Empire of Ignis, Stonehelm,
Ardentis Barony— Dagan Village,
5025 Dragon Year.
Under the open sky of a moonlit night, a woman's agonized screams echoed throughout the village. Her belly swollen, blood pooling beneath her. Broad white pieces of cloth had been set up as a barrier all around her.
There were three more women beside her, each helping with the agony the woman was enduring. After an eternity of pain, an unhealthy amount of blood painted the green grass under her in red.
The tiny new spark of life had finally come out of her. Breathing the fresh air for the first time. But before the child could cry out, signaling the beginning of its radiant life.
The offspring's tiny arms stop flailing. All movement from the newborn stopped dead in the hands of one of the three maidens helping with the childbirth.
A flash of terror ran through the eyes of the women holding the little boy; the other two maidens immediately came close, putting their ears to the chest of the newborn child and trying to listen to the heartbeat. Yet, there was none. All three women's expressions fell to rock bottom.
The mother asked them with a smile, barely able to move her lips, her whole body weakened, "Let me see….let me see my child," unaware of the tragic truth.
The maiden holding the dead child went closer, handing her the dead child, barely containing her tears, for such misfortune to have gripped them all on the night of the blessing, especially when it was supposed to be such a happy occasion.
"Madam, I truly am sorry. But life has left the child. I'm sorry…" she spoke in a choked voice.
Selene froze; it felt like a divine punishment. She tried to deny what she heard. She shook the little boy, desperate, hoping that her child would move, would open his eyes, would cry, would do something… anything.
Her beautiful but pale face had twisted into a wretched grimace, tears already falling incessantly.
"No, this can't be..." she said, denying it.
"My child…..my child....." she pleaded.
"Please, my little boy, please--please...." she screamed like a wailing banshee.
Her mind torn to fragments, unable to face the reality that the child she had held in her belly for 10 months and 10 days had died just like that.
Selene's husband, Darius, was standing right outside the makeshift chamber, pacing around in anxiousness, and another person was standing there beside him.
A woman wearing old white clothes with worn-down golden patterns embroidered all over them. Her whole figure was covered, not an inch of her skin showing, only her face in the open. Her hands were clasped together in the gesture of praying.
As they both heard Selene's mournful, maddening cry, disregarding the customs, they rushed inside.
Darius's eyes landed on the lifeless small child in his wife's arms, the cord still attached to the navel of the child, even though he was utterly shaken by the unmoving features of his newborn, even though tears fell from his eyes.
He was still a man and could contain his emotions. But Selene had gone completely mad.
Selene screamed at the women in white who entered, "Priscilla, please, you must help my child. There must be a way. You're the Dragon priestess. This cannot…..this cannot happen on the blessed night."
Darius went close and hugged his wife, "I'm sorry, Selene, but the child is already gone. The dead cannot come back to life. I'm sorry, my love..."
Selene shouted at her husband in denial, looking at him in hatred, and the rain started pouring, mixing with the tears of the mourning ones.
The priestess's eyes remained locked on the unmoving child, as she gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing in brutal resolution.
She spoke, her voice cutting through the tense atmosphere, "There is a way to save the child."
Thunder echoed in the distant sky, and a tremor ran through the mother and father of the dead child, doubting their own ears.
"That's right. The Dragons wouldn't abandon my child like that. Right, Priscilla??" Selene mumbled in a broken expression.
The dragon priestess went closer, gently taking the child's body in her own arms, as she babbled, "Every misfortune is only a prelude to a grand miracle. The Guardian deity would never punish their faithful, especially not on this night."
Her voice turned grave, "There is only one method. We have to offer the child to the dragons. Call out to our deity, the whole village together. Upon the Dragon Altar."
She ordered the three maidens, "Tell everyone in the village to come to the Dragon Altar immediately."
Darius added in a serious undertone, "Order them in my name if you have to, that Baron Ardentis has summoned them all."
