Chapter 17

Being dragged across the hallway, The Royal Doctor looked quite disheveled as it was the middle of the night, and as someone with a slightly stronger body than a random cultivator, she still had to sleep. Poor Doctor thought she was being dragged to be executed for the first few minutes after being forcefully woken up, without the chance of even changing into her uniform.

*Bang*

Elric slammed the door open as he felt the presence of The Doctor approaching, "Doctor, hurry up and check on the baby! Now!"

The Doctor, who had already completely woken up by the rough handling, moved over to the bed to inspect his patient, and what she saw was very grotesque. Rayna's face was contorted in pain and panic as her nails dug deeply into the bedsheets, and her bulging stomach was covered in purple spots, her skin was starting to wrinkle and there was an eerie air around her. The Doctor didn't even bat an eye and bravely moved over. She held her hand slightly above Rayna's stomach and seeped her senses inside.

Suddenly, her eyes widened with shock as her mouth was left wide open, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"What is it Doctor? Is the baby alright!?" Rayna was a very strong willed woman to not have let out even a groan of pain all this time.

"How-how is this possible!? There is a deathly air currently present within the womb that is being emitted by the baby. Usually, this would mean the fetus has died but he is well alive… although the deathly air is slowly killing both Princess Rayna and the child itself…"

Elric held his wife's hand to reassure her, but really, he was trying calm himself down to find a solution, "Talk to me Doctor! Is there anyway to save them both!?"

"I'm sorry. I have no treatment for this bizarre situation. The best I can offer is to keep healing both the mother and the child with Wood Energy, and hope nothing unexpected happens at birth…"

"Then I want you to stay here until the child is born! I will look for other ways," Prince Elric turned and gave everyone in the room, except his wife of course, a death stare, "No word of what happened here gets out, or I will personally kill all of you, even if it's the last thing I do…"

The Guards shivered, and quickly kneeled, "Yes, Your Highness!"

He nodded his head in acknowledgment and turned to The Doctor, "Take a leave from The Royal Palace. We will be moving to the outskirts to maintain a low profile. For now, heal them both."

The Doctor didn't say anything and got to work. A gentle green light shone as The Royal Doctor channeled her Wood Energy to heal and nourish both the Mother and the child. The purple spots disappeared slowly as the wrinkles smoothened. Being hit by the sudden relief, Princess Rayna directly fell asleep, her fragile body covered with cold sweat.

Sighing in relief, Prince Elric turned to his servants, "Prepare the carriage and inform my Personal Guards. We are moving to the mansion in The Shadow Forest until the child is born."

***

3 months had passed since the incident and the time of birth was approaching faster and faster. For The Doctor and her assistants, it was a very stressful time. The deathly air was getting stronger and stronger, and Prince Elric failed to find any possible solutions to their plight. Both Nathan and Princess Rayna were in extreme agony as the pain started to intensify for both of them. Many even secretly called Nathan 'a Demon spawn', and grew fearful of him before he was even born…

But not his parents!

Princess Rayna never stopped looking at her stomach with worry, and Prince Elric never even doubted anything. Truly, only the love of a parent is infallible…

Today was the day, the child would be born. Everyone was nervous about what to expect. Would a Demon really be born? Would they even survive the child birth? What if they were cursed when the child was born? And many more unanswered questions…

For both Nathan and Princess Rayna, the past three months have been very painful, but neither of them gave up. They both endured the pain without making a single sound. For Nathan, the indistinct words of encouragement that he heard from his mother every once in a while was all that kept him going. Being in a dark place without being able to move and enduring extreme agony, all while the scythe of death loomed over your head, few would be able to continue going forward alone. Thankfully, he was not alone…

As the hour of birth kept getting closer and closer, The Sigil within his sea of consciousness was shining more and more brightly.

The sea of consciousness is an space within the soul that acted as the gate between the outside and the soul itself, protecting it like a wall. Anything bound to the soul may enter the sea of consciousness but nothing else. It is a very fragile part of the body, as any harm to the soul may prove fatal.

As Nathan was being pushed out of the womb, the Death Energy inside his body kept increasing in quality and quantity, but thankfully, the system was able to at least contain it in his body, or else even if he survived, his Mother would not.

As soon as he finished exiting the womb and the umbilical cord was cut, all the Death energy dispersed like a dream! Within his sea of consciousness, The Sigil of Authority suddenly glowed with a blinding dark light the moment he cried for the first time in this new world, albeit not by choice as Nathan would say.

"Uwaaaaa…uwaaaaaa…uwaaaaa…"

The moment he started crying, the shadows squirmed as the lights went out, plunging the room into absolute darkness. Darkness turned into mist as it gathered around the newborn Nathan, until it took the shape of a massive, illusory black colored skeleton with a dark robe and a scythe, a Reaper…

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have received (Blessing of Darkness)]

The phenomenon lasted for a few seconds before dissipating, and then everything returned to normal. Light returned to the room and the shadows retreated back to where they came from. Except, everyone was frozen by what they saw. Everyone except one person…

"My baby… bring me my baby…" Princess Rayna said weakly, her forehead covered with sweat. The childbirth was especially hard on her, as the Death Energy amplified the pain many fold.

The woman who held Nathan was the first to recover. She surprisingly hadn't dropped Nathan to run when the shadows moved. She moved over and gently laid him down next to his Mother.

Princess Rayna raised her hand with great effort and gently caressed his face with her dainty fingers, feeling so much happiness from just looking at her child's face, whom she thought she wouldn't survive to see. Although Nathan's vision was very blurry and his senses hadn't developed yet, the comforting touch felt very nostalgic to him, instantly calming him down as he stopped crying.

Prince Elric moved next to his wife and joined her in caressing their son, which seemed to calm him down as if he knew it was his parents' and they would keep him safe from anything.

He glanced at her amethyst eyes and asked, "What will you name him, my love?" He too was filled with happiness. This was the most joyous moment of their lives after all!

"Nathan~" She looked at their son with a gentle, motherly smile, "His name will be Nathan Netherstar."

"Very well. Nathan it is. Rest now, my love. We have to return to The Royal Palace soon. We have been away for too long, and I bet my Mother can't wait to see her grandchild."

"Hmm…" Princess Rayna fell into a deep slumber after going through all those hardships.

Prince Elric turned and looked over at every person present, "Not a single word is to get out…"

All he cared about was that his wife was safe and the child was born without too many problems. Nothing else mattered…

***

In a place far away from Nathan, someone rushed into a room in panic, moments after Nathan was born.

"Sir Silas! I bring ill news!" The messenger kneeled down while panting heavily.

"What is it?" An old wizened voice spoke from behind the desk.

"Sir! We have just detected massive concentration of Darkness energy within the direction of The Netherstar Kingdom. What should we do?"

"Hmm…" The man called Silas didn't raise his head and kept reading his book. He extended his hand and two deformed balls that seemed to devour light itself landed in front of the messenger, which frightened him out of his mind as he knew what they were and what they did…

"W-w-what would you have me do, Your Excellency?"

"We have ignored the Netherstar Kingdom for too long. Take them, and convert their King and Crown Prince to do our bidding. Order them to find the source of Darkness, and send it here."

"Y-yes! I will do as you command." As the messenger scurried away, Silas closed his book and looked outside the window,

"Is this a sign…?"