“Fate is the ruin of all design,” I mumbled to myself as I looked at the scene around me. The phrase had been a favorite of my older brother, and the truth behind it always stuck with me. I never planned to be here, never planned to be king, and definitely never planned to have my third kid by the time I was barely thirty.

When I awoke this morning, it was to a painfully loud scream from my wife. In my stupor, I fumbled my way to her side to make sure everything was alright. The doctor had notified us that the baby was to be born soon, so you could imagine how worried this random scream made me.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” I asked, my voice rough from disuse.

She took a moment to look around, violet hair swinging, before making eye contact with me, an odd look on her face. She was smiling, but it quickly faded into a frown, then a look of confusion.

“I don’t know,” she stammered before continuing.

“I was dreaming about something, but I’m not sure exactly what. There was a place or like, a person, something, and then something happened. Something went wrong, but it was also good, and I could see it, I could see-”

“Madeleine, you’re rambling,” I cut in softly as her voice began to rise. “Take a breath, then tell me what happened.”

She looked at me, the soft light reflecting off her amber eyes, and took a deep breath.

Still looking frazzled, she let out a sigh and began anew, her voice becoming its normal calming tone.

“I suppose I’m not making much sense. I'm just not sure what happened, the dream, it felt so vivid, and now I feel like I should be happy but sad at the same time and even though it just happened I can’t remember any of it.”

By then, I had made my way to her side of the bed, grabbing softly shaking fingers after I did so. Rubbing the familiar scar on her hand, I began to speak, but before I could, she let out another scream, this one lower.

“Maddie, what happened, was it the dream?” I asked, confused as to why a dream was affecting her this much.

“Baby” she replied through gritted teeth.

“Baby? What baby? Was there a baby in the dream? Is it making you worry about our baby? Honey, don't worry, our baby will be fine.” I said soothingly.

“No, you idiot.” my loving wife retorted. “Our baby, THE baby they’re coming.”

I wasn’t looking in a mirror, so I couldn't tell you my exact reaction, but it was somewhere between shock and, as my wife said, idiocy. I bolted for the door as soon as my brain processed the information.

“Winston” I called out to the hallway.

As both the head of my night watch and one of my closest friends, his posting was only a few feet from my door. This along with my mana enhanced senses made him easy to make out even in the relatively dim light hallway. He was almost as tall as me at 5’11, and the silver and gold armor he wore morphed to fit its host, making the dense muscles underneath obvious. Though he was nearly forty, his core progression made him look half that age, if not for the thin beard he kept most would think him a teen. With a spear in one hand, he moved the other to rub close cut black hair that somehow managed to look freshly brushed even after a long shift.

Walking closer, he winked a light brown eye and began speaking in a hushed whisper, his voice as silky smooth as ever.

“I heard a scream in there, you know I don’t think it's safe with the baby coming so soon and all. You’re the husband, you have to look out for her and the babies-”

“Get the royal doctor,” I interjected, stopping Winston.

“It’s time, Madeleine’s having the baby.”

Winston smiled a grin of perfect teeth at me before his face went serious, his usual work demeanor, and he turned to pass the command to the guards stationed down the hall.

One of the two guards bolted off at Winston’s command, while he and the one remaining came in to help Maddie to the birthing room.

“Just a little more, Your Majesty, he’s almost out,” the head doctor said, stirring me out of my thoughts.

It had been about nine hours since that morning, and it was finally time. The labor had been more intense than the other two, but Maddie had pushed through it strong as ever.

“Just a little longer, honey. You’re almost there, I can see his legs,” I said encouragingly.

Then I realized my words.

“His,” I repeated, checking again to make sure I saw correctly. “Honey, it's a boy, it's another boy.

Madeleine's face distorted and under the pain, it seemed as if there might have been a twinge of annoyance as I all but burst into song at the newfound news.

About a minute later, with a final push accompanied by a scream louder than most before, the child was now completely in the arms of the pointed eared doctor. He held the boy firm in his rotund frame as the nurses and I looked at the child.

In the corner of my eye, I could see a sweat soaked Madeleine put her head to rest on a pillow as the doctor spoke.

“Get me the scissors.”

The room was loud with the combined shuffling of people, and child’s cries as I looked at the face of my newest son. Most in the Silverose family had, as the name suggests, silver hair, but under all the birthing fluids I saw he had the barest hint of his mother's violet locks.

