It was raining heavily. It felt like the sky itself was going to fall apart. The raindrops fell like hailstorms on the forest leaves. And it was not on one corner of the planet. It was everywhere. The sky was wailing for unknown reasons to its residents. The natives of the planet, scared by the sudden phenomenon, were praying for salvation, but the atmosphere was getting gloomier and more ominous.
Then the air burst open.
A jagged wound of violet light hissed into existence and a crack was formed in the space a few feet above the forest floor. The portal flickered, and two figures stumbled out of the portal and crashed on the muddy bed of ferns and bushes.
On closer look, both figures were breathing heavily as if they had just been taken out of water after being nearly drowned. Both were women, of which one was dressed in luxurious clothes which had become dirty during their hasty escape.
The lady was pregnant and holding her swollen abdomen with a pale face, seeming to be on the verge of giving birth.
The other seemed to be the maid of the first one, with her left hand hanging limp scorched to the bone by fire spell, but her right hand still holding her sword. She seemed to be holding herself from crying out due to pain. With effort and her willpower she scrambled to her feet and rushed toward the woman collapsed in the mud.
"Your Majesty"
Maid Jara shouted, and ran up to the pregnant lady and somehow managed to support her to sit with one hand. The pregnant lady sat with her back to the trunk of the tree.
"Your Majesty, are you okay?" Jara asked, her eyes in tears filled with concern.
Lady Seraphina, trying to calm her breathing, suddenly gasped "Jara, the seal it's breaking…".
Jara appalled, said with worry "Hold on, Your Majesty. I will do something"
Suddenly, the portal which was closing, flickered once more and started stabilizing, as if some higher power had taken hold of it from the other end, to stop it from closing itself.
"We have to go," Lady Seraphina said. "They are after us."
Jara replied, "But how, we used a rare large distance teleportation scroll, which teleports in random direction. The portal should have been closed immediately after our transfer."
"Hurry Jara, someone may have stabilized the space nodes immediately after our teleportation. We need to escape" Seraphina replied in pain.
"Too late..", a voice sounded from the portal.
The portal suddenly rippled. Three men stepped out of the portal wearing dark steel armors with their faces covered with black masks, leaving only their eyes exposed, their boots hovering inches above the mud. They were assassins trained by the royal family, to do their dirty work, the Silent Hounds.
Jara, seeing the situation, picked her sword and stood up with difficulty and took a stand in front of her Lady. The pain of the injuries was visible in the eyes, but her back was straight as if telling the opponents that nothing will harm her Lady, till she draws breath and is standing.
The leader among the assassins scanned his surroundings with vigilance, as if looking for any other opponents who could be a hindrance for their mission. Seeing the silent forest, with no one in his perception for miles around him, he relaxed. Addressing Jara, he coldly said, "Yield the Lady, Maid Jara".
Jara, seeing him not attacking immediately, got more alert and vigilant. Thinking of buying some time for gathering mana in her now dry meridians, she asked, "Why , why do you want to kill Her Majesty and her unborn child".
The second assassin understood his leader's motive of stalling for more time for further support, "Being a palace maid has made you ignorant of the ongoings of the outside world. Jara, we don't want to kill you or Lady Majesty. We just need to kill the child once it is born. We need to capture Lady Seraphina, so that there are no mishaps with her."
Jara, while gathering energy, asked again, "What has the unborn child done to anyone? Why do you need him dead? Please, show us mercy and let us go."
"Mercy is charity given by the powerful. It is not something we can provide you. We are mere servants acting on orders of our masters to kill all children being born or to be born in this month. As the prophecy says that one of them may be the end of the world." replied the leader.
Jara, shocked in disbelief, asked "All children, why are you doing this? Do you not fear what will happen, once the House of Valerius learns about your hunting of the prince, the genocide, there will be war across the empire"
The leader coldly replied, "War, no no there will be no war, as the House itself is currently surrounded and facing danger of being wiped out. They have been isolated from their allies and have no help coming for them. If it were not for them to be situated on a secret plane, they may have been purged by now."
Lady Seraphina listening to conversation, despaired with worry for her parents and clan.
"My child may not be the one in the prophecy. Please let us go." Lady Seraphina pleaded to the assassins.
"Lady Seraphina, we are helpless and we need to bring you back. You can give birth to another child in the future. The emperor will forgive you for your escape attempt if you provide your child to him" the leader remarked.
"He will kill the child," Lady Seraphina yelled at the leader. "He will kill the innocent boy just to protect his throne" Lady Seraphina sobbed at her own helplessness for being unable to protect her child.
The leader, seeing the sobbing Lady Seraphina, said with indifference, "Lady, there is no other way, emperor has to kill the child. He may be the one they are searching for. The High Gods, Demons Kings and the rival Emperors, all the powerful rulers have come together to declare the edict."