An agonized moan echoed through the underground chamber. A woman laid on her back gritting her teeth as her chest heaved, sweat beading her forehead as she felt another rough movement. Every night she’d dreamt of a child, envisioning dimpled hands and soft, satin skin whenever she’d close her eyes. The time had finally come.
“You’re doing great, Kinta,” her husband, Enyeto, encouraged, dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth. “You can do it. One, two, three!”
She let out one last anguished scream, a high-pitched cry drowning her out.
“It’s a boy!” He kissed her on the cheek, his eyes shimmering with pride.
The baby was laid with care on her chest, flush against her clammy skin. “He’s beautiful.” Joyful tears welled in her chestnut brown eyes.
“What should we name him?” Enyeto placed a gentle hand on his son’s back.
“I know what I want to name him.” She smiled. “Nilo.”
The only other person present was her twin brother, Maska, a fire sage of East Tol-le-loo. Maska knelt before his sister and her new child, but he didn’t smile as his face lined with worry. With a trembling hand, he reached out to the baby, jolting at the energy he felt shoot through his spirit center.
“What’s wrong?” Kinta questioned the look in his eyes.
Maska’s eyes creased, lined in dark charcoal that folded into his grimace. “I sense something…strange. His energy…it’s…”
There was a loud knocking from the door that echoed off the stone walls. They froze as they listened to the continued thumping.
“Oh no,” Maska breathed.
Kinta knitted her eyebrows together. “What is it?”
“I’ll see who it is,” said Enyeto, getting to his feet.
Maska put a hand on his shoulder. “Stay with Kinta. I’ll go.”
“What’s going on, Maska?”
“I fear your son is in danger. Take Kinta and the baby and hide in the cellar. Now!” he whispered.
“W-what do you mean?” Kinta questioned as he helped her to her feet.
“There is no time! Go!”
He hurried them down to the cellar, ordering them to snuff out the flames that lit the room and stay quiet. As they waited, footsteps crept along the floor overhead, voices mumbling seeping through the cracks. The baby whimpered and Kinta rocked him in her arms, turning fearfully to her husband.
“There’s something wrong with him,” Kinta whispered.
Enyeto wrapped his arm around them both. “No, Kinta. He’s perfectly healthy.”
“No, Enyeto, something is wrong,” she hissed through her teeth. “Maska senses something in him. Something dangerous. What if we lose him?”
“We won’t—”
“What if we do?”
She knew from now on she no longer lived for herself, but for her son. She would thank the Sun Spirit, Donoma, every day for him for the rest of her life, and she would always protect him.
Lifting her chin, Enyeto forced her eyes to meet his. “I will do anything to ensure both of your safety. I promise. Whatever is happening, we’ll get through this as a family.”
As she blinked back her tears, she took her baby’s little hand in hers, tracing her finger along his curled fist. Through the darkness, the faintest hint of blue light illuminated the cellar, coming from the baby’s hand.
“W-what is that?” Kinta peered closer, the light growing brighter in his closed-up fist.
Cautiously, she pried open his small fingers, searching for the source of that glow. They both squinted against the brightness that shot from the baby’s palm, a beam of light bursting from his spirit straight to the heavens. Embedded into the innocent flesh of his palm was a mark that glowed blue with this light from his core.
Enyeto gasped. “I-it’s the Balancer’s Eye!”
“But that is impossible! Delsin…Delsin is the Balancer, and he is…still alive. Isn’t he?” Kinta shook her head, watching as the bright beam faded, leaving a lingering blue mark in the shape of an eye on her son’s palm.