1 Birth

"Eris, YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH!" A man was screaming at the top of his lungs, destroying everything in his path, in the corner of the room, silver light revealed a figure of a woman, hugging her knees, crying.

"I won't let you get away with this, DO YOU HEAR ME MARCIA? I WON'T" The man was in an uncontrollable state, horns grew out of his head, and majestic black feather wings enveloped his body.

….

The room was dark, windows firmly shut with only one little window being the exception to provide fresh air, religious items and paintings were distributed in the room, leaving no space without those relics that could be bought for lots of money from the church.

Multiple women could be seen laying on dirty, bloody mattresses. They all had a ten-foot-long over-used parchment made of sheepskin wrapped around their pregnant belly, which was then placed in a way so that it'll reach the breast and vaginal area.

This chamber only had women in it, some ready to give birth, While some assisted with the delivery. The ground and mattresses were all covered in body fluids, be it sweat, blood, piss, etc… Which gave the room a disgusting smell to people that enter the room for the first time.

"Push girl! Push!" Screamed a middle-aged woman who wore a dirty dress and what seemed to be a white apron on top.

"AGh!" Groaned a pregnant woman as a response, tears dripping down her cheek, her hand squeezing a crucifix.

"Come on big sis! I understand your pain, but you must fight it!" Said a girl that held the woman's free hand.

"Oh God have mercy on our sister and let her have a successful delivery." So prayed an old woman with a holy book in hand.

"One last push Milda! I can see the baby's head!" Announced the middle-aged woman.

"I'M….TRYING!" Struggled Milda, as she gave the next push all that she could.

Everyone that was there for her had gone silent.

"Please be alive!" whispered the girl while putting her hand into a praying sign.

"It's a baby boy!" Cheered the midwife as she held the baby up in the sky.

"Thank god… It's a boy, just what my dear husband wanted." Mumbled Milda with a smile.

"WAaaaaa!" Cried the boy, declaring the birth of a living baby.

Hearing the cry of the baby, her family and friends that attended her delivery all cheered with tears in their eyes, giving birth to a living child was a blessing, while giving birth to a living boy was a miracle.

"Hand him to me." Said Milda while slowly extending her hands to the midwife.

"Shhhh…. It will be alright…. Silius… I think that'll be a good name for my brave baby boy…." She said with Silius in her embrace, ceasing him from crying.

The next day, Milda was laying on a much cleaner bed than the one she gave birth in, probably because the mattress she used to give birth in was used by multiple women before her. The room she slept in was also much cleaner; brick walls, mats, everything in this room made it a much more comfortable space to live in than whatever that space was.

[Boom]

The door jerked open, and a man's hand remained on the doorknob as he frantically looked through the room. The man was no older than his early twenties; his eyes darted around the room, sweat dripped from his ruffled black hair. His eyes brightened when he spotted Milda breastfeeding the newborn. Without uttering a word, the man walked in her direction, leaned down, and gave her a loving kiss.

"I'm back honey." He gleamed, he sat next to her and grabbed her left hand.

"Did you miss me?" He gave her a toothy smirk, the man wore a thick tunic iron gauntlets and arm splints.

"Of course I did! You left me alone for 5 months!" She pouted while looking away, crossing her arms in displeasure.

"Come on, Milda! You know that things got tight between the races, they decided to start a conflict all of a sudden! Sigh, but wasn't I supposed to be drafted for tight guarding for 1 year? I'm back 7 months earlier than what I should've been!" The man tried explaining the situation rationally but that obviously didn't work.

"Sigh, I guess you don't love me anymore…" He got up and headed to the door.

"Wait! I was joking.." Blushed Milda.

The guy had a smug smile planted on his face, he went back to his previous seat next to Milda. They talked for hours, the man told her about his time being a soldier in such dangerous time where war could break out at any moment, she had multiple reactions when he spoke about his little adventure, chuckles, grimaces, anticipations, but she didn't stop him and let him continue his story, and when he finished, she told him about hers.

"I didn't do much exciting stuff like you during these months… But I did give birth to our Silius!" She smiled, Milda carefully lifted the baby who slept next to her, showing it to the man.

"He's a healthy baby boy, can you believe it! It was our first attempt and we succeeded! Thank god you earned that job, without your magic abilities, we wouldn't be able to provide a good living environment for our son." Milda handed Silius to the man, and he gently held him, tears forming in his eyes.

