May 25th, Year 280 A.G.C.
That day, the sky over Lirium darkened as never before, though an eerie calm still reigned over the capital. In two different corners of the city, two children came into the world. Neither they nor their mothers knew their destinies would forever intertwine.
New Live Local Hospital — Fourth Floor, Room 15-N — 08:10 a.m.
"Carol, listen! You must stay strong!" cried one of the midwives, her hand nearly crushed by the mother's grip.
"I–I can't anymore!" screamed Carol, her voice breaking under the most human pain she had ever felt.
The doctor leaned toward her.
"One more push, Mrs. Graves! Push!"
The longest hour of her life drained every ounce of strength she had. She had once faced the blows of Calamyr, endured days without food, even survived a cannonball tearing through her flesh. But nothing compared to this pain. Her immortality didn't protect her, didn't numb her. In that moment, Carol was simply human.
Then, a piercing cry filled the hospital.
"WAAAAAAH!"
The newborn, strong and full of life, cried with a force that echoed through the halls. Amid the nurses' murmurs—"He's beautiful," "He looks like an angel," "He'll break hearts someday"—Carol, exhausted, could barely breathe.
The doctor placed the baby in her arms.
"He's healthy, ma'am. A very healthy boy."
"E… Elian…" she whispered, caressing the baby's cheek. She brushed her nose against his and smiled faintly. "Nice to meet you, my love."
The doctor noted the name on his form.
"And the surname?"
Carol hesitated. The man she had loved had abandoned her, and she refused to let her child carry that shadow.
"Graves. His name will be Elian Graves."
The child rested peacefully beside her. And so, between gasps and tears, Carol became a mother.
Alhazen Residence — Presidential Palace, Subterranean Laboratory, Level -20 — 08:16 a.m.
"AIDRIEN!" screamed Laura as several doctors and nurses restrained her, monitoring her vitals. "Damn it, Aidrien, get over here!" she shouted at her husband, who only stood and watched.
The president of Lirium remained unmoved, observing his wife writhe in labor. Beside him stood that—the creature revered as the strongest in history, the man who, despite wearing a lab coat, was the most sadistic of all: S, "the Smiling Demon," "the Strongest Creature in History," "the Man Who Never Stopped Laughing."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" S laughed maniacally, throwing his head back. "Oh, Hazen, this is priceless! Your wife begs you to be here for the birth of your child, and you just stand here—so detached! YOU'RE HILARIOUS, HAHAHAHA!" he said, pressing his face close to Alhazen's.
"It's Alhazen to you, idiot. Don't ever call me Hazen again," Aidrien said coldly.
"Aww, that hurts my feelings," S mocked. "But you know what? I don't give a damn! Hahahaha! You'll always be Hazen to me."
"Just do your damn job when this is over," Alhazen muttered, eyes still fixed on his wife's suffering.
Her labor lasted roughly forty minutes. The birth itself was normal—but the air in that room was heavy, and it wasn't because of Alhazen's gravity control.
When the child was finally born, he was gently laid beside his mother.
"Prince… oh, my sweet, beloved Prince," Laura whispered, cradling her son with every ounce of love she had left. "You're so beautiful… you're… my life…" Her voice faded just as the monitors began to scream. She hadn't lost much blood, and there were no complications—but her body simply couldn't endure.
Alhazen didn't flinch. As the doctors rushed to revive the First Lady, he calmly raised a hand.
"Leave her… she's already dead," he said, his voice void of grief. "The only thing you were ever good for, woman, was giving birth to the perfect heir."
He wrapped the infant in a sheet and held him up like one might handle a parcel.
"Here," he said to S. "Do it. Give him your special vision."
S lifted the newborn as though he were a toy.
"HAHAHAHA! Listen, little brat! Your father just handed you to me. What a delicious comedy!"
Still laughing, S dropped the baby into a custom-built cradle. Then, with monstrous force, he drove both thumbs into the newborn's eyes. Prince's cry shattered the walls of the palace. S's laughter filled the lab as his Elyth overflowed into the infant's body.
After a few seconds, S withdrew his fingers and pressed his palm over the ruined eyes, regenerating them with casual amusement.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Hazen—you won't believe this!" he said between fits of laughter. "He couldn't do it! This little bastard couldn't absorb my power—not even his body can handle it! Look!" He grabbed the baby by one leg and lifted him upside down. The infant convulsed as his veins burst beneath his skin.
The doctors tore the child from S's grasp, desperate to save him. Alhazen watched, unmoved, as though observing insects at work.
"S… your little Project Weapon X—change its course," he ordered. "You promised me soldiers as powerful as yourself. I no longer want soldiers… I want another you."
He increased the gravity in the room a thousandfold. It would have crushed anyone else, but S moved through it easily.
"Oh… another me, huh? How interesting," S said with a grin. "Actually, I've already started experimenting. So I promise you, Hazen—I'll give you another me. Another monster. One I can play with."
He turned to leave, still laughing.
"By the way, that little piece of garbage you call your son—he did absorb something from me. But it's incomplete. It always will be. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DEFECTIVE TOY!" he shouted, laughter echoing as he vanished into the corridor.
Aidrien remained alone, surrounded by the corpse of his wife and the frantic doctors struggling to keep his newborn alive. He didn't care. To him, the child was already a failure.
And so, in different hours, in different places, two children were born.
One—a child of hope.
The other—marked by pain.
Both—mirror and counterpart, destined to collide along the same path.