Chapter 2: Peace before storm
A baby girl with thin strains of bright white hair, like a small cascade of sparse sacred threads of light. Her eyes held in them no pupils, no irises, instead what painted them was a constantly flowing stream of what appeared like greyish white mist. Like her eyes held within a boundless sea of fog. Her skin a pale light brown, not yet filled out into her natural darker tone.
She quickly calms down and stops crying, whether by instinct or some other force, it's as if she can feel the mild tension hanging in the room. Her eyes take in this new world she's in. No longer in warm comforting home that her mother once nurtured her in.
Perhaps from luck or maybe just an innate intuition for her safety but she acted only mildly special causing the nurses to complete their normal jobs before starting the containment procedure.
She is wiped down by a large woman who stares down at her with a look of disgust, like staring at a monstrosity, but behind that disgust is a deep-rooted fear, the woman has been taught to fear the cursed children, they are calamities taken form and the one she is holding is meant to be their queen.
After being hastily cleaned, the nurse hears something from the person in the bed. After speaking the nurse with some trepidation walks over to the woman while still carrying her. The woman stares down at the daughter she has just given birth too with an aloof an detached gaze. However the child felt no fear towards her unlike the rest who are in the room.
This continued until she was eventually handed over to the woman still resting in the bed. After coming into her arms this woman looked at her with a gentle smile and warm eyes, like a breeze on a warm summer night. She looked down at her daughter with nothing but pure love.
What her daughter could not see, is the very same mother who is holding her close gazing down lovingly is also gripping the neck of the nurse who dared stare at her child with vile and malevolent eyes. She in one fluid motion broke the nurses neck, letting her body collapse to the ground lifelessly. When she fell, the staff who have yet to leave after the delivery turned all at once, horror filled their bodies and minds. Not understanding why a loyal ranker of the empire would betray them. Before they could make a sound or think any further. Every single one just fell, like puppets with their strings cut.
**
Silence, there was an absolute silence in the room. The only sounds coming from the machines still running in the background. Just a mother holding her child with a warm smile, standing in stark contrast to the lifeless bodies laying littered across the floor. This silence persisted for a couple more minutes before the sounds of a vent being quietly broken could be heard. With that a man drops down from the wall he just crawled out from. He was a man with average height, wrapped in a tight black suit that covers his whole body. No features can be made out from the man, his mask is all black except two eerie grey ocular covers. In both of his hands he carries two duffle bags filled to the brim. He briefly scans the room before promptly ignoring the lifeless bodies and walking up to the two laying in the bed. When he gets there he drops the bags and takes off the mask part of his suit. He has a gentle looking face with sharp feature. His skin a deep copper, his hair black and wavy falling down to his shoulders.
He smiled and asked "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Did everything go fine? How is she? Did anything happen with her? She's so quite aren't babies meant to cry more? How com-" He was interrupted by his wife laughing. She finally turned her head away and looked at her husband with amusement evident on her face "How come you're freaking out so much, you were such a 'nothing can faze me' mr macho man this whole pregnancy" She chuckled again and continued "But everything's fine, honestly it was way smoother of a process than we thought it was going to be. I feel fantastic, outside of the pain from the actual birth nothing else happened. My body healed immediately after and unlike the healing scripts this didn't hurt at all, in-fact it was the opposite, my whole by was soothed."
She turned her head back down and continued "She doing great, although her eyes worry me a little bit but it seems like she can still see somehow which is great. Other than that she only cried right at the start and hasn't made a sound since, it's almost like she can feel that something is going to happen tonight" Her husband also looking at their baby replied "Well maybe she can, the cursed children always have some abnormal senses in some form or another. Plus she's so much greater than everyone else that I wouldn't be surprised if there was more going on" He reluctantly took his eyes away and looked around the room before asking "How come you killed everyone so quickly? I thought you were going to wait until I was already here? Well it doesn't matter too much, but we need to get going soon. Everything's already to go"
She eventually sighed and agreed. She handed over their baby to her husband before quickly getting changed into the suit that he brought for her. As she was changing she responded "Those bastards were looking at my daughter with their eyes and head full of nothing but evil thoughts. That big bitch even dared to wipe her hand on the bed with disgust after she handed her to me! There was no way I could wait any longer after that. Plus it got rid of any little lingering guilt I had about killing our people"
When he heard that her husband looked up briefly and a trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes before he calmed himself "Well then I'm just sorry I couldn't have been here sooner. It's not like it matters too much, one of those council members were probably on their way as soon as she was born" as he spoke he quickly checked all of the supplies and tools he was carrying. Making sure that their preparations are good to go.
In just a minute she was changed, having not yet put on her mask. She stood tall normally but with her combat suit on she easily stood a head over her husband. Her sun-kissed skin as if she's spent lifetimes at sea, as if to prove it she has streaks of dark blue through her long black hair that cascades like a waterfall down to her lower back. Her striking onyx eyes naturally looking down on everything, as the arrogance of a warrior who has survived countless battles and made her way to the Empires rankings is clearly reflected in them.
She stares at her husband and child for a moment before sighing and embracing them deeply. She leans down and gives him a deep kiss. He matches her, and they hold that kiss for a long time as they both know this might be their last. When their kiss ends gently holds the back of his head and neck with both of her hands, he does the same with one of his. They quietly lean in and touch their foreheads together. She speaks first "I love you Lucius, I always have and I always will. I knew it from the first day I saw you and it will stay like that until the end of time." after a second of silence "I love you Samira, from the first time you came into my store all those years ago you have never left my head once. You will have the entirety of my heart, my life, my love until we're long dead. I'll still follow you into our next lives and well continue to be together for a thousands lives" They don't speak anymore, everything that they needed to say has already been said and give themselves a few more moments.
They eventually separate and she looks down at her baby, her everything, she leans down and kisses her on the forehead and whispers a light chant in a long forgotten language. Blessing her child with all of the luck she has in her body and soul. Her baby for the first time tries to move and hold her mother like she knows something bad is going to happen. Tears well up in her little eyes but she still doesn't cry or make a sounds, her conflicting instincts and emotions easy to see. "Everything's gonna be alright, mama's always been too strong to let anything happen to her. I wont let anything happen to us until were safe and sound in our new home" She gave a reassuring smile, maybe trying to convince her daughter, maybe trying to convince herself, perhaps it worked as her baby stopped reaching out and brought her little hand back down.
When Samira stands back up a somber atmosphere settles in the room. They both know they can no longer have the light moments they just had. She quickly helps Lucius put his mask back on and when she's done she starts to put hers on as well. While doing that Lucius starts to place their daughter into a special holder, firmly strapped to his chest, it holds her comfortably against his body. Back to being a quite spectator, the little girl lets herself get put into place without so much and a peep.
When everything is all said and done they get ready to head out, Lucius agilely climbs into the vent again. There's just enough room for him and his daughter as long as his back his touching the vents roof. Samira quickly follows behind and they finally start their escape and betrayal of their homeland.
