It was a quiet night, with the full moon out at its highest peak, and dark clouds slowly drifting by their luminous, neighboring stars. The old, hushed city was dimly lit by scattered candles and lanterns, its peace only disturbed when a baby's startling cry filled the air, emanating from an ancient-roman-like villa. It's long, consistent, and glass-shattering wail could be heard resounding throughout that entire villa. A structure that scaled an entire acre, with countless concrete columns erected along its hallways, walkways, and rooms. Luxurious carpets laid all throughout its complex. Flowing water filled its fountains and showers. Exotic arts fully decorated its walls and ceilings.
In this extravagant home, at the center of a large, white, and luxuriously furnished room, was a young, gorgeous woman, surrounded by four others who were her servants. The shining moonlight and surroundings candles shed light unto her delicate body and the lavish bed that held her, almost like she was the star of a stage.
But heavy was her breathing as she laid sprawled over the sheets. Her flawless jaws hung agape as she gazed at the ceiling, with beads of sweat rolling down her finely knitted brows. The ringing pain in her lower abdomen had yet to dissolve and nothing in the world could had eased it. Why hadn't her husband come yet? She was tired, feeling as if all the energy she had in her body was drained away, as if through the moment she gave birth, she truly offered a piece of her life to her beloved baby.
Her expression had become pale and sickly. Her long chestnut hair was sprawled among the pillows. Her expensive toga was soaked in sweat and sticking tightly to her skin.
But despite her disheveled appearance, she still retained her noble, elegant air.
She was a beautiful mess, Lilianne Cornelia, daughter of the Corneli family, and a one of a kind woman.
The four servants were flocked around her. Two were fanning her, one stood near the door, and the last near the end of the bed.
The scene looked like it was a painting; a fantasy made true by a famous artist of the following century.
The youngest of the four surrounding servants, Eida, a girl not even of twenty years, was the one who stood near the end of the bed. She was idly cradling a wrapped newborn baby in her arms with a small towel.
“Madam Cornelia! Congratulations!” Eida cheered with a happy grin, teetering on the verge of jumping up and down like a bunny. She was joyous the baby was finally born, and that, through all their arduous labor and effort, it was alive, well, and thriving in her hands.
Eida had the appearance of an exuberant yet reserved girl, with freckles dotting her small nose and shiny little dots glittering in her bright eyes. She was so innocent, so young, and so naive. As the daughter from a low-class patrician family, branching from the main family of a popular soothsayer, she was sent to serve the prestigious Corneli family and to experience the peak of the upper class. The rest of the servants were common plebeians.
“Is it a boy?” Lilianne asked. She sloppily dragged her hand across her forehead, wiping off the sweat, and smiled weakly, happy that she had just survived.
Eida flashed her pearly white teeth with a smile and said enthusiastically, “Let's see!”
She was excited to be the one to ascertain the baby's gender, but was also careful. Slowly, she lifted the baby's veil, as if unwrapping a fragile present, and revealed its delicate little figure.
The crying baby seemed the same as she had seen before, covered in a drying whitish substances and bodily fluids, so she could only discern its soft little willow body. She didn’t mind its endless fuss, with its weak, swinging, and balled little fists, and that only increased her adoration for it.
Everyone had been hoping it was a boy and so had Eida.
She caught something though.
Something bizarre.
As her eyes lingered on the baby’s little, pudgy, muddy face, she found herself to be unfocused, her mind seeming to had been invaded by a wave of unease. The baby was emitting a somewhat unusual aura, and every second she remained gazing at it, the aura only seemed to be strengthening. It appeared abnormal to her, and no one else was noticing it besides her. There was an intercepting distortion around it, as if highlighting it, and she was mesmerised.
Gradually it became a brighter glow around the little baby. From that phenomenon, she couldn't stop herself from fantasizing if her ancestors’ prophetic powers were emerging in her.
