The Shard Chronicles - Book One: The Naissance

Chapter Two - The Boy

Chapter Two - The Boy

After fifty-two years, the frenzied ecstasy perceived that day still lingered. In the briefest moment the conquerors had tasted a ferocity so pure, so potent, that it immediately revealed the entity's objectives, and even though their captive quickly suppressed the exhilaration, they knew of its plans. This species, their planet, and all living things, were doomed. The cunning and resolve behind its brooding power was stronger than ever, and harder to contain. Eventually, it would win, ending their long continuation together. The next attempt would be its last, and to outsmart its plan, this time would be different. This time, they had no choice. They would have to use virtually everything they had to successfully overwhelm it. And when they found the real guardian, when the entity struck again, they bestowed powers never given before, on a baby that now existed for one purpose.

"You're nearly there," the nurse stated, just as the room in the maternity ward of Crescent Lake General Hospital began shaking. A few ceiling tiles near the door dropped from their clattering, suspended frame and broke apart on impact, the large segments releasing small clouds of dust. On a bedside desk, a tall, half-full glass of water waddled over the edge and smashed on the linoleum floor, scattering a myriad of tinkling, glinting chunks in all directions. Without warning, the brightly lit room plunged into darkness, and as Dee gave a final, prolonged scream, the generators in the basement fired up. Two emergency lights mounted on opposite walls activated, directing pasty halos of radiance on the birth, right when the shuddering ceased.

With his wife's sweat heavy in his nostrils, Jeff's head jerked about. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed. Outside the room he heard running footsteps, the odd, blaring shout, and piercing, infant wails. Jumbled with the activity around him, the noise crowded his instantaneously overloaded mind, and it took a firm compression of his hand to bring his attention back to Dee, who smiled as she received a mottled, pinky-mauve form into her opening arms.

"A boy," the nurse announced. "Congratulations." She wiped Dee's glistening brow and stepped back to watch the new parents.

During many hours of labor, the screeching of other newborns had prepared them for their own child's cries, but Jeff and Dee now stared in astonishment while their baby bucked the trend and peered calmly around the room. Apparently content with the different surroundings and situation, he rested his inspection first on his mother's face, then his father's, before giving a huge yawn, smacking his lips together three times and promptly falling asleep, a tiny, lop-sided smile creasing his miniature mouth.

The door drifted ajar and a short, roly-poly man with slightly graying hair poked his head through the gap. "Hello, Mary. I'm just on my way back from surgery and thought I'd check how things are on this floor."

"Thank you, Doctor Sullivan. Some minor damage, as you can see." She gestured toward the floor. "Which I'll clean up right away, but other than that, we're all fine and have recently welcomed a healthy, baby boy into the world."

The doctor gazed over the top of thick-rimmed spectacles perched on the tip of his nose. "Wonderful! Best wishes for you all," he whirred, and disappeared from the entry, closing the door quietly behind him.

*                    *                    *

While they watched the baby sleep soundly in his mother's arms, Jeff wiped away a single tear that slowly tracked its way down Dee's cheek. "Are you okay, my darling?" he whispered.

"Mmmm." She turned to him and nodded sluggishly. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"He sure is. He's our special little man. Well, hardly little, he's quite a size. And what a feeder, I thought he'd never stop. Hopefully he'll sleep for a couple of hours now."