With the flash of light beginning to receded from my eyes, it"s almost as if my body is moving through a tight s.p.a.ce; it"s also rather slimy in here. The light is then a bit from my view, and I can hear voices coming from the outside world, which is getting ever closer. My first question here is though; how is it that I am able to think properly at this point… questions for later."Come on my lady, keep pushing. I can see the head of the baby; what use are your stomach muscles if you can"t push harder." Please don"t push too hard… I can imagine myself shooting out like a f.u.c.king cannonball; "There we go, the head is free… and a budding set of horns on the forehead. My, wouldn"t Zekiel be proud to know." Ah, I hope my mother isn"t too troubled by that… though the voice does seem to be an older lady; gentle yet firm in her beliefs. And that screaming of a mother giving birth; that should be the woman who I shall call Mother.
Being birthed must be much faster when your brain isn"t conscious of the whole ordeal; this is beginning to feel like hours of labour for just pa.s.sing me. Finally though, I am free to conquer the world and make everyone in it my slave… insert evil laughter here maybe if I was serious. Though the old lady it seems; my eyes can"t open right now so I don"t know, is holding me by my ankles and holding me upside down… oh dear… and a sharp slap is delivered to my bare wet bottom;
"WAH!" I give out a small cry of disagreement to the lady… who lets out a small chuckle;
"Well do not mind me, my young lord, just have to make sure. Such a tough young lad for just being born; hey, take him and get him clean, I have to prepare for the next one. I can see its head coming through." I get handed off to someone else and swaddled into a warm blanket and cleaned, the old one going back to her job as I am moved by a new person. Surprising, it appears I am a part of a set in this new life of mine.
I was laid down on something soft and warm, giving some sounds of comfort to a couple of girlish giggles… and then it feels like someone small starts poking my horns. It"s kind of an odd sensation if I had to describe it, not quite like someone touching your flesh; but not far off either. Though I would prefer if they didn"t poke so hard at them, they are attached and I can feel that they are connected to my soft baby skull…
"Quit poking at them, can"t you see the young lord doesn"t like that?" Ah, this child is indeed very smart… though why do they call me "young lord"… Well, I am Main Branch, maybe they"re a Side Branch… "We"ll have to wait for Uncle Zekiel to rush over; probably fell asleep with a book again." Ah, so they"re cousins then, thought so. Bah, my eyes would not open properly and focus, I kind of wanted to see who was talking over me.
…
…
Right as the small… room it seemed with the sound dispersion… was filled with the sounds of a second baby, this one letting out a loud and strong wail; a loud bang could be heard from the far wall, along with a panicked man;
"Sorry I"m late! Work got to me; what is needed from me? How is Indra? Is my child al-" The man is quickly shut up as the old woman grunts at him; in my imagination I could see that she put the little bundle of the second baby into his arms. This man was more than likely my father… and he sounded a bit bookish if I had to say so. His voice was quite low and gravely, sounded extremely tired or lacking of caffeine. Though the moment he spoke next, one could tell that he was experiencing the effects of having his child in his arms; "Oh… he"s quite small, but I can feel much strength in him. I can see though his grandfather"s blood is strong, didn"t take after me…" Before he could sound too disappointed;
"That"s just the second one; I"m working on getting the third into this world now. Your first boy is in the basket over there, hand off your second to the nurse so he can be cleaned." She sounded impatient as my mother was continuing to scream; my poor mother sounded so tired right now. It felt like forever, but I could feel someone bending down next to me, and a much larger finger gives my left horn a gentle poke… almost as if they couldn"t believe it was real.
"Hey there little guy, so you"re the older brother, huh? You have a tough job ahead of you, but you"re my son, so you can do it." I could feel my father"s gentle smile in his voice, being picked up and held by what feels like the arm of a librarian; I could feel the course linen that his shirt was made from, and the scent of peaches coming from his warm breath. "Don"t worry, I"ll keep you all safe, I"m your father after all. You"ll get to meet your mother soon; though I see you inherited her hair, your brother has mine." If I recall from the image of my mother, that means I have silver hair then; and a set of horns to boot. I was held tight as the man sat down in a nearby chair, and he began to pet me slightly… still working to get my eyes to stay open and focus long enough to see; "Oh, someone has some brilliant sunlit eyes; Anna, Hannah, come here and look." Those must be the girls that were poking at me before.
As I was being fawned over in the corner, the crying boy was placed in the basket nearby; it seemed he calmed down enough to only give out gentle cries. I could feel it too, guessing my brother down there was hungry as well. When the youngest brother is born, then we can get our first feeding; been a while since I was suckling on a teat for milk. Letting out a cooing sigh, my father lets out a small chuckle as he sets me down into the basket; I could feel the warmth of my brother for a second before he gets picked up. Father was cooing over his second son while Mother was birthing their third… all the while the first one was actively bored in the basket cause… good G.o.d that demonic trait; I cannot sleep.
