1 Prologue

The doctors screamed in fright. A lady had just delivered her baby but the baby...had a horn on the side of her head.

"There's a horn...It's a horn!" The doctor put the baby down on a bed without even cleaning it and took a few steps back.

"What's the problem, doctor?" The mother huffed. She was tired.

"Your baby has a horn. She's the devil incarnate!" The doctor ran out. The father came in and looked at his wife. "What happened?" He asked her.

"I don't know. He said something about a hor-" She stopped as she saw her husband freeze in fright, looking at the silent baby. "It's...It's a demon! I'll get a priest or something, wait here." He ran out too. The mother was so shocked but she had to see. She used the walls as a support to go and see her baby and when she saw it, she screamed. The doctor ran in to see the mother but she was on the ground, dead.

"What?...What monster is that..." He stared at the baby who looked him in the eyes. A shiver ran down his spine and he ran out once again and this time he was sure he wasn't going to come back.

The priest entered the operation room. The baby was on a bed. The mother was on the floor with a shocked expression plastered on her face. She laid there, not moving an inch.

"What's going on here?" The husband was shocked seeing his wife on the ground. "Wh-what happened here?" He checked her pulse. "She's...she's...dead? No. No. This can't be. I mean she can't just-"

"Take the man out." The priest told the nurse who showed him the way. He looked at his disciple who had come with him and they nodded at each other. They went to look at the baby who was on the bed, laying quietly.

When they saw the baby, they were shocked. There was no such thing as a horn on her head and when they came into the baby's view, it began to cry. The priest was angry at the parents and the hospital staff who mistreated the baby. He at once ordered the baby to be cleaned and the cause of the death of the mother to be found. The nurses were uncomfortable to be doing such a task and the priest had to glare at them to scurry away going forward with doing the tasks.

He took the baby to father and told him, "Your child has no horn. She's a beautiful angel. Take her and give her a name." He handed the baby to the father who just slapped his hands away. "I don't want to raise a monster, a demon. I saw the horn myself and my wife died too. I don't want it. If you force me to take it, I'll just throw it into a dustbin or even better, I'll burn it alive."

The priest walked away. He realized who the true monster was and didn't want anything to do with it. But now the puzzle was, if the baby really had a horn, why did it have one and where'd it go?

When the priest was on his way to the church, he stared at the baby and was horrified. There was a horn. He forced himself to stay calm and believe that the baby couldn't do anything. The wife had died from a heart attack and the doctor said that it was possible since she had always had a weak heart. The baby looked at the priest and raised her hands. The priest held them softly and the baby smiled.

"Even if you have a horn and grow a demon's wings and fangs, I shall raise you properly because I'm am not allowed to judge you by your appearance neither will I ever be. I'm just a normal human being. I will protect you from all those who will shun you and give a normal life. I promise." The priest hugged the baby. The baby reminded him of all those children in his orphanage who died from various diseases and sicknesses and where shunned by the world till their end. He didn't want her to end up like that. Even if she had a horn, he believed that she was at the least half-human and she'd never let the demon part of herself take over. That's how he'd raise her.

"I will name you Nova Aine, the new light. Show everyone the darkness you have no match for the light that is also in you." The baby laughed as she played with the priests hair and he smiled. He patted the baby and began to sing a lullaby softly.

The disciple just stared ahead, driving, while feeling super awkward about all he heard. He wanted to tell the priest that this is no novel where he was raising the main character to be strong in her beliefs and that the baby had a fricking horn which was...um...scary! But held his tongue back. His profession was on the line. He didn't want to lose his certificate which was an arms length away.

The media caused a big fuss about the baby who was born with a horn. They were all kinds of rumours spreading about what happened like the baby killed it's mother, the parents made a contract with the devil in return for the mother bearing his child, the baby was the devil incarnate or the baby was a demon brought to wreak havoc. Such cases of babies being born with a horn were actually there before but since it was hardly witnessed by many people, it was always forgotten in a few years. But this time, it was spread everywhere. Even the CCTV camera footage was shown to many people.

The priest and his disciple continued to raise the child while publicly denying that they knew about the whereabouts of the baby. There was a check at the orphanage but none of the babies had horns so that had to leave without evidence.

The disciple left after earning his certificate. At the beginning he was certainly scared and didn't want to take part in raising a baby with a horn, but afterwards with time he gradually accepted her. Since he wanted to help more with her surroundings than be with her and spend time with her, he went abroad with his certificate to find more rewarding work.

18 years later.

"Nova." Priest Andrew called Nova. The girl he raised had lost all her innocence and now there wasn't a shred remaining.

"I'm sure whatever you're thinking is too extreme father." Nova laughed. "I'm innocent enough." The priest jerked his head back in surprise. No matter how many times she'd read his thoughts, he'd never stop getting surprised.

"I hope you aren't reading people's thoughts all the time." Priest Andrew sighed.

"Nope, that would hurt my head. Hearing so many thoughts. I only read when I want to." Nova played with the strip of her bag. She was extremely, you know, fidgety and the priest would always get annoyed because she would be lost in playing with useless thing that she wouldn't pay attention to the conversation.

"Nova. Don't play with your bag." Nova let go of the strip immediately and rested her palms on her thighs. "I would like it if you didn't say anything related to people's thoughts just after reading them. Since I can't just tell you to not read thoughts because there will be times you're curious-"

The priest was furious. Nova was playing with the strap again and not paying attention. Nova noticed the priest stopped speaking and looked at him. She laughed, nervously. "What did I just say Nova?" Priest Andrew gave a sweet smile which actually was saying answer-wrongly-and-you're-dead. Nova read the priest's thoughts. She was sure he'd be thinking what she wanted to know exactly.

'Wasn't that lady at the train station I went to super hot? No. No. That lady at the café was the most sexiest. Wait...That ticket officer was super cute too. No! The lady at the church beats them all. Her ass...Oh My God! It was so-'

"Stop!" Nova screamed. "What- What the hell are you thinking, father?" The priest smiled. "I knew you were gonna read my thoughts. So I take it you didn't hear what I said?" The priest stood up right in front of Nova.

Nova smiled, nervously. "Please no. I promise to listen to whatever you say so please don't-"

"Nova." Priest Andrew said, lovingly. "Clean the pigs and the pig shed." He smiled at her and Nova smiled back, at the verge of tears. "Let's discuss this other issue later. Bye then." The priest walked inside into his room. He gave her a quick wave and flashed a smirk before shutting his door.

Nova walked outside of the room. She was really down. Cleaning was one thing and cleaning the pig shed was another. She really didn't want to do it. You only know hardships of some things after going through them. She had done it a few times and she so didn't want to do it again.

Nova looked at the sky and thought. 'Why'd you make pigs, God? You could have made everything but mosquitoes, lice and pigs. Don't you ever feel sad for those who have to spend their time cleaning pigs?!' She cried out, inwardly.