1 Birth

Medorian Calendar, Year 105, Ashel Family Mansion

It was extremely busy in the Ashel family mansion today as numerous people were dashing around to different places. Maids carried towels while guards stood at every corner of the building in protection.

A tall, silver haired man with crimson eyes and a well built body was pacing around anxiously in front of a door where screams could be heard. He is currently the head of the powerful Ashel family by the name Solomon Ashel as well as a noble with the title of Archduke.

The screams died down and the room behind the door became quiet, eerily so. In fact, you could hear light smacks coming from the room. Solomon was extremely tense and worried as he pushed the door without a care in the world and what he saw got him stiff and rooted on the spot.

His wife laid unconscious on the bed and the women tending to her were all dead and a bloodied mess except the last one who was seated on the floor in a corner and shaking from fear as she stared in horror at the baby suspended in the air. Immediately the door was pushed open and she saw who entered, she wanted to stand up and run but she couldn't as fear gripped her every being

"You! What's the meaning of this?" Shouted Solomon at the woman who couldn't even be bothered to reply as she refused to leave her sight from the baby lest she became a bloody pulp.

Solomon saw this and was speechless, but then he saw the baby, naked with black hair and smooth skin suspended in the air with its eyes closed, as if the baby felt it was being watched, the baby opened its eyes which were completely deep black like the abyss and when Solomon saw this, beads of sweat accumulated on his head

'Is this my child? just what are those eyes and what exactly happened here' Solomon couldn't make heads or tails about the situation and decided to walk towards his wife first to see if she's fine, he will question the woman later.

The baby stared at Solomon with eyes that could send hades himself packing as he walked towards its mother, Solomon saw this and was shocked because he felt like this baby was assessing him but he shoved that to the back of his mind as he proceeded.

He eventually reached his wife, who was unconscious and checked her pulse, when he realised that she was still alive he breathed a huge sigh of relief and took out a small bottle which contained a liquid, as he opened it and was about to pour it into her mouth but the air suddenly became heavy and he felt like he was being stared at by a predator.

Solomon paused and looked back only to find the baby staring at him without blinking

'is my child trying to protect its mother?' He couldn't help but think that as he smiled and nodded before speaking to the child, somehow he felt this child of his would understand him

"Don't worry my child, this is a healing potion so your mother will be fine"

The baby kept staring at him but the heavy pressure dissipated and Solomon couldn't help but smile warmly again, he immediately opened the potion and took a sip first to assure the baby and he proceeded to pour the rest into his wife's mouth.

The woman in particular had a beautiful black hair with thin lips and an angular face and when the potion went down, she opened her eyes and the first person she saw was Solomon gently holding her hand as she smiled

"Solomon"

"Thelma"

They both looked at each other warmly before she snapped out of her reverie and panicked

"Haha don't worry, our child is alright" Solomon knew exactly what made her so frantic and reassured her.

The baby saw this and its eyes went from complete black to crimson and the sclera returning to white, the same eye color as Solomon before the baby closed its eyes and gradually returned to the embrace of the woman.

(Note: Sclera is the white part of the eye)

Solomon and Thelma saw this and smiled like it was completely normal, in fact they were extremely happy. Solomon looked at his wife with warmth and spoke

"His name will be Cain, taken after my grandfather"

"Yes dear, our lovely Cain will do great things" Thelma spoke as she caressed her son with a big smile on her face. Solomon also placed his hand on his son and kept smiling before he remembered something as he turned and looked at the woman still shaking and fear apparent on her face.

He slowly walked towards the woman and stopped right in front of her, his face became cold and brutal and the energy he was releasing became even more suffocating than that of his child. The woman looked up and saw a pair of crimson eyes staring at her with malice and bloodlust as she shivered and pissed her pants

"Speak! Tell me everything that happened if you still want to keep your pitiful head" Solomon said in a cold tone, he wasn't even bothered by the bloodied pulps of the dead women as he kept staring at the woman in front of him with apathy

The woman wanted to speak but she couldn't, the pressure on her and fear gripped her so tight that she couldn't open her mouth to speak. Solomon observed this and retracted his pressure, the woman could finally breathe as she took a whole five minutes to try and calm herself down to muster some courage and speak

"M-My Lord, i-it all sta-started like this" The woman said in a stammering tone

***

Rewinding the time a bit

A black haired beautiful woman laid on the bed with pain visible on her face as she kept screaming, she was surrounded by six women who looked in their late thirties with one of the women right in front of her shouting push

It was obvious the woman is in labour and these women were trying to deliver the child all holding various towels and one of them holding a scissors.

Meanwhile, inside the womb a baby was silent with closed eyes but it kept twitching as if struggling with something.

'What's....this, where...am...I?' The conscious kept asking itself questions but it felt like it could fade away any moment before a prompt resounded

[Merger successful]

[All activities normal]

[Detected Consciousness too heavy for the body]

[Initiating Level 1 Access...Hibernation in progress]

After the prompts, the consciousness went dark and screams and shouts could be heard from outside. Finally the birth was successful and the woman who gave birth to the child saw the baby as she smiled and passed out.

The woman who performed the delivery looked at the child and the other women also glanced at her, they found it very strange that the child didn't cry so the woman decided to give the child a light smack on the buttocks but still no sound came, she did it again but no sound came as she eventually gave up and decided the baby was just different.

