The God and His Moon

7 ~ Amory, 1

Above all things, no matter what Io had just run himself into, Amory hoped the boy would understand why he had done what he had done. Why he hid things from him.

That was nonsense, he KNEW Io would understand. But it always made him anxious.

It was fairly regular that Io go out in search of who he was... every month, once... but this time was different. Io hadn't come back, this time.

The brunette paced back and forth through the halls of the little cabin he once shared with his love, running his hands through his hair, feeling like he might start hyperventilating if something didn't change soon. He didn't know what was going on. The news had been so vague...

'Strange figures caught in drone footage, fighting. Wolves appeared to be attacking them. They were killed, but no bodies were found on the scene.'

Amory knew that was Io's doing.

But was Io alright? He hoped the Host didn't already have him.

~

That night, Amory couldn't sleep. He kept feeling like he could hear Io's footsteps down the hall. Or hear him sigh in bed next to him.

He curled up on his side and squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a deep breath that he had been holding for what seemed like forever.

Oh Io, please come back... the real world will devour you...

Or worse.

Agh, it seemed like just yesterday, he could remember their meeting. Hundreds of thousands of human years had passed, since then. Since the world was a barbaric place of chaos and conquering.

It had been such a long time, yet such a short one, at the same time.

Amory flipped over in bed, looking to his nightstand, which was alight with rays of silver glow from the new moon.

On his nightstand there sat a small bracelet. It was copper, and had some old green age spots on it, but was in remarkable shape, for how old it was.

He reached out with his index finger and traced the little imprinted design. A moon and a sun, in harmony.

This had been his gift to Io years ago, when they first fell in love.

But since the curse... nothing had been the same.

Amory sighed and rubbed his hands down his face, rolling over in bed again.

In the olden days, when the sky was still young and the moon and sun were just children, the moon was as large and round as it was every full moon. There were no phases. It was just large and round, as the sun was.

But it was Amory's fault.... how the moon began to phase, and Io lost his memory every new moon. The boy always remembered that he loved Amory, and he was thankful for that... but he always blamed himself for how Io became cursed.

Now they hid. And it was cowardly. But Amory knew no other way.

He closed his eyes in hopes to fall asleep. Sleep took him after he fought with it.

~

Flute music made a happy little jig in the dusty streets. Men and women and children all laughed, equal in this time of celebration.