Sacrifice

“And it is on this stormy day that we will welcome a new human to this world, an ability given to us by the sacrifice of the First.” Essie struggled against the cries of the soon to be mother to hear the guide Askar. The woman was curled in the bed at the ccenter of the small warm fire-lit room, screeching as though she was going through something horrible that no other woman had to go through. Essie had never been through the experience, but she had seen many women before give birth without shrieking so. Each time Askar had guided a piece of the remnants through the gates and into their world she had been there. This woman was just being annoying.

“Together we shall guide the remnant to flesh.” Askar held the shrieker’s hand and grimaced briefly against her harsh grip. As Essie grabbed the clammy hands of the two women beside her she struggled with her recently clouded mind to search for the name of the mother. The guide’s eyes skipped over the six women, her included, to make sure that all of their hands were locked. Together they made a circle around the screaming woman. Essie quickly found that her busy hands were could no longer be used to cover her ears. How desperately she wanted that child to kiss the air already.