Daughter of the Moon - Book 1: Water

Prologue

Long ago, near the beginning of mankind, the Mortal World and the Spirit World were united as one. The spirits and the humans lived amongst each other in perfect harmony, and the Earth and those who lived there flourished. Although many spirits elected to stay in their natural form, some chose to adopt a mortal body to better coincide with the human race. The latter was the case for the Moon and Ocean spirits.

For many years, the Moon and Ocean spirits had worked together to maintain the ocean tides, becoming the primary source of growth and abundance for the inhabitants of the world. However, even with the company of the Ocean spirit, the Moon felt isolated from the creatures she was serving, causing her to be drowned in her sorrow. The Ocean spirit grew concerned for her well-being, and together they decided to live on the earth as mortals for a period of time.

The Moon Spirit—having adopted the name of Tui—lived and learned in the ways of mankind as she worked through her inner grief. With time, she was able to heal and once again feel the satisfaction of serving the people and creatures of the world. But before she could return to her spirit form, she met a young man and was instantly captivated by his charm. Despite her better judgment, Tui fell madly in love with the mortal, Mose, and even though he knew it was destined to fail, he was quick to follow.

The couple knew that they had to hide their feelings from the world for fear of how others would react to their relationship, so they were careful to see each other in secret. In time, Tui conceived and gave birth to a beautiful set of twins—Noemi and Aku. Because of their spiritual ancestry, the children were blessed with pure, white hair; pale, porcelain skin; and bright, crystal blue eyes. They were also gifted with the ability to manipulate water, becoming the first natural-born waterbenders.

When the Ocean Spirit (having adopted the name "La") discovered what Tui had done, he and the other spirits were enraged. In their anger, they forged a divide between the spiritual and the mortal to create two separate realms of existence, ensuring that a spirit would never fall in love with a human ever again. As a punishment for her actions, Tui was banished to the mortal realm to suffer the burden of mortality as a koi fish. Knowing he would be powerless without her, La sacrificed his spirit life to join Tui in her punishment, and together they were cursed to live in a cycle of balance until the end of time.

As for Mose and the children, they regularly visited their mother and the Ocean spirit, studying the ways of the moon and sea. They quickly mastered their element and left to teach others. The spirits were then entrusted to live under the protection of an advanced tribe of benders to the North for the rest of eternity.

Years passed, and Noemi and Aku wrote their own love stories, both bringing children into the world that were blessed with the Moon's divinity. Sadly, their peace was rather short lived, their spiritual ancestry causing their families to become a target for those who craved the Moon's power for themselves or wished to force it away from the Mortal World. Driven by their fear, Noemi and Aku took their loved ones and hid in the northern mountains, starting a new tribe of waterbenders that would be safe from the treachery of the world—the Moon Warriors. All those who were direct descendants of of the Moon Spirit would live in this tribe, and together they would perfect the art of waterbending.

With time, the Moon Warriors became history. They soon became a legend, and eventually became a myth. And after hundreds of thousands of years, they had been forgotten entirely by the mortal world.

That is, until a certain Fire Nation soldier discovered the lost tribe while exploring a hidden library...

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For those of you who have watched the Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, don't worry, this still fits into the storyline, I'll just have to explain it later. Just trust me on this one 😉

Published: 27 March 2020