Lingering Dreams on the Moonlit Stage

The city was in darkness, it was empty, and the grey rocks of the moon were set against the black void. The people of the city were gone; they had left their homes, their businesses, and all that they owned behind. It was as if a great plague had swept through the city and took with it all but a single soul.

The only light came from the stage that shined like a beacon in a sea of darkness. The air felt cool, almost like a gentle breeze blew on my skin; I felt alive here. My music poured out from my instrument, filling the void with melody, colors, and light. I danced across the stage with ease, feeling at home in this place. My feet moved effortlessly, sliding along the polished stone floor, cutting through the stillness of the night. In my mind, I saw visions of those before me enjoying my artistry; I imagined them clapping for me, smiling encouragement as I danced about before them.

My eyes focused on the sky above me, where once there had been stars there was now only emptiness—a void that pierced my soul more than any sword could ever do. I regretted not taking more time to enjoy this place while it existed; I should have savored every second I spent here instead of waiting until now. Now there was nothing but regret and melancholy within me, only my artistry kept me going forward despite my withering heart—my heart which had lost so much and was now ready to give up its last hope of happiness and love.

I thought back to how I came to be here and realized how foolish I had been to think that a man like myself could somehow find his way into paradise without being rejected by those who lived here. If nothing else, I was persistent if nothing else.

I remembered when we first came to this place, huddled together in one small ship made for those who wished to explore beyond the bounds of our world—our Earth... our home. We had awakened from stasis lacking any knowledge as to what had happened or where we were—we knew nothing but our names and where we came from... it was disorienting, to say the least; that was —until we managed to contact each other through our ship's systems.

It turned out that our ships had been shot down by some sort of strange energy weapon that missed us and hit another ship instead—killing everything aboard, including any survivors of our crash... it didn't take long for us to figure out what happened after we met up with each other; we soon learned how lucky we were to be alive when we found out what happened. This place should have been lifeless like our home world, but something incredible happened during those years we were all asleep inside our little pods... somehow a new life force emerged from the ashes of destruction on this planet; new life with an incredible intellect that surpassed anything known today... and on top of it all, they seemed human!

We first made contact with them when getting closer to their city—they showed up before us... only appearing as silhouettes against their shining lights; I remember thinking that they looked very similar to us just taller and thinner than most men are today or even back then... then they spoke to us using a device that looked like a glowing rectangle near their mouths, they sounded exactly like humans too! After struggling with them through many misunderstandings, they finally understood why we were there—we told them about our mission: To find new worlds similar to ours and make new colonies within them... they agreed to show us around their world since they were interested in seeing what other types of people looked like besides themselves... so far all they had seen or interacted with lived right here in this city! This is where things began falling apart for us; when entering their beautiful city, we learned something terrible about ourselves: We weren't welcome here!

They saw everything we did as evil no matter what good intentions we claimed to have; we tried explaining that most of humanity had changed over time but because none of us remembered anything prior to awakening from stasis it made sense why these people believed us so evil... there wasn't much more we could explain... not until one day when one of these odd creatures called Michael Leightor decided he wanted to stay here with these strange people he called "Elves" anyways... Michael was a musician by trade, so he thought he might be able to earn some money within this strange society if he stayed behind long enough. At first, everyone thought he was crazy until he translated some words into Elven for us using his computer: They loved him! He became famous among them after only days within their society... fame is something most humans desire very much regardless of how strange or evil they may be towards others outside their circle... Michael wanted his dream fulfilled if nothing else, so he stayed behind in hopes that his music would be appreciated among these magnificent beings called Elves; he never expected things would end