text: Once upon a time - in the world that came before and the world that was to be, in a time long forgotten and in a time long-awaited - there was a boy who lived alone on the moon. He languished there, in solitude and without purpose. Empty. For the moon was forever lifeless and grey, without distinction and without contrast. And so, the boy as well knew not distinction and contrast, knew not love or hate or joy or sadness or anything in between. For how could a boy learn of such things in a land so devoid of everything? Thus, the boy existed - blind and deaf and mute and unfeeling and still, like the cold stone around him. He saw nothing with eyes that had never opened. He heard nothing with ears that had never listened. He touched nothing with hands that had never held anything. And he felt nothing with a heart that did not beat. Yet one day, someone suddenly appeared to him. “Dear friend, dear friend!” A girl of flame called from the rays of the sun, with a grin brighter than any star. “Come and meet with me! For company is sweet and an open ear, even sweeter!” But the boy does not understand. For here in the vast expanse of nothingness, there was nothing the boy wished to tell. Nothing the boy wished to convey. Nothing the boy wished to say. Confused and yet curious, the boy asked her, “Why must we speak?” “Oh, dear friend,” the Child of the Dawn laughed, “is that not a bleak question? Surely, it is better to ask, ‘Why must we not’?” And so, they spoke, and they answered. Questions of their worlds, questions of existence, and questions of each other. The Child of the Moon, once endlessly silent, now draws breath after breath for every uttered sentence. He speaks and speaks and speaks until the light fades and the girl bids him a peaceful sleep. “I’ll return upon the morrow!” She said, waving goodbye with a bright smile as she flickered away. “Tomorrow,” He said. The next day, true to her word, the girl came again. “Dear friend, dear friend!” The Child of the Dawn called merrily from over the horizon, “Come and sing with me! For a song shall surely bring a smile to your lips!” The boy frowns. He is confused once more. For how could one who had never felt happiness or sorrow or bliss or anger know what it is to express such things? So, the boy asked, “What is a song?” “Oh, dear friend,” the girl smiled knowingly, “If you wish to know what makes a song, then you need merely shout your heart to the heavens and let all listen to what comes.” And so, they played, and they sang. The girl laughed and danced with their harmony. Grand wings of radiant light burn with such otherworldly beauty that the boy cannot help but watch her. And as he does, the Child of the Moon - once endlessly cold - feels his lips slip into the barest shard of a simper. Yet, as she had done before, the girl bids him farewell upon the arrival of the twilight. “I’ll return upon the morrow.” The Child of the Dawn said with a tired grin, disappearing into orbs of light - like foam on a seashore - as he raised a hand and waved goodbye. “Tomorrow.” The Child of the Moon said in turn and wondered when it was that he began to notice the suffocating silence that fell upon the barren moon. The next day, as promised, the girl came once more. “Dear friend, dear friend.” The Child of the Dawn greeted him, a halo of light wreathing her arrival. “Come and fly with me. For the realm beyond awaits discovery.” The boy hesitated. For how could someone who had never gazed at the horizon know what it was to wonder what waited on the other side? How could someone who had never walked understand how to stand and leap and seek the mysteries that lay past light and dark? So, the boy asked, “Where should we go?” “Oh, dear friend.” The girl took his hands into her own. “An adventure has no true need of a destination.” And so, they rose, and they soared. Wings of dust gathered and spread over the boy’s back as hand-in-hand with his friend, they raced across the cosmos. As they do, the boy - once as stoic as the cold stones of the place he called his home - set his eyes upon all creation with bated breath. He greeted the sun and the heavens like old friends, marveled at the birth of a star, and mourned at the death of a world. On and on, they dashed through all of existence on flickering wings. Yet, as was expected, when they return upon the dim light of a weary sun, the girl bids him farewell. “Goodbye, dear friend.” The Child of the Dawn said with a sad smile, stepping back and disappearing with the dusk. “Tomorrow?” The Child of the Moon asked hopefully, alone on the grey moon as the girl faded away. Yet when the new day came, no sign of the girl came with it. Alone again, the boy looked towards the horizon as he had always done. He gazed at the heavens and knew something was lacking. He gazed at the stars and could not understand why they were silent. He gazed at the once bright cosmos and wondered when its grandness had become so faint and muted. Questions rage in his mind, and eventually, he realizes that he would not get his answers here. The boy stood. His wings spread, gleaming in the light of day like a kaleidoscope, and with a single, unexplainable longing in his heart, he takes flight once more. He climbed, higher and higher, until the Sun itself notices his rise. “Child of the Moon,” it called for the boy, “For what reason hast thou abandoned thine home?” “I wish to see my friend.” “And yet she is gone. Spirited away to the veil beyond time. To the world across our own. To a place we cannot reach. Knowing this, dost thou still wish to seek her?” I do.” The boy answered without hesitation. “Ah...I see. Just as the Child of the Dawn hast taught thee of companionship, so too hast thou learned of loneliness. Just as she hast taught thee of happiness, so too hast thou learned of grief. Just as she hast taught thee of thine heart, so too hast thou learned of thine self.” The Sun wept in sympathy. “Oh, misfortunate Child of the Moon. Hear mine humble self. Though thine friend is far, not all hope is lost. She waits still, in the realm beyond realms. Asleep and frozen within the threads of time. Bound and imprisoned in a place that both exists and does not exist. Shouldst thou reach her, only then will she awaken once more.” “How do I find this place?” The boy asked desperately. “Thou must search. Search without end - without falter. Strive and struggle with all thine might to reach that impossibility. Never waver in thine faith in her. Believe that just as thou seeketh thy friend, thy friend awaits thine own arrival. Then and only then may thou reunite with the Child of the Dawn.” And so, with steel in his eyes and a hope in his heart, the boy thanks the Sun and flies away. Relentlessly, he pursued that dream. Believed that just as he sought her, she awaited him. Even as eons passed and the stars of old were swallowed by oblivion, the boy continues to search for the girl. He sailed across the universe with wings of stardust, a journey that was perhaps without end and without rest. Yet he continued, regardless.