One
Athenas blue eyes watch with wonder the wall in front of her, she keeps fighting the urge to blink. She sits and waits patiently for the sun to touch the wooden wall, signaling that the day she has been waiting for since last year has finally come. A smile graces her rose colored lips, and the excitement in her eyes doesn't go could be seen by anyone if they were to see her. Athena, lies on her old, wooden bed that has a few blankets over it to make it more comfortable for her and one pillow. All in white, but, over time the color has become more like a yellow color.
At last, her tired eyes, see the rays of the sun as they lightly grace the wall, signaling that the day has begun. Athena wastes no time and gets up and still in her nighttime clothes, she runs out of her bedroom with such excitement. Not caring about the noise she makes. The day she has been longing for is finally here and she doesn't want to waste a second of it. She runs to the main room of her little house and sitting on the sofa, are her two favorite people. Her brothers, her saviors, Jackson and Jasper.
"There she is" Jackson, the older brother says enthusiastically, as both of them stand up to greet their overly excited sister. The three of them join together in a hug, a thing that is well-known in this family and no one misses an opportunity to hug when they need it.
"Happy birthday, dear sister" They say in unison.
"Thank you" Athena tells them and giggles softly.
She sits down on the sofa, making sure she's in the middle of her brothers. On the small wooden table in front of the sofa, are two presents.
"Which one do you want to open first?" Jackson asks her excitedly, wanting her to pick his.
"That one" She says and reaches to take the one left of her, which is from Jackson, who is happy that his gift was picked first.
The two brothers are very competitive when it comes to their little sister, all they do is compete to win her love and be the best brothers that she knows. Of course, she thinks that both her brothers are equally the best brothers and she loves them just as equally. But, she can't deny that it's not entertaining to watch them bicker and argue of who's the best.
The present in her hands is just a small, and simple wooden box that is no bigger than her fist. The wood is decorated with hand-cravings that Jackson made himself must have done, as he's found a passion in wood cutting. Without opening the box, she looks at the carvings. By first glance, you might believe it to be just a bunch of nonsense, but looking closer, you start to see the beautiful images that these carvings seem to contain.
On the lid of the box is a carving of a small baby wrapped around in a blanket surrounded by flames. And on side of the box are images of a girl from infant to child to teenager. As a sign that Athena is now a teenager and is soon to be wed to someone, as much as that pains the two brothers. To give up their only sister, to a man they barely know is not something that they can or want to accept. Under the box, her name is carved into the wood and around it, small roses decorate it which makes it look even more beautiful.
Her eyes soak in every single detail of the carvings and each one of them is beautiful in her eyes and though they might not be perfect, she can feel the love that her brother put into it. Slowly and gently, she lifts the lid off the wooden box and her eyes widen with surprise and wonder. She carefully digs through the hay, and picks up the necklace at the bottom and doesn't want it to be ruined by her little hands.
The necklace has a silver chain with a red & silver rose charm, with her name written on it. Although, the necklace was not made for her, but for her grandmother. The necklace did indeed now belong to her. She breaks out in happy tears and hugs her brother.
"Thank you so much, this is so beautiful" She whispers and kisses his cheek.
"I'll help you put it on" He says.
Jasper helps her move her hair up on top of her head so that Jackson can put the necklace on. As soon as the silver touches her delicate skin, shivers run down her spine from the cold metal.
"Now open my present, before you jump around and celebrate" Jasper says, with a chuckle.
his older brother, who's happy to see the necklace of their grandmother on the girl that they love with their whole hearts. Wiping away her tears, she picks up the box that the Jasper has handed her. It is heavier and a bit bigger than the one that she got from Jackson. She lifts the box and inside is a blanket.
White and hand knitted blanket with her name sewed into it with gold threading. This is the blanket that their mother had made for her, but never got the chance to give it to her, personally. Her brother wrapped her in the blanket the night that they fled their birth place. The horrors that they had seen was enough to send them running and they thank the lord every day for not taking the life of their baby sister that night. She picks up the blanket and inside there's something hidden. Carefully she unfolds the blanket, to reveal what her brother had put inside.
In the blanket is a silver hairbrush. It's truly beautiful, patterns of reddish swirls and roses decorate the silver on the handle and it looks perfect. She hugs her brother.
"Thank you, I love it, it's pretty. Thank both of you" She says, happily and overly exited.
The day has only started and it's already the perfect day that she had hoped it would be.
"Now, get dressed. We're going to the village"Jackson says, noticing that she is still in her night time clothes.