I only had moments to contemplate before the world went dark.

Madeleine Silverose

‘That was awful,’ I thought, letting out a breath.

Between the nearly seven-hour labor and the actual birthing, one could only imagine the years taken off my life by that single day. But was it all worth it? Of course. Cale and I had been hoping for anything, as we already had one of each; and of course, the Kingdom would rejoice.

I sighed internally, somewhat annoyed I was thinking about the Kingdom even now.

Laying my head back, I caught a glimpse of his purple strands of hair.

‘My hair,’ I thought selfishly, lifting a hand even though the boy was well out of reach.

I had long been hoping one of the kids would get some of my visage, but that silver hair of Cale’s was so prominent as to almost be a bloodline. A smile formed on my face as I thought of us, together as he got older.

Then that feeling came back, that amazing, all-encompassing, consuming, horribly-. I took a deep breath to shake the thought. For some reason the dream, well the feeling of the dream, had lingered, even though all the pain of the day there was a feeling that something was… off?

I closed my eyes to ease the tension in my mind, when suddenly I heard nothing. It was as if all sound had been sucked out of the room, and when I opened my eyes, there was nothing to be seen. Then a bright flash erupted, and I was forced to shut them again.

When I could tell the light dispersed, I looked left to see Cale still by my side, holding my hand.

“Cale,” I said, vision still blurry from the sudden changes in light.

The smile had faded from his face and seemed to just be staring at the baby.

“Cale, what was that?” I asked, shaking his arm this time, hoping to make more of an impact.

Not getting any response, I urged him once more, louder.

“Cale.”

***

Cale Silverose

One second, I was gleefully looking at the face of my newborn son, and the next, there was nothing. The regular scene of the birthing room was replaced by an immense darkness. To be more thorough, it was black, an abyssal dark that could only be found if the night sky was to descend onto the earth. I tried looking towards the window and, though it should be early afternoon, the window I had just seen light from was nowhere to be seen. The floors, walls, light, even people were just gone, becoming another mote of dark in the nothingness that had evaded the room. I felt as if I was being stretched and just as I thought the void might take me the dark changed and my sudden blindness reversed.

A bright light suddenly engulfed the room, like that of a star following in the vacuum of space. Though rather than a distant amorphous blob of light, it appeared as a color of white so pure not even the most refined flame was its equal. My eyes shut on instinct and a few seconds later, as if a figment of my imagination, it vanished.

When my eyes finally adjusted from the two phenomena, the room returned. Though it was nearly the size of my office, the birthing room suddenly felt much smaller. Everything seemed normal, the walls were back to their dull off-white, while the tiled floors had returned to their dull gray color. The boy was still in the doctor’s large fra…

My thoughts stilled as I caught the last glimpses of a symbol fading right into the boy's forehead. Leaning forward, I tried to peer closer at it, but it vanished with the motion, the juxtaposition of black and white all I was able to make out.

I began to look around again, first at the doctor whose eyes were closed, then at the nurses, though their backs were still to me. I looked toward the window which had rematerialized, and finally Maddie, her head still on the pillow of the birthing bed.

Turning back to the baby, I could see his eyes start to close. The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, the only thing stopping me from fearing the worst. After another moment I began to hear Maddie’s voice, she was saying something, but the words weren’t clear. My mind was too busy trying to figure out what had just happened.

The nurses were the next to move, looking around the room in confusion for a moment. One of the nurses looked at Maddie then me, before turning back around. When the nurse looked back towards the doctor, the elven man’s brown eyes opening and closing slowly, he held out his hand.

“Doctor Ilbern,” the female nurse said after a moment as she pointed to the scissors in the other nurse’s hand.

Shaking his head, the half-elf doctor took the scissors from the nurse and cut the cord connecting mother and son with a resounding snap.

I had just been watching until that moment, but as if the noise had been an alarm to wake me from my trance, I began to give commands to the people in the room.

“Erin, check my son.”

It came out more worried than I planned, but I continued. “And call the Chief Healer along with the Commander of the royal magicians.”

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The gray haired doctor had a look of confusion on his face, but he had received an order from his King. He immediately told one of the nurses to hurry and follow my orders while he checked the boy.

“Cale”, Maddie said after hearing me give out the initial orders.

“Cale, talk to me, what's wrong,” she continued, her voice growing shaky.

