Eldest
Soon after discovering the pregnancy, Julian and Ava retired as adventurers, leaving the original core members behind. The party split up, everyone heading their own way. As for Heyrm and Fia, they went their own separate paths, hand in hand with each other.
Returning to the Feris region where it all started for Julian and Ava, they bought a house, a wooden one located a carriage ride north of the city of Feris.
Around the house was a pastoral piece of land, a comfortable environment away from all the political tension and conflicts or whatnot…
Wheat fields surrounded every side, and gazing into the distance was a small town with stone walls built around it.
Within the comfort of their new home, they flirted and played around…
A few months passed by…
And then, the child was born.
The birth was easy, with everything proceeding smoothly and according to plan.
It's a boy.
The baby had dark brown hair like Julian's and purplish blue eyes just like Ava's. The infant baby didn't cry at the start, his face was pale, and he had a cold expression, maybe the baby was a stillborn, the nurse thought while wishing that wasn't the case…
The baby blinked, then in an instant began crying his lungs out.
The baby got a name: Von Notros-Farion.
What a strong child he was. Right from the start, he weighed almost twice as much as the average baby, and his body was built like a truck
Von learned everything quickly; it was kind of unsettling how smart he was.
At the age of one, he was able to talk in short sentences.
At the age of two, he was able to run around without falling over.
At the tender age of four years old, he picked up a book and read it without a problem…
Shortly after Von's fifth birthday, Julian received a letter from the royal family. They were offering him the lordship of the Feris region once again, following the death of the previous lord who had left no heir.
Julian accepted the job.
Life in Feris was peaceful. Nothing demanded attention, and Julian's days were much the same as before his appointment. Except that now he received a generous sum of money each month.
In the next few years, Julian spent a lot of time at home caring for Von; as time went on, they developed a pretty close father-son bond.
Von is seven now.
"Father, I want to learn how to fight!" Von asked Julian when they were walking in town, as they passed a weapons shop.
Julian never liked swordsmanship that much; despite being a relatively powerful swordsman, he didn't love it. It wasn't something he considered to be important in life. This was until he met Ava, of course, since then he developed an interest in the craft and would practice it in the garden from time to time.
Julian was never an especially strength-based man, even in battle, his weapon and movements reflect that, unlike Heyrm the Colossal Beast or Iris the Dark Sworstress, who wielded heavier straight swords, he never took a liking toward greatswords or longswords, instead liking a weapon which not many use, a rapier, a thrusting sword like a long needle.
Seeing his father thrust his sword forward fascinated young Von, who had always admired him.
He rubbed Von's head, "You know, fighting isn't what you think it is, it's dangerous."
"No, Father, I want to protect you and Mother when I get older, I want to protect my friends," Von said.
Von was always a mature one; he knew what was right and wrong from a young age. His intelligence didn't hold him back either; his ego wasn't sky high, where he wouldn't listen to advice. But still, Julian would have never thought his seven-year-old son would think so far ahead.
Julian gave in, and Von trained under him ever since that day.
Second
Problems came up in the Feris region, being a region on the East Coast, trade was a big part of the region, turns out there were pirates hunting down cargo ships going to the Zevol Continent, east of where the Midgard Kingdom sat on the map.
It isn't a huge problem to deal with, as Julian had dealt with this sort of stuff a lot in the past; it wasn't a rare occurrence for groups of bandits hunting in trade paths, or in this case, pirates raiding cargo.
It wouldn't be a big deal; it would just take a few months, right?
Of course, things weren't going to be simple and all that predictable, as always, the will of the world has its own thoughts... Ava is pregnant again, for the second time.
It was a surprise to Julian also. Before this happened, Ava had been worrying about whether she could even bear another child; her concerns were logical since it had been eleven years since Von's birth.
The pirates' case wasn't easy to take down, they were stubborn and hard to catch because of the fact that they were at sea instead of on land, hundreds of crews were sent out day in and day out but yet the pirates still roamed the seas avoiding all conflict.
Julian was stuck in the port for weeks on end.
Even though Julian didn't want to leave his wife in the house with no support from him, he had no choice but to do so.
Sigh- Julian let out another long breath before collapsing and falling asleep on his office deck. His work was a bunch of grueling, unending masses of paperwork, where every word had to be scouted for error.
