Chapter 77 Chapter Thirty-Six Part Two - Orenda
\[Author's Note: For the readers who are triggered by graphic/traumatic birth scenes, you have been warned\]
“What was that noise?” Azadou asks, looking at me with worried eyes.
“I…I think my water just broke,” I answer, my voice quivering.
Looking down, I see clear liquid running down my legs past the hem of my dress. I take a breath to keep calm, but that plan dissolves, and I pale when a heavy stream of blood follows the path of liquid down my thighs. Panic sets in, and suddenly all I can hear is the furious pounding of my own heart.
Too fast for me to comprehend, I feel weightless, then I feel something soft against my body. In a disoriented state, I realise I’m looking up at some kind of circular, gothic canopy, but I don’t have time to contemplate it when a wave of pain accompanied by an intense tightening sensation radiates through my abdomen, right around to my back. It comes on so fast and so suddenly that I can’t hold back my scream.
I feel large hands on my face, and a set of piercing purple eyes locking me in their gaze as I try to breathe through the pain. “It’s going to be alright, I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby,” Azadou vows, but I can see the worry he’s trying to hide.
“Fuck…”
At the sound of Aya’s stunned cuss, I look and find him kneeling between my legs, his face pale. I glance lower and see the blood staining my thighs. My panic turns to terror, and tears fill my eyes as I start to fear for the safety of my baby. I reach out and grab a hold of Azadou’s shirt, fisting it in my hand as I let out another agonised scream. The pain isn’t just in my abdomen, it’s spreading everywhere. It’s unrelenting and has me barely able to hold myself up.
I let out a sob as Azadou and Aya busy themselves, but I’m too scared and disoriented to comprehend much of what’s going on. I lay back, holding my belly, sending out silent prayers to the universe, begging for my baby to be okay. I’ll bargain with anyone and trade my very essram if it means my baby will be okay.
“Zarseti!” I hear Azadou’s voice boom.
Instantaneously, I feel the room blanketed in a sense of calm that my frazzled nerves desperately need. I look and see Zarseti walking over, her intense eyes etched in concern.
“The baby is coming, and it’s coming fast. Please, do whatever you can to help them,” Azadou pleads.
Zarseti squeezes his arm and gives him a reassuring smile. “You don’t need to beg, of course, I’ll help. Get behind her and sit her up, let her lean on you,” she instructs.
Without question, Azadou is at my side, carefully helping me sit up as I groan and pant. He sits behind me, on what I realise is a bed and lets me lean back against him. Reaching out, I grab his hands, squeezing them for dear life, knowing he can handle it.
Zarseti conjures various towels and hands a few small ones to Aya, who eagerly takes them. He climbs onto the bed and begins to dab the cool, damp cloth against my forehead, and I find the sensation soothing.
“Just breathe, Orenda,” he coaches.
“What the fuck do you think I’m trying to do?!” I screech at him, only to throw my head back against Azadou, clutching his hands as another intense wave of pain hits me, this one even more painful than the last.
I don’t know when my panties were removed, but it doesn’t even matter. All that matters is that my baby is okay. I know what I promised Aya, but I don’t think I can live if something happens to the baby.
Zarseti kneels between my legs, gently propping them up, her touch calm and soothing as she examines me, her brows furrowed in concern. “She’s still bleeding,” she says, looking pointedly at Azadou.
I look up at him to see him nod at her. A glowing, dark energy surrounds him and slowly moves into me. I feel its coldness sinking into every inch of my body, and instead of discomfort, I feel its presence lessen some of the pain. I lean my head back against Azadou in gratitude.
“Your baby is eager to come into the world, Orenda,” Zarseti says with a gentle smile.
“Please tell me it’s going to be okay,” I beseech lethargically. “I need you to tell me that.”
Zarseti’s eyes are gentle as she looks down at me. “You have your brother and two Gods here with you, you’re in good hands,” she assures me, but I don’t feel at all assured.
That wasn’t a straightforward answer, which means there’s a chance something terrible is going to happen, and she just refuses to tell me.
“At the risk of you screaming at me again, you need to try and breathe or you’re going to pass out,” Aya urges as he dabs sweat from my brow.
I look over at him with tears in my eyes, “I’m so scared, Aya,” I choke out.
He leans in and kisses my temple, “I know you are, but you can do this. If anyone is strong enough to get through this, it’s you,” he whispers, a wobble clear in his voice.
I’m clutching Azadou as the pain intensifies, and I’m struck with an overwhelming urge to push. I feel like I’m being ripped apart. There’s a stabbing pain that I can feel through to my back and a searing pain like my vagina is being torn open while set on fire. Broken bones have felt better than this! I’m crying, groaning and choking on screams of pain. I can barely keep my eyes open, and with every wave of pain, I feel as though the life is draining out of me.
“I’m still healing her, why is she still bleeding?!” Azadou bellows, his tone one of fear instead of anger.
“She’s bleeding just as fast as you’re healing her, we won’t be able to get it to stop until the baby’s out,” Zarseti’s calm voice answers, not calming me at all.
Between pained sobs, from the corner of my hazy eyes, I see my hair flash from its natural brown to its vibrant rainbow and back like a flickering light, and I immediately know something is wrong. I notice the look of panic on Zarseti’s and Azadou’s faces and feel like my world is on the brink of collapse.
This can’t be happening again, it just can’t!
“The baby is drawing on her essram, she can’t take much more of this,” Zarseti frets.
“Azadou, it’s now or never,” my brother suddenly demands, his body tense with worry. “It’s her only chance!”
I weakly look from Ayawamat to Azadou, my expression pained and confused. Azadou looks down at me, his features torn as if he’s enduring a pain of his very own.
“Orenda, I have no right to ask this of you, and this isn’t how I wanted this to happen. I don’t know what this will mean for us, but for your sake and the sake of our child, I’m begging you, please let me restore our bond,” he begs, his deep voice strained with desperation.
My eyes widen as much as physically possible, my mind reeling at his request. There’s so much pain and fatigue that I can barely think straight. I glance at Aya through my tears, not knowing what to do. I’m terrified I’m going to make the wrong choice.
“Please, sis. You promised you’d do whatever it took,” Aya begs, holding my hand in his as tears fill his eyes.
I look to Zarseti, my eyes begging for guidance. Just this once, I need her to say something helpful, no more cryptic answers and ambiguous remarks. I need help, and I need it now.
Her face softens as she looks back at me, “Your baby won’t be harmed, you have my word,” she promises.
Tears stream down my face as her words grant me the relief and answer I desperately needed. I look up at Azadou, my eyes and body feeling heavy like I’m being crushed by gravity.
“I agree,” I utter sluggishly.
Azadou heaves a sigh of relief and leans his forehead down against mine as he whispers, “Thank you.”
I close my eyes and feel the energy in the room shift. I feel the dark, icy shards of his essram reach out for mine, and with what strength I have left, I let the light and warmth of my own, reach out for his. I feel the energy of our essrams collide, almost entirely clicking together with such force that it sets off a shockwave that detonates around us and floods my body with heat as scorching hot as the sun. I feel the familiar echo of emotions flooding through and lingering in the back of my mind, so close yet still so far away.
The heat flooding my body grows hotter and hotter as I feel energy building within me like an electric storm. Finally, it builds to such a level that I can’t take it anymore. I can see intense, radiant light shining through my eyelids as I let out a scream, my body bucking under the force exploding inside me. I feel myself being pulled into darkness, my body torn between a sense of invigoration and fatigue, just as a new energy comes over the room. This energy blankets me in a sense of safety and protection, and just as everything goes dark, I hear the powerful cries of a baby.