The Night A Goddess Fell
The sky was burning.
Not with fire—but with something far worse.
Reality itself was breaking.
The air trembled as the ground split open in jagged lines, glowing with a strange, violent light. The wind howled like it was alive, bending, twisting—obeying no natural law.
And in the middle of it all…
She stood.
Blood stained her white robes, spreading like ink across water. Her breathing was uneven, sharp—but her eyes still burned with power.
A queen.
A warrior.
A goddess.
Ziva.
She raised her trembling hand—and the world obeyed.
The sky cracked.
A wave of invisible force surged forward, throwing back the approaching figures—shadows of men and Aetari alike, all locked in a war that had already taken too much.
Too many lives.
Too much power unleashed.
But even gods can bleed.
She staggered.
A sharp pain tore through her body.
Then another.
Her hand dropped to her stomach.
Her breath caught.
“No…” she whispered, voice breaking. “Not now…”
The child.
Her child.
Another contraction hit—stronger this time—and she fell to one knee, her power flickering violently around her. The ground beneath her pulsed, reacting to her pain.
She was losing.
Not just the battle—
Everything.
“Your Majesty!”
A figure rushed toward her through the chaos.
Selene.
Her most trusted maid… her shadow, her protector, her last hope.
Selene dropped beside her, eyes wide with fear as she took in the blood, the shaking, the fading energy.
“We have to go—now!” Selene said urgently.
Another explosion of power shook the distance. The enemy was closing in.
The goddess let out a strained breath, her strength slipping through her fingers like sand.
“…Help me up,” she said weakly.
Selene didn’t hesitate.
With effort, she pulled her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her as they disappeared into the collapsing battlefield.
They didn’t stop running.
Through torn space.
Through broken reality.
Through a world that was ending behind them.
Until finally…
Silence.
A hidden place. Safe—for now.
The goddess collapsed.
A scream tore from her lips as the final wave of pain hit.
Selene froze.
“No… no, it’s too soon—”
“It’s time,” the goddess whispered, her voice barely there.
And then—
A cry.
Soft.
Fragile.
Alive.
Selene stared down in shock as the child was placed into her trembling hands.
A girl.
Small… but radiating something unnatural. Something powerful.
Something ancient.
The goddess smiled faintly, her blood-stained hand reaching out to touch the baby’s face.
“My daughter…” she whispered.
Her gaze lifted to Selene—sharp, urgent, fading.
“You must protect her.”
Selene’s throat tightened. “With my life.”
“They will hunt her,” the goddess said. “For what she is… for what she will become.”
Her breathing slowed.
Her eyes dimmed.
“She is not just Aetari…”
A pause.
A final breath.
“She is… more.”
Selene’s grip tightened around the child.
Tears slipped silently down her face.
“My queen—”
“Hide her,” the goddess whispered, barely audible now. “Let her live… as human…”
Her hand fell.
Still.
The wind stopped.
The world went quiet.
A goddess had died.
And in Selene’s arms…
A new one had just been born.
