Caoimhe’s POV (Flashback):
“What is this?” A voice proclaimed in confusion as she stood at the end of a bloodied bed.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she pulled the winter haired newborn from the crevices of her screaming mother's womb, Lada cried out painfully as her ivory hands clenched down onto the sheets as the young midwife turned her infant in a way to free the rest of her tiny newborn body from her womb. Bloodied tears streaked Lada's cheeks as the beautifully rumoured woman sensed as the threads of time were becoming entangled and she could no longer contain the image she had maintained over the last half-decade. The birth of her only child had shattered the illusion that she had so easily conjured herself to conceal her mythical identity.
“What?” The young midwife said confused as she held the bloodied infant in her arms as she examined the beautiful mother whose image seemed to change from before her.
Lada panted from exhaustion as her conjured image shattered from before the young girl, her once ivory hair faded to winter white with the strands a glistening silver that shone more brilliantly than the moon itself, her once black coloured eyes paled until they were void of any colour revealing a deep and emotional silver-white. She was the most beautiful and enchanting creature in existence whose elvish-like feature made her stand out as an air of innocence and eternal wisdom radiated from her very being. She was the very image of the goddess of creation, a creature whose only intention was to bless those she had created with a child with the purest soul in existence.
“You are…” The young girl started only to fall to her knees as she held the newborn infant to her chest.
“My child…” Lada started as she sat up and smiled at the young girl who had been the first to be blessed with the presence of Lada the goddess of creation.
The young girl nodded as she sat up and approached the beautiful creature who sat on the bloodied bed before her, the girl didn’t seem to notice the blood anymore nor the fact that she had just helped deliver her first newborn child.
“Has the child come yet?” An elderly woman’s voice asked just as she entered the room with a man following behind her.
"Miss…" The young girl started as her eyes were wide with wonder as she took a step back to reveal the new mother with her child to the pair who just entered the room.
The man stopped in his tracks as he took in the image of his new mate holding his daughter in the bloodstained bed and yet it wasn't the sight of all the blood that halted his footsteps, it was the unusual sight that presented itself before him. Lada gazed up at him with her silver eyes, eyes that he didn't recognize, and yet they belonged to the face of his mate, a woman who had enchanted him with her beauty and had bore him his first child soon after they became mates.
“Svarog?” Lada asked confused as his face grew pale.
“This is not natural! She’s a demon!” The elderly woman recited aghast.
“What?” The young midwife asked confused now as her attention wandered to Lada as she held her child to her chest.
“You have cursed our land with your demon child!” The elderly woman recited angrily.
“What? No!” the young girl shouted horrified now as she stepped between the elderly woman and Lada.
“Get out of my way girl!” The elderly woman shouted as she approached the young girl.
“We have been blessed with a goddess for a Luna, you cannot lay a hand on her!” The girl shouted terrified as she held out her arms to block the elderly woman’s approach.
Svarog remained silent as he took in the scene before him as if he were contemplating his next actions, he was a tall and broad man with dark brown hair and opal-like eyes. He had always been hard mannered as he allowed few things to go past him unnoticed. It was because of this feature that he was able to conquer Thallyn as he was the most ambitious, ruthless, and unparalleled amongst his kind. Those who deceived or defied him were soon killed as his rule was cold and at times emotionless.
The normally stoic man held his hand to his face as he finally succumbed to the emotions that were threatening to surface, he glanced up at his mate and took in her new appearance and he knew that this was Lada’s true form, a celestial goddess. He felt anger and resentment over the fact that the one woman he opened his heart to had deceived him, she was more beautiful then the day he met her and yet he knew that he could never forgive her treachery even though she was an incredibly beautiful and immortal being. It was because of this that convinced the man to commit the heinous crime as he glared at Lada hatefully convinced that she really must be a monster.
“Kill her, or she will be the death of you.” The panicked elderly woman stated.
“Alpha?” The young woman asked confused as Svarog reached for the sword that rested on his hip.
Lada stared coldly at her mate as Svarog unsheathed his sword and approached her as she lies still on the bed with their newborn child coddled against her breast, she could sense the treacherous thoughts of the man who stood before her and yet there was nothing she could do to change the events that happened next.
“Alpha!” The young girl cried out just as Svarog raised his sword and plunged the blade deep into his mate’s chest just barely missing his child.
“Caoimhe," The Lada whispered as blood spewed from her rose coloured lips.
The child's name carried into the air like an untold lullaby as Lada's blood seeped from her chest as Svarog tore his blade out of her chest, Lada released a strangled gasp as one of her lungs had been pierced along with the blade just narrowly avoiding her faintly beating heart. The young girl stared wide-eyed as the Lada glanced up at her mate as he sheathed his now blood-stained blade and watched her as she struggled to take her final breath.
“No!” The elderly woman screamed.
“Do not speak her name!” She shrieked as she desperately tore the silent child from the mother’s arms.
“Toss it into the Dead Sea,” Svarog said coldly as he motioned to the elderly woman as she held the silent child in her arms.
“You have committed the worst of Sins,” Lada struggled to say as she held her hand over her wounded chest to slow the bleeding.
The moment she moved more blood spewed from her chest and soaked into her white nightgown and splattered onto the hardwood floor, she glared at Svarog with hatred filling her silver eyes and violently coughed up blood.
"I curse you and your bloodline, Svarog Ayer," She gasped out just as she fell from the bed and collapsed to the floor with her face grew deathly pale.
"The firstborn will die, and you will bear witness to it all," Lada wheezed just as she took her final breaths.
The world grew dark and the land barren the moment the goddess Lada breathed her last breath as she receded her gift of fertility to the creature who she had given life, The lands remained cursed as the madness of the Ayer bloodline grew rampant with each new generation with each father sacrificing their firstborn children to the goddess of death.
The images of my birth slowly faded with the final memory of the elder woman travelling north to the Dead Sea and tossed my small body into the cold and raging sea, there had been no remorse in her eyes as she watched the current swallow my body whole. Within moments of swallowing the salty water, the woman who had stood and watched as the beautiful and enchanting infant sunk beneath the waves fell to her knees as her lungs filled with seawater. Her wrinkled hands grasped her neck in desperation as the water from the ocean spewed from her lungs and exited her mouth slowly drowning her while she kneeled on the dry land. Horror filled her eyes as she realized her mistake as she collapsed lifelessly to the ground that soon grew cold and desolate. The waves froze in place as the ocean unnaturally froze over as if stopping in time as it protected the precious life that was contained within it.
“We’re here,” Odin stated as his calming voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I glanced up expectantly as Ure went ahead of us to the secluded cabin that rested just ahead of us, it was smaller in size with a chimney revealing light gray smoke that disappeared into the cloudy sky above us.
"Hopefully, we will be safe here for a while," Ure said uncertainly before he proceeded further.
If only, I thought to myself as I sensed death looming nearby.