Perhaps that was what was suddenly tugging at her mind, incessantly warning her of something unknown about the infant in her hands. Even going to the lengths of hallucination.
She stood there, unmoving, and continued to daydream.
Although she knew not to ponder on, she couldn't push it out, her mind being entirely immersed in her vivid imagination. The peculiarity of the baby, in addition to her suspicions prophetic abilities, induced a sense of quaking foreboding to slowly begin filling her gut, and her smile faded.
What was wrong with the baby?
Or rather, she wondered if there was something wrong with her because that was her mistress’s child. Nothing should had been going wrong because she was there for everything.
What was she worried about?
With the help of her seniors, she extracted the baby, and saw how it looked when it first came out then, with its little figure and all. She felt nothing was wrong then.
Questions flooded her head. Why was it then she was feeling such ominous dread? It didn't make any sense. Was there truly something off about the baby? Could it had possibly been…
… Something else…?
The poor girl simply didn't know.
“Eida?” Lilianne suddenly called.
“Ah, yes!” Eida immediately squeaked in surprise, temporarily snapping out of her deep reverie, “I-I-I'm still on it madam.”
All the other servants had been casting her odd looks, and a couple giggled, showcasing their yellow and crooked teeth.
Eida was quick to console herself, bringing herself to conclude that it was likely nothing to put her mind as ease. She silently questioned her foolish self too, wondering what that soothsaying nonsense she was worried about, and compelled herself to believe that there wasn't anything wrong with the baby, nor her.
With some difficulty, she brushed off the delirious premonitions and returned to reality.
“What of my baby? A boy? A girl?” Lilianne asked again, slightly impatient and her fingers tapping the bedside.
“Yes, apologies madam,” Eida said sincerely, her voice steady again. She felt truly regretful for delaying the process.
Eida looked at the infant again, no longer feeling the same terrifying tremors nor seeing the bright aura as before, and it was again a plain little baby. She felt a sliver of relief. Finally letting out a long exhale, she looked over and gave careful examination of the baby's pelvic area. When her eyes recognized a certain object, she began smiling anew.
“It's a boy!” Eida declared, her previous liveliness returning. As she said that, Lilianne’s expression brightened, her complexion improving little by little, and her lips curved into a wide smile.
Weakly, she clapped her hands together and avidly bade her servant, “Hurry, clean him up and bring him to me.”
“Right away madam!” Eida answered with renewed enthusiasm.
She practically skipped away merrily with the baby and brought him to a little bowl of water sitting on top of a short table. She tested the water if it was still warm and it was, her hand feeling a comfortable sensation as liquid warmth flowed through her between her fingers. Gently, she laid him in the water, some fresh stains flushing away immediately from contact, and swiftly tended to cleaning him. She washed him up with the soothing water and rubbed away the blood and the white grime. Strangely again, she noticed that his skin was glowing, basking under the bright moonlight, but wasn't deterred like before and resumed bathing him. She was wholly convinced that the glow of his skin was a simple shine, caused by him being drenched in water and the full moon, and it wasn't anything abnormal to her anymore.
As she was wrapping up, she brushed over the fussy baby’s tightly closed eyes and he ceased crying almost immediately, falling silent under her care.
The baby was acting peculiarly, and Lilianne turned her head worryingly towards Eida and his direction.
Eida noticed the mother's concern, and flashed her a smile.
“He fell asleep,” she said and laughed softly, reassuring her mistress that the baby was fine.
Lilianne chuckled too, and rested her head on the pillow.
But when Eida’s eyes returned to the baby she was cleaning, her heart jumped.
His eyes were fully open and he was looking about, curious of the new realm he had just been born into.
She instinctively took a small step back, feeling the terrifying and rapid tremors return with much more impact than before. The baby shouldn't had been able to open his eyes this early. He analysed his surroundings, weakly craning his neck and perceiving everything around him until his eyes stopped on Eida’s figure. He stared at her with his pitch black irises, practically peering into her soul.
