A long time ago. In a land closeby, yet far, far away.

Inanna opened her eyes and looked around. She sat up and looked around her again. She must've wandered too far from home. She was sitting next to a murky river. She looked up to the sky and noticed that the moon wasn't up yet, so it must've not been so late.

She shivered and looked across the river and saw eyes staring back at her. Eyes without bodies. She shivered again.

She looked up ahead and saw the dark forest. It didn't look that scary a few hours ago when the sun was still out. She had to walk back home or her family would get worried, but the way home was through that forest.

As she walked she shut her eyes and covered her ears with her hands. She didn't even want to imagine what type of creatures dwelled in this place.

She stumbled on a stump and fell to the ground. She looked around her in fear expecting a giant monster to attack her, but there was nothing. She looked around her at the strange monstrous trees. They were thick and fat. There were holes burrowed into them, homes to what, she didn't want to know. The leaves were brown and withered. But fruits clung onto them, they were wrinkly and brown.

She gasped as one of the rotten fruits fell in front of her and split.

As she raised herself to her feet with her tiny child hands she saw the black seeds inside what was left of the fruit. She touched them with her finger to see if they were some sort of insects, but they weren't. She snatched one of them, clutching it tightly, although it was tiny.

Later...

"Don't run off again darling. We don't know what dwells outside of our Kingdom. And we do not want to shatter the balance; it is sensitive enough as it is." Her father nodded then looked up at the dark sky. "Well, I must tend to my duties now. Goodbye."

Inanna looked up at the sky and smiled as the moon slowly shone into the heavens. "Mother, why does the moon always come at the time when my father leaves at night?"

Her mother hugged her daughter. "I don't know, darling. Maybe your father secretly turns into the moon at night. And your brother, who goes away at dawn turns into the SUN!" They laughed. "And I turn into..." her mother tickled Inanna playfully but she shouted: "No! Wait!" The little girl opened her hand and showed her little seed. "Now throw that away, dear, if you found it in the land of dark, it must not be good."
The girl frowned sadly and threw the seed away.

In the morning she went outside to play in her garden. It was huge for a little child's garden. It had flowers of every type, and all the animals of the world came here to play, where lions and deer admired its beauty equally, and all grudges forgotten. Everyday she played with the animals and laughed and ran.

Suddenly she stopped as she saw the little black seed on the ground. She lay down next to it and looked at it. "Hello."

She paused.

She pointed the sun: "That is the sun, it gives us light and brings happiness... Do you feel happy?" she smiled at her imaginary friend, the seed.

She rolled around the grass playfully, and then crawled towards the seed again. She stared at it for a long time then asked: "Are you hungry? What do you eat?" She waited for an answer but there was none.

"Would you like some water?" She ran towards the spring, cupped her hands and filled it with fresh water then walked back towards the seed, careful not to spill all the water away. She poured the water on the seed then waited. "Grow." She raised her hands in the air. And as if obeying her command, the seed grew roots to attach itself to the ground then a stem formed and expanded and grew and grew.

The animals stared in wonder at the enormous vegetation. The tree was beautiful, it had green leaves and the fruits it gave were fresh-looking and red. She hugged the tree and said: "I knew it. All that you needed was some love and attention. Look at how beautiful you really are."

Suddenly there was a soft fluttering in the air and a dove landed on one of the branches of the tree. It looked around then started chirping. Inanna was filled with happiness: "OH! A bird! And it has chosen my tree for a home!" Inanna stretched her hand towards the dove. "Come little bird! Come!" The dove looked at Inanna and it flew away.

Inanna drooped her head and tears formed in her eyes.

A tall man walked towards her. She felt his footsteps and trembled with fear. Then she sat on the ground and bowed her head. The man laughed. "Stand up, my beautiful." She smiled: "Thank you, grandfather. I mean, lord Enki."

"Do you know what you shall be when you grow up, child?" He asked. "Older." She said matter-of-factly. He laughed. She looked at him quizzically then saw her own father and mother standing behind Enki, holding each other and smiling proudly.

