Sun Girl

I was not supposed to be born.

They say my mother ruined my father. His people say she ruined him. My birth brought the death of two villages. Now, I am locked at the top of a mountain. I am not allowed to leave. They are dead, but I remain. I could leave if I wanted to. There is nobody holding me here. So, why am I still here?

My story goes back many years.

There were two villages on the ground. They both had beautiful and huge amounts of land. Every year brought abundant harvests. The people were close with each other. They never went hungry. Laughter filled the skies. When it rained, they were so happy. Both sides had their own technology and wealth to keep them sustained for years. Even the river gave them plenty of water. The villages saw each other every day, but they never interacted. It would’ve stayed that way if two lovers hadn’t gotten together. An invisible line kept the villages separate. Nobody ever dared to cross it. They never stopped to ask why. The elders that knew the reason forgot it as time passed. If nobody crossed the invisible to the other village, well, there would be no story and I would not exist.

There always has to be one or two rebels to upset the balance.

Both sides have different stories on who started this affair. One village blames my mother and the other blames my father. It doesn’t matter now that I think about it. My parents met in the woods. That’s all there was to it. My mother came from the Wolf Village. They praised her for being not afraid to speak her mind. Many men desired her, but they had no luck winning her over. She even swore herself that she would never marry. My mother wanted to live for herself. She dreamed of getting out of the village ever since she was little girl.

My father came with the Crow Village. He was a loner. They said that he would be alone in his thoughts. They could see the future in his eyes. In fact, he was going to be the one to take over his father’s role as head of the village. But was that really what he wanted?

My parents might have found the answer when they first crossed paths in the woods. It is unclear who made the first move. But, their attraction was instant and they had to see each other again. It didn’t take long for a relationship to bloom. But, there was a problem. They were not supposed to be together at all. The gods in the sky didn’t want them to be. As predicted, they set out to break up the couple. Why did the gods care about the people from the villages being together? It all stems back from a grudge.

There were two gods that got into an argument. What it was, I don’t even think the people even remember anymore. To me, it’s all just so stupid. Let story short, they fell out and split up the land. The gods were the ones who drew the invisible line. They made it forbidden for the people to interact with each other.

“When that line is crossed, war will fall upon the two villages,” they warned the elders. The people back then followed these instructions to a tee. But overtime, the meaning became lost. But then, my parents lost their virginities to each other.

It didn’t take long for the villages to notice that something wasn’t right. Their crops started to die off and animals were attacking each other. The people used every mean they knew to try and stop it. Magic, technology, and prayers didn’t help. It would take the daughter of a priest in the Wolf Village to suggest the unthinkable.

“Did somebody cross the line, daddy?” she asked one day at the annual dinner feast. All eyes fell on her. Her father struggled to give her an answer.

“Why would you think that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” his daughter said. Her words left a haunting effect on everyone. The hunting for the truth began the next day. By this time, my mother and father had a problem.

“I’m pregnant,” she told him three months into the hunts. My father stared at her with big eyes.

“What?!” he asked. My mother lowered her eyes, trembling. He pulled her into his arms.

“Don’t worry,” my father whispered in her ear. “I will protect you.” My mother broke down crying against his chest.

“Can you really do that?” she asked. My mother looked up at him with worry in her eyes. He pressed his lips together and nodded.

“I will give it my all,” he said.

But a pregnancy is not an easy thing to hide for long. It didn’t take long for my mother’s family to notice that her clothes were getting bigger as the months wore on. My grandfather forced her to tell him who the father was. She refused to give up my father for days. With nowhere else to turn, he and some of the hunters listened to the reeds that floated down to the village after a rainstorm.

“It’s the son of the Crow Village Leader! It’s the son of the Crow Village Leader! It’s the son of the Crow Village Leader!” the leaves said. “Do not believe her lies!” The people of the Crow Village learned of the truth as well. A council was called from both villages. They didn’t really know what to do with my parents.

“Execute them!” some cried.

“Exile them!” others cried. The trials dragged through the days. At last, they turned to the foolish gods for help. My mother ended up locked away in a temple on this very mountain. She gave birth to me alone and died shortly afterwards. Though, there was a monster-like creature taking care of her, it wasn’t enough. My father was buried alive in a tomb. I ended up alone as the villages below began to follow into war. But, it was no a total loss. A third god who had witnessed everything from the very beginning decided to get a little revenge on the feuding gods and gave me a rare gift.

“You will be known as the Sun Child and overpower the fools that put you in this situation,” I was told when I was a baby. A mark burned into the bottom of my right foot. I remained in this temple prison to this very day. Why haven’t I left?

More importantly, what are you doing here with me?