31. Aethra

Everything had gone downhill the day she was kidnapped by Kronos' grunts. To this day, she still didn't understand why the mad titan god had done it. She hadn't been treated badly nor did he want anything from her. Instead, he offered her a deal, to put Levana under the burden of the sky and in exchange gain protection from him.

Seeing no other choice, Aethra accepted the deal and tricked her, for a short time, caretaker, putting the woman under the weight of the sky. She had expected the woman to die under the weight as most of the other... mortals had. They all died an instant death putting them out of their misery quickly.

Aethra had thought it a blessing to get a quick death in a world where gods and demons existed. A fact that she had only found out due to Levana. Levana had in fact told her multiple times, that instant death could sometimes be a blessing compared to other scenarios that could happen.

Instead of an instant death, Levana was not only capable of holding the sky up, but she had also been able to use the sky as a tool for training. From behind the illusion she hid in, Aethra had seen and recognised the maniacally wide smile that had sported Levana's face as she took the weight of the sky upon herself.

Aethra had in fact watched the entire ordeal for every day that Levana was trapped- no, as Levana used the sky as training weights. Levana had apparently, quickly accepted Aethra's betrayal and had completely forgotten about her. A fact that upset Aethra greatly. They had gone through so much together, she could have at least had the decency to get mad.

Instead, the battle and training maniac that Aethra knew Levana was, continued training under the weight of the sky as her skin literally cracked and leaked superheated fluids that melted the ground. It was then that Aethra realised that Levana wasn't human.

No, according to the titans, Levana was a goddess through and through. This caused Aethra to be even more upset. The fact that her caretaker was a goddess but hadn't saved her from the titans.

However, she held onto her hope of being noticed and getting rescued. She did so until one day, Levana did notice her behind the illusion. Aethra had made eye contact with Levana's glowing eyes. The stoic look on the women's face had shifted for a second clueing Aethra in that she had been noticed.

However, Aethra's elation was quickly broken down as Levana suddenly decided to kill everybody. The atmosphere suddenly became hotter, and the goddess began shining brightly. All the demigods, Aethra included, were quickly evacuated out of the throne room and THAT was the last day Aethra saw Levana.

After that incident, everything escalated tenfold. The army of demigods had been deployed and Aethra was put in some place in America wearing full plate armour with a sword and shield in the middle of winter. Then, she was conveniently left there, forgotten by all, neither titan, nor demigod, nor Levana came to pick her up.

In her moment of nativity, Aethra had decided to take a page out of Levana's playbook and started training. She had figured that if Levana, a training freak, could become as strong as she did through training, she too would be able to.

Unfortunately, she was wrong, no amount of training she did brought her even close to even half the amount of strength Levana had shown her during their travels together.

Instead of getting stronger, Aethra had gotten hungry and had quickly run out of the rations she was provided. Then, training was simply no longer feasible and she had to abandon her plate armour and weapons. She opted for lighter more comfortable clothing and picked up a carving knife to defend herself with.

From then onwards, she lived on the streets. Through trial and error, she had figured out which bins had the best leftover food to eat and had survived off it. Though she still tried training her body, she quickly stopped as she learnt the hard way that desperate people didn't really care if you are a child or an adult, they will still mug you.

Even though she had basically nothing, they had still taken away all the donations she had gotten from begging. Sure, she was a little stronger than the average ten-year-old girl. However, in the face of grown men, no matter how skilled she was with the knife, she was still beaten black and blue and left in an alley.

From then onwards, she resorted to stealing. When necessary she killed the homeless people she had stolen from or attempted to mug. She did this for a year, relying solely on her ability to clear any traces of herself to keep her off the grid. A skill that Levana had thought her.

Though she had met and seen several monsters, they all left her alone or genuinely seemed scared of her, deciding to instead run from her. So, she too left them alone. Hunting humans who were far more profitable instead.

By the end of the year, she had grown far taller than an 11-year-old had any right to be and was far richer than her homeless status implied. Throughout the next year, she bought herself a nice pair of clothes which she used to "convince" people to open a bank account for her. Slowly, through the year, she deposited all her stolen money and by the end of that year, she had gotten herself a small apartment under a fake alias.

Now, a 13-year-old Aethra stared blankly at the wall. Its paint was peeling and Aethra found it annoying. However, she just continued to stare at the peeling paint. She was thinking after all. She was thinking of her next steps.

She wanted to find Levana, she had many things to ask that woman. Aethra had initially thought that the goddess would eventually seek her out herself. However, after essentially 3 years of waiting, there was still no sign of the whimsical goddess.

In fact, there was no sign of any gods or goddesses had shown themselves to her for the past 3 years. Finally, the girl decided to continue as she had been doing. Training her skill with the knife and "making" money.

...

Finally, 5 years later, 8 years after she was kidnapped by Kronos' grunts, a sign of the gods showed itself. It was such a large sign that even the mortals noticed. The Veil had been lifted.

Aethra, now 18 years old, standing at 6 feet tall, stared down from the window of her new apartment at the chaos brewing in the streets. The mortals could see the monsters now.

Aethra's eyes which reflected the cosmos, no longer shone with blinking stars. Instead, all that was left in her eyes was the swirling inky black. The eyes of an experienced murderer seeing an opportunity to make big bucks.

Sometimes, Aethra wondered if the reason why Levana never came back for her was that she had been weak. Now, she would prove herself. Since the apocalypse had arrived, she would bring a new order to the world. She would guide the sheep and be their new master.