"Look at this tree. Wonderful as it is, has its roots in the underworld, its stem firm on the earth and its branches and leaves stretch across the heavens." She looked back at the tree and noticed all the animals gathering around her in admiration.

"You shall go through many trials as you grow up. But in the end, I know you shall prevail. You will return here where you tree shall be waiting. And you shall become, the Queen of Heaven." Enki promised.

Her eyes widened with happiness. "The Queen of Heaven!" The little girl smiled gleefully. "So ALL the birds in the world will LOVE me as WELL as the animals?"

Her parents laughed, her mother shed a happy tear and wiped it, she was happy yet sad because her daughter was too young to know what it meant to be bestowed such an honor.

Night fell

She heard a scuttle in the bushes. The little girl opened her eyes and looked around. It was late, by this time all the animals should have left. She was wondering who or what it was. Suddenly there was fluttering in the bushes and a creature whooshed across the air and disappeared behind the tree.

The little girl's eyes were wide with wonder. She walked closer to the tree then went around it. A large hole was burrowed into it, a creature sat there... It was a woman. A woman with wings? The wings were not like those of birds however, they were like those of bats. Her long red hair and wings covered her body yet she shivered. The little girl's fear turned into pity as she saw the tears in the maiden's eyes. The latter sobbed as the girl walked closer to her. "Dark maiden... What are you running away from?"

"They hate me." She sobbed. "They want to banish me. Because I am hideous and was made of mud. Not like HER."
"Oh..." the little girl didn't know what to say.
Suddenly there was thunder in the sky.
The little girl's eyes widened in absolute fright.
"Oh God... Spare me." The dark maiden prayed.
Suddenly the sky opened and creatures descended from the sky, they had large arched wings and they shone with an annoyingly bright light.

Two of them walked towards them and pushed the little girl away and dragged the dark maiden out of the tree. "There you are Lillith." He said. Lillith screamed and struggled, her wings fluttered desperately. The little girl stared and looked at the men in fear. The other one looked at her. He held a long object which pulsated light from it, he pointed it at her and shouted: "Are you Angel or Demon?"

She fell back again but felt compelled to answer, but she didn't even know what he was asking her, although the language was, not surprisingly, the same.
Her brother ran towards the man with a large axe in hand. "Don't touch my sister!"
The angel pointed his weapon at her brother and a bolt of fire shot from it, he fell on the ground in pain.

The little girl turned around and saw her family being dragged out of their homes. She held back her tears.

"What are they?" One of the angels asked. The other -whose wings were larger than that of the others- shook his head. "I don't know. But they've all been tainted by the demoness..."
"Understood. They must all be banished to Hades as well." The second in command exclaimed.
"No." The chief angel commanded: "Don't send them to Hades. Send them to the Unreal."
The other angels turned around in surprise.
"Yes. Banish them to Earth. We don't know if they have powers. And whatever powers they may have, they will be dormant in that realm. They will be in a dream state after all. And as for this tree, mark it off the dimensional grid, it has also been tainted."

One of them grabbed the child but was stopped by another. "No, Raziel. She is just a child, let her go." Raziel looked at her with suspicion. "She looks very sinister. I can feel it. She is exhuming a strange type of vibration. Evil, without a doubt."

"What's your name, child?" He asked.
"Inanna." She said with a tremble.
He looked into her deep oddly colored eyes and didn't feel threatened, so he let her go.
He looked at her with a sigh as she ran off towards the woods. If her home was taken, the dark was the only thing left.

As she looked back, she saw Lillith looking back at her with a smile. An angel grabbed her wings and ripped them off. Lillith screamed and fell on the ground with explosive pain.

"What about the garden? Shall we burn it?" One of them asked.
Raziel stopped. "No. Wait!" he arose to the sky, the sky opened and he disappeared.

The sky opened again and Raziel returned, behind him were two people. A man and a woman without wings. The woman was short, she held onto her man as if he was the one to protect her from any harm.

"My home. My family. My garden. They've taken all of it!" Inanna told herself sadly as the tears poured down her face. She walked away. She couldn't bear to see any more.

(The Story Concludes...)