Lullaby Moon

Moon Song

She stared up at the sky, glad to be out of the accursed forest. A smile appeared across her face as she finally got a breath of fresh air, but in an instant, it was gone. It was replaced with the putrid smell of death and decay, “why can’t we ever come to a happy place,” She sighed as she spoke, her words trailing off, and the wind non-existent.

Manna looked at the area around them; it was a field filled with greenhouses, in each one seemed to be pots full of dead flowers, like they had never been watered. The greenhouses had rips and tears in them, and the ground, was littered with the bodies of the dead, all of them covered in cuts and bruises, some completely torn apart. It was clear this was once a beautiful flower farm, but now was just a graveyard of man, and nature, “Looks like we have stumbled upon a flower farm,” he looks down at his necklace is he speaks, his words trailing off, the necklace was of a rose.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Said the girl, looking up at Mana, she noticed he was looking at his necklace, her face suddenly filled with sadness, she could tell this place was special to him, just as his necklace was, “O-oh… Never mind…” She looks towards the ground, then sighs and heads into the farm. Manna follows her slowly. The girl could feel the sorrow and fear of the dead lying around her, the pain they felt as they were torn to shreds by the monsters that had attacked, at least she now knew what they looked like.

“Where do you think they came from?” She asked Manna, sounding genuinely curious; Manna’s only reply was a shrug. “Maybe well find another clue here…” Manna looked at her.

“Or maybe we will meet our fate, like the rest of these poor souls…” Manna’s words sounded odd to the girl, she wasn’t used to him being so sad. Find a joke in any situation was his motto, and here he was, turning a bad, into an even worse. She tried to take her mind off it, thinking back to when the attack first started. She could remember a bright light, the creatures coming out of it, the ones like the one that had attacked her in the forest, they were chasing after something, she could hear a woman screaming something but it was all distorted, the rest was illegible.

She looked to the side, a small house had come into view, it had solid brick walls, most of them were chipped and broken, and a hole in one side, the house looked old and unstable, with holes all through the roof. The chimney was mostly broken; the rubble had broken off part of the roof. It looked worse than all the greenhouses filled with dead flowers, and the bodies lying around, “what could have caused all this?” Asked the girl, now more curious than ever, she looked at the bodies, they all bared the wounds that the creature had inflicted on the girl with the rainbow hair. She slowly approached the house, as she did she noticed a light by one of the blown out windows, it was coming from inside, she looked inside curiously, there was a woman walking around the room, mixing potions, she had long dark purple hair, with a pink stripe near the middle of it.

The girl slowly walked to the door of the house, grabbing the knob as to turn it, but as she did, the door turned to dust, leaving behind just the knob. Right behind the door was a body hanging from the ceiling fan, the girl jumped, gasping, she accidentally fell down the porch steps, landing on her back. Everything started to spin, the last thing she could see was Manna standing over here, worried, she blacked out.

The girl woke up to a beautiful night sky, there was a soft melody playing, she sat up and looked around, “The moon song plays,” said a voice, it sounded angelic, “its voice cries above the sound,” the girl looked around for the source of the voice, it sounded like a child. “The moon song sings, the sound unheard,” said the boy, “The lullaby, above the herd,” his voice distorted every now and then, “I hear, I hear, I hear, your cry,” a boy came into view, falling from the sky at immense speed, landing in front of her, leaving a crater, his voice suddenly became dark, “the Lullamoon, the Lullamoon, it doth cry,” he started to speak louder. “We called, we called, for, your aid!” He got closer, “but run, but run, but run, you did!” He stepped over her, “Lullamoon, Lullamoon, we cried, we cried, Lullamoon, Lullamoon, you died, you died,” he drew a blade, and swung it towards the girls head, a stroke of fear went through her, then suddenly, everything changed, she was back at the flower farm, Manna sitting beside her. She quickly sat up, looking around, there was no crater, no sign of the boy.

The girl sighed and looked at Manna, she suddenly screamed, his face was not there, he fell backwards, landing harshly on his back. She scurried back, running into something solid, it was a brick wall, just one, sitting out from all the rest. She could hear chanting, runes started to appear on the wall, it quickly started to build up around her, surrounding her. She screamed, crying for help, no one replied, there was no one but the insane person in the house. The wall eventually closed off at the top, blocking out all light, the girl screamed, crying at the top of her lungs and curling up into a ball. “I-It’s just another episode,” She kept telling herself, but it didn’t go away, she was still enclosed in the wall, the air slowly running out.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and then another, and then another, a brick suddenly came apart, breaking into rubble, then another then another. Soon one whole side of the wall was rubble, a hand grabbed the girl and pulled her out as the wall started rebuilding again. She looked towards the person that had saved her, as she guessed it was Manna. She smiled at him as he chuckled and carefully pushed her off, looking towards the house. She got up and headed for the door, which is now dust.

