I had hoped that it was all a Dream. I had hoped that I had just fallen asleep as Akia told me about one of her stupid werewolf stories. I was just begging someone that none of this was real.

But it was.

It was all very real.

I sat on my bed, my comforter wrapped around me as I held my hair to the side, Nonna tending to my wound. Akia was pacing around my room, nervously looking between me and her brother, who was sitting on my desk chair.

"So what happened?" I looked over at Akia as she spoke, thinking she was talking to me, but she was staring at Eiden. I turned back to my grandmother, wincing as she poked the tender skin.

"She went after me, I...well, I had to explain everything to her!" Eiden looked desperately at his sister, who just raised her brows in response.

"That's not what I meant-"

"We were attacked," I spoke, drawing the siblings attention over to me. It hurt to speak, but I had to clarify everything that happened. "Eiden saved me from one wolf, but there was another."

Akia looked from me to her brother. "Only two?"

Eiden nodded.

"And where are they now?"

"Dead."

"Good."

Nonna was quiet during the entire exchange. She poked my arms, telling me to lift them. My right was perfectly fine, but I couldn't lift my left without having a spike of pain shoot through it. She simply sighed, nudging my arm out of the way.

"Nonna, what are you doing?" I asked, watching as she grabbed my shirt. She effortlessly ripped me off, sending me into too much of a shock to realize that I was just wearing a bra with Eiden around.

Oh my lord, I was just wearing a bra with Eiden around.

"Have some decency!" Akia screeched, forcing her brother to turn around. He didn't protest at al, hiding his reddened face in his hands. She quickly covered his eyes as he continued to look away.

"Nonna, what-" I didn't get to finish my sentence before my grandmother ripped off my bra as well. I frantically covered my chest with my one working arm. "Nonna!"

"Red, put your arm down," she commanded in a tone that forced me to obey. Slowly, I moved my arm away from my chest, sharing a look with Akia as she continued to keep her hands over her brother's eyes. "Look what you got yourself into."

"It wasn't me!"

Nonna just huffed, opening a new package of gauze as she looked at the siblings. "Which one of you is a better healer."

Without facing me, I watched Akia and Eiden glance at each other, before the former looked back at Nonna. Slowly, Akia pointed at her brother as he raised his hands, an audible gulp coming from both of them.

"Great, of course," Nonna sighed, glancing at me. "Alright, Eiden. Come here."

"No!" I shouted, immediately covering my chest with my right arm, pulling my comforter up just enough for it to reach my collar bone. "Nonna, no."

"Enough, Red. I can't heal you, and Akia admitted that Eiden's better. Just let him heal you."

"Nonna, I have no shirt."

"You have a comforter."

"Nonna-"

"Red, you've said it yourself that Eiden is like your brother. It's not that big of a deal if he just gets the marks to scar."

I glanced over at Eiden, who was still facing my wall with his sister's hands over his eyes. With a sigh, I nodded to Akia, who promptly released her brother. He stood up, staring at the ground as he walked over to me. Nonna got up and Eiden took her seat, reaching over and gently placing his fingertips on my wound. I sucked my teeth at the sharp spike of pain, resting my chin in my right palm and staring down at my bed. The needles slowly increased in intensity, before gradually going down again. I looked down at the wound, inhaling at the scabbed and slightly scarred wounds. Eiden stood up when he was done, wordlessly going back to the chair and letting Nonna sit down again.

"See, It wasn't that hard," Nonna consoled as she began to bind me with the gauze. She wrapped the roll around my chest and shoulder, making sure it was tight, but not constricting. I could feel the layers of bandages behind pressed into the still-healing wound, sending waves of pain through my body.

But at least my chest is covered again.

Nonna walked over to my closet, pulling a large, black hoodie from the rack, before tossing it to me. She helped me into it, coaxing my left arm into the sleeve. She went back into my closet, throwing my a pair of black leggings and fluffy red ankle socks. I swallowed quickly, taking off my socks and un buckling my jeans, pulling them off and changing int the clothes that Nonna handed me.

