Lilly scowled as she looked down at herself, unable to see her feet underneath her huge, swollen belly. Over seven months along in her pregnancy, she both looked and felt enormous. As of lately, the mirror was something that she had come to avoid. Every time she happened to glance at herself in it she would be horrified. Her husband claimed that she looked just fine, but she didn't agree. In her mind, pregnancy had made her look ugly. She hated almost every single part of it. However, there was one thing that reassured her and motivated her to keep on fighting through it, and that was the idea of actually being a mother.
She could hardly wait for the day to come when she would have an adorable little baby to hold in her arms. Her imagination was coming up with all sorts of wonderful things she could do with her baby. She could cuddle it, and kiss it, and proudly show it off to her friends and family, and when it got a bit older, she could dress it up in adorable little outfits and style its hair and do its makeup, if it was a girl, that is. Obviously, she wouldn't force her son to wear makeup.
To be honest, she wasn't a hundred percent sure whether she wanted a boy or a girl. A part of her wanted a daughter to dress up, but a part of her wanted a son. After all, Mordred would need a son to continue the family name. Most people across Aia had accepted matriarchy, as it seemed to be slowly becoming more and more popular, but Mordred was one of the few who hadn't. He believed that it was only right for men to be the head of the family.
Lilly rather liked the idea of a woman being able to rule as Queen in her own right, but she knew better than to voice her opinions. The last time she had dared to do so, her father had yelled at her, warning her that if she ever spoke such nonsense again, she would be punished. That memory was permanently ingrained in her mind, and every time she remembered it, she couldn't help but shiver.
Mordred hadn't told her which he would rather prefer. To be honest, Mordred had paid little attention to her since she announced that she was pregnant. It was almost as if he didn't care. Lilly felt rather discomforted by this. She had thought that her husband would be at least somewhat pleased, or proud. After all, most men wanted an heir as soon as possible. However, it seemed that was not the case with Mordred.
Now, it wasn't that he was being cruel to her or anything. He wasn't the most affectionate man in the world, but he still had his ways of showing her that he did care about her. Every morning at breakfast, he would come into the dining room, tell her she looked beautiful, grab a small loaf of bread, and leave again. Then, every night, once she was already in bed, he would come and give her a quick kiss on the head before climbing into bed himself. Although, she was usually too tired to pay much attention, or make any reply. That was another thing she disliked about pregnancy. She was always tired!
Lilly had learned fairly early on in their marriage that she had to find her own entertainment. Mordred was often busy, either doing whatever it was he did up in his study at the very top of the tower, or out in the village overseeing all the building projects that were being started. As you can probably guess, she didn't see much of her husband except for meal times and at night when they retired to bed. She missed him.
She had to admit that she did feel a little lonely. In all her fantasies she had always imagined marriage as this wonderful lifestyle where the husband was showering his wife with praises and gifts and was always paying attention to her, but she realized not that was not reality, and it was because of her loneliness that she was looking particularly forward to having her baby. Then she wouldn't be alone all the time.
At current, she was on her way to go see the nursery, which had just recently been completed. She had hoped to convince Mordred to go see it with her, but he wasn't even home at the moment, and so, she had to go by herself. She sighed. Her only hope was that her husband would start paying more attention once the baby actually arrived. Surely he wouldn't ignore his own child … would he?
Mordred was beginning to like the land he had chosen for his village more and more with every passing day. Each day that he explored the surrounding forest, he discovered intriguing dark secrets. One of his discoveries in particular proved to be most valuable. Just a few miles southwest of Harburg, hidden from clear sight by a thicket of trees, he had found a strange and mysterious cave entrance.
He couldn't quite explain it, but for some reason he felt drawn to it, and so, he stepped through, and conjuring a small fire blast in his hand for light, he began to wander down into what appeared to be an ancient catacomb. There were a few private tombs, most of which were locked up tighter than a drum, but aside from that, there were a few skeletons scattered about and that was it.
As he wandered deeper and deeper into the catacomb, he stumbled upon a chamber that was filled with more death and decay than he had ever seen. Scattered along the sides of the chamber were piles and piles of dead bodies, some newer and some older. Fortunately for him, death had never frightened him, and so he was able to approach the piles without any hesitation.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that from what he could see, all the bodies had two puncture marks on their necks. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was in vampire territory. That was when he noticed that one of the skeletons was moving.
"Death certificate, please" said the skeleton, as he hobbled forward, reaching a bony hand out towards Mordred.
Mordred furrowed a brow at the skeleton. He had read in one of his books that some skeletons were able to rise from their graves and live as part of the undead, but he had never seen such a creature with his own two eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't have one. I'm quite alive." Mordred told him. "Why would you want my death certificate anyway?"
"Our Queen has made it a law that no one can pass this point without a death certificate," the skeleton explained. "It's to ensure the safety of her subjects."
A queen? Mordred had read legends of a legendary vampire queen once. He didn't remember exactly what the book had said about her, but it had something to do with a powerful relic to destroy demons. He remembered being interested in the story and did further research on it, but gave up when he discovered that the relic had been destroyed.
"Seeing as you are not dead, I must ask you to leave immediately," the skeleton declared.
Mordred retreated back through the catacomb, and as he did so, he realized that the people of Harburg would eventually need a place to bury their dead. Death was inevitable for humans, and even though he didn't particularly like the idea of dying, he wasn't about to fight against it. He wasn't that desperate to preserve his life. At least, not yet.
He spent a bit more time in the catacombs, exploring every nook and cranny. The catacomb wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone's corpses, but perhaps it could work for the noblest families that had accompanied him. It could be a reward for those who had gained the most favor with him, leaving the less fortunate to start a graveyard and bury their dead there.
With a small smirk, Mordred finally returned above ground. His mind was filled with so many ideas to make his empire great. The only problem was figuring out how to make them all real. However, he wasn't concerned. He would find a way, probably somehow involving magic. In his mind, magic held a solution to everything. If one trained and reached his or her full potential, that person could do anything. His love for magic overwhelmed him at times, and although he considered that a good thing, it wasn't always good to others, for that was where his madness stemmed from.