Iron Goddess
Original Fiction
Chapter 1

The evening sun has set, and the night has emerged. The white moon's light is beaming down onto everything on the land. All is silent in a small populated village, nested deep within a forest. Most of the villagers are asleep, but fires are lit to guide the way for any lost travellers.
In one of the huts, a family is still awake. A young girl, with pink hair running down the back of her neck, is tucked in her bed. The mother wearing a single piece blue dress, is just about to leave the girl's bed, until she hears her daughter's pleas to tell her a story.
"Could you tell me another story mama?" the little girl asked.
"Nada. It's very late now," The mother responded. "You should get some rest. We have another big day ahead of us tommorow."
"But Mama..." the girl replies as her blue, innocent eyes begin to show sadness.
The woman begins to feel guilty. So instead, she goes back to the girl's bed, and sits down beside her daughter.
"What story do you want me to tell you Nada?" The mother asked.
"Tell me the story, about the Four Gods!" Nada replied cheerily, as this particular story was her favourite.
"Very well. Long before this land was created, Four beings existed in this world: One of fire, water, earth, and thunder...."

* * * *

While this was happening. A hooded figure, with a long cape draping down was walking along an open path, using the moonlight as his guide. The figure is covered mostly by a cloak, and long wooden staff is slung over his shoulder. However, his pace begins to speed up, the moment he sees a forest ahead of him.
'I must get to that town soon,' The man thought to himself. 'I have to warn them.. about the danger.'
His fast walk then goes into a sprint, as he continues to get closer to the forest.
'I have to save those people. That Clan has attacked so many villages and killed so many innocent people. Even though death cannot be avoided, it can be prolonged.'

* * * *

".. and it's believed that even though these Four beings are no longer physically living in this land, they are watching over everyone, protecting them from the darkest of times. This is why they're called the Four Gods of the land.."

Just outside of the village, several figures sneak in through the bushes and trees. With their swords unsheathed, and their blades reflecting the small beams of moonlight which seep through the thick canopy, they continue their trek, like a pack of wolves, stalking their helpless prey.

"Well," The mother began "It's time for your sleep."
"Good night Mama," Nada said
"Sleep well Nada."
The woman then blew out the candle that was illuminating the area around Nada's bed, before she went to her bed, which was on the other side of the hut. Blowing out the candle next to her bed, she then tucked herself to sleep, and closed her eyes.

Back inside the forest, the armed figures continue to get closer, until they're able to get close enough to the village without being noticed. On a sudden command, a chorus of combined war cries echo throughout the forest, and several black armoured warriors, rush out from the bushes and into the now defencless village. While several of the other figures ignite their arrows, arm their bows, ready the arrows, and unleash the punishment from hell onto the village, causing some of huts, and even the surrounding trees to set alight.

* * * *

The hooded figure heard the war cries, and already sees smoke emerging from the forest. He continues running.
'No!' He yelled in his mind 'I'm too late again! I won't let this be a complete loss..' The man reaches for his wooden staff from his back, and grips it firmly with both his hands. 'Maybe it's fate that I can't save people from the blood stained blades of the Heavenly Demons. But if I don't do something.. I'll never be purged of such a crime of ignorance..'