"Is she covered?" I heard Eiden mumble, causing Akia and I to look at each other. A moment went by, before we burst out laughing.

"Yes, she's fine," Akia chuckled, taking a few steps away from her brother. He slowly turned around, letting out a breath of relief when he saw me in a sweatshirt.

"So you saw how I did that, right?" Nonna pulled my attention back to her. I nodded in response, watching as she packed away all of her tools into the first aid kit. "I'll help you with everything, but you should know how to do it...just in case I'm not around."

"Thank you, Nonna." I smiled, watching as she set the first aid kit on my desk.

"It shouldn't take too long to heal, especially with Eiden's help. However, I still want you to wrap it for a few days just to be safe. I'll go now and get you some more gauze, but for now, use what's in here if needed."

"Alright."

"Now," Nonna walked back to my bedside, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I'm off to the shop. I'll leave these two to care for you."

I looked over at Eiden and Akia, raising my brows at the two. They were just standing there, doing nothing but staring and nervously smiling.

Good lord, please don't leave me with these two.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon," Nonna promised, chuckling at my pleading look. "They'll explain everything to you, everything that I can't say."

I watched as she left my room, not leaving any room for discussion. I let out a breath, looking back at the siblings as they sat on my bed.

Great.

Taking a sharp inhale, I started. "Adolphi and AdoQhinas."

"Yes."

"You're an Adolphus."

"Yes," Eiden nodded.

"And you're an AdoQhina."

"Yes," Akia affirmed.

"Okay..." I let out a large breath, holding my head in my hands.

"You good?"

"No...for fucks sake, why didn't I know this before?"

"I don't think she's good."

I glared at Akia, it finding any humor in her dry comment. "Can I at least get an explanation?"

Eiden sighed. He was the only sibling that was actually serious about this whole thing. "I told you what we are, what an Adolphus and an AdoQhina is-"

"Yes, but how does that involve me?"

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Eiden and Akia shared a look, before the former continued. "We are creatures of the moon. Our leader assigned us to be your protectors-"

"Why?"

"If you stop interrupting me, I'll tell you."

"Sorry."

Eiden sent me a glare, before making himself more comfortable at the foot of my bed. Sucking in a dell breath, he spoke again; "you, since the moment you were born, have been protected by the Gervais Wilhemines and the Gervais Barrins, which are the good wolf-shifters and bird-shifters."

I blinked. He lost me at born, to be honest.

"Eiden, I think you just confused her more," Akia stepped in, crossing her legs on my bed. I nodded in agreement, turning to Eiden.

"Sorry, I didn't mean, too," he promised, shaking his head and falling back on my bed. "Akia, why don't you explain this?"

"Fine." Akia took a deep breath before turning to me. "Alright, Red. I'm about to introduce you to a whole new universe, I hope you're ready."

I looked back and forth between the siblings, before nodding. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Alright." Another deep breath. "Before we can talk about you, we need to talk about our history. Since the dawn of time, there has always been five species; the Dedricks, the Wilhemines, the Barrins, the Hermanns, and the Derwyns."

"That didn't really clarify anything," I frowned, rolling my eyes as Akia shushed me.

"These names were given by certain Teutons, who we say are the founders of our kingdoms. The Dedricks are the gods and goddesses that rule the lower species. The Wilhemines are the wolf-shifters and the Barrins are the bird-shifters, two species that are equal in every way. The Hermanns are the humans, or those of mortal descent with no special trait. The Derwyns are those who have died, so matter the species."

"Okay, pause for a second, let me write this down." I stood from my bed and hobbled over to my desk, pulling a notebook and pencil out of the drawer. I went and sat back down, clicking the mechanical pencil and scribbling down the species' names.

Dedricks.

Hermans

"Hermanns has two 'n's."

Hermanns.

Wilhemines.

Barrins.

Derwins.

"It's a 'y', not an 'i',"

Derwyns.

"Okay, go." I pushed the pencil lead back into the plastic, looking at Akia expectantly.

