Atonement's Path

Chapter_7: The Birth

7 Months Later

Ana yelled, "AHHH!" as she prepared to give birth to a newborn child—hopefully a lovely one. “AHHH! I think I’m about to die!” Ana screamed as she felt the pain more. “Just stay calm,” Drake told her while he was operating on her. “Calm? How am I supposed to be calm like this?” Ana questioned him arrogantly. 

The screams can be heard outside of the room—loud and clear. Two men sat on the bench next to the room. Ragnar sat and began to think deeply. “Stop overthinking this,” Bane said as he rubbed his hand on Ragnar’s back. Ragnar said with a worried look, “It’s just that Ana will leave after this.” He began to think more deeply. His thoughts were getting the best of him; he was overthinking. Questions filled his thoughts, like, “What do I do after she leaves?" and “Am I going to raise that baby alone? He was also feeling motivated because of the people that trusted him, but that would make him more overwhelmed by his thought, “What if I failed? ”, questions began to pop out of his head. “What about going somewhere before she gets taken away? ” Bane suggested an idea to him: “What do you mean? A place? That might be an interesting idea.” Ragnar began to think more, and as he was thinking, he remembered a place. “Ah! I know a place. It was beautiful there; I went there with my family. ‘Champ de Fleurs( Field of Flowers)—that’s the name.” Ragnar felt more confident; he was not worried anymore. “But that’s far away; it would take you an hour to go there. That’s 20 miles! ” Champ de Fluers is located in the northeast, and Ragnar’s village is at the east, near the mountains. “I think it would be worth it.” Ragnar was amused by the idea. It was his last moment with his wife.

The doors were kicked open. “Here is your newborn child, Ragnar.” Ragnar stood up and took the baby from Drake. The baby was adorable; it was the light—no, it was filled with light and blessings from God. It smirked it giggled. By its reaction, it was happy. “Your wife is also there; now go inside, for both of you will talk alone.” Drake and Bane waited outside, and Ragnar entered the room. Ana was filled with happiness and joy; both of them were happy. “He’s a boy; what should we name him?” Ana quietly asked Ragnar. Ragnar looked at the baby, and he smiled.”We shall name him ‘Thors’. The famous warrior back then that saved my bloodline. The rival of my grandfather.” Ragnar smiled and met the eyes of Ana. “A beautiful and powerful name indeed,” Ana smiled back. They were happy, but that happiness would vanish as they remembered what would happen. “Thank you for making me happy,” Ana cried, her tears rushing through. For once, Ragnar smiled; he didn’t shed a single tear. “You are welcome,” Said by the smiling Ragnar. Inside the room was a family, smiling out of happiness.

2 Weeks Later...

In a hurry, Ragnar packed his bag quickly. Honey, hurry; we’ll miss the sunset,” Ana said while holding her baby. He hurried and said, “I’m here.” The carriage they hired arrived earlier than they thought; a man like Ragnar would of course be still sleeping knowing that the carriage had arrived. They entered the carriage slowly. “That’s a cute little on your arm, miss,” The carriage driver said. “Aww thank you.” Ana smiled at him out of pure embarrassment. “He looks like me, right?”Ragnar pointed at himself and complimented himself. A proud father would totally say this: Anyway, how much will the ride cost?” Ana asked. “That would be one gold coin. The ride would take at least an hour, so it will be a long one.” The driver whipped the horses to motivate them to move. “Gee.” Horses were trained to learn verbal communications, like “Gee,” to make the horse move forward.

“Woah!” Ragnar hits his head from the unexpected gallop of the horse. The driver apologized for not alerting them, saying, “I’m so sorry.” “It’s okay, I was the one not careful.” Ragnar apologized instead. 

After an hour of the horses galloping through the hardened rocks,climbing the hills, and passing through villages, they have arrived at the “Champ de Fleur.” The place was a popular tourist spot for the people from the other realms, and it is one of the most beautiful and unbelievable places on the realm. It was known for it’s large number of types of flowers and it’s beautiful perspective at sunset if you sat on the rock on top of the hills of flowers. For it was too beautiful that the past kings of the realm had written their signatures on the rocks. But it was rumored that it was not a place that God had created for the people but a work made by humans itself. 

This place was meaningful to Ragnar; it held a special place in his heart. It was the last place they enjoyed after his family was brutally killed by the demons. And he thought this would be the same place that both of them would enjoy, as he knew that they would never meet again. This place remained to be a place for which all of his cherished loved ones will be gone, but it also reminded him of the bittersweet moments of peace among the chaos

‘This place held a meaning to my life. I was filled with emotions for what had happened before, but the emotions I am feeling right now are only happiness and sadness. I should tell my son this story once he gets older.’ Ragnar thought to himself after standing on the hill of flowers. He sat on a rock as he felt his body being different and the smell of the flowers are too magnificent. “This is too beautiful for me to enjoy.” He inhaled again and it was heaven, he felt heaven.

 For months, he believed that God hated him for what he had done, but why is it that he feels a beautiful and sweet moment right now? Did God never hate him, and he was overthinking it? For which this moment is a beautiful moment for a character to truly understand self-worth. He can now understand and feel that he was a worthy man all along. The moment he lost self-control and punched Ana that day, he started hating himself and seeing himself as a worthless and cowardly man. And the moment he felt fear and scared, he started hating on himself more. But right now, seeing the sunset has somewhat changed something in him that he doesn’t know. 

White flakes fell from the sky. “Snow?” said Ragnar. “Ah, yes, today is December,” said Ana as she grabbed some snowflakes. “A snow after a beautiful sunset, it couldn’t be better than this.” Ragnar was happy; it was the happiest he had felt. It was truly a beautiful moment.