Children of Euvan
Prologue
He strode to the door of the house; dressed in a dark cloak, his face mystifyingly shrouding his face in darkness, for no eyes could meet his. He carried a small infant, who was sleeping soundly, bundled in a fluffy white blanket. A chill was in the early January air, the gentlest breeze stinging the back of his cloaked neck, and he was set out to make someone's night. He lifted the infant to eye level, waking her. The tiny child was placid in nature and giggled at the sight of his dark, strange face. He spoke in a low tone, as if talking to the child directly, as if she could perhaps understand his arrangement of words.
"It is time for you, my creation, to be brought upon the world, and no one expects your arrival. They ridiculed me; they said it couldn't be done. They told me it was forced reincarnation, but I say it's a break through." He paused to bring her close to him, ready to walk again. "Besides, it's not you who is the worry. How can anyone possibly be afraid of a cow human?"
Inside the house, a light was burning in the living room, where Rodger Marcus tried to comfort his mourning wife, Dianne. The couple was still getting over the loss of their son, Joshua, who died an untimely death at the age of eight months, three months ago from this day. To add to the sorrow, a month ago, they found Joshua's grave had been robbed, leaving no trace of their precious baby boy. It hurt that someone would actually rob a grave belonging to a child in their infancy.
The grieving parents were disturbed by a loud knock on the door. Dianne Marcus arose from her seat, and strode to the door. Flinging it open, she gathered air to yell at the trespasser, but was speechless to find the cloaked man at the door. She shivered slightly, her breath carried away in a white puff. The stranger gave Dianne a smile and gestured toward the small child.
"How would you like to be the parent of this unique child?" his voice like a whisper to her, hardily a visible puff of air could be seen in the bitter cold.
"Who are you?" Dianne managed to croak, for this was an unusual event and she knew not what she should do. The stranger lifted a hand, holding the baby in the other.
"I'm one to make you wonder. I can be your neighbor, a friendly face you see everyday but yet never speak a word, as if waiting for the other to speak first, or I may be the scary stranger that lurks in the shadows and make an uncomfortable setting in my wake. My name is not important, for I can almost guarantee I'll never see you again. I can almost guarantee you'll never need me again." He then, again, gestured to the infant, "But she, She is truly a wonderful child, unique at every angle. She needs a loving home, but if you refuse, she can always go to another who can appreciate her beauty and wonder." He studied Dianne's heartbreaking expression, as she looked longingly at the small child.
"Our son died at the age of eight months, and just recently he was grave robbed, I don't think another child could-"
"Taker her." Dianne was startled by his demand. "Take her and don't look back. You won't deny it I assure you. With all heartbreak comes amends, and although she cannot replace your fallen child, she can fill the hole that was made in your hearts." he paused until Dianne's eyes were moved from the child to his silhouetted face. "I can tell she was meant for you. Take her."
Dianne received the baby girl, getting lost in her sweet sleeping face. Holding her close, Dianne felt a strange bond between her and the infant.
"But what is her-" Dianne looked up to finish her question, but he was gone. She looked around franticly for this stranger, but could not find a trace of him anywhere. "But what is her name?!" she yelled into the frosty wind. She turned on the outside light to find that there were no foot prints in the snow.
He opened the heave metal door and stepped inside the castle-like building. Inside, there were various tubes and wires. Tables had sharp tools dispersed about, and the offensive smell of drying blood and burned hair was in the air. The tubes were eight feet in height and roughly four feet in width. Inside each was an ominous green liquid, and each contained a seemingly unconscious, odd looking child.
The man took a clipboard over to one of the tubes, which contained a male child. The boy looked to be about a year old; with back hair and what looked to be the ears of a wolf, as well as a wolf tail and back paws. The child did not seem to be conscious, for he was floating in the fetal position with his eyes closed. He nodded, scribbling a few notes onto the clipboard. He circled the tube looking at every aspect of the child before he took a step back and scribbled something down again.
"Rohld is looking quite good. Soon those paws should vanish, and then his personality should be that of a normal human child," he nodded again, scribbling onto his clipboard once more. He strolled over to one of his tables to set it down, and picked up another one.
Suddenly a loud alarm blared above his activity, and he spun around to notice the child known as Rohld was awakened. The man seemed to be in a blind panic as he scrambled over to the boy's tube. Rohld let out a growl as he straightened out his body.
"No, Rohld! Your birth is not yet for another month!" the man tried to speak to the boy, but it was too late. Rohld put his hands on the glass and his sharp claws cracking the tube and eventually breaking it open. This seemed all too surreal. How can such a tiny child implode this giant and fairly strong tube? Studying the small child, he noticed that Rohld had intimidating fangs and claws on each fingertip. He stood upright, just starring at the man.
"Those fangs... and those claws..." He gasped, as he took a step backward. "No couple in their right mind would take him in!" reaching for a dog muzzle on the table; he could feel his heart rate climb. "He must be restrained."
The boy looked up at the hooded man with question in his eyes. Before he could move another inch closer to the man, Rohld's face was shoved into the muzzle, which was fastened around his head with a strap on top. This contraption hurt Rohld's face, and he tried to claw it off. Rohld was frustrated. Attempting to pull the cage off his face, the man came from behind and trusted Rohld into a dog cage, quickly pulling the slide-bolt closed.
The cage didn't have a tray on the bottom, but uncomfortable thin bars lining the bottom. Rohld, with the absence of any clothing, felt the freezing metal bars against his little knees as he turned to face the dark figure. He did not in turn look back at the young boy, but instead walked away, these words escaping his lips: "Now to send you to the one place where no child is turned away, the Orphanage."
Dianne and Rodger Marcus looked lovingly at their new little daughter, who was full of smiles and bright eyes. The couple felt strangely whole, even though this baby girl was not biologically theirs.
"Well since he didn't give us a name," Dianne paused to look at her husband, "I guess we have to come up with our own." the couple stood in silence for a moment.
"Well, if Joshua were a girl... what would we have named him?" Rodger asked, stroking the baby girl's soft, chubby face. Dianne looked puzzled for a moment before it struck her.
"I think... Stacy. Yeah, I think I would have named him Stacy." she paused to look into the baby girl's crystal clear blue eyes. "What do you think?" She asked the child directly. It didn't take long before her blank look turned into a pleased sounding giggle. A grin crept over Dianne's face. "Stacy it is then." Rodger nodded in approval. "Now let's get her unraveled and into bed... she must be tired"
When Dianne unwrapped young Stacy from the blanket she came with, she received a shock. Right on Stacy's little behind, was a long tail with a blackish fluff on the end of it. Nearly dropping the child, Dianne managed to croak five words in response to the sight, "What the Hell Is That!?" Rodger, also in shock, let out a few chuckles.
"Looks like a cow tail." Dianne took a look over at her husband with a sense of revelation.
"And you're alright with this?" Dianne still couldn't quite grasp the idea as Rodger took Stacy into his arms.
"Why shouldn't I be?" he grinned, walking across the room, cuddling Stacy. "Look, I don't care what she looks like, what she is, or what's on her little rear, she came to us in our time of sorrow like a god sent blessing. She is ours now, and dare I say I'm a very proud daddy of... what ever she is." He lifted Stacy to eye level, a glistening smile upon his face. "I love her... And I'll see to it that she is to be raised like any other child."