"Alright, well...so you know how your species are called humans, but you have words for males and words for females?" I nodded at the rhetorical question. "Well, four of the species have that. The Dedricks have male Audfis and female Aubrians. Wilhemines have male Adolphi and female AdoQhinas, as you know, and the Barrins have male Aroldos and female Amoldinas. Hermanns, to end, have male Alvans and female Alvernas. The Derwyns, however, are different; the whole species gets a new name. If you die as a Wilhemine, you become an Alcuin, whether you are a male or female. So, Dedricks become Adalies, Wilhemines become Alcuins, Barrins become Annraoi, and Hermanns become Amialionas."

I was frantically writing all while Akia was talking. The repetition of the letter 'a' confused me and I wanted to know why they started with that letter, but that could wait. For now, I was just satisfied with learning all of this.

"The Teutons worshipped many different Audfis and Aubrians-that is, gods and goddesses, but there were two in particular that ruled the kingdoms; Saxton, the sun god, and Malia, the moon goddess."

Saxton and Malia, why do those two names seem familiar? The more I thought about it, the more my head started to hurt. Nervously, I reached up and clutched the sun and moon necklaces around my necklaces that rested on my chest.

Wait.

"There was an unspoken division between Saxton and Malia. Everything that related to them had certain traits that were complete opposites in relation to each other. It's common knowledge that Wilhemines are children of the moon and Barrins are children of the sun, so having two separate species only associate with one Dedrick further divided the two, but that didn't stop them."

Akia, please tell me this isn't going where I think it is.

"Whether the species liked it or not, Saxton and Malia fell in love. That love resulted in a child. This child divided the entirety of the known world further in half. There were those that wanted to keep the light and the dark separated and there were those that wanted everything to be conjoined into a peaceful harmony. Those who want the separation are called Bathildes and those that want peace are called Gervais."

Bathildes and Gervais. Great, more vocabulary.

"Eiden and I, your protectors, are called Gervais Wilhemines, while the Adolphi that attacked you ear,jerk are called Bathilde Wilhemines."

Akia, where is this going?

"The Bathildes want the child born of Saxton and Malia dead and they will go to extreme lengths to ensure that she becomes a Derwyn. They're even trying to keep Saxton and Malia away from her and from each other."

Please...please don't tell me.

"Red, you have never met your parents."

No.

"They only thing you have from them are two necklaces shaped like a sun and a moon."

No.

"You were raised by a grandmother that randomly disappears and your best friends are Wilhemines."

No.

"Today, you were attacked by Bathilde Wilhemines, and you survived."

No.

"Even now, you're only going to have to tend to that wound for a few days-maybe less-when normally, it would take at least six months to heal."

No.

"...I think you know where I'm going with this."

No.

No.

No.

"Red, you're the daughter of Saxton and Malia."

It all makes sense. The necklaces, my hair, my eyes, my grandmother's stories, my sudden friendships.

It all make sense.

Because it was all fake.

"You say that you're...Gervais Wilhemines, or whatever," I sniffed, staring at the wall, "and that you were assigned to protect me by...someone..."

"That's correct-"

"So it was all fake? Are you actually my friends, or are you just completing something you were told to do?"

"No! No no no, you've got it all wrong!" Eiden quickly sat up from where he was still laying on my bed. "When we first met you, we didn't know you were their daughter. After a year or so, when your presence was becoming known to the Bathildes, that was when we were told to protect you."

Thank the lord.

"Look, Red. I know this is a lot for you to hear at once, but there's a bit more." I looked over at Akia, who was scooting closer to where I sat on the bed.

I sighed, pushing the notebook and pencil off my lap and onto my wrinkled blanket. "Of course there's more."

Akia ignored me and continued. "I told you Malia is the mother of the Wilhemines and Saxton is the father of the Barrins. That's because they are the first known AdoQhina and Aroldo-"

"So." I cut Akia off before she could tell me any more. "I assume that you're about to tell me that I'm not a human, but I'm actually a hybrid between a Wilhemine and a Barrin. A-" I cut myself off to look at my paper, "-Amoldian AdoQhina, or something like that."

