Chapter 43 The Sacrifice

Chapter 43 The Sacrifice
Ethan POV

I knew what I was suggesting. I knew what it would cost. I knew it in my bones. I knew it in my heart. But I was well aware that, in case Luna should unite with the Queen, I would forfeit her regionally forever. And I couldn't accept that. I wouldn't accept that.

We strolled down into the darkness. Luna was holding my hand. Her hand was shaking. She was terrified. I could smell the fear of her as she heated. But she was determined. She was prepared to meet whatever was in store.

Everything became unlike what I had imagined when we arrived at the First City. The streets were empty. The houses resembled those that were disintegrating. The lights which had been lighting the city were dying. And the atmosphere was as sad as it could have been. You could touch it. You could feel it oozing through your bones.

"What happened here?" I asked. The rot of the world could not pass but my eyes.

It is changing all of us because of the change in my mom, Aurora said. She was leading us deeper. When she dies we will all start dying. And she is our glue that holds us together. She is the Queen. She is the heart of the First. She is the anchor."

The Queen was in a room that resembled a throne room. But the throne was bare save her mangled body. She was fading away. It was as though she were growing transparent. As though before our very eyes she was fading away. There was a transparency developing in her skin. Her body was growing less compact.

When the Queen saw me she said: "Luna, Queen." I could hardly hear her voice, so weak it was. This was as in a canyon wind. "You came. I wasn't sure you would."

"I came," Luna said. She knelt beside her. "Tell me what happened."

The hand of the Queen touched Luna and its touch was gentle on her face. The Queen said that he taught us to love. "You taught us to feel. And I loved the world so much that I wanted to take care of it. I had a feeling that we would not damage it in the future. I would have liked to show that we can be relied upon. So I bound myself."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked. "How did you bind yourself?"

Bound my own power, said the Queen. "Just like you did. I became a full human, that it would gradually murder me. I understand that without the power I would grow like a man. Knowing that I would die. I did it though, because I wanted to demonstrate to humankind that we were putting forth seriousness in change.

Luna was crying now. The tears were pouring down her face. "Why?" she asked. "Why would you do that?"

You had a choice, because you gave me a choice, said the Queen. You gave me the option to be other than hungry. You offered me the alternative of being more than a predator. And I decided to make a sacrifice to make the future of my people. I decided to demonstrate to the world that the First was trustworthy.

The Queen overcame herself, and grabbed Luna by the hand. Her hand was cold. By this time it had grown colder. I would feel her drifting away. I could sense the weakening of her life force.

"I'm dying," the Queen said. And when I die the First will lose their anchor. They will fail to be connected with one another. They will scatter. They will become wild again. They will become hungry."

"No," Luna said. Finding a means to rescue you there must be a way.

"There is," the Queen said. "You could merge with me. You might be made the new Queen. You could hold us together."

Luna looked at me. I saw the conflict in her eyes. I observed her interpret what the Queen was demanding. I perceived her cognizance of my feelings.

"I can't," Luna said. "I can't leave Ethan. I can't leave my life."

Then the First will scatter, said the Queen. And sometimes they will be what we struggled too much not to be. They will turn into predators once again. And this once will have no one to check them.

I stepped forward. I extended my hand and grabbed the hand. It is at this point that I decided. At this time I realized what I should do.

Another way, there may be another way, I said to them all.

Everyone looked at me. The Queen studied my face. Aurora threw her head back, wondering. Luna stared at me with pathetic hope.

"What?" Aurora asked.

What could have happened if Luna had not merged with the Queen? I said. But what would happen, should she be able to bequeath her knowledge? But what could she do to have another made the Queen? A person who would want to be First entirely? A person who would want to die in his place?

The Queen was gazing at me with a sort of awe. That has not been done at all, she said. None was ever changed into First who was not born First. But it might work. It might actually work. And one could make that... one could make that choice...

I knew what I had to do. I knew in my bones. I knew in my heart.

"Do it," I said. I looked at the Queen. "Change me. Make me one of you. Make me your successor."

"No," Luna screamed. She attempted to catch me, to restrain me. "Ethan, don't. Please don't do this."

But I'd already made my choice.