“What's wrong with my son?”

She strained her neck, skin even more pale than usual. Looking at the boy, I realized how much I was worrying her and tried to calm myself down before I began.

“I-I’m not sure,” I stammered out before stabilizing my voice. “For now, I just want to make sure he’s fine. It could be nothing, Maddie.”

I finished as I handed her a blanket, then held her hand as we waited for the doctor to finish his check-up. The entire time, her eyes fixed on our son, the same boy with indigo hair she had given birth to moments ago, now on a table being examined.

The doctor finished his exam as the Chief Healer and Commander of the Royal Magicians arrived. The two saluted Maddie and me but I motioned for them to wait at the entrance as the doctor began to speak.

“He seems to be in perfect condition, Your Majesty. The spitting image of health.” The doctor said with a chuckle, a handkerchief going to his soaked head of thinning white hair.

I nodded, then closed the door before asking him to do the same to Maddie. Receiving a similar result for her was heartening, but still didn’t convince me. I looked at Maddie sweat covered her face, and though the blanket covered it, she was still covered in blood and other fluids.

“Do you want me to take this to another room?”

Squeezing my hand, Maddie gave me the answer I knew she would, making me considered my options for a moment before casting a second circle wind spell that would help keep the smell contained.

Maddie’s dignity somewhat intact, I asked for the Chief Healer, a matronly woman named Genevieve, to enter first. Since Ilbern was a birthing doctor, not a magical healer, it was possible he had missed something more arcane, and those environmental changes screamed arcane. Receiving the same orders I had given to the half-elf doctor, the brown haired mage began to look over the newborn prince; her hands glowing with the white of healing mana.

When the light emitting from her faded, the royal healer announced the same Ilbern had. I looked at Maddie to ask her if she felt fine, but before I could, she shook her head in the affirmative.

Smiling at her, I muttered, “Damn mind reader.”

Maddie returned the gesture, though her smile faded fast as she stared at the newborn. Sobering, I told both the doctor and healer to wait outside. The Commander of the Royal Magicians bowed, then smiled.

“My King, Queen,” he said, his Lisani accent faded but present.

Motioning for him to rise, I began to ask my questions.

“Alderin, what is the possibility of someone being able to cast a spell in this room?” I heard a stifled gasp escape someone in the room as they understood what I was suggesting, and I realized in my haste I forgot to send the remaining nurse out. She had been told to look after Ben, so my assumption that she would have left with the doctor was false. Putting up a hand, I told the large man to wait a moment.

“Lenry,” I called to get the attention of one of my royal knights still in the hall. I motioned for the blond-haired man to come close, and whispered in his ear.

“Did you see anything out there?”

“Umm… No, Sire, was I supposed to?” The knight asked, scratching his chin with a silver gauntlet.

I had already figured that. If they had, protocol would have dictated they run into the room, weapons at the ready. Taking a breath, I shook my head, none of this made any sense.

“I figured that was the case. Ask the nurses if they saw anything and what they know.”

“Would you like me to be aggressive?” Lenry asked, no emotion leaking through his voice.

I considered it for a moment, torture was something that would have made me blanch early into my rein. I’d become more accustomed to it now, but it wasn’t needed here.

“That shouldn’t be necessary,” I began, shaking my head. “Just make sure they don’t talk to anyone and keep an eye on them.” Then louder, I said, “Nurses go with Lenry.”

I looked at the only nurse who remained in the room and smiled, though it didn't quite reach my eyes.

“Nothing is wrong, this is just a precaution.”

The nurse bowed while Lenry saluted before leading the two down the corridor. Three people remained in the room, Alderin, Maddie, and me. Genevieve and the doctor remaining in the hall at my request.

I looked at the man in front of me, Al was one of only three Travi Core mages currently in the castle, and the most knowledgeable about mana arts. Repeating my question, I hoped he'd have an answer.

“Well I should just be repeating information you know, but for someone with castle clearance the barrier allows for most smaller spells to be cast freely. All spells larger than the second circle, barring special zones and specific permissions, would be prohibited from both internal and external forces due to the barrier.”

“Ok,” I said, nodding, I did know that already. “Then what is the possibility of that barrier failing against a spell, or maybe someone getting around it?”

Alderin raised a single eyebrow as he looked at me, then spoke.

