A newcomer comes to lady life, offering nothing but a void vessel to receive a soul. While the Death looked from afar, sheathing its teeth. Noticing her. Like a cunning devil watching from beyond the reach of the light, wearing a cloak of shadows that hides him from his eternal rival. But his hatred overcame his carefulness. He wanted to snatch the newcomer before her soul had a chance to reach the realm of the living.

Lady Life, however, was strong, her protective aura was too strong for the death to challenge her. She prevailed and helped the soul cross to the world of the mankind without harm, but the death was stubborn and jealous. Another soul escaped his grasp once more.

He was furious, angry and envied those have the right to live. He refused to back down, not without an offering for his own. He kept watching closely...waiting for an opportunity.

He then saw that unlucky soul. A tired, lost and withered one. One that life took her blessing away from. And at the speed of light, he snatched that soul like the thief he is. Finally stated, he retreated to the shadows once more.

 One night, noisy cries filled a certain bedroom. The newcomer had arrived, and so did its journey began through pregnancy.

Nurses were on full alert, preparing the blankets as one of them hastily carried the source of the noise with warm and caring hands. The naked body of the baby was rolled neatly with some soft white cloth, wiping it out of any excessive particles upon her shivered body.

A newborn baby...

Such a small beautiful creature with a pure core and essence, taken from her mother's safe body straight to the hard cruel world, with nothing special or yet to be discovered.

The nurse took a good look at the child's crying face, giving her a small kind kiss on the forehead, and shaking her gently in a futile attempt to make her stop weeping.

Some sights couldn't be explained in words, which were the same that the nurse experienced. It was the marvelous part of her job, like a prize for her effort. To see the fruition of 9 months of caring and praying coming steadily to face the brave new world. Like a dashing warrior emerging from a mysterious fog.

She stared at the mum. Her mouth was drawn to a straight line. She couldn't speak a single word. But the nurse was sure she would be happy with her child. She put the small piece of humanity of her arms right next to her quiet mother.

 A tired sigh escaped the nurse that's because her duty was not yet overall fulfilled. That last part remained nagging. To deliver what's supposed to be an amazing news of another successful pregnancy during her eventful and stressful job.

Outside the room, a man jumped in haste as soon as he saw the nurse coming, looking at her with high eyes. He already heard his child's cries. But he wished to hear the nurse say the announcement herself...

"Please, tell me I became a father of a boy!" The man appealed to the nurse.

She bit her lips out of anxiety, trying to hide the other face of the truth. "I-I think you need to see everything for yourself, your newborn awaits you inside, Protector". She faked a smile.

Her way of speaking was strange. It wasn't the same one the father expected to have. Instead of happiness, she had the opposite. Instead of joy, she had been so close to dipping tears if it wasn't for her strong will.

The father's eyes blinked in suspicious gaze. That response wouldn't have come out unless a crisis struck. The nurse didn't even try to stop the raging and terrified man from pumping to her side and dashing straight to the room.

And how should he not feel that way? He had been waiting 5 years for this day to come. What nuisance would pollute such once-in-a-lifetime happiness?

He ran towards the room hoping that the nurse was either bluffing or he was imagining things. The sound of his child got louder in his ears but not louder than his racing heartbeats.

He bashed the door open like a charging bull, causing a loud bang that gave a fright to anyone inside, and nearly taking off the door of its place.

He revealed a room mainly made of oak wood as old as the whole house. It wasn't that type of eye-catching part of his home. But it was special enough for him and his wife.

The mother was there, flat on her bed, alongside her daughter who kept screaming endlessly from the air that tormented her lungs after slamming into them, waving the cute little closed hands around.

However, and despite how the new family member was so energetic and open to life. The atmosphere was wordless and gothic. As father slowly realized there was a white sheet covering his wife's face and body. 

He knew what that meant, but still called her name through a cracked voice and traumatic gaze, expecting an impossible response.

He noticed how her body was so stable and not a single breath coming from beneath the sheets.

The denial reached its highest when he uncovered the sheets...

Her eyes were closed. The temperature of her body was fleeting. Only then, did he realise that his wife was sleeping...peacefully...and...eternally.

Grief entered his heart. He couldn't believe it. It was too hard on him. He didn't expect nor did he even imagine that he wouldn't see her beautiful silver eyes open again.

