"wahhh wahhh!" Cries filled the air of a small room that smelled eerily of some kind of disinfectant. There wasn't much for sitting in the room either, there was a single bed large enough for one person. The room had several people besides the person on the bed in it. There was a woman wearing a blood stained apron who looked rather homely, especially with her extremely thin hair tied back so tight you'd think she was cutting off the blood flow to all the skin on her scalp...which was also very visible due to her extremely thin hair. There was also a man sitting at the side of the bed holding the occupant's hand. The occupant of the bed was covered in sweat with an expression of pain and relief, joy, and worry. It was a woman that had just given birth but hadn't yet heard from the midwife who was currently holding the baby if the baby was fine or not.
The woman was very good looking, even though she had given birth just moments before one could still see that she was obviously blessed with am immaculate appearance. She had a very light shade of brunette hair that was almost considered dirty blonde. Large grey eyes and a nose that looked like it was sculpted by the word's best sculptor. Defined cheek bones and lush red lips all fitting perfectly on her perfectly symmetrical face. It was the kind of beauty that people don't lust after, the kind that was supposed to be worshipped and reverred. The woman was gripping at the white, sweat covered, sheets with one hand and her other hand was clenching her husband's hand so tight that he was grimacing in pain.
The homely mid-wife looked to be about 100-years-old and was currently holding a baby that she had just wrapped up in a blanket. The mid-wife who was relieved to hear the cries of the baby also looked very confused - this baby didn't really look anything like a newborn except in size. She was born with a full head of hair and her facial features were oddly developed for something that had quite literally just entered into the world only moments before. "ehm," the mid-wife croaked out, "the baby appears to to very healthy but I must warn you, she doesn't look like any baby I have ever delivered before but I doubt it will be a problem. If anything she looks too beautiful for a new born," The homely mid-wife handed the baby to the mother.
"Aren't you precious," the mother sighed, relieved. The cries of the baby had stopped as soon as her mother took hold of her. "Darling, look at our gorgeous baby girl."
The man who was previously holding the woman's hand leaned in and rested his forehead against the the woman's, gazing down at the baby, "She looks just like her mother," The man said with a hoarse voice full of relief. He hadn't slept in days. His hair had all changed from carrot-top red to grey in the last seven days alone. He looked thin, but not frail. The kind of thin that people only noticed if the paid close attention to his face. He hadn't eaten in the last seven days either which attributed to his thin looking appearance. He was actually quite robust. Strong arms, bulging chest of muscle that was just enough and not the kind of grotesque muscle mass a body builder would have. The man was obviously strong, lean, tall. A sort of ideal specimen if you would. He was also handsome, even the large scar on his face that went from his left temple down across his eye and to his top lip only added character, it didn't detract from his looks at all.
As a matter of fact, besides the mid-wife, even the two teenagers in the room were extremely beautiful and handsome. The oldest of the two was a boy who looked to be around 18-years was the spitting image of the man minus the scar. The girl who looked to be about 15-years was also very good looking and while she didn't look exactly like her mother, having inherited her father's green eyes and red hair, also exuded an aura of one to be reverred. The two children also looked extremely weary. Excitement colored their complections and equally as relieved as the other people in the room.
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The woman was in labor for seven days. Something extremely unnatural and very uncommon. Everyone was worried that the woman was going to be in great danger or they would lose the baby or both the mother and the baby due to the stress of the intense and long labor. No one even knew why the labor would take this long. Usually abnormally long labors would result in some horrifying consequences. Horrible defects, still-born, the death of the mother, or both. Sometimes the mother would even die and the baby would be deformed, only to die later. The extreme relief that both the mother and the baby were fine was understandable and apparent.
The reason for the long labor was because the soul fragment of the recently re-incarnated being was actually fusing with the brand new soul the king of the afterlife had made. The souls needed to fuse, to ensure the fragment wouldn't just dissipate and during the fusion, the new soul was slightly damaged and needed the extra seven days to heal itself. New souls were extremely easy to heal after all. They were like a liver. If the soul was new and didn't have any existing karma, then it could be almost completely snuffed out but still be able to heal just fine. Usually it would result in the side-effects mentioned above if the soul was damaged and had to heal during the birth process. Fortunately the soul fragment this new soul was fused with was extremely powerful. The power of the soul fragment automatically kept all damage to a minimum and helped preserve the mother's and its own life through the entire process.
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"Gods be damned, that was one long-ass birthing process!" The king of the afterlife had actually tuned his TV in to watching the recently reincarnated soul come into existence. He didn't really have all that much to do otherwise. He had an entire team of immortals to deal with the judgement of souls after all, the only reason he was personally involved with the judgment process of this specific being was because of the identity of the being.
"Is that where my beloved has gone off to?" A voice sounded from right behind the kind of the afterlife, causing him to sweat bullets. The voice itself wasn't scary, it was the most beautiful sounds in the entirety of existence. The problem was who the voice belonged to.
".......um," The afterlife king could only manage to utter a few incomprehensible sounds as he turned around, "Even if you're mad at him I still have to obey the rules he set, please don't punish the messenger." There were very few things that could make the 9 rulers of the afterlife cower, the woman in front of this man was one of them.
"Silly boy, why would I be mad at you? You're just doing your job. Tell me, what world is that?"
"Ma'am," the king stammered, "You know I can't do that.....I would be sent to the treachery level."
"There are things much worse than freezing for all eternity in hell, my dear boy-king," The woman replied, her alluring voice taking on a cold edge as she traced her finger across the king's jaw. Her entire figure was only a silhouette. There were only 5 existences that could handle her true appearance without their souls combusting violently.
"P-please, I have to follow the rules, they're even rules you helped make," the king pleaded. His face flushed with anxiety, he knew the woman in front of him could be very...violent.
"I'm going to give you to the count of three to give me the information I want," The woman replied, "You know i'm already giving you enormous amounts of respect by asking you twice. There wan't be a third." Her voice turned completely icey as her figure started to change from a silhouette.
The king calmed himself, he steeled his nerves. Even if he didn't like the guy, he respected the man who they were just talking about. One of the few beings he actually respected, not because the man was enormously powerful, not because he had created some of the major gods out there. He just respected the man, simple as that. He also carried a certain amount of self respect. He had taken a vow to uphold the rules set forth by the creators. Even if he was a god, he wouldn't destroy his honor and break his vow. "Due your worst ma'am. The mess afterwards can be your headache to clean up. Hopefully the souls in limbo won't just go straight to the next circle."
"hmph," was the only reply the woman offered before she fully materialized her true form and screams of agony rang out throughout the depths of the afterlife.