[ WP ] Earth did get tidally locked with the Moon and it 's only viewable from either North or South America . When Europeans first come to the new world they also tell tales of a new object in the sky . ( x-post from /r/space )

In The New World, there were two nights. There was actual night, when the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and The Moon provided the sole light in the sky. Then there was second night, when the sun passed behind The Moon daily, and the land was cast into darkness by the eye of the eclipse. 
 
 Actual night was brighter then ours, as the The Moon lit the sky as a glowing orb with illumination that made traversing the dark simple. Even before reaching America, we had known about The Moon. Mathematics discovered it long before we did- just as we knew the world was round without walking around it, we knew of the existence of an extraterrestrial object behind the mass of the earth. Analysis of the tides predicted it, as the sun's pull seemed dampened by another force. So did many other theorems, but I wo n't go into them. They're not important- they prove its existence, and having seen The Moon, I was no longer concerned with intellectual proof. 
 
 Neither did it concern the bodies of my crew, all forty of them dead, because of the horror of second night. The eclipse. I survived by chance, and this is the account of that day. 
 
 It happened two afternoons ago. I'll start before then, while we were still at sea. 
 
 `` There she is!'' Cried out a voice from the crow's nest, and the sailors rushed up to the deck. The Moon was just visible over the waves, becoming more visible with each passing hour, like a reverse sunset. 
 
 `` Just like I remembered it,'' Said the man next to me, the long tips of his mustache dangling towards his chin and his almond eyes squinting through the sea spray, `` Ten years it's been, since I sailed off the Oriental coast. We only caught a glimpse of her then. Oh she's beautiful, and I only did just see a sliver of her. She's just as beautiful as I remember.'' 
 
 I chuckled, `` You know, Lee,'' I said, `` I almost did n't believe you when you said you saw it. But my own eye's do n't deceive me.'' 
 
 The rest of the sailors quieted to awe with each passing day, the beauty of The Moon only growing as she climbed into the sky. The first eclipse took us by surprise, as men stared directly into it's eye and rubbed their own eyes for hours afterward. 
 
 `` It's almost as dark as night back home,'' Said one. `` Not quite, but almost. I do n't feel right sleeping anymore. It's too bright out, almost as if it's watching us.'' 
 
 Several days later the crow's nest called out again, his voice lord over the sea. 
 
 `` Land! Land ho!'' 
 
 The crew laughed and shouted, shoving each other with excitement, and a sixty year old bottle of whiskey was passed around to celebrate. Of the three ships that had gone before us, none had returned, presumably lost at sea or destroyed by storm. But where they had failed, we had succeeded. 
 
 We grew closer, the shoreline broadening to accept us. 
 
 `` Look!'' Came the shout from the crow's nest, `` Another ship! There, moored near shore!'' 
 
 We opened full sails, speeding towards the other sign of habitation. But as we grew close, the crew became silent. The sails were tattered, the deck empty, and upon thorough search, so as the hold. 
 
 The ship was *The Morning Tide*, the ship that had left before us, and never returned. 
 
 `` I do n't like this,'' Said Lee, `` Their stores were full, and their rowboats gone. There's not a soul aboard. They must have left for land.'' 
 
 `` And we shall follow.'' I said, `` Maybe they met another civilization.'' I raised my voice to the crew, `` Proceed with full caution!'' 
 
 We did, rowing silently to shore, and creeping up the beach. The forest was thick, many of the trees and plants unlike our own, but we marked our way and found a path. Though the trail was faint, we found where *The Morning Tide's* crew had gone before us, and followed their steps. 
 
 Until we found their skeletons. 
 
 It was in a clearing, and there was the remains of a long extinguished campfire. The remains of men were scattered around it, not a single full set of bones to be seen. 
 
 `` They were attacked,'' Said Lee, `` Brutally, while stopping for a break. Their bones, they are snapped. Scattered. We should not be in this place when night falls.'' 
 
 `` Agreed.'' I said. 
 
 But neither of us accounted for second night. 
 
 Before I describe what happened when the sun disappeared, it's important you understand natural order. Evolution dictates that creatures that are the most adapted to their environment thrive. They mutate over generations, changing in accord to the cards they were played. 
 
 Take predators. They've learned to hunt when conditions are prime for them to catch their prey. Many hunt at night, aided by darkness, millions of years shaping them to be the most deadly adversaries possible. Typically the prey has millions of years to adapt too, to learn to escape, to know danger when it was coming. 
 
 We never had that advantage. The predators here hunted in the minutes second night, when the land was at its darkest. And they struck without warning. 
 
 `` Aghhh!'' Shouted the man from the crow's nest. It was fitting he should go first- his position on the cabin was to voice new discoveries, and his position in death was no different. 
 
 Before I could react, fifteen more of the men were down, their screams only attracting more of the strange predators. They were unlike anything I had ever seen- almost like snakes, but with many legs, rushing along the ground and impaling my men with razor sharp arms. They moved fast- almost too fast to see, making quick work of their prey, as evolution had conditioned them to since second night would only last minutes. As such, their work was ruthless, not pausing to eat or inspect the dead until the sun's brightness returned to the sky. While it was dark, they killed. 
 
 Lee and I escaped, by luck, in the confusion. As far as I know, we were the only ones to survive. We rowed back to the ship, making preparations to return home. 
 
 We slept on the ship that night, waiting to see if any of the crew would return. None did. 
 
 Lee was on the deck during the second eclipse, scanning the shoreline for survivors. 
 
 I write this testimony from within my cabin, aboard my ship. I survived the first eclipse on land, but I never expected the sea creatures near shore had adapted to eclipse hunting as well. 
 
 I was wrong. My door wo n't hold much longer, and they're quite adept at scaling the sides of the ship. 
 
 Soon I will share Lee's fate. 
 
 ***** 
 
 By Leo 

