The Birthing

In the Dragon Kingdom, the entire palace was a mess. There were soldiers running in every direction. Females are wailing in the background. It seemed like the picturesque place had been turned upside down.

But it wasn't supposed to have been that way. It was supposed to have been the happiest day in the kingdom, full of joy and celebrations. The queen was about to give birth to her first child.

The midwives were ready. The palace was ornamented with floral decorations of the rarest type. Everybody was waiting patiently for the good news.

As the queen went into labor, nothing seemed out of control. But within a few moments, she started going pale. The doctors and caregivers went into a frenzy trying to find out the cause of that. The errand boys and girls were running across the mountains and clouds, trying to find the herbs they were instructed to. Every possible antidote was made and given to the queen, who was severely withering in pain.

"Has anybody sent words to the master?" Yelled the lady in waiting.

"Yes, they have. He is on his way," answered a young assistant to the senior doctor.

"We also need to send word out to the front line. Master Draco needs to know about the situation as well. Things are escalating very quickly out of our hands." The lady in waiting signaled another assistant to write a scroll and dispatch it immediately.

The males in the dragon kingdom usually stayed away from the birthing process. It was women who usually handled it. But the sudden exacerbated condition of the queen had pulled everybody out of their chambers and had made them surround the Royal Birthing Hall in anxiety. There was panic among the nobles as well. Dragons had a near-zero complication rate during labor. This situation was so complex that they had to call in the Master, that is, their heavenly doctor, breaking his decade-long meditational retreat.

An urgent message was sent to the ruling dragon king ,husband to the woman in labor.He was fighting at the borders. He was widely known for his bravery and courage. With his wide-spread expeditions and expertise, the dragon kingdom was able to reach its farthest trenches, unifying lands that nobody had ever dreamed of annexing. He was a true namesake—a versatile, fearsome dragon named Draco.

"Girls, give me a hand here and help me sit up." The queen whispered with very little strength.She soon started spitting blood all over herself as two of the ladies tried to support her. They immediately panicked and tried pulling her back again, but she raised her hands, instructing them to stop. She pointed at the head of the midwives and asked her to come over to her left side.

The little maid ran at her command.

"Yes, Our Lady,what do you want me to do?" She asked with enthusiasm.

The queen reached up to her ears and whispered something that made her enthusiasm disappear. Her eyes and mouth were wide open. "Not possible. You cannot do that, our lady." She was trying to pull away, but the queen caught her hands. "You have to do it. It's for the sake of our kingdom. It's our duty. You cannot run away from that."

The little maid stopped for a moment at the queen's words and then nodded her head with a smile, filled with sadness.

"Everybody, please evacuate the room. The queen needs something done in private. Quickly now. " She shoved everybody out of the room as they kept looking back with a mixed feeling of sadness, worry, and confusion.

As soon as the room was empty and the door was shut, the little maid stood there perplexed, urging, "My lady, it is going to hurt. Should you not... "

But before her speech was over, the queen harnessed her feeble energy. A crystal light engulfed her, and it strained towards her right. It circulated upwards at the heart, and the queen, with the final ounce of strength that she had saved, pulled her Core out. With trembling hands and dripping body fluid, she secured the Core around her womb.

The Core, was a dragon's existence. It was like something that the human beings called soul but not quite similar in nature or function. To extract one's Core, one needed great strength and knowledge. It was a forbidden but ancient art form, known only by the elites in the Dragon Realm.

"This will keep him safe till the birth is complete." The queen whispered, gasping for breath, "Take us to the Hidden Fountains. Keep him safe. Hand him over to none other than his father. Trust no one." Before the maid could even confirm, she had to rush to support the queen's limp arm. She looked at her Queen with a deep look in her eyes and then diligently proceeded to fulfill the duty assigned.

People, unaware of all the tragedy, grew more and more worried as they waited outside. They couldn't even barge in, as it was the queen's order. But one from among the crowd slipped away, totally unnoticed. He kept running until he reached an abandoned ruin on the outskirts.

"My Lord, my Lord, master,master," He huffed as he reached the broken doors.

"Is it over?" Called back a sweet and melodious voice from behind the closed doors.

"Yes Master. I have done exactly as you have instructed. But the queen has locked all of us away from her chamber. Only one of the midwives is with her. I thought you needed to know, so I came here right away. " He said it all together without a pause.

"Hhhhmmm, that's interesting. But you shouldn't have been this careless. How can you come here straight from the palace? Now go back and keep doing what you do best." The melodious voice rang with rhythm again.

"Yes Master. I will be careful not to commit any more mistakes in the future. He bowed and swished away as fast as he could on his way back.

"The queen locked herself inside in this condition. Interesting. " The melodious voice was heard, contemplating, from somewhere far inside those ruins, behind two closed doors.

By the time the assistant was back at the palace, the imperial doctor, also referred to as Master by all, had just arrived. Everybody moved aside, paving his way. He looked at them, waiting for somebody to open the doors. But everybody was just staring back at him.

"What's wrong? Why aren't the doors being opened? I thought it was an emergency I was called for." He looked over his half-moon-shaped glasses hanging from his head, over his fat, chubby face.

"Master, well, ummm, the queen has locked herself in, along with one of the midwives, and asked us all to wait outside. It's been awhile, but we couldn't interfere because it's an imperial order. Maybe you could try calling, I think," replied one lady in waiting.

The doctor was already looking at the door with a weird gaze through his crescent glasses that doubled as scanners. He slowly walked away from the doors and instead of asking permission to come in he rammed right into them. The doors went flying in two directions, leaving the entrance wide open for all those waiting to pour in.