The sun rose above the ground city illuminating the world as they knew it and brightening up the sky brandishing it a vibrant sea of blue.
Beneath the blue sky, beneath the floating kingdom, the people of the ground went about their harsh lives in the desolate wasteland they called home but one among them was having a particularly bad morning.
Moon was tossed across the barren field by celeste sword swing, he quickly stood up from the ground, cursing himself for even thinking of blocking but before he was finished condemning himself, celeste lunged at him with an attack aimed at his neck.
Moon quickly went under her swing but his face was met with her knee sending him stumbling backwards with a bloody nose which was probably broken, he groaned in pain then lunged at her performing two swift slashes through the air but she easily side stepped both attacks, lunging her sword forward like a spear hitting moon's shoulder making him step back.
After a few weeks of sparing with celeste trying to get a hit moon now thought it was impractical to make him land a hit on an expert sword master with inhumane strength and speed when all he had to do to become an awakened was defeat a level one monster which was no different than a mindless beast.
The only reason he hadn't become an awakened a long time ago was because the monsters outside the great wall could range from a level one to a level ten.
Admist their clash, the pummel of celeste wooden sword smashed into his face awakening him from his thoughts and disorienting him making him fall to the ground on his behind.
"Th duel is over" she said neutrally
Moon grimaced "what the hell am I missing why can't I land a hit"
Celeste pointed her sword at him "you lack nothing, you already understand the basics what you need is the mentality"
Moon furrowed his brows in confusion "what do you mean"
"You think too much"
"Moon grimaced "but if I don't think, how will i know what to do the next"
"A battle can end in a few decisive seconds, there is no time to think, follow your instincts, trust in what you have learned and trust in your fear"
Moon was about to say something but celeste interrupted him by saying
"Moon I wield my sword to kill, why do you want to learn to wield a sword"
Saying that she turned and left, leaving moon to ponder to himself.
"Damn it" "trust your instincts" "trust your fear" "Why you wield your sword" "What the hell does that mean, maybe to a genius like you it's easy"
Moon wasn't wrong even among geniuses celeste would still seem like a gold coin among silver even a narcissistic fellow like Atlas acknowledged her but for moon... he had always been like this, good at things but never good enough even since back then.
Moon wiped the sweat off his face and stood up holding his side in pain "damn it"
Right now he was really frustrated with himself.
....
After their duel Atlas and celeste stepped out of the house, saying they had business to attend to in the city leaving moon alone at home like a child left behind to watch the house.
Moon rested on his bed in his room, the warm light of the sun pierced through the window brightening up the room and somehow lifting up his mood.
...After all he now had his own room, his own bed, good food, clean clothes and a future to look forward to so why was he feeling like this.
The answer was simple, he no longer had to worry about food, were he would sleep or even if he would see the sun rise tomorrow which gave more time to actually think.
Moon shook his head violently, chasing away the useless thoughts and the pointless emotions and stood up for the bed and told himself.
'If you have time laze around then it would better used to accomplish something or at least learn something new"
He gaze wandered to the wooden at the corner of the room
But, no
His entire body was still sore and over exerting himself won't help anyone including himself.
He stood up from the bed then walked out of the room, he expected to see the dark, skeleton filled hallway but his eyes were met with white marble stairs winding up, toward a door standing alone ominously in the darkness.
He left out a deep sigh and mumbled to himself "of course, what did I expect"
He climbed the marble stairs with a tired expression and opened the door, bracing himself for the unexpected but what he saw almost knocked the air out of his lungs.
Instead of the usual living room if a bit always unusual he saw a sea of books which were neatly tucked into shelves which were arranged in rows upon rows that seemed to continue infinitely.
"What the hell"
After Atlas little lesson, a flame of curiosity and thirst of knowledge was lit inside moon, he wanted to know more about the world but no matter how many times he searched the mysterious house, he just couldn't find it and Atlas refused to help
'Annoying bastard'
At first he was filled with anger at the damned house for making him go through all that trouble when it was always right there but then he realised that the house actually listened to his worries and gave him exactly what he needed.
Moon put his hand on the door and uttered an inaudible whisper making sure no one could hear him even though he was the only living being around.
"Thank you" He whispered with a smile then walked into the library.
The library was lit up by balls of light floating about, out of curiosity moon caught one of them in his hand, it felt warm and kinda tickled, he thought of squashing it to see what would happen but strangely he couldn't bring himself to do it so he just let it go.
"Now, were should I start"
Suddenly a book started shake furiously grabbing moon's attention.
"You want me to read it" he said speaking to the house, then the book shook again in confirmation.
Moon walked over to the shelve, he pulled out the book then read the title out loud.
"The world as we know it by duskhood"