When Moon Swallows Sun by Mizuki Yamagen
CW: themes of DV
My people gather below, clamoring. They sense danger looming, advancing like clockwork from the planet’s shadow-side.
Closer.
His cold fingers reach—inky scent of blue murderous intent, tendrils of obsession form tempestuous storms twisting across the skies. Eyes, fractured but sharp, whet with longing, seek me through obsidian darkness.
Closer yet.
When we’d first met—billions of revolutions since our beginning—he was all quiet laughter and tender words shaped into paper-thin slivers, crescents of adoration tucked in shy dimples. Hands warm, gentle with delicate gravity.
I yearned for him, like he did for me. We were young, our trysts precious and sacred—a celebration for the people below.
“Amaterasu, you’re the love of my life.”
“And you, mine,” I used to say.
His love and devotion, bottomless—without reason and logic, boundaries or limits—burned an open wound, blooming in the night sky.
The earth spins, unstoppable.
His fingers gripped my throat the first time he said he missed me. His voice, a midnight void, his need cutting into me through the chaos of existence—jagged, insistent.
Desire and jealousy scarred his face, cratered and pockmarked by his relentless violent hurtle across space, chasing me. Killing anything in his way. Yet, I couldn’t pull myself away.
That night, he left his mark, shadows imprinted on my blistering skin.
Faster, he pursues.
My shrine maidens collect mirrors and blades, readying pots of water to gather and amplify my light remaining in the sky.
Without me, darkness and death will consume them all.
Tomorrow, he’ll be here.
Devotion turned desolation, envy turned wrathful, love twisted beyond recognition. Still, behind the iron mask, was my Tsukuyomi—the man I loved.
Perhaps I could make him see how we used to be—restore balance in the skies, share them as we once did.
Love as we once had. Save my people.
I’m out of time.
He calls me, a silent phantom rising over the horizon. As fast as I run, I know we’re two fates, bound in one.
His hands are on me, “I’ve missed you.” Sadness and rage seep into me, so bitter and deep I’m afraid it’ll split me apart. Tsukuyomi’s beautiful face is overcast and gloaming, engulfed in madness—a hungering to have me only to himself.
“This time, I won’t let you go, my love.” His voice claws, grip like falcon talons around my heart.
His gravity impossibly heavy.
Below, screams rise—and the world plunges into an eternal eclipse.