3 Prologue 3/3 : Motherly Love

From within the Astral Qi barrier, situated at Smaragdus' auditorium.

A golden storm of whirling essence gathered above the couple, at the same time arcane music rang out from the heavens, Elysian projections of beasts danced through the sky rising to the firmament above.

The silhouettes of the couple danced the dance of life, within the barrier, faint mist tendrils wrapping around them. The Astral Blood Essence was invoking a zealous sacred lust between the yin and yang. The silhouettes were moving ever more fervidly to the rising arcane melodies. Eventually, their bodies shuddering to the crescendo of the seraphic hymns.

The faint tendrils of mist evolved into a golden-magma coloured phosphorescent corona of light around the lovers. The corona of light moved towards Jasmine's dantian, and from it, the yin and yang energies of the two rushed out from within her to form a cocoon above the couple.

This cocoon had a transparent membrane, with lines of essence moving along pathways – like veins - around the circumference of the envelope, it scintillated with a gold-magma colour. Two conspicuous specks of light slowly rolled towards the centre of the cocoon, those specks of lights depicted nebulas and various celestial bodies of the universe within them. Already at the centre of the enclosure were the energies of yin and yang released by Jasmine and Cestra, waiting for the specks of astral light to combine with them.

"The formation of the foetus is nearly complete." Inwardly thought the Astral God.

A hole formed from within the Astral Qi wall placed by the Astral God and the now unconscious couple gently floated out from within.

At the same time, the couple left the barrier, the Astral Blood and the yin and yang essence of the couple met, resulting in a tempest of light as bright as a burning supernova emanated from the cocoon. The energy in the envelope continued to spiral around in a uniform motion, while the drops of blood and essence amalgamated in a mythical fashion.

The Pinnacle Elder and the ethereal being gazed at the transparent cocoon ardently, making sure to capture the formation of life within.

Gradually, the small amalgamation of energy started to form a skeletal structure. The quaint skeleton was crystalline in nature, completely lacking any impurities.

"How could this be? This foetus's skeleton is already at the level of Crystallisation. This physical constitution takes many millennia for a cultivator to reach," Pinnacle Elder whispered in surprise.

"You shouldn't expect any less from a descendant of mine." The Astral god replied while stroking its proverbial beard.

Once the crystalline skeleton was formed, the gold-magma coloured light from the membrane of the cocoon rushed inwards and enclosed the skeletal structure. Flesh, muscle and tendons started to grow around the skeleton, during the process the golden-coloured essence formed runes which engraved themselves within the tissue. The most arcane of runes congregated around the Five Viscera and Six Bowels; ensuring the safety and protection of the most central organs of the body.

At this point, the Astral Bloodline went into effect; affecting the meridian system of the body. The meridian system is the most essential cultivation instrument after the dantian, the meridians control the flow of Qi in the body. The dantian, just below the naval, absorbs essence from within the air towards itself, and then through a practised cultivation method transforms the received essence into Qi. Cultivators can use Qi to strengthen their body, increase their vitality and most importantly to use martial arts! When using martial arts, the Qi is projected out of the body in either a form of assault when attacking or as a form of defence. Qi can also be manipulated to propel itself forward a considerable distance by a cultivator, whether it be Fire Qi or Sword Qi or any Qi under the Primordial Way.

The Astral Bloodline transformed the meridians into a set of extremities matching the Astral God itself, thus allowing the unborn child to manipulate Astral Qi – something unusable by the trillions of lives within this plane.

After the completion of the meridian system, natural sparkling skin grew around the unborn child's frame, a surface at the pinnacle of perfection.

"Damn, it's not even born yet, and I already know it's going to be a lady-killer. I'm going to have to discipline this punk," Grumbled the Pinnacle Elder.

"Well, of course, he is modelled after me." Replied the Astral God.

"Aren't you just a personification of the laws of the plane?" The Pinnacle Elder started inquisitively at the being.

"That's beside the point," barked the Astral God, blushing embarrassingly after losing its imperious demeanour, "the parents have good genes."

"I can cultivate, but the conditions are not right yet for me to conjure a body. His meridian system is what I use with my incorporeal form, the only part of me that is corporeal is my meridian system. Through my meridians, he will be able to use my Astral Qi. No matter what cultivation technique he uses, it will be usable by my Astral Qi." Stated the Astral God.

The Pinnacle Elder nodded in understanding.

Bright luminescent gold hair started to form on the child's head, eventually growing so long as to wrap around him like a mother's embrace. The hair glowed with Primordial Laws; if a mortal were to stumble upon a thread of his hair, the laws on it would be enough to foster a decently sized clan.

The Primordial Laws are esoteric laws intrinsic to everything, even the Astral God was created by the Primordial Laws. The Astral God holds hegemony over the Way of Astral, which is a sub-domain of the Primordial Way. There are many sub-domains to the Primordial Way such as Way of Fire; Way of Water; Way of the Sword; Way of Life; Way of Space; and many more.

The Primordial Way has placed shackles upon the sub-domain Gods - who since their genesis have been masters of their Way -; as a result, these sub-domain Gods have restrictions placed upon their spiritual and corporeal being. Their restricted spirituality prevents them from being able to sense the entirety of their plane. Thus many of the events are not noticed by the sub-domain God. More often than not, they know very little unless it is significant disturbance or occurrence.

Sub-domain Gods are also restricted by their bodies; the Primordial Laws have prevented the sub-domain Gods from forming a corporeal body. As a result, they can only move around in an incorporeal form until certain conditions present themselves that allow them to develop a physical body.

The Astral God waved his Qi over the unconscious couple to wake them. Cestra and Jasmine nodded to the being in thanks and then stared at their unborn child, eyes glimmering with unconditional love.

"Very well, my time here has come to an end. As a consequence of this unconventional birth, some actions are required to make sure he is born adequately. Little girl, I will help you enter the cocoon. I want you to embrace your child and make him feel your heartbeat and presence. That way, he will understand who his mother is," The Astral God turned towards Jasmine.

"You will need to stay with him for nine months, at the end of that period he will start to stir, and the membrane will break. From then on, your child will be born."

At the end of his speech, the Astral God vanished through his rift. "Let's see how far you will go little one…"

•••

Jasmine and Cestra turned to each other in happiness, "Go, my love, our son needs you. He isn't even born yet, and he's already giving us trouble." Laughed Cestra.

Jasmine made her way towards the Cocoon, now that the Astral Qi wall had disappeared nothing was blocking her.

"But it's the best kind of trouble," She gently whispered to herself.

The cocoon welcomed her presence and pulled her in. She gently looked at her son, with awe and incredulity.

"Such surreal hair and this perfect skin, and that absolutely adorable face. My child even if you were scarred beyond recognition, I would love you the same."

The faint golden mist returned to the cocoon and enclosed the hugging mother and child. Their hearts beating in unison.