Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 1: Prologue - A Pair of Abominations

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“Without a miracle, it is impossible to defy the gods” A cry pierced through the still night. It was the cry of a woman in the throes of childbirth. In a modest mansion—surrounded by midwives, nurses, and her rather flummoxed husband, she did what women have been wont to do since time immemorial. Contrary to what could be expected from the average birth, though, the woman’s appearance fluctuated as she went through the trials of the life-giving process, sometimes growing blade-like fangs and sometimes being covered with bristly, spike-like fur as she writhed under the ministrations of the help. Her bizarre transformations scared them to the point that many were on the verge of fainting and would have already if not for the silent chants that left the lips of a tall and handsome man in the corner. It seemed there was some hidden strength in these words, somehow giving them the steadiness to continue on with their work despite their fear. The man flashed a small apologetic smile at his wife as she glared at him from the bed for a second. As someone who never lost control of the tyrannical might unique to her race, there was some embarrassment that she was doing such a sloppy job of handling it now that her own midwives were on the edge of passing out. He was aware of this and thus only used sorcery when they were very near succumbing to her pressure, and always very discreetly. Although it was impossible for anything to happen in her presence without her noticing. The man’s face was beaded with sweat, though. Not as a result of the death glare (a loving gesture in his estimation) but because he really could not wrap his head around the sight before him. No one was more aware of his wife’s physical prowess and mental fortitude than the man himself. As a powerful Lycan Highbreed, it was scarcely an exaggeration to say that she had never screamed in pain in her life. It was the certain truth that he had expected her to handle childbirth with the dismissiveness she handled dozens of enemy weapons, even the ones made with silver that were deadly to all her kind. Perhaps it was naivety or just a misunderstanding of nature’s demands, but he had expected that the whole labour they had been expecting for the better part of a year would take a mere few minutes. They had been at it for hours now, and it didn’t seem close to finishing. Another cry rang out. It wasn’t the same as before, though, but a strange, almost despairing scream that seemed to come from an entirely different being. Shuddering, he appeared next to her. The staff helping her had entirely disappeared from the room as he made his move. The next moment, he saw a head peek out from under the cloth that covered her and, if he was not a staid warrior in his own right, would have swooned. He steeled himself, though and encouraged his wife as she made a last series of pushes and expelled the child from her womb. He held his child in a damp blanket and looked at his wife lovingly as she reciprocated the gesture and held out her hand to him. Before he reached her, though, her hand transformed into a ferocious paw, and another frightening scream rang out. If he was flummoxed before, he was totally confounded now. What could possibly be the cause of this? The night went on, and it came to pass that two children were born. Two children from the same mother. This occurrence, although comparatively rare, may not strike the reader as noteworthy. However, in the strange and alien realm of Reigina, such a birth was most unnatural. In fact, it was hardly ever heard of that two children should pass through a mother’s womb at the same time. The very idea filled hearers with dread. To them, it was as bizarre as giving birth to an animal or the dreaded ogbanje,[1] and neither the life of the children nor the mother could be ensured in such cases. Most importantly, though, such a birth was a thing intolerable to the gods, and there was only one fate for anything the all-powerful gods would not