“Well my King,” he said as he began stroking his salt and pepper goatee. “Magitech was never my specialty, but there’s more than just one barrier, it’s a system of them working together. I supposed if multiple Tenth Circle spells or higher were to be used the barrier could break but, even ignoring the rather obvious gathering of people that would require, we would know. To just circumvent that is near impossible.”

“And you’re saying there have been no issues with the barrier, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, and I don’t know of a spell able to penetrate the barrier unnoticed, neither from inside nor out.”

“Alright,” I replied, my face in a grim line. Intellectually, I knew his words should be true. Though a fire mage and, lightning variant by nature, besides working on his body, there was nothing Alderin loved more than studying magic. That said it was impossible for him to know every spell, one could have been specifically created for this, and that mana, no energy, was nothing like I’d felt before.

I looked over at the baby, sleeping peacefully and felt a little silly asking my next question, but I continued regardless. Something created that sigil.

“Then tell me this. When a child is born, can they perform magic?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.

The middle-aged looking man stared at me for a moment, red eyes blinking, then seeming confused by my question and responded with one of his own. “Do you mean casting a spell at birth, Your Majesty?”

“Yes,” I replied without breaking eye contact.

“You were always a student who came up with the most interesting questions.” He smiled and began to stroke his burly beard. “No, not as far as I know, Your Grace.”

It was a bit annoying that he was so calm while, internally, I was borderline frantic.

Turning around, he pointed at the baby then asked, “Is this about the boy?” his last word a bit unsure.

I nodded, and the Commander resumed stroking his beard as he continued.

“While it would be possible in theory, the likelihood is low, like infinitesimal. I’m not trying to be too patronizing, but it has been almost twenty years since we went over this, so a slight refresher. Yes? To cast a spell you need mana and an output, whether that be a chant, hand gesture, or some other method.”

He stroked his thick goatee in thought, continuing after a moment.

“The idea of a baby having enough mana is improbable, but the latter is frankly impossible. For mana there would be two possible sources.”

Raising a finger, he listed off the first.

“In the case of a newborn, the mother is the most likely origin for any significant amount of mana. The residual traces in the child often fade rather quickly, but he is quite uhh… fresh.”

Quickly moving past his use of the word “fresh” when referring to my wife giving birth, he raised a second finger and spoke.

“The second is the atmosphere, but that barely merits a mention as the rate of absorption would be unsubstantial. And that,” he continued, chewing on the words. “Is forgoing the use of a medium suggesting the child would be shaping with raw intent, an unlikely scenario.”

My eyes wandered back to the baby as Maddie looked at me, worry clear in her eyes. I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her exactly what I saw, but my questions made my fears quite obvious. Taking in a breath, I let it out in a sigh, there was little else to say. I was almost out of theories before I was reminded of something I'd read during one of my late night library perusals.

“Alderin, tell me if a spell was cast on someone, would you be able to tell based on their mana.”

“Well possibly, are you thinking about the book by Trazen.” I nodded, somewhat surprised he could think of the exact book I was thinking of based on such little information. He just smiled at my look, answering the question.

“The amount of mana greatly varies from person to person, especially before their awakening and even after that it fluctuates. Even though it is possible, in theory, I’d not be able to help personally, and don’t know of any devices created that could do so.” He trailed off, then after a moment snapped. “Though I might know someone who can help, Tabatha, she’s a newer recruit but is trustworthy and easily the most adept in magic sensory. Would you like me to fetch her?”

I was hesitant, new recruits, especially ones not specifically scouted, were possible security risks and this was potentially a huge security risk, but Alderin trusted her and that would have to be good enough for me.

“Yes, please do.”

Once the magician left, I issued more commands to one of the remaining royal guards.

“Lock the castle down, do it quietly. I want to know everyone who was in and around the castle, along with any higher tier spells cast within the city’s radius. Also get me eyewitness reports from anyone claiming to have seen something strange emanating from this room, I want answers in a couple of hours,” my tone brooking no argument.

The Knight hesitated, likely confused as to what I meant, but scurried off after a quick salute.

I turned to Maddie, who was tugging on my shirt.

“Can you tell me what’s going on now? I know I said stay, but that didn’t mean I wanted the whole castle seeing me like this.”

“Minus the smell,” I quickly added, pinching my nose.

She glared and I smiled.

