Treborn

"You heard my wife, that child is direct reject and traitor to the human race. To be born without a tree, she's less than human, a disgrace."

"Watch what you say about my daughter, or you will lose the tongue that form your words."

Stella could tell the tension in the room were rising, but she didn't know how to disarm the situation.

"Who knows what bad omen this brings, if we don't do something now, we'll all start being born without trees. This the start of an epidemic that we must cleanse, she must be watched over by us."

The Chief seemingly spoke of protecting humanity, but he sounded much too excited to be sincere.

"My daughter was born less than an hour ago and you're discussing taking her from me, I suggest you check yourself, Chief"

The air was getting heavy and if these two weren't disengaged she didn't know what would happen.

"Ok, how about you give Artemis back and we just all retire for the night and have a proper meeting at noon. We still need to have a funeral service for Eva, let's back off for now."

This seemed like the most logical solution to making sure the Chief or Chieftess didn't say utter a remark that would cause Sar to set the village aflame.

However, visible distress was present upon the Chiefs face once she finished her statement.

"Eva is deceased?"

"Died in childbirth, the healer couldn't save her"

The chief then fell into a contemplative state, seemingly lost in a daze. So, it was his wife that spoke up a few seconds later.

"Leave us, take the child, we will visit you at a later time, to discuss the plan going forward."

Sar took Artemis and left the compound in the direction of his house, with Stella following behind.

Making no indication on whether he saw her following, he silently made his way toward his house

It was a simple abode hand built by Sar himself, perfectly sized and shaped in the way him and Eva loved.

Since it was situated on the outer reaches of the village, there was no need to move Eva from the comfortability of her own home when going through her birthing process.

This also meant Sar would have to confront his late lover just get into the house.

Standing in front of the door, he turned to address Stella with a resigned expression on his face.

"Take Artemis and wait out here for me to finish digging the grave, we'll say our goodbyes once I'm done."

Looking into his eyes, she could tell he was running on fumes and was giving all that he could give, it broke her heart.

Ignoring his orders, Stella walked inside the house and returned with two shovels and a basket.

"I'll help"

Noticing she had a determined look on her face, Sar decided not to argue and carefully placed Artemis in the basket with her bundle of blankets, grabbed a shovel, and made his way to the back of the house.

They both dug in silence with Artemis watching with curious eyes. Once done, Sar gently took the body of his lover and jumped into the grave, kissed her one last time and climbed out, as to not disturb her corpse.

"We both knew she would die, Eva and I, and I'm sure you had a sneaking suspicious as well. She was dying and could barely sustain herself with the magic she had left; the pregnancy sapped her of whatever strength she had remaining. We thought there was a small chance she could have little bits of energy remaining, but Artemis drained her of way more than we could have ever predicted. Simply getting her to labor day was hard enough, we didn't see her surviving."

Stella couldn't conjure response and decided to settle on listening, Sar continued

"I tried so hard to convince her to just give the baby up and live her days out, but she insisted that she had numbered days anyway, so she might as well give birth to a child who can live a long and fruitful life, much longer than what she had left. It hurt that I couldn't present an argument than I didn't want her too and hurt even more when she was gentle and understanding about me not wanting it, but resolute in her decision."

It was at this point, Sar decided to stand no longer, but sit against the house and solemnly stare the grave he would have to fill, never to see Eva again.

It was hard for Stella to watch him be like this, but she could understand to a degree what it felt like. She decided to try her best to reassure him.

"Although I won't ever try and tell you that I understand what you're going through, I want you to always know that I'm here for you and Artemis, no matter what"

Stella made her attempt to convey her stance on the matter, she was aware that she'd never be Eva, but she still owed a favor that she would do her best to pay back.

"Let's finish up here and go inside"

Seemingly in a better mood, Sar stood, grabbed his shovel, and start covering Eva's grave. Every pile of dirt seemed to put a mile of distance between him and her, forever closing her beautiful face from his sight, left only as a memory.

"Rest well my love"

Once the dirt was packed and settled, the ground began to glow in a green light. Orbs of light mixed with mystical mist seeped out of the ground and permeated the air as grass regrew where they defiled the ground.

Suddenly the mist coalesced into a beautiful woman, seemingly only able to exist within a dream.

"Eva"

Taking a chance to glance around, lingering on the basket, she flew over to Sar and kissed him on the lips. After separating, she looked at Stella and mouthed something that looked suspiciously like 'thank you'

What she could be thankful for, Stella was unaware, but she didn't have a chance to ask, as Eva had disappeared into the ground, where a tulip replaced her presence.

Stella was too stunned to speak and or move, so Sar spoke in her steed.

"Let's go inside, I think that's enough fresh air"

However, Stella didn't miss the tears running down his cheek while grabbing Artemis from her basket.

Once inside, Sar froze and began sniffing the air with concern on his face.

"What?"

"I smell fire"

As if on cue, the walls set ablaze in an aggressive almost unnatural fashion.

"Accelerant," Sar clarified, "Let's go find out what's happening"

Snapping his fingers, the flames all were put out and he stepped outside with Artemis in hand. Seemingly dumb to be confronting danger with your child in tow, but there wasn't really a safer place for her to be.

Opening the door, they both were met with the entire village with the chief in front, standing next to a large man suited with luxurious armor. Everyone was carrying torches, pitch forks, and swords; even some of the village guard was here.

"What did you hope to accomplish by setting my house on fire Chief"

"We're here to purge this world of your evil, Satan"