FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS
The goddesses take the baby to Aldorada
"This infant is the Evil One's son."
Kaïra managed to sneak inside the halls of Asgard in order to bring the crying baby Batrishan to the All-Mother Friga without anybody noticing her. The moment she stepped inside the chamber of Friga, however, the All-Mother knew instantly that the baby had the blood of the Evil One flowing in its veins. Still, seeing the poor baby demigod hungry and cold filled the queen of the Norse gods with pity. She gently took the baby from Kaïra's arms and breast-fed the baby, who stopped crying in order to focus sucking the godly and warm maternal milk.
"Even if he's the child of that wicked god, we can't let the Evil One take him back!" Kaïra protested. "He'll feed on it's essence the same way he feeds on those of children he steals through the wishes of unfortunate mortals!"
"I know, Kaïra," the All-Mother said, wiping her breast and covering it once the baby was done feeding itself and went back to sleep again. "This wee thing appears to have done nothing but sleep ever since it was born. Batrishans consider it bad luck if babies haven't done anything that showed they were happy once they were born. It hasn't found a home for it to belong in."
"And it's not like he'll find one in the Batrishan Sanctuary," Kaïra walked towards a holographic map in the room that showed the world in its current state. With a motion of her fingers, she zoomed in the location of the former Batrishan Sanctuary: ruins, toxic gases, and mountains of corpses married to ashes were all that was left. "Everything that connects him to his mortal family has forever disappeared. There are barely a few survivors of the catastrophe and they're trying to reach the realms were the nomadic Batrishans settled among humans." She toyed with the holographic map, showing Batrishans trying desperately to run away from their homeland in order to find a new sanctuary.
"This child won't go anywhere near any other surviving Batrishans." The All-Mother cuddled the sleeping baby in her divine arms. "I can tell that the Evil One will send his armies to spread his wrath until he has destroyed every single Batrishan who had survived the genocide and his wrath. For the infant's sake and probably everybody else's, we must keep the child away from his Batrishan kin and as far away from any place near the Batrishan Sanctuary. I'll put a mist spell so that no other god, including the Evil One, will ever find him." With a wave of her hand, she summoned a form of cyan mist that dissolved into the sleeping baby.
Friga handed the baby to Kaïra, who hugged it. "Kaïra, you will be the Batrishan's patron goddess. You will watch him as he grows and survives among men, and when the time comes, he will repay the debt he owes you. Since you saved him, he'll have to be your follower and servant," she declared firmly.
"I understand, All-Mother," Kaïra said. "But where shall I hide him?"
"Take it to the other side of the Enchanted Forest, across the seas, away from the Batrishan Sanctuary, to Aldorada."
Nighttime in Aldorada
It was pouring rain in Aldorada.
Kaïra, hidden under her green cloak, carried the baby Batrishan in a small, golden casket, where it still slept peacefully. She walked through the rain until she found the average-sized, medieval and Renaissance styled church that she was looking for: Aldorada's most infamous church. The St Alejandro's Chapel. From outside, one could see the lights and hear the music coming from inside. At least there would people at the Chapel to find the baby at its doorsteps.
"I sincerely wished I could have kept you, little Batrishan," Kaïra sighed as she placed the casket in front of the door. "But you can only be stronger among people who are different than you."
She placed a small kiss on the baby's forehead before closing the casket. Using her magic to summon a large stick, she banged on the Chapel's door loudly until she heard upcoming footsteps, forcing her to turn into a raven and fly away.
A friar found the casket and brought it inside. Tonight was the feast of St Fitzgerald, Aldorada's legendary navigator and adventurer. On this occasion, many noblemen and noblewomen came to the Chapel in order to give prayers, feast, and rejoice in honor of one of their beloved saints. Everybody was having a good time until they saw the friar coming back inside with a strange casket and gasping at its content before gently closing it again.
"Friar Andre, whatever is the matter?" one of the noblemen asked.
"It…it's a Batrishan! Somebody left a Batrishan at the house of St. Alejandro!" Friar Andre exclaimed.
Gasped shocks and murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. Of course, by then, scouts from foreign lands have brought the news of the tragic extinction of the Batrishans, the civilization renown for its science and arts, due to some god's wrath hours ago. For many in Aldorada, the glorious empire it was, the lost of such amazing knowledge traumatized historians, teachers, mages, and storytellers. The thought that the very last Batrishan was found at the footsteps of St Alejandro's chapel was all but incredulous. Now everybody began rushing towards Friar Andre, in the hopes of seeing the content of the casket.
"Whatever is going on here?" a voice asked. Everyone turned to see Captain Hernan Denada Cortés and his wife Geneva at the entrance of the Chapel. It was impossible for anyone in Aldorada or anywhere else in the world to not know about Hernan, the infamous officer of Queen Florencia's armies who victoriously led the troupes in battlefields and brought honor and triumph to his nation, leading the queen to promote him many times and for him to offer a perfect, wealthy life for him, his wife, and their servants. Unfortunately for them, Geneva recently lost her newborn son William the previous day while giving birth to him. The couple was running late from giving a few mourning and flowers to the grave of the son they lost at St Martha's Cemetery.
"Captain!" a noblewoman cried. "Friar Andre found a Batrishan in a casket at the doorsteps of the Chapel!"
"A Batrishan?" Hernan frowned. "Didn't the news say that they were extinct?"
While her husband questioned the noblewoman, Geneva walked towards the friar and curtsied in front of him.
"My father and friar," she asked politely. "Would it be alright if I have a look at the Batrishan, please?"
The friar, happy that she wasn't rushing him unlike the others, granted her permission to do so. Everyone watched as the noblewoman carefully removed the casket's lid and looked inside it. Her surprised look turned into a look of adoration.
"Why…it's a baby Batrishan," she said as she pulled out the little baby that began laughing in her arms. In an instance, it was love at first sight between a mother and a child.
Everyone awed at the sight of the little baby. Despite its bat-like appearance, it was still an cute little thing to see.
"Geneva…he is quite adorable!" Hernan said as he got close to his wife. With a gentle hand, he caressed the baby Batrishan's cheek, causing the little creature to laugh even more. Seeing that his wife was losing all the sorrow she had when William died, Hernan came up with an idea.
"Friar Andre? If you may, my wife Geneva and I would like to hold a baptism ceremony right now," he said in front of everyone, much to their happy surprise and the delight of Geneva.
"Oh, Hernan!" She kissed her husband with a lot of joy and hugged her new, future son.
"Well, in that case, I don't see why we can't proceed immediately," Friar Andre smiled, mentally thanking the Lord for saving the last Batrishan and blessing the captain and his wife with a new child. "And what shall you name him?"
Hernan and Geneva looked at each other and came up with the same idea.
"Since he was found at the Chapel during the holiday of St Fitzgerald," Hernan said, "we shall name him Fitzgerald."
So it was settled. Under the candle's lights and in front of a crowd of Aldoradian noblemen and noblewomen, the baby was poured some holy water on its head by the friar and watched with its golden eyes as it laid in his new mother's arms and the friar made the shape of the cross on its bat forehead.
"In the name of the Father, his son, his saints, and his followers, I hereby baptize thee Fitzgerald Denada Cortés!"