The Eclipsed

1

I’m a nocturnal creature, a beast who thrives in the dark. And yet, I crave the warm embrace of the light … the flames of humanity. The yearning never fades, only heightened by the knowledge that I can look, but never truly touch.

I suppose my kind was created with this unquenchable appetite for a reason, to make our life’s purpose more than a job, to make it an unavoidable compulsion … an obsession.

Lord, have mercy! Are those bodies?

Lifting my chin, I watched as people hurled themselves from the skyscraper in an attempt to escape being burnt alive. As others ran in horror, I took deliberate strides toward the building, my gaze never wavering.

Nothing is brighter than life just before it’s snuffed out, and I couldn’t look away. Not that I had the option. I was there to record this calamity, this massive extinguishment of human life.

In my peripheral vision, a reaper appeared, recognizable by its dark garb and familiar power signature. At all such events in human history, there was always at least one reaper, and of course, one of my kind. We never interfered with each other, and merely went about our separate business, both cogs in the machinations of the universe.

As I inched closer, my wings appeared, snapping wide in an arc. My body hummed with something akin to delight, not relishing in the disaster before me, but appreciating the warmth I could only feel in times like these.

Careful, lest someone see you. The reaper’s warning cut through the smoke and screams, giving me pause.

I inclined my head. And what difference would it make if someone did? Either they will be dead soon, or no one will believe them.

Smartphones available to any who desire them has changed the game for many, he replied.

Ah, so we must be in a relatively current time frame. I often forgot to check minor details since my clothing automatically morphed to my current needs. Admittedly, it was a bit sloppy to not pay attention to such things though. Even still, I couldn’t withhold my chuckle. No one ever notices me.

Like all lunas, I blended in. Human eyes passed over me with disinterest, everything about me … neutral. They saw: Not quite cute, neither pretty nor ugly. Thin, not skinny or curvy. Average height for a female, not short or tall. Neutral, beige skin tone. Brown hair, not strikingly dark or mousy. Even when my wings appeared, they were drab tones of brown, resembling that of the insect called moth. I was the real-life equivalent to background noise. You know it’s there, but you don’t pay it any mind, and can’t recall it later if asked to.

The reaper shifted under his hood, his gaze tangible even though I couldn’t see his face. Your wings, as boring as you think them, are something that holds amazement to humans.

Silence fell over us, the rare conversation between a reaper and me coming to a close. However, I did consider his words.

Even my brown-toned, moth-like wings were still wings. And yet all the years I’d been cataloguing human catastrophes, and ensuring that fixed points in time stayed just that … fixed, no one had ever noticed them or me.

Sure, a few lunas had been the source of urban legends over the years, such as with The Mothman Prophecies, but that incident was tricky. The need for my brother’s interference was impossible to avoid. Those people in West Virginia needed to die in order to preserve the fabric of time and reality, which is why it was a fixed point in time. But my brother also got carried away, the need to complete his job overriding all else, his carelessness exposing his existence. Luckily, those who witnessed his work were dismissed as crazy, even if the story lived on.

Although … the reaper speaks the truth. Smartphones did change things. What would have happened if those existed years ago? My brother’s mishap might have turned into a disaster for our kind, instead of the embarrassing memory he was still mocked about to this day. It could have ruined everything, the precarious balance of what we do destroyed by future human interference. And if we fail, reality itself will eventually crumble. Shuddering, I dispelled that thought. I needed to focus on the present, and not a bunch of what-ifs.

Creeping closer, I willed my wings to slacken. I would release them again only when they were needed—when the last moments of human life burned through me. During that time, when I recorded the souls and events surrounding their deaths, I would be invisible as I shifted between worlds. Until then I’d simply have to remain an inconspicuous bystander.

You seem to have a problem, the reaper said, his tone bored.

I snorted. "Right. My problem, because you don’t have a horse in this race, too." Would a reaper actually bother to help me if I needed it? Did they even care if reality as we all knew it ceased to exist? Hopefully, I’ll never need to find out.

My gaze zeroed in on the problem the reaper spoke of. One of the tagged humans—as I liked to call them because of the bright orange aura surrounding their bodies—wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing, which was dying. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but once in awhile a human was able to break away from the planned pattern to throw things out of whack. These were the times when I had to do more than watch and record. It’s when I needed to get my hands dirty.

And my day was going so well.

The human male in question had to die, and yet he was not only alive and kicking, but attempting to help others survive when they were scheduled to exit this mortal coil at this time and date. Any variation of the final deceased tally … would fuck shit up.