He took some moments to process that she could no longer be with him anymore. She wanted that child so dearly with much-anticipated love to give to her. Yet, fate didn't allow her to linger long enough to witness her wish finally come true.

The father's knees met the ground first. With eyes filled with rivers. He needed someone to stand by his side, to hug him and say "I am here for you". But there was no one around. Not even the nurses. They all exited the room as soon as he entered with his speedy entrance.

He was all by himself, weeping like a child but broken as a man. That said, the question arises. Can anyone blame him?

She was a piece of his soul. The woman who loved him through thick and thin. Through health and disease. How can he let go of her to the death jaws that easily?

He wiped some of his falling tears with his sleeve, unable to withhold his loss. He leaned his head against his wife's chest. It was lifeless, there weren't any echoes coming from her static heart. And with that, the last string of hope of having the doctor's wrong diagnosis went away...

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Then came the part of his maniacally screaming...

Death in the shadows was laughing while the mortal became shattered...

It forced memories onto his brain, blaming him for the chances he wasted. He was selfish, and his duty as a protector killed all the time that he should have spent by her side. She was certainly sad. Regardless, not a single time did she blame him for it.

He knew that, and he felt the guilt crashing over him every time he greeted her after returning from his work, and that's why he wanted to compensate her with a child that could fill her life with company.

Clinging to this pledge, She got hyped later when her fat stomach confirmed a coming birth. Her happiness was immeasurable.

The memories flooded and began feasting on him alive. His mouth hurt, and his tears didn't stop dropping. He couldn't keep himself from holding her hand, he missed the warmth of blood that once ran through her veins.

He was too weak to believe the reality, that he forgot he wasn't actually alone anymore.

It was the moment of realization when the sound of his child's screaming finally found its way to the man's fallen heart.

She made it pop, like a needle bursting the bubble of gloom surrounding him from the outside world. If she had a distinguishable voice she would have said: "I am still here, old man"

Nevertheless, her simple cries were enough to catch his attention and he followed the cries of his petite child till he finally noticed her.

He took her by his arms, supporting her head with his hand, checking her properly. As a crying cute little child's face meets his withered red-grieving round eyes, revealing how beautiful his newborn is.

He glimpsed beneath her blankets, at the distinguishable part of her body and it confirmed that the child was a SHE.

As small light reflects from her new set of eyes. She was terrified to see his gigantic tall personage in front of her. A man a hundred times bigger and larger at everything

When their eyes met, he didn't see a child, he saw a little angel without wings as if that angel was sent by God to aid him in his sadness.

 He wrapped his arms, and gently pulled her towards his rigid chest.

Somehow without saying a single word, all of his sadness began to slowly dwindle with this interaction.

It was not only the action of hug itself that made him feel some decency of delightment but the fact that his wife left him a thing or rather a gift from her womb before she departed, left him a bit of condolence.

Her crying got mixed with his grief, comforting him, and sharing his sadness. She couldn't speak, but her presence spoke a thousand speeches.

"My love". He approached his sleeping wife. "Our daughter...s...she is...prettier than I thought". He barely mustered the few words he had amidst his sobbing and hicupps.

He was the only person that would care for her now. He didn't know how he would raise her all by himself. but at least he have her. Meaning that, he is not alone anymore.

A hand patted the father's back.

When he turned around, he saw the same nurse who delivered the news earlier that day.

"She needs you, be strong" The nurse encouraged him with a smile. An honest smile this time and no mask upfront.

The father faced his daughter again, completely ignoring the nurse. Starting with a faint smile that was holding all the father's instinct love he had...

"Diana," he declared to us, smiling at his child despite his anguishing lament.

"Beautiful name" added the nurse. "D-Do you wish privacy," she asked.

"Yes. Yes please". He answered in his cracked loosened voice, still lost at his daughter's feature.

The nurse patted the father on his back again, politely stretching her arms requesting to carry the child for her to leave with her.

"No. I need her!" he hugged Diana more to his body, shielding her from the nurse. He looked at his little child again. "I see my Wanda within her". He sighed.

She nodded in understanding, retracted away and left him as he spent some final minutes with his wife, saying farewell, for the last time...

