When the portals to our world had opened from theirs, a rush of an unusual kind of energy came through, filling every single organism with the energy. Those who couldn’t withstand the energy turned into monsters, brainless creatures that roamed the land. Those who could withstand the energy became stronger than they were before. Though only humans were able to harness the new energy due to their higher intelligence and their ability to use the energy precisely.

  Different humans have different ways to adapt to the energy though some may have similar ways, creating different powers. Others receive blessings from the Gods just from absorbing the energy around the Celestial beings.

  Athena was one of the first to arrive upon our planet along with Demeter and Hestia.

  All of the Gods had a sense of pride, a belief that they were far above the humans, especially Athena.

  The tale of Medusa and Arachne could back this up.

  Yet a single elf changed her opinion.

  578 years ago before the birth of Shinji

  A white haired elf was born in Russia

  The elf was a race of monsters, blessed by the Gods, allowing them consciousness similar to humans and giving them even stronger abilities than normal.

  Athena walked through the deep forests, trees rustling as she wiped the crimson blood from her mouth.

  Her eyes glowed a deep blue as she kept walking forwards, in search for something.

  She was inhabiting a human body, her brown hair reached down to her waist and her skin was pale, her eyes shaped like almonds and her jawline toned.

  She wore a long skirt and a sailor uniform with a katana strapped on her waist, her shoes were wooden.

  Her steel katana sliced the vines standing in front of her.

  “Geez, what’s that smell”?

  The environment around her turned gray as the smell of burnt toast filled her nose.

  She immediately dashed over directly to where the smell came from.

  A burning scene Athena found herself in.

  Fire crackled as her skin immediately started to heat up her skin, her breathing became muddled as the trees lit up in flames.

  Human like creatures surrounded the dead elves, tearing them apart like dolls, her eyes glowed red.

  A small elf child stood in front of her, staring directly at her, the small girl was lightly dressed in her pajamas staring into Athena with her big round eyes.

  Blood splattered over her face as a Demon rushed towards her, before stopping right in front of her like an invisible wall blocked the Demon.

  The Demon’s ankle twisted as he dropped to the ground, splattering into an explosion of blood, splattering across the child’s face, the elf stared the Athena, her eyes glowed.

  “Are you here to kill me too”?

  Athena bent over staring directly at the child, meeting eye to eye with the Elf, Athena smiled as her eyes stayed emotionless, the God pat the Elf’s head.

  “I’m not here to kill you, I’m here to help you run away from the rest of these elves”.

  The Elf’s eyes squinted, staring directly into her eyes.

  “I don’t… I don’t trust you”.

  The elf held a pebble in her hand, the pebble was thrown directly at Athena, the Goddess stared at the pebble flying towards her at extremely high speeds.

  Athena was startled by the child, she managed to slightly move her neck as the rock flew past her.

  Reality began to twist, the sky began to rapidly change, a rock flew into her neck, as golden ichor dripped from the hole in her neck.

  Her eyes dilated as Athena stared at the blood running down her chest.

  “You mortal, you dare to ruin a Goddess’ body”.

  She calmed herself down, whispering to herself.

  [She’s just a child, don’t worry so much]

  Athena covered the injury on her neck, as she held a bottle in her hand, a bottle of golden liquid.

  The moment she drank it, the injury began to stitch itself, her vocal cords began to heal.

  “Child, you are… interesting to say the least, you managed to damage a Goddess, what’s your name”?

  The elf child stared emotionless and barefoot, her long white hair slightly burnt.

  “A Goddess? Why does someone like you want me”?

  Athena smiled with her eyes.

  “You’re a smart child, I wish to train you to use you for something important”.

  “Well, Miss Goddess, you sure are blunt”.

  Athena stated with a stern voice.

  “It’s not like I could hide anything from you, child, you are very similar to me after all, you have a lot of potential, I wish for you to grow stronger and eventually save this world from total annihilation”.

  The Elf’s eyes pierced into her eyes, her eyes glowed like a marble, like golden hazelnuts.