“I’ll tell you everything soon, this is just something I need to confirm now, I don’t want to delay this. And my wife looks beautiful in every way, so I’m unsure as to what you mean,” I finished dramatically.

Rolling her hazel eyes, she let out an exasperated sigh at the fawning comment and continued to wait.

I called the doctor back in, and we cleaned, then moved the baby into a crib, him just sleeping as if nothing happened.

Shortly after, Alderin arrived with a raven-haired woman, the pair bowing, one more than the other, as they entered. She was likely no older than twenty-five, though core progression could make an exact age hard to guess.

I immediately returned to my questions.

“I believe Alderin said your name was Tabatha?” I asked, my hands going to my hips. He said you’ve developed your sensory skills well.”

“While I would not claim to have the power of the Commander, sensing techniques are my specialty, Your Majesty.” Tabatha replied, her purple eyes sparkling at the indirect praise.

“And how are you with measuring the mana resonating from a person's body? Do you have a baseline for the highs and lows? Could you tell whether a spell is affecting someone or not using your measurement?”

Looking rather caught off guard, the mage began to answer my questions one at a time.

“Well, I couldn’t call it a baseline, Your Majesty, but I’m fairly well-traveled. I’m rather adept at discerning a person’s strength using the standardized ranking system, but have been able to infer an average of sorts for non-awakened people with a rudimentary system of my own design.”

Hesitating, she moved a lock of shortcut hair away from her face. “This makes me better than most, at least at my core strength, at sensing the levels of mana in a person's body. As for whether a spell is affecting someone, I would depend on the type of spell, I would only really know if there were obvious mana fluctuations.”

“Ok, measure my son’s mana,” I said. I had already planned to have her measure his mana once I agreed to allow her in the room. Though, knowing a little of her background did make the decision easier.

“Do you mean Prince Silas, My Lord?” Her head tilted, a look of confusion on her face.

“No, him,” I replied, turning slightly to look behind me where the sleeping child lay.

Tabatha glanced at me, behind me, then me once more. Her confusion melted as she nodded, then hesitantly bowed. I moved to the side slightly as the mage slowly began to walk to the crib.

I watched as Tabatha turned to the newborn. When she began the somatic gestures common with spell casting, I looked to Alderin who assured me it would be fine. Apparently, over her years Tabatha had been able to form her own sensory spell, which was no small feat, and if anything was to happen I didn’t doubt Al could take care of it.

‘I’ll have to remember her,’ I thought to myself.

The white glow faded from her hands and moved up her body, eventually coalescing in her eyes. Then she just stared down at the child. After a few seconds, her eyes widened, but before the worry could set in, I felt the mana in the air get heavy as if it was being sucked into something. When I looked back at Tabatha, her face was a mask of confusion.

“What happened?” I asked. My head swiveling from person to person. “Everyone felt that mana spike right?”

“Yes, I believe we all felt it,” confirmed Madeleine, who’d remained quiet until now. She was also staring at Tabatha.

I looked at Alderin, who just shrugged, then Tabatha, urging her to speak in hopes she had realized something we had not.

“Well, I’m not quite sure what happened,” the purple eyed mage began, words slow. “When I first looked at the child, he seemed to have a normal amount of mana in his body. It might have seemed slightly high, but with him having just been born, Queen Madeleine’s mana was likely still resonating in him. Then suddenly it looked as if the ambient mana around his body was gathering, and after a moment the magic power in his body plummeted. Almost simultaneously, obscene amounts of mana seemed to enter his body, where it just vanished. I’ve never seen anything like this, but he seems fine. Maybe this is just how some newborns get acclimated to mana.”

Tabatha then looked back toward the child, probably to see if she could catch another spike, but he just lay there sleeping, unfazed by all the panic in the room.

Tabatha’s final words were likely just a random guess, but they were as good as any other theories I had at the moment. I looked back at Maddie, her face, a mask of confusion and worry, I felt guilty as I realized she, nor I, had yet to hold, let alone name, the child. Deciding we weren’t likely to figure out anything new for the moment, I sent Alderin and Tabatha back to their duties before calling the doctor back in.

After he and Genevieve checked the child once again, confirming all was well, Maddie told Ilbern to hand her the sleeping baby. She gave me a look as if to dare me to object, before sending everyone else out of the room. Initially, the smile on her face grew as she looked at our son, but slowly disappeared as I began to tell her what I had seen.