text: Luna Whitemoon stood in front of the two doors. Both stood over ten feet tall and were made out of pure water. Shimmering waves of crystal clear blue shone on one, while dark, abyssal waves, with the rumbling of thunder, were the other. It appeared to be an easy decision. The clear one reminded Luna of her home on the small islands away from Falconus. She and her village always swam in the clear waters of a continent-less earth, as the warm sun sent rays of light into the sandy bottom of the oceans. Fish of illustrious colors dazzled under the light as Luna remembered that time. She stared into that door. Dark faint shapes, like feathers in wind called to her, urged her forward into the door. She stopped herself. It would be so easy. The House of Waves made this Luna’s test. Stand in front of two doors. Whichever one you chose determined whether you would be their champion. She was lost in thought, swimming through her memories before she smiled and went through a door. As a child, the world always appeared like one thing. With the sun, stark white sandy beaches, and the warm wind whispering with the laughter of children, the world appeared to be a paradise. To the children, it would last forever. It was their parents' job to keep that vision alive. Until it was too late. Luna remembered her days as a child well. To her, it seemed ordinary, but to others, remembering what you ate and the exact words you asked your mother when the stars fell from the sky on every full moon, was a gift. The gift of memory. The total recall was a gift she would use well in her years studying under the House of Waves. Learning, reading, a small scholar with cloud white hair, becoming an encyclopedia of knowledge about the oceans, about the lakes, and streams, waterfalls, and rain around her. Everything that had to do with water, was in her library of a mind. So much so, she wanted to become water. The teachers for the House taught her and other students the way of water, not only a style of combat but a way to channel your own inner waters to maintain balance in your life and in turn, keep the balance of the world, because to let your own inner water flow out into the world in a way where you flooded it with poison, was as much of a sin as a man thinking he was a god ruling the planet with a malevolent fist. As the years went by, she remembered the word of the atrocities, of the death surrounding the land of Falconus. She remembered being thankful, of being grateful that she didn't have to see the carnage from the god’s elementals storming cities and enslaving others. Her family was safe, and so was she. That’s all that mattered. Yet like that God’s hand of power, reality came striking into her world. She knew the emotional world of anger rarely on occasion, sometimes when she would fail in a sparring session with another student or when her mother urging her to leave the House Of Waves behind, to be wife to a man that would only show her off as a trophy as the white-haired islander who talked to the moon. That’s where her name- Whitemoon came from. She was as dark as her brothers and sisters, yet her hair flowed like the moonlight under its home and shone in the sunlight. It was hard for her to hide from the stares in her earlier years, but she learned to be like water: to just flow with it. Eventually the flow changes. The flow changed the night, the god of Power struck down on her home. She was in the moonlit night, feeling the glowing radiance of the moon absorb into her hair, illuminating it in a ghostly light. She remembered the feeling of the cooling sand and how it stuck to her feet as the water sent chills down her calves. She loved it this way. Although her mother and villagers went against swimming in the water in the dark, instead of the fear others felt from it, she welcomed the solitude. Over time, the dark depths changed. She learned over time to appreciate the light in the darkness. Because the dark wasn't always bad. It could be warm and could drift her into the light. She remembered the cooling waves under wrap her in its soft grasp. She turned and looked up from the dark depths up to the moon. It told her of one thing: to trust in the waves. Even in chaos, even in unpredictability, the waves would lead you through. Luna just wished it would lead her back home when the stars started to rain down once again. Only this time, the shooting stars were actually heated chunks of diamond in space, crashing down as fireballs. She felt the thundering boom along with the muffled voices of panic. Keep going....just keep going...this is only a test. Luna swam, deeper into the dark depths, further away from the moon, deeper to the source, as the second door, the one of the dark and thundering unknown was starting its challenge. She didn't expect the door to do this. She thought the mysterious leviathans of the ocean of the tentacled creatures in the underwater caverns would test her, but not her own memories. Not her own nightmares she was experiencing every night before this test. A part of her wanted to, so badly, swim back up to the surface, to the moon, to crash back into reality and see, see the smoke and flames after the colossal shockwaves sending tsunamis across the planet. She so badly wanted to breathe cool rushing air, and swim, with all her strength back to the remnants of her home island, find her mother, find her sister, her teachers, her classmates, save them, help them anything! But like water, the past is unavoidable. It's uncontrollable. You can bottle it up, but it only forms, and always finds a way out. Maybe as vapor, but eventually it comes back as rain, ready to come down slightly, then crash down upon you until you’re soaked. Luna sank deeper