Luna's Eyes

Once upon a time, in a distant land resting on the clouds, lived Luna. She was adorned in platinum, and had eyes of silver, that might as well hold the universe. She held the world, cupped in her hands, weaving dreams in her head and spinning starts on her fingernails. Yet Luna wasn't happy. As a princess, from the day she was born great things were expected from her, and indeed, great things she had. However, something was missing, her heart was never full. Luna couldn't care less about the power she held, the elegance she carried, the perfection she had been bestowed. In her eyes, it was worthless, all of it.

One summer's night, on a surreptitious whim, Luna ventured out into the blanketed darkness, into a new life. This was the first time she set foot outside the castle walls, the first time she wasn't royalty, just a person. By her father's advisor, Luna had always been told of how the kingdom thrived under their rulership. The sparkling water fountains, the granite town squares, the golden pavilions, oh how she daydreamed of the outside world. But the world she had been made to dream was far distant from what her eyes beheld. Her picturesque illusion was brought to reality in an instant as she gazed upon the devastation in front of her. The kingdom was dark. Outside the castle gates, the world was dilapidated and barren. But how come it looked so beautiful from inside the castle border? Luna thought. Distraught and confused, she fled into the woods.

She ran through the darkness, narrowly missing the shadowed trees; slight variants of dullness contrasting the dark. Luna ran and ran, until her energy reduced her to walking. When her adrenaline finally ran out, she stopped, collapsed against the trunk of the tree, and slept. Hours passed as Luna slept, thick into the shrouded woods. Silence dominated the trees, only broken by the rustle of a slight breeze against the leaves. As Luna opened her sleepy eyes, things were plainly wrong. The light brought with daybreak, didn't make her eyes squint. She definitely didn't take a short nap, she was out for hours. But everything around her was still dark, and it wasn't nighttime. Something else was wrong; an eerie silence blanketed the woods. There should've been life everywhere; animals, insects, birds, making a racket, but there was nothing. More disoriented than when she fell asleep, Luna explored further into the woods, realising she had developed quite an appetite. That's when she caught it, a glimpse in the corner of her eye. She turned around, to face the kingdom she had abandoned, it didn't make sense. A faint glow was illuminating through the outer layer of the woods, the blurred sound of life echoed ever so slightly, over the kingdom. But the woods were so dark, and so lifeless, it couldn't possibly....

Luna hurried as fast as she could to the edge of the trees. But to her utter dismay, the closer she drew to the light, the duller it became, the more the bustling streets and chorus of voices quietened. All until she was so close, that the light had been brought back  to darkness and the sound to silence. As she reached the town, it was the same as when she had last left it.  The forest behind her was aglow with life, just as the town was. Once again she traveled back to it, but as she did, the more darkness spread over it. Luna's realisation came that she could never catch up to the light, it was never in reach. Just as it seemed in her grasp, it slipped through her fingers like wet clay. Luna held the world no more.

A tear splashed on the mossy ground, Luna's back slouched against the base of a twisted tree by a river bank. She knelt over to the water, her reflection rippled as another tear hit the surface of the river. She had never felt so alone. Suddenly, a nasal voice jarred into the silence.
"HOONNNNNKKKKKKKKK" a bevy of candled swans trumpeted as they glided to the water's edge. Upon seeing Luna's tear streaked face one of the swans exclaimed,
"Poor girl, what's the matter?"
Bewildered of the talking birds, Luna managed a stutter,
"How are y-you alive? And h-how are you t-talking?"
"We're magical swans, made from wax. The curse only affects non magical creatures."
"What curse?"

A curse was cast upon Luna's kingdom. From the day she was born, if Luna left the castle walls, darkness would encompass wherever she would be. The king's advisor created this spell, leaving Luna in oblivion, allowing him to have complete power over the land. The whole kingdom was left under his strict oppression. But there was still hope. There existed the legend of a secret land residing between reality and surreality, where the wish of any could be fulfilled. The only problem was, the entry way to this world was a mystery, directions given only in riddles and puzzles of soothsayers.

"But how could I get there, I don't know where in the slightest to start looking?" Sighed Luna.
"Oh that's easy, we'll take you there!" One of the swans announced.
"It's our home!" Another chimed in.
So the swans lifted up the princess in a big huddle, carrying Luna in the sky like a marching cloud.
"You can fly too?"
They landed at a small wooden cabin near the peak of a mountain, Luna and the swans came to a door, swung wide open.
"DARN IT BRUCE YOU FORGOT TO CLOSE THE DOOR AGAIN!" The lead swan growled.
"It wasn't me!!!" A swan at the back of the line interjected.

As Luna peered through the doorway, it became clear that the cabin was a facade. A nonsensical garden as far as the eye could see was inside. The swans waddled their way to a wax pond as Luna was beckoned over to a table under a green umbrella tree. She was greeted by a murder of curious old crows.
"Would you like some tea?"
Luna nodded as she was handed a cup. She happily started drinking.
"Princess Luna, what is it you desire?"
"For the curse to be broken" She said as she put down her tea.
"Ah yes, but that can wait for now. Anything else?"
"To be happy." Luna stated confused but sure.
"A plant needs water to grow and thrive, but drown it and it will die." One wise crow divulged.
"Watermelon can't ripen underwater. In fact a young prince asked the exact same question moments ago, he has lived a life of indulgence thus far, turned him as mad as rabbits, likewise to this girl." Another added.
"As for your second question, I can assure you it will be answered very shortly." The first crow said as the birds flew away.

Luna sat and drank her tea, feeling slightly bewildered. Just as a young man basking in gold, spotted her. He immediately stopped in his tracks, captivated by her eyes. He took a seat next to her, light beaming from his face. The young man announced himself as Apollo, prince of a neighbouring kingdom, who trekked to the mountain to find true happiness. They talked for hours, well hours didn't really measure well in that land, as the time consistently remained at nine in the afternoon. As Luna decided it fit to leave, Apollo decided he would go along with her, for he had fallen in love with the girl that brought darkness. The two stepped outside the pocketed world, and something amazing happened. Apollo's radiance shon upon Luna, she glistened and glowed and reflected his light onto the land. As long as they were in each other's company, the curse was broken. They returned to Luna's kingdom, each inch of the land brought back to life as the couple ventured closer. Luna and Apollo married, the rebel advisor was thrown in the dungeon, and two kingdoms became one. Luna and Apollo settled in a shumble abode in the same mountain they had met, ruling the land, but working hard to support it all the same. They were both truely content.

And they lived happily ever after...