"Hah.. ha.. ahh.." The voice of a woman's pained gasps echoed through the walls of the cave.
Every gasp felt like a needle being sewn through wet skin as she held her lover's hand for dear life.
That night, my mother — the great woman was giving birth to me inside that very cave. It was dark at the time, and the only light accompanying them was the dimly lit candle placed on a cold stone.
The journey back home was too far, and they couldn't afford for anyone to see a mother delivering a newborn in the middle of nowhere.
"Push," my father said, encouraging her.
"Push my dear, you're so close. Stay with me for a while longer." He adds, tightening his hold on their intertwined fingers.
My mother's free hand reached for whatever she could grasp — her gasps grew louder and more urgent, and her mind was clouded by the intense pain.
"Hah.. ugh..! Aahhhh!" She screamed loudly as my father caught the baby from the other end.
Thus, I was born.
That baby was covered in blood and the fluids of the womb. My father wasted no time and wrapped me in a clean cloth while I cried as a newborn would.
"Welcome to this world, my child." My father whispered gently to my ear as he cradled me against his wide chest.
He leaned closer to my mother who was panting heavily on the cold floor of the cave.
"Oh, beautiful Eloise, she's as beautiful as you are. What shall we name our newborn?" He asked, kissing his lover's temple with love and appreciation.
"She's beautiful... Our daughter is beautiful... I'm so happy..." The woman named Eloise started sobbing lightly, and tears of joy escaped from her eyes as she wiped them away.
"Name... I've been thinking since the day I knew I was pregnant... How about Mira..?" She proposed to her spouse.
"Mira..." My father repeated, testing the name on his tongue.
"Why Mira?" He asked back.
Eloise smiled weakly, looking at the baby crying loudly in my father's arms. "Mira.. because I wanted her to grow up strong.. I wanted her.. to be a leader.."
"A leader..." He shook his head.
"A female ruler... Such a thing is unheard of, my Eloise. How can a woman rule when she is a female?" My father asked again, however, his voice lacked any real frustration.
For a moment, she was silent, her gaze fixed on the empty night sky.
Then, she spoke again; "Please Fredrick... This is my wish... I don't want our daughter to grow up being looked down on by other people..." She begged weakly, reaching out to touch the baby's face with her delicate fingers.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminates the dark sky. Rains of falling stars shoot through the night — filling the darkness of the night sky with a magnificent scenery.
"This is..." My father stood up and peeked out of the cave entrance to get a better look at the falling stars with his own eyes.
"The Rain of Sirius..? This can't be.. Such a phenomenon only happens once in a millennium..." He looked down at his hand, seeing the baby already asleep in his embrace.
"Oh dear child.. How lucky for you. How lucky that we are to be blessed by heaven with a child of miracles..." She kissed the baby's forehead with a fatherly love.
"Witness, O world! For this is the blessed child!" He shouted out loud into the empty desert. It was not a message meant for the ear, but a proclamation of the universe's blessing.
In this moment, the only thing that mattered was the simplicity of life and its continuous cycle of birth.
"...Eloise, I shall grant your wish, and I shall name this girl.. Mira. She shall be the compass this world desperately needs." He exclaimed, looking over his shoulder.
But... Something doesn't feel right, it was too quiet, too deafening... As if time itself has come to a halt at this moment.
"Eloise..?"
By the moment Fredrick realized, it was already too late. The body of his loved one was limp on the cold floor, her once radiant eyes were shut and her skin was pale like ash.
Her head lulled to the right, as blood trickled from the corner of her pale lips.
His eyes widened in a mix of emotions that he himself couldn't begin to understand. What was it? What is this emotion?
Anger? Frustration? Sadness? Rage?
That night, he shook her body wildly, his eyes roamed over her ice-cold body, searching for any sign of life left in her worldly vessel while the baby cried beside him — mourning the loss of a great woman.
Yet it was futile... Indeed, every being with a soul shall taste death. It is something... Ordained.