Lito's POV: My breath came out in short puffs as I raced across the fields. The grains of wheat grazing my ankles pushed me to move faster. A grin split my face open wide as the wind ran its way through my hair, and past the fibers of my tunic cooling me down. The sun seemed to pulse above me as it lit the fields aflame in a shimmering gold as I ran. My knapsack thumped against my side in an accompanying rhythm to the pounding of my feet as they struck the earth. My heart seemed to race a mile a minute as I got closer to the dark curtain that was the Moon Pearl Kingdom. It thumped so loudly against my chest that I feared someone on the other side would be able to hear it. I gripped the fabric of my shirt above my heart, hoping to contain the sound as my feet slowed the closer I got to the river.
I was far enough away from the bridge that I hoped no one would venture out here. As I neared the edge I set my knapsack on the grass. Even though the sun still sat nestled in the sky, I shivered even though my skin was warm to the touch. I got down on my hands and knees to look over and see how I would make it across. Below me, the tufts of grass I gripped led into a wall of dirt that disappeared beneath the waters. The waters from the river would flow downwards past the bridge and disappear into the forest where it was thick with fog. Even in our forests, it was so thick that only slivers of the sun's rays made it past the fog. When the men would hunt, ropes would have to be tied around their waists with someone on the other end to help pull them back when they were done. This was done because the men would get so turned around that all the trees began to look the same and they would end up lost.
They used to have men go in and not return. Then weeks later the forest would reveal them at the entrance. Eyes wide and tired. Scratches in their skin and clothes where they tripped or ran into things. Many didn't discuss their times in the woods by themselves except that they would aimlessly travel from one sliver of sunlight to the other hoping to find a way out. This became an occurrence so much so that Queen Elaine came up with the solution of men using the rope and going in pairs to help keep their comrades from going lost. Apparently even with how well the people of the Moon Pearl Kingdom did in the dark, they were having the same problem of losing hunters so, Queen Elaine told King Otieno of her idea and they began to implement it over in their kingdom.
Returning back to the present dilemma at hand I looked at the river below me once again. It's pretty deep but not so much so that one couldn't swim to the bottom. However, I can't tell if there are any sharp rocks hidden below the calm waters. A trace of white caught my eye and I looked to see the reflection of the moon being cast onto the water from above. This allowed for some light to shine, but all it illuminated was more of the river. I looked above to find that on their side the clouds were moving away from the moon and allowing it to offer some light. It's just like our sun, but not so bright that you can't look at it. I looked back down and found that the reflection had moved and was touching a piece of land that looked to be sand. They must have carved out areas for the people on their side to have easy access to water. A voice began to scratch at my mind that maybe this was all I needed to see and that I should just head back. "But I didn't travel all the way done here to just head back," I stubbornly answered. As my subconscious began to offer another unnecessary retort, a loud thud and groaning made me whip my head up. I looked up across from me where there was most likely another edge similar to mine. But the darkness obscured everything from my sight and I couldn't tell who the groaning belonged to. I listened to hear what sounded like the person was attempting to get up but was failing to do so as he or she got up once but fell down again right after. As I listened closer I heard them get up again but for the life of him, he couldn't hear any sound coming from the other side. Leaning closer, I leaned farther away from the edge and squinted as I attempted to make out the shape of whoever was responsible for the noise. However, as soon as I thought that my mysterious person must have already left, the light of the moon stretched farther up the bank, causing a flash of waving black to catch my eye. The curtains of darkness seemed to have parted and revealed a girl.
It looked as if she had detached herself from the sky above and landed roughly upon the ground before my feet. Her hair was as dark as the blanketed night sky and her skin seemed to have been dipped in the painted porcelain of the moon. Her skin was scraped and bruised but as she washed water from the river upon her cuts, it caused them to settle like millions of diamonds upon her skin. He watched as her head slowly made its way past her calm dark waters and into his curtain of light where her eyes collided with his and eyes the lightest blue held his gaze. Eyes that soon rounded with shock and fear as she scrambled back away from him in fright.
"Wait I—" he managed to speak before the edge crumbled underneath his hands from his weight and he fell forward into the waters below.