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A golden bridge lay empty, all alone. Its beauty was the only thing that people cared about. They didn't dare walk across it in fear that it got dirty. Not unless they felt they had to.
But they say that without enough love, inanimate objects begin to feel sadness. Not the sadness a humanoid would be familiar with. A great, mourning sadness mixed with feelings of grief, loss and loneliness would be the best way to describe it.
A small midnight child had one day wandered off into the unknown. With no one to care for it, nor anyone to watch that it did not cross the bridge, the midnight child ventured off. It was the first being to ever step onto the golden bridge after it had been made.
It could feel that the bridge was alive. It could feel the hurt the bridge felt. It cried, sharing the golden bridges' emotions.
"What's your name, oh midnight child?" The golden bridge had asked.
"L-Lixon." The child sniffed as it calmed down. "What about you?"
"It's been so long that I do not remember my name, nor if they have given me one, sweet child. Would you like to gift me with one so that I may be referred to as something sweet?"
The midnight child thought for a moment. "What about Melodine?" It suggested, smiling.
The golden bridge hummed its satisfaction.
"Remember, dear Lixon. You are not to come here when others are around. You are not to come here during the day, okay?" The golden bridge warned.
The midnight child did not question Melodine's words. It understood them and merely nodded, talking for hours with its new companion until it could feel that daylight was approaching.
"Bye bye Melodine!" The child waved innocently as it disappeared into the distance towards the setting moon.
The golden bridge cleaned itself up, so that the child would not be found out.
The cycle continued for days, weeks, months.
"Why does it seem that you never age, sweet Lixon?" The golden bridge had asked one day.
The midnight child shrugged. "I was told I only age every blue moon, Melodine."
The golden bridge was curious on where it overheard such a tale before.
"Do you have parents, sweet Lixon? And do they know you're here?"
"One of my parents is on the moon!" The midnight child replied with glee.
The golden bridge remembered now where it had heard such a tale from. This child seemed to be from the Goddess of the Moon. It silently thanked her for sending such a pleasant, friendly child its way to keep it company. Whether unintentionally or not.
Their time together continued to be pleasant. Eventually, the golden bridge had seemed to no longer be crumbling. It glowed bright, sparkling with clear satisfaction like it had been cleaned that morning. Those guarding it had grown suspicious. Was someone coming every night to clean the bridge? They were too stupid to realise that the bridge could clean itself and take care of itself well. Just as long as it had the motivation to continue.
The golden bridge was not able to warn the midnight child in time.
It had come along, skipping excitedly as usual. Once it had seen the guards, it was too late.
They grabbed the midnight child before it could escape.
"A… child?"
"Not just any child - that's the child of the moon Goddess!"
They roared with laughter, excited at what they would be able to do with the child. Excited at what they could negotiate with the Goddess of the Moon for the child.
"The Goddess of the Moon will not let you stay alive if you have the child." The guards had heard a voice whisper. The did not recognised the voice of the golden bridge they oppressed for so long.
"Y-yeah! Let's kill the child!" A group of them declared.
"Let us stain the golden bridge with a sacrifice!"
"We can do it, just for this night!"
They clearly did not care to respect the Goddess of the Moon.
They brought out the chains, they brought out the weapons. They tied the child to the bridge, ensuring it would not be able to escape as they lashed and whipped and cut and bled out the midnight child. They revelled in its screams, in its pain. They enjoyed it, watching and laughing as they drank its never ending, black-blue, sparkling blood in whatever triumph they believed to be blessed with.
They left the midnight child there to rot, as if to mock the Goddess of the Moon. For mere entertainment. They lazily agreed to clean the bridge and return back to their original lives in the morning.
The golden bridge comforted the child, soothing it with its words as its blood continued to spill. "Do not worry, dear Lixon. I apologise for causing this, but it will all work out. I promise."
The midnight child had no strength to do anything but listen. Yet it was still grateful that its friend Melodine was here to comfort it. Moon understood that the golden bridge had helped it in the best way it could, and it did not fear death. Why would it fear something that couldn't reach it?
The blue moon had risen, high above the golden bridge and sleeping guards. The Goddess of the Moon floated down. She was furiously livid. She picked up her child, unchaining it from the bridge. She fed it a small droplet of her blood, and it instantly had began to heal.
It slept soundly in her arms. The Goddess of the Moon thanked the golden bridge for keeping her child company.
"I see Lixon has trusted you with moons name?"
"If I had a body oh Goddess of the Moon, I would bow. Your child has been wonderful to me, keeping me company and trusting me. As well as allowing me to trust it."
"I may be able to help with giving you a body. It's the least I could do to repay you."
"Oh dear Goddess, I do not require any repayment."
"Well then think of it as a gift from a friend. After all, a friend to my child is a friend to me."
"Thank you."
The Goddess of the Moon had now turned to the sleeping guards, her rage apparent. Moon placed zer sleeping child safely on the golden bridge and floated low, covering the houses of the guards with mist and dark smoke. Ze uttered a spell of nightmares upon the sleeping guards. She wished a curse upon them, promising an endless eternity of sleepless nights, being distracted by things they feared.
"I shall return in a few days time, dear Melodine."
Five days later, the Goddess of the Moon did in fact return.
The guards had seemed to be dying of sleep deprivation during those five days, going insane from their hallucinations. And on the fifth night, many had died.
All the Goddess needed was a few bodies who had not gotten enough sleep.
She weaved her magic, requesting for the golden bridge to ask for certain properties it might want.
It did not take too long. By the time the moon had risen to its summit, the golden bridge was no longer a bridge, but had the form similar to that of the Goddess of the Moon.
"Thank you dear Goddess- I don't know what else to say!"
"You do not need to say anything. All I ask if for three things."
Melodine was eager to fulfil whatever request was given to it.
"First, you train under my wife. Second, you continue spending time with Lixon. Third, you build a life of your own - a life you wish to protect, to exist in until the end of you."
"I will be honoured to take on those requests. May I ask, who is your wife?"
"The Goddess of the Sun of course!"