Full eye contact.
Eida froze, terrified, sucking in cold air through her teeth, and the colors draining from her face. She stared back with newfound terror in her eyes, them sparkling only in reflection of the dirty water. Time seemed to have stopped as she alone trembled, her back facing everybody. Following a long moment of her stiffly watching the baby stare back at her, a small and unnoticeable drip of sweat streamed down from her cheek, and her usual euphoric and joyful visage slowly replaced itself: her eyes widened, mouth clenched, breathing turned erratic, and entire body and being shook in fear.
What was that thing?
With darting eyes, Eida nervously glanced over her shoulder at the other servants, not knowing how they would react. She thought it was a hallucination, another trick that her new maniacal mind had given her, but it was far too vivid.
“Well, Eida?” Lilianne called, frightening Eida, and almost prompting her to jump.
The baby began crying again.
Eida, slow to respond, forced a cheerful reply and nodded to her. “He's clean, madam,” she replied.
“Bring him here.”
With utmost courage, Eida gently picked up the crying baby with a soft towel and turned to face the others. Immediately all the servants’ eyes were darted towards the infant, carrying similar reactions of horror and surprise to the sobbing monstrosity in Eida’s arms.
They wondered how was it even possible for a great woman such as their mistress to had birthed such a strange child.
Its appearance could only had been compared to demons, told through tales and legsnds.
Frantically, Eida stared silently at them for guidance as they all gawked, and none reacted except for the eldest. With her scrunched and wrinkled expression, she motioned for Eida to simply move and give the baby to the mother.
Eida stared back at her, aghast with widening eyes, and shook her head in disagreement, but, in response, the elderly servant hardened her condemning and forceful expression. No one liked her except the mistress.
Eida felt that there no other choice so she carried on, taking the baby to his mother's side.
Immersed in the dull silence of the night, she could hear nothing but the sound of her beating heart, pounding against her ribcage, harder and harder as she slowly forced herself to make way to her mistress. She faltered for each and every distinct step taken as the other servants continued watching her, their enlarged eyes glancing back and forth between her and the baby. Her body struggled as if their pressuring eyes alone were stacking thousands of boulders upon boulders unto her burden, and her breathing continuing to grow heavily and unsteadily.
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She pushed herself forward with sheer will, but was still reluctant in handing the baby to her mistress. She simply felt that she couldn't, yet what else did the situation call for her?
There was nothing else to do but to accept it for what it was, and when the moment ultimately came for her to hand over the baby, she swallowed the lump in her throat.
Still, she hesitated, unable to bear giving to the mother what she had given birth too.
“Is something wrong?” the mother asked, her smile weakening. Eida, and the other servants’ quiet act, had made her quite curious.
Eida’s expression grew even heavier from the mother's wondering, and she struggled to pull herself together. Her mistress’s eyes weren't even on her, but her indirect gaze seemed to jab at Eida, mentally breaking her down. Even at her mistress’s side, Eida continued to stall.
“Eida, hand me my child,” the mother ordered softly, yet sternly, her smile gone.
Eida was at a loss, but knew she couldn't disobey her mistress anymore.
Deliberately, she laid the baby in Lilianne’s arms and quickly withdrew to join the others standing around, her expression dropping deeply into despair.
But the instant the baby was laid in her arms, he simply stopped crying, and curiously gazed up into his mother's milky, white, and clouded eyes.
Yes, she was blind.
Lilianne reverted back to her usual soft and kind expression, and began to feel up her baby boy, trying to discern his physique and appearance.
To others, the infant was truly beautiful, yes, he was male, yes, but to the others, he was simply different; an ethereal being, like a small ghost, with milky white tender and porcelain-like skin, glowing unnaturally under the moonlight, a freakishly fragile figure, and utterly pitch black irises with unfathomable depths. They were peculiar eyes, containing glints of intelligence as if he had already gained a sense of self.
He looked nothing like his mother or her husband. He didn't even look that human.
