EMBER

Chapter 4

The Maiden

Splashes she heard—her face turned confused, she rushed to where the sound was coming from and it took her to the white porcelain tub filled with perfumed water and rose petals. A baby, she saw, swimming.

"We have a newborn!" announced the High Kalista who carefully fetched the baby from the porcelain tub. "It is a boy, a beautiful boy," she proclaimed.

She saw the High Kalista wore her common dress suited for the birthual. It was long, embellished with lavender leaves uptake, and indigo in color just like the rose petals in the tub. The dress fitted perfectly with her tall height and it was made in expensive wool stitched seemingly. Her pure white silk cape trailed when she walked, flowing with life through the wind.

There were few more Kalistas surrounding her with their high hats, flat top, indigo in color, with golden sun sigil crafted on the middle facing forward. They all rejoiced but their faces turned worrisome. She watched them all. Then she saw the tub filled eventually with blood as the High Kalista handed her the crying baby.

"His name is Ember," the woman whispered on her ears. Her face was blurred. Like smoke, she disappeared.

The baby was healthy for sure, she checked. He had black little strands growing from his tiny scalp, dazzling blue eyes like the magnificent ocean, and a birthmark concealed on his tiny hands.

"Ember," she repeated as she cradled the baby, gentle like the calm ocean waves. It stopped crying. He must be fond of her presence.

She continued swinging the baby until he fell asleep.

In her surprise, the smoke returned, now became a monstrous fog covering her entire surrounding. Darkness consumed her and the baby. "Ember!" she yelled, weeping, as she tugged against the dark hand pulling the baby away from her.

"Mother," Ember said, "wake up. Are you alright?"

She pinched her eyes open, tender as she could. She caught the cold air swarming before her feet, so cold like a freezing ice. Her fingers numbing and weak, she felt it, as her legs and her hips sore.

"Ember," she whispered the name again, gasping.

"I'm here, mother," he replied.

All along she thought she lost the tug of war but she prevailed. His voice relieved her dying soul. She remembered his shrills when he was still a baby. It was all night long. But he grew up fully now, like a grown up man, sweet and charming.

"Another bad dream?" Ember asked. He fetched her a pouch of water from his ration sack. Two quick glugs, she drank then she was through.

"Yes," she sighed. "I thought for once it was real."

"Tell me about it, mother."

He fixed her blanket, made sure it was covering her freezing feet and her weakening body. He veiled the blanket up to her neck. The cool air soon diminished.

He sat cross-legged beside his mother. It was the same excited face he possessed every time his mother would tell an interesting story.

The heat of his flaring torch helped the air warm faster, but its bright light was blinding Lady Mira. She slightly covered her eyes when it was striking them. She called it, the 'eyes of the dragon'—astonishing yet dangerous.

"Am I still dreaming, Ember?" she asked.

Ember grabbed her soft hand and pressed it against his prominent cheeks. "No, mother. How could you say that? You're awake now, you see."

"But it is still dark in here," she said with her puzzled face. "Are you sure this is not a dream still?"

Ember nodded, "It had been dark since then, mother. Eighteen years passed, world still overruled by darkness. Can't you remember?"