Chapter 1
A woman goes to the hospital. Her dark, auburn hair, glistening with sweat, plastered against her face. She needs to deflate her stomach. Pain comes, in and out, taking strength from her. The hospital is looming in front of her, it's outside, gleaming, in the light of the moon. The moon is full tonight, giving her comfort, but then giving her pain. She entered the building, stumbling through the doors. A young man, of great stature, picked her up gently and laid her on a bed.
They wheeled the woman to an operating room. She shifted and moved because the pain throbbing inside her, kicking to get out. The doctors came and put needles in her veins, that have been slowly dwindling in size, to relieve her some pain. The pain was unbearable now. She gripped and ungripped the sheets, trying to relieve pain and tension from her abdomen.
Finally, with one final push, she screamed an ear-shattering scream. When she stopped suddenly. The pain… it finally was… finally gone. She felt her stomach deflate some and it was a relief to her. But then she heard another scream. At first, she thought it was a repercussion of her scream, echoing off of the room walls, but it wasn't her own. It was a baby's soft scream, entering the world.
The baby boy was beautiful, with a tuft of light red hair, and a subtle glow to him. You would not have noticed this glow unless you were special. The boy stopped crying and opened his eyes. His eyes were golden, but a pleasant golden, like the sunrise of a new day. He looks around the room, his eyes laid on his mother. She smiles at him, and he giggles, and moves his hands toward his smiling face, like he is about to rub his eyes to get the use to the light. The male nurse comes around and puts the baby, gently, in his mother's loving embrace.
She holds him for awhile, finally, the nurse asks for his name. She thinks for a bit. She then smiles brightly. "Duke… Duke Umbra." she says with her smile. The boy smiled and giggled at his name. The nurse chuckles light-heartedly, then gently took the newly named baby, Duke, from his mother. He smiled his toothless smile for a few seconds, then his eyes darkened when he was being held by the man. The mother gripped a dagger that no one else had noticed.
This was a special dagger, made of a special metal. A metal that is not known by mortals, but gods and half-gods. Half-bloods, or demigods, who has the blood of a regular mortal and an immortal god. The metal is Celestial Bronze, mined from Mount Olympus itself. Covered by the Mist, a magical fog that distorts human view from the true vision.
But then, the baby reached his small hand up, and touched the man's face. The eyes of the baby glowed brighter than before, like the sun at noon. The man's face went slack and after, the baby's eyes dimmed to sunrise golden again, the man smiled.
The mother, confused, asked, "Sir, why are you smiling?"
"My pain… It's gone. My pain of my leg and arm. I feel no pain and agony. They are healed!" he replied, smiling while saying this.
The woman smiled and slid the dagger back behind her. The baby gurgled and held the man's finger as he left to check on his health. The mother sighed in relief and anguish. Relief because the man wasn't a monster, and anguish because she knew her son was going to be very powerful. His godly aura will be strong to monsters, only because his father put more of his power into the conceiving. But she was happy none the less.
She relaxed slightly, but kept her hand on the dagger. the man came back half an hour later, still smiling, with baby Duke in his arms. Duke is sleeping soundly, snoring slightly and he is still slightly glowing. The man gives Duke to his mother and she lays with him on her torso, singing an ancient Greek lullaby. The man was leaving the room, and he turned and asked what she was singing. She smiled softly, and told the man what some of the words were. "These are some of the words that I like. Oh my sweet hero, how brave you will be, is beautiful. You are strong for the weak, you will help those that need help. You will be just to those that deserve justice. These words are what I'm hoping he will be and will do."
"That is amazing, I can't wait to have a kid." the man said.
The woman smiled a little, to show she thought it was nice the man was thinking about his future children. She just prayed that he wouldn't fall in love with a goddess and vice versa. She hoped her son would be happy, she's only had him in the world for about an hour, but she would already do anything to keep her baby safe. That's why she has the dagger, to protect him.
But she knew her son was going to be strong, and that he would have a strong aura. Monsters would be attracted to him, she already had a plan to disguise his scent for a bit longer. She didn't like her plan, but she was willing to go through with it for Duke, her world. She didn't curse the father at all for Duke's fate. She was going to live her life with her son and future husband. She was willing to do anything for her son, even if it means taking her life to protect him.