  “Could that give me emotions? Something as big as that should make me like the humans, I don’t have a name yet, my birth parents just called me their Child”.

  Athena stared at the crimson blood running down the elf’s face, her held her chin.

  “Let me think…..Akane, a Japanese name for the crimson red blood running down your cheek, why don’t you follow me”?

  “Akane, why is it that you don’t feel emotions, the other elves may be less emotive but you don’t feel anything in the slightest”.

  The elf grabbed Athena’s hand as they began to walk through the thick forest, she stared up at her.

  “I was born this way, I can’t feel anything in the slightest”.

  “I’ll help you find yourself, my name’s Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, so tell me Akane, what are your blessings”?

  The girl slightly tilted her head as she replied with a monotonous voice.

  “I can control reality to some extent and have an immunity to all changes in the universe, small changes, but the more energy the object possesses, the harder it is for me to change it, for example, I can only slightly alter the shape of the sun due to the amount of energy exuding from it”.

  “So that’s how you managed to hit me but that doesn’t explain how you managed to put that much energy into the pebble and block the demon”.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Anything within a 5 meter radius of me, I can control the momentum of”.

  “How amusing”. Athena bent over and took out a cloth. “Now let’s wipe that blood from your face shall we”?

  Two demons stood right in front of them, one completely plated in steel armor with a large sword hanging on his waist.

  “Return the elf child so we can execute it”.

  The other was lightly armored, a knife in his hands as his red eyes glowed.

  Athena moved the elf child behind her, hiding her from the demons.

  “Akane, don’t you feel anything against the demons? They killed everyone you knew”.

  “Hmm? It was surely an inconvenience that they had killed my birth parents but I feel no kind of emotions towards them”.

  “Akane, I promise, you will learn to experience emotions, I will aid you in anyway I can”.

  Athena pat her head as she moved her focus back onto the demons.

  “Listen well child, Demons have a tendency to have a higher ego than every other species, they like to play with their food”.

  A large translucent spear emerged from her hands, she gripped it as it flew like a beam of light, creating a large hole in the lightly armored Demon.

  “Who the hel-“.

  Athena stepped on the Demon’s head as blood pooled beneath her feet, she stared down with a glare.

  “You have to eliminate them in one strong swoop so they don’t counterattack”.

  The heavily armored demon dashed forwards, slamming its sword onto her, Athena dashed out of the way and immediately counter attacked, shoving a steel sword into its heart.

  The demons’ bodies dropped to the floor, Akane calmly stared at the bodies beneath Athena.

  “What is your purpose in reaching me how to kill demons? What is your motive, Athena”?

  “Akane, the biggest threat to all life on Earth are the demons”.

  Akane tilted her head in confusion.

  “I thought the biggest threat were the humans? They killed most of our species, most of my blood relatives died to them”.

  “Humans learn when pressured even if they may be destructive at first, demons do not, their ego won’t let them change, that’s how demons are born from humans”.

  The elf pondered

  “Demons are made from humans? How amusing, I shall keep that in my memory”.

  Athena scratched her head as she replied.

  “Demons aren’t just made from humans, they’re souls tortured in Tartarus or what most of you call Hell, given a body, that’s why all of them are full of malice and hate, they originate from hell”.

  “How interesting”.

  The elf sat on the ground, her hands touching the grass as a field of flowers began to emerge from the ground, bland and wilting flowers surrounded her in a 5 foot radius, the flowers were nearly dead, barely hanging onto life.

  Akane held one of the flowers in her hand as she began to swallow the flowers whole.

  Athena stared down at the child with a confused expression.

  “What are you doing, Akane”?

  The child stared back with a mouth full of flowers, she immediately swallowed them in one gulp.

  “I got hungry”.

  “No what are you eating? Why would you eat expired flowers”?

  “What’s wrong? Is this not normal for your kind to eat this? I was taught by my blood parents to eat them for nutrition”.

  Athena grabbed the child’s hand as Akane followed her out of the thick forest, into a human city.

  Citizens bustled as the sound of children playing and humans singing filled the Elf’s ears.

  Her ears began to twiddle as her eyes slightly widened at the sight of the bustling city.

