Moon and Star - Part One

Shattered Glass

~Chapter One~

"Oof!" The girl grunted as she was pushed over for the fifth time in the week. Fifteen years old and a royal! She couldn't believe this. "Xiala! Xiala!" "Gods." Xiala muttered as she saw her sister jumping up and down, waving her over. "What's that? Got a little sister?" The guy who'd pushed her asked menacingly. Xiala popped. She jumped up and got in his face. "You better stay away from her or I'll have your head, you can bet on that!" She snarled. He froze, surprised at her threat, and shook his head and walked away. "Okay, Mira, it's time to go home." Xiala said, taking her sister's hand and walked away. "You two are fifteen minutes late already!" Their mother, Queen Moonlily, raged. Moonlight giggled from the corner and looked at them apologetically. There was a yawn. "What's going on here? Oh, Xia, Mira, you're home." Moonlily said, walking down the stairs. The first Moonlily giggled and turned into Queen Niagara, queen of the Animal Kingdoms. Xiala growled, dropped Mira's hand, and stormed away. "What's her problem?" Queen Fire asked, emerging from her room. There was a yelp. "Oh dear," Fire sighed, "I suppose Ember wants to play dress up again." "Why is Xia always the victim?" Mira asked. Fire shrugged. "No one else puts up with it." "Strange, isn't it?" Moonlily added. "Xia's always so impatient." "I wonder-'' There was a crash from the next floor. "I'll get it." Moonlight immediately volunteered. Moonily sighed. "Thanks, Arisha. I'd really appreciate that." As soon as Arisha had made it upstairs she yelped. Moonlily sighed and teleported. "XIALA!" She shouted. "It wasn't me! Ember pushed me!" Xiala said as she used her metal gift to levitate the sword and put it back in its case. Multiman's sword. Once Queen Moonorca of the Water Kingdom's, now rests in the hands of the Air Queen. Was engraved in gold on the plaque. "Hm? Oh, good, you're home." Queen Olivia said, gliding down the stairs. As soon as she reached the floor, there were about a thousand more crashes and shattered glass rained down on them. It was burned to a crisp by Fire's shield of flames. "My," Olivia deadpanned, "that escalated quickly." "Sorry!" Xiala and Ember chorused. "You are so not!" They argued at the same time. "I'm the one who's sorry!" They yelled at each other in unison. "Calm down, girls." Moonlight said calmly. "DO NOT CALM DOWN! THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE WHAT HAPPENED AT THEIR SLEEPOVER!" Olivia screamed. It was true: It had taken Fire, Narcissa, Flame, Evera, the fire department and Olivia to extinguish the raging inferno Xiala and Ember had created by accident. Moonmira giggled. These people. Big kids, huh? Always getting into trouble. She quietly walked into the room on the left. It was a big room; gigantic windows plastered nearly all the walls, so the chamber seemed like a giant glass box. Sunlight filtered through from every angle. On the side of the wall was a series of blank painting frames. Inside was pure glass carved into a handprint in the center. Moonmira looked around to make sure no one was looking in the Portal Chamber, then pressed her hand on the handprint on the most left side. There was a flash, then she was gone.

Xiala, as soon as she'd escaped her aunt, Olivia, she'd sprinted to the royal library. "Princess Xiala! How was your day at school? I found the books you requested." The librarian said. "Hi. How wonderful. My day was just wonderful. Amazing." Xiala said sarcastically as she slammed the metal library doors behind her without even touching them. Since Nightmare's attack, everything had been reinforced with steel. Even the books had metal covers. All it meant to Xiala was: Less moving, more floating. She snatched the bag of books she'd asked for and went to a particular shelf at the back of the library. Pulling out two books with a picture of a sun and a moon on their spines, the wall opened. Xiala walked into the secret - or restricted section of the library, as Eve would say. Oh, and how Xiala missed her. Xiala didn't know Eve, of course, but she'd seen her. Seen her alive, seen her dead. Heard all about her adventures. She remembered how Eve's eyes had sparkled in the light as she told Xiala: "Rules were made to be broken." Eve had always been there for her. When Xiala was having a particularly bad day, she'd visit Eve's oasis. It was calming, of course, but Xiala wanted a shoulder to cry on. But unfortunately, one cannot cry on the shoulder of a ghost. She laughed softly and walked down, hearing the doors close behind her. The sight she saw was amazing. Mira was scrambling everywhere, muttering, "Elements, elements, elements," When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she threw her arms in the air and wailed, "WHY!? LIBRARY, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN GOOD TO YOU!" "Are you looking for this book?" Xiala asked, pulling out a book labelled, ELEMENTS OF UNITY AND THEIR ORIGIN. "Where did you find that!?" Mira cried. Xiala shrugged. "Under E." "Oh. Right." Mira muttered, embarrassed, then turned and ran to the table. She flipped through the book. Xiala shrugged again and opened her books: Legends, Multiman, Tale of the Three Sisters, Tales From America, and Moon, Sun, Water and Stars. There. Tales of every adventure the element continent had ever had. Diamond and Orca, Eve Moon and Evera, Jenifer and Niagara, then Moonlily Moonlight and Olivia. Shrugging for the third time, Xiala went to sit beside her sister. The jewels on the book Mira was reading caught her eye. They sparkled like no other book Xiala had ever seen. "Can I see that?" Xiala asked. Mira moved the book to the middle of the table where they could both see it. "Long ago, before time and space, before magic existed, there were five gems. These five gems represented: Earth: Strength, Bravery

Water: Loyalty, Cleverness, Patience

Spells: Magic, Kindness

Moon: Trust, Change, Honesty

Love: Harmony, Laughter." Xiala read. "But," Mira continued, "when time and space did exist, so did an inky blackness. This blackness wanted to take over and destroy the jewels, as they were the only things that could stop her-" "Her?" Xiala asked. "Darkness has a gender?" "Apparently." Mira replied. "The first humans in the Element Continent named the darkness 'Nightmare'. It was very determined to take over, and they used the gems to defeat Nightmare, imprisoning her in the moon. As the gems were not as strong as they are now, they did stop Nightmare for fifty years. But when Nightmare was freed, she needed a puppet. And Princess Morgana seemed like just the candidate." Mira and Xiala looked at each other. "Nightmare Night!" They chorused. Xiala snatched another book off the wall: History of Nightmare.

Flipping it open, Xiala read, "This will surprise many, but people who keep up on history. Nightmare, or Nightmare Night, is actually a Sunflame. Nightmare Night is simply imprisoned in a body! That's why-" There was a giant crash and at least fifty books crumbled to ash before their eyes. "NOOO!" Mira screamed, devastated. All that was left of the books were their titles, and Xiala didn't bother reading them. "Pack! Now!" She hissed, shoving a backpack into Mira's hands. Xiala turned to the most important wall and grabbed all the books, shoving them two at a time into her backpack, which, since Queen Aurora had used a spell on them, could now hold three refrigerators, two couches and STILL have room for fifty bottles of soda. Xiala yanked the door open with her metal gift, grabbed Mira's hand and sprinted out of the restricted section of the library. Xiala opened her water canteen and put out at least half the fire before she was out. With Mira's help, they managed to make sure the fire couldn't spread to the palace. But when they opened the metal doors, they realized they had to do one thing: Get out. And they had to get out now.