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The Empress Luna

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"Hmm. I wouldn't say more but that's not a good idea at this moment. Ah--" Archangel Azrael faltered but then he caught himself.

He bit his lip.

Crossing his arms, he tilted his head at her and regarded her with a blank look.

It came across as pity to Luna. "I talked too much."

Flustered because she couldn't stand pity from the Archangel, her face, neck and ears felt impossibly hot with anger and chagrin. "Why don't you free me in this orb, Archangel?"

"It's not time yet. I am protecting you from my auric field that was why I placed you in that bubble for the meantime." Archangel Raziel replied and Luna could sense a ring of truth in that. "I can make fledgeling Archdemons go mad with my power alone. I can't control your mind and force your Archdemon blood not to give explosive reactions."

Luna felt something click in her brain in a sudden realization.

The first time she met the Creator, she had an intense aversion to his presence that she recoiled from his touch which was probably a reaction normal to Archdemons.

The difference was that the Creator knew how to switch it off in Luna's mind, turning it back to normal.

Archangel Azrael would be the type to let an Archdemon die without a bother.

"We should hurry up. Hordes of demons were attacking the Armor of God I have encased us with as we speak." Azriel chose his next words carefully and he seemed so reluctant to reveal something, "Dragging you here is enough to upset the balance between good and evil and we don't know where side it would swing as the time progressed in infinite seconds. This is a delicate issue and we couldn't afford to make mistakes and not split the path into two different futures."

Luna didn't have time to process Archangel Azrael's words and her entire vision blacked out.

Her brain had shut down immediately.

The last thing she had heard from him was the word 'future'.

She felt a prickling sensation on her forehead.

It took a minute for her senses to understand that it was a brush of soft, female hands.

Luna almost forgot the last time a woman she loved dearly cared for her.

It had been so long that she had forgotten the ancient language that was long dead.

A language she used to speak with her mother when she was a child.

She even forgot what her real name was—who she was.

Luna had only gained an identity when she became Artemis 'moon maiden' like all the other young, vulnerable virgins the goddess had taken in to protect and teach them how to protect themselves and survive this male-dominated world.

Luna was a name the Goddess Artemis had given her, naming her herself as if she was her new daughter the moment she had set foot on her glorious temple.

Artemis was her second mother, in a sense, for she taught her how to be independent.

Luna had respected her a great deal as a Goddess and the one she looked up to.

There were things a Goddess couldn't provide a lowly servant like her except for her ancient wisdom and teachings about how to care for one's self, the people around her, the surroundings and the Mother Nature itself.

Not a mother's love.

Never love but it was close, just to fill the bottomless pit where it should have been there.

A filler.

A substitute.

But, it will do.

Luna's mother, who was human living a life of poverty, had perished early, leaving her alone in the streets to fend for herself.

To avoid men who loitered on the market place preying on innocent children, girls and young women who weren't mature enough, Luna had learned how to hunt in the forest for food instead of stealing in the stalls from sellers and merchants like how the other homeless kids her age do.

Some young females had been corrupted by perverts at an early age in exchange for coins--never for food and shelter.

These men had taken advantage of them and never helped them out of their circumstances.

Ah~ Luna thought she had buried her memories but she could still remember snippets and vague images enough to put two and two together.

Goddess Artemis had taken her in to defend the Sacred Valley to worship and serve her Temple along with other women in exchange for immortality and super strength.

The slender fingers gently combed the strands of her hair beginning to the roots to its ends before she tucked them behind Luna's ear.

Instead of giving her comfort like how it had felt earlier, Luna stiffened at the contact when she remembered how the Lilith woke her up every single damned time by playing with her hair like a psychotic and jealous Archdemon.

Luna was literally frozen on the spot.

She wanted to roll her eyes and break people's necks in frustration—not hers.

She couldn't move again and at this point, it didn't even surprise her no more.

In recent events, Luna noticed the Universe wanted her paralyzed at the most important moment of her life.

Don't let it be Lilith's magic or I swear to the godd—

Luna's ears strained when she heard the murmurs becoming louder.

Well, what else should she do when it felt like plant sap had been poured over her eyes before sewing her eyelids shut with a thread and a needle?

Did she try lifting her pinkie finger to make sure that her mind was the only thing that worked?

Yes.

"It was the thread; a vein and a circuit tangling their soul together. It didn't belong there. It had sent her into a network of distractions, throwing her off the path." A familiar, masculine voice had murmured near her.

Luna could almost sense that the man was standing beside her as she lay down on a soft bed that only one person could fit. "The detours she would make if we didn't interfere will lead to your current reality."