Child of an Ancient Chapter 9

By Shigan Lee

Alan stood in a corner and watched over the cauldron with the boiling water as he gave the door to the other room a few nervous glances. Aeris had sure made something out of this place, the gray stonewalls and roof was covered in hundreds of dried herbs and flowers, and all of different kinds. Their sweet odor made him feel a bit dizzy, he walked across the small room and opened the window but jerked when another agonizing cry elapsed from the other room. He could hear the doctor talking in there, even if he couldn’t hear what he was saying.

 When was it going to end? She had been in pain for hours! He narrowed his eyebrows in worry as he shot the door another glance and returned to his tasks. He took the leaves on the table and put them in the water as the doctor had instructed him, the water turned into a sickly green color as he watched. The smell almost knocked him over, he wondered if this really was a medicine. Looked more like sewer slime to him.

 He covered his ears as her pained screams came more frequently, and she had been so happy for the baby. How could she be for this? Sure it was a cool thing to get a kid but he wondered if it really was worth it when you had to carry around with it in nine months. He hadn’t told her but she had looked like something similar to a big ball at the end of her pregnancy. The pained screams suddenly stopped. He heard the doctor say something cheerfully as a new cry joined the muffling sounds. It was the sound of a crying baby.

 Alan shook with excitement, finally! It didn’t take long before the doctor emerged from the door, and asked him to bring a cup of the medicine to Aeris. He gladly obeyed and rushed into the room to see her.

 Aeris lay in the messy bed, covered with sweat but her tired eyes shone with a joy he never had seen in them those past months. She was holding a small bundle in her arms and cuddled to it with a weak voice. The old doctor took the cup he was holding and told her to drink of it deeply. Alan walked up to the bed, he couldn’t hide his excitement any longer.

  “Is it a girl?”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, it’s a boy.” She smiled at him.

  “Wow! Can I see him?” Aeris folded the blanket the baby was wrapped in and revealed the little pink face, he was sleeping at the moment. She couldn’t describe her joy over this child, if only the father was here to share it with her…

 Alan stared at the baby with big eyes, not daring to touch the fragile body. “What’s his name?” He studied the small tiny fingers and nose with great fascination but the doctor interrupted his question.

  “Alan, I must ask you to leave. Miss Aeris and her child need their rest. Thank you for your help.”

  “Yeah, thanks Alan.” Aeris winked to the boy, god she was tired.

  “You are welcome, ok, see you tomorrow then Miss Aeris!” He walked out from the house and began to head home. Reaching the other houses in the small town, Alan turned around and looked back at the small house. He could see her in the window, holding the bundle, rocking it back and forth to console the newborn.

 A sudden coldness swept over him as he got the vague feeling that he would never see them again. But he dismissed it with a shrug, what nonsense…

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

The doctor left in the afternoon after he had checked that everything was perfectly normal with the baby. He told her very strictly to rest much and drink a lot of water before he left with his congratulations. She agreed to everything with a tired smile and fell asleep shortly after he had left but was awakened at dawn again by the sound of a crying child. She got up on unsteady feet and walked over to the small basket, which the baby had been sleeping in. His small body was so light in her arms as she breast-fed him. Tears rolled down her chins as she watched him continue his slow sucking. How she loved this little thing.

 She held her child and cried a while as the first wave of dizziness hit her like a tsunami. She stumbled and almost dropped the child as she reached out for support, the baby must have felt her unease as he began to cry again. Aeris fought to gain control over her body as she felt how the surroundings returned to her vision. She steadied herself against the wall and sat down on her bed. Holding him tight to her chest, she consoled him with whispers to get him back to his slumber.

 It was time.

 She braced herself and stood up on shaking legs as she began to walk out from the little house which had been her home for almost a year now. She would miss this, she would miss this place and her flowers. Not to mention her morning strolls by the sea and the salty air in Mideel. The door closed behind her as she began to make her way down to the sea.

 It was a beautiful morning, but it was still so early that the sun was just about to rise. She gazed towards the horizon while the dark sky was slowly painted in red by the sun that made its majestic entrance in a new day. The cries of the seagulls and the splashes of waves against rocks greeted it as usual. Today however, the sounds of the sea was joined by the muffled cry of a newborn life.

 Aeris stood by the shore and felt how the breeze ruffled her hair, she got tears in her eyes as she took the beauty of nature to the fullest. How could anyone have wanted to destroy this? She removed the blanket that had covered the baby’s face and let him look. His small eyes slowly opened up as the strong light awoke him from his peaceful sleep. Aeris looked back at him with a look filled with joy as she noticed that he had the same eye color as she had. Emerald orbs, filled with curiosity, even if they looked a little bit sleepy at the moment.

 She lifted up his small body so he could see the scene before him, even if he didn’t understand. She laughed as she remembered that she hadn’t even named him yet. The boy didn’t go back to sleep, he stared at the sea and followed the flight of the seagulls with the same fascination as his young mother.

   This is the first day of your life my love… I hope you will grow up to appreciate the wonders of nature. Don’t you see that you are special? Even the sun and the sea are greeting your birth!

   Through you, the Cetra bloodline will be secured.

   A protector, just what the planet had wanted.

   She took in a deep breath as she spoke up, her voice strong and steady despite her weakened condition as she held up the small infant in her shaking arms as she faced the sun.

  “Hear this, spirits of my ancestors, guardians of the planet. I name this child through the ancient ways of the Cetras, a heritage righteous his who will become your protector!”  The cries of the seagulls seemed to become stronger as she spoke and the crashes of the waves had grown to an almost deafening crescendo around her. Water stained and soaked her clothes as the waves reached up to the shoreline and was crushed against the waiting rocks.

  “Hear this my beloved son, I name you, through the ancient language of your mother’s people. I name you, after the powers of the sun and the sea, they who greeted your birth with the gifts of their beauty!” The pain in her midsection was growing, she needed to hurry but refused, this was his ceremony, and nothing would ruin it.

 “I name you, with the right as your mother. I am Aeris Gainsborough Gast, Daughter of Ifalna and you are the son of Aeris, last of the Cetras!” She had to take another breath again as she finished the ancient ceremony of her people.

  “I take the planet as my witness. Son of Aeris, your name will be Riyan!!!”

 The waves raged in response as the sun left the horizon-line, the wind roared its approval and the birds cried, almost like if nature itself gave her acceptance of the chosen name. The ground suddenly began to quake when a green mist suddenly shot out from the ground like a geyser and swallowed everything on the beach, including the newborn and his young mother. Not a sound could be heard as the liquid-like mist slowly sank back into the ground.

 The only sound remaining was the splashes of waves against the now empty shore.


Final Fantasy 7 Fanfic