Chapter 1- where it all began
In the beginning there where the God's, the people, and the animals. This was way back when the God's were approachable beings with whom anyone could converse and interact with.
I was born almost 3 thousand years ago on a snowy winter night, in a small room only lit by a single stick with a burning cloth wrapped around it. My father wasn't happy to find out that I was a girl, on the other hand my mother was delighted to have a daughter.
My mother named me after her grandmother, Aspasia Asimina. She had died not long before I was born. Not to long after I was born my parents were expecting their second child. I was only 10 months old when my little brother Nikolai was born. My father was beyond thrilled to have a son, to him he was perfect while i was not.
You see the village I was born into had a custom and it was frowned upon to have a daughter born as the first child. Even though i knew my mother loved me deeply, I knew she also felt some shame in having bore a daughter before a son.
As I was growing up I was taught how to do the household chores with my mother, whilst my younger brother was training how to fight with my father. I have always hated chores, all I ever really wanted to do was learn to fight like my brother.
Mother never allowed me to learn, but being the rebellious child I was and went and trained alone in the woods behind the village. It was fun being out there alone and able to be myself, until I was caught by a boy named Mathaios. He had found me intriguing, he liked that I was different. He kept my secret and would train with me.
I was now 16, my father had found out about my secret training I did in the woods. He was furious when he found me and what I had been doing at night for the last year.
As soon as we got inside of our house he backhanded me and hit me in the face. this had caused me to stumble and fall to the floor while cupping my face with my hand.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!! You are supposed to be learning how to be a lady not some damn fighter!" my father yells at me at the top of his lungs.
"You being born a girl was already enough shame as it was, and now you.. you go and do this!" hes now bending down and in my face. He looked like he was ready to kill me. Right before his fist landed on my face my mother walked in and yelled " Stop this Andreas, I think she gets it now!"
He looked up at her and huffed in annoyance and walked away from me and out the door. She walked over to me and looked at me with a worried look in her eyes. She pulled my hand from my cheek, she looked shocked to see my face.
"Aspasia, honey are you alright?" my mother asked me with a concerned voice.
"I'm okay mamma." I said while gritting my teeth because of the pain that was spreading throughout my face.
"Okay honey.." while helping me stand up.
I walked to the washroom and spit out some blood. I must have bit the inside of my mouth when he hit me. I looked over the rest of my body, I had bruises on my legs and wrist from when I fell to the floor. I looked at my reflection in the water, there was a big black and purple bruise on the side of my face. I went to touch it and winced at the pain. I rinsed the blood from my mouth and then went to bed.
The next morning Mathaios came over. We became good friends over the last year.
"What happened to your face?" he said in a low tone and full of concern.
"My father found out about my training." I said bitting back the pain I felt when I talked.
"How did he find he find out?" he asked with his eyebrows burrowed together.
"He was walking in the woods after he noticed I wasn't inside, he seen me while I was practicing some new moves." I said in a shaky breath."After he found me he dragged me home and well.." I said pointing to my face.
"It must still hurt." he said putting his hand up to my face making sure not to touch it. He had a gentle look in his eyes. I don't think I have ever seen this look from him before.
"Yeah it still hurts." I said looking away from him.
We sat there in silence for a while, neither of us uttering a word. It was a comfortable silence.
"Aspasia" he said in a quiet voice breaking the silence.
"Yeah?" I asked looking up at him. He had the most serious look on his face. I have never seen him look so serious, he always had a smug look on his face or a goofy grin but never a serious look.
He turned to look at me "I think I might be in love with you." he said staring at my face watching my reaction. I looked at him shocked. I didn't know what to say to him, my mind went blank.
"You don't have to say anything, I just wanted you to know. But will you please think about what I just said." he said while looking away and down to his hands, which he was fiddling as if he was very nervous.
It took me a minute to regain my thoughts and say "okay, I will think about what you said."
Even after he had told me he was in love with me it wasn't awkward. Just being around him was almost as natural as breathing for me. After a while of sitting around and talking about how his training was going, we said bye to each other and I watched him walk off towards his house.
Mathaios was a year older than me, he was not an ugly man in fact he was gorgeous. He had messy dark brown hair, bright green eyes, beautifully tan skin with muscles that fit his tall build.
I thought about what he told me and thought about how I feel about him.
