It’s finished. I took a big long rest on writing anything yesterday after I finished everything. Below are some spoilers for the short story. It’s only 8k words long. Consider giving it a read before reading the spoilers.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/147184/lunar-tombstone
I think I have said this before on my website but I am ill. For some it is deadly. I am lucky to be young and for this to not be critically life threatening. It’s still life threatening but it would take a few years to kill me. Because of this, I know exactly what that feeling of “giving up” is like. One can be alive but not alive. This deeper question of what “alive” entails is the centerpiece of the short story as Luna grapples with the death of Daniel.
I’m going to give one last warning for spoilers because I really think that reading the story itself will give you the best perspective on the philosophy I wish to portray.
In the author notes for the last chapter, I put “I too like to believe I am immortal.” Do I believe this? Yes. I have explained in a previous post about how I believe I live through the things I have created. I put a piece of my soul, my spirit, into my works. In my previous long post about writing I explain my stance on writing as simply a vehicle to encode the stuff in my head into a package someone else can consume and internalize. This process of another being internalizing my ideas makes me spiritually immortal. In the story, Daniel writes a journal which is a physical representation of Daniel’s story. When Daniel refuses to take back his journal to continue writing it, he is hinting that he had already died at that point.
Shortly before I fell ill, a close relative of mine died. I heard from those that knew him that they didn’t get along but deeply regretted it and weren’t able to talk it out until they were dying. This anecdote resonated with me especially because I got to see it with my own eyes. From this I came up with Luna’s questioning and internal monologue questioning if it was okay for her to feel the way she did about Daniel’s death. Obviously, she wanted to believe Daniel was alive but the story heavily foreshadows that Daniel had been dead.
The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. When you look at the story, this path is very obvious. And at the end Luna accepts Daniel’s death and admits to her denial of the dragon rider’s death. The death of Daniel is foreshadowed through the pity and the revival chapter. From this I’m pretty sure it’s obvious that the reader can gather that Daniel is dead.
So what about Eris telling Luna to go to the moon? In many religions, a journey to the moon is seen as a journey to the divine. When Daniel looks back on the world from the perspective of the gods he laments how he says that he would be the only mortal to ever gaze upon the world. However, once you realize that Daniel is dead you realize that he isn’t exactly mortal anymore. However, Daniel still has his body somehow. Upon reaching the moon his body disappears signifying his complete ascension to immortality. This displays the conflicting states of aliveness where Luna wishes for physical aliveness and Daniel has accepted his transition to spiritual aliveness.
I too like to believe I am immortal. If one denies the truth of death everyone will remain mortal. Accept the state of the world and let those reach the moon. Let them see the world from the perspective of the gods. Let them be immortal.
Potato is yum 
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