Volume 1: Sprouting Seeds

"Wahhhh! Wahh!!"

Within is the forest cloaked in icy pink misk, a baby's jeering cries could be heard.

"...Are my ears playing tricks on or is that a baby's cries I hear?" The old forager asked in bewilderment as he cupped his ears and began looking around.

"Hrrrrrmmm" Beside him, an old man with a hunched back also pondered as he suddenly looked up into the sky, through the various rainbow layers of clouds that layed there. Deep within those clouds, A black star was slowly pulsating into existence.

"Hold on... should be a forsaken one. Let's leave it, even without our help, it'll be able to survive well enough as a wild beast". He said after gazing at the star for some time.

"Ah, while you were dozing off, I accidently already grabbed it. It looks like it's a she." The forager had suddenly come back holding a bundled blanket that was softly emitting wimpering noises.

"Don't just run off while i'm in the middle of a thought and even find out its gender! You shouldn't have touched that thing! Don't you see that black haze hovering over its face? It means that that thing is cursed and that everything that comes into contact with it will be lead to misfortune".

"Ah! I should quickly put her back then!" The old forager began sweating and itching as he tried to run back to where he found her."

"You fool. Once you touch it, you're already cursed to share your fortune with it or else".

The forager came running back and asked timedly. "Or else..."?

"Or else, you'll face a retribution ten times worse than if you had just share your fortune. The reason why they're called forsaken is because even God has temporarily abandoned it."

"Even god... Hey hey, isn't this thing bad news then?"

"It is! Which is why you why you should have waited for me to finish my thoughts, you hyperactive punk!" The two old men looked to be around the same age but the way the hunched back old man talked made it seem as though the scoldings were that of an adult down to a child.

"Ahhh. What do I do now. I have a ton of fortune and treasures but I have no idea what would be considered fortune to an infant child! ...How about I give it this ring I found that can recreate any food you've had, with half the nutritional value?"

The old forager took out a pale white ring from his pocket and tried to set it onto the bundle of cloth but as soon as it made contact, the ring cracked and split apart into two equally split broken pieces.

"Tch tch, a knowledgeless infant obviously has no use for that kind of thing. Hold on, you stay here and i'll return to the village to fetch your emergency shield that activates when it senses danger, that way you can-..." The old man suddenly paused.

"What is it? And also, that shield took a lot of time and effort to find can't we just-"

"Shut up!" The old man whispered aggresively. "Do you hear that?" He suspiously looked around.

"What? No I don't hear anything?"

"Exactly." 

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The old forager suddenly got serious and held the baby in one hand while signing with the other.

[Sound eaters?]

[Most likely]. The old man signed back in an equally grim demeanor.

[What are they down down here in a temperate pink area! Don't they usually reside in moody blue areas only?!]

[It's probably because of that thing. Most likely, because you failed when trying to give it fortune, you drew backlash upon yourself. Slowly start walking toward the village while I draw it away.]

The forager nodded as the old man began to fade into the mist. Forager then looked at the hazy faced bundled baby with a slightly rueful expression as he walked carefully while carrying her.

"Hic.. hic..."

'Noo, shhh! shhh!'

"Click"

Suddenly, a faint click resonated from out of the ground.

The old forager kept walking without turning back to look.

The sound then began repeating at the rate he was walking.

"Click. Click."

After every click the old man would begin walking slightly faster. His heart was also starting to begin to uncontrolably speed up.

"Badump, Badump, Badump, Badump!"

"Click, Click, Click, Click."

The old forager felt a presense begin to brush against his back as he progressively broke out into a run-walking.

"Click, Click, Click, Click!"

Suddenly, the clicks began to increase in intensity as he felt pain in his back. It was as if his skin was being flayled. Even so, he didn't dare to make a peep as he endured the pulsating, burning sensation.

"Click, Click, Clic-!"

"Tic. Tock."

The sound of a clock rang out at this moment from far beyond.

"ajlksnveoutsimbwgolngaelkgn vjleawwgianlngkqjneg !" A collage of voices screamed out as the unseen monster suddenly stopped ripping apart the forager's back and flew off into the distance with a "whoosh".

The old forager sighed with relief as he then began to run without regard for how loud he was being. He quickly reached the village 20 minutes after running non-stop.

Shock waves and booms spread out not too long after he had left as the old man who had been left behind had eventually returned to the village, late at night, as well,...

...

"Sigh, you're gonna be the death of me little one." The forager said exhuastingly as he stared at the baby while an automation applied biocream to his wounds. Tendral-like glowing moss spread out and stabbed into his bare back as he edured the pain before the feeling slowly changed to an icy, cool sensation spreading out from the area.

The hunched back old man was also sitting beside him, at this moment. "...That thing is pretty bad. I made an assumption on it based on some records I had happened to read about the last forsaken to be taken in by a villager, but it's likely that thing is even more abnormal than the one recorded. The Sound Eater I faced was a mutant that had the traits of a Time Eater, it's possible it could have even evolved into an Existance Eater if given enough time and resources. I serverly injured it but I couldn't kill it before it escaped. It's likely it will remember the scent of that thing want to eat it so it can shed its body. Forager, the amount it'll take for you to even out the fortune and misfortune of that thing is almost inestimateable... At the very least, You'll likely have to raise for a period of time before me and the chief can looks through the records to find a solution that will cut the ties".

"Stop making it sound like this is dire task. And stop calling it an it! She's a she! So what if I have to raise this bad luck magnet for a while? I've had the patience to spend 50 years waiting for and Insta Fruit to sprout on a tree, you know! What's a decade or two compared to that?"

"Yes, but that was a special exception for you and this is also a special case... Nevermind. I need to go into seclusion for a couple of months to heal my wounds from the fight". The old man shook his head as he dragged his hole ridden body to leave the cave and mountain they were situated in.

Strangely enough, none of the sphere shaped wounds bled, although if one came close enough, they would hear strange noises coming from the wounds.

The old man whistled sharply as a 10 foot pelican-like bird screeched from the distance and arrived at the open entrance.

"Old man". The forager suddenly called out. "Thanks..."

The old man had an idea of what he was talking about and grunted in acknowledgement without turning around before hopping onto the pelican's back and flying away with it.

The forager looked back at the baby. There was a fluffly cloud of black mist obscuring its face from him, but even so, he could still hear the babies innocent giggles as she faced him, although her voice was coming out in distortions as if it was behind a filter.

"So apparently your name is Mistai, huh... No wait, Ai Mist, right?"

The baby continued to laugh without any change as she pooped her diaper.