Message to the Moon - Book 1: The Forest

Chapter Four - Goodnight

"Sleeping again? So soon?"

"What?" I asked the voice I couldn't find. It was too dark to see and it sounded like it came from every direction.

"You were asleep mere hours ago, were you not? Are you taking a nap in the middle of the day? Do you not have a job to do?" They sounded strangely... punch-able. Posh, maybe.

"I'm not asleep. We wouldn't be having this conversation if I were."

"Well, aren't you adorable. No, sweetheart. Think back to where you just were."

"What I..." I trailed off to think. Where was I? How did I get here? Why am I here? "Oh yeah." I thought out loud. "I was falling down a cliff and I-" The voice started laughing hysterically.

"You are not napping! You are unconscious from a fall? Oh, if we are lucky you will have hit your head hard enough to die. Do tell me you feel tired!"

"Uh... Should I feel tired?"

"Of course! Well, you should if you are dying. Normally you cannot tire in a dream, but if you were to be losing blood or something... That would be most delightful! Truly!"

"Err... No. I feel just fine. Wide awake." What's this guys problem?

"Ah, well, that is unfortunate."

"For you, I'm guessing."

"Oh no no, my friend! For you as well!" They laughed again, a little quieter than the last. It almost sounded like a pity laugh. "If you were to die now then the pain we will have to put you through will not happen. You could die only knowing the pain of failure. But you will have to die later. By our hands, of course. I really do feel sorry for you, honey. If I could force fate to choose another, I would. Someone so young and new to the world should not have to endure what the future holds."

It was my turn to laugh. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need your pity. I've known my destiny since I could comprehend it. I'm more prepared than anyone else could be. My life has been devoted to this! And you won't be able to stop me! Whoever you are!"

"Tsk tsk tsk." A figure made up of thin whips of honey colored smoke and short lines made of shadows appeared in front of me. "Even if in the end we cannot stop you, it won't stop us from making the attempts we will make. And there will be many. Until you succeed or die and possibly even after you succeed, we will not stop. And after every attempt you will feel more pain. Physical, emotional, or otherwise. So, as a m- member of my organization, I pity you."

"You want to knows what I think?" I asked with half confidence, masked in full false confidence.

"Please, enlighten me."

"You're just trying to scare me. Is this one of your attempts? Because it didn't hurt at all, so you're wrong about one thing."

"No. This is merely a warning a warning I thought appropriate to give a child. Our-"

"I'm not a child. I've outlived some elves born the same time as me." They sighed at that.

"You are child to us and to most of your own kind." A few wisps of smoke moved up toward my face. I imagined it was meant to be like a hand being put up to tell me to hold my tongue. "And as I was saying; Our first attempt was your dream when the moon was last up."

Thinking back now, that did leave some pain. Or a lot. But I would never tell them that, so I stayed silent with a shrug. "Goodbye, Lukaal. I do wish you would change your mind." With those last words the smoke vanished and I was left in the dark.