"He is so adorable, my lady," a maid whispered with a warm smile, her voice trembling with restrained joy.
Lady Ariana nodded gently, her gaze fixed on the newborn in her arms. Her eyes were moist, her smile as soft as moonlight. "He is," she said simply.
Just moments before, the child had been silent—eerily so. No breath, no cry. The midwives exchanged glances, their hearts chilled with dread. Some began to weep in silence. But then—suddenly—he cried. A sharp, defiant sound that pierced the stillness like thunder over a quiet lake.
"Quick, summon the lord," one of the elder maids commanded. Her voice, though steady, bore the urgency of one who had seen too many births end in death.
In another world, in another life, he had awaited death. But now, in this alien place, Gabriel found himself thrust into warmth and noise. Startled by unfamiliar voices, his eyelids, heavy as mountains, parted slowly—as if awakening from a thousand years of slumber, his soul still bound in chains of memory. He blinked, once… twice… The world, so bright and raw, scorched his senses.
Before him loomed a giant—no, a woman.
Her beauty was otherworldly, like moonlight upon jade. Her eyes, vast as starfields, shimmered with something he could not understand—love? Hope? Sorrow? She gazed at him not as one who sees a child, but as one who sees a miracle.
He trembled.
Terror surged through his tiny frame, instinctive and primal. His soul recoiled—not from her, but from the truth. This was not death. This was not oblivion. This was rebirth.
And his soul had not agreed to return.
Then, footsteps—hurried and heavy. A man stormed into the room, rain still clinging to his robes. He stopped, breathless, as his eyes met the child's.
"My Son!," the man declared, laughter booming from his chest. "Look at him, not a moment old, and already trying to fight the heavens themselves."
The newborn flailed wildly in his mother's arms, terrified of these giants who held him as though he were sacred. When the man approached, the child cried louder, tiny fists beating against the air.
The man lifted the child with surprising gentleness. "Why does he cry so fiercely? Is he ill?" he asked, concern flickering in his voice.
This was Sued Ozar Aren, Eleventh Lord of the Order of the Dragon, Lord of Ortenia, and Champion of the Realm. To mortals, he was a man in his prime. But his true age had long vanished into the river of time. Four centuries? Five? Even he had forgotten. The world knew him as The Everlasting. Some whispered that when all things ended, when stars fell and gods withered, only Lord Sued would remain—enduring like a mountain unmoved by the winds of fate.
"He cries because you stink," said Lady Ariana dryly, brushing her hair behind her ear. "You trained until your clothes were soaked." Lady Ariana was the Countess of Ortenia, the youngest daughter of Siegfried the bold Duke of the "White Plains".
"You overdid it."
"I was too worried. We've tried too many times. And every time… they slipped away. Before they could even be named."
Lady Ariana's gaze softened. "I know. But the priest said hope would come when the stars aligned."
Lord Sued looked down at the crying child. "Then the stars must have aligned today."
"Arion. The brightest of stars shines today, and that shall be his name," whispered Lady Ariana. "Our little star."
Lord Sued repeated the name, reverently: "Arion… my little star."
Then, as though the heavens themselves bore witness to his oath, a thunderclap rolled across the skies, shaking the very air. Lord Sued did not flinch. He only held the child tighter, his arms trembling not from weakness, but from emotion. His tears, hidden for centuries, fell freely now—shamelessly.
Too many had died. Too many names buried before they were ever spoken. Lord Sued had once believed the heavens cursed his bloodline, that even with his strength, he would die without an heir.
But now… this child. His child.
"I will give you the world, you only need ask," Lord Sued murmured. "If dragons rise to take you, I will break their wings. If demons reach for you, I will tear their realms asunder. If gods themselves descend, I will remind them that even they can bleed."
The baby cried on, unaware. But Lord Sued only smiled, for it was a healthy cry—full of life, full of will.
His star had been born. And no force in the heavens or below would claim him.