[Cautionary Warning: Chapter contains content that may be disturbing to some readers.]
Saris lamented the fact wasn't able to cast healing magic, healing magic was a very specialized form of light magic. Healing magic was often used by people of this world to assist in childbirth, but that was a luxury that Saris had to immediately forget about. As she was nearing her 6th hour of labor, she began to hear shrilling cries. Her child had been born, but she felt something was wrong, she felt very cold, she began to realize she was losing too much blood from giving birth to her child on top of having fled from her home with wounds across her body from where she was injured by Rathgar's coup. She immediately felt her strength was fleeting, she could barely manage to lift her child to lay him atop her bosom.
Saris could feel her child's heartbeat, it was strong, stronger than any child she'd ever seen. She was grateful that she had lived long enough to see her child's face with her own eyes. Her eyes began to glow with an incandescent neon glow. Her pupils changed from being round to becoming long slits that seemed to look like a long dark hallway, a corridor of sorts into her soul. Her eyes were normally a silvered blue, but now, they began to shine, they shined a neon red, these were her dragon eyes that she inherited from her bloodline. When she began to look at her child with these eyes, she could see something unexpected.
Runaan's eyes reacted to her eyes and began to shine a myriad of colors. These colors ranged from yellows to blues to reds, greens, purples, and oranges, as they flashed in Runaan's eyes, Saris had begun to cry, she had only read about the eyes that her child was displaying in the ancient writings of her clan. When she saw them, and she heartfeltly said, "Dragon King Eyes."
The traits of the Dragon King were scarcely seen, even amongst the dragons themselves. The Dragon King was the one who had created the Dragonsblood Clan over 3000 years ago, in the dark ages of Alterra's history, little was known of this era, only the beings who have lived through it could tell you about this era. Of which there were few to still exist.
The eye's signified that Runaan had received a blessing of sorts. One that would allow him to have the highest level of control over the elemental mana in this world, just as the Dragon King had, rivaling that of the gods. It had been millennia since the last of the dragons have shown themselves to humanity, they preferred to keep to themselves, and rule their own territories in peace and quiet, it was too much of a hassle to deal with insignificant creatures like that of the humans.
Dragons of whom were rarely seen within cultural texts and lore. Only the Holy Orders in the Sororus Continent knew of their existences outside of the Dragonsblood clan, and even then, their knowledge was limited to ancient texts that only sparsely mentioned their existences. The Dragons did not care for the affairs of mankind, as such the humans have since forgotten of their existences.
Runaan's eyes signified his birthright to rule as the Dragonsblood leader, but Saris needed to be careful of what it would mean for him in the future. The eyes themselves were synonymous with divine power. Saris made the decision to use an incomplete seal upon Runaan's eyes, so that they may not change when he uses magic and when magic is used against him, effectively trying to hide his presence.
This seal would only weaken and eventually break as he gained strength until he was at least at the radiant stage. This would be the minimum she felt he needed to protect himself from the greedy masses. His eyes, though unknown as to their significance for normal humans, those of ancient clans of the Forgotten Woodlands knew the power they indicated.
When Saris had finally lost after sealing Runaan's eyes and said her woeful goodbyes, holding Runaan close to her heart, her breathing lessened. Her slow breaths, though they were her last, they held comfort in them for Runaan, whose mind was still in chaos as the trauma from his birth was only moments ago.
The ability for him to think moments after birth was a trait of his bloodline, it offered heightened cognitive recognition and thought processes. He was able to think and rationalize the moment he was born, though his body could not reciprocate his mental fortitude as he could only cry for now.
Runaan was aware of what his surroundings were, though he couldn't see everything, he knew Saris who had been holding him was his mother. Saris had been speaking to Runaan for months prior to his birth while he was in her womb, he knew her voice instinctually. As her breaths and heartbeats weakened, Runaan began to think she was only trying to calm him down, but he didn't realize she was dying, he had yet to form the concept of what death was. His crying began to be quelled when Saris said her goodbye, regret was the only thing that could be felt in her voice, next to the pride she felt at seeing her healthy child.
When Saris began her seal of Runaan's inherited bloodline, Runaan's mental capacity began to lessen to that of a normal child, it sealed his memories of what had happened, and as this happened, he began to sleep within Saris's arms, his mind was at peace now.
Hours had passed since Saris gave birth to Runaan. Runaan began to awake from his slumber to the sounds of clawing and scratching at the roots that protected the hollow he'd been born in. When he was woken up, he began to cry in terror, as he could see frantic gnashing of teeth the roots, that began to bleed as they were running across the Krosis tree's bark. The smell of blood filled the air, not only from his birth but now again from the polluted blood of the Black-Tailed Shadow Foxes attempting to kill him.
Runaan wasn't even a full day's old when his life had already been in peril for multiple reasons. Some were immediate threats like the foxes trying to kill him and the active burning of the Krosis Pine's mana corrosion on his body. While some were unseen, like that of his uncle's coup in his ancestral home.
Runaan's cries only frenzied the foxes trying to get to him. Until suddenly, the foxes were just barely starting to squeeze through the roots when two of them suddenly went limp and stopped moving. There was a bright light behind them, the light was bright enough to hurt Runaans eyes. The light that suddenly appeared and then had disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. The fox directly above him wasn't moving, and he was absolutely terrified.
The fox above Runaan was in a mangled state from trying to force its way into the hollow trying to eat him. The fox saw him as free food, even if he had to mangle his maw a little in order to get to his meal, it was an easier alternative than trying to hunt down other prey that could defend itself. But, as the fox was preoccupied with trying to get to Runaan, it felt a sharp pain run through its body. The light that shined behind it had been a blade of holy light produced from light mana, its natural opposite. The pain was immense as the holy magic burned at the fox's soul, though its body felt nearly nothing as the blade cleanly cut through its body in a crossing motion from the front shoulder to its hind legs. The cut was clean, and it took a moment before its body fell into two distinct piles of flesh. its upper body still twisted into the hollow remained, while its lower half had felled to the ground with an audible thump.
This gruesome view was not entirely visible to Runaan from his position inside the hollow. However, he could smell the foul odor of bile that had been splashed on the ground, some of which began to seep into the hollow. Though what truly began to make Runaan feel as though he was going to draw his final breaths, just as he could no longer feel Saris's, the fox directly above him began to twitch and move in unnatural ways. The fox's body was ripped from the hollow's opening that was created from the fox forcing its way through. Behind the fox stood a tall silhouette of a man with a long flowing robe with intricate embroidery at the edges of its cuffs and sleeves, the embroidery was made of a deep ocean blue thread intertwined by golden laces, embellishing the white pearlescent robe the man wore.
The man standing above the hollow was dumbstruck upon the view that was inside. His heart fell, shaken by the sight of a dead woman clasping a naked baby boy covered in dried blood looking up at him. The man bent down towards the opening and reached his rather large hand in towards Runaan. Runaan had just been woken up to a scene of death and gore, and his instincts assumed the worst as the hand was reaching down towards him. He began to cry again as the hand came ever closer to him. Then the hand began to emit a faint light, Runaan began to feel a strangely calming effect on him and seized his crying in front of the strange hand. "It's okay now child," the man began to say, "you will be safe now, I, Eladreas Menders, priest of the Order of Kothrishard swear to see to your safety."