  The houses were made of wood and stone, neat and tidy as Athena began to walk around the city together with her.

  Athena smiled at Akane.

  “See, they don’t hate you, none of them are hostile towards you”.

  Athena walked up to a street vendor, the man was extremely large and intimidating, he had no hair, his bald head was like a mirror shining in the sun. He had a goatee and an angry expression as he looked down at Akane.

  Akane simply stared back at the vendor, Athena immediately cut them off and smiled at the vendor,, she spoke in a calm tone as she met eyes with the vendor.

  “Hi, we would like three chicken skewers please”?

  The large man spoke in a deep voice that was loud and deep, he grumbled.

  “That will be 12 copper coins”.

  Athena searched around herself for coins.

  [Damn it, I must’ve dropped all my money in the forest]

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring any money on me, we’ll get going now”.

  The vendor looked at the child then back at Athena.

  “It is fine, you don’t need to pay for it, I have children at home too”.

  The large man handed the three skewers to Akane.

  Athena stared back at Akane.

  “That’s called human kindness, they are able to sympathize”.

  “You just took advantage of him didn’t you, miss Athena”?

  “I wouldn’t call it that”.

  “He gave away what he could use for himself for free, humans sure are foolish”.

  Athena bent over and stared into the child’s eyes.

  “That’s what makes them human”.

  Akane stared at the skewers in her hands as Athena began to lead her away further into the city.

  “Miss Athena, what are these”?

  “You’re supposed to eat them”.

  Akane bit the skewer, biting through the stick itself as she began to chew.

  “It’s sharp”.

  Athena opened Akane’s mouth and pulled the stick out, she slightly chuckled.

  “You’re not supposed to eat the stick, you’re only supposed to eat the meat”.

  “It’s difficult to chew but my tongue feels tingly, how would I describe it, it’s giving me pleasure”.

  Athena pat her head round head.

  “That’s called tasty”.

  “It feels good, I like tasty”.

  Athena smiled softly.

  “Sometimes I forget you’re just a child”.

  She was only 11

  Elves live for a long time, no one truly knows their life span but most don’t survive very long, they age rapidly during their childhood, only taking 17 years to reach adulthood and their longest part of their lifespan being their peak performance, the equivalent of 20 year old humans, no elf has been seen being older than that.

  “Happy Birthday Akane, happy 21st birthday”.

  Akane looked unnerving and emotionless, she sat down on a wooden table in the middle of the forest with Athena, a sugary cake sitting on the table.

  “Miss Athena, do you really have to do this every year on my birth date”?

  “It’s supposed to be your special day, the humans say at least. You mortals only live once after all”.

  Akane’s hair was long and white, her eyes golden and her face as beautiful as the gods.

  But her eyes were still, emotionless.

  “Is this supposed to make me more human? I mean I am content with you allowing me to eat this much sugary treats”.

  Athena pat Akane’s head.

  “Come on, eat as much as you wish to”.

  “So miss Athena”. Akane started to slowly eat the cake, savoring every bit of the sugar. “How do you expect me to beat Erebus by myself”?

  “I never asked of you to defeat him alone, there will soon come a time where there will be geniuses like you strong enough to rival Erebus”.

  “Why are you so sure, miss Athena”?

  “My foresight’s never wrong”.

  “Mistress Athena, I wouldn’t be so sure”.

  Athena stared at the ground, she felt the leaves shaking, she stood up from the chair.

  “Akane, get down”.

  A spear manifested within her hand, her eyes dilated as she threw it as hard as possible, like a beam of light.

  From the distance, Akane saw a dismembered body without a head, his head was bursted like a balloon as the body collapsed to the ground, landing with a thud.

  Akane dashed backwards with a stone in her hand, she repeatedly threw the rocks, firing them like bullets penetrating into all of the demons.

  Athena ran forwards, extremely thin string shot out from her fingertips, surrounding the demons like a spider’s web, even the bones were cut through cleanly by the string.