She wanted to put the baby down but the remaining women gave her strange looks with ugly expressions and the woman noticed this thinking it was because the baby didn't cry so she reassured them

"Haha look at your faces, don't worry it happens, this isn't the first baby not to cry. Okay the baby is a bit weird but no cause for alarm. I'm sure the Lord will be extremely happy" The woman who goes by the name Valery was so happy that her smile was wide

"Miss Valery what is the gender of the baby?" one of the women decided to break the silence as she ignored what Valery said

Valery didn't put much thought into it as she answered with a visible grin "It's a boy! Haha I can't wait to see the expressions of those Hyacinth bastards, the madam finally has a boy, he even has the trademark crimson eyes of the Ashel household"

The expressions of the women changed once they confirmed the gender, if it was a girl they would let it be but they had a mission and they couldn't possibly leave this baby alive. Luckily Thelma Ashel was unconscious so they were free to do whatever, even if they die as long as they complete their mission

The woman who spoke earlier stepped forward quietly and started walking towards Valery, Valery was still lost in her own world as she held the baby happily whose eyes were open by this time, unbeknownst to Valery the baby was quietly observing and analysing her to deem if she was a threat or not.

"Can I hold the child Miss Valery"

Valery looked at the woman and smiled as she nodded "Of course Zema"

She passed the baby to Zema and immediately the baby was in Zema's hands, she dashed back with incredible speed as she took out a short dagger beneath her skirt and was ready to plunge it into the baby. Valery couldn't react react in time as she was left dumbfounded.

The other women weren't idle either as they chanted strange words and immediately the room was filled with blue runes and symbols

"Zema!!! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Valery screamed in shock and anger visible on her face. How could she not know what was happening, it was obvious these women planned to kill the baby

"Don't bother screaming Miss Valery, no one will hear" Zema said in disdain as she looked at Valery, she turned to check the fellow women and saw that blood was dripping from their every orifice. Apparently the spell came at a huge cost

Zema didn't delay and was about to plunge the dagger into the baby, ignoring Valery who was rushing towards her but as she was was about to put the dagger into the neck of the child she realised that the baby's eye colour had changed into completely black, even the sclera was dark. She was chilled to the bone and she felt the air was a bit heavy but she ignored it to complete her mission all the while thinking

'She was right, this child cannot be allowed to live'

She proceeded to bring the dagger down even as Valery was screaming stop but she realised that the dagger wouldn't even budge an inch, in fact it was as if she was stuck and to her shock and to everyone's shock, the baby levitated on its own all the while staring at Zema and the other women. Valery came to a standstill and was tongue tied, she couldn't process what was happening.

Zema and the other women were gripped with fear as they were stared at by this baby, in fact they long decided that this was a monster of untold proportions and they just made a huge mistake.

To Valery's shock, Zema's body began to twist as blood spurted everywhere, it first started with the hands that were holding the dagger to her legs and then her other hand. Zema kept screaming as her bones were twisting in unholy ways, she couldn't fall down as a force kept her upright.

This time Zema wanted death but it seemed like the devil himself wasn't yet done with her as the baby didn't kill her outright but left her in that position, its focus went to the other women and proceeded to do the same thing all the while keeping them alive with their bones twisted and blood spurting everywhere.

Valery was watching this and her legs began to shake, she began to ask herself if this was really a baby, fear gripped her as her heart skipped a beat when the baby turned to face her. Her face turned pale and blue as sweat formed on her head and a heavy pressure descended on her. Her legs lost all strength as she sat on the floor with a huge thump, she didn't even mind the pain as her brain refused to register it.

The baby kept staring at her but turned around again to stare at the other women who were still screaming and pleading like no tomorrow, not like the baby cared or even bothered as it kept on twisting their body and then their heads till they all turned to bloody mush. Valery saw this and her heart almost jumped out of her chest

The baby turned to face Valery again who was overcome with fear and couldn't even speak as it gradually closed its eyes. It was then that the door was pushed open and she saw the head of the Ashel family rushing in but still she couldn't think straight.

***

Back to the present

Solomon listened quietly as Valery recounted all that happened and was firstly shocked because of Cain's power but then he started laughing, even his wife was smiling after hearing everything, Valery looked at them in visible confusion but didn't say anything

Solomon immediately calmed down and then a huge pressure filled the room as anger appeared on his face, unlucky Valery who just regained her wits was pushed back by the sheer pressure and looked at her Lord in fear. Thelma was also releasing a pressure but calmed down when she realised her son was in her arms

"Dear, little Cain is here, calm yourself" Thelma said a little displeased by Solomon's actions, she didn't even bother to look at Valery. Solomon heard his wife's voice and immediately retracted his pressure

"Valery you've done well, you will follow me to meet Elam to describe the runes and symbols to him" Solomon said in a cold and unfeeling voice. Valery could only nod furiously, she was also angry albeit terrified

Solomon saw this and nodded, he quietly walked back to Thelma and kissed her on the forehead, he looked at his son with pride and also kissed him on the forehead before he spoke

"My dear, I have some cleanup to do, I'll send in Sabina to come meet you, I'm sure she'll be so happy to see her little brother" Solomon said in a warm smile that could illuminate the sun itself

Thelma smiled and nodded, she knew what her husband was going to do but she couldn't care less, in fact she would've gone with him but she has to take care of Cain

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, don't take too long else I'll tell little Cain that his father is a no show" Thelma said with a chuckle

Solomon looked at her as he laughed and shook his head, this wife of his always likes to tease him but that's why he loves her. He kissed her again as he turned around and faced Valery with a cold gaze

"Let's go"

Valery nodded and stood up with the every bit of strength left in her body as she dropped her head low avoiding Thelma's piercing gaze but she knew that more blood will be spilled today