Sun & Moon

A time when it was always dark except for the additional candle light placed on every window sill. There was a Sun and a Moon on Earth. This story is from a time before there were night and day. The Sun and Moon had once been human. One a thieving commoner the other a kind prince. They couldn't have more different lives, yet end up with the same fate in the end. It all started one dark day, as rain poured down on a thief running through the dark streets. She clutched a meager loaf of bread barely suitable for a growing girl. As she ran through the village, she tripped and fell in a puddle of mud. A man grabbed her crimson hair looking at her with greedy eyes. He snatched the now soaking loaf and threw it to the ground smashing it beneath his leather boot. "Get out of my sight, you thieving brat," he sneered with cold eyes. However, the girl's eyes were hardly cold. They contained a heat parallel to that of a god. The amber flames pierced through his skin, making him startle. Angry at his sign of weakness he raised a hand to injure her, only to be stopped by a boy no older than herself. He grabbed the man's fist, stopping the blow. The man finally gave up, as he compromised it wasn't worth his time.

The boy extended his hand to her, pulling her off the ground. The girl thanked him, and the boy responded with a simple nod. The two of them went to a temple seeking refuge from the storm, and as they walked they found it empty. After a while, they began to talk. The girl told the boy of her theft, laughing at her failed attempt. Although the boy didn't talk much he did listen. After what felt like hardly enough time, the rain came to a stop. The two children left agreeing to meet again, and so they did. After some time it became their meeting place every day. They'd talk for an hour or so and then parted ways, waiting for the next day.

While the girl was only a commoner, the boy was the fourth prince of their kingdom. He had disguised himself to look like a commoner to attract less attention. His castle was filled with candles to provide light, it was one of the luxuries of being in the royal family. Although, as he was not the first prince it took a while for people to notice his disappearances. The servants at his castle began to get suspicious, and so did the queen. So one day she came to his chamber to ask him where he was going, leaving for hours at a time. He didn't want to attract attention to the issue, so he simply said, "I have been taking walks through the royal garden and always find a fox hidden under a big shrub. So I decided to talk to her and she's very kind." The queen thought this to be odd but didn't care to pry any further. So she left him to attend to other matters. However, a servant had been listening through a crack in the wall and had grown curious.

So the next day when the prince left to meet the girl, the servant followed in the shadows. Once the boy got to the temple, the two friends greeted each other with excited smiles. The servant was shocked by what she saw. A prince being friends with a commoner was unheard of and definitely not acceptable. She ran to the queen to tell her of the disgrace. When she heard the news she was furious.

She ordered her soldiers to bring the prince and commoner girl to her immediately. They swiftly followed her orders, dragging the friends apart and to the castle. While the prince knew what was happening the girl was in disarray. She fretted of what she had done that could cause her to be taken away by soldiers and what her friend had to do with it. She had only ever stolen what she needed and was good at her work as well. They were thrown at the queen's feet as her gaze bore into the girl's eyes. As the girl was too competitive for her own good, she stared back at the queen with unwavering eyes. The queen grew angry for she had never been so directly challenged before. She ordered her soldiers to behead the girl, but the boy yelled for them to stop. Being challenged twice made her enraged, as she ordered the prince, her son, to be beheaded as well.

The two children were beheaded that day, however, that was not the end of them. The goddess of justice, Dike, decided to take their souls before they could go to the underworld and put them into the sky. The girl's soul blazed in a hot fireball, providing light for the people for some amount of hours and then she traveled elsewhere to give light to others around the world. The boy's soul was a gray ball of light shining over the people once the girl's soul left. The boy's light was not as bright as the girls but a rather dimmer light. The boy was named "Moon" and the girl was named "Sun". These two souls now distinguish day & night, and on rare occasions, Moon and Sun meet for barely a minute, so they cherish that moment not knowing when they'll be able to see each other again. While their story continues in separation from each other, they provide light for countless people throughout the world filling their hearts with a great joy.