into the abyss, until the pleading sounds of her mother, of her family, were gone, and only the beating of her heart remained. Her heart beat, faster and faster, with it, came the rumbling of something around her. S if she was in the bowels of a dark beast, the waters around her rumbled, growling, hungry for its next dinner. She could feel the panic set in, all the terror, something she didn't feel until that day. On that day, Luna eventually did return to the surface, after the crashing waves, the mouth of the twin gods of the Seas swallowing any land there was over. She didn't know it was angry then. She felt it as grief. As pure anguish. The hole of loss within her was so great, greater than a lagoon. She searched around her, across the dark and moonlit night, only to find no light, no source of home. Home was gone. She searched that entire night for survivors, but the only thing she could find was remnants of homes, and the lifeless bodies of people she once knew. Their eyes told it all. They thought it was another shower, another light show, then before the full horror could come, their world was flooded. Who knew once warm, nurturing water could turn on the people so quickly? Luna didn't know until that day. The day when she felt alone, truly for the first time. She was lost in that void of a night until the morning, where she spent three more nights, searching, hoping, yearning for her family. She never found her mother’s remains. Whether it was the fish or hungry carnivores sharing the depths with her or just the other gods deciding to spare her the mercy of more pain, Luna Whitemoon’s life changed. She was found by a messenger ship, sent originally to spread news, but now to look for any survivors. They thought of her as an omen, a sign from the god of power himself that he was not to be trifled with. The sailors kept their distance, until when they met the land of Falconus, then sent her off, alone, in an unknown land she only heard about, that was suffering from the same god’s might. Now she could see firsthand the destruction and misery she tried to ignore for so long. It's why she chose the door of dark waters. It's the door anybody would avoid. We try to hide, to look away, to ignore, and be oblivious to the world around us. Luna did that once, and it cost her her world. Now here she was, back in her memories, swimming in deep dark waters to something... It started off as a twinkle, an illusion from her oxygen-deprived mind until it grew. It grew until the warmness soothed across her frozen skin, bringing her back to life. As the light grew, so did the gulping of air. It should have been water flooding her encapsulated lungs, instead, air entered. The most interesting thing was, she never opened her mouth and sucked in water. She could feel more air fill her body until the blinding light sucked her into somewhere... What stood out to her first were the pillars of bright water surrounding her. On top of them figures barely corporeal staring down at her. She looked down and watched in awe as a pillar of water formed around her knees and became solid. She opened her mouth to speak, but the figures spoke, in unison first. They pounded like the gentle waves of her home island. If the ocean could speak it spoke through them. She knew who they were: The House of Waves. Luna Whitemoon...chaos you have seen peace. Through destruction, did you truly value creation. Through darkness did you find the light. The ever-changing waves have called to you. And you have answered. You realize that through madness and pain can you make it to acceptance and peace. You have a light inside of you. Like the Lunar Goddess’ gift to you in your outsider of an appearance, you have been chosen by The House of Waves... The pillar rose until she was closer, at level with the figures. They circled around her, drawing nearer until the center of the figure stepped forward, and like an invisible wall of water, the figure’s translucent appearance disappeared and a woman nodded to Luna. She was tall, appearing young, but Luna, knowing better, was thousands of years old. The woman’s hair was stark white, like hers, and her eyes were the brightest blue she saw. Her ebony skin stood out the most. She reminded Luna so much like herself, she could be looking into a mirror and wouldn't know. “You’ve seen and felt the God Vukon’s wrath. The man turned god has proclaimed himself ruler and tyrant of this planet. In order to defeat him, we need a worthy warrior. And we have chosen you. Only you, with the calming but crashing waves of our sanction, can help lead the rest of the champions and yourself to Vukon’s defeat. Have you accepted?” Luna Whitemoon shuddered. Were there others like her? Of course, there were! All the years of training, of meditation, of reading, all came to this point, and she forgot one thing: other champions from the other houses were out there, waiting, searching for the others to come together and defeat Vukon. The woman let out her hand and a stream of energy flowed towards Luna. Luna let out a hand and the powers of The water sanction formed a fist in her hands. The watery hand changed. It rounded, softened until flower petals appeared. With peace, there is its opposite war. With darkness comes light. With vengeance comes justice. Luna knew all these things. She had vengeance in her. She only wanted to strike back at Vukon for what he did to her and her people. She also knew the compassion and fairness that came to justice. To rightfully set balance back to the scales of Falconus. The land called to her pleaded to her for her help. She wasn't going to fail again. She wasn't going to swim away from the challenge. She was a tsunami, storming across the seas towards it.