You’re going to be fine, ma’am, just fine. The problem mortal—my current pain in the ass—set an elderly woman in a business suit down on the sidewalk, before rushing back into the ablaze building.

The wail of emergency vehicles racing to the scene grew louder, and I knew I had to act fast. Sprinting after the would-be hero, I spared a glance at the woman he saved as I passed her, relief washing over me when she collapsed, gasping for breath. She would die soon, and therefore I didn’t need to bother with her.

As I entered the building, smoke clouded my vision and burned my throat.

What are you doing? The problem man shoved at me as if I was a confused horse heading in the wrong direction. Get out of here, now! A coughing fit doubled him over for a moment before he managed to overcome his body’s need for oxygen by what seemed to be sheer willpower alone.

Interesting.

What is it about certain humans that make them different? How and why is he able to act outside of the pattern the universe has planned for him when so many can’t? Free will is a thing to a certain degree, but there are still parameters.

My gaze swept over him with curiosity. He was average height for a human male, although slightly taller than me. His complexion was pale, his hair a contrasting dark brown, framing an attractive face of sorts, although his nose was slightly too large. There was a deep scar through his left eyebrow, and his eyes were a dark blue. Nothing in particular stood out about him. He was just a human like any other as far as I could tell.

With preternatural reflexes, I rushed the guy, causing him to stumble backward in confusion. Hey, what … How’d you—

Grabbing the nape of his neck, I forced him to look me in the eyes. They glowed red, the eerie cast highlighting the man’s stark expression. I’m sorry, I murmured, but you and all of these people must die today. It can’t be helped.

No, he croaked, his voice hoarse, I have to save them.

Those who perish here will preserve the fabric of the universe. The tragedy of today serves a greater purpose, one that you can’t begin to fathom. You must not interfere anymore. This is the point where the human will accept my truths and let go. Something inside of them when faced with my ‘otherness’ sensed it was the only way, giving up the struggle easily.

No. I can’t accept that.

Huh. The strength of his resolve intrigued me. Never before had a human resisted my brand of coercion. It was a shame I didn’t have more time to study him.

I’m sorry, I murmured, tightening my grip on his nape, and dragging a strangled cry from him, but it has to happen this way.

I didn’t regret or grieve what needed to be done, but I was sorry that any lives had to be lost. I felt empathy for humans. Although I knew I would never fully understand them, I’d garnered much from books and movies. I especially loved their fiction … so much imagination for a species with such little control over their own lives.

I snapped the mortal’s neck with ease, stepping back to watch his body slump to the ground, his eyes seemingly still fixated on me in surprise.

I bowed my head. May you find peace in the ever after or your next life.

A surge of energy danced along my skin, goose bumps erupting in its wake. It’s time.

My wings flared out behind me, and I threw my head back as I rose into the air. Hovering between worlds, the recently dead souls passed through me one after another in lightning fast succession. I recorded their essences, making sure all that should be was.

As the numbers of dead added up, the warmth their souls offered seeped into my bones. My body hummed with delight, the energy of the deceased an addictive force, for it was in these few moments I felt satiated, content, full … like I actually belonged there … or anywhere. I was whole. It’s what drew my kind to these types of scenes unwaveringly, even if we grew to despise them on some level.

A moment of true peace in our nearly endless existences.

And then it was over practically before it began. Or at least it always seemed that way.

The vast emptiness gaped in my chest once more, threatening to consume me.

So cold. Need to get home.

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I stumbled from the building, my teeth chattering. I paused on the sidewalk, surveying the scene. First responders worked in a controlled chaos; bustling around, trying to save lives I already knew were gone. News crews unloaded equipment, preparing to film. Bystanders live-streamed and recorded on their phones.

Not a single person noticed me.

I wasn’t invisible anymore, and yet … I might as well be.

2

Iresided in the lunas’ hold, like all others of my kind. The massive castle, and the land it was perched on, existed in a pocket dimension accessible only by us, and a few other supernatural creatures. For me to travel to my home, I merely had to will myself there, and boom, there I was staring up at the large, wooden front door.

I pushed at the bright red lacquer, exhaustion making the simple task of moving it difficult. With a groan, the door finally swung open, and I lurched forward, barely avoiding a face plant.

Eighty-nine! Six scurried to my side, lending his strong body for support as he wrapped his arm around my middle. You look even worse than usual. Let’s get you to Archives, and then to bed.

I gave him a shaky smile. Were you waiting for me to get back?

Of course. You know Six will always watch your six.

I snorted. No matter how many times Six used that lame expression just because of his name, it still managed to draw a bit of amusement from me, which was probably why he continued to say it.

If only you would have come to our eclipse at a different time so I could be saved from your Six on six commentary.

