The child's cry had barely faded when the world began to close in.
Inside the small, dimly lit house, the air felt different now— it felt tense.
Emma lay weak against the worn bedding, her arms wrapped protectively around Hazel. Every breath felt like it scraped through her chest, every movement heavy with exhaustion. Sweat clung to her skin, her hair damp and tangled against her face.
Hazel stirred softly in her arms, small and warm. Her tiny fingers flexed once, then settled again.
Emma's lips parted, a faint smile touching them despite everything.
"You're here, beauty" she whispered to Hazel in a trembling tone.
------------
Few minutes later, the door burst open with a loud sound.
The sound shattered the fragile peace like glass.
A young witch stumbled in, breathless, her eyes wide with panic.
"They're coming!" she cried. Every head in the room turned.
Kael, who had been standing near the doorway, went still.
"Who is coming? and how many are they?" one of the midwives asked quickly.
"Too many," the girl replied, her voice breaking. "Palace guards… shadeborn and vampire soldiers… they're already searching the outer streets."
A ripple of fear moved through the room because they understood what that meant.
Kael's chest tightened. They had found him.
His gaze shifted immediately to Emma and the child in her arms.
For a brief moment, everything else faded-- the soldiers; the rot slowly eating him from within, the orders he had defied.
There was only them.
Emma looked up at him, and in her eyes, he saw it—the same realization forming.
"They found you," she whispered.
Kael shook his head quickly, though he wasn't sure if he believed it himself. " Not yet."
But he knew that when they find him, there would be no mercy.
---------
Outside, the sound of boots echoed closed but faintly against stone and dirt.
One of the older midwives stepped forward, her voice firm despite the tension. "You have to leave."
Emma's grip tightened instinctively around Hazel. "I just— I can't even stand—"
"You won't have to go far," the woman said gently, though urgency sharpened her tone. "But you cannot stay here."
Kael moved then, crossing the room in two quick strides.
"I'll draw them away."
Emma's head snapped toward him. "No."
There was no hesitation in her voice.
"No," she repeated, stronger this time. "They're not just looking for you anymore."
Kael's jaw tightened. "I know."
"And you still want to run toward them?" she demanded, her voice cracking under the strain of both fear and exhaustion.
"I want them to follow me instead of finding you," he replied.
Silence fell between them.
Emma's breath shook as she tried to push herself upright, ignoring the way her body screamed in protest.
"You don't even have the strength," she said, her voice quieter now, but no less fierce. "You're already rotting"
He knew but none of that mattered to them now.
"Then I don't have time to waste," he said.
Hazel let out a small sound.
Kael stepped closer, his gaze softening as he looked down at her.
"She is so small and fragile. She is the life I was never meant to have and yet she is here." he said in whispered tone.
Emma watched him, her throat tightening.
"You don't get to leave us," she said in quiet fear and desperation.
Kael knelt beside her. "I'm not leaving you," he said softly.
"You are," she whispered.
--------
A sudden knock—sharp, forceful—echoed from somewhere down the street.
Then another knock was heard. At that instant, shouting and screaming followed echoing closer to their house through the slums.
The hunt for the new born child was already in motion.
-------------
"We don't have time," another witch urged at Emma.
Emma's heart pounded painfully in her chest.
Her mind raced, trying to find a path that did not end in loss but there wasn't one.
Then, shadows flickered as two new silhouettes fractured the light of the doorway. They were gasping and looked completely panicked, as if something terrible was right behind them.
It was Isolde and Maria. They had arrived using the last bits of their fading magic to trace the new born child.
Isolde stepped forward first, her gaze sweeping the room before landing on the child in Emma's arms.
For a moment, everything else seemed to fall away.
"The signs…" she murmured.
Maria followed her gaze, her expression shifting from confusion to stunned realization.
"It's true, the prophecy lives" she whispered.
Isolde's voice dropped as she spoke, "This child must live."
Emma tightened her hold on Hazel instinctively.
"What prophecy are you guys talking about and how does it relates to my Hazel?" she demanded, her voice sharp despite her exhaustion.
"Calm down, Emma. They are still speaking and will explain it to us" Kael said.
"Yes, that prophecy you all know about. It was twisted and changed. The child in the prophecy was not for the destruction of the world and realms but for redemption. This is the child of our redemption," Isolde replied quietly.
"So you are saying that my Hazel is the child mentioned in that prophecy," Emma asked with disbelief on her face.
Isolde stepped closer and said, "Yes, according to the signs of magic weakening which had never happened before, she is the one."
"The Luminai accord knows something has changed or knows that the child has been born," she said. "They may not know where—but they are searching. And when they find this place…"
"Aaaaaaaargh, he is just three months old ," Another shout echoed outside.
A door slammed somewhere nearby followed by a cry.
-------------
Kael rose to his feet. "They're here."
Everything moved at once after that.
Emma forced herself upright with help, her body trembling violently as she stood. Pain flared through her, sharp and relentless, but she pushed through it, clutching Hazel tightly against her chest as the weight of the prophecy relation to her child tugged on her mind.
"I can walk," she insisted, though it was barely true.
Maria moved to her side anyway. "You won't walk alone,"
Kael lingered for a moment. His gaze locked onto Emma again with so much unspoken passing between them.
"Find somewhere far," Emma said, her voice shaking but determined. "Anywhere but here."
Kael nodded once. "And you—stay alive," he replied and left silently through the back door.
A weak smile touched her lips as she whispered. "You too."
They both knew the truth that they were not going to survive this yet neither of them spoke of it.
----
Outside, the first of the Luminai accord's guards moved like a shadow sweeping through the district and slums.
"Faster," one of the soldiers muttered, his voice strained.
He could feel it that something was wrong.
His strength wasn't what it should be.
His movements felt heavier, slower, as though something unseen had reached into his body and quietly taken what made him powerful.
"You feel it too?" another asked.
"Yes."
"The moon is different tonight and has a strange color" another one commented.
They're all seeing the strange moon color which is is deep brown. They knew something was happening but couldn't fathom it.
They just follow orders from the Luminai accord.
The soldiers continued moving with the command "kill any child born today. If the child isn't found, kill every child who is aged nine months and below " tugging at the back of their mind.
Their movements were still quick and sharp, even though they felt weak.
----------
Back inside Emma's house, the back door creaked open slightly.
One by one, Emma with Hazel, Maria Isolde and the witches who helped with Emma's delivery slipped outside into the shadows beyond.