Over the years, she hated wearing dresses, they are made so women are unable to breathe and she loves breathing in the fresh air. Jumping up from the old sofa, she returns to her room, to change her clothing for the day. Opening her wardrobe, that has the few dresses that she owns and trying to find the one that she wants to wear for her special day. She finally decides on a dress and takes it from her wardrobe and changes into it.
The dress is a pale rose red and has a slight curve in the neckline and hugs her flat stomach. From the waist, it goes down to her ankles and goes a little out. The dress isn't anything special, it's rather simple and that is exactly what drew Athena to it, she doesn't like the rich and fancy dresses, but rather the more simpler ones seem to catch her eye. She isn't much for the over the top things, and they don't have enough money to buy everything, like she has seen many girls from the village do.
Around her neck she has the necklace and wears it with pride. Using the brush that she got from Jasper, she attempts to brush her hair. Her bright fire colored hair always gets tangled, not matter how much she brushes over it or tries to have it in a braid. Her thick hair flows down her back, and makes it look longer when it's brushed.
Looking in the cracked mirror, on the side of her small desk, she looks at herself and sees a girl with gleaming eyes and finally straight hair, though it won't be long until her hair starts to get tangled. She sees a beautiful girl standing in the mirror and in one years time, she will become a woman and married. At the age of seventeen, suitors come asking girls for their hands, and if wealthy enough, their fathers allow their daughters to marry them. But In her case, her brothers will have to decide.
That thought alone worries her. The brothers will most likely turn down every suitor that will ask for her hand in marriage. She picks a pair of Mary Jane heels to wear, it is the only heels she has. The other shoes she owns are riding boots which she uses for winter and her summer shoes. Happy with the way that she looks, she goes back to her brothers, who are waiting by the front door of the house.
"Athena, you look stunning, as always" Jackson says, as he notices his sister come from her room.
In his eyes, she truly is beautiful and sometimes he can see their mother in her. Though, it has been sixteen years since he last saw her face.
"Thank you, you are ever so kind" She says with a smile on her face.
The three siblings exit the house and go to the stables. Two horses stand there, for the stables that they own are small. Athena goes on the white horse with black spots, and Jackson goes on the same horse with her. While Jasper goes on a brown horse with white spots. They all ride to the village together happily.
But unknown to them, the door of their house opens and a hooded figure walks inside. Walking past the fireplace, a roaring fire lights. The hooded figure stalks towards the bedroom that belongs to Athena. Taking the hood off, the figure reveals itself to be a man. The door flies open on its own and he walks silently inside. He looks around the room and takes in every detail of it.
He goes to the bed and sits, thinking to himself that this bed is not comfortable at all. Opening her wardrobe, he takes a look at the dresses that she owns. Everything in her room is either cheap and it is not good for her. He leaves her room, but before he does that, he puts his gift on her bed for her to open when she returns.
And the man leaves the house, but the fire does not go out. He leaves the house, with no trace that he was ever there, except for the fire that is burning in the fireplace and the gift that he left for Athena on her bed. Though, she might not know him, he knows her. And, he has been watching over her, since her birth and he has kept her out of harms way and always made sure she was protected. His trusted demons slept near the house, to keep predators away and enemies of his Queen.
*****
By the time that Athena and her brothers returned from a day out in the village, the day was starting to turn to night. They had spent the entire day having fun. Shopping and looking at things that they can only dream of having and joked amongst themselves. It might not have been a lot to most folks, but to Athena, this day has been perfect and she's grateful that she got to share her joy with her brothers. As they rode home, she watched the sunset happen before her eyes and was amazed by the beauty that it holds, and the stars that soon came to the sky was magical.
"Carry me... Please?" She asks her brother when they're at the stables and he has gotten off the horse.
Her legs were killing her, from all that walking and running that she did. She's sure that her feet are bruised, for they are aching and all she wants to do is take a bath to relax. But, then again, her body is also tired and doesn't want to do anything but sleep on her bed. She did after all not sleep much the previous night, the excitement in her body knowing it was her birthday didn't allow her to sleep.
"If I go down, I might fall" She says, trying desperately to hide her smile, but failing terribly.
"Fine, only for you" Jackson answers and helps her off the horse, and carries her bridal style inside the house.
Jasper gives the horses food and water and puts them in the stables, allowing them to rest, after the journey that they have had. The village is a bit far and can be tiring for the horses to go that far. They go inside the house, expecting it to be dark and cold, since they had been gone for the whole day.
