PREQUEL


Once upon a time in Olympus, the god of sky and thunder known as Zeus had been head-over-heels for Hera. She never perceived him as a potential love interest so she declined the opportunity. However, over the course of time, after an unrelenting effort from the King of All, he finally wins over her heart and they create a family on Mount Olympus. They brought four children into the world, but unfortunately, that did anything but quench his sexual desires as he sought out other women as well, constantly committing infidelity against his marriage and birthed other children through the women he mated with. He had cheated on Hera over a hundred times, but in the end, Hera always forgave him. He was never off the hook, however, there was only so much grief and pain the Olympian Queen could manage.

One more betrayal was all it took for Hera to unleash her trump card of a plan to vindicate her husband’s treason. She set out a search for Typhon and Echidna, the two most feared Titans in Greece. Once gathered, she helped devise a deal for the pair to help claim supremacy over her husband. The Monsters conceived a lion cub; a tiny ball of innocence that would later serve the purpose as a weapon against Zeus. From its birth, Hera wasted no time in taking the cub into her own hands, assuring its parents that she would take exquisite care of it. She trained the feline through each phase of its life, and by the time it reached adulthood, it developed into a man-eating massacre ready to tear anyone and thing apart, of course given the command.

Eventually, once Hera was confident that she could leave the Lion to his own sovereignty, she sent him to Nemea, where the city had a Zeus shrine. He was worshipped religiously by the occupants and it enraged Hera immensely to the point where she aimed to put a halt to the deification. With the lion guarding the shrine, people could hardly step into it without encountering the deadly beast. And as predicted by the Queen, the days of grazing cattle, walking in the wild, and even sleeping peacefully at home would indeed come to a sudden end for the residents of Nemea. Every day, they bore witness to sheep and fellow tenants vanishing without a trace. The beastly lion often lured warriors to his cave by abducting women and using them as bait. Warriors and combatants would attempt their share at rescuing each damsel in distress, however, they would ultimately walk into their own demise. By this time, he was the feared legend. He was dubbed the Nemean Lion.

Watching from afar, Hera had great faith in how this destruction would send a ripple effect against Zeus. However, little did she know, another figure was hidden deep in the shadows of Nemea, prying in on their collude. A lonesome Amazon warrior, Nilda, intervened in the action and attempted to slay the beast, however, her efforts proved dire after long periods of time. Despite recognizing its natural dispositions as a lion, Nilda deduced that its destructive act on Nemea was abnormal attainment. Her suspicions were confirmed when Hera arrived on the scene and commanded the lion to destroy the shrine at the site.

Nilda grew sympathetic over the beast, pitying the influence Hera had over him. She took initiative by paying visits to the lion in Nemea whenever Hera was absent, attempting to tame him. It would deem exhausting to the Amazonian woman, similar to beating a dead horse. However, her attempts to win the lion’s trust would eventually come to fruition when it was confronted by a dozen of warrior men to be decimated. The Lion was a witness to Nilda’s unyielding drive to defend his honor, protesting that Hera was the true enemy. Together, they defeated the assembled men, marking the start of their affinity.

Nilda was often hammered with mixed emotions. She was relieved and delighted about her intimate relationship with the Nemean Lion, yet troubled and concerned about the reception of her Amazonian tribe, ashamed of what they would perceive her to be if they were to discover her affair. It did not help that she was also pregnant shortly after.

The Nemean Lion left a print on the turf of Nemea, so much that Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, had enough of the charades. He commanded Heracles, son of Zeus by a different woman, with a set of tasks and one of them was to defeat the beast. Nilda caught wind of the news and was paranoid about the feline monster. The Lion was dismissive of her constant pleads to flee Nemea, headstrong in counteracting whatever opposing threat stood unwelcomed on his newly claimed territory.

Refusing to risk putting her unborn child in harm’s way, she was quick to abandon the lion, journeying back to Themiscyra, her hometown. Upon her arrival, she was welcomed with open arms by her sisters, letting it be known that she was with child. Her time spent back at Themiscyra was bittersweet, as after about a week had passed, gossip had spread that the Nemean Lion had finally met its end, slain by Nemea’s newfound hero Heracles. It was more gruesome to hear that he had skinned the lion, wearing its fur, claws, and even its head as a trophy.

Months had passed since the Nemean Lion’s death; Nilda was in labor. She gave birth to a boy, who she named to be Angel. He wasn’t a kitten, he was a humanoid baby. Despite this, it was easy to recognize the traits of his father, which often brought despair into the woman that the Nemean Lion was not present to share such a precious moment. Withholding the expectation to hand her child over to the Gargareans, she fought tooth and nail to raise him on her own.