The father was called Richard Onakran, he was one of the 15 protectors of the Town who were elected by the majority of the population. Where a protector is like a captain who commands 10 of the most heroic men of his choice, from their name, their function was to defend the Town, in addition to some secondary duties...

Time passed as the dark clouds in the sky moved on.

The mother who never saw her child's fruit to life was properly buried behind the house. With prayers that one day, Richard may join her in her eternal resting place.

------------------------------------------

Back to the land of the living, Diana grew up. She wasn't the toddler that was back then. Her body and mind were shaped by her surroundings, liven her up to be the Sole and beautiful, seventeen years old girl of her father. Yet, along these years, she always was pinched by the society she lived in by the fact she was motherless. 

She always had that vacant feeling that her mother's death wasn't fair. Why did God introduce her to the world without a mother to guide her through life? There were a lot of subjects and problems that neither her dad nor her uncle could help as men.

It was like a mandated curse to endure such a gender barrier for the rest of her life. Add to that her home was not exactly friendly towards her...

Endora, a large Town with a promising economy based mainly on trade. Its geographic location lay next to a large forest at the edge of a huge empire.

According to the law put by the Chief of the Town, Every girl was chosen to do a job, ranging from simple ones like farmers, washers, and cleaners, to dangerous ones like some carefully picked warriors and spear women.

And so our story began with our girl. The beauty that was Irrelevantly chosen to be cleaner for the dishes.

Ask any person in that vast Town about that job and they would answer the same common answer.

The job she had taken was nothing short of a nightmare. Every day was an excruciating experience, filled with unbearable smells coming from the remains of food. The kitchen where she worked was a breeding ground for all kinds of foul odours that would make even the strongest of stomachs turn. The stench was so overpowering that it felt like it could knock out an elephant.

Though Diana was a simple person. She never really objected or complained about anything, no matter how hard it can become sometimes. She would take it as a distraction to fill the absence of her missed parent, or at least that's what she tried to persuade herself with.

However, fate secretly began a gamble, and it threw its dice on a very specific night.

When the girl was returning to her home from a late shift, yawning after a long day of worthless work. She saw unknown figures approaching the town from the far west over long eyesight, descending from up the hill, leaving a trail of smoke and dust behind 'em.

At their sight, The girl horrifyingly screamed.

At that point, she was very close to her house when Richard heard the scream, he thought that a wolf was attacking the villagers. Wolf attacks were common at that time. The protector took his long sword and rushed to aid whoever was screaming.

He breached outside his house, slamming the door open. Alerted, he immediately awakened the warrior spirit inside, running for his call of duty. But the only thing he found was his daughter, Nothing else, He scanned the surroundings for a moment but there wasn't anything disturbing at the front except for a crowd of bystanders who began grouping around the event

He rushed and hugged her with one of his arms and checked her slim body for any injuries.

"Diana, you ok, my dear? What's happening?! Are you hurt?" Richard comforted the girl, scanning her feminine body for any bruises or signs of attack.

"Father, there". The girl shakily pointed toward the unknown figures descending from the hill.

"Bandits!" She cried. Hiding behind his muscular body.

Richard after hearing the word "Bandits". He simultaneously pulled out his sword and took his stance, turning around to face the wild animals in the form of humans.

However, by the time he looked back at what his daughter was pointing at. The figures got much closer, and the moonlight soon overcame the shadows that hid who they were.

They weren't Bandits, they were far worse to the extent that her father's sword was a mere toy to them.

The protector's eyes widened in horror and wished truly she was pointing at real wolves' packs cause those figures weren't meant to be fought with. Real bandits were humble students compared to their viciousness. 

He slowly lowered his sword. He felt powerless. He was resisting his legs from shaking in front of his girl while his heart had already begun a marathon of his own.

Them...What are they doing here at those late hours of the night...hold on...the tradition...No! Not now!  Of all the times!!

He took a glimpse of his daughter hiding behind him. He was supposed to be a protector after all, right?!

Wrong.

Not against them. His title drops like a fire's ashes against their ravenous flood. No one is above them. No magistrate or judge can control them. Simply put, they are the law in their most psychopathic form. Some may even dare to say that they were protected by the devil himself...seeing who they really were...made Richard curse the day he was elected as a protector...