The Night the Roots Awakened
The sea never fell silent in Thalroin.
At night, the island breathed through the sound of its waves. The waters crashed against the black cliffs in the north, leaving behind a long, hollow groan as the foam withdrew between the rocks. Wind wandered through the crowns of ancient trees, rubbing their branches together, while the small creatures dwelling within the darkness of the forest blended their voices until dawn.
Thalroin did not know silence.
But that night, the sea went quiet.
Kael did not know how late it was when he noticed.
He stood before the window, one palm pressed against the cold wooden frame. Outside, the forest beginning only a few steps beyond the cottage disappeared into darkness.
Nothing moved.
Not even a single leaf.
Kael opened the window slightly.
The wind he expected to feel against his face never came. He listened for the waves that should have been crashing against the distant shore.
He could not hear them either.
His brow furrowed.
A scream behind him shattered his thoughts.
“Kael!”
He turned sharply.
The woman lying on the bed gripped the sheets with both hands. Her hair clung to her face and neck with sweat, and the collar of her nightgown was already soaked through.
Kael left the window and rushed to the bed.
“I’m here.”
The woman seized his offered hand. When the next contraction came, her fingers closed around it so tightly that Kael’s jaw clenched.
But he did not pull away.
“Look at me.”
She opened her eyes.
“Look at me,” Kael repeated. “It will pass.”
The woman drew a breath through gritted teeth.
“If you tell me that one more time, I’ll kill you.”
Kael fell silent.
She glared at him.
“Do you understand?”
Kael nodded solemnly.
“I won’t say it again.”
When the pain eased, she let her head fall back against the pillow. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
Kael picked up a cloth and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She closed her eyes.
“How long has it been?”
Kael glanced toward the window before answering.
“A long time.”
Her eyes opened again.
“How long?”
Kael thought for a moment.
“I don’t know.”
She gave him such a look that he quickly added, “Quite a long time.”
“You’ve been very helpful.”
Kael pressed his lips together.
On the other side of the room, an elderly woman leaned over the hot water she had prepared. After drying her hands, she approached the bed.
“Hold on a little longer.”
The woman turned her head toward her.
“Don’t you say it either.”
The old woman smiled.
“Very well.”
Kael laughed before he could stop himself.
His wife slowly turned her gaze toward him.
The smile vanished from Kael’s face at once.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Another contraction came.
This time, the woman could not speak. Her entire body tensed, and the moment Kael reached for her, she caught his hand.
“Kael…”
“I’m here.”
“I can’t do this.”
Kael leaned closer.
“You are doing it.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Look at me.”
Their eyes met.
Kael’s face appeared to hold no trace of the panic that had consumed him only hours before. But the trembling of the hand she held betrayed him.
“I’m afraid,” she whispered.
Kael’s expression softened.
He rested his forehead against hers.
“So am I.”
She opened her eyes.
Kael smiled.
“But don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to protect.”
A tired laugh escaped her lips.
Then another contraction twisted it into a scream.
The old woman immediately moved to the foot of the bed.
“Now.”
The woman lifted her head.
“What?”
“The baby is coming.”
Kael’s expression changed instantly.
“Now?!”
Both women looked at him at the same time.
Kael raised his hands.
“Fine. I’m quiet.”
The minutes stretched on.
Between each contraction, time seemed to stop, only to begin again with the next.
The candles burned lower. Kael replaced them several times. The night outside deepened.
But the sea remained silent.
The woman no longer had the strength even to scream. She held Kael’s hand, struggling to breathe, growing weaker each time.
At last, the old woman raised her voice.
“One more time.”
The woman shook her head as tears ran down her face.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I can’t.”
Kael took her face between his hands.
“Look at me.”
She forced her eyes open.
“Once,” he said, his voice calm now. “One more time.”
The woman closed her eyes.
She drew a deep breath.
And pushed with all the strength she had left.
Her scream echoed against the stone walls of the room.
Then…
Another sound followed.
A thin, delicate cry.
The woman went still.
So did Kael.
As though they both needed a few seconds to believe that what they had heard was real.
Then the cry rose again.
A smile appeared on the old woman’s face.
“A girl.”
Kael’s lips parted.
“A girl?”
The old woman looked at him.
“Yes, Kael. A girl.”
Kael laughed.
It was a strange, broken sound—the laugh of a man who had forgotten how.
Tears streamed from the woman’s eyes.
“Give her to me.”
The tiny body was carefully placed against her mother’s chest.
The moment the woman looked at her daughter, everything else in the room disappeared.
The sea.
The forest.
The endless hours of pain.
Kael.
Even her own exhaustion.
All that remained was the tiny life resting in her arms.
The baby’s skin was still flushed. Damp strands of hair clung to her head, and her little face was scrunched from crying.
The woman touched her daughter’s cheek with a trembling finger.
The baby continued to wail.
“Hello…”
Her voice broke.
Kael knelt beside the bed.
For a while, he only stared.
Then he reached out, but stopped before touching the baby.
The woman noticed.
“What are you doing?”
Kael did not take his eyes off his daughter.
“She’s so small.”
The woman laughed.
“Of course she’s small.”