Unfortunately, Nilda could only do so much as her efforts were in vain. She was struck with a compromise that was intended to leave both parties content: she would raise Angel up until the age of 10, and be forced to exile him to the Gargareans. If any rebellions were committed at that time, the Amazons would be permitted to kill him.

That day would come. After many years of grooming Angel as best as she could, she would harshly cut all ties with him for his sake; albeit, instead of forcing him into the hands of the Gargareans, she wanted him to live a normal life. As painful as it was for her, she ran him out of Themiscyra. By this time, the poor boy was without any parents.

Luckily, despite his awfully young age, Angel had years of experience when it would come to survivability. Nilda taught him how to fight, and to use his head when it mattered. Enough to help him get by. Accompanied by the love she has for him as a mother, she was confident that he would be fine. He had the blood of a warrior and a bestial god after all. He would figure it out.

Angel slowly but surely adjusted, gaining new ground on his lonesome lifestyle. He started coming to his well-being as an individual with unique abilities. He was able to understand and communicate with animals. During his journey to seek a new purpose over the years, he eventually found himself stepping foot in the land of Spain. Waltzing into a civilized society was not something he envisioned. Despite appearing human like them, he stuck out like a sore thumb unable to adhere to their rules and traditions. He was practically a caveman to them.

He was so confused, baffled to the core at how they were so weak. How they were of low value compared to his people. Eventually, he was entangled with a young Spaniard woman by the name of Sofia Sanchez. There were often times his conscience would remind him of the taboo that was sharing the same space with the opposite sex. However, his raging hormones refused to abide by it once his body was mature enough. Sofia was nothing like his mother; hailing from an elitist family, she was very arrogant and often carried a superior-type personality. Despite Angel holding no penny to his name, his attractiveness held ground for being known as the most dangerous man in Spain. He was also deeply gravitated by his girlfriend’s hotblooded temper, that being the one similarity she had with his mother and the Amazonian tribe. Sofia’s family was quick to take him in and teach him the ways of living in their country, unfortunately, their conceited habits would ultimately rub off on him, turning him into even more of a spiteful and egotistic man.


CUB DAYS

Years had passed as Angel had grown accustomed to the conventions of the European kingdom. The dynamic couple married after Angel confirmed to himself that he would settle down to create a family of his own, without the infidelities. Sofia was announced pregnant and after nine months would birth to a baby girl, as she and Angel would eventually decide to name her Aaliyah. This was a glaring issue for the demigod. Angel wanted a boy, not just for the convenience of raising his own kind but due to the fact he was well aware of the cultural divide between men and women where he was from. Hell, he was banished from his home because of it.

That was not the only knot for the newlyweds. Aaliyah was born humanoid with the exception of physical traits that mirrored a cat. She was with a tail spread with dark rosette spots all over her body. It was a never-ending buzz that spread around the city, earning speculation from practically every resident in Spain.

Sofia was not fond of her newborn child, she resented what Aaliyah’s feline nature brought to the family. No longer the center of attention, slowly but surely did she loathe her, brewing the hatred for her lion traits. She was repulsed to refer to Aaliyah as her daughter. Angel often made a conscious decision to steer away from his cub, intending not to attach himself.

Aaliyah was raised with very little care. Sofia wasn’t the compassionate, patient mother she needed her to be. And she was certainly not a daddy’s little girl. She was the outcast when it came to dealing with her mother’s lineage. At family gatherings, she was always the oddball out, cast to the wayside while her cousins played among themselves - and what made it worse for the hybrid child was that her parents noticed, but did not ever seem to care. She struggled in adjusting to the human society simply because she was different just like her father, not only because of her appearance but also for her unworldly gifted abilities. It's been of benefit, while at other times it's proved dire.

Her relationship with her parents grew toxic and abusive the older she got and it eventually soured to the point where it was made easier for Angel and Sofia to remove her from their home. Feeling like an orphan at this point, Aaliyah spent most of her life to herself. It was as if she was bound to suffer the same fate as her father had when he hit puberty. And unlike him, she had a hard time acclimating to her environment. Bouncing around the city for shelter, she could not find any permanent security and decided at age fifteen that Spain was no longer her home.

The exiling from her parents left an embittered taste in her mouth. Albeit anxious and afraid of what life would reimburse her, she pledged to mark her own path and leave a legacy of her own without a trace of her parents’ aid. The daughter of Angel took it upon herself to flee Spain by any and all means necessary, sneaking on a transatlantic cruise in Barcelona that at times nearly got her caught - however, her nimble frame and stealthy nature helped ultimately keep her out of the naked eye the entire time.

v • d • e
Heroes: Dominick • Violet Salvo • Mercy • Hope
Villains: Razura • Sange Vena
Neutral: Bria Crawford • Lionheart • Synthia Salvo • Artemis