The Child Within
Elara was a joyful young lady always going to church and friendly to the neighbour.She didn't know that the devil could attack her because she prayed and praised God everyday.
One early morning.
Elara had always felt something,she decided to go to the nearest hospital where it was confirmed that she was pregnant. That didnt bother her because she had not slept with any man.As she continued with her daily chores her stomach started growing.She started having problem that she decided to visit the healers.
One of the healer confirmed that she was pregnant,she almost fainted because she thought the hospital had confused.
The healer in the village swore the child’s heartbeat was strong, that her body carried it well. But every night, when the moon climbed above the crooked pines, she felt it move—too violently, too knowingly.
At first, it was small things. Shadows stretched longer than they should when she walked by candlelight. Dreams filled with whispers in a language she didn’t know, though the meanings seared themselves into her waking mind. She dreamt of fire, of black wings, of eyes that were not eyes.
By the fifth month, the midwife refused to enter her home. "That’s not a child you carry," the woman hissed, making the sign of warding before fleeing.
Elara tried to pray, but her prayers withered on her tongue. She burned herbs, drank tonics, and begged the gods for protection. The air around her only grew heavier, thick with the scent of iron.
One night, lightning split the sky, and Elara awoke to find a figure standing at the foot of her bed. Horns curled from his temples, eyes burning like embers. His smile was carved too wide.
“You’ve kept me well, little vessel,” he said, voice smooth as oil. “The child stirs, eager to meet the world. It will not be like others. It will unmake what is and build what must be.”
Elara clutched her swollen belly, trembling. “No,” she whispered. “You won’t have it.”
The demon tilted his head, almost tender. “But, my love, you already gave it to me… the night you begged for a life to grow inside you.”
Memories crashed back—the night of desperation, of pleading in the woods beneath a blood moon, when she whispered promises to whatever would listen. She had wanted a child so badly that she hadn’t cared who heard her.
Now, the thing within her kicked—hard enough to make her gasp. And for the first time, she felt it laugh inside her, sharing its father’s voice.
The demon decided to visit Elara everdat to make sure she had everything even promised to take her to the city to see the world.
Everytime the demon would visit elara would pray louder until she would wake the villagers.The villagers felt it was weird and decided to form a meeting to discuss how they would take elara to the hospital to be checked if she was okay.
They started asking who is the father of the kids.She told them ,the father was from the other village.The demon brought a man that evening to cool the village.
The demon was a rich man that had no otherwise but to have a kid in order to go to the city to be a man.He was betwitched by his love that he had dump her and the witch when she moved to the city confirmed to her the statement that he had hold her with.
Rhael brought food and money.The night was beautiful and wonderful.The dance the whole night and enjoyed the whole night.
After 12 months ,she gave birth and they all decided to move to the city to have a beautiful life.
Life was beautiful in the city,the demon got his life back but the nightmare of the past started to bother because the children could not do all the chores in the house and finished.
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When Rhael finally learned the truth, it was too late to pretend the children were ordinary. He had ignored the strange silences in the house, the way the shadows seemed to coil near their cribs, and the way the infants’ eyes glowed faintly in the dark.
At first, he thought it was madness. Elara, pale and exhausted, insisted they were special—chosen. She whispered that they were destined for greatness, that their father was no ordinary man.
But then Rhael saw it for himself.
One evening, the elder twin stretched out a tiny hand and the candle by the bedside sputtered, then flared, without touch or wind. The younger giggled, though the sound was not human—it was layered, echoing like a chorus of voices inside stone.
Rhael staggered back. “Elara… what have you done?”
Her face, once gentle, had hardened into something haunted. “I begged the darkness for life. It gave me children when the gods would not. These are ours, Rhael. They’re ours—don’t you see?”
But all he could see was the demon’s blood burning in their veins. His heart wrenched between terror and love. They were his children too… weren’t they?
The twins stared up at him, smiling with teeth far too sharp for their age.
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