Moon Ritual

1 ~ Night Mares

CHAPTER 1

                                                    Night Mares

I am running. It's always the same, running. My hearts thumping in my chest, trying to escape my body. Sweat droplets litter my forehead and blood cascades from my nose to my chin.

Darkness threatens to swallows me up, but I keep running and panting hard. I can hear the crunch of twigs accompainied by the hiss of their breath.

Spindly finger like branches claw at my raw skin, my knotty hair and my rags for clothes. They seem to grasp at me, all of them. Sharp rocks jut out the uneven ground, waiting for anybody to trip.

Death, a world of death, a death trap. That was why I hated it, my nightmare was deadly but how I managed to think of anyway possibleway to die, scared me, and it was a recurring doom.. yet it changed, I always died somehow, sometimes they would catch me, or a rock be my downfall.

I just had to keep running!

Now I seemed to have, run farther then before, much farther. Than ever.

It scared me, I didn't know how to survive here, what was unknown scared me. My breathing was still in short pants, I had to stop for air. I bent over and rested my sweaty palms on my thighs.

Blood dripped from my top lip to the ground, drip, drip, drip.

CRUNCH

Then I felt the air brush my neck, and then ... darkness. Just falling darkness.

***dream***

Jolting awake, I sat up noticing the sweat covered me and my shallow pants of breathe. Rubbing my hands against my forehead, I closed my eyes. Tonight it had felt more real than ever before. Maybe I was just getting good at mixing reality.

"Are you okay?" At the sound of the voice, I jumped but his arm caught my waist, in time before I fell off the bed. He looked worried, but sleep was still present on his face.

"Yep, I'm fine," I leant down and kissed his lips.

He pulled me down under the covers of the bed, my head rested on his shoulder. I felt safe again in his arms, he'd always been my rock, keeping me stable.

"I had the dream again, you know where I keep running and running." I whispered, I had never told him about the dying bit, I was too scared that he'd freak out.

"Your safe now, okay?" Sometimes he would treat me like a skittish animal, always trying to calm me. Warmth seeped through my pajama's as I snuggled closer.

"I know," I replied, but every time I had the dream he would say that, at first it would agitate me but then it felt like a ritual we had to complete, together, for the nightmare to be finally over.

"Good." His fingers, nudged my chin up, and he kissed my lips, softly and slowly, with the lingering after taste I seemed to enjoy so much.

*********

Beside me something made the bed dip, and its breathing was slow. I could feel the swish of air as something journeyed closer to my cheek but I intercepted it before it got there.

Quickly, I snapped my hand up and grapped the warm object? Then I felt the pulse and let my hand fall down, and peeled open my eyes.

Light flooded through my vision, and I could hear the songs of birds and teeterring of other animals.

"Sorry-" I hadn't meant it, it was just a side effect of my past life, an instinct that none could rid me of.

"It's okay, you didn't hurt me," A half smile on his features, partly because he knew I needed, to see it didn't affect him, but also the fact that even if he had minded it, it didn't hurt him. at all.

Seth, was pure muscle and even before we met he knew how to handle a good punch or some pain. His buzzcut, over grown now, hung over his forehead and its ends touched his shoulders. However his most enchanting features were his eyes... they were so green like emerald and they seemed to change with his mood. Sometimes dark with anger or clouded with worry alike to now.

Taking a deep breath he dived into a different topic.

"These nightmares seemed to be more frequent..." he announced, I knew after I had told him it was going to have pros and cons, like now he would constantly worry and I knew it, but if you slept in the same bed with someone and start to scream in the night they might happen to notice it.

''''''''flash back'''''''

"AH!" I screamed as I awoke, I sat up and something caught my wrist.

That's when it happen, I had survived so long by muself , I knew when something grabbed you, you needed to defend!

Before I knew I had Seth in a head-lock.

"It's only me, okay, I won't hurt you." That's when I read his body language he wasn't fighting me, he was calm and still. Immediately I relaxed. "You gonna tell me what happened? You seemed like you were dreaming something?"

Bringing my legs to my chest I let the words spill out: "I had a nightmare, I've had them since I was a kid."

Nothing was said for awhile, he was waiting for me to elaborate, but how he'd react to his girlfriend, having dreams of dying, even in our culture it was weird.

"I'm runninng and then-" My voice broke and I couldn't say it, even he hadn't earnt that kind of trust. "And then blackness," I finished. I couldn't tell him not yet anyway.

'''''''''''flash back'''''''''''''

"I know I'm probably just stressed, with the whole moon ceremony." It wasn't a lie just not completely true. Time to change the subject "Did you sleep well?" I asked, but the dark circle under his eyes seemed to indicate an answer; no.

I watched as he rubbed his eyes, and I noted the deafeated lilt to his shoulders as he answered. "No, it's just I don't see why we have to do this." He gestured to the bed.

Ever since we had been chosen, his opinion to oppose it, increased ever slightly. Only because, we knew that our lives wouldn't be the same again. We would be considered royalty, but you wouldn't be able to overthrow us.ever.

Apart from being role models we didn't have a place in society, we would be sectioned off, from the rest of Patriam. No contact. No family.

But I knew Seth's mood was because he hadn't wanted to give his pack to his brother, he had hated his brother's guts and knew that the pack would fall apart even if it was slow, it would still degrade under his control. That was the price of our love, I had sacrificed my free will which to a saga was their life.

Free will might seem like something that couldn't be sacrificed but I had seen it and now I could comprehend the true absolution of self sacrifice, I no longer could ventre to the human world to collect spices or see their one sun or one moon, I no longer would travel, only to advertise the peace between sagi, shifters and fae.

"It's expected," I responded almost robatically, we had been having this conversation nearly every other day. We would sign the peace treaty with our lives, I could tell it bothered him.

I represented the saga's and Seth the shifter. When or if we had a child it would be presented to the fae for their peace. Only one child, through which meant I was supposed to give birth more than once.Joy.

That's when a loud knock sounded on the door. It could only mean one thing: Opes.