Moonlings: A Clash of Meteors and Mages

Sir Tanori and Amethyst were just having their coffee outside the office. It was overlooking the city of Jazel at night as they were high up on the cliffs. The veranda was always their favorite spot.

"If that woman is really a Moonling, what would you do about it?"

For the first time in a long while, Tanori had no quick answer. He just stood there looking at the full moon, the heat of the coffee escaping in small wisps of smoke that dissipated into thin air. His cup was still full. He was again thinking deeply.

Amethyst knew why Sir Tanori had no answer.

"Restoring the relationship of the Moonlings and the Earthlings seems too impossible for now, sir. Moonlings don't even show themselves to us anymore. Who knows how many years that woman has been hiding her real identity."

All moonmages knew the stories. The Earth and Moon were once two spirits who fell in love with each other. But then, the Moon was infected with an illness and decided to kill herself so as not to harm Earth. Earth was devastated and the universe took pity on him. The Cosmos turned Earth into a planet and the Moon into a satellite with their own inhabitants so that they can never be separated as they remain circling each other for eternity. 

Yet, the illness of the Moon was still there but now in the form of the nightspawns that show up once a month to destroy the environment and harm the people. Surprisingly, the first inhabitants of Earth didn't blame the Moon because they knew the whole story. Instead, they accepted the Moonlings wholeheartedly as celestial neighbors. One family even decided to organize groups to take down the nightspawns whenever they appeared. They were the founders of the primordial forms of the moonmage agencies.To help them, the Moonlings themselves conducted rituals that would make the Moon share its powers to them.That was where their friendship started thousand of centuries ago.

Moonlings and Earthlings treated each other as equals and even bartered with them. But due to some reason, it has stopped. Now, humans had forgotten how to communicate to the moon and even the Moonlings stopped coming to the Earth for how many centuries. It now remains as a folk tale but Orion Agency and the rest of the Moonmage associations are proof that the Moon and the Earth are still connected in some way.

"The existence of the moonmages until now is proof that the Moonlings up there still favor humans. I don't know what a Moonling is doing here on Earth after so long but it's not impossible for us to get visitors once in a blue moon."

"Still, is it possible to revive a friendship that wasn't rekindled for the past centuries?" 

Again, Sir Tanori was silent. 

Honestly, he was a lost moonmage before. He never understood why it had to be him. He answered the Moon's call on a whim, thinking that he would become cool, but the sense of protectionism towards the moon and earth was not really him.

Until one day, he found himself loving human lives. Eventually, it included even the moonlings. That sense of love that was built in his heart through the years serving as a moonmage enveloped his whole being and all he could think everyday was how to preserve peace between the humans, moonlings, and other aliens, if there were.

But more than that, he would love to see Moonlings and humans go hand-in-hand once again. 

Ammie, or Amethyst, was just sipping her coffee beside him, waiting for his answer. She was always like that ever since she was promoted to be her secretary. Ladies like her should be out conquering the world with her beauty and brains but here she was dressed like a businessman and under an unpopular company. 

"You know, I–"

His sentiments were cut short because one assistant suddenly appeared on the door breathless.

"S-Sir…we…we have a problem!"

"Geez, calm down for a while. Whose property was destroyed this time?"

It was always the problem with every guard duty. Some moomages, though unintentional, are unsuccessful in drawing away the nightspawns away from the houses of the people before fighting them. It couldn't be helped.

"No, sir! That's not it!"

Sir Tanori was surprised when the assistant went near him with great fear in his eyes.

"We received a distress call from one of the moonmages assigned to the north. We have decoded it and it's only three words–a talking nightspawn!"

Sir Tanori dropped his cup. It broke the moment it touched the floor with the black coffee spilling the floor like blood from a murdered person.

"Who is engaging it?"

He was already walking, the assistant trailing beside him.

"It's Regina, the part-timer."

***

Regina thought moon magic was enough.

It always worked. Every time she was out of options with her own efforts due to the physical limitations of the human body, extracting power from the moon was always her last straw. She couldn't do magic very well unlike the other experienced moonmages so when she taps on her moonpower, it was always a huge blast because it was unsteady with her not exercising it everyday. This was why it always worked as a final attack.

But only until now.

Her attack reached the target. She could feel the guidance of the moon perfectly. She was sure it hit the eyes.

The smoke from the blast parted and there in front of her, to her disappointment, were three healthy giant nightspawns.

"Is that what you call the moon's blessing?"

The talking monster laughed. "The moon has become weak. All because of you creatures."

It was the enemy's turn to attack. The two nightspawns behind him were like twins, not only in appearance, but in movement.

Regina jumped, only managing to dodge the first. She would have missed the other one if not for the bloodlust emitting from her back. She was caught between. She had no choice but to put her hands to work even if they were already tired from holding her weapon.

Regina enveloped the handle of her battleax with her fingers and screamed, her eyes and mind clouding due to the effort. It was the only way to get the attention of the moon–to lose herself and enter the celestial domain.

"What?" she heard the talking nightspawn.

When her vision became cleared, she swung her blade into a full 360 degrees. She was aware of the changes. She knew her weapon was heavier and bigger now, though surprisingly, it didn't seem to bother her.

The two nightspawns fell to the ground in their chopped state. The last remaining nightspawn looked up to see that she was still up there. Her long hair, now all ivory white, was flowing freely with the wind and the big moon was at her back.

"What's wrong?" she taunted. "Who's weak now?"

Regina didn't waste her chance while the enemy was in a dazed state. Before the nightspawn noticed, her weapon was already an inch from its head.

At the last second, the enemy smirked, showing its huge fangs.

It was too late for her to back out, though she knew she had to. She, too, didn't realize that the enemy took advantage of her pride. She wasn't able to realize that the enemy was forming a ball of dangerous energy in its mouth, ready to release at will.

A blinding white light enveloped her surroundings and she could only close her eyes.

One.

Five.

Ten.

She tried to open her eyes. Surprised that she still had consciousness, Regina tried moving her body.

She couldn't.

Was she dead after all? Is this the feeling of death? Still aware of oneself but with regrets flooding the mind?

She heard faint sounds of people calling her name. That was certainly funny. She didn't have that many friends. Not even family.

Not until she recognized the voice.

"Regina!"

Even if it was not a command, her eyes flew open at the sound of Sir Tanori's voice. He was looming over her and then she was aware that she was lying on the ground. There were others as well. A medic was beside her, his hands over head that emitted white light. People in the Orion Agency's black and white uniform were running all around her, shouting commands.

"What?"

"The van will be here in a few minutes. Until then, don't move or talk too much," the male medic said.

Regina looked up to Sir Tanori. With the dawn breaking and shadows dancing on his face, she couldn't clearly see his expression but if she had to take a guess, he was again calculating the damage that she had done.

But why was he here? And what was with all the people that were with him?

"The-the nightspawn.. Is it…"

"Dead? No."

Sir Tanori pointed to a direction and she tried to move her head to the side. And then she saw it.

The nightspawn was in the middle of being caged, not by iron bars but by a ritual. White rings made of runes surrounded the unconscious nightspawn. Eight men were around it performing hand signs in unison. They were not moonmages but ordinary Orion officers who were just trained in basic moon art. It couldn't have been her who had set up the magical circles. It had to be Sir Tanori, then. He must have come in the nick of time and managed to keep the two of them from being blown together.

After a few minutes, the nightspawn vanished.

"We're done here, sir."

"All right, then. Let's go. We have a lot to report."