Two weeks later…
In an extremely secluded hospital, a patient struggled to his feet using the wall as support.
“Tyras stop!”
An older man reached out to the patient to keep him on the bed, but he was shaken off.
“Stop it old man. I must go to her this instant!”
The determined patient, Tyras, hobbled out the door.
He wore a light blue hospital gown and a simple necklace that showcased a murky emerald crystal. His once sparkling blue eyes seemed to have faded a level.
“Gah you damned fool. Since when did I raise you to be disobedient?!”
The old man, Sien Einstoldt had no choice but to follow his son out the room.
This was a private hospital that the organization used for high profile patients. Currently, The Queen of Ruin and The Maelstrom were undergoing treatment here, their fates unknown to the public eye.
“Stop you imbecile! At least let this old man help you!”
Tyras didn’t refuse after seeing that he was no longer being impeded. Before long, the father and son reached a separate room.
Tyras urgently barged into the room and immediately caught sight of his wife.
“Mia!”
He rushed to her side.
Beads of sweat collected across her brow, and her once lustrous black hair was now streaked with grey. Her eyes flickered between their natural emerald color and a hazy black. Despite her missing arm and sickly countenance, it was clear that this woman was an incredible beauty.
“Mia the doctors said...-“
“Tyras…”
She weakly smiled and gave him an endearing look. He was always by her side no matter how badly she picked on him, and she knew he would always remain by her side through life and death.
“Yes sweetie I’m here.”
He grasped her hand and kneeled by her bedside.
Tyras’ father, Sien, scanned the room and made eye contact with another older man, who at this point had been ignored entirely. Both elders exited the room to give the couple some privacy.
“Lucius… is it as I feared?”
Lucius Sugo, the father of Mia Sugo, had jet black hair and a healthy complexion. The elder replied with a choked voice, his former stoic countenance nowhere to be seen.
“My daughter is dying…”
His eyes quivered.
He still had yet to process this series of events. Between the invasion of the corrupted behemoth till now, it had only been a very short while—a pitifully short amount of time to lose a child.
“I don’t understand… Mia is stronger than my son. They were hit by the blast at the same distance, how is this possible? Tyras was merely crippled, but Mia is standing at death’s door.”
Lucias let out a sigh.
“At the time of the blast, Mia instinctively diverted a portion of her strength to protect someone else.”
Sien looked at the man strangely.
“You’re saying Mia protected Tyras?”
This was strange to Sien because he knew that under no circumstances would his son allow that to happen if it would place Mia at risk.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“No, I’m saying Mia is pregnant.”
Sien was dumbstruck.
“Then… did the child survive?”
“The child is alive, but Mia… her body is slowly disintegrating from within. The child is also sapping away what little energy she has to slow down the process.”
Both men wore grim expressions as they shared a moment of silence.
Sien was the first to speak.
“What if we removed the child? What are her chances? There is always another opportunity in the future to have children.”
“Unfortunately, even if we remove the child it’ll only extend her life an additional few months. She’s already decided to try and carry it to term.”
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Tyras silently wept by Mia’s bedside.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”
“Oh Tyras… What would it have changed? I don’t regret anything.”
“Mia, I don’t want you to leave me. We promised each other. We promised to live and die as one. You can’t leave me alone.”
Mia smiled weakly and slowly placed her only hand on his head.
“Tyras, you idiot romantic. You can’t die now. Our boy will need someone there for him.”
Tyras shook his head.
“I’m crippled, Mia… I no longer have any strength. What little reserves I have left are rapidly fading away. I can’t protect anyone, I can’t do anything.”
“Shhh don’t say that. You’ll be a great father. I just wish I could be there to see it…”
Tears trailed from her eyes, but her mouth still formed a smile.
“We could remove the kid…”
Tyras’ eyes adopted a hollow look as a whispered under his breath.
“Tyras if I hear that again, I’ll end you myself.”
Her stern voice shook him awake. It was a wonder how such a powerful voice could come from a body so weak, but either way, her word was final.
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Months passed by.
Mia’s health deteriorated faster with each passing day, and unless he could help it, Tyras was always by her side.
“She’s going into labor!”
“Her body is too weak, she won’t be able to do this.”
A group of doctors were frantically moving about in a room, while Tyras sat in the corner stricken with grief.
By now he was dressed in a casual sweater and pants. He had long been discharged from the hospital, but he now required a cane to move efficiently.
“Tyras…”
Mia weakly called out with an outstretched hand.
Her sunken face characterized the miasma of death that circled around her. He clasped her hand within his own and tried to smile while looking down at her.
“Mm, we’re going to be parents now.”
“Tyras… listen. Help Jun… he can’t…”
“Mia…? Mia!”
Tyras frantically called out to his wife.
“We’re losing her!”
“Get that child out of her right now!”
After a few minutes of frustration, a child’s cry echoed into the room.
“We’ve lost Mia…”
One of the doctors was checking her for signs of life. His voice cast an aura of gloom amongst the crowd.
“Um… doctor! The baby!”
One of the assistants cried out in alarm.
“What is this?!”
The doctor thundered as he inspected the baby.
Tyras absent-mindedly stared at Mia’s lifeless body when his eyes narrowed fiercely.
“Don’t touch that kid!”
His voice thundered as he radiated a powerful presence, one that caused the others to quake in fear. His faded blue eyes once more shined a piercing blue light as he grimly strode towards his newborn son.
The doctor unconsciously handed over the boy to Tyras.
“Everyone out! Send in Elder Sugo and my father!”
Not a minute passed for the room to be vacated and two older men to be front and present.
“What… what is this!”
Lucius was the first to respond after laying eyes on the newborn.
“The baby appears to have been corrupted, was all of this for nothing?”
Lucius and Sien grimly stared at the tragic scene before them. In both cases, this was their one and only grandchild. Neither of them wanted to witness such a fate.
Tyras closed his eyes. Mia’s last words soon resurfaced in his head.
Help Jun… he can’t…
“My son is not yet corrupted. It seems my beautiful wife was maintaining the purity of his core the whole time.”
Tyras spoke quietly such that only the two grandfathers could hear.
“My daughter was always so gifted… to be able to persevere this long. A single slip up would have killed the child long ago.”
“Yes but, look. The child can’t maintain its balance on its own. If nothing is done within the next few minutes, I’m afraid we’ll lose our only grandchild.”
Sien spoke after close observation.
Tyras gazed down at the little boy in his arms before taking off his necklace and hanging it over the child.
“His name is Jun, father please look after him. Only the most trusted can know of his existence.”
“Tyras what are you saying?”
Sien quickly became flustered after Tyras placed the baby in the old man’s arms.
“Mia’s last words were to help him. The only way to help him… honestly I can’t bear to live without her anyway. It sucks I won’t be able to watch him grow…”
As he spoke, Tyras’ eyes glowed brighter with streaks of lightning flashing across. His body seemed to be compressing the air around him.
“No! Don’t!”
Lucius called out once he realized what Tyras was doing.
Tyras smiled handsomely before placing a hand on the child. Soon, all the brilliance around the man faded away and was quickly absorbed into the child’s body, and at the same Tyras fell lifelessly to the floor.
Both elders lost their children within minutes of each other.
“He converted his remaining life energy to help the kid maintain balance…”
“Yes… but we’ll be lucky if that lasts even 20 years.”
Both elders sullenly escaped this hellish scene, declaring to the doctors that the child didn’t make it.
The next day it was announced to the world that The Maelstrom and The Queen of Ruin both died from the aftermath of the greatest battle to have ever shocked the world.