Weeks passed, a file came into his office, the case was finally taken down, and pirates were brought into the mainland.
Is this finally ending? Julian thought to himself with a hopeful grin.
...
Julian's jaw dropped.
Even after the case was tackled, another case came out after it, day after day, week after week, it didn't get much better; it was almost like the world didn't want Julian home.
Julian, at this point in time, decided it's time to hire a few maids to help around the house, with him not being available for most of the time and Ava's body becoming weaker as the due date gets closer and closer.
Julian put up a notice on the board with high pay to attract local maids to serve the house.
And it worked; the three slots Julian put up were filled in within hours of releasing the notice.
Not long after Julian hired the maids, Ava went into labor. It was quite early for the child to be born; at the very least, it was over a week early. The birth was unexpected, but there was a good thing in the timing…
Julian was home at the time.
Looking at his wife, Julian clutches her hand tightly.
"Aghhhh..." Ava groaned as the baby got pushed out.
It was the same as last time, everything went smoothly, and Julian was relieved that he was there for it.
But in any case, there was bound to be something different; there was a special something which was different from the last time that happened, the instant the infant came out, she started crying.
Was that the normal reaction of getting born? Von sure wasn't having all of that right when he came out of the womb.
One of the maids soon confirmed the baby was a girl.
Placing the wrapped baby in Julian's arms, he cradled her as she babbled and cried loudly.
The baby resembled Ava a lot; she was basically a copy, the same silky golden blond hair, the same purplish blue jewels for eyes.
The baby's name? Claire Notros-Farion.
Prophet
Around forty years ago, there was a prophecy made, it was big news, so big in fact it was kept a secret from most of the population of the Midgard Kingdom, only known by a few high-ranking nobles and the Royal Midgardian Family.
"One day, the child of God shall rain down ast calamity for thee world. For though the child shalt have mystic rainbow eyes and crimson hair resembling the colour o' bloodshed. Alas, the colossal sword he shall wield may shatter thy continents o'ce again."
That was the prophecy told by the high priest of the Solis Church at the time.
A boy with red hair wasn't uncommon, nor was greatsword users through his life Julian had met multiple including his own son and companion, but mystic rainbow eyes were something nobody had seen for themselves, divine gifts from the gods themselves, rainbow eyes are said to be able to sense the very core of the world, Julian was skeptical of the prophecy, how could one have mystic rainbow eyes?
It wasn't possible, right?
It's just a legend… Right?
Julian signed off on the last file on his desk.
This week's work was especially grueling, "You pirates just don't know when to stop…" Julian mumbled as his body slumped over his desk.
"It's the last day of the week now, I guess I can go home and get some rest." Julian stretches before heading down the spiral stairs towards the front door of the ministry, where a carriage pulled by a huge horse awaits.
***
"You WHAT?!" Julian exclaimed as Ava told him about adopting a new baby.
Julian knew Ava's personality was kind of jumpy, but when he saw the baby, he saw something unsettling.
The baby's eyes were big and round. At first glance, you wouldn't see anything of concern, but looking closely at his newborn adopted son, Julian saw the thing he thought wouldn't exist…
Mystic rainbow eyes, blurry and ominous like the mysteries shrouding it.
The eyes themselves were beautiful; it sure wasn't something you'd see every day.
"We can't bring this child into the household… What if… What if it's really the child of god…" He muttered, silencing his final words. Julian wasn't sure what to do, but then, of course, Ava had no clue of the catastrophic prophecy.
"Hmm? What did you say, dear?" Ava whispered in response, unable to hear Julian's mumbling.
If he were the one who saw the child on the street, he would have just left it there, but now it's already in his house, and throwing it away now just seemed inhumane; it would go against his morals.
Ava wasn't the kind of person to leave someone, anyone, to die, even if the person was sick in the mind or was once a criminal.
Julian couldn't argue against Ava; he knew Ava had done the right thing. The child was still a child after all; it hadn't done anything wrong.
Was that really the right choice?
Julian thought to himself as he rolled around in his bed, "I really have a soft spot for her, don't I?" He mumbled before clamping himself around the already asleep Ava, playfully rubbing his area that light doesn't reach against her soft butt, in that tangled position couples sleep in, he fell into a deep slumber.