Fenris stood there, shocked momentarily, unable to understand what was happening.
"Is that?" he asked, baffled why I had suddenly appeared to sully myself.
Right away, he knew it wasn't urine but something else. The smell of the liquid that puddled around my feet gave it away. Amara had given us a slight education, but I was two weeks and a half early.
A harsher cramp soon followed the event, triggering me to groan and bend to ease the pain. I had been in labor since this morning, yet I had ignored it.
I thought it was the stress!
Our trial wasn't over yet, as this was no place to give birth to a complicated one like mine. My wolf froze, unable to register what was happening quickly. If it weren't for the agony that I was suddenly in, I probably would've been like him, too.
We were in the middle of a battlefield, far from the ideal place for his pups to be born. Noticing his state, Shade took control of the situation.
"Oi! Stupid wolf, go get Amara or any medic quick!" she interrupted his chaotic chain of thought.
The cramps worsened to the point I couldn't walk well, let alone mount him or Shade to get me to safety. Any more rough movements would've made it worse for me.
"What?" Fenris mumbled, glancing at the cat.
She wouldn't give him a break to adjust, though. They were coming, and there was no stopping their arrival. My legs gave out as Fenris helped me not to hit the ground. Before I knew it, I found myself on my knees and hands moaning in agony.
The only time I felt pain like this was when my grandmother carved me up. My name left Fenris's lips. He reached to help me up, but Shade pawed his hands away. This wolf was visibly panicking. We weren't ready for this, especially in our remote location.
"You can't move her like this! I'll keep her safe! Hurry, doofus, run! Only you can get help fast enough!" Shade yelled to get him moving.
"Fuck! I know, I just…" He became hesitant to be away from me but had no choice.
He was the only one fast enough to get Amara to stabilize me. Although it appeared, there was no stopping this. The babies wanted to come out no matter what. I should've been more attentive to the cramps from this morning.
Sadly, I didn't know that they were a sign that I went into labor. I thought they were the usual ones I had felt the entire month. The swelling was a pain I had never felt before, and the adrenaline had dulled them down.
"Damn it! Liam, when you get here, stay with Lilith!" Fenris commanded, shifting and running out of the building faster than I had seen him go.
Shade instantly came back to me as I held onto her, groaning in pain, trying to keep myself together. I tried to concentrate on my breathing as Amara had taught me, but it was interrupted soon after by a shadowy figure in the corner of my view.
It walked towards me from the same corridor that Fenris had left. Shade immediately launched towards them, only to phase through them. I was left on my knees as it got closer to me.
"Lily!" Shade hissed, running to me only to stop when they kneeled next to me.
"What… Layla?" I mumbled, unable to understand how she was in front of me.
Much to my bewilderment, she had no corporal form. Instead, dark smoke radiated from her when Shade tried to yank her away from me, to no avail. All this time, I wondered where Edna was instead of what she was planning.
Little did I know. I had walked right into her trap and was unable to fight. If this was a spell or curse, I saw no way to break it.
Oh… gods… are you using a god artifact for this?
"Lilith, you took what I loved the most, so I'll take what you'll love the most!" she declared, grabbing me by my face.
Suddenly, she invaded my body as energy pulses radiated out of me uncontrollably. My belly burned, almost as if it was searing into me, leaving me screaming at the top of my lungs. Tears filled my eyes as the agony was nearly too much to handle.
Tears streaked down my cheeks as I writhed in pain on the floor. My consciousness wavered a bit, too. Everything felt surreal; I felt helpless to stop what they were after. Unlike any other spell, I saw no cracks.
All Shade could do to help me was hold my body so I wouldn't hurt myself. I screamed louder than I had in years. It was worse than when Fenris changed my body, as something felt like something was being ripped out of me.
The entire thing probably lasted a few seconds but felt like an eternity. All that crossed my mind during that time was my babies' well-being. Just as it started, it soon passed, allowing me to catch my breath as I heard someone call my name from behind me.
"Lilith?" Liam ran to me, grabbing me by my shoulder to help me sit up. "Hey, are you okay?!"
His hands cupped my cheeks, and I was too dazed to say anything. However, from the small windows by us, the sky I had created was back to blue. I didn't know what Edna had done to me then, and I couldn't focus on it.
After all, my babies were soon coming. Even though it worried me that she did something, what I feared most was that she did something to my unborn babies. From what Layla declared, I gathered they were as much of a target as I did.
"L-Liam, my b-babies." I stumbled as I tilted his head.
"Yeah, I know; Fen's coming with Amara as fast as possible." He reassured me as I shook my head.
"N-No! E-Edna…" I winced, unable to finish, grabbing Shade's hair and groaning.
Though, I wasn't the only one feeling it. She appeared as lethargic as I did. From what I could feel, my connection to the soul cairn was accessible, yet something about it was odd.
"Edna did something. Layla did something." She mumbled, lying beside me.
"What? Fuck… Is that blood?" The brown wolf huffed, triggering me to gaze downward to see my blue dress stained red.
Edna, if you did anything to my babies, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth.
Eternal or not, she would beg for her life if my children had any lasting effects. However, I didn't have the time to worry about it. Reaching down, I touched my thigh to see it drenched in blood.
"No… No…" I huffed, gripping Shade as I could do nothing to stop what was happening.
"Fen, you got to hurry. This isn't looking good," Liam informed the others as he held me close to his chest.
We knew my labor would bring complications, which was why Fenris wanted me on the ship. My actions had placed us in danger.
