Because her brain was foggy and hazy. Alana didn't know who she was and where she belonged. She landed in a white room filled with a glass spheres.

As she moved, she tripped and fell dropping one of the spheres in her hand.

The glass sphere shattered in her hand, the shards piercing through the flesh of her arm. The trail of blood should alarm her, is supposed to make her panic, however the wails of a new born baby ricocheted through the walls around her.

These cries pierced the air, filling the whole room with agony. It made her forget the physical pain of her wounded arm.

"Where are you?" She spoke to the walls that were encased in a strange silver glow.

The cries surged through her, boundless and yet bountiful. Their resonance grated her heart and shattered her soul. It was fear for that child that made her move around in a dizzying frenzy. The desperation to find and save him alerting her to the maternal instinct she never knew existed within her.

"I'm here, my arms are open..." she was sobbing through the pain now. As if someone was raking through her heart, twisting it and yanking it from her chest. "...I'm here, but why can't I see you?"

It was torture, absolute agony, a suffering she'd never experienced throughout her life. The cries wouldn't stop and no matter how desperate she looked she couldn't find the missing child. She searched and searched, everywhere and anywhere. However, the walls kept expanding out of her reach.

The image of him was so clear in her mind. A small baby, just a new born, naked and cold, in need of her warmth, of her nurture, of her love.

"Why can't I see you? Why can't I hold you?" She slumped on the floor in defeat and sobbed for a long time, her cries mingling with his.

"I'm sorry...I have failed you. I have failed..." Her voiced echoed in a trail. She hugged knees together, her head falling in between them. As if to contain the shattering of her broken heart and soul.

As her head suddenly cleared, it suddenly dawned on Alana why she couldn't find the child, why she couldn't hold him and why she couldn't love him.

That child was lost to her...a part of her that had ceased from existence... a part of her that had died, innocently...along with her.

***

When Alana bolted awake, she was sweating profusely. As if she had ran a marathon, she breathlessly clutched her huge belly. Her vision felt hazy but her thought was centred on the child inside her womb. Alana hugged her belly as the tears fell like waterfalls from her eyes, upon recalling the dream she had.

That woman had not only taken her life but her child's as well. Alana couldn't understand why she dreamt that dream. She had only wondered prior to her nap why Naala would choose to leave behind her loved ones. Alana didn't think she would virtually dream about the answer.

Recalling those last moments of Naala's life, Alana felt as if her heart had split in two. It felt like wound that kept burning through her somatosensory cortex. Thought by thought, it had felt so real and so raw as if it had been her.

She was so absorbed in that pain, she didn't think to question as to why and how she would dream about that woman's last moments so vividly. She was only left with the guilt of taking that child's life.

"Little bean..." The sob wreaked her body in realisation that in the past, this child's life had once been innocently taken from him.

"....I'm so sorry...so sorry!"

Her little bean wiggled inside her as if trying to sooth her in comfort. As if trying to remind her it was not her fault. Alana cried even more while soothing him back.

"I promise you...if I live through this, I will love you with all I have...You're my son, no matter what the circumstances. I've carried you for nine months. You're mine too." She cried.

When Lylas found her crying, with sweat making her hair stick to her face, he panicked thinking she was in labour.

Alana's tears were still streaming when she reassured him she wasn't in labour.

"I saw her Lylas..." She hiccuped her tears while trying to hold them in check. "I don't know how but I saw how she died..." she whispered.

Every time she closed her eyes, Naala's last moments were still fresh in her mind. She had felt her pain as if it had been her pain.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Lylas kept repeating this apology as he hugged her close. Alana was weakened by her sobs to refute his apology. It wasn't his fault. So why would he apologise?

His arms around felt so good, the warmth of his embrace comforted her so much, she basked in it for a while.

Then it suddenly occurred to her that Naala had died thinking this man didn't love her.