There were one hundred lunas in existence at all times, the grand total of us called an eclipse. When one of us burnt up, however rare, leaving this plane behind, another luna would appear, fully-grown and filled to the brim with knowledge of its life purpose. And since we were not born, we had no parents and no human names. We simply went by the number that was left open for us. I was one of the original hundred, and no other had ever had the number Eighty-nine for a name, but Six was the second to grace his slot. Truth be told, I liked him much better than the old Six, since my Six had become my closest and only friend in a world where true friendships were even rarer than unicorns.

I staggered, and Six’s grip on me tightened as I leaned on him more, and he struggled to keep me moving. Please, you were bored before I showed up with all my awesomeness.

I snorted again. Alas, he speaks the truth.

He chuckled. Alas. Nobody uses that word anymore.

I quirked an eyebrow but remained silent. Six thought it funny how I mixed modern slang with what he referred to as old school words. But I didn’t do it on purpose, nor did I think words like alas were outdated. I’d simply existed for so long that I … had a different knowledge base to draw on. Six was too young to understand. Give him a few hundred more years, and we’ll see if he’s singing a different tune. He’ll still be saying YOLO and the human world will have moved on.

Another wave of exhaustion washed over me, and I stifled a yawn. Slumping more into Six’s side, my eyelids fluttered shut, and my feet dragged behind me.

Ugh. Seriously, I might as well be carrying you, Six muttered. What happened out there today?

Nothing out of the ordinary.

You’re colder than normal, and—

Really, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I guess I just haven’t been sleeping much lately.

Six swung me up into his arms, a grunt of exertion escaping his lips. I don’t think that’ll be a problem now.

On the edge of consciousness, I listened to the steady cadence of Six’s heart beneath my ear, my thoughts wandering back to the human male I killed with my bare hands today. When his soul passed through me, even though it was along with all the other souls from the scene, there was something exceptional about him even in death. He’d burned brighter, and hotter—scalding almost. Was he the reason for my heightened state of exhaustion? But it didn’t make sense. He wasn’t the first human I’d ever encountered who’d broken out of the pattern. He wasn’t—

Here we are, Archives. Six set me on my feet abruptly, and my eyes snapped open. Do you want me to go in with you?

Stepping away from him, I only swayed for a moment before drawing on every ounce of reserves I had. No, but I may need your help to get to my room.

He propped himself against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, and legs at the ankles. All right, I’ll wait for you here. But if you take too long, I’m going to come looking for you.

I nodded, shoving on the huge, black door with gold inlay. Staggering over the threshold, I leaned on the heavy mahogany from the other side to shut it behind me.

Unnatural silence saturated me; even the sound of my own heartbeat quieted to nothing. I inhaled a deep breath, the scent of ancient books swirling up my nostrils. It was here in Archives where the history of every fixed point in time, and the imprints of the souls that had been sacrificed to maintain them, were held.

To the casual observer, it might appear to be a library of sorts, and in many ways it was. Books lined endless shelves from floor to ceiling as far as the eye could see. And yet no numbers or letters adorned the immaculate leather spines of these books. For if anyone were to search for something here, they already knew where to find it. Of course, the architects of the universe were the only ones who made use of the Archives, even myself never having revisited any of the many, many books I had placed on the shelves personally. What we did was just a tiny piece of a much bigger puzzle—a puzzle in which I was only familiar with my own misshapen part.

Sighing heavily, I shuffled past another luna, both of us ignoring each other, which was easy to do in the forced silence. What were we going to do, mime at each other? No, any in the Archives were there to do a job, and didn’t relish being interrupted for any reason, let alone etiquette encouraged pleasantries.

Rounding the first aisle, I found myself alone in the shadows, which is where I preferred to do my transfers. I dropped to the ground and crossed my legs, resting my hands against my knees, palms up. Inhaling a few times, I let my eyes slide shut. A moment later the weight of an empty book settled across my lap. I let go of the breath I was holding, my lips tingling as I exhaled the information I gathered from today’s event into the waiting pages.

I peeked through my lashes, the pages fluttering by, words and symbols forming on the mystical paper. I ran out of breath, and my eyes snapped open, just as the end of the book was reached. It’s done. Smoothing my palms over the delicate leather, I closed the book gently, placing it within the empty slot on the shelf that appeared in front of me.

It always seemed anticlimactic somehow, all the buildup boiling down to a single book sitting silently on a shelf. And yet the very fabric of reality rested on the events that had happened to fill those pages.

I yawned. Glad I’m not the one who has to make sense of the universe.

