Worlds of Atlan

Chapter 1: A Mother's Wish

[ A Millenia Later: 1034 AC (After Calamity)]

[Perspective: Empress Venia Chamba of The Atlan Empire]

"It hurts... It hurts so much!"

The screams of a woman in labor echoed through the medic wing of the imperial palace. The Emperor's wife, Empress Venia Chamba had once thought herself unable to conceive but now miraculously found herself in a very precarious situation. She had ruled out ever experiencing this aspect of life due to an illness that left her baron. She tried many times to produce an heir but it was to no avail. She was expecting to give birth this night to what would be her first and only child. This fact in and of itself was crucial because this child would then be the true heir to the throne as her marriage to the Emperor ordained it so. The Emperor himself however had four other children by his consorts as a contingency in the event something happened to the Empress. This contingency became reality over the years of their marriage to ensure the power stayed within his lineage. The news of Venia's pregnancy came as a surprise to both of them and this implication meant that the birth of this child will tip the very scale of power in the Empire restructuring the inheritance of power.

The Empress cried out to the beat of the immense pain she felt, the contractions crippling and consuming her as her already sickly body struggled to keep the strain of childbirth at bay.

"Oh in all the upper realms, I beg you give me the strength to pull through this lord Ashar," she said pleading to her God as the pain slowly intensified signaling that the child could come at any moment.

This year would be her 47th and as one would expect her advanced age and sickly state made the pregnancy ever the more unexplainable. Aside from the fact that her illness decreased her fertility, she had long since seen the natural signs that women her age experienced when they were no longer capable of having children. In the entirety of the last 9 months of her pregnancy, she was in a constant flux of contradicting emotions, rooted in disbelief, confusion, and excitement. The excitement, primarily from the prospect of having a child, especially a potential heir.

"Just a little bit more. Push." The royal midwife said as she could just barely see the child's head.

"You are doing great your highness. Just a little more." One of the midwife assistants reminded as she held tightly to the Empress's hand.

Venia grimacing managed a tight nod and began to inhale deeply to prepare herself.

"Alright your Highness, now breathe in, and with every exhale push" The midwife instructed.

This went on for some time, and for Venia, it felt like hours but really it could have only been a few minutes.

"Okay great I can see the child's head completely. Can you give me one strong push Empress?".

Venia nodded and then took a deep breath and pushed with the little strength her weakened body could muster up, and in a matter of seconds that perhaps felt like an eternity, a small infant child was now in the arms of the midwife. Immediately as it is a tradition in the empire, before anything else the midwife examined the child to see the infant's gender, and to her delight, it was a boy.

"It is a boy your Highness! It is a boy!" The royal midwife shouted excitedly.

Venia looked at the babe in the midwife's arms and couldn't help it as tears began to trickle down her face. She would have never dared to dream that she would have a child in this lifetime. At this moment the Emperor himself came barging into the room after apparently receiving the good news. Venia could see the excitement and joyous energy emitting from Desrius and knew how deeply he felt. The man considered her pregnancy to be a miracle and so did she. In the 26 years of their marriage, the failure to produce a rightful heir by decree of their marriage casted a blight over the Emperors' rule. A shadow that loomed over his dynasty and served as fuel to destabilize the power of the ruling family. As a consequence of her inabilities in the wake of the Emperor's death, the common practice was a battle of succession between his consorts children effectively crippling the empire until the next Emperor was selected. Historically this process was long and drawn out and if it were to happen no one knew how long that power struggle would take. This possibility made Venia shiver because she knew the emperor's consorts were scheming power-grabbing women from the most prominent noble houses who all had their own nefarious agendas. As Venia was deep in thought, the royal midwife spoke up her voice trembling.