Moon’s origin: Souls and roses 🩰🪻

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Souls and roses”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33[2]”. Enjoy!*

In a Kingdom of elves, vampires, faeries, and humans, a Kingdom called “Rosesilk”, there was a Queen named Cordelia who ordered that all sick citizens be taken to her palace and killed, as sick people were a “weakness” and “not needed for their beautiful Kingdom”.

The elven siblings, fifteen year old Tueur Alchembark and thirteen year old Moon Alchembark, did not agree with the rules and so, every day they’d practice their sword fighting skills with each other in the backyard of their house, for they were planning to one day fight the Queen themselves.

Their parents disagreed with it and vehemently told that it would be unsafe to fight her, but the Queen was only human, so surely, she wouldn’t be too hard to defeat. They just couldn’t give up.

It was after one of those training days that Moon and Tueur sat next to each other on the ground, tired after much sword practice, that a question surfaced up in Moon’s mind and she asked:

“Do you believe that we can ever have a chance for things to be beautiful again?”

Tueur stared off into the distance, his knee-length blond hair blowing in the wind. Where he dressed in blacks and greys, sometimes with hints of dark purple, Moon wore pastels and soft colors, her feet adorned with silver ballet slippers. Tueur wanted to delve deep into the afterlife and converse with ghosts just as he controlled dead animals and tree roots, Moon wanted to make flowers and trees grow, as well as heal wounds.

They were both different, but they both valued the lives of their Rosesilk neighbors, and that was enough for them to keep on training, to keep on hoping.

“Of course. Where there’s evil, there’s good. Isn’t that why we train? To fight the evil? I know you have your doubts, I’ve had a bit of mine, but I genuinely believe that we have a chance if we keep putting in the work, just like how people can still love one another in trying times.” Tueur said.

He was trying to reassure her, to get her to hope, and she did hope, but sometimes, it felt really bleak to train, like the point of it all was spiraling away from them. Queen Cordelia was a human, so she had to be weaker than them, but also, why was she a Queen for so long?

The idea of a beautiful world was wonderful, but Tueur’s talk of positivity made Moon raise an eyebrow of hers, for it was…just a bit too good.

“You know, Moon, I’ve always felt this hollowness inside of me. Like there was just something missing, something that could complete the cracks in my heart. I used to think that I’d grow out of it, that I’d find something truly fulfilling, but it’s still here. It hurts the most when I’m in my room, with only the wind rustling the leaves to keep me company. Sometimes, it feels like the world is mocking me, telling me that I’ve always known what to do, but that I haven’t been smart enough to realize it.” Tueur said, his eyes holding a bit of heaviness in it that looked like it was so hopelessly tangled in his soul, so impossible to get rid of.

Moon’s heart raced wildly in her chest as Tueur’s words circled in her mind. She had heard Tueur talk about feeling a “hollowness” inside of him with their parents and like always, they told him to take the “Heartstring Oath”. But he couldn’t take it because it would hurt him, it would destroy him, and she couldn’t let him go down that path, she couldn’t-

“But now I know what I need. I need true love, someone who will spend forever with me, someone who will bring out the beauty in my flaws, someone I could do the very same for. Someone who is more than family, more than a friend, someone who will love at my absolute most terrible and reprehensible. What I need to solidify this is to take the Heartstring Oath.” Tueur said, a small, gentle smile forming on his face.

No. No. He couldn’t possibly think to take that Oath! The Heartstring Oath was an age-old elven oath that whoever made it would lose their voice until they found true love. Whoever took the Oath wouldn’t get a guarantee to have their voice back and so, Moon’s eyes went wide and then, her lips curled into a scowl as she cried out:

“Are you sure you want to take that oath?! You’re going to lose your voice all to find love! What if you don’t find love? What then? Are you just going to be silent forever?”

And how could Tueur look at her so calmly, like it was nothing to worry about? What if it wasn’t “true love”, whatever that was, but something else that he was missing? Why did he have to take such a painful Oath in order to be happy?

“Yes, Moon. I’ve thought it over. This is what I want to do. I’m not actually going to lose my voice, anyhow. I’ll still have it, it’s just that if I speak, I’ll kill those who hear it. That’s only if I speak physically, I can just use my mind to talk. I’ll get my physical voice back once I find love. Isn’t that romantic?” Tueur beamed.

Yes, he could still communicate telepathically, but the Oath involved putting a stick covered in violet flowers to the heart, then the flowers would melt into the flesh and tangle up the throat so the person’s voice would be fatal for anyone to hear. It would hurt and the voice would still not entirely be there, so really, did Tueur think about how taking the Oath would affect him?

“No, it’s not romantic! It’s horrifying! You’re going to lose your voice for something that might not ever come! Why don’t you just wait to find love? Why do you have to take the age-old oath? It’s outdated and dangerous. We already have to worry about a corrupt Queen and now I have to worry about my brother possibly never speaking again? Can’t you give it more thought? Could you just not do that?!” Moon yelled, her voice cracking with cries. Her chest was heaving with sobs, her eyes were blurred with tears and yet, Tueur still didn’t look terrified!

She didn’t react as he hugged her, wiping away her tears. There was already a cruel Queen, why was her older brother talking about taking such a foolish, harmful Oath?

Why wasn’t he listening to her?

………………………………………………………………………………………

Moon and Tueur went back inside their home, Tueur telling their parents about how he wanted to take the Heartstring Oath and Moon opposing every bit of it with tears in her eyes, a dragging weight in her heart.

They let Tueur take the Heartstring Oath anyway and when Moon tried to intervene, Mom pulled her back, telling Moon that it was “his choice” and that she shouldn’t “interfere”.

Tueur knelt on the ground in the living room, holding a stick covered in violet flowers close to his heart, staring out the window into the sunlight and reciting the Oath that would change him eternally:

“Through the destruction of decay

And the horrors that may stay

I invite true love to light my way

Even as the world turns to hurt

Even as my soul begins to burn

I’ll find the right words to say

If I only let true love

Take me away

Hear and now, I make the Heartstring Oath

For the strings of my heart hold tight

They know where to take me, there’s no need for fright”

Moon tried to summon up some kind of magic that could stop him, that could end the Heartstring Oath, but nothing had come up and the flowers were already melting into him, obstructing his voice, she had to-

But nothing came up. She couldn’t stop him.