The Tale Of the Moon Goddess

Chapter 1

Sidree awoke from his deep sleep feeling ill. If it hadn't been for the work he needed to do, Sidree would have slept longer. Sidree let out a sigh, and put on the same pieces of clothing he wore every day, an old tunic and a pair of leather trousers.

Sidree's mother was still fast asleep. She most likely wouldn't get up until after Sidree got back from the mines. But like every other day, he wrote her a note simply saying that he left and would be back later in the day.

Sidree worked in the mines. He hated every second of it. It took all day to get a single cart of gold. But he was desperate for the copper pieces. All of his money went to feeding himself and his mother, if by chance they had any left over, Sidree saved it for a new house.

The hut they were living in was falling apart. The roof had large holes in it. The windows were so cracked and broken that they might as well have been outside. Plus it was so small that they only had room for the two beds and a single chest that only fit the most important things.

When Sidree opened the door to leave he was greeted by Meria's familiar face. Meria had been Sidree's closest and only friend since they were young children. Unlike Sidree who was always calm and quiet, Meria had always been the opposite. The town elders used to say that she had a "loud personality".

Meria was a "low-magic". Meaning she had little to no magic. The only way to be a low-magic is to be half-elf and half-human.

Low-Magics often have a small amount of their elf parents magic. For Meria the only magic she had gained was her eyes changing color with her emotions. At the moment her eyes were a rich green which usually meant she was happy, they had a some purple flicks in them as well which showed a hint of fear.

"What's making you fearful?" Sidree asked, looking for anything else in her eyes.
"If I'm being honest, I'm not exactly sure." Meria responded.
"You don't know what you're own feelings are about?"

The only response Meria gave him was a slight shrug. There's was an uncomfortable silence after that.

"I have to go to the mines today. I can't be late another day. Whatever you need to say can be said as we walk." Sidree said cutting off the silence. He didn't like how rude the words seemed when they came out.

Meria nodded and quickly followed him as he started walking.

"Starting today the bakery's paying me! I'm finally working!" Meria told him.
"That's great! That's been your dream since we were kids," Sidree asked her, "how much copper are you getting?"
"Five pieces a day, it isn't much but I'll be able to feed myself and pay you and your mother back."

Meria lived alone. Since she had never been able get a job as a woman Sidree had to pay for most of her meals, and Sidree's mother had raised her since her family abandoned her. Sidree never asked for anything in return, but Meria felt bad and gave any money she obtained to him.

Sidree and Meria might as well have been brother and sister. The towns folk had assumed the two were engaged once they were of age to be wed. Sidree and Meria were no more than friends, they had tried being more, but it just felt wrong.

As Sidree opened his mouth to ask when Meria's first day of work was, he was interrupted by a soft meow.

"Did you hear that? It sounded like a distressed kitten!" Meria said with a hint of worry to her voice.

Before Sidree could respond Meria had started moving everything in the ally around. After a few minutes she gave up. A defeated look appeared on her face.

Then Sidree spotted a small tail. "I think it's over there," he said pointing in the direction.

Without saying anything, Meria went to where he had pointed. After a short amount of time Meria came back with a very small cat covered in bloody cuts, under the cuts it looked like it's fur was a pure white color.

"What will you do with it?" Sidree asked her.
"I'll clean up the cuts and care to her wounds, if she survives the night, I'll keep her." Meria said sounding determined.
"You should go to your house then, we can talk later. Go take care of the cat."

Meria nodded and walked away with the half dead cat. Sidree knew the cat wouldn't survive much longer judging by the number of cuts and how deep they looked to be, but Sidree had other things to worry about. He continued walking. His mind was filled was filled with ways to cheer Meria up once the cat died.

Sidree arrived at the mines shortly after. He grabbed his pick axe with a sigh and started mining.

When he first started working there when he was 15 Sidree thought he would get to keep half of what he found. But that was wrong, no matter what, Sidree only got ten copper pieces a day.

Sidree didn't know anyone he worked with. Sometimes he was invited to the town tavern by them, but they never talked. They just drank in silence. Sidree didn't have any reason to know his co-workers, and they had no reason to know him.

Sidree was always working. When he wasn't deep in the mines Sidree was at home taking care of his sick mother. If he wasn't mining ir taking care of his mother he was helping Meria with whatever idiotic thing she was doing.

Finally, his work was done for the day. Instead of going home right away like he normally would Sidree headed for the tavern. Once he got there a hopeless drunk begged him for some coppers to buy a drink. Sidree handed the drunk half of what he earned that day.

Not wanting to waste anymore copper, Sidree headed to one of the stalls around the town. He chose to buy from a stall selling vegetables that was being run by a pregnant woman. Sidree didn't care about the vegetables, but he knew the woman could use any payment she could get, stalls didn't make much money and she had to feed at least herself and the baby on the way.

Sidree bought a three potatoes. They only costed four of the remaining coppers, but Sidree gave her the extra anyway.

Sidree started his walk home. Something felt- wrong...  He couldn't figure out what is was but something about the walk felt wrong. As if when something awful was waiting for him once he got home.

As Sidree opened the door he knew exactly what that feeling was. Sidree fell to the ground on his knees. His mother was on the cold dirty floor, which meant she had moved, with no pulse. Dead.