* * * *

Unsure of what is happening, Nada quickly jumps out of her bed to find her mother. Suddenly, she is grabbed by a pair of arms, and taken to the futherest part of the hut, away from the entrance. It's then she recognizes who is grabbing her.
"Mama..what's happening?"
"We're under attack!" The mother replies, as her heart starts beating rapidly. "We have to get out of here"
"But where's Papa? and Maya?" Nada now asks.
Suddenly, a black armoured soldier enters the doorway, sword ready, and is about to strike, until a man, armed with a wooden club tackles the warrior down making him drop his sword. The man was wearing a loose white top, a brown sleeveless jacket, a pair of loose black pants and a pair of brown boots. When the man turned around, his face showed his age, and so did the slight shade of grey, mixed with his black hair.
"Papa...?" was all Nada could say.
"Get the girl out!!" the father shouted, still pinning down the warrior with his club.
"We can't find Maya" The mother said, who's now going into greater panic.
"You have to get out now! I'll find her and we'll catch up!! Go now!!"
The mother quickly picks up her daughter and runs, past the duelling men, to the door way. Upon exitting the doorway, she quickly runs to the back of their hut and into the darkness of the forest. But just as she does so, she hears the agonising scream of her husband. She doesn't have time to grieve for him now. She tries to clear her mind and focus just on getting away.
"Mama! What about Papa.."
"He told us to run Nada," The mother said, still running among the trees and bushes. "He'll catch up to us soon," she continued, even though she tried to convince herself it was the truth, this was still a lie..
Just as the mother is running onwards, she is suddenly confronted by three men. In the darkness, it's difficult to see what they look like, but it's clear that they are armed, as the sound of swords being drawn can be heard. Knowing what will happen next, the woman puts her daughter down, and motions the girl to stay behind her, in an attempt to protect Nada. But one of the men approaches the mother, and the other two follow suit. The woman begins to plea with the man.
"Please!! Don't take her!" She screamed, as tears started flowing down her face, "She's just an innocent girl--"
But her pleas are immediately silenced, as the man's grab's the woman's shoulder, and stabs his blade through the woman's chest. Nada was watching the whole time, and is unsure of how to react. She has never see death before, nor has she ever seen a love one die in front of her. As soon as the man released his grip on the woman's shoulder, the lifeless figure crumpled onto the ground. Nada then runs over to her dead mother, and starts to shake her.
"Mama.... Mama...." Nada says repeatedly, before she starts crying.
But before Nada could continue to grieve for her dead mother, the three warriors, tower over the small girl, swords at the ready.
"I'm sorry we have to do this kid," One of the fighters says. "We have our orders--"
The man speaking is interrupted, as one of his comrades makes a strange gagging sound, drops his sword, and collapses, face first, into the dirt. The other two men take a look at their fallen comrade, and find three small blades dug deep into the back his neck and skull. Then, out of nowhere, a different war cry approaches the two men, and one of the other men is struck across the head with a wooden staff. The power of the swing was strong enough not only to knock him unconscious, but to break the warrior's neck too. The last warrior leaps away from where he was standing, and finds himself confronting a hooded fighter, with a fighting staff in his hand.
"Who are you?" The warrior asks, gripping his sword firmly with his right hand.
"It won't matter in the end," The hooded figure said, as he puts his staff back over his shoulder "For you will be touched, by the Angel of Death!"
The warrior then dashes towards the hooded figure, and thrusts his blade. But the hooded man merely sidesteps to the outside of the warrior's body, grabs the fighter's right wrist, and delivers an open hand strike to the elbow, breaking his arm instantly. The warrior screams out in pain, but the hooded figure, doesn't stop there, as he shifts his body directly infront of the warrior and delivers another open handed strike to the base the nose, and finishes off with a spear finger strike to the man's throat, killing the warrior immediately. As the warrior drops to the ground, the hooded figure takes a look around, and notices the girl who's still next to her dead mother. He walks over to the girl, and offers his hand to her.
"There is nothing more we can do for her.." The hooded figure said. "We, must go, before any more of those men find us"
However, the girl doesn't take the man's offer, as she is still suffering shock. The hooded man knows that he won't be able to get the girl to come along, so instead, he kneels down next to the girl.
"Very well. We'll hide here until the morning. You'd better get some sleep."
Nada simply nodded to acknowledge what the stranger said. The stranger then takes off his hood and cape, and places it over the girl. Nada looks at the man now, but it's difficult to see what he looks like. So instead, she tucks the cape further up towards her body, and closes her eyes. The man on the other hand, sits and leans on a nearby thick tree, bow in hand, and keeping his eyes open, in order to stay alert.
'This will be difficult for the girl,' The man thought to himself 'Her mother was killed, and possibly the rest of her family... I feel that I have let everyone down, especially the girl...'
While these thought were passing through his mind, he could hear the war cries of the savage clan growing fainter and fainter into the darkness, leaving both the man and the girl alone in the forest.

* * * *

In the birth of a new day, the morning sun rises, penetrating through every trace of darkness that once consumed the land. The sun's radiant beams reach throughout the forest, touching all the life that crosses its path. Nada, startled by the sunlight, opens her eyes, and at first is suprised that she had been sleeping outside of her hut. She realizes that she was using the stranger's cape as a blanket, and so she tosses the cape aside before standing up. Nada then brushes her pink hair away from her face looks around the forest before walking back to her hut, hoping that what happened last night, didn't really happen. However, just as she began to walk, she noticed a lump of dirt piled on top, and saw a small, wooden crucifix stabbed into the earth, just behind the dirt mound.
"If you think that what happened last night was just a dream.." a voice said.
Startled by the voice, Nada turns around and comes face to face with a middle aged man. He didn't look young, as his spikey upward hair was a mix between grey and white. His clothes were rather different from a normal villager's clothes. For starters, he had a white vest covering his black top, what seemed to be a tight rag being used as a belt, a pair of black baggy pants, and black boots. Over his shoulder, a fighting staff was slung.
"I'm sorry I never had the chance to introduce myself, under such circumstances." the stranger said.
"Who.... are you?" Nada asked.
"I'm Mishito," he responded. "I'm a wanderer, warning villages of the Heavenly Demons Clan."
"Heavenly Demons?"
"Yes. The same clan who..." Mishito trailed off, as he couldn't tell the girl the horrifying truth.
"Who attacked my village?" Nada asked.
Mishito only nodded. "I'm sorry."
Nada then turned away from Mishito, and she started to walk through the forest back to the village.
"Wait!" Mishito called. "I never found out your name."
She stopped, and continued to face away from Mishito. Was this really happening? Nada wasn't really sure, if this stranger, the one who saved her was really him.. but then, that means that her mother was killed for real. And the village really was attacked the previous night. The girl continued to face away from the stranger, as tears started to run down her cheeks.
"Nada.." was all she said, before she ran back to her village, leaving Mishito by himself.
Mishito didn't chase after the girl, but instead, walked over to the spot where his cape and hood were tossed away by Nada. He picks it up, and places it calmly over himself, and flipping over the hood to cover his face.
'I expected this would happen.' Mishito spoke in his mind. 'But she will have to accept this in her heart sooner or later. Nada can't deny the truth... If only time could be turned back. I could have saved the mother, and helped both of them escape.'
The man then walked into the direction that Nada ran to.
'This is my only way to forgive myself for letting the mother down. I will look after the girl.'

