Birth and Visitation

On the cold night of one of the harshest winters of the decade, where the whirling of the cold winds which were accompanied by snowflakes could be easily heard.

Some sounds could be heard coming from a small house that stood alone in solitude from other houses, and most would be able to tell what was going on in this house.

"Come on! Harder! You can do it, ma'am, just push a little harder," a midwife shouted to a woman who lay down with pain written all over her face.

Yes, she was currently in labour, giving birth to her first child and most probably her last and she was willing to give it her all.

She was still young and beautiful despite her current state and it was such a shame that her husband who she loved so much, departed from this world two months ago, leaving her alone with their unborn child as she promised to raise their child in the best possible way she could.

But the labour, up till this point has been very difficult and her body was totally exhausted, but her mind was not, even though she could feel her consciousness slipping away which was obviously not a good thing.

She gave a strong push but it was still not enough and after some minutes...

"Ma! she's losing consciousness," one of the two younger women who assisted the midwife panicked.

"Selene! You can't give up now, your baby has almost been brought into this world. It would be a shame to let all that you have been through go to waste. Please! Remember that you swore to bring her in no matter what," the midwife tried her best to motivate her and Selene could hear everything that she was saying but all her energy had been burned out.

'I failed Charles, I'm sorry, but I guess we'd both be joining you soon.'

Just as she said this internally, she didn't know if it was her imagination, or because she was almost dead but she could see a very familiar figure standing beside her.

The long black hair, and blue eyes like that of the ocean which one could get lost in if stared at, along with the thin line across his eyebrows, well-shaped jaw lines, and the smile....that smile.

Without a doubt, the person standing beside her was her husband, the man whom she loved so much.

A tear trickled down from her eyes as she stared at him.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I couldn't even hold on for her. I'm so weak."

The smile on his face faded away now replaced with confusion. "My love, why are you apologizing? You talk as though it is over."

He stretched his hand placing it on her face as he smiled once more.

"My love, you are still very much alive and it's not time for you to join me much less our unborn child. I would love to see her grow up from the heavens in the same love you had showered me.

I would love to see her fight and overcome the challenges in life and turn into someone I would be proud of. But my love, that won't happen if you can't pull through now. You are weak? How laughable, you're the strongest person I've ever known and I wish I even had half of your strength. So quit lazing around and do what you always do...….and what is that?"

"I win," she said in determination as unknown strength flooded into her body.

The woman who had been watching her murmur things had almost lost all hope as they felt that she was at the brink of death already being welcomed by her ancestors but seeing the fire which suddenly ignited in her eyes they regained hope.

"That's it, Selene, that's it," the mid-wife voiced out.

"Arhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed in pain while giving it her all and five minutes later, the midwife was holding on to a beautiful girl with similar white hair to her mother and blue eyes most likely from her father.

A big smile could be seen on her face as she glanced at Selene who had collapsed immediately after taking a glance at the child and looking around in disappointment.

"She didn't even get to name her." She walked away.

After about an hour, they had succeeded in cleaning up both the mother and the child as they were both asleep.

The midwife slept in their house while the others left.

They were all covered properly because of the temperature which was assuaged by the chimney where occasional cracking sounds were being produced from.

Deep in the night, a figure suddenly appeared in the room and if Selene could see it she would be shocked beyond belief as this was her husband.

He began transforming and in less than five seconds a woman whose features could hardly be described by words stood in the exact spot as the man before.

From her golden eyes and white hair which seemed to glow along with her skin, to the beauty and aura she gave off, everything could be described as divine.

She glanced towards Selene with a slight smile on her face before walking towards the child.

She stared at her for some time mostly in confusion. The reason was that she had been feeling a sort of pull towards the child in front of her which was something strange even to her.

It was surely the forces of the world acting and she wondered why. But one thing she knew was that the child in front of her had a very important role to play without a doubt, and she guessed that the girl would be needing help, so she stretched out her hands grabbing those of the girl as she voiced out.

"Little girl, you have my blessings and gift to carry out the task that you have in this world and I would try my best to help you succeed."

The hands of the girl lit up before extending to her entire body as her eyelids flickered.

When the glow faded away, a marking like a symbol could be seen on the back of her right hand. The being separated their hands before vanishing in the same way she came

******************

Something similar was also happening within a house but unlike the other, it was surrounded by many other buildings.

