1 Prologue

To the East of a huge bustling city, where everyone is living in luxury, live a pair of love birds who have the most unfortunate life no one will ever want. They have to work from dusk until dawn, perhaps every single chance they get to earn money for a living. However, their life completely change after having their door knocks by a mysterious presence.

It is a peaceful yet comforting night, where every single human will cuddle up in their own blankets until the sun rises, welcoming a new day. It is just the same for the couple-cuddling in each other's arms while having their body and mind rest from the awfully tiring day they had before. Until, comes an obscure knock on their very own door, too loud and forceful that the both of them are force to get out of their bed.

"Who can be knocking at this hour?" Mrs. Nelson said, rising from her bed.

And to top it off, what kind of people would knock on someone else's door so late at night with such killing intent?

She suddenly remembers a case that happened in the neighborhood two weeks ago. An unfortunate old woman was killed by a burglar who by chance sneaked into her house with a gun in his hand. A single bullet to the head was the cause of her demise.

Chills suddenly start running down her spine, as well as a drop in her body temperature, causing sweat to run down her forehead, as if a bucket of water had just been poured down on her. Along with her trembling hands, she decides to wake her husband up as she is just too afraid to go alone.

"H... h... honey? Can you please accompany me downstairs to check up on the door?" she stutters from fear as she wakes her husband up. Thankfully, he instantly wakes up, which is quite unusual for him and he immediately stretch his long arms to fetch his sweater.

As soon as she put her hair up in a bun, she bolts off downstairs and quickly make her way for the door to find out that the knocking has already come to a stop. After gathering up all of her courage, she bravely turns the doorknob and is left speechless to see nothing or no one except for a huge wooden basket, placed on their doormat.

She then run out of the house to examine their lawn, for any signs of movement but there doesn't seem to be anyone. Only the usual peaceful and calm street. After making sure that there's no one, she return to the basket and stare at it for quite some time.

A river of thoughts suddenly come to her as she thinks of so much possible things that can be in the basket. It could have been a time bomb, or perhaps something that wishes us ill will.

"What do you think you're doing? Just bring it in already," Mr. Nelson said grumpily, diminishing her weird thoughts. But she just can't help it. She's born a paranoid and there's nothing she can do about it.

She decides to bring the basket inside, but ends up staggering all over as it's just too heavy compared to how it look. They bring themselves to a worn-out couch to take a look at what is inside the basket. But before they actually look at what is underneath the thick piece of blanket, she tries giving a few pokes to make sure it's nowhere near dangerous. Surprisingly, it feels so soft that she got too carried away poking it, until her husband stops her.

As they unfold the blanket, they were surprise to see such a cute little baby sleeping soundly in the basket, as if the world has no end to it. She quickly pulls her into her arms to warm her up, as she seems to be shaking from the coldness of the night. Who could have done such evil to an innocent little baby?

After a while, they realize that there's a small container placed by the baby's side. They open it and there seems to be some kind of a huge bean-shaped seed with the ends lobed on either side, colored with every shade of purple, along with a beautifully handwritten note inside.

'PLEASE TAKE GOOD CARE OF THIS BABY. SHE IS IN NEED OF YOUR LOVE AND CARE. I WILL BE LEAVING HER IN YOUR CARE. GIVE HER A NAME AND MAY THE SEEDLING BE THE WITNESS OF HER GROWTH. UNTIL THEN, PLEASE SHOWER HER WITH YOUR LOVE'.

After reading the note, they exchange looks and are clueless about what to do.

"What should we do, David? Can this be some kind of prank?" she asks her husband, with one of her hands rubbing her chin.

"Who'd do such prank?" he answers, his voice a little grumpy.

"So, should we believe in this note?" she asks while raising the note in her hand.

"How about giving it a try? Taking care of the baby, that is," he said, which eventually brings a smile on Mrs. Nelson's face.

Without proper thought, they immediately agree to take care of the little baby as well as the seed, not knowing of what will be waiting for them in the future. They are actually really thankful to be given the chance of raising a child and promise each other and the baby's mother to take good care of her.

The both of them decide to give her a name: ATHENA.

***

5 years later

Mrs. Nelson

"Daddy, why are yours and mama's hair different from mine?" she asks in curiousity, quickly looking towards us, causing her red locks to ignite in the shimmering sunshine.

Those words that comes out of her tiny pinkish mouth have me and my husband shock. They are true after all. She's a natural redhead and has the most beautiful hair anyone would have ever wanted while mine and my husband is brown. We immediately look at each other and I wait for what will come out of his mouth.

"Well, that's because you're special." He replies in return, making me quite relieve with his answer.

"Does that mean that you and Mama love me?"

"Yes honey, we do love you", we said in sync, creating a radiant smile on her face as she run towards the both of us with both arms spread widely.

"Okay now Athena, time to go to bed", I said as she put on a frown.

"Do I have to?" she said, earning me the worst possible eye roll from Athena.

With her favorite doll drag on the floor, she stomp to her room and walk as if she's a criminal heading for prosecution which makes it even cuter. As usual, I'll tell her a story until she's fallen asleep. I kiss her forehead while wishing her a good night and goes straight for the light switch. As I am about to exit her room, the now darkened room suddenly lit up as bright as the daylight by the sudden roaring of thunder, which wakes Athena up, eventually making her bursts out in tears.