No one had ever thought this would happen.
It wasn't even in the realms of possibility.
But it happened.
Although the surrounding servants stressfully looked on in increasing worry, none had to courage to speak up, and mostly because they simply… didn't know.
They didn't know how or why it was born.
No one knew.
As everyone was nervous, stressful, and anxious, the baby’s small lips slowly curved into a smile, and he began laughing at his mother's tickling act. His cheerfulness immediately dissolved the tension and interrupted everyone's line of thought, displaying an adorable expression as he snuggled in his mother's warmth. The mother's smile widened, and her heart warmed up. With her motherly nature, she couldn't help but cradle the baby tightly in her embrace and chuckle alongside it.
The servants around her sighed in relief, able to breathe again and release the pressure pent up in their bodies, and they smiled at the beautiful scene.
But not the eldest one, near the door. She had a grim expression compared to the rest. Her face contorted, from her countless wrinkles.
She knew what was to happen.
“Lilianne!” a man's distant voice called. “I've returned!”
They all knew.
Everyone was petrified the moment his voice was heard and great tension returned to the room, yet Lilianne continued hugging the baby happily. She was aware of his presence, but wasn’t worried. Moments later, the door opened, and all the servants instinctively took a few steps back.
A man stepped in, tall and dignified, with a white toga striped with gold, a regal and chiseled chin, sharp facial features, strong jaws, light blonde hair, and a cleanly shaven face. He was a fairly handsome man, almost like a statue. A true noble Renuan.
But he was fatigued, hunched over, gripping his knees, and panting heavily.
“Lord Kauridius-” one of the servants stepped forward and began to speak, but she went unnoticed as the man staggered past her and proceeded towards her mistress. He was on the verge of collapse.
“... Lilianne... I left the… instant the assembly... ended… and not moment sooner...” he said in between his breaths.
As he lurched forward unto his knees, the other servants steered clear and stood farther away, at a severe loss of what to do.
“... Is it a boy...? A girl...?” he asked fondly and crawled forward, halting besides her bed. “... Please… forgive… me… Lilianne…”
Lilianne was still cradling the baby with a happy expression and held a delayed reaction, but following his close presence, turned towards the man who was her husband. Shining under her milky white and clouded eyes were glinting displays of great affection.
“Marius…” she uttered quietly and weakly lifted her hand in search of his face.
He stopped breathing for a moment, widening his eyes, and displaying sadness with his upturned brows. He lifted his hand too, lovingly he supported her hand, slowly pulling it in, and holding it to his cheek.
The stimulating warmth from her hand quickly spread from his cheek to throughout his entire body, and he smiled wryly, dreamily extinguishing the air from his lungs.
She chuckled a bit and grinned in response, but after a few moments of sparking passion between them, unexpectedly retracted her hand and proceeded with happily cradling the baby again, him hidden from Marius’s sight behind a layer of blanket.
Marius was befuddled by her strange behavior and as his breathing returned to normal, he asked, “How's our child?”
She simply raised her head, smiled at him, and returned to tending to her child.
“He's fine Marius. A boy,” she said.
“A boy!” he exclaimed and leaned closer, his eyes immediately drawn to the hidden figure she was cradling, “Then finally I have an heir!”
He was extremely happy, cackling wholeheartedly. He would had danced in joy if his body wasn't so worn-out. Lilianne laughed at his theatrics.
He paused for a moment, smiling and imagining all the future had for him and his family. That sole son of his would rise up to seize control of Renua if he couldn't. After a long minute of him envisioning the limitless possibilities, he returned to the moment, and grew curious of his son's appearance. Casually, he slid his hand under the blanket and lifted it from the bed. The servants held their breaths as the baby was revealed in Lilianne's arms.
Marius froze.