Months ago Mena had mentioned about it. The tragedy of her mistress's death. Back then Alana would not have thought she would get a glimpse as to how exactly Naala died thinking so. That reason alone factoring toward her decision to take her life.

This was what made Alana question the event of that woman's death. There must be a misunderstanding somewhere. How could that woman not believe Lylas loved her? Alana has been witness to how much exactly he loved her for the past year. He's been mourning for Naala these last fifteen millennia. Every decision he's ever made, every action he has ever taken was because of her. And for her alone.

"Lylas—?" Alana slowly released herself from his embrace to look at him, however there was something odd in his eyes that stopped her sentence. His eyes were glistening with a pain she couldn't describe.

She instantly forgot what she wanted to ask him as an urge to console him overwhelmed her.

"What's wrong?" She asked in shock.

Lylas pulled her into a stricter hug. Alana was frozen in shock. She had wondered before what his expression would be like as he cried. Seeing it now, so rough and raw, she felt a shudder go through her.

Seeing him in pain had the same effect of a thorn pricking through her skin again and again. She couldn't bear it. His brows were contorted tightly and his eyes red with thick tears. It was overwhelming to see him this way.

"Forgive me. From the beginning, I should have...I should have known it was you all along... I'm so s-sorry." His breath shook with emotion.

"Lylas? What's wrong?" She asked again.

What was he talking about? The fact that he was acting this way, made Alana suspect he could be possessed.

"He's fine." The voice at the threshold of their living room spoke. Alana startled at the voice until she recognised it was Derak.

Derak's presence confused her. Since when had he entered that island? Since when had he stood watching them at the threshold? And why was he suddenly speaking on Lylas behalf? What could have happened to cause Lylas to act this way?

As Alana pondered over this, two things suddenly occurred at once.

One: Derak, bearing a look of utmost pained pity, came toward them to put his hand on the shoulder of Lylas. Lylas deflected that hand as he shot a burst of golden lighting energy that struck Derak, sending him skittering a few feet to the ground from them.

Two: the shock of seeing such a violence, made Alana feel a sudden gush of liquid trickling down her white gown. The mortification hit her instantly. She knew this pregnancy was difficult, but so far she had been in control of her own bodily functions. Having such an embarrassing thing occur, especially in front of the man she loved was truly humiliating.

As she stared embarrassingly at her soiled gown. It suddenly occurred to her that moments ago before she had slept, she had felt a jab-like churning deep in her abdominal muscle. As if her womb was splitting apart.

Watching the further trickle gush out so suddenly in her pants, made her alert. She suddenly realised that trickle was not urine.

She stared at Lylas in shocked horror and the now tear-stained free Lylas seemed equally affected.

The burst of pain didn't occur until ten seconds after she realised what her body was doing.

Alana was told it wouldn't happen exactly like in movies, that movies were not good sources for such a occurrence. And yet the excruciating pain began immediately after her water broke.

The pain was nothing she had ever experienced before and yet it felt familiar to her. It was familiar because in her dream earlier she had went through something similar, minus the heartbreak.

"Little bean..." Alana whispered panically as she stared at her stomach.

Then an intense contraction punctured through her womb, weakening Alana to the floor.

"Naala!" Lylas shouted frantically.

The pain was grueling, worser than in that dream. It couldn't possibly compare.

As another burst of contraction doubled in intensity, Alana felt herself loosing consciousness. She couldn't borne it. However, it suddenly occurred to her that Lylas had shouted that woman's name.

Why would he call out for that woman?

Even when she was about to give birth to their child, all he was reminded of was that woman. Alana could feel a semblance of heartbreak brewing but she told herself to snap out it. She refused to think of that woman. No, right at this moment, her son was more important.

"Save him..." Alana whispered weakly. "Save, little bean." She begged and this plead was her final words before unconsciousness embraced her.

***

*An hour earlier*

•

"You're intruding again." Lylas warned as he sensed Derak's presence behind them.

They were at the beach, on the final hours until the sun would set. Alana had wanted to watch it with him, but after a while of relaxation she'd fallen asleep.

