"Push! One more, come on; you're almost there!"
The cries of a woman in labor, and a midwife encouraging her rang through a wooden house on the outskirts of a bustling city.
"Argh!" The woman in labor cried out once more, her loud, unrestrained voice reaching the farthest reaches of the house. Her husband knelt on the floor beside her bed, hot tears and snot running down his face as he begged his lovely wife to let go of his broken hand.
"It's out! It's a boy!" The midwife cried out in joy, taking hold of the baby that had slipped out. Another midwife came forward with a towel, while another held a warm towel to clean off the bodily fluids from the woman who had just given birth.
It was only after she had pushed out the baby that the woman finally let her husband's broken hand go. His fingers were bent awkwardly, and his skin had taken on a dark color.
"Let me see my baby boy." The woman stretched out her hands, with tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. The midwives carefully placed the baby on her chest, and she held him close.
"Try to feed him." The oldest midwife told her, but it seemed she was already a step too late. The newborn baby was already ahead of her, having already held his mother's prize in his tiny hands, with his mouth placed atop it.
"Roland... He's just like you..." The woman turned to her husband who was only just recovering. She picked him up by the collar with one hand and helped him stand up properly.
"H-how so, honey? Does he look like me that much?" The man, Roland, asked with a stiff smile.
"No, no. Well, yes, but not just that." The woman pulled her husband's head down and whispered a few words into his ears. Roland's eyebrows shot up as he looked at his newborn son.
"That's my boy!" He exclaimed happily.
The midwives looked at the couple strangely, but held back from saying anything. The head midwife eventually stepped forward.
"Madam Kate, you should give your son a name." She said.
"Ah, yes... A name." Kate looked at her husband with loving eyes before turning back to her baby. "Let's name him Kai."
Her husband looked at her with intense eyes that were burning with fiery emotions. He examined every inch of her horn-framed face, before nodding his head.
"Kai it is."
.
.
"Kai, you little rascal!" Kate yelled as a little boy that looked to be about six years old ran out the front door.
"You can't catch me!" Kai laughed as he evaded his mother's hands.
The years had gone by quickly after Kais birth, and he had just turned six.
"I finally caught you. Come here you little rat!" Kate snatched up Kai and threw his into the air. The boy flew ten meters into the air before coming back down, and being caught by his mother's waiting arms.
"Hihihihi! Throw me again!" Kai laughed.
"Nu-uh. Your father won't be happy if he sees that. Let's go read some books instead." Kate shook her head and tapped Kai on the nose before taking him back into their home. She went all the way to the lone study in the house, before taking a seat.
With a wave of her hand, a book that was on one of the shelves flew over in her hands.
"Just like I promised, when you turn six, I will teach you about the outside world and magic." Kate said as she tenderly smoothed out Kai's head of hair.
Kai looked up into his mother's glowing blue eyes. The same pair of eyes that he happened to have. Kai mostly had his father's features, but the one feature that he had gotten from his mother was her glowing blue eyes.
Kate was not a human. Or an Elf, or a Beastkin. Instead, she was a Demon.
Demons were mostly frowned upon because of their innate desire for violence, so they mostly kept to themselves. There were many demons that could suppress that desire, but the bad eggs that could not had already spoiled the name of the Demons, painting every one of them as violent brutes.
It was because of her Demon heritage that Kate possessed two crystalline, twisted horns that framed her face, and a pair of glowing eyes. Her meeting with Roland had been the will of fate, and if not for him, then Kate doubted that she would have ever known what it meant to fall in love.
She and Roland had met on unfavorable terms. Roland was an adventurer, while she was a lone demon. He had been hunting when he accidently attacked her, thinking she was a monster. It had led them to fighting, where she had absolutely trashed his ass, but then he managed to explain himself in the midst of the beating, and then she nursed him back to health. That was their love story, and it had led to them having this child.
Because of how controversial this matter was, Kate had opted to stay in a secluded area, while Roland continued with his life as an adventurer. He would occasionally return to make sure he was present in the life of his son, but he needed to be careful so no one got wind of her presence.
Kate was immensely grateful to the Gods that Kai had only inherited her glowing eyes, and not her horns too. That meant that he could one day leave this place and go out to explore the worlds beyond.
"Magic!" Kai clapped his hands when he heard what Kate said. He was also excited to learn. He had seen his mother use magic a lot, and he was also eager to learn about it so he could be like her.
"Alright, let's start from mana. Mana is the essence of the world..." Kate began reading to Kai and explaining, while the six year old listened with wide and attentive eyes. He was not slacking one bit.