But, what they found was a well lit and warm front room instead. All candles are lit and the fire in the fireplace is burning as well. The three siblings are rather confused, setting his sister down, Jackson takes his sword and goes to see if there is anyone in the house. Jasper also has his sword in hand, but he looks outside of their small house to see the intruders, but the brothers find no one. Athena, with no weapon, stays by the door, unsure of what she can do.
She knows no fighting skills and has no weapons on her, even if there was an unwanted guest in the house that were trying to escape, she could not stop them.
"There's no one. We're safe" Jackson speaks from his room.
He had gone into every single room and searched every place that someone can hide in, but finds no one. By the look on Jaspers face, he knows that his brother saw no one outside. At least the siblings are safe and are not in danger. They just continue with their night, forgetting that this happened.
Later that night after everyone is calm and its time for bed Athena tells her brothers Good night, and kisses them on the cheek. While Athena went to her room to retire for the night, the two brothers, stayed awake. Both of them, in the main room, where you'd have to go if you were to go into any room of the house and exit it.
Athena, however entered her room and right away she started to strip off her dress and set it aside, to be washed later. In her undergarments, she went around her room to blow out some of the candles that hold the only light in the room for the sun has gone down and only darkness remains outside. She walks over to her wardrobe to grab some night clothes. But, as she walks to the wardrobe , she notices something on her bed, something that she had not see before. She knows she did not put it there, nor did she doubt her brothers would have put it there either.
On her bed, is a box. Which looks to be made out of pure crystal. The outside of the box is beautiful and she can not understand how it got there. But, she picks it up. She's careful to not drop it, and is afraid to even hold for she's not used to having things that are this beautiful. And, if this were made out of crystal or diamond material then it must've cost a fortune and she knows no one who even has such money. Even in the village, the richest person could not afford anything like this.
The lid of the box has a red outline and it looks like it has been hand painted, with red and gold paint. Not many can afford that. She's careful to open the box, the lid has a handle that looks like the new types of door knob's. It's round and smooth, yet made out of the same material as the box. As she looks down into the box, her blue eyes widen with surprise and shock, for she can not believe what her eyes are witnessing.
Inside the box is a small flame, it appears to be floating, but it doesn't move out of the box. The burning flame dances and it doesn't even have a source, it's just there. And burning quite beautifully. The flame is small, yet holds so much beauty. It lights up half the room perfectly. Setting the box down on her bed, Athena, reaches her hand out to touch the flame.
The Athena feels compelled to touch the the small flame and her hand moves without her knowing. Her finger lightly graces the flame and to her surprise, she does not feel pain, nor does she get burned. The fire is so calm and her eyes can't help but look at it and wonder how such pretty thing on earth is dangerous, to her, it doesn't seem like a threat. She sets both her hands into the flame and allows it play around her fingers and palms.
Every cell in her body is screaming at her that this is wrong that this is witchcraft and she should not be doing this, yet here she is, with her hands in a flaming fire. She closes her eyes and she feels safe and well protected. Like nothing on this earth can harm her. And, for a moment, she felt so relaxed that she wanted to sleep. The fire is making her stronger, not only mentally but also physically. Athena opens her eyes when she feels something strange happening to her.
Looking down at her hands, she notices that her fingers and hands and wrists and all the way up to her arms, her veins seem to be glowing a bright red and golden color. Her gaze turns to the flame and it's getting smaller, traveling to her hands, and through her body. She can't deny that this feeling isn't good, she feels wonderful and her whole body feels stronger and better. As more and more of her body absorbs the fire, the more tired she becomes and even though her body feels stronger, it takes a toll to mess around with things like this.
Her eyes grow heavy and she can't keep seem to be able to keep them open any longer. Closing them she nods off into the dreamworld. The fire in the box is gone, it has been absorbed into her body and has become one with her.
What she is not aware of though, is that in the cracked mirror on her desk, a man sitting on his throne, in his kingdom, watched the whole thing happened, with a smile on his face. "Soon, my love. Soon you'll be by my side where you so rightfully belong" He whispers watching his unconscious queen sleep.
*****
Athena is a seventeen-year-old girl and her life has been written for her, before she was even born and soon she will fulfill her destiny. Tonight was the night that sealed her fate and her life has been changed forever, nothing can be taken back. For what was given cannot be returned. And the girl that she was will never be again, for there is something special in store for her and the man will wait eager for her to rule by his side. Athena IS the future Queen of hell and nothing on this earth can change that.