Prologue (1/2)

Prologue

“I’m sorry, Elaine.”

The old midwife said sorrowfully as she gazed down at the pale woman lying on the dirty mat. Splotches of dark blood were pooled around this pale woman, and she appeared to be on the verge of her last few breaths.

Gently holding the stillborn baby in her bloodstained hands, the old midwife slowly laid the child into its mother’s arms. Meanwhile, a small wiry boy was currently kneeling next to the dying woman while firmly grasping one of her hands.

It was as if the boy was afraid that he would lose her hand’s warmth forever.

The young boy had hair the color of midnight, and eyes equally as dark. With streams of tears rolling down his cheeks, he scrunched up his childish face in an attempt to look brave, but his facade collapsed immediately when he saw his mother struggling with her next breath.

“Mother…”

The boy choked on his words, causing his voice to croak.

Tendrils of light blue essence slowly coalesced around the old midwife’s hands as she desperately tried to heal the dying woman with her element. After a few seconds, the blood seemed to cease to flow out from the pale woman, but it was clear that there was no preventing the inevitable outcome that would soon occur.

“Calron, come meet your little sister.”

The pale woman gently whispered as she slightly tilted her head to look at her sniveling eight-year-old son beside her.

Reaching out a trembling arm, the woman warmly grazed her palm against her son’s wet cheeks. She felt her soul starting to crumble from knowing that she would soon be leaving her son as an orphan in this cruel world.

The boy stopped crying the instant he felt his mother’s touch on his face.

This was the woman who brought him into this world and the one who showed him the true depths of love and compassion. Noticing the motionless blood-covered baby within his mother’s embrace, the boy felt his heart being slowly crushed with agony.

Robbed of the chance to take a single breath in this word, his sister would never know who her brother was, or experience what it felt like to be alive.

Suddenly, the boy’s mother started to cough uncontrollably as she struggled to breathe.

“Mother!”

The dark haired boy frantically yelled in panic.

“It’s alright, Cal… mommy’s fine… she just needs to rest a bit.”