Broken body, broken soul. Yet still my blood continues to flow.

  A dome shaped room where no light could reach, I awakened, staring at a stone statue of an angelic figure with six wings. It had no face, yet I instinctively knew that the figure was female almost like me and her had some sort of connection. But I have no memories before I came into existence within this lightless room.

  A moment later, I could sense another presence somewhere in the dark corners of the room. Then another second, and a third, and more and more. We gathered around the pale light emanating from the winged statue, staring at it together.

  They were… me.

  Or am I them?

  What… what are we?

  Beings with porcelain skin and scarlet eyes surround me, and we exchanged confused looks with one another. A strange comfort resonated within me from our shared uncertainty. That’s when I realized what we were—kin.

  Beings born from the same source.

  I opened my mouth to speak.

  “Hwuu?”

  A low, high pitched sound came out like a whistle. Although it was just noise, one of them responded.

  “Hwuu? Himuu~”

  Of course, I didn’t understand what that meant, not exactly, but they sounded happy at least.

  Seeing that my attempt to communicate resulted on failure, I gave them a happy ‘Hwuu’ before walking up to the statue. Two of them already began inspecting it, one from a distance and the other up close. As I was approaching, the second climbed up the pedestal then poked at the statue’s leg.

  We were tiny in comparison to the statue or maybe the statue was just that much bigger than us, maybe both. Anyway, that being continued prodding at the thing while I joined the first in their observation. The first gave me a weird look and then moved a few feet away from me.

  Does he hate me?

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  For some reason, I felt the need to look at my hands. They seemed normal. White as bone with nubby talons at the end of my finger tips. Yup, nothing strange at all, so why was he acting like that? Actually, how do I know they’re a him?

  On closer inspection, they, I mean he, looked a little bigger than me. Taller with long, crimson claws that looked far deadlier and more effective at ripping things apart. After some thought, I came to a realization.

  Is it cause I look different or… because he thinks I’m weak!?

  Something in my gut told me that this was the answer. A smoldering flame began to build inside me as I made my behind him, readying to dig my talons into his throat and then—

  “Himuu~”

  A pair of arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. It was the first. No, not him! The first of the beings I interacted with. What was she doing to me?

  Perplexed by her actions, I didn’t make a move even when she spun me around to face her.

  “Himu, himu.” She shook her head.

  I narrowed my eyes and turned to leave, but she pulled my arm to stop me which worked. Our strength was at a similar level, resulting in a deadlock as I tried to push forward and kill that being while she kept me back like an anchor of perfect weight. This was a pointless endeavor, it would seem so I did the only logical thing and gave up.

  I didn’t resist as she pulled me towards the corner of the room which was dark and cold, but that didn’t bother me. Actually, it felt more pleasant than the warmth of the statue’s light. How peculiar…

  “Himu, himu.”

  The being motioned her head towards something in the darkness. I titled my head at her, trying to discern meaning where there was none. So once again, she dragged me by the arm until she hit a wall face first.

  *Thud!*

  My eyes adjusted to the dark quite quickly, allowing me to see her pained expression and the intricate patterns carved into the wall she walked into. Carefully examining these patterns and tracing them with my fingers lead me to an understanding.

  I see now… I don’t get it at all!

  Taking a step back to get a clearer picture of the whole thing, I immediately realized what I was looking at—it was a door.

  Specifically, large, stone double doors that looked like part of the wall at a glance. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the door was hidden, just concealed in the dark. They didn’t budge when I pushed on them so I gave it a swift kick.

  Shards of stone went flying but overall the door was fine. I only managed to chip away at the intricate pattern. Trying to break down the door would take ages by myself.

  Inefficient. Needs to be faster.

  Hold on, why the am I rushing? What reason do I have to leave in the first place? I took a step back and closed my eyes. Searching for that reason buried deep in my subconscious before dragging that reason into the light.

  Our ruin… our suffering… their hatred…

  I see.

  “Hwuuuu!” I howled.

  Then I began the long process of breaking it down. Using my talons to tear away at the sturdy stone and mixing in some kicks. Eventually…

  “Himuuu~!” She said cheerfully and joined me in my attack.

  One by one, more and more, the others joined in.

  Together, we struck, trying to break the door down into rubble and set us free—set the Children of Luna free.