SEVEN

Endymion had the distinct feeling of something poking him. However when he came to enough, he could not feel it anymore. In fact, he was alone. No animal species around here. Not even bugs. It was strangely empty.

However not how he expected it either. It wasn't barren. It wasn't white.

In fact, he wasn't sure if he could see any white at all. Or any color other than green.

He was amazed by the sheer amount of green. More than any place he had ever seen on Earth. Except it was nothing like Earth too. He looked up and on the edge of the Moon, he could see his own planet in the distance. There, the green and blue orb hung in the sky.

The second thing he noticed which had to be forgiven for not being the first, as he was much too in awe of what he could see, to be bothered with the practical, was that there was oxygen for him to breath. Whether all of his notions about the moon was wrong, or he was somehow able to breath in little to no air.

He would have liked to believe it was the second. That would make him all sorts of powerful. It could be true, he would never know for sure, especially if he could not find another breathing soul on this planet. How on Earth, or would it be Moon, did the trees grow without bugs or insects to help them along?

He turned around in a complete circle, trying to understand where he found himself.

All around the small little clearing, only big enough for his unconscious body to fit lying down, was green leaves from trees. Massive amounts of trees that seemed to tower over him like his Ginko trees did at home, but unlike the ones at home, these trees had leaves. Lots and lots of leaves and branches. So much so, that he couldn't even see the ground or the trees that they came from. He could feel the roots though under his feet, barely beneath the soil, and some of them were so large they broke ground.

It was so dense, he did not realize that it was practically daylight on the moon as it turned away from the Earth and towards the Sun, even as the part of it he did not see was now looking upon the Earth, as it too shared daylight upon one side, though where he lived it would be many hours still until it could be part of this.

It was also so dense, it did not only make it seem like night, but he almost missed the sliver of white. He thought perhaps it would be an abandoned building or an altar, or some form of land. But as soon as he made a step towards it, it disappeared. It shouldn't have done that, it should have been more visible.

He hesitated and cut off his sight for a moment, trying to use all that he had learned in training, but it was difficult here on this foreign land. Everything was different, the smells were different, the feel in oh so many ways was off and the sounds, there were no sounds. Not even the wind wrestling through the trees. Then he heard it, tiny landing noises against the ground in a very clear rhythm.

He shot off towards the direction he had last seen the white and followed the sound.

Then got promptly hit in the face by a big fat leaf. It slowed him down. All of the foliage did.

Endymion was not sure how the creature was able to move so agilely through such thick terrain. Even with years of training, Endymion did not think this would be very possible. He had moved quickly and stealthy in his own land, but he had only to contend with the tall trunks and the rare root as he moved around and used it to his advantage. He could even sometimes reach the rare low limb and use it too.

He lost track of the creature, the only thing that was up here with him, and he lost track of where he had come from and where he was going. He was now stuck up here until he could either find the creature and hoped it talked, or work his way back. He turned, he would head back and see if he couldn't find his way home too, the more he knew about how he got here, the better he would be at being here. Though he also worried that if he left, he'd never come back.

His father would have probably tried to hunt down the creature and use it as a trophy. The last creature on the moon, wild and wily and he caught it and killed it and wasted its precious meat and life. Something that could be studied and attended too, bred to make a new race, maybe.

Perhaps this white creature was one of folk lore, the unicorn.

Perhaps not.

Perhaps it was a demon that was trying to get to his world and if it couldn't, would devour him instead. Oh yes, his father would be pleased, the sole heir to the throne, devoured by a Moon Creature, never to be found. Only a strangely placed mirror in his room as any indicator that not all was right. The clue would never be solved. The pieces weren't all there. Not even Jadeite would figure it out. His voice would only be added to the sad song heard by only one couple on the entire planet.

No one would destroy the mirror, they could not. It was physically impossible for anyone to do so, they would get too sidetracked to do it. He was beginning to wonder if it was possible at all, even if he had taken a sledgehammer to it, would it have broken? Something with that much magic, surely not-

Then he saw the slip of white again and then it was gone, as if it was his imagination. He followed it, on surer foot than before, knowing he had to catch it. It had a mind, even if it wasn't an intelligent one, it at least was curious and it was cautious. Perhaps it was more intelligent than he gave it credit for.

Then he saw something that stopped him cold. He saw a flash of gold. The moon had cold? One of the most rare and precious commodities on Earth, something the Earthlings fought over. If anyone knew, or had known, the moon would have been spoiled long ago.

Perhaps it was and only now had it finally recovered.

There were way too many unanswered questions for Endymion and he forced himself to continue. He had lost track of the animal again, but he had a general idea of where it was heading now. It had seemed random at first, but it kept going in the same direction from where he had landed. Even though it wasn't the same path, or even a straight on, it was heading in the same general direction. So he continued on, hoping to cut it off the next time their paths crossed. Whatever it was, it was not only agile, but it was fast too.

Maybe faster than he was.

He was learning, but so too was it. It started making more random movements, even heading back in the direction that they had come, or darting off sideways and going that way randomly for awhile.

It was curious, but it was also weary and didn't want to be caught.

He almost had it, his fingers reached through a dense patch of leaves and his fingers brushed against silk, but just as he was doing that, he missed a branch that was hidden by many leaves and suddenly he was out again.