Curling inwards, I hold tight, while a deafening shriek of howling winds attempts to break through my barrier. Using myself as a shield, I tremble, my frail outer layer struggling with fatigue. I bunker down, unfurling my roots, spreading and intertwining my veins of life, deeper into an intricate web. An anchor but also a funnel to the life force below, without which I wouldn't have survived as long as I have. But as I pull, sucking any trace of nutrients; its not enough. Not to fully sustain me. And my time is running out.

To truly flourish, I need light. Light is a life force; without it, I will die. I was unfortunate enough to sprout my seed in a habitat where the sun had been banished. A corner of pitch blackness that the boogie man himself wouldn't dare step into. I'm surrounded by the fortress, a perfectly placed stone tower high above me, denying any ray to break through. I yearn to reach higher, but I'm stunted, my eyes searching the endless void. I will never feel the shine and warmth of the sun's rays. Never feel nourished and replenished with its sustenance upon my skin.

I shiver; the wind relentlessly hammers into me through a tunnel of darkness. Taunting me that somewhere it leads to the world beyond. I can hear hourglass grains of sand slipping. Only moments left before I’m ripped away—just a microcell in the wind to crumble out of existence.

Suddenly, I feel my nerves struck as a thunderous sound explodes. A confetti of shattered rock reverberates all around. I tense as debris misses colliding with me by inches. My senses tickle as a smoky scent fills my pores. Startled, I blink my eyes shut, blinded as an intense, jagged laser of light illuminates the whole area around me.

_SNAP!_

_BOOM!_

I shake uncontrollably as the ripples of the last monstrous strike dissipate. My gaze shoots up above, trying to focus through the haze. Everything is still dark, but there is now an irregular pattern of light! Quickly, I move my body, testing movements in my arms. I stretch. I reach. I use every ounce of strength that I have, wishing, pleading. This is the miracle I need, and still I can't harness the tremendous power at the tips of my grasp.

I shred a leaf, a limb, along with any hope. I turn my head in sorrow towards the soil beneath me. The storm rumbles now in the distance, as it has given up on me, too. If my petals ever had the chance to flower, I imagine this is when they would slip from me like raindrops falling from the clouds as silent tears.

I no longer feel the force of the wind. Whether it's stopped or I've gone numb, I'm unsure. Stillness and silence coat me when I start to feel an itch. A gentle touch grazes my skin, igniting a warmth and tickling beneath. A thread pulls me upright, lifting my head toward the sky, and I feel it. A soft glow illuminating from a speckled white orb hovering above, stealing the night scape stage.

A weightlessness takes over me. I embrace and rise into the shimmering moonlight. Euphoria takes hold as I bathe in its silvery light. Swaying, I motion my body in a peaceful side-to-side dance, as a whisper of a breeze uplifts my leaves in a trance of pure bliss. I feel the pinnacle of transcendence and release my petals delicately, unravelling as I **_Bloom. _**

Serenity flows through me; I never thought this day would come. A dream. A fantasy. Ecstasy. I've been reborn, for wherever there is light, the flowers will find it. I've completed my purpose. To bloom under the moonlight. **_I am a moonflower. _**