Staring at the baby, with the baby likewise turning his head to look back at him, with its inquisitive black irises. Marius didn't display fear, terror, nor happiness, but anger. His anger was so potent, so fiery, that steam seemed to be seething from his body. His brows furrowed more deeply than anyone in the room had ever seen, the corners of his facs twitched uncontrollably, and his breathing grew rapid and almost growl-like. With adrenaline drawing out and roughly pumping, his instincts screamed to him, "Kill it! Grab it and fling it off into the distance. Crash its head into the nearest column!" These thoughts rushed in and out of his head, but one remained: "Why was that little demon resting in his wife's arms?"
A cold gust of air blew into the room, and killed the candles. Everyone shivered, both in fear and cold.
In truth, no one would ever know how that baby came into existence.
Marius calmed his inner demons, returning to his reserved self, and stood up.
He towered over everyone in the room and seemed much more menacing in his recollective state.
He concluded that there could only had been one route, one solution to the problem before him. He was convinced that there could be no one who would ever had dared touch his wife and could only speculate that perhaps an evil demon took upon his guise and committed the foul deed.
Because what child could look so demonic and hold such peerlessly intelligent eyes.
Its back was covered in markings. Inexplicable symbols and language were drawn across the baby's back, as if written with black ink.
He wondered the countless possibilities.
“Lilianne…” he called her, his emotions conflicted, but withheld his words.
It was difficult for him because he had no idea how she would react. He retracted his gaze from her and turned cold as his eyes rested on the baby. His hands clenched, fingers digging into his palms. He couldn't stand the little demon no longer.
“... But for now…” he murmured.
Lilianne stared blankly towards Marius, confused for a moment, and completely put off guard by his act.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
His heart was instantly rended from her simple question, and he immediately dithered like a runaway dog. He was betraying his beloved wife.
Gritting his teeth nervously, he told her the plain truth, “That is not our son, Lilianne.”
Her mouth hung open as she began to process what he just said.
“... Wha…” she voiced almost inaudibly.
Then, slowly it dawned on her that there were underlying dangers hidden from her sight.
Marius couldn't bear to watch as she went through an influx of emotions. Her eyes widened, as though she could see past the blind visage limiting her sight, and the smile she had for the longest time dropped down heavily. She realized that Marius was seeing something wrong with the baby.
“No…”
She didn't want her first dear child to be taken away from her, no matter how different, no matter how freakish, and no matter what he was.
She didn't understand how or why too, if she did give birth to an abomination or mongrel, because she had never laid with anyone besides Marius. She was utterly stunned by his suspicious intentions.
Consumed by anxiety and stress, “What are you talking about!?” she screamed at him, “I've been pregnant for eight months!”
The baby started crying again, it's piercing wail penetrating everyone's eardrums.
Marius's annoyance of the baby was overshadowed by his sadness of Lilianne’s sudden change. The demon was tearing them apart. She had never acted like that, not to him, not to anybody, so he, in his jumbled confusion, thought that she was somehow being manipulated. He secretly thought too, that it might perhaps had been a test given by the gods themselves, and it was all but a part of his trial.
A trial to his ascendance.
Lilianne had a completely contrasted understanding, wanting to take the baby and run away, but she knew she couldn't. Her body was weak from pregnancy, Marius and her were faithfully married, and worst of all, she was blind. She couldn't even speculate about escaping.
Still, she couldn't handle the thought of her child being taken away from her.
She didn't even understand why appearance was so important; it had no meaning to her with her blindness. Just because it looked different, it was labelled a monstrosity to be taken away? She didn't understand that
“No… no… no…” she shrunk back and began murmuring with escalating volume, “No. No. No.”
“Lilia-” Marius attempted to explain. To him, she seemed delirious.
“No!” she screamed, interrupting him.
She held the baby closer, her body shaking, and feebly hauled herself to the other side of the bed.
“Lilianne, just give it up.” His voice was gentle, but held implicit danger.
Shivering, she turned away silently in response, only able to continue cradling the baby in her arms and relish the time she had with him.
