stories. Incomplete and fables were the best description anyone could give to them.

Someone told him the other planets could be visible from his spot out here, but he had only ever seen stars. The Moon the only thing unique among the constellations.

The roses were vibrant and colorful but only the deep red stuck out to him perhaps it was because of the effects the Moon had on it, or perhaps it was because it was a drawing color to him. He instantly stood up from the bench and brushed off his pants and glided into the rose patches, straight up to one of the Moon touched Red Roses and bent down, snapping one perfectly formed rose off its stem and then turning back towards the palace.