She was pushed aside, as more and more faceless individuals rose from the floor and crept along the walls. They carried within their icy fingers a single candle, illuminating the hoods pulled in their visages.

Nalika remained still, looking at the commotion happening in the center of the room. It was a room that seemed awfully familiar to her. There seemed to have some event that occurred recently, for solemn servants walked to and fro, in nervous anxiety. Placing itself in the middle of a lit space, was a bed, large enough to have belonged to somebody important.

Curiously, the Empress approached the crowd, her fingers shivering with what she might have witnessed next.

A hooded girl next to her wept silently in a corner, her legs and arms curled up next to her chest. On her neck was a large golden emblem, a resounding feature. Whoever had given it to her had placed some importance or merit on the child.

Nalika drew near, wanting to console. She knew not who she was or even where she was, but her fingers longed for the warmth of a body. Reaching out her hand, she discovered the piercing cold texture of the hooded figure's skin. She drew back, taking a small gasp. Eerily, the girl had taken a swift glance at Nalika, her shooting blank eyes penetrating through her hood. Lifting a small underfed pale hand, she held on to Nalika's robe, firmly begging for mercy.

"Everything will be fine, ok? You, you promised it would." she whimpered, lamenting. Nalika yelped quietly, moving away from the she-demon's grasp. Looking back, she had noticed that she was within arm's length of the bed. She turned around…much to her grief.

It was her own body laying in the bed.

The color had drained out of her face, being replaced with a sickly jaundice which consumed her once rosy cheeks. Her hair, drenched with sweat. On her beige gown, blood stained her lower body. Nalika disallowed herself to watch what might have been between her legs, holding back the explosive tears in her eyes. A grim servant had proceeded with carrying a red bundle out of the room, servant girls moaning sadly behind. Covering her face, she turned around immediately, staring desperately into the blank wall. She wept loudly, dropping on the floor at her own self grief.

It couldn't have happened like this, she had been much too strong. She had never let herself be defeated. And…the Empire's fate….she had failed.

…

"Your highness…your highness, you have to breathe!" a persistent voice cried out from in front of her, stroking her cheeks and chest. "Come on! Come on! Tough it out!" the voice continued, sprinkling drops of water on her forehead.

Opening her eyes dimly, Nalika took a relieving breath, her chest heaving back and forth against her sweaty gown. She looked around, hundreds of servants rested against her bed, preparing warm water and soaking towels. She soon realized…it was a dream. She was alive and well.

Reaching out her hands, she sat upright in her bed, feeling her pregnant womb rapidly. She needed to know that he was still there, that she could feel his little heartbeat. She whimpered wordlessly, feeling that her belly had grown tighter in the last minutes. Shooting a gaze at the royal physician, she communicated to him her concern.

The man wiped his hands against a towel, bags in his eyes dragging heavily.

"Good to have you back, your grace. I have to say that you gave us all quite a scare there."

Before Nalika could respond a petit figure had ran against the bed, thrusting against her warmly. Nalika gawked and saw Kia's cheerful expression across her face.

"I am so glad you are fine, my lady. I had…started to get worried about you."

Nalika smiled warmly and ran her hand through the girl's sleek black hair. "I am well. No need to worry about me. It was…a little shook up. Hello, Yolima."

Yolima stood contently in the back. A light smile made her wrinkles take over her face.

"Hello, my sweet. Are you feeling fine? Is the baby?..."

The Empress soon remembered what she was concerned about in the first place, reaching her hand out towards the physician's back.

"I…I would like to know about the child, sir."

"Getting right to it. Leave us." He shortly responded, dismissing the servants in the room. They bowed to the bed and hurried out, Kia moving hesitantly towards the door. Yolima urged for her to leave, clearing her throat. "We must get going."

"I…"

"Don't worry, young one. The prince will be fine, I can feel it." Nalika added faintly hopeful.

Kia left the room, closing the door against her.