She tried to stay as silent as she could as she walked inside, everything inside was destroyed, dust was covering the ground, tables shattered and split in pieces, as well as a lot of vases now just shards of glass on the floor. She could hear the crunching of all the broken glass under Manna’s shoes, her own not making any noise. She stepped through one of the large holes, heading for where she remembered the woman was. She could hear her talking to herself, repeating two words, “Lullamoons light,” the girl seemed confused by this sentence.  She could remember hearing that before, but she decided not to worry about it right now. She slowly approached the woman, tapping her on the shoulder. The woman suddenly turns around, grabbing the girl on her spin and throwing her through the window, Manna goes flying back, by some unknown force.

The girl lands on the floor, sliding a bit, the woman jumps through the now broken window, she started to speak, her voice distorted, insane even. “You see not what is real in a nightmare,” She took a step closer, the girl trying to get up, but she was suddenly pushed to the ground again, “the mess we make as man doth try!” She took another step, seemingly glitching closer, “We cry!” She took another step, “We cry!” And another, taking a step each time she pauses, “a lullaby!”

“And once did man, see a dream!” Her figure distorted, turning to a walking skeleton, with small chunks of flesh and muscle covering some spots, for a second, then glitching back. She took another step, her legs making cracking sounds as she moves, the girl tries getting up again, pushed down even harder this time, winding her, “the moon song cries a lullaby!” She growls and jumps on top of her, a claw appearing on one of her fingers, she drives it into the girls chest, she screams in pain. “Man’s dream! Man’s dream! The Lullamoon!”  She started to twist the claw inside of the girl, ripping her flesh, “let dream! Let dream! The Lullamoon!” *She suddenly arched her back, spines ripping their way through the woman’s flesh, the girl closed her eyes, screaming as the claw grew larger inside her. The woman’s arms tore apart, being replaced by large masses of muscle, two giant wings sprouted from her back, they were dripping red, covered in the blood of its host, the woman screamed. The girl suddenly grabbed the woman by the throat, “let me go!” A sudden white light flashed from her palm, blowing the thing into the air, it went crashing down into the house.

The girl sat up, looking to the new hole in the roof, then at her palm, it seemed to be smoking, the flesh in the centre of her palm was burnt. She could hear crashing inside the house, the creature suddenly busted through the wall, shattering one side of the house, it began to crumble. She could see Manna run through the other door. The creature charged for her, part of its face was burnt off, a chunk of brain flopping around, the creature looked half transformed, one of its legs were still human, along with part of its face and some of its fingers.

The girl jumped to the side, allowing the creature to run into the tree, she tried to think about how she blew it away before. The light, she could have sworn she saw it before, she tried to focus, but before she could manage it the thing rammed into her, sending her flying right into the wall. Manna ran up to the creature, pounding a fist into its brain, the thing spazzed and ran off, then came back, trying to drive a claw into Manna. He grabbed its hand, ripping it off, the thing suddenly slapped him away with its other hand, sending him hurtling into a tree. He grabbed his head, the world spinning around him for a few seconds, as he got his bearings he could see the thing charging towards him, he looked at the arm he has in his hand, and back to the thing.

As soon as it got close enough he swung it, it ripped through the creatures face, but not doing much more than that, the creature rammed its claws into Manna’s side, ripping them out, almost cutting him in half. He used the last of his strength to ram the claw into the creature’s brain, it made a loud painful noise, then after a few seconds of struggling, falls to the ground. The girl runs up to Manna, clutching the new hole in her chest, she looks at him, he has his whole side ripped out, "M-Manna?" She says, worry overflowing from her, Manna suddenly collapses to his hands and knees, clutching his side.

The girl looks frantic, not knowing what to do, Manna looks at her, a tear in his eye, "I-I'm sorry..." He groans, collapsing to the ground. He was breathing heavily, but his breathing was slowing, the girl was frantic, she didn't know what to do, there was no one here to comfort her, no one to care for her. No one to tell her how she could make this a happy situation, so she just sat there for a while, staring at Manna.

"Manna!" The girl shakes him, tears in her eyes, she can feel the blood on her hands, a mixture of his and hers. She grabbed his hand, trying to get him to squeeze, he didn't. "Manna!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "please don't leave me... Please..." She starts to cry, the tears streaming down her face as she kneels over Manna, his hand stone cold. She didn't know how she could go on without him, he always helped her in every situation. She doesn't bother to look around, just kneeling over him for what seems like an hour. She does nothing but cry, her emotions to strong for her to handle. She found it slightly funny in a way, a man she only knew for a couple of days, had now meant so much to her that she did this. She felt angered because of it, furious even, and sad, sadder than she had ever been.

After a bit she stands up, "I have to be strong," she says to herself, "I-I... I can't let this get me down..." She looks back at Manna, then decides to head off, after covering him with leaves. She slowly heads for anywhere that isn't here, she looks back at Manna, then back to the path ahead. Hoping to leave behind everything that had just happened. She sighed, not letting another tear flow from her eyes, she had to be strong, for Manna, now more determined than ever.