I awoke in my room, the warm breeze from the open skylight rustling my hair. I had no recollection of how I got there, my exhaustion surely causing me to be propelled by autopilot. I was alone, Six having left me to sleep on my bed piled under no less than a half dozen blankets. I yawned, and stretched, feeling refreshed.

My bare feet touched the cool hardwood, as my gaze snagged on the moon, hanging large, bright, and full in the sky. It was an ever-present fixture in our realm, a constant maintained by whatever power that had created us in the beginning.

The night called to me, the urge to fly beyond my will to resist. Letting my wings snap free, I hopped into the air and headed out the skylight. The moonlight bathed my skin as I kept my face upturned toward its origins. Higher and higher I flew, until the air was impossibly thin, and my lungs burned with effort.

All around me, other lunas filled the night sky, eager to reach an unattainable destination. If only we could somehow grasp the softly glowing orb in the sky, maybe we wouldn’t feel compelled to return to the human realm, perhaps we could be content to exist where we truly thrived … in the dark. But our lives were the way they were for a reason, one that I would never understand. I simply did what I had to in order to keep the emptiness at bay. We all did.

Stretching my arms wide, my wings fluttered as I fell through the air. I stared at the moon, several silhouettes of my brothers and sisters passing through my view. I began my ascent again, my mind wandering to useless things.

Why do we even have wings? Is it so that we have one thing to keep us almost content between jobs? Why make us yearn for something when we can never actually have it? Are any of my brothers and sisters content on any level? Am I the only one who wishes for more? Why is there so much about lunas that makes us a contradiction of sorts? Is there any—

Hey, watch where you’re going! Thirty-two shouted, his shoulder skimming my foot.

Sorry, I muttered, moving to dodge Ten as well, her eyes narrowed with annoyance. Shaking my head, I descended to the ground, settling myself on my back. It was possible I needed to rest a bit more before taking to the sky again. But I wasn’t ready to abandon the warm night air or the soft glow of the moon.

What if I could break out of my planned pattern the way the humans sometimes do? What if I could live a life I enjoyed, one that was more than … just more. Or maybe it’s wrong for one such as me to crave those things. I have no idea why I am what I am. There’s a chance I’m not capable of true happiness. Or possibly don’t deserve it.

Hey. Six settled down beside me, his hand brushing mine. You’re looking a lot better. Wanna go to the human realm for some food?

Shadows danced over me as my brothers and sisters flitted through the sky above us. I don’t know. Maybe. My mood was sullen, even more so than usual after a job. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to dwell or let Six cheer me up.

Dwelling probably isn’t a good idea. I heaved a huge sigh. I guess we can go.

Six jumped into the air, his wings flapping hard, a huge grin adorning his face. Great! Meet you out front after I change real quick. He zoomed into the air, calling over his shoulder, You might want to change, too. Or at least put some shoes on.

I glanced down at my attire. When not working, my clothing was a choice I actually got to make, and even though a job could be anywhere in time, my outfit morphing to reflect that, the luna pocket dimension progressed forward in a linear manner in line with the human world. Lately, my standard fare was jeans and a T-shirt. The one I currently had on was a faded Doctor Who shirt. I shrugged. Who knew how long human styles would allow me such comfort? My body practically broke out in hives at the mere thought of corsets. Besides, who was I trying to impress? I was comfortable, and I would blend in like we were supposed to.

I wiggled my toes in the grass. Although Six did have a point about shoes.

As if on cue, Six’s voice bellowed from inside, Let’s go, Eighty-nine! Chop, chop!

I heaved another sigh. Is it too late to change my mind?

3

Lunas didn’t require traditional food of any kind to survive, our bodies sustained by the energy from the souls that passed through us, but the majority of us did delight in human morsels. For me personally, I quite enjoyed what was considered junk food, especially chocolate, and ice cream. Put the two together, and, well … I could quite possibly eat my weight in the stuff.

You all right, Eighty-nine? Six squeezed my shoulder, chuckling under his breath.

Glowering, I squinted at him, the bright day practically blinding. We need to stop to get me some sunglasses somewhere.

He shook his head slowly, fingering the pair on his face. I’m not sure why you didn’t think to bring any.

I don’t know, my mind was elsewhere, obviously. I swiped at the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. It wasn’t like lunas had an aversion to daylight, not like vampires or other fictitious creatures of that ilk, we simply preferred the night, and to stalk in the shadows. Plus, being out in the day made me tired and cranky. But when moving around in the human world during times of leisure, I couldn’t force them to function on my nocturnal schedule … unfortunately. It was only the promise of my favorite foods that kept me from going home.

"It’s not that much farther, and you’ll