Finally. After hours spent listening to stupid bullshit, and then socializing, we can finally–

"Alright. Time for your baptism Haell," Mom said, forcing a smile.

I looked at her, mouth agape.

I began to cry.

I did not stop when we exited the massive church. I did not stop when we strolled through the manor grounds, greeting the mostly human staff along the way. I did not stop crying even when we’d arrived at the central fountain along with a sizable crowd. Some were there just to watch, and others also had babies or older they wanted to have baptized.

I was still bawling at the top of my fucking lungs when Lathary and the other shepherds showed up.

Lathary tried to preach about dedicating our lives for the good of the empire, and the greater hegemony as a whole. How great it is to move for the angels and all that bullshit. I could tell he was getting very annoyed at the nuisance I was making of myself.

Good.

If he wanted to baptize me, then I sure as hell wasn’t going to make it easy!!

I began to grow irritated at myself for disrupting such an important tradition, but I knew that it was the priest’s own feelings that were spreading towards us because of shepherd bullshit. So I just took satisfaction in knowing exactly how I was making them feel, and then I cranked it up even higher, wailing like a broken siren.

The other people with us were more easily fooled and controlled, and they began complaining about me. I could feel Mom’s protective hold grow tighter, and I just clung to her harder while continuing to bawl. My throat was beginning to get sore, but a little bit of pain was not going to beat me!

"Shh!" Mom reprimanded with a similarly irritated expression on her face. I immediately shut up and watched as her face turned to one of worry. "Sorry baby…" she whispered, and then turned her glare towards the priest at the front. So the mind control aura works on even her. Damn.

That certainly wasn't Mom's fault, so I hugged her to show that I wasn't upset.

…And then I returned to my regularly scheduled crying.

There was no stopping this train, and soon the other babies and toddlers were answering the call, turning our wails into a very loud chorus.

Unfortunately, despite my interruptions, the babies were soon taken to the fountain, and then washed under the artificial waterfall. The statue of twisting flesh and bone was said to be a small part of a small part of the Angelic God’s likeness. The whole procedure honestly looked kind of fun, but it was the principle of the thing. I did not wish to do it, and I certainly made my displeasure known.

The shepherds washed and baptized the babies, but Lathary only watched on. Curiously, it was only when it came time for our turn, the baron stepped forward to do the baptism himself.

That was flattering and all, but that did not change my trepidation over the process. Magic literally existed, so who was to say that this was a mere formality that did nothing? For all I knew, it could be binding my soul to eternal servitude towards the angels!

I certainly did not want that.

So I redoubled my efforts. I wailed and thrashed and tried my hardest to escape from my mom's grasp.

She grew distressed at my behavior, and I felt a bit bad about that, but I refused to give anything but my best effort for this. The first… second fight of my life! After that merchant fuck.

"Haell. Haell… what's wrong? It's okay. We won't hurt you…"

I looked at my mom's worried face, and I nearly broke. But I refused to give anything but my best effort for this. It was my first… perhaps second fight in this life, and I had no intention of losing.

"Just give her here," Lathary's resonant voice called out to us, and Mom nearly handed me over to the bad shepherd man. But she thankfully pulled away at the last second and shot him a hostile look.

"My baby's distressed. I just want to calm her down."

"That's why I want you to give her here. I'll calm her down, and then we can have this baptism." His eyes suddenly focused on me, and I felt a looming dread.

Mom jumped away, causing a scene. Dad did not have his sword, but one look at his posture told that he was ready to throw hands.

Mom addressed Lathary without care for all the bystanders around. "You try and use your mind magic on Haell one more time, and I’ll make you regret it.”

A look of pure rage came to his face. Lathary looked around at the now murmuring crowds and his fury only burned hotter. "You dare threaten me!? A shepherd!? Have you gone mad?!"

Mom's eyes were resolute, but it was Dad who answered first as he stood with his wife. "Yes."

"It is not madness to protect our daughter." Mom added.

Lathary's eyes searched around, the other shepherds looked at him worriedly. There was a crowd of people here, and we had already caused a scene. I could feel his anger, as it resonated with me through his magic, but for once I welcomed the sensation of just how mad this had made him. The foolish shepherd even turned his furious gaze at myself, and he just looked silly for holding a grudge towards a baby.

