Hand of Love

The stale, cool light of dusk fell on his hopeful face as The Twin tore the window's tattered curtain away. The world outside was different again today, but not too different. The same broken windows adorned the city walls. The same abandoned cars populated the same scorched streets. The same silent sky bore the same forgiving light of a timeless Sun stuck in endless evening. The same unmoving stone statues of those who listened to Her stood strong, always with their hands hiding their faces. The charred corpses of those who turned Her away all wore the same pristine, twisted, maniacal expression. Dead colors. Always the same, everywhere. Except for one thing. A fresh breath charged into his lungs and filled his heart with new fire when he saw it. Today there was a sliver of green! A new path!

Twin didn't bother trying to remember what sweet nothings She said to him last night after she fell from the stars; the dreams with Her were always the same now. She only comes back down in his sleep to tell him that it's coming. She's falling again. They're moving again. They'd be going to another world. A new callous and lifeless desert, filled with Statues, where only One will be saved. She must have finally found who She was searching for among the hidden stone faces here. He almost immediately started sprinting down the stairs of the apartment he'd been staying in the past week. Twin couldn't help but feel excited like a puppy that's been home alone at the thought of seeing Her in person again. At the thought of holding his Locket again. Holding Her Heart. He didn't bother trying to look for breakfast, but it didn't matter. In all the months he had been diligently serving Her, he had never found anything you would consider consumable. He never felt hunger. Or thirst, or want, or rage, or true pain. He only felt Her. He only felt Love.

The cruelly sharp heat of running on the summer pavement was nothing to his soft, bare feet when the cool and cottony blades of Her grass finally kissed them. Surrounding one faceless statue, the small, unnaturally perfect circle of bright, swirling flowers burst wildly and curiously through the concrete. It was enough to fill Twin's eyes with tears. For an entire week they'd been berated by only the colors of industry, ash, and death. Twin sat on his knees and smiled, letting the warmth of Her nearby Heart fill him. Any minute now. He knew it was coming. She would be here soon, standing in front of him. The heart-shaped locket with Her inside it filled his entire mind. His entire life. His entire soul. The world above and below him started to ripple as if reality itself was turning into water. Any second now. Twin took one last, deep breath, and looked to the sky. It dripped down like a shimmering rosy tear shed by a goddess.

With pleading hands outstretched, Twin caught the Locket of Love. He felt just as overwhelmed by its warm, healing aura as he did the first time he ever caught it. He held it in his palms for some time, once again admiring the ancient gilded exterior that gives no indication of what might lie inside. He knew there would be two things: a small photograph of the one who was just saved, the person She would play- the statue in front of him, and a rose's thorn. Trembling fingers silenced by guidance, he carefully unhooked the tiny clasp and opened the locket. The girl's face was unconventionally gorgeous, but there was something sad in her eyes. Something heavy. Something familiar. Twin prepared himself for the invitingly disorienting feeling of awakening someone new, and he pricked his ring finger on the thorn, expecting to see and taste the blood of the one who stood in front of him as he shared their memories. Instead, a lovingly violent cascade of violet fire poured out in the place of her blood, and it overtook and enveloped Twin completely!

The Earth was gone. The Sun was gone. The Statues were gone. Dark was gone. Water was gone. The Twin was not gone. Far from it. For the first time, Twin had a name. Luna looked inwards, the only direction that was left, and saw Her. The Locket was inside. It was Luna's Heart now. Luna had become Her. There were no tears left to shed. There was no One left to find. There was no one left to save. There was Nothing left to learn. There was nothing left to do, but Create a New World. The real, warm Light of the first True Dawn fell on Her old face as The Star tore the window's tattered curtain away once again.