Marius sighed and stood there awkwardly for a second, conflicted on which action he should take. He couldn't possibly accept it at it was, fail the gods’ test, and have a stain in his and Lilianne’s union. He was always stubborn, choosing one solution and going through with it to the end.
Because in the end, he didn't see pitiful Lilianne sheltering her little baby boy; he saw a little evil demon lurking under his loving wife's arms and taking her hostage. He had planned out his approach already in his calculative mind. Slowly he crept around her bed, taking advantage of her impaired eyesight and intending to snatch the baby out from her arms. All the servants did nothing but spectate in silence. None stood up for her, and mostly because it was silently agreed among them that the baby was an abomination their mistress needed to let go.
Every step Marius’s took was discrete and precarious, kept as quiet as he possibly could, and it wasn't long before he was standing silently in front of Lilianne.
Lilianne noticed the sudden shift of light to dark, and attempted to retreat, but Marius pounced like a stalking lion, lunging for the baby in her arms.
“No!” she cried out.
Flooding from her eyes in endless waves, tears sparkled in the moonlight as they left streams on her face, dripping heavily from her chin and leaving a salty tang on her tastebuds.
Lilianne, for being frail and weak, was surprisingly able to resist him, but the baby was nevertheless swiped from her motherly grasp despite her struggle. She fell over, her shoulder slamming against the cold, hard, marble floor, and she felt flaring pain in both mind and body. In the span of a second, all her stress, all her anguish, all her pain, came crashing down on her ruthlessly.
She laid there, curled up on the floor crying and writhing in agony, her showering tears soaking the concrete.
Marius mind was in chaos, all muddled and discordant. He felt intense sadness and regret from seeing his wife squirm on the floor and the fact that he took advantage of her eyesight. He couldn't stifle his sorrowful expression.
“Maids, help your mistress...” he ordered, a tear dripping down his chin.
He frowned and brought his hand to his face. He was crying. He never cried before, not even as a babe.
The servants were stunned
He felt the streams of tears run down his forearm. The restlessness of the demon in his arms awoke him and he immediately wiped away his sadness.
"I ordered you!" he screamed furiously. "Aid your mistress!"
Immediately all the servants began moving again with newfound vigor and quickly went Lilianne.
Marius held the baby in his grasp as he watched, and turned to walk out.
“His name... His name!"
She was like a banshee constantly shrieking as the servants helped her up onto the bed. They were holding her back from hurting herself and chasing him.
"Aemortius! The Undying!"
Marius stern expression weakened for a moment, but being reminded by the crying demon in his arms, he was reaffirmed.
“You will never taint this world again,” he whispered harshly into the demonic baby's ear, “I'll make sure of it.”
He rushed into his room and tore through his belongings to grab a ceremonial silver blade from his drawers.
A long gladius passed down his family for generations and generations, and it hadn't been used until then.
With the demonic baby placed in front of him, he kneeled, praying silently and feverishly.
“... Ruler of the Earth, Walker of the Skies, allow me not strength, but your blessings, so that I may always follow in your footsteps…”
His prayer almost lasted five minutes, and as a last touch to his ritual, he took the blade and pierced his hand with it. He grimaced as his fleshly juice was drawn and drooling all over the blade’s tip.
Crimson drizzled down and unto the carpet.
Then the silver blade began to slowly illuminate.
He lifted it high and poured energy into it.
At its peak, with its light at its greatest glory, he plunged it into the infant's tiny heart, ending its crying, and its life.
In less than an hour, the corpse was dumped in the Aeterniterranean Sea.
The witnessing servants were executed the following day.
But the eldest servant escaped.
And Eida was sold to a brothel.
Marius rose to become the great emperor.
Lilianne lived her life in grief, but bore another son for Marius, named Zalius Kauridius.
She soon passed away due to complications.
The baby himself was also gone, forgotten, and dead.
But it turned out that little demonic baby was me,
and this is that baby's story.