Currently on his lap was her sleeping form. Her pregnancy was drawing to last term, the exhaustion was too much for her to bear. Carrying an immortal child wasn't cut out for mortals. It pained Lylas so much to see her energy deplete ever so quickly.

She barely managed to even feed herself these days. However, there was a good side to this restful state of Alana. She relied on him more and clung on to him. Lylas never knew a mortal could move him so much in all these fifteen thousand years.

This mere mortal was quick to sacrifice everything, even her life for him. That devotion and dedication moved him so deeply, it created a special corner just for her in his heart.

Alana was a delicate piece of flower in his heart. A delicate flower that had blossomed in the darkest of storms in his life. A small smile appeared on Lylas as he stroked her hair back to her ear. The fact he was smiling so much lately didn't go unnoticed. It was rare to feel this happiness, to even hope for this happiness after this long. And yet this mere mortal drew out those feelings he'd buried deep in his heart.

Alana clung on his other hand and his free hand trailed over her as he incited a spell to sooth her, even in her dreams.

It suddenly occurred to Lylas that the heavenly prince was never usually this quiet before. Lylas looked to his side and saw that his long time friend was staring at the sleeping Alana with a deep frown.

"Why have you come, Derak?" Lylas eyebrow lifted in question.

"I've come with news...although I'm not very sure if I should tell you. How you will react...is what I'm worried about." Derak's tone was off putting.

Before Lylas could ask his friend to reveal this news. He quickly transported Alana back to the mansion and placed her on the huge U-shaped sofa. Then he pulled a quilt on the palm of his hands and covered her with it. As he was gently tucking her inside the quilt, he stroked her stomach to settle Luka so he wouldn't disturb her sleep, then kissed her forehead.

After making sure she was still sleeping, he exited the mansion and returned to the beach where he had left a strange looking Derak.

The ebb and flow of the waves were soothing to the ear. The tide was drawing in as the the red sun bathed the sky in purplish pinkish hues. This breathtaking scenery somehow was an auspicious sign. Lylas wasn't sure the news he was about to receive from Derak was good or bad.

Derak took his time to gaze at the horizon and Lylas suddenly felt impatient.

"Tell me straight, Derak. Don't beat around the bush...you should know now that nothing in this world can ever phase me." Lylas spoke.

"Yes...but in your immortal life there's only ever been one subject that has ever deeply affected you."

Lylas frowned.

Derak sighed. "After you told me that day seven months ago that Alana wasn't carrying twins but only your son...this phenomenon puzzled me for a long time. Such thing has never occurred before. A mortal carrying a fully formed immortal child." Derak spoke.

Lylas frowned. "I thought it was possible since she bears an immortal womb."

"Still...the method for your son's half soul to have survived this long without needing another to be stitched with is questionable." Derak said.

"And so, I went to question the god of fate whether such a thing has occurred before...he told me it never does...then I asked him to look into a mortals fate. I wanted to know whether Alana was going to survive this..."

"And?" Lylas asked, hating the suspense.

Derak shook his head. "It was truly impressive...it was the first time seeing the god of fate so offended...he drew up Alana's name in the book of fate and..."

"Derak." Lylas protested Derak's dramatic pause.

"...nothing." Derak sighed. "Alana's fate was blank in his book...such a thing is very uncommon, a mere mortal with a blank fate. This truly shocked the god of fate."

"Your Alana is a truly remarkable mortal...but this really irked me. Her blank fate, immortal womb and carrying a fully formed immortal child... I wondered whether she was an immortal in her previous lifetime."

"Impossible, I drew her name in the mirror of life. This was her first life." Lylas told him.

"Yes...I considered that...but then it occurred to me that you only drew her name in the mirror of life for mortals."

"The god of fate was annoyed by this phenomenon as well and so he went to seek advice from the goddess of birth." Derak sighed.