"It's okay, he's coming with all the others. They're all coming for you, Lilith, so hold on." The brown wolf held me close.
"Liam… thank you for bringing him back to me," I mumbled, feeling weaker as the seconds passed.
"No, hush, for now, and focus on breathing. I might not be blood-related, but those are my nephews you bring into the world; they'll need you, too. So, focus on staying alive." His voice was shaky as I struggled to keep my eyes open.
When my wolf finally returned to us with Amara on his back, she swiftly went into action. The airship had traveled with them to us, and its sound could be heard above us. I tried to let him know what had happened but to no avail.
My voice was too shaky and unstable to get a word out. Taking Liam's spot as my support, Shade groggily informed him while the elf opened a kit, taking out a machine to read my vitals and the babies. It was the same bag she had brought into the ship in case of this.
Unlike me, she was fully prepared for anything, or so she hoped. She never expected me to jump ship and give birth on the ground below. After setting everything up, Melody and Amelia followed with other medics on the ship.
"What's happening?" Fenris asked, holding onto me.
"I don't know, an abrupt rupture of her placenta? I'm not sure. I can't be sure with everything that's happening, but what I do know is that these babies have to come out now, or she'll bleed to death as they suffocate, too." Amara clarified, triggering Fenris to wince.
"Okay… Do what you must do to save them." He breathed, holding onto my hand.
The other Lycans slowly gathered outside of the building, too. They would protect us from anyone. When the medics were in view, Amara barked orders. They quickly set up stations for the babies.
From what I could count, there were two medics per baby. The elf would stay with me the entire time. Sitting behind me, Fenris became my support as he gripped my hands.
"I'm here, love. So, don't you dare give up on me, okay?" My wolf breathed as I leaned on him.
Shade lay behind him, placing her snout on our left and coiling her tail around us.
"Shit, your labor isn't far enough. I have to speed it up, and Lilith won't feel good." Amara warmed, shifting her eyes from the device monitoring our vitals to me.
"Ah… I—" I couldn't focus on anything as pain shot up, dulling everything else.
Fenris clasped my hand, gazing towards Amelia and Melody, standing by the corridor. They were joined by Liam, who headed outside.
"Do whatever you need to save them." He echoed my sentiments, even though I could barely get a word out.
Luckily, we had talked about it before this moment. I wanted him to pick them over me, if it was my life or theirs. Even if he lost me, my wish would be something he would carry out. Somehow, I was still breathing and conscious, which had to be enough for this ordeal.
However, my energy waned with every second that passed. Every drop of blood that left me meant I had less volume within me to handle it.
"I'll try to do everything without having to do a cesarian. That's the last thing we want in a place like this, but that'll depend on you and the babies, Lilith. So, I need you to stay with me." Amara announced.
She felt my belly to assess the positioning of the first baby that was coming. I had been dilating since the early morning when the cramps began. Something I had kept to myself, and I struggled to confess to them. Upon hearing that, Fenris probably wanted to yell at me for everything I did, but he couldn't find a single word to chide me with.
Instead, he held onto my hands, steadying himself for what was coming. One medic grabbed my right hand from him, placing an intravenous line with saline to help combat the blood loss. After a bit of help from a spell Amara cast, it fully dilated me enough for the first baby to crown.
It opened the floodgates as my world blurred at times.
"You can't lose consciousness, Lilith! Stay with me!" Amara huffed, spreading my legs as Fenris held onto me dearly.
"You're going to push only when I tell you to. Not before, not after, got it?" Amara ordered me as I sluggishly nodded.
Most of my mind was in delirium, as I was doing this in cold blood. No medication could be given to me with my pressure lowering because of the blood loss. With every passing second, everything became overwhelming and merging.
I was becoming even more delirious as I mumbled incoherently.
"The first baby's doing well, coming right as we want, " Amara said, trying to quell some worries in the room.
However, a simple glance revealed that Fenris was also a mess. He wasn't adjusting right, and his thoughts were chaotic. If only I could see what was going on in his brain, yet all of it was my fault.
At least he was faithfully by my side, struggling but still present. Amara once told me there were a few men that fainted during births. Although that wasn't the case for my love, his hands trembled uncontrollably while he held mine.
Soon after, the elf told me to push with the intervals of the contractions. With her instructions, my first child quickly entered this world. A baby boy, a Lycan, was the first to be welcomed into this world.
Soon after, his twin brother, also a wolf, was born. After him, their fraternal twin sister, a human, came out. With each baby that came into our world, Amara, after cutting their connection to me, handed them off to the medics, who tended to their needs.
From what I saw, they had silver bits of scuffles for hair in their scalps. This showed how Fenris's genes dominated over mine for our children's features. However, with the last baby, Amara got serious.
It seemed stuck and wouldn't come down—worse yet, it couldn't come down with its position.
"Shit, this one is the one with the abruption. Lilith, the last one, is coiled around in its cord. I have to…" Amara trailed off, knowing I probably wouldn't survive it.
My vision was blurring, and my consciousness wouldn't last much longer. This ordeal was already a miracle that the others had come into the world without complications.
"Kill Stella… and do it," I mumbled weakly.
A gasp came from his sisters, who were helping the medics with the born babies.
"There has to be another way," Amelia said, stepping towards us as a medic stood in her way.
Fenris placed his forehead on my hand, grimacing as a red shimmer came from him. My life was barely clinging on to this world. I wouldn't take them with me. My choices would be my fate alone, while I would protect their lights as long as I lived.
Even though I carried you for months, I don't really know you, but I want you to live. Please… live…