  A man clad in black rushed towards Akane with a dagger in his hand. Akane raised her hand towards the man as he stopped before her, the man began to spread his body like a putty, swallowing Athena’s legs, pulling her away.

  Athena’s hands released string from her fingertips.

  “You’re that human under Erebus aren’t you? What was your name again? Nakamura isn’t it”?

  The goo beneath her feet began to smile wickedly and began to speak.

  “Lord Erebus told me about you and that elf you’re holding, hand her over”.

  Athena stared down at the goo binding her.

  “Even if I can’t damage you, you can’t damage me either”.

  The goo kept talking.

  “Are you sure”?

  The slime ran up her body and into her nose.

  Athena grabbed the goo with her hand as it slipped past her fingers.

  It crawled up into her brain.

  Akane rushed towards Athena, her eyes slightly widening as sweat dripped down her face.

  “Don’t worry Athena, nothing will happen”.

  Reality began to twist, as Akane gripped the goo with her hands trying to pull it away from Athena.

  “Athena, I can’t change anything, how did you gain more energy than a star”?!

  Athena calmly stared at the frustrated Akane as she pat her head.

  “Killing my body won’t kill my soul, I am a God after all, find me a new body will you”?

  Athena caressed her cheek as she dropped to the floor, the blue in her eyes disappeared, her entire body began to rapidly decay as the dark goo began to take over her body.

  Akane began to shake as she dashed away from the scene, she managed to calm herself down, every step she took, the momentum increased evermore, she ran through rough terrain to cover as much distance as possible.

  The body of an elf doesn’t decay, no matter how long time had passed, their bodies weren’t organic nor were they inanimate, but energy could be still turned into energy.

  Within 10 seconds she managed to cover half the Earth’s distance, landing herself in the Edo period of Japan, through the seemingly short journey, Akane grabbed a dead Elf along the away.

  Akane sighed.

  “I hope you’re right and you can really possess others, Athena wherever you are, I brought a body here for you, the strongest one who was once in our village, my birth mother, Schneider”.

  Akane’s breath was steady, she laid the lifeless body of the elf on the soft earth. The weight of Athena’s final words echoed in her mind. “Find me a new body, will you?” She had always followed Athena’s guidance, but for the first time, uncertainty gnawed at her.

  She knelt beside the corpse, brushing strands of silver-white hair away from its serene face. The body of Schneider, her birth mother—one of the strongest elves of their village, now just an empty vessel.

  Akane calmly stared at the body. “Athena, if you’re truly a god, then come back. Don’t make me regret this.”

  The wind shifted, a sudden stillness settling over the forest. The rustling leaves paused, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Then, a faint golden glow flickered above the body—soft at first, then growing in intensity, enveloping the still form.

  A deep hum resonated through the air, a frequency only Akane could perceive. The world around her blurred, reality twisting like a rippling pond. The golden light condensed, seeping into Schneider’s body like rivers of molten energy.

  Then—a gasp.

  Schneider’s once-still fingers twitched. A single breath, ragged and hoarse, escaped her lips as her golden eyes fluttered open, glowing with divine radiance.

  Athena had returned.

  She sat up slowly, her movements calculated, as if reacquainting herself with the limitations of mortality. She flexed her fingers, then her arms, before shifting her gaze to Akane.

  Her lips curled into the faintest smirk. “Good job, Akane”.

  Akane let out a slow exhale, her usual stoic demeanor unshaken, though relief flickered in her hazel eyes.

  “I honestly can’t believe that you gods are actually immortal.

  Athena—now inhabiting Schneider’s body—laughed softly, rolling her shoulders as if shaking off the remnants of death itself.

  “I still feel all the pain, Nakamura, he completely severed my brain stem, I can’t believe Erebus has a human like that within his ranks, seems like beating him will be harder than I thought”.

  The same day, Akane had parted ways with Athena on a journey of self exploration, Athena had managed to give her a divine artifact before she left in order to keep contact, Erebus used to have generals once, to maintain his army, Akane alone managed to beat all of them without a scratch but Erebus was out of the question.

  She heard of the stories from Athena, the God of Darkness was way too much for her to handle.