"Is it really okay to you to skip cla.s.s?" he asked again.

I nodded for the nth time.

Yeah, we didn't attend to our first cla.s.s and went to the library.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" the librarian asked when she saw us entering the door.

"Good morning, Ma'am." I smiled as I greeted. "We have a research that we forgot to do," I reasoned out. Of course, it's a lie.

The librarian frowned. "Oh, come on, Scarlette. What happened to the 'good-student' type you are?"

"She's in a vacation. She said that she badly wanted to take a break."

She laughed with my joke. "Okay, fine. Just use the books carefully," she reminded.

"Noted," Asher responded with a sweet smile. Tsk, no need to use your charm, idiot.

Asher led the way. We went in the shelves where we first saw each other. He grabbed a hardbound book at the middle of the fiction books' shelf. It seemed familiar to me.

"Looks familiar to you?" he asked.

I nodded.

"This is the book that was fell down on our first meet," he uttered.

A memory flashed in my mind on that day. And yeah, that's also the day that he gave me a mysterious cheeseburger and the day that we nearly got locked up inside the school campus.

"Ah, yeah." I stared at the book that he was holding. "So, what's with that book?"

"Your questions will be answered by this," he answered. I could sense seriousness in his voice but it seemed a joke for me so I laughed.

"Really?" Then, I laughed again. But I also stopped when I realized that we were in the library. "Really? The answers are in that fiction book?" I asked, unbelievably.

"Yes."

I was about to laugh again but his cold expression gave me creeps so I just remained silent and muttered, "Fine. I believe you."

He frowned. "Come on, Scarlette. No time for fun. I'm freakin' serious right now."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Okay. Okay." I raised my both hands in defeat.

"Good." He breathed deeply and showed the front of the black hardbound book. It was ent.i.tled 'Hetarnian Myth'. The letters were gold in color and all in capital letters. "It seems a fiction to many but for us, this is not just a myth, this is our reality."

~*~

Hetarnian Myth - according to Asher, " . . . this is our reality."  This is a not well-known myth or in short, not famous. This is just a myth for others, but for us, it's not.

In the beginning, Od―the greatest G.o.d―he created everything. He created the universe, the Earth, humans, animals, and anything. He was so happy after seeing what he had made.

But . . . it seemed like there was still missing. So, he divided his soul into three ― 50%, 25%, and 25%. His 50% left in his own self while the other half was transformed into two beautiful daughters of his. He named them Er and Wart. Er is the G.o.ddess of fire while Wart is the G.o.ddess of water. They are the "Twin of Balance".

After a long time, a war happened on Earth between Od's believers and those who were not. Back then, the people on Earth got divided into halves. Blood scattered everywhere because of the battle.

The believers got defeated. The three believers who remained never surrendered. That's why the G.o.d and G.o.ddesses went down to Earth.

The non-believers got shocked when they saw them. Before they could speak a word, Od altered their memories for them not to know their existence anymore and to forever avoid that kind of war to happen again.

The G.o.ds brought the three wounded believers in Hetarnia ― the place where the G.o.ds and souls live. This place looks like a paradise with a big kingdom.

The three believers―namely, Heta, Durlen, and Cavhian―were rewarded to be G.o.ds but Cavhian refused. It's because he just wanted to continue his ordinary life on Earth. Heta became the G.o.ddess of healing, wind, and forest and Durlen became the G.o.d of metal, potions, and shadows. These two stayed in Hetarnia while Cavhian returned to Earth.

As the time pa.s.sed by, Durlen became greedy. He's not satisfied with what he had. He wanted more power to rule the whole universe and the whole Hetarnia. So, he created a sword that could kill a G.o.d.

One midnight, while Od was sleeping peacefully, Durlen stabbed the sword into his heart. The three G.o.ddesses got awaked because of the shout. They dashed towards Od's room immediately but before they could enter, Durlen vanished.

The G.o.ddesses and souls grieved because of what happened.

Since Er was more powerful than Wart, she became the next ruler.

Durlen never regretted for what he did. All in his mind was power. Because of the reason that he couldn't go back to Hetarnia, he made his own world ― the Underworld. He made demons, evil spirits, and other devil creatures who were his minions. He always gave chaos to Earth to make Er give up her position, which was never happened.

The G.o.ddesses got angrier towards him. They wanted to kill him right away but they couldn't go to the Underworld because of the dark spell that Durlen cast. To counterattack his attacks, Er asked her twin sister―Wart, and Heta to lend her help. Using their powers, they created a powerful silver sword―the Hetar sword, which has a white diamond crystal.

 They went to Cavhian and gave the sword to him. This time, he didn't refuse and gladly accepted it and his duty―that no matter what, he would protect Earth from evil.

When Durlen knew about the sword, he wanted to take it because of the power that it has but he couldn't. It's because, whenever he tried to take it, he couldn't breathe.

Cavhian's duty and his sword was continuously pa.s.sed through generations.

Asher said that the book was written by Leather Antonio ― the 14th holder and the first woman to hold the sword. Aside from the t.i.tle and the whole mythology, there were no other details in it, even the details about the author.

"This is the only copy left out of 1000 copies in the whole world," Asher told me as he returned the book at the shelf. "Gladly, it was destined here."

"If Cavhian was the first holder and Leather Antonio was the 14th holder, how about my Dad?" I asked when I suddenly remembered what the demons told me that night.

"Um . . . " He stared at me like the answer was on my face. "Mister Max Sevilla . . . 17th holder, I think, if I'm not mistaken," he replied, unsure.

"Then―" All of sudden, I stopped because of my realization.

"Anything for you, my niece."

One of the demons laughed and uttered," So, you are the daughter of that swordsman."

I didn't know what's happening to me but it's clear that I used the sword so fast ― just like it's so natural for me to use it.

"You made it, Scarlette. You can control, make, and destroy fire or heat." I looked at Asher because of what he said.

Asher smirked at me when he saw me wide-eyed. "I guess, you finally connected all the dots."

I just nodded slowly and said what I realized, "I'm a demiG.o.d ― the daughter of the 17th holder of the sword―Max Sevilla, and the ruler of Hetarnia and also the G.o.ddess of fire―Er. And I'm going to be the 18th holder of the Hetar Sword."

I thought, things would be clear when I already knew who really I am but it turned out that things got more complicated.