Though it wasn"t long until the room was filled with the crying of the third child; a son from the sounds of the old lady. My mother calmed down now, so it looked as if it was just the three of us. In other news, the basket I was lounging in was actually quite warm and comfortable… I wonder how they did it, maybe it"s next to the fireplace or something.
"Alright; Indra is resting right now, so that means you, dad, need to watch the kids for a little bit. Once she gets up, the babies will require feeding, help her out with that." The old woman says with a gruffness one only gets after delivering many babies; "I know you"re a scatterbrained demon, but do your job properly. Read them a story, you like those."
"I"ll ignore all that today," My father growls, "since it"s a wonderful occasion… and I do thank you, ya old hag, for coming out here and helping. I would ask you to send my regards to your husband, but he"d probably send a cursed dog to bite me… again." Seriously what was it I was hearing it, I"d roll my eyes if I had the control of them.
…
…
My father and the old hag, her name is Keraline it seems, had a short argument before the old woman took my cousins and went home; saying she"ll send the herbalist later. Throughout that time, I have been laying here in my little basket just working to get my eyes to work properly. I am now able to keep my eyes open for extended periods of time, and keep them focused on a single target for a few minutes; baby steps.
I am now laying here with my two brothers on the left of me, they have yet to say our names out loud, so perhaps father is waiting for mother to wake up. My younger brothers are getting a bit fussy though, so Ma needs to wake up soon and feed them so they can calm down; whenever the youngest gets too fussy, I let out a calming note from my mouth. Father finds this to be quite cute, commenting that it appears I"m acting like an older brother already. Of course I am, their crying does get on my nerves and hurts my baby ears when it goes on for too long.
It wasn"t much longer until I could hear some noises coming from the nearby bed, my father moving to make his way to the bed and begin administering treatment to my poor mother. Of course, the first things I hear from her, and remembering her picture from the agency;
"Zekiel, love, I am thirsty right now… maybe hungry… but I want my babies. Bring them to me, or I will get up and go to them myself!" She sounded so very tired, and slightly annoyed at not having babies near her when she woke up; but good lord she sounded so beautiful with a voice that painted my ears like honey b.u.t.ter. I am also sure she would make good on the threat to come over here herself; which caused me to give a loud baby chuckle… "Ah, he"s laughing… is that my baby? Bring them here, they must be hungry and need their mama!"
"Alright, you"re as difficult as always, and I wouldn"t have it any other way." My father gives a chuckle to mother"s antics; I could hear his footsteps walking over and look down at all of us. My eyes were open and focused on him as he bent down to pick up the basket; "Well, you"re still awake then? And look at your eyes, they are quite stunning." Father smiles down at me; and he wasn"t that bad looking. Black hair, kept long and in a ponytail, which helped make his gray horns pop out more as they hug the side of his head. Those dark green eyes stared down, as if they were studying us… probably doing so as he made his way back to Ma, the basket swaying gently… for such a scrawny man, he was quite strong.
As he placed the basket next to Mother, she looked down at the three of us and this was the first time I got to see her face to face; and let me tell you, she looked like a mess but she made it work. The silver hair on her head was a pure mess, and there were black bags beneath her violet eyes; but there was only happiness within those beautiful orbs. They looked at each of us in turn, and ended to stare directly into my eyes… and I could not look away…
"He"s looking at me… Zekiel, he"s looking at me… and look at his eyes, they"re glowing! He has your glowing eyes! And such a deep amber color, they look so cute with his widdle horns!" My mother was saying so many things as she leaned down and picked me up into her arms… they were far superior in warmth and comfort than that basket. She moved the blankets and loose shirt to expose her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to me; it was indeed feeding time, but I felt she should feed my brothers first. I wouldn"t open my mouth as she brought me closer to her nipple, and after a bit she seemed to grow a bit antsy; "Love, he"s not eating… am I doing this right? Come on my little baby, please eat… you must be hungry…" Oh G.o.d… I made my mama cry already… when she pulls me away for a second, I let out a quick noise of disagreement.
"I"ll examine him just to be sure Indra, but there shouldn"t be anything wrong…" My father hands off my younger brothers to Mother, taking me from her as she presents both b.r.e.a.s.t.s to them; both of them instantly latching on and beginning to drink quite happily. I close my eyes and let out an approval coo, to which my father gives a slight chuckle; "Or maybe he just wanted you to feed them first? Is that it, looking out for your brothers already?"
"My little Zeriq is such a good boy already… making mama proud…" She"s still sniffing over there as she holds them tightly to her; cooing at them with a happy look on her face. Then it kind of hits me, that she stated that my name was… Zeriq? Kind of an odd name, but maybe they discussed this all before hand. "And you, my little green dragon; will be Yehai. The little angel will be Nihls, and they"ll all be such good boys!" Mama appears to be a very emotional person… or is that how all pregnant women are after giving birth…
Before I could question her words though; something quite unsettling did happen then…
End of Chapter 7