The night sky above the world rippled as with a pale silver light as if it a miracle was forming in the world, a sign that another child was being born in the realm. Essence trembled in the air, a natural celebration of a new life.
Yet within the quiet village of Ausus, the midwives grew silent. A newborn with deep black hair lay still, his breath shallow, his body untouched by the soft glow of circulating essence. Where there should have been the faint thrum of an essence core, there was nothing but a chilling void.
A hollow.
A death sentence.
The elder, a stern woman wrapped in faded blue robes, shook her head grimly. "He will not survive till the next moonrise," she muttered. "Best to spare him the suffering."
But before anyone could act, the child opened his dark purple azure eyes.
And the skies... cracked.