kneeling low in that quiet way of his. He reached out, hesitant at first, then placed his palm gently over the boy's back.
Quietly Red said "They are...they're everything." For a long time they said nothing else, they just looked at their two miracles. The crackle of fire and hush of winds crossed the damp grass.
Jane's voice now softer "we need names."
That afternoon as the sun rose higher and the fire smoldered, they sat together under a willow canopy with the twins between them.
Gently Jane stroked the girl's cheek her voice was warm and wistful.
"I want to name her Cassia like we talked about." Without looking away from her baby girl almost as if she was telling her.
"It's a type of flower I found once growing in a cracked stone. In a place no flowers could survive..."
Red smiled faintly "sounds like someone I know."
Jane huffed a breathless laugh, for a moment the ache inside her, sweet. She turned her gaze toward their son, who was chewing determinedly and drooly on the edge of the blanket.
Softly, Jane said "and him?"
Red moved his eyes from Jane down to their son, almost as if looking past. "There was a story passed down in an old tongue by someone I knew."
He took a small breath in. "From the ruins of the old world. Before the abandonment."
A time period before the humans had become Accursed, and granted the gift of the Divine Circuit.
Red was silent for a long time. "There was a man named Anecus." He started absentmindedly twirls a string of yarn between his fingers. "Not a soldier, not a king. Just a man."
He lets out a small breath. "but when his village was razed, he refused to run."
"He stood alone." looking back into Jane's eyes, his becoming focused again. "He shielded the last living child with his body, held the roof up with nothing but his arms and will."
Softer and reverent he continued, "They say he died on his feet."
"Unmoving. Unbroken."
Jane looked at her son's little hands. She wondered what they'd do in the future. would they create and nourish?
or destroy and conquer? she watched his fluttering breath escape his innocent face highlighting the unsettling stillness he had for a newborn.
"Anecus…" a quiet smile forming.
"it fits." They sealed the names with a kiss to each brow.
Cassia the wild bloom in the rocks.
Anecus the last sentinel in the storm.
----
That evening, Jane sat alone while Red gathered wood. Cassia lay in a soft nest of fur, cooing. she had discovered making bubbles and it had become her favorite pass time.
Anecus was pressed to her chest, sleeping soundlessly.
Then...she felt a faint ripple from within him. From both of them, not a heart beat not breath but soul.
Her deviant ability, Soulgaze. It allowed Jane to seewhat could never be touched. someone's soul resonance and what attributes or forms it took on.
This would allow her to acquire sensitive information otherwise impossible to get.
Ones true emotional state and intentions, or more substantially a persons Soultype.
Something rare and valued among the Accursed. It was a attribute one could receive after a Echo Stream, or ascending to the next start level.
If you were a 1 star Accursed you'd already be ten times stronger than the strongest mundane human. The function of a Soultype made one more resistant to Depravity and letting ones soul take on physical representation.
Among the Accursed society it made you stand out as someone with higher potential. A purebred.
Dormant for months Janes Soulgaze stirred in recognition. The ability to gaze into the soul of others reached out and brushed against them.
When she looked at Cassia she saw a beautiful pale blue, bordering on moonlight. A soul that danced with the beat of the world. So delicate, so smooth and strong.
But normal, abnormally beautiful and strong for a newborn but 'normal.'
Then she saw a glint, looking down at Anecus sleeping on her chest she felt like shed opened her eyes in a storm of mirrors.
What she saw was a lot like her soul but different. Anecus hadn't just inherited her deviant trait but it was amplified, mutated, multiplied.
"...Prismatic." Jane whispered.
Jane's breath caught. Stunned by the revolution. 'you're like me…but more.'
Anecus grumbles slightly. As if he could feel her awareness, as if he knew. Jane cradled him tighter. Burying her face in his downy hair, a sob escaped. Soft, awed, broken.
Realizing her baby boy was unlike any other she wept. Because being born with a Soultype wasn't just unthinkable. It goes against the very laws they as a species have come to understand.
Whispering tearfully out of understanding and love, "my boy…my beautiful, terrifying boy."
She knew right then and there that he would never be like the others. He would never belong anywhere simple. But she'd fight the world to keep him safe, for as long as her heart beat.
The sound of fracturing space was heard as Red came out of a Vector shift. having felt Jane's unusual level of fear.
"Jane, what is it? I don't feel anything nearby. Are the children ok?"
Jane had forgotten her worries from moments ago and was trying not to giggle. Seeing her husband so flustered was a rare sight.
"Everything is fine dear. The children are ok." Jane stood and walked over to Red. Placing Anecus into his arms.
She pushed a strand of hair away from his sleeping face. "I have something to tell you."
She went and explained in greater detail what her Soulgaze can do and what she had seen in Anecus. Along with the theories her family had for if and when they had a male heir.
"I have told you before that my families 'tradition' has never produced a male heir...until now." Red looked down at his son. 'The world is already trying.'
He felt Janes hand grip his arm, making him look at her.
"I don't want them to take him from me...if they ever find out we are alive and that I gave birth to a son they will come after him...they will think he's theirs."
Jane started hyperventilating at the thought of someone taking her baby, subjecting him to all sorts of torture gilded in molten gold.
Red was terrified but he was better at handling that emotion. taking one arm and wrapping it around Janes ahead brining it to his chest. The other holding Anecus.
"I don't know what the future holds but we will face it together." Janes trembling lessened a little.
Red made her look him the eyes. "I'll protect you and our children. I'll destroy the entire continent if I have to." He probably could.
His dark eyes and low voice calmed Jane. 'right...I'm married to one of the strongest humans alive.' It was at this moment Cassia's crying caught both their attention.
"It's their feeding time." Jane said as she took Anecus, she then gave Red a kiss.
"Thank you."