I stuck out my tongue and blew him a raspberry.

I could not resist.

Lathary’s composure cracked, and so did my parents’. The former with resentment, but the latter also could not resist.

Mom and Dad could not help but laugh, and I was glad to have brought a smile to their faces even in this situation.

Lathary looked like he was about to blow a gasket soon, but he took a deep breath and calmed his emotions. "It seems you both have some… issues that you need to work on. And your child is already showing a rebellious nature," he said the word as if it were a curse. "This reflects badly on your parenting. And in that respect, you must learn. Just as we shepherds guide civilization, so too must the parents guide their children. Do you understand?"

There was a beat of silence.

Mom looked like she wanted to retort, but Dad placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. She looked at him, and the towering man shook his head.

We walked away, without another word. Priest Lathary will forever lament, without ever receiving an answer to his question.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

~~~

Sweets, fruits, and juice! My parents were still worried about me because of how much I'd freaked out during my supposed baptism, so they took me to 'A Taste Of Rainforest.'

It was a pretty high-end restaurant, built upon a small forested park in the middle of the upper district. Everything about it was outdoors, from the tables and seating, to the belfegor staff who hang around in decorated platforms atop the trees. They had all chosen bright and eye-catching colors for their skin!

The owner attended to us personally, a jolly middle-aged human woman. She was very respectful towards my parents, and in turn towards me.

We had a nice meal of belfegorian cuisine, consisting of a plethora of reserved and marinated foods that could take literal years of preparation. I'd heard that from Salaire.

We went back home afterwards, and I fell asleep in Dad's arms. My mood was successfully lifted, and my stomach was full to bursting.

I shat myself on the way.

~~~

Mom carried me back to my crib, and I woke up for a brief moment, to get my diapers changed. Dad had run to the bathroom the moment we arrived, in order to clean himself up. This was because I shat myself while he was carrying me. Just, a big stinking pile of it, right on his chest. Poo all over his clothes. The works.

I should feel bad. And I was definitely embarrassed. But…

"Ehe… Ehehehehe!!" I laughed as my mom dressed me back up. She shot me a somewhat reprimanding look, but she could completely hide the smirk from her face.

"Now Haell… You should not…" she scoffed in barely contained laughter. "You shouldn't shit on your dad! Or me!"

