The moonlight bled through the night clouds, enlightening a serene castle beneath the mountain tops.
The failing snow whirled and danced around it, glistening with a unique light, before drifting and settling around the castle grounds.
The howling winds swayed the trees around, before testing their might against the ancient castle.
For no matter the strength it could carry, the castle stood still, imposing, a testament to its imperial craftsmanship.
For this castle was none other than the main house of the Whiteheart Clan.
As the storm continued to rage outside, a different type of storm was brewing inside.
A man 6 feet and 8 inches tall, with a white goatee mustache, and pearly white long hair stashed into a ponytail, walked down the corridor to the queen's chambers.
With each step he took, his heavy boots clacked and echoed off the walls as various portraits of battle scenes and hunting skulls illuminated themselves under the moonlight, the history of a time he used to walk.
With the sound of the windows shaking from the snowstorm as he progressed closer, he was met with cries of agony and screaming.
Upon seeing the door to the queen's chambers, the head butler could be seen waiting aside as the screams got worse.
Stopping in front of the door and without turning, he asked in a monotone voice.
"How's the progress?"
With a small bow, the Head Butler quickly responded. "Her highness is currently delivering your 4th child… But there seems to be a slight issue, my lord."
The head butler, Sebastian, could feel the heavy pressure quickly increase around him. He didn't dare to look up as he knew the eyes of the blue-eyed dragon were looking down at him. Almost as if he was hesitating to quickly rip his soul from his body if he didn't continue.
"The remedies and elixirs we used to help alleviate the pain are not working. We have even tried using a pain tolerance spell, but that only made the pain worse. It seems as though her body is rejecting mana."
Sebastian drifted his voice before finishing.
"But we know the strength of her highness, which only leaves…"
"The baby is rejecting it," The lord responded in a dark, cold voice.
"We've switched to remedies that aren't imbued with any mana, which seem to help, but they are so weak that it's just a normal delivery at this point."
Sebastian undid his bow as a dark tension loomed between the two.
One worried about her highness, awaiting his next orders, while the other inwardly questioned the mana rejection.
The silence was filled with the sound of the shaking windows.
Breaking the tension, the lord spoke.
"Your excuse, Sebastian. She'll be fine."
With a saddened face, he nodded, "Yes, my lord."
With a quick look at the emotionless face of his lord, he turned and headed off to perform his other butler duties.
As the screams continued to resonate throughout the castle walls, the lord learned his back against the queen's chamber doors and folded his arms as he closed his eyes.
While it may seem he was unmoving and waiting, he was sending out various amounts of mana pulses around not just his castle, but the entire mountain, as all of it was his estate.
For while the queen continued her battle, he would make sure nobody dared to interrupt her, let alone test to see if any idiot would use this time to lessen the world of Whitehearts.
For this man was the Patriarch of the Whiteheart Clan.
The Lord of the North. Paragon of the Sword. First Seat of the Divine Throne.
Reidar Whiteheart.
As time passed, the storm started to recede its anger as the Queen took a great breath of exhaustion and relief.
Various maids could be heard talking and shuffling around as they wrapped the baby with a blanket.
Reidar straightened himself against the door as he heard a maid walking to the door, keeping his perception active.
As the maid quietly opened the door, she stood in fear as sweat started to form around her head.
She quickly stepped to the side and formed a small bow.
"G-greetings, my lord. The delivery has just finished."
Without responding, Reidar stepped in and headed to the weakly exhausted queen, who could be seen holding a small baby wrapped in a blue flower emblem blanket.
Looking around at the maids, he ordered, "Leave us." As the maids quickly folded and packed their items.
"It's a boy, my lord," the queen said with a dry throat. Her eyelids were heavy as it was the first time she did that without any exiliers or remedies to help with the pain or numbness.
Reidar stood at the side of the bed as he slowly picked up the child.
"You did well, Stella," Reidar said with a smirk.
As an emotionless man, Reidar found it occasionally funny to see his wife completely exhausted. Especially for a woman of her caliber.
On the battlefields, Stella Whiteheart had gathered many titles due to her unique sword dance and visiouness. She was an unstoppable force, for with each swing, lives were taken. But it was also her beauty that enticed people. This gave her enemies a choice of either to bow or run. A saying that gave her the title,
The Dreamless Sword.
A simple title, but one meaning that even in dreams, you couldn't hope to match her swordplay or beauty.
As Reidar cupped the baby in his arms, he hovered his hands over the baby's chest as it started to radiate with a small white glow.
Seeing what he was doing, Stella quickly informed, "Reidiar, you should know..."
"I know."
The mana started to encircle the baby as a dome-like structure was formed.
By testing the mana on newborns, they can partially determine their talent and potential based on how instinctively they react to it.
The faster they feel and absorb the mana, the higher the potential. The slower the process, the less they could have.
While most clans use this method to automatically determine their worth, the Whitehearts believe that, besides talent and potential, hard work is something that can bridge the gap between the two, believing that sometimes hope is a greater power.
As the dome produced small amounts of mana toward the baby, Reidar's face took on a disdainful look.
The mana had not only stopped heading towards the baby, but was being repelled back. A type of reaction he had never heard of.
For mana to be stopped would signify that the baby has almost no talent or potential for mana, but being repelled was something altogether.
Stella looked at the baby with saddened eyes, but still possessing a small glimmer of hope.
Reidar could only look down upon his new creation with worthless eyes as he said in a cold tone voice.
"A pity."