The priestess did not say a word more and started to move in the direction of the Dragon Altar in hurried steps. Darius picked up his wife and followed the self-proclaimed priestess.
Even Darius had lost his mind in desperation. Clinging onto false hope.
As they approached the forest, Darius saw it: the massive, round stone slab, covered in moss. The rain poured down harder, making some of the black incomprehensible symbols and patterns etched onto it visible again.
The priestess did not yet step into the abandoned, unassuming Dragon Altar, waiting for all the villagers to come. Darius put his wife on the ground.
Tears were still stuck to Selene's eyes. The baron had a scowl on his face as he asked, "Priestess…is it really possible?" his voice shook.
The priestess remained unresponsive; her eyes were locked on the patterns of the stone slab, which seemed to shine through the raindrops. As if slowly coming alive, the footsteps of countless individuals reached her ears. Hundreds of villagers had come, just at a moment's notice.
Willing to do anything for their baron.
The priestess stepped onto the Dragon Altar barefoot. The thunder and rain were increasing with each of her cold steps. Then she turned to everyone and proclaimed loudly, "Everyone, kneel and pray to the guardian deity, with all of your heart."
Everyone in the village kneeled one by one, encircling the Dragon Altar, their hands clasped. The mother and father of the dead child did the same. Willing to do anything to get their child back. It was delusional; it was, to the greatest extent, nonsensical. But their faith in the Dragons was absolute, the deities of this world.
She held the child high up, and the rain stilled for a heartbeat.
The priestess spoke, her voice booming in the increasing rain—
"I pray to the World Dragon."
The villagers shouted after her words in unison, kneeling and praying reverently, "DRAK'SHARA!"
The priestess continued, followed by the chant of the villagers,
"The chosen guardian of the heavens."
"May you grace us, his pious believers, with glory."
"May you grant a spark of life onto this child."
"In exchange for our devotion."
"In exchange for our prayers."
"In exchange for my life."
The moment she stated the last words, the shadow of a colossal dragon of unending proportions passed above the dark clouds, far high in the skies, and a majestic growl came out of the Dragon's mouth.
KHRAUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH
Shaking the heavens, followed by divine lightning striking down at the child, as a blinding, destructive white flash blinded the eyes of the villagers.
KRAAAK-DOOM!
Terror gripped the heart of Selene as her husband shielded her desperately. The moment she opened her eyes, the dust cleared, her eyes widened at the unmistakable sound of the child's cry, and she shoved her husband away.
"Waaah… waaah…!"
She walked onto the Dragon Altar, shaking with fear, and grabbed the child, who was flailing and crying loudly. The child remained unharmed, brought back to life, but the priestess was not.
As soon as Selene took the child into her arms. The charred and unrecognizable body of the priestess dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Using the last spark of her life, she pointed a finger at the child who had come back to life. The words came out of her like a dry whisper,
"He is a miracle. The….greatest miracle blessed by the true supreme. He who shall change this world for the better."
Hence, the dragon priestess took her last breath, life leaving her body. The life she willingly exchanged for the miracle she believed in.
Selene dropped to her knees, torn between the loss of one of her closest friends and the impossible revival of her dead child. Through choking tears, she spoke, "Thank you. Priscilla. Thank you, my dearest friend."
As the villagers heard the child's cries, revived by the dragons, they roared to the heavens, witnessing the miracle with their own eyes, rain soaking them all, "DRAK'SHARA!"
"DRAK'SHARA!"
"DRAK'SHARA!"
"DRAK'SHARA!"
Their chant grew louder and louder, shaking the very ground—their reverence for the dragons reaching its peak.
Darius went closer, his steps shaky, as he embraced both his wife and his child; tears of relief welled in his eyes.
And that was how Nile Reeds was reborn, into the world ruled by dragons, the world that worshipped the Dragons. Into the small household of Ardentis Barony. Burdened with a glorious purpose.