Mom could not take it any longer. She burst into giggles. "If you must though… then Rallem. Definitely do it on Rallem. Your dad. Not me." She could barely get out the words in between fits of laughter.

~~~

We had our usual dinner, myself and parents seated around a table, while my grandfather loomed at us from his own oversized accommodations.

Mom and Dad were talking, and the subject of what happened earlier came up.

"What do we do about her baptism?" Mom asked.

"Maybe we should talk about this later…" Dad glanced back at me.

"It should be fine. She's just a baby. But that's why it's so frustrating. Church clearly distresses her. All those people, the weird rituals. Do we have to take Haell?"

Dad rubbed at his chin. "I mean, we've been chased out of many towns already after butting heads with the local shepherds and rulers. Haell probably just had a bad day. It'd be fine next time…"

"But what if it isn't? Things almost came to blows last time."

They worried about what may happen next time, unaware of how much I truly understood, although Dad was a bit more careful and considerate of me and what I may hear. Mom expressed her worry about my baptism and their treatment of the baron, although I gathered that she was more annoyed than anything at the prospect of potential harassment or even the dreaded politics.

"Hah!" Grandpa Goler butted in, waving his mug of alcohol around knowing full well that I can't drink it and it sucks! Except he didn't know how much I wanted it, and he certainly wasn't doing shit on purpose. "If that baron Thallamy or whatever…"

"Lathary," Dad supplied.

"Right. That cunt."

"Language!" my mother rebuked.

"No fucking respect for the elders…" Grandpa grumbled. "But as I was saying! I got one more adventure left in me. One more. So if it comes down to a fight…"

"Dad…" Dad addressed his own dad. "Please don't talk about dying like that…"

Grandpa scoffed. "I failed. I could not seize immortality. I could not defeat age. And so this is the best I can do. You lot, however… it's not too late for you yet. Achieve what I could not. Specially you, Haell! I can feel that true adventurer's spirit in you! Not like the pussies they make of them these days!"

"Yeah!" I cheered, lifting up my own cup. It was filled with water.

"Golex!" Mom snapped. "Look at what you taught her!"

"I taught her not to be a spineless adventurer but a damn adventurous one!"

Mom grumbled some more, but the topic eventually failed into my twice-failed baptism. I was already absent for my first one on account of being punted across the room.

Not that they insinuated in any way that it was my damn fault. The merchant took all the fall for that one, and I completely approved of that narrative.

"It'll be okay," Dad reassured my mom. "She was just… feeling bad today. But I'm sure we can get her baptized next month. Okay? We won't need to move out and be chased away again."

I sighed sadly upon hearing that. I so wished I could give that to them. I could tell that my parents weren't devout at all in the slightest, but their position only necessitated that they keep up appearances.

It meant nothing to them. To go there and do the little social dance of pretending to be good Angelians. To have me be baptized over inconsequential superstitions, nothing but a silly little bath.

But it meant something to me.

And so I chose to come clean. I trusted them, and they deserved to know why I might get them chased out of town.

"Soul Feat," I ground out, my voice far clearer than before, no longer that of a powerless baby. "Reincarnator."

My parents raised their brows, but it was Grandpa whose eyes widened. His hands slammed down, and the wooden table almost splintered. The gigantic chair he was sitting on was flung all the way towards the kitchen.

"Reincarnator!" he shouted, his old legs already a tad shaky from the exertion. "You… you!"

All of us just looked at him with both confusion and concern. Grandpa blushed a little and sat back down, proceeding to explain.

"Soul Feats are… I don't know what it's like out there anymore, but they were bloody rare in my day. Maybe there'd be a rumor or two about them, but it was so hard to confirm. People took it for superstition or the like."

Dad nodded slowly. "Yeah… I've heard of some soul… things…"

"None of which were ever confirmed," Mom added. "We didn't really give it much thought…"

"Well, it's true," Grandpa informed us. "That she even knows about soul feats means that Haell is definitely telling the truth. I can see it in her eyes. She's always been a brilliant child."

I blushed and giggled.

"And that she knows that particular soul feat by name…" Grandpa trailed off. He continued after seeing our questioning looks. "Reincarnator in particular means that Haell here can remember her past life… just like Shanayah."

My parents blinked at the mention of the empress. This was part of why I even considered telling them. There was precedent for such an outlandish story as mine to be believed.

Mom and Dad looked at me, eyes boring into my skull.

"Is this true?" Dad demanded, his large and terrifying visage that I'd gotten used to once again intimidating. I winced.

"Yes…" I answered guiltily.

I caught Mom glowering at him for a split second, before turning back to me with a softer tone. "Is that… why you do not want to be baptized?"

I nodded, then clarified, "Worship. No one." My face contorted in an angrier stare. "Mind control. Bad!"

There was silence around the tables for a moment, before Grandpa jovially cackled.

"Yes! Yes that's right! Don't just let them decide that for you! Don't allow the damn shepherds to rape your mind! Don't just follow and follow all these bastard angels! Have a true adventure and be free!"

His speech did not fail to raise my spirits, and I once again raised my glass of water for a toast. "Hell Yeah!!!"

I laughed and continued my meal happily, sending nervous looks down to my parents who seemed to be discussing in a private whisper. Mom did not even reprimand Grandfather for the terms he used.

Finally, Dad turned towards me, a sigh escaping his lips but he looked at peace now. "You're still our daughter Haell. No matter who you were before."

Mom smiled and squeezed her husband's hands. "If it's that important to you, then we'll not let anyone force you into a baptism. Or to go to church for that matter. We'll cut down anyone who tries to do otherwise!"

Dad laughed nervously, "We should avoid that… But I also agree. We'll protect you if anyone ever tries to force you into anything. And sorry if… that's also what we did earlier…"

"I… No." I croaked out, my throat heavy with emotion. I was worried about what they might think, with my prior memories, and the deviant ideas that came with it.

"It's fine!" I got out, before the tears finally came. I was so happy that in the end, they were still the supportive and kind parents I'd come to love.