I watched as Eiden and Akia looked at each other, before their attention went back to me. "Well, yes, that's exactly what you are."

A blink.

Two blinks.

Three blinks.

"I was being sarcastic!" I shouted, my mind just about ready to explode with the amount of new information it was receiving.

"Yeah, but you were right," Eiden cut in.

"Of course I was," I huffed, crossing my arms and staring down at my comforter. When I said that I thought something different was going to happen today, this is not what I had in mind.

"Red, do you know what that means?" Akia brought her brother and I's attention back to her. "That means you can transform into four different things; a wolf, a bird, a lycanthrope, and an angel. You're not a mortal like you thought you were."

"Well, isn't that great. I'd love to transform into a hormonal mutt and an infected sky-nuisance," I muttered.

"Wow."

"Rude."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Akia sighed, scooting closer to me and pulling me into her arms. She was extremely careful around my shoulder, just hugging my waist and nothing else.

"Look," Eiden spoke, shuffling closer to his sister and I, "I know that this is a lot to take in. Your best friends are werewolves and your grandmother is an angel-"

"What?"

"Not right now-"

"No, yes right now! What do you mean Nonna is an angel?"

Eiden and Akia shared another look, which seemed to be a reoccurring theme, before the brother spoke again. "Well, your Nonna isn't really your Nonna. She's an Italian Barrin that took you in after Saxton asked her to. She lost all of her children, so she was lucky to have another chance with you."

I paused, staring at a picture of Nonna and I that sat on my desk. "So all of the stories she told me about my mother and father..."

"Are stories about her children."

I felt tears trickle down my face, small whimpers soon becoming loud sobs. I cried harder than when I did when I was attacked, and that's saying something.

Eiden and Akia pulled me into their arms, soothing me with soft whispers of encouragement. My shoulder didn't even hurt at this point, which made me cry harder at the thought of the hyper-healing.

I was born a hybrid. Not of a human and another creature, but between a wolf-shifter and a bird-shifter. My grandmother is not related to me at all, she's just a woman that my father asked to take care of me. My best friends are my bodyguards, which I didn't even know I had. My parents weren't supposed to love each other, so many members of four different species want me dead. After three attacks, two by my brother and one by a stranger, I was thrown into a whole new world that only certain people know of. That world is ruled by my mother, the moon goddess, and my father, the sun god.

So what really am I? Who am I? What do I have to do with all of this?

"I'm sorry we gave you such a short time to process all of this," Akia whispered, stroking my hair. Eiden was on my other side, braiding some red locks together.

"It's better that I learn it all now than never," I sniffed, burying my head into Eiden's shoulder. They really were like my siblings, after all the years we spent together. We were there for each other's highs and lows and we all became a family.

A family I really need right now.

I picked up Akia's hand, playing with her slender fingers. "Am I a goddess?" I asked, mumbling through the question. I could feel Eiden stiffen, but he didn't answer, so I turned my attention to his sister. She looked like she knew, but she didn't want to answer. "Am I?" I repeated.

Akia sighed. "Yeah. Yes, you are."

I smiled, not because I was happy, but because I got an answer. I wiped away more tears as I continued to play with Akia's fingers. "What of?"

"There was actually a poem about you that we learned when we were young," Eiden spoke up. "The Teutons were waiting for a goddess like you, so they created a poem about your creation, one that the Bathildes refuse to believe in."

"What's the poem?" I asked.

Akia began reciting the words robotically, like she was repeating something that she's heard far too many times before. "We watch the moon go past the sky and wait for the morning sun to rise. We watch the sun as it goes to flee. It falls and sets, setting the moon free. As the days go on and nights go farther, lives get better and deaths get darker. We still wait to call her name, the goddess of life, with hair like a flame. We still wait for her to rise, the goddess of death, with ink in her eyes."

There was a silence when Akia finished. The siblings allowed me time to process what she had said, a poem that was clearly about me.

Hair like a flame? Ink in her eyes? Who else could that be about?

"So I'm the goddess of..." I breathed in, looking up at both Akia and Eiden.

"You're the goddess of life and death."

Well, this just gets better and better.