Skylan Chronicles

Prologue

     The girl ran from the flames that were licking the sky, holding her week-old child securely in her arms. She tried to run for the forest, the only place she felt safe, only to be blocked by a large black mass.
     "You cannot run forever, darling," a voice came from the darkness. "One day she will turn, fall under my rule, follow in her father's footsteps."
     The girl took a sharp turn to her right and headed for a meadow in the distance. The black mass followed her at her heels.
     "When will you learn, girl? You were an accident just as much as our child is. Your brother will be willing to help, serenading your little child to sleep. He understands what it's like."
     The girl whistled as loud as she could. The black mass laughed. "I will get my revenge, Artemis. Your child will not make it to eighteen without falling under my ways."
      A large mutt bounded out of the forest, snarling at the black mass. Artemis climbed on to its back and turned around to face the black mass, which was forming a human-like body.
     "No, Kronos, this will not happen. I will prevent it. She will be too good to follow you. She will never know what you are to her. You will never lay a hand on her," Artemis said. She dug her foot into the hound's side, and she turned toward the darkest tree she could find. She pushed the hound to go as fast as it could towards the shadow. The shadows engulfed the hound and the two girls before Kronos could follow.
                                         ****
Artemis let tears fall into the water as she washed the child. Her hometown had been destroyed by the thing she had conceived her child with. Her child had been cursed for eternity. There was nothing she could do.
     "Hey, little sis. You okay?" Apollo asked. He was standing in the doorway to the bathing room.
     "This is my only child. Ever. I will become a maiden. No one will know I am her mother."
     "Sis, I understand, but this doesn't mean you can't have more children. Do what the rest of us do. Fall in l-"
     "No. I do not want any more children. Who knows what he will do to my others if I were to have any? He could end them miserably or curse them. I do not want that for anyone."
      "Okay, sis, if you insist." Apollo left, singing under his breath. The little child splashed in the water. Artemis grabbed a cloth from next to her and dried the baby. She wrapped her in a blanket and held her close, sobbing until they both fell asleep.