I then decide to sleep with Athena for the night, in order to calm her down, lullabying her and hugging her tightly in my arms.

"Mama's here Athena," I said, reassuring her that everything's going to be okay. As I, myself, is just about to fall asleep, David suddenly come barging in to Athena's room, running out of breath.

"Brietta, let's get out of here. It's not safe right now. We need to run!" he said, urging me with a pale face.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong?" I said in curiosity, not knowing of what had actually happened.

"Just do as I said!" he said, forcing me to get out of the house.

I immediately takes Athena in my arms and rush to the door.

Lightning is crashing everywhere, eventually hitting our house, setting it on fire. Windstorm can also be seen approaching our ramshackled house, as dried leaves start to swirl around in circles. The strong wind only help the fire to spread faster than we can escape. I barely managed to escape the house with Athena clinging tightly to my chest. However, I notice something strange as I escapes the house. I see no signs of lightning striking anywhere around the neighborhood except for our house. Although it may have seem impossible, everything seems to be set up by someone.

"Papa, I want Rabini!" she said, breaking me from my thoughts while trying to free herself from my hug.

Her strong kicks weaken my arms which eventually set her free. As soon as she's on the ground, she toddles into the house to save her doll. I chase after her but is soon stops by David.

"You stay here and I'll save Athena," he said to me.

He bolts off inside the house to save Athena. However, he's been in there long enough and it's about time for them to show up but I still can't seem to find their figures anywhere. After a while, the firefighters arrive and, as soon as I see them, I beg them to save David and Athena.

David

"Athena! Where are you?" I scream with all my might.

I search for Athena in every corner of the house, which no longer seem like one, but I can't seem to find my way through the house as everything seem to be falling apart. Smoke start covering my eyes as I make my way further into the house. The only place I haven't been to is Athena's room, which is located upstairs. I quicken my pace and in a blink of an eye, I'm already in front of her room, standing firmly as I search for a way to enter.

Just then, I can hear Athena crying out for help from the other side of the door. I grab a long piece of wood and break her door open. I rush to her and quickly pull her into my arms.

"It's okay now Athena. Daddy's here," I said reassuring her that she's safe now.

As soon as she's in my grasp, I quickly run down the stairs, until I can suddenly feel something hitting my head, so hard that I lose my balance, eventually falling to the ground. Thankfully, Athena's unharm as I manage to protect her in my arms.

"Daddy? Blood?" she said with both of her tiny hands covered in blood.

Those blood probably belongs to me as I feel liquid running down my forehead. I try standing up but there's no use because one of my feet is stuck under a fallen piece of wood. I am totally vulnerable right now as I can no longer move. The only thing I hope for is for Athena to be rescue.

"Daddy?" I heard Athena calling to me but my vision starts to fade away when blood spatter from my mouth as I cough.

"Athena, I promise you that you'll be safe, so please bare with it for just a little longer, okay?" I said as I suddenly see Athena coughing from inhaling the smoke.

"Be a good girl and listen to Mama, okay? I love you" I said, farewelling her as I finally feel that the time has now come for me to go.

"Okay Daddy! Athena loves Daddy too", she said, which eventually bring tears to my eyes.

After not too long, I can hear footsteps approaching us. 'Those must be the firefighters', I thought as I breathe my last breath.

Mrs. Nelson

Thankfully, I see Athena in one of their arms. I rush over and take Athena into my arms. However, David can be seen nowhere in sight.

"Mama, look," she said, pointing her blood-stained hands towards a group of firefighters with a stretcher, which seem to contain someone.

"Athena? Where's Daddy?"

"Daddy is sleeping. Fireguy a bad guy. He took Athena away from Daddy", she said, not knowing of what had happened to her father.

"Sir, where is my husband?" I asks one of them.

My question freeze them all up and I can suddenly feel that something is wrong as no one dares to answer me. Until one of them approaches me with an apologetic face,

"I'm sorry, miss, but I'm afraid he didn't make it." he said, bringing me towards a lifeless body, which I already know who it belonged to.

Every single word that comes out of his mouth stabs my heart so hard that I feel like the world around me has stop spinning. All of my memories with David from the moment we walked down the aisle together until just now start rewinding in my head, round and round until they suddenly shatter into pieces of broken glass. I fall to my knees and the only thing I did was cry my heart out, mourning the loss of my one and only husband.

***

After that incident, I thought that we will finally be living our lives peacefully. I continue raising Athena by myself, keeping my promise to David. Unfortunately, it is not that easy to raise a child alone, especially when your child is not that human. We've been bombarded with lots of problems afterwards and have to move houses countless times, as something seems to be hunting Athena.

Finally, we found a house safe enough for both of us to live in. It is far in the countryside, away from the crowded city. I finally make the decision to plant the mysterious seed at the back of the house. My instincts told me that this will be the place that will guard Athena and me from all sorts of danger.

However, I know one thing for sure: that Athena's existence is not something to be taken lightly. On that particular night, one of the firemen told me that she was protected by some kind of magic shield, guarding her from the fire.

I thought to myself that she will know everything when she come of age. Until then, I'll be keeping her from the outside world, hiding the fact that she is the chosen one.