In the Darkness

Night, a time for lust, a time for greed, and a time for blood. Everyone has their dark secrets that they so desperately try and hide. Night is when they indulge themselves and let their secrets out for the world to see, whether it's telling someone they completely trust, telling an enemy before silencing them, or telling the moon that is always silently watching and observing all that goes on in the world. It makes the holders of these secrets feel like burdens have been lifted and all is right with the world. On one such night a heavily pregnant woman is running in the woods. She has a look of panic and pain on her face as she runs with one hand protecting her protruding stomach while the other is clearing branches and other obstacles that are getting in her way. Behind the woman you can see light and smell smoke as wherever she came from is being burned to the ground in a blaze so bright the darkness of the night is being swallowed. That is a good development for the woman as she flees the scene. Without that light she wouldn't be able to see in front of her to keep her from getting hurt but at the same time it allows her pursuers to track where she is and give chase. She hears the clomps of many footsteps making their way towards her and begins to panic more. She needs to find a place to hide, she is in no shape to be running it could harm her children if she continues. In front of her she sees a cliff face and dashes with as much strength as she can muster over to it. The walls of the cliff are covered in thick vines sturdy enough for someone to climb. She climbs a bit up the wall then pushes some of the vines aside revealing a large cave. She quickly scrambles inside and a few moments later she hears her pursuers as they come to a stop at the bottom of the cliff. She holds her breath as she listens for their movements and voices. She can hear them arguing over the lost trail and where they are going to look from there. She is praying frantically that they don't decide to climb up for it would be easy for creatures such as them to find the cave. Her prayers seem to be answered for soon the sound disappears as they move further and further away. Once she thinks it's safe enough to move about she goes deeper into the cave. As soon as she reaches the back she feels around for the makeshift bed that was put in there when she originally found this place as a young adventurous child. Before she can get comfortable a sharp pain flows through her stomach and a wet feeling enveloped her lower half. The babies are coming! She quickly removes the garment covering her lower half to get ready for what is to come. No light was lit for it would attract attention to the cave and all that running would then be in vain, so she prepared herself to to this in the dark. Thankfully she stocked up on supplies when she last visited the cave. Who knew this place would save her life and those of her children. The pain gets worse and worse soon it is taking all her will to not make a sound for the fear she would be found if she does. She squats down getting her hands ready to hold the first child. She feels the head and pushes one last time and gets a handful of her firstborn. She removes a tie from her hair and ties it around the cord then takes a dagger that was tied to her waist and cuts the other end. The baby is not making any noise which is scaring this poor mother greatly. It's dark so she cant see if anything is wrong so she holds the child up to her ear and listens for breathing and a heartbeat. A sigh of relief escapes her mouth, she uses part of her clothes to wipe the child off then wraps them in half of her blanket. It's time for the other child to come out. She pushes the after birth from the first child out then squats down again to repeat the action from previously. Her second child comes out making a fuss this freaks the mother out so she uncovers her breast and shoved it into its mouth. The child suckled greedily and when it was finished it gave a hearty burp and went right to sleep. She took the other tie from her hair and repeated the process of what she did with her firstborn. The second child had already fed and she knew it was time to feed the first as she could hear them start moving and fussing a bit. She took up the child then let the child latch on to start feeding. It was at that point she realized she doesn't know the sex of her own children. While her firstborn was suckling she reaches down to find out what the child is and it winds up being a girl. Then she feels for the other childs sex and finds out it's a boy. At this point she feels extremely blessed she always wanted a child of both sexes and she got them in one pregnancy. Unbeknownst to her, she was never alone in the cave. This cave is the home of a fire fairy. This fairy has been here for decades and normally has a very short temper. One day he saw a little girl discovering the entrance to his home and instead of burning her to ash like all the others that trespassed he allowed her to come in. For some reason he felt a bond with this little girl. It felt like her soul contained a fire similar to his own. She had glossy black hair, bright red eyes, blood red lips, and pale skin with a nice glow to it. As he watched her grow older he realized she was turning into a woman whose beauty could wreak the heavens. He allowed her to come and go as she pleased bringing all kinds of items with her. He assumed she was from a poor family for her clothes were always in need of repair and had worn patches all over. She talked to herself alot while she was here and spilled all her secrets and desires to the silent cave. He gathered she was an orphan from the closest village to his home and she was bullied on a daily basis, mostly from the woman and girls. She sold flowers to make a living and unfortunately for her men were her main clientele. Even if the man had no thoughts about her, their women assumed they did and the bullying got worse and worse. One day she encountered a richly dressed man, the way he held himself gave off a powerful feeling. He seemed nice at first but as time went on she noticed he would look at her with increasing lust. That was when she started moving all her supplies and belongings to the cave. She was seeking to escape and the cave was only place she could think of. Before that could happen she was forcefully taken at night by the man in an ally feet from the main road of the village. She pleaded for help but no one stepped in to help, in fact some of them enjoyed the show. After that happened she ran away from the village. She discovered an abandoned hut deep in the woods and took up residence. She still made her way to the cave to vent out her frustrations but never stayed for fear of those in the village will find her. The horrific event in the alley led to her pregnancy but she didn't have any ill will for her children for they were also a part of her and the only family she will have from then on. It is not known to the fairy how she wound up in his cave in such a terrible state but he swore to himself then and there to protect her and the children with the best of his ability for the bond he felt with her grew stronger and stronger over the years and he decided to never let her feel such pain again.