For all of the stars in the sky, he couldn't sleep.

Flag had been sitting in the small antechamber to his room for what felt like an eternity. However long he had been really sitting there was completely unknown to him, for there were no windows to read the sky by and he had given up counting seconds long ago.

The only thing he knew for sure was that his wife, Ta'nia, had gone into labor fairly early into the evening and her attendants had ushered him out because it was considered bad luck to have a man in the birthing chamber – regardless of the fact that it was his room as well.

He had left his book behind in the rush to leave and he wished he had such a distraction on hand – even if he never actually read it. This sitting still, worrying about the situation on the other side of the door, was driving him mad.

At one point, he heard her screaming obscenities at one of the wet nurses and his heart leapt up into his throat. Was she okay? He knew there could be complications during childbirth that could kill the mother. What about the baby?

He ran his hands through his hair and rolled backward to lie on the rough cobblestone floor of the hallway to stare at the contrastingly smooth ceiling above. His lack of sleep must have caught up with him because the next thing he knew, a rather frantic attendant was shaking him awake.

The sorcerer mistook the fear in the way the woman carried herself and he jumped to his feet. "What happened?" he demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders.

The attendant, Ta’mika, winced at his grip, but managed to keep her resolve. "Lady Ta’nia is calling for you."

Flag released his breath for a moment. The fact that his wife had summoned him was enough for him to know she was fine. "And the baby?"

Ta’mika sighed. "You better go in."

Flag shoved past the woman and ran through the entrance to his bedchamber. He tried to stay calm, but the sight of his wife across the room crushed his chest and he fought for air. Ta'nia was only a shade of her former self, frail, and fading faster than the setting suns. In her arms was a small swaddling of cloth that was frighteningly silent.

This vision couldn't be real. He was still asleep in the hallway waiting to be woken up by the good news that preceded a life filled with a happy family. He wasn't losing everything now. It just wasn't possible!

His legs gave out just as he reached the bed and he took his wife's small and impossibly weak hand into his own. Tears that formed beyond his control started to distort her face and that frustrated him, making them form even faster. "Ta'nia..."

She slipped out of his grasp and reached up to touch his face, silencing him before he could unleash a stream of questions at her.

"I'm sorry, Flag." The blur of color that was her face looked down at the bundle lying silent in her arms and he could hear her release the most despairing sigh he had ever heard in his life. "I should have told you before."

He was confused. "Tell me what?”

She barely grazed his lips with her finger to silence him before letting her hand fall back onto the bed. "You know the power of my family lies in the women... This is why."

He was still completely lost, but at least she was becoming more visible as a slight curiosity started to take him over. He remained silent to allow her a chance to explain, but she had trouble finding the words to do so.

"You have to kill me, Flag," she blurted out.

"WHAT?" He shook his head violently against such an idea. “That doesn't make any sense!”

Ta’nia nodded. "I'm dying anyways... If you don't, she will never get the chance to live."

Panic took over again and he could feel his chest heaving with the pounding that was going on inside of it. "I can't do that! I love you!"

"That is why you must carry on my... our legacy." She grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest. "She must inherit my life energy to live."

She became a blur again and his eyes burned the worst they ever had. He wanted to respond, to protest against this, but the words were caught in his throat, forcing him to choke on his own breath. All he could do was shake his head.

He could feel her pulse under his shaking hands and it was fading fast. Everything he had ever loved was being snatched from him and he was powerless against it.

"Please..." she begged, her voice barely a whisper.

Flag shook his head even more. His mind was a reeling jumbled mess of thoughts and emotion. Just as he found his voice to argue, she clenched her hand around his wrist and invoked one of his spells through him.

He felt like someone had clapped their hands over his ears, and he was thrown backward by the transfer of forces. After a long dark moment, he realized he could hear a tiny voice crying persistently.

Flag opened his eyes and slowly focused on a figure standing above him. She was saying something, but he couldn’t make it out. As the world faded back in, he realized it was the handmaiden who had woken him earlier.

“You killed her!” she screamed at him, upsetting the baby in her arms even more.

He fought his way into a sitting position to try to correct her but froze when he saw the bed. Ta’nia appeared to be sleeping, but her color was wrong and she was entirely too still. The servant’s words were abrasive and he turned to snap at her, only to be greeted with another reason for his heart to stop.

The tiny infant girl had paused long enough in her fit to look at him with glowing green eyes – the same eyes that had haunted his dreams and caused him to wake up screaming on many sleepless nights. Dreams that had eventually forced him to seek counsel with the Orianna years before.

The baby girl cried out again, which forced the motherly instincts of the only woman in the room to try to calm her down. A simple, natural act that dealt a final blow to Flag's emotions and left him completely broken. "Please just take her away," he choked out.

Horrified by the events that had taken place, Ta'mika glared at him and ran out of the room with the child in her arms. She had obviously misinterpreted the situation, but Flag didn't care.

He had lost everything.