"I've never seen someone as angelic as him, it's really a pity that I won't be able to witness him grow up." The man wiped his tears, kissed the child on his forehead, and handed him back to Milda.

"What do you mean Alvis? You just returned!" She held Silius dearly against her chest.

"The king suspects that the war could happen any moment next month, so he's gathering as many soldiers as possible to be in the front lines." Alvis turned his back against his wife, he knew that seeing his wife's sad face would emotionally influence him. Without him in the front lines, his wife and child won't have the money to pay for the house, no food to eat, and no clothes to cover themselves with during the freezing winter.

"You don't have to-"

"No, this a decision I took, and it's final, I don't want no buts."

"Bu-"

"I'll send you a letter every 4 months don't worry, for now, it's goodbye, take care of yourself Milda." Alvis didn't wait for a response and left the room, leaving Milda. speechless.

Years passed from that discussion Milda had with her husband, receiving letters every 2 months just as Alvis promised, the letters always had money on them; a percentage of it for her personal use and the other for the house and Silius necessaries, and just as Milda feared, a war between the races broke out for a reason she didn't know yet, as the government hid that information and her husband couldn't tell her about it as all of the letters and gifts were inspected before getting shipped.

But Milda didn't care about any of that, the only thing she got on her knees and prayed to god for was the safety of her husband and the wish of him getting back home safe. One day, Milda was out of the house, leaving Silius in her Aunt's care. Hands deep in her pockets and a scarf around her neck, she walked to the local Post office, which was difficult with all the snow on the road but she managed to.

"Hello, mam, receiving your husband's letter again?" Greeted a woman that wore a thick jacket and blue cotton gloves.

"Haha, yeah. It's one of the things that makes me anticipate the next day, besides my son of course." Laughed Milda as she leaned on the receptionist's desk.

"Here is it, I prepared it previously, especially for you. We can't keep our regular customers waiting." Chuckled the receptionist as she handed her a box.

The door was shut and so were the windows, this post office was quite small, being composed of only the receptionist's table, and some storage lockers. Hail tapped against the windows producing the sound of an assault rifle.

"The weather is quite bad today, snow, then a hailstorm." The lady loosely sighed.

"Yeah, it is. I wonder if people partaking in the war are also suffering from this weather." Milda then remembered how bad her husband hates snow, making her chuckle.

Milda shredded the packaging excited about the letter, but surprisingly the contents of the box were different from the usual. Instead of 4 gold coins, there were 200 hundred gold coins, and instead of a simple letter, there was an additional little card in there, so she decided to read it first.

"On behalf of the men and women, I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to you and your family on the tragic loss of your husband, Alvis Creus. He gave his life in patriotic service to the nation he loved. You should be so proud of his accomplishments, not only through his service but also through his character. Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers are with you in these difficult times. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you. Your husband's service will never be forgotten."

She dropped the box, she started shaking, and her eyes twitched uncontrollably.

"Mam, are you okay?" The receptionist attempted to reach for Milda, but she took off running.

Her breath was ragged, eyes were blank, she couldn't only of one thought.

"I should've stopped him."

She ran away from the office, in hope of running away from the truth. The hail mercilessly struck her body, it was as if the hail was a pile of bullets and the wind acted as an assault rifle, emptying its round on her; her hat flew away leaving her head open for attacks, her face became bloody and her clothes were ripped from the impact of those ice bullets. The snow slowed her movement while adding hail to that stopped it completely, the only thing she could do was scream in misery. She crouched down and hugged her body.

"I should've stopped him... I couldn't stop him... this is the outcome of my actions, I'm the reason Alvis died, I couldn't bring myself to stop him." Tears streamed down her eyes, snot cooled down her nose, spit and foam formed in her mouth, all of these liquids were mixed in the small snow bowl beneath her face. She struggled to breathe, her hair was messy and her face was crimson red. That sadness then turned into hate and rage, she blamed god that didn't respond to her prayers, and the world that took her husband away from her when their son was still a toddler.

All what she could do was punch the thick layer of snow in front of her, emptying her rage and sadness on it. After one last punch at the snow that was dyed red with the blood that came out of her knuckles, she dropped unconscious.