This place seemed very important because of the sheer number of people and buildings in the area and could be mistaken for the capital, but the house stood out because of its size and design, without a doubt owned by a rich family.

Within this house, the sounds of a woman in labour could be heard along with those of the women who were with her from a particular room.

"Miss, you're almost there, it's almost out, just a little more," the nurse who was in charge of the delivery voiced out.

She felt that it would be better if the child was delivered in a hospital but the mother was stubborn and insisted on giving birth to her child here, so what could she do but obey?

She was glad that this was not one of those difficult labours as it had just begun 12 minutes ago and was almost over.

"Come on Mrs. One more! Just one more!"

"Arrrrrrrrhhhhh!!" The woman who lay on the bed with her legs open tried to hold her scream as she pushed with all she had.

She was a young beautiful woman with shiny pitch-black hair and eyes with her red lips being pressed against each other.

"Yes! Yes! You did it. It's a healthy and beautiful baby boy," the nurse screamed in joy holding the bloodied child in her hands before getting to work.

Just like that, the news spread to everyone in the house and a man was going to tell the person who waited for it the most.

He knocked on the door before opening it and walking in shortly after.

A man could be seen standing in front of a large window which he stared out from. He had shoulder-length black hair and black eyes which were visibly filled with worry but with a firm voice he spoke out. "How are they?"

"They are alright lord Zelcry, she gave birth to a boy and they say he's very healthy."

Zelcry signed in relief as a smile appeared on his face. He turned his head towards a sofa where a boy about three years old slept soundly. "Your mother has done it. She has yet again brought another son to this family."

He turned around to face the man who had brought this good news. "Make sure she and the child are both comfortable. This is more than enough reason to celebrate. Send the news to our family and friends, there would be a party for his birth."

"Yes my Lord," he bowed with a smile. He always loved it when his master was happy.

"Has she named him?" He hoped she hadn't, he wanted to be the one to do it and once again he was given good news.

"She hasn't. Maybe she has finally given up on both of your quarrels on who will name him."

Zelcry smiled slightly remembering all of their squabbling on who would be the one to name the child when born, with both of them having their different reasons.

"James right?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"From now on your promoted to the next level."

This was the best thing he had heard the entire year and tears slowly formed in his eyes.

"Thank you, my Lord. I'll be taking my leave now," He said as he bowed once more before walking away with a completely made-up mind. From now, he swore to be the one to deliver all the good news in the future.

It was late at night, and by this time the only reason why several people were still awake was because of the birth of the second son of the house, and with that now concluded, everyone retired to their rooms and houses for a good night sleep, well, that was except for the guards who were on duty.

They stayed awake even more vigilant in much more numbers than usual, as there might be some enemies who would plan something against the newborn child but all this was for naught, as deep in the night they suddenly began to collapse as though they had become empty shells.

This happened one person after the next and it was happening in a way that anyone who noticed this was the next to drop making them unable to raise any form of alarm, so no one was able to notice what was going on as even the sounds that were meant to be made from the contact of their bodies falling to the ground was inexistent, it seemed to have been muted.

Shortly after this happened, a figure came strolling through the corridor past all the bodies which lay lifelessly.

It was that of a male whose features could barely be described because of the black smoke thing being produced from his boy.

The only other thing which stood out was his blood-red eyes which glowed and could easily be seen through the black smoke.

He was dressed in a long black coat with furs which was the same colour as his hair and he looked at all the people lying on the ground and couldn't help but be disappointed.

He would've preferred a long red carpet that would serve justice to his foot, and by a red carpet, he meant the beautiful liquids contained in their bodies. But alas, there was a bigger burden and disturbance in his mind so he decided to just put them to keep and check out this problem.

It didn't take long before he was standing in front of his destination. As if having a mind of its own the door slid open as he walked in

"Hmm?" He looked at the child which had just recently come into this world in confusion.

"How can such a little infant unease me?" He had been feeling some kind of pull towards this child.

But then the eyes of the child suddenly opened which caused the man's eyes to widen in fear and shock. Feelings that he couldn't remember when last he felt.

This wasn't because of the sudden action of the child but rather, it was because of the glowing inscription which was within the child, something which he could recognize, and before he could make any other action he was completely sucked into the body of the child as its eyes color became similar with the man it had just absorbed before the glow faded away along with the inscription, leaving the previously black eyes now bright red.

The child went to sleep as if nothing had happened, unknown to it what fate had in store.