Airic's Moon

Prologue - "Let Me Tell You A Story..."

I remember a snowy day in December, my mother tucked me and my best friend Nikolai into bed. I was six, Nikolai was seven.  

My mother, the kindest soul you would ever meet, with her long brown hair and green eyes, agreed to read us a story, after we agreed to do something for her. "Promise me," she told us. "That in the future, you will protect each other no matter what. Be there for each other in times of need." She looked at Nikolai. "Be her shoulder to cry on whenever she needs comforting, my daughter is a fragile girl." He smirked. Words like this meant nothing to us at the time.  

"But mommy, aren't you going to protect us?" I asked.  

My mother smiled, a sad smile. "I can't guarantee that, baby." I asked her why not, but she shook her head.  

After we promised we would, mother climbed in between us and wrapped her arms around our shoulders. "Once upon a time," she began. "A small faerie was traveling through the woods, out to fetch berries for her village." 

"What was her name?" I asked, eyeing her with curiosity. 

Mother smiled once again, that warm smile that would make any child feel safe. A smile that did guarantee everything would work out in the end. "Her name was Airic," she said. "At the time, not to be rude or cold, but Airic was not very attractive." 

"That's a boy's name!" Nikolai blurted. Mother shushed him, and he sulked, crossing his arms.  

She continued on. "Upon finding these berries, she also came across a very special berry. It was called a Dreamthistle Berry. Find a Dreamthistle Berry, it guarantees one of your dreams will come true." We stared at my mother with wonder in our eyes. "This berry was the only thing that could turn Airic into a beautiful faerie. The most beautiful faerie. But, as soon as Airic was about to pluck the berry from its nest, someone else showed up." 

"Who was it?" I asked. 

"His name was Quincy. He was a mean old pixie from across the woodlands." Mother stared out the window, a small tear forming in the corner of her eye.  

Nikolai interrupted, as usual. "Isn't a pixie and a fairy the same thing?" 

She said no, they weren't. She said they were exact opposites. Pixies were evil-natured, and faeries were good-natured. "Quincy was the leader of the Krimi Clan," she explained. 

"A what clan?" Nikolai and I both said in unison. 

"The Krimi Clan," she repeated. "They're an extremely powerful group of pixies." 

The story went on, explaining how Quincy and Airic argued over the Dreamthistle Berry, when they over-heard a small cry. It was a girl, crying because her and her werewolf mate couldn't be together anymore. "The girl used to be a werewolf," mother said. "Until a mean witch cast a spell on her in which she would become human forever. Therefore, the girl and her mate could not be together anymore. She cried and cried, wishing that if she could just be with him once more, she could die happy." 

That's when Airic came up with an idea. Airic, being a kind and gentle fairy, decided instead of using the Dreamthistle Berry for her own selfsish reasons, she convinced Quincy to give up the Dreamthistle and give it to the girl. He was stubborn at first, hell-bent on using the berry for himself. But Quincy wasn't like all the other pixies, he had a heart, and agreed to give it to the girl. This would let her transform her into a werewolf for 6 hours, letting her be with her mate again. "The end," mother finished. There was more to the story, mother said, but we had to get to bed.  

Then, it was time for Nikolai's two cents. "This story is balogne, stupid fairytales." 

"I guess so," she sighed. Tears were falling from her face. 

"Mommy, what's wrong?" I asked. Whenever mommy cried, I cried. Whenever I cried, Nikolai was annoyed.  

"My sweet Letti," she put her hand on my face. "You do know how much I love you, right? I would do anything for you, and everything I do and everything I will do is for your own good. Not to hurt you. Promise me you'll remember that?" I nodded. I was very confused. But I would never forget that promise.  

She looked at Nikolai. "I look at you as my own son, and I trust that you'll take care of Letti while i'm gone. You're going to be such a handsome young man. Don't ever stray away from her, Nikolai." We were both so confused.  

"Mommy, where are you going?" I cried.  

Tears were spilling, I was scared. There was wild lightning and thunder outside all of a  

sudden, strong winds, the trees were swaying outside."Run," my mother whispered to us. We were frozen. "Run as far away as you can from here, they will find you." She hugged us tight and kissed us on our foreheads. "Goodbye my angels," was the last thing I heard from her. She ran out of our room and downstairs, where we heard a lot of commotion. Glass shattering, people screaming, my mother's own piercing wail. "Run,  

I was crying. "Momma!" I screamed. Nikolai had finally taken action. He ran out the room and came back a few moment's later with my mother's bed sheets. He yanked the sheet's off of my own bed and tied two of the ends together. He hurriedly ran to the window and threw it open, throwing all of the sheetrope out the window except for one end, which he tied to my bedpost. "Letti, come on!"  

I couldn't move. I was too scared. I wanted my mommy. "Letti! Come. On!" Nikolai screamed. After a few more moments that I was still frozen, he pushed me towards the window, and that's when I finally came to my senses. Nikolai helped me over the window ledge and after some hesitation, I slid down the tan colored sheet, Nikolai followed suit. When we hit the ground, Nikolai grabbed my hand and we took off running, not knowing where we were going.

Goodbye mommy. I love you with all of my heart.