* * * *

Nada continues running, and it's only a few moments later that the girl reaches the open section of the forest. She stares in disbelief, at what is left of her village. Most of the huts are reduced to smoking ashes, while others were barely standing up intact. However, what shocks her the most, is the number of corpses lying throughout the village. Nada then slowly approaches the wreckage, and walks among it, trying to find her father and her sister.
"Papa! Maya!" Nada shouted, only to recieve her own echoing voice as the response.
Still finding it difficult to believe this is really happening, she continues along, to see if she can any survivors. As the girl continues to walk, she sees various bodies whose twisted and scarred faces of horror and suprise make them look like demons. With each corpse she sees, the more Nada realizes that this is really happening. Her father and sister are gone, and her mother gave up her own life to protect Nada's. The girl stops right where she's standing, as the tears start coming again.
"MAMA!!" She screamed, before dropping to her knees, sobbing.
It's now that the truth really has struck her. Unsure of what to do now, Nada continues crying, but stops as she hears a set of footsteps approach her. She turns, only to be greeted by Mishito.
"It seems that the Gods are unforgiving this day..." Mishito said. "I'm sorry."
"I.....don't believe in Gods.." Nada said in hate. "If Gods really exist, why is my family gone?"
Nada's anger suprises Mishito, as even he believed that the Four Gods created this land. However, this wasn't the time to argue the existence of the Four Gods. He moves closer to the girl, to stand right beside her fallen form.
"My Mama... died.. to protect me, and.. I did nothing to protect her.." Nada whispered.
"It's too late now.. The only thing I can do for you now is to prepare you ." Mishito said.
Nada, suprised, turned her head to Mishito.
"You really wanted to protect your mother, so she would be alive now. I will give you the power to prevent this from happing again: To protect yourself, the weak, and the ones closest to you. But this power can only be achieved and used in the knowledge of defence, never for murder. It's this fact that will seperate you from an innocent child, and a soldier of the Heavenly Demons Clan."
The girl continued to remain silent.
"However," Mishito added. "To achieve this power, you must leave your past life behind. Your mind and heart haven't fully developed to accept what has just happened. In order to do this, your past life and childhood will have to be rid of, until you are old enough to understand fate."
Mishito offered his hand to Nada. "Let us go.. home"
"Home.." Nada repeated, as she took Mishito's hand.
Soon afterwards, both of them are now outside of the forest, and a trail of smoke ascends towards the sky, where Nada's village used to stand.

* * * *

During the beginning of the Heavenly Demons' attacks on villages, a lone Guardian Angel had emerged, warning the innocent of their arrival, and delivering death upon evil. However, over the many years, the Guardian Angel had disappeared, and became nothing more than a myth to the people....

A lone hooded figure approaches the fallen village. The bodies have been turned to ashes, and most of the huts have been stripped down of their appearance, leaving nothing but skeletons of a hut.
However, this isn't the same hooded figure from many years ago, as this one doesn't have a fighting staff slung over their shoulder. The figure removes their hood, revealing a girl, with short pink hair and a few strands of hair hanging over her face, and wearing a black head band. Her blue eyes are not the same innocent, and sensitive ones from many years ago, but instead, eyes which show determination, and a deep anger within the heart.
"It's been many years since they attacked my village." Nada said aloud. "And it's been many years since I have returned to this place. Master Mishito said that I'm now old enough to come back here, and hopefully understand.."
Hoping that she would achieve something from coming back to her origins, she walks among the many years of degrading wreckage. As she's walking, she stops at one of the huts, which was one of the few standing rigidly. The girl enters, and takes a look at the inside, which was nothing more but scorched floorings, tables and beds. However, as she goes further into the hut, she sees something which catches her eye. On one of the beds, she saw a small traces of something metallic, which was buried under wood. Approaching the mound of wood, Nada then slowly drags the piece of metal from under the wood, and realizes that it's a piece of black armour. It was mostly scorched, and suffered years of rusting, but she could clearly see the insignia designed on the armour. It was a a picture of an outline of a person, with his arms crossed over his chest, and a pair of large bat-like wings enfolding his body. Nada knew very well who this Clan was. Instead of dwelling on these thoughts, she places the piece of armour on the one of the wrecked beds. She had no need to keep the armour, for she knows that she will recognize Heavenly Demons, by their insignia. Satisfied that she had achieved something from this visit, Nada places the hood of her cape over her head, leaves the hut and enters into the covering of the forest. Just as she leaves the forest, she stops and looks up towards the orange evening sky.
'If the Four Gods cannot prolong the death of the innocent, then I shall....'