Chapter 5

Emerson woke to the sound of clinking metal.

Her mother's life force was steady, though her physical body was still battered.

"Lady, we're out of bandages and patience," the mercenary leader's rough voice echoed in the small room. "Where is the coin you promised?"

"Turn your back, Captain," Kamala's voice was weak, but the tone was pure ice. "I pay my debts."

Emerson felt a tiny ripple of spatial magic. Kamala had activated a Storage Ring hidden somewhere on her body.

A heavy leather pouch hit the wooden table. The sound of solid gold coins sliding against each other filled the room.

"Fifty Imperial Gold," Kamala stated. "Enough to buy your squad for a year."

The captain sucked in a sharp breath. The disrespect vanished from his voice instantly. "Thank you for your generosity, My Lady! We are right downstairs if you need anything."

The heavy door clicked shut. The room fell silent.

Emerson felt another spatial ripple. Kamala pulled a small, crystal vial from the ring.

The moment the cork popped, a wave of suffocatingly pure, dense life Aether flooded the room.

Emerson's mind reeled. That was a Master-crafted Elixir of Elven Tears. You couldn't buy that on the open market. You had to own the alchemist who made it.

Kamala tipped her head back and swallowed the liquid.

The results were violent. The gaping stab wound in Kamala's abdomen knit together in seconds. Muscle fibers snapped into place. Skin sealed over with a hot itch.

The excess life force flooded the umbilical cord. Emerson and Jaden gorged on the pure energy, their tiny bodies swelling with vitality.

Kamala slumped back against the pillows. She stroked her swollen stomach, her fingers trembling.

"I'm so sorry, my little ones," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I was so naive. I thought I could run away and just have a normal life."

She let out a bitter, exhausted sigh. Her trembling thumb brushed against the hidden Storage Ring on her finger, tracing the faint, invisible crest carved into the metal. A painful, vivid memory flashed behind her closed eyelids-her stern father sitting at the head of the long dining table, flanked by her seven fiercely overprotective older brothers. If they knew what Josue had done to her, they would have burned the entire Western District to the ground before morning.

Emerson, still deeply connected to her mother's fluctuating Aether, caught the distinct, emotional ripple of the memory. The mental image of a powerful patriarch and seven heavily armed uncles flooded her developing mind.

Emerson processed the data instantly. Seven overprotective uncles. Master-crafted elixirs. A spatial ring.

Her mother was a runaway heiress from a top-tier Arcane Dynasty.

Emerson felt a rare surge of smug satisfaction. In her past life, she had clawed her way up from the dirt. This time, she was being born into absolute privilege. She wouldn't have to struggle. She would use her family's endless resources to find and awaken her dormant primordial companion, the shadow bird Rook.

Suddenly, Kamala let out a sharp, breathless gasp. Her hands clamped down hard on her stomach.

"Ah... God..."

A warm rush of fluid flooded the bedsheets. The amniotic sac ruptured.

The massive dose of life force from the elixir hadn't just healed Kamala; it had hyper-accelerated the babies' development. They were out of time.

"Captain!" Kamala screamed, her voice tearing through the floorboards. "Get the doctor! Now!"

Chaos erupted downstairs. Heavy boots pounded up the wooden stairs.

Inside the contracting womb, Emerson snapped into combat mode. She shoved her mental presence against Jaden, who was still lazily floating in the draining fluid.

Wake up, idiot. We are leaving.

She released a microscopic fraction of her soul pressure. Jaden flinched, his chaotic energy spiking in fear. He instinctively pushed his head down toward the birth canal, following the violent contractions of the uterine wall.

The messy, brutal process of birth began.