"On the other hand, I went to borrow the mirror of life for immortals from the high god of destiny... to call him out of his peaceful rest it required a lot of expenditure on my cultivation, however it was nothing that I couldn't recuperate... the god of destiny lend me the mirror of life with warning that if I'm looking to see my fate, that fate will change once I know of it. I assured him that the usage was not for me." Derak continued.

"The god of fate and the goddess of birth then both called me to the eleventh level of heaven...they had some news. They wanted me to bring the mirror of life. And so I went. The goddess of birth looked serious. It was the first time, I'd seen her so serious. She told me to write up Alana's name and throw it in the mirror of life."

"And what happened?" Lylas felt an impending anxiety.

"Something truly and utterly miraculous. The name...her name, the spelling... the letters rearranged themselves and guess what they spelt?"

As realisation slowly dawned, Lylas felt a shudder go through his body. His spine tensed and his jaw locked together. Sudden unneeded tears began pricking in strained effort upon the corner of his eyes.

"Don't jest with me!" The tone in Lylas' voice was hollow. Barely there.

"Lylas, have I ever done so before?" Derak asked, feeling so sympathetic for his friend.

Lylas stared down at his trembling hands. Alana. Naala. Alana was Naala. How such an obvious occurrence could have completely gone over his mind made Lylas feel so resentful.

From the beginning the clues had been there. His inability to compel her. The strange feeling of familiarity upon being with her, as if he had met her once but hadn't figured when and where. The resemblance if not in looks but personality. Her ability to enter his dream portals made from her sentiments. Her ability to enter his garden made from her spells. His inability to completely eradicate her memories. Her ability to eat the rana fruit, her favourite fruit and gain those powers. Her ability to harness powers of earth...the strange essence that felt so familiar to him.

To think, he had deemed those abilities to be caused from her dormant essence in which he later thought was because of the immortal womb. To think he'd deemed her reincarnation impossible since her body was still being preserved in the netherworld.

To think he had deemed his attraction for her was because that sort of woman was his type.

However, in actuality...

"H-how?" Lylas asked, feeling a slow stab fleshing through his heart. "How is it possible?"

If it was truly real. If Alana was indeed the reincarnation of Naala. Then...then...Lylas groaned, the stab in his heart impaling deeper. Not once but twice he would have wronged her. Such a thing truly was called an ill-fate.

"After the mirror of life revealed to us the name change. It began showing the origins of Alana's soul. The start point was Naala's death. Her soul splitting in two. One soul descended to the underworld, the other soul was her shadow, it clung to her son's other half soul, refusing to let go..."

Lylas was camatose as he blinked back the tears.

"...In the last moments of Naala's death, she used her last strength to recite a soul binding spell with her son. I think in her last moments, she never wanted to part with him. This caused a chain reaction of negative energy to sip into their souls, thus causing the split. Her shadow soul that clung to her son's other half soul got whisked between the boundaries of all realms. "

"For fifteen thousand of years they were lost in space, until a gust of wind whisked them to the heavens, twenty-two years ago. They landed upon the goddess of birth's special pond of life. Goddess of birth then heard the cries of Naala's shadowed soul. She had tried to separate her from her son, but Naala's shadowed soul clung fiercely refusing to let go...

Lylas breathed heavily and he realised he was shuddering.

"...goddess of birth then saw the reason why she held on and felt sorry for her. As a gift she created a unique mortal body for her shadowed soul. She moulded an immortal womb in her new mortal body so that it could temporary house the half soul of her son. Goddess of birth, made is so that soul in her immortal womb wouldn't be detected by anyone with cultivated powers and evil intentions... She also made is so that if Naala's shadow procreated during her mortal life, then she was going to happily live on with her son."

Three drops of tears left Lylas eyes. The knife now twisting in the deep recesses of his heart.

"Then she met me and it went downhill for her." Lylas confirmed.

"All this long—all this long I-I had her but I—" Lylas couldn't finish the sentence. The regret cut him so deep.