1 The Birth of The Great Goddess

Unlike usual, on this seventh day, the atmosphere of the Mist Land was different. It's colder, quieter, and darker. Every corner of the street was crossed by only a few people, and even then they walked hastily with an uneasy feeling. Shops and restaurants also choose to close early before dinner time arrives. Indigenous people believe something will happen in their city. That's why after dinner the residents rushed into the room. The light bulbs are turned off and candles are replaced. They preferred to be in bed praying, hoping that the night would pass quickly and the dawn would soon break.

But not with a family of immigrants who had only been living there for a year.

The sound of crying broke the silence tonight from a Colonial Revival model house located at the very corner about five hundred meters from the main road.

The biggest house in Mist Land belongs to the renowned vegetable farmer, Jacob Campbell. Meanwhile, the crying voice came from Hanny Campbell, Jacob's wife, who was now sitting on the bed hugging a baby who was only seven days old.

The beautiful baby was motionless in Hanny's arms, her face pale and her body turning cold. All Hanny could do since then was just cry accompanied by her maid, Shella.

"Are you sure they can help me, Shella?" Hanny's question was thrown after Jacob and Bruce sped away towards a place. Tears welled up in her eyes, her shoulders shaking from crying.

Shella nodded her head. The black woman, who is 45 years old and at the same time has been a caregiver for Jacob's distant relatives, believes Hanny. "Yes ma'am. You'll see. I'm sure they can help the lady." Then his eyes fell on the baby in Hanny's arms.

Less than half an hour had passed, and Hanny's door was wide open. Jacob, Bruce, and a man wearing a black robe and covering his head with a hood rushed in.

the man who was taller than Jacob and a little big saw the baby in Hanny's arms and then spoke in a foreign language to Bruce. The language is allegedly from a country in Europe.

"Give him your daughter. We'll save her before it's too late," Bruce said. Residents there know Bruce as a psychic who often helps people in trouble, either to help heal from magical diseases or things that are beyond reason, as he will do soon. However, this time Bruce gave up and was forced to ask someone else for help. To be more precise, it didn't match his limited abilities as a psychic.

Hanny's tears were flowing again, her gaze was full of sadness with her puffy eyes feeling her baby's body getting colder and stiffer.

"Give her to them, honey," Jacob coaxed, looking at Hanny expectantly. "I'm sure they can help her. Please… trust them." At the same time, he believed Hanny, who soon nodded in resignation and handed the baby to Bruce, even though in the end it was the mysterious man who held their baby.

Outside the wind howled and howled hard to shake every branch of the tree. Lightning boomed in the sky and the night grew darker. There were no stars, only moonlight hiding behind the black clouds.

The sound of leaves rustling on the ground as Hanny and Jacob followed Bruce and the mysterious man's long strides into the forest with lanterns in their hands. Even though they were wearing long black robes and hoods covering their heads, it didn't hinder their movement since they had been walking for ten minutes.

"Where are they taking us, Jacob?" Hanny glanced at Jacob who was walking just a few steps ahead. She tried to follow Jacob's steps, but her body was still weak after going through the birth of her baby girl seven days ago.

Jacob glanced back at Hanny, though he turned his gaze back to the front. "I don't know either, honey. I just believe they can help Sonya." His voice trailed off and he was surprised to see a building resembling a church standing tall a few meters away from them.

"Jacob. Is this the church they talk about a lot?" This time Hanny kept her voice down even though they were a few meters away from Bruce and the man. She didn't expect to come to a place she had often heard from other farmers about Simon's Church. She thought Simon's Church was just a fairy tale. A fairy tale that she often heard as a child. It turned out that tonight she would enter a Church that only certain people could enter, a Church that only existed in the Mist Land.

Without glancing at Hanny, Jacob replied, "I think so." He agreed with Hanny's words even though there was no sign with the church's name on it, only a few statues of a woman wearing a robe and one hand holding a sword in the corner of the courtyard where the ground was covered with dry leaves.

Bruce opened the Church door and invited Jacob and Hanny into it. When entering the church, the building which is not too big but reaches four meters high and part of the building is made of wood, does seem simple compared to other churches.

The lighting in the church was only lit by a few torches that lined up neatly at the edge of the room. As they passed, Hanny and Jacob could see the inverted cross symbol on the upper wall. Not only that, it turns out that their arrival has been greeted by people who look the same as them. It was just that apart from wearing black robes that had hoods on them, they covered their faces with white masks so Hanny and Jacob couldn't recognize their faces behind them.

The people numbered about fifty and were standing opposite each other on either side of which in the middle of them was a step that formed a rectangle about the height of an adult's waist. The steps were able to accommodate the size of an adult human body lying there. However, this time Bruce's friend put Hanny's baby on it.

Hanny and Jacob were standing in the front row right after Bruce, while the mysterious man was standing across from him with both hands raised and shouted, "My savior!" He shouted as if calling someone. Surprisingly his shout was followed by the masked men loudly while raising both hands.

Hearing their screams, it was certain that Hanny was not the only woman there. Hanny was sure those people were part of the Mist Land people. It could be someone she knows, a fellow farmer, or maybe her neighbors.

"My savior! My savior!"

The shouts of the call continued to reverberate throughout the Church room beating the roar of the wind outside. Feeling strange about the situation and the atmosphere they were in now, Hanny and Jacob looked at each other. The two of them didn't know what to do except to watch until the screams of the crowd stopped and they lowered their hands.