2 Newborn

Amanda was given the task of naming her newborn child. Her aunt had been responsible for helping delivery the child and brought in some cold rags to place upon her forehead. After time spent thinking, Amanda finally decided on a name. The child was to be called Cipherus.

Amanda's aunt was named Judith. She was a rather stocky women who stood a few inches shorter than most.

"Congratulations, Amanda," her aunt continued, "I am very happy for you and I hope you have a successful upbringing of your first child."

Amanda smiled, and responded, "Thank you, Judith. I will make sure he is brought fourth the correct way and follows in the loving footsteps of his father."

Cipherus was a male child. He had the same very pale skin of his father and his eyes were a bright, quicksilver color with a blueish tint. His mother held him in her arms. This was her first child, and she envisioned all the times that would be spent with him and Anthony, her husband. The child began to cry, which was a normal sign that it was breathing correctly.

Amanda's husband, Anthony, was not available at the time of the birth. To Amanda's knowledge, Anthony was on a business trip for work. Anthony worked as a blacksmith in Externia, which was approximately two miles north of their small village known as The Well. She planned to contact her husband immediately that their son has been born with the given name Cipherus.

"He will be so happy to see such a beautiful child. I am so greatful for all that has been provided to Anthony and I." said Amanda.

"Agreed," responded Amanda's Aunt who continued "Anthony blacksmith business is suprisingly successful. He has always managed to provide with plenty leftover, far more than any other smithing family I know. I'm suprised he doesn't have some secret sidejob."

"I will always be grateful for all he does," replied Amanda.

"I better be off on my way. Make sure to feed the babe correctly, wash him and take care of him. Both a mother's and father's attachment are especially important for a boy growing up. And make sure to feed him heartily too! And start teaching basic grammar and rhetoric at an early age!" said Aunt Judith.

Amanda complied and assured her Aunt, "Do not worry. He will be fed well and taught early to learn the ways of this world. He will follow his father's trade and I will make sure of it. Once I am cleared I am going to head home."

Shortly afterwords a child bearing nurse entered and cleared Amanda to go home after running a few tests to ensure her health was good and the baby was functioning fine.

As Amanda was transported home via a small horse carriage, she noticed the past few day's news scrolls at the front door. She hadn't been home for quite a few days due to going into labor, so they seemed to have stacked up as nobody was home to collect them. As she walked in, she grabbed them all. Now with Cipherus in one hand and the numerous news scrolls in the other, she sat and began to read.

These scrolls had all the modern inquiries of the world and The Citadel in them. Working for The Citadel was seen as honorable and the news was obviously biased for the Citadel. Nonetheless, however, the articles were fun to read and helped her pass time as she awaites her husband to be back from his business trip.

First she began to read the "General City Plans and Improvements" section. It talked about the new housing districts planning to be made soon. According to The Citadel, the new housing plans were made by the intellects within The Magistrate, and would take advantage of all the natural mountains and hills on the outskirts of the Capital. Numerous homes would be able to be carved out, allowing for somewhat dense living quarters for a large mass of people. Shopping centers and training grounds would also be made for the area's residents to use.

The next article was on new types of enchanements recently discovered by The Citadels intellectual scholars. It talked about the improved poision enhancement that could be applied to daggers, and boasted the ability to kill a one ton bull within 15 seconds of a small wound. It also would disperse around the body evenly, allowing for quick decay with minimal smell. Once learned, this skill would take on average 6 years to master.

Another enchancement was that which could be applied to a cloak. This enhancement allowed for greater stealth in dark areas. It claimed to muffle sound up to 25% more effectively than previous enhancements and decrease visibility in the dark by nearly 40%. Once learned, this skill would take approximately 4 years to master.

The next section of the news scroll released the details on the new arena being built. The arena was the standard place to place low enhancement level turncoats, forcing them to fight to the death. This allowed an easy source of disposing the traitors, as well as entertainment for the more wealthy nobles near the Capital which would stimulate the economy more and allow for more improvements to living conditions and education.

The fourth section detailed the highest ranking knights who had caught the most turncoats as of recently. Knight Gabriel II, coming in third place, had seized and turned in 4 turncoats in the past week. Knight Jonas I, catching the second most turncoats, had captured and turned in 5 in the last week. Finally, the top position was held by the highly glorifed Knight Richard III, who had caught and turned in 11 turncoats. Richard had been the top scoring knight for the last seven years and was known as the Almighty Knight.

Then Amanda came to the fifth and final section of the news scroll. This section talked about all the recent turncoats who had been captured. Inscribed would be the traitor's full name, description, and a hand drawn picture of them similar to a mugshot. Accompanying this would be their previous supposed occupation that they went under while secretely being a turncoat.

Amanda slowly read through the list of traitors as she usually would.

She wondered to herself "Man, all these traitors. I sometimes can't believe how many there are and and am glad to see them being exec-."

From Cipherus' room she heard screaming and crying. She fell silent and her mouth dropped.