A Blood-Blessed Birth.

1

The moon shone in the sky, sifting through the swaying branches overhead. The Masyn woods were alive with the sounds of the night. Near the center of the forest there was a stillness to the wind, as if in anticipation.

"Eliza, push, you have to push harder! Quickly now, I can see his head!" He continued to encourage and help his wife along with the difficult pregnancy, dread growing as he saw her blood slowly seeping out onto the surrounding forest floor. Her movements began to slow and her breathing became ragged, rasping through the chill night air in quick plumes of condensation.

Deliriously she gazed into her husband's eyes "Save the child Rikard. You know what to do, please, he has to live!"

"Dammit no! There's no way you'll survive it!"

"P..lease." She rasped.

She turned to him, and he saw the pleading in her eyes, gritting his teeth, he spread his arms and began chanting, drawing arcane shapes through her blood as he cried bitter tears. Suddenly Eliza seized, arching her neck back with a silent scream parting her lips. Her body gave a monumental push, as if giant hands possessed her innards and wrung them clean, and then she went limp, pulling one last ragged gasp, her eyes going still as she slumped to the ground.

---

Holding the child in his hands, crying along with the injustice and cruelty met upon them both as the moon shone softly down from above.

A twig snapped in the silence.

"I know you're there" he whispered to the woods. A twisted, blackened length of steel came into view, as he felt it's oddly warm edge press against his neck.

A lowered voice in his ear confirmed his fears.

" Stand up and fight me on your feet."

He tenderly set his child on the ground, shedding a final tear knowing he'd never get to see his son grow up, but knowing also that he would happily die to protect him from the abomination which awaited him. He rose to his feet, throwing himself towards the beast, chanting with wild abandon, his eyes manic and cold in the soft light. An incorporeal fist lifted the abomination into the air and flung it across the clearing.

The thing landed in the dappled shadows of the glades' edge, trees shifting with the wind, and broke into a rictus grin with an attempt at smiling, but its muscles had been dead for too long, the Darkness had spread and corrupted entirely. Regardless, it knew with ease it could overcome him.

Crossing the distance in a flash, the jagged metal slid cleanly through Rikard's gut, and the husk rocked it back and forth, savoring the shocked look on Rikard's face as he silently mouthed words, moving his hands in odd forms.

"Did you really think you could escape me? Did you think you might be able to fight back? Strong you may be among mortals, but those of my blood are more pure than you shall ever be."

It smiled down at his face, clean white teeth showing through and watched as he struggled to speak.

"Come now, tell me Rikard, why did you unleash me, I'm dying to know."

Rikard looked up at the thing and grinned with a dark humor, blood leaking through the gaps in his teeth. He coughed, splatters of gore appearing across the front of his robe as his pupils dilated to fill the sockets.

" I never needed to escape you, I just needed to lure you in."

The husk's eyes shone black, staring indomitable into Rikard's very essence. Nothing close to human emotion remained there, it was an abyss, void of anything but a driving animation to continue moving forward, destroying all in it's path. It could not understand anything resembling death, because the monstrosity had never known true danger.

"And that will be your downfall, underestimating us frail humans."

Rikard bared his teeth madly as the beast tried to pull it's sword from the depths of his midsection. His hand clasped around the purple gem hanging from his neck, and crushed it, the clearing lighting up with the brightness of the sun, as unearthly wails emanated from the beast until the forest was silent again.