“She looks as though she might break.”
“Kael.”
“What?”
“Touch your child.”
Hesitantly, Kael held one finger near the baby’s hand.
Her tiny fingers suddenly closed around it.
Kael froze.
The woman watched his face.
His eyes had filled with tears.
“She’s looking at me.”
“Her eyes are closed.”
“She still knows me.”
The woman began to laugh.
Kael leaned closer to the baby.
“Hello.”
The baby cried.
Kael nodded.
“Yes. I’m pleased to meet you too.”
The woman laughed through her tears.
Kael looked at her.
Then at his daughter.
“What will her name be?”
The smile on the woman’s face slowly changed.
She did not need to think about the answer.
She gazed down at the baby and ran her thumb gently over her tiny brow.
“Veyra.”
Kael repeated the name quietly.
“Veyra.”
The woman nodded.
“Veyra.”
Kael studied his daughter as if considering whether the name truly belonged to her. After a few silent moments, he smiled.
“Veyra.”
He placed a soft kiss on his daughter’s forehead.
“Welcome.”
The woman closed her eyes.
Her entire body was exhausted, but a peaceful smile rested on her face.
It was finally over.
At last, their daughter was here.
Kael pulled the blanket higher over Veyra.
“Rest.”
The woman was about to answer when her expression suddenly changed.
Kael noticed at once.
“What is it?!”
She frowned, one hand moving instinctively toward her stomach.
“I don’t know!”
The old woman stepped closer to the bed.
The woman drew a deep breath.
Then another contraction came.
Her scream echoed through the room once more.
Kael leapt to his feet.
“What’s happening?!”
The old woman did not answer. She examined the woman, and then her expression changed.
Kael saw it.
“What?”
Silence.
“What is it?”
The old woman raised her head.
“There’s another one.”
Kael stared at her as though he had not understood the words.
“Another what?!”
Even through the pain, the woman turned her head and looked at Kael.
The old woman almost smiled.
“Another baby.”
Kael’s face went blank.
“A baby?”
“Yes.”
“Still inside?”
“KAEL!” the woman screamed through the contraction.
“All right!”
Kael rushed back to her side.
She grabbed his hand.
“You did this to me!”
Kael’s eyes widened.
“Is this really the time?”
She squeezed his hand harder.
“Two of them!” she shouted.
“I only just found out too!”
The old woman had to suppress a laugh.
Then another contraction came, and all humour vanished from the room.
The second birth was faster.
But the woman was far more exhausted.
With every contraction, a little more of her strength slipped away, and Kael did everything he could to hold her together.
Veyra lay in a small basket prepared beside the bed, making soft noises from time to time. Whenever her mother heard her, she opened her eyes.
Then came another contraction.
More pain.
Another breath.
“A little more.”
The woman shook her head.
“No.”
Kael touched her forehead.
“We’re bringing her into this world too.”
The woman was crying.
“I have no strength left.”
Kael looked into her eyes.
“We can’t leave her in there.”
She stared at him for several seconds before an unwilling laugh escaped her.
“You truly are terrible.”
“Did it work?”
She drew a deep breath.
“Be quiet.”
Then she pushed again.
A short while later, the cry of a second baby filled the room.
But this time, Kael was not prepared.
None of them were.
When the second girl was placed in her mother’s arms, the woman simply stared at her.
Then she turned toward Veyra, lying only a few steps away.
Two girls.
Born on the same night.
From the same womb.
Two tiny, matching faces.
Kael slowly sat beside the bed.
“I have two daughters.”
The woman answered wearily.
“Yes.”
Kael was still stunned.
“I have two daughters.”
“If you say it a third time, I’m going to start worrying that there will be three.”
Kael looked at his wife.
Then he laughed despite himself.
She laughed too.
They laid the second baby beside Veyra.
For the first time, the two tiny bodies rested next to each other.
Veyra stirred.
The other baby’s hand moved aimlessly through the air. Her fingers brushed against Veyra’s hand.
Veyra’s fingers closed around them.
She held her twin sister’s finger.
The woman’s smile slowly faded.
Something else took its place.
Kael did not notice. He was still watching his daughters.
But the woman kept staring at them.
For a long time.
As though she were trying to carve the sight of them into her memory.
Veyra.
And beside her, the sister who had not yet been given a name.
The woman reached out and adjusted the blanket covering them both.
“Never let go of each other,” she whispered.
Kael heard her.
“What?”
The woman did not answer.
She only looked at her daughters.
At that exact moment…
Veyra’s hand released her sister’s finger.
A sound came from beneath the room.
Thump.
The woman’s entire body went rigid.
Kael slowly turned his head toward the floor.
Every candle flame trembled at once.
The peace vanished from the woman’s eyes.
Because she knew that sound.
For months, she had heard it in her dreams.
From within the mist.
From beneath the earth.
From between the roots.
Thump.
This time, it came from closer.
Kael rose to his feet.
“What was that?!”
The woman did not answer.
Her gaze remained fixed upon her two daughters.
They lay side by side.
But now she knew.
The sound from her dreams…
It had not been calling to both of them.
You can watch the scene adaptation of Chapter One on Instagram: @grimnoxx.
