Chapter 36 - Before It All

-Tenshu Province, 20 years ago-

Inside a grand bedroom of the Tenshu Castle.

"Your child seems to be ready to leave the womb, it's astonishing that a baby would reach full term at such a speed." said a 20 year old Reiki to a 30 year old couple, Lancelot and Urusla.

Urusla's belly was large and rounded, signifying a child being carried within. "Thank you for the update Miss Reiki," she said with a sweet smile.

Reiki nodded and left the room after taking a bow, leaving the middle aged couple to themselves. Urusla rose from the bed where she was laid, walking towards the balcony.

"Are you sure you should be moving around like this, my love?" asked a fussy Lancelot, bearing a worried look.

"I'm fine, dear," Urusla replied giggling, "you worry too much, go tend to some matters of the kingdom."

Lancelot laughed while scratching his head as a single drop of sweat went down his face, he soon put aside his worrisome behavior and did as he was asked of his wife.

With Lancelot gone, Urusla had the room to herself and her expression soon changed from a sweet smile of an angel to the sinister sneer of a devil as she overlooked the village below her.

"Soon, this shall all be ours, father." She thought as she gently rubbed her belly, "I am sure this child will fit as an excellent host."

A maniacal laugh almost managed to escape her lips as she quickly stopped herself, she then proceeded to move towards the bathroom.

Inside, she walked over to a large mirror, encased in a golden frame engraved with carvings of dragons. Bending over the sink, she narrowed her eyes as she observed her reflection, almost as if she was looking to find something on her own face.

Her black hair was loosened, covering most of her head when she suddenly rubbed it back, revealing her forehead which held two circular scars. She slowly ran her fingers over the two protrusions and her evil smile grew brighter. The colour of her eyes changed to a demonic likeness, with a red iris and the white of her eyes changing to a cracking black.

Soon after, something astonishing occurred. The scars began to open and out of each hole came no blood, but instead, two black horns with a gem-like sheen.

"Ahhh, there we are, my perfect form," Urusla stated, but her smile soon changed to a grimace when she came to a self realization.

"Sigh, it's really a pain to do this, halting my healing process so I come off as a regular human, this baby should have been born a month after conceiving but I had to give my all just to keep it inside me for a good amount of time." she said, as she slowly reached for her horns.

Then…

*snap*

She broke them off completely, leaving only two holes that were now trickling with blood and quickly healing over.

"Gah!" Urusla grunted as the pain was sent directly to her head, "Still hurts so much!"

Her eyes lost the demonic demeanor and the healing of the wounds stopped, leaving two scars just like before. Urusla's attention was now turned towards the two horns she held in her hand, "well, I guess I should get rid of these," she concluded, with a hint of sorrow in her words.

After getting over herself, Urusla proceeded to use her immense strength as a demon to crush the horns into dust, which was then thrown into a fireplace in the room.

"Time to see what that 'husband' of mine is doing,"

***

Lancelot was sitting on his throne, tapping at the arm rest with a look of boredom. "Ahh, no important matters today it seems."

He was about to find something else to do when a male guard holding a spear walked towards him.

"What is it Nauru?" Lancelot asked the guard.

"Sir, a feline kobold couple wants to see you, and they are holding…a human child." replied Nauru.

Lancelot's eyes widened and he quickly told the guard to let the couple in; soon after, a couple of humanoid cats with two tails and fully white fur with small patches of blue here and there entered the throne room, with one holding a beautiful baby girl.

"Greetings my Lord." said one of the kobolds, revealing it's gender to be male by voice as he and the other, obviously female went on one knee in respect.

"Arise. What is your need?" Lancelot humbly asked.

The kobold holding the baby stood up and moved closer to the throne, "My Lord, we found this child abandoned in the Hallow Forest and we have come to ask permission to raise her as our own." she asked with utmost respect.

"Hmmm," Lancelot took his time to go over the idea, as one species being raised by another was unheard of in the history of Endolis.

"Do you have the resources?" He asked

"Yes Lord," answered the male kobold, who had moved next to his wife.

Lancelot once again went back into thought and looked at the baby, he noticed the child was awake and showed no sign of resistance to the kobolds, even if she was just a baby, Lancelot expected non-stop crying but instead, the baby had a smile, and with her bright white eyes, gave the impression of being an angel.

Looking at the sweet child in front of him, Lancelot couldn't help but be infected by an unknown source of joy. "Very well, I shall allow it, but be sure to bring her here when she is of age to be tested for aptitude as a dragon host. Have you named her as yet?"

The two kobolds' pointed ears perked up and their whiskers moved upwards as they smiled, "Thank you sir! And yes we have, her name is Ichika."

Lancelot nodded and the two kobolds left after waving the baby's small hand at the king.

"You seem happy to see that child, dear." Urusla, who was watching this entire scene unfold, finally revealed her presence, slightly startling Lancelot into getting up.

"Ah…yes, but we will soon be able to have that happiness," he stated as he brought Urusla towards him in a loving embrace.

"Yes, yes we will," she replied.

***

A week passed and sure enough, Urusla gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

Reiki was present at the delivery and was beaming with joy beneath her exhausted expression to see that everything went well.

"I think I'll call her…Aegis! Yes, Aegis." Ursula said, showing almost no signs of exhaustion from labour.

The room was filled with so much joy that no one noticed the small, rigid bump on the left side of her head.

…No one except Urusla.