AELORA - Episode 1: The Night She Fell

I never believed in goddesses until one fell into my compound.

It was 2:13 AM. There was no power, and I was outside my small apartment in Lagos, trying to get phone signal to send an assignment.

Then the sky cracked. Not like thunder. Like someone breaking glass in heaven.

Something fell. Fast. With light. It landed behind my house, near the soakaway.

I grabbed my small torch and ran there. And I saw her.

She was kneeling on the ground. Her hair was white like snow, long enough to touch the ground. Her dress looked like it was made from moonlight and stars. She was crying, and her tears were gold.

"Please... don't touch me," she whispered. Her voice made the air vibrate.

I thought it was some kind of ritual. I wanted to run.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Lira. Princess of Aelora. My father is the King. He cast me out to save me."

"Save you from what?"

"My four brothers. They want my power. The power of creation. It was meant for me, the only daughter. If they take it by killing me, they will destroy all realms. My father sent me to Earth to hide. But here... on Earth, I am powerless. I am nothing."

My heart was beating too fast. She looked like a 20-year-old girl, but her eyes looked a thousand years old.

"Why my house? Why fall here?"

She slowly raised her hand and touched my finger. Immediately, her whole body glowed brighter than the sun. The grass around us grew tall in seconds. My torch became like a floodlight.

She gasped. "You... You are the Vessel. The Chosen One."

"What?"

"On Earth, I can only use my power through you. You are the key. You are the lock and the key."

I quickly pulled my hand away. The light disappeared.

She held my hand again, tightly this time. "Please. Don't leave me. If my brothers find me here like this, with no power, they will kill me and take it."

I am just Deji. I have no job. I barely have 2000 naira in my account. How am I supposed to protect a goddess?

But when she looked at me like that, with golden tears in her eyes, I knew my life had changed forever.

"They are already coming," she whispered, looking up.

I looked up. The clouds above my house had turned red. Like blood.

And in the red clouds, I saw four shadows descending.

To be continued...