Infant
“I’m sorry Deus but… You are a smart boy, Deus.” “I think you already understand the situation. You can rest well and.”
“Okay I understand” He interrupted.
Beep. He held his phone in pale silence and stared at the blank, black screen, his thumb still hovering over the blank screen from where it had declined the call.
Pff… Did I seriously just have hope? Hah.
Well, it was very logical to think that a surgery with success of pretty much 85-95% wasn’t gonna fail three times in a row.
Damn. This is what we call despair. Right? Even after experiencing these emotions you never get used to it. Haha.
I Guess my career ends here. My life’s dedication. Damn!
He was a professional MMA fighter and during a fight, he had a quite common occurrence for MMA professionals. A torn ACL. But, what’s uncommon was that this was his third failed surgery. About sixty-thousand plus dollars gone.
Dragging his body a bid sideways, he raised his arm to the desk struggling to remove a book lying under a layer of hunky books. It was like an odd-one-out option in those fourth grade tests which anyone could get. A bit tattered in the cover page, it’s pages hanging onto their lives, and it was written in proper-alien gibberish. But it still looked like a poor girl amidst some hunky guys because of its happy-mountain-life scenery in the cover.
I have read many languages but it still doesn’t have any resemblance. Is it a very ancient language?
Flap. As he flipped over and there seemed to be something written on the first page.
This wasn’t there before. He thought.
It seemed like some kind of weird calligraphy but when he observed, it read: Melhi-Hematics
Melhi? As in the town Melhi. I have never seen this before. Did I write it here? He wondered.
No. Why would I write Hematics when I don’t even know anything like that? Does this “Our hereditary book” have something more going on with it?
He kept at it for sometime.
Well… I was just planning to visit Melhi. My mother had some connection with it. Well, I don’t even know their name…He sighed.
Let’s pack. I will probably like the place and stay there. It is a pretty busy tourist place. I might as well invest in some business over there and can also work on my own.
It does hurt a lot to get lost like this but efficiency is the key for life. I can’t go back to where I was. So I might as well work on what I can.
Emotions must be invested efficiently.
****************
Zzzp. He packed his suitcase and dragged it down the bed to the floor. Making it stand.
I don’t really care about those “mentors” now, so there is no need to inform them. I have packed everything that can be needed. Having some grand in bank I will be well-off in the town. I can possibly hire someone there too.
He had a rough life. A very rough life. He doesn’t know the name of his parents as he was abandoned as an infant. He grew up in a small orphanage in some backward town where coincidentally a mid-age couple adopted him on their visit to the town because of his excellent mental abilities. He loved his parents, studied for them, even though his interest was in martial-arts. In his last year as a BSc student at Harvard, his parents got divorced. His “father” cheated on his “mother”. They never saw him again. With a case, which they won, his mother got her share but soon his mother fell into a serious depression and he left his degree. Well… just out of emotions. His mother died and he got his share of property. He invested in his MMA dream after a year of coping with his emotions. Thus, emotions don’t really fit the equation of his life. He is an “emotion-slayer”.
Gathering his thoughts he grabbed his phone, slid his watch down the hand, and donned a black overcoat.
His palish-fair skin complemented his light green eyes and down his high nose, was a cherry lip pair. He looked more like a pretty boy but his high cheekbones and cut face were exquisite. He looked very handsome in this apparel.
I Guess even after losing weight I look pretty good. He thought.
He booked a cab to the nearest airport and flew his way to Sashion. After this, he had to take a train.
It was not a very long journey.
I am going to reach in probably an hour. I can sleep. It’s the last station after all.
It would have been about an hour when he was jolted to the seat in front. His face landed straight into it. Argh… He woke up and in his half-asleep state with narrowed eyes he located his crutch and walked down the platform for the seats.
The train jolted once again. This time, it was more intense than the previous one. It shook like a fear-stricken-infant and Deus lost his footing. His face ran straight down as he put his hand in front and braced for the impact.
Whoosh… His hand passed through the train and the hard metal wiggled like a jelly. A sharp shock ran through his body and his voice couldn’t come out his throat. As darkness started to roll down his eyes soon he lost consciousness.
***************
On earth, in some random MNC-filled area of the city it was a normal, bustling day. The roads were filled with honking cars, pedestrians, where some moved along with their blonde dog who people wanted to keep their distance from, and even street performers going on with their business.
Everything going on was perfectly normal. Like it was a normie-bustling day filled with “personal people”. People who are easily found in the personal life of the city area. Usually near the MNC areas.
Bam! Suddenly a loud noise rang through the ears of everyone halting every personal business in the range. And everyone could see that from the shining skyscraper of the MNC, thick-black smoke was flowing up from the top. It filled the air with ghostly-black sky. Everyone was terrified.
The bomb-explosion-like sound continued and echoed through the top of the building. Like a waterfall it came flowing down. Sound of something crashing the MNC’s concrete floors echoed again and again, reaching the ground. People ran for their lives and the 50 floors of the solid, concrete building came tumbling down. Dust flowed everywhere and covered the glasses of the cars standing nearby. Several people, not able to escape, were caught in this. Cars were punched flat by the parts of the building which had fallen down. Nearby buildings suffered the same fate. It was a ghastly scene. The concrete skyscraper was crushed down like a clay house and there was no sign of life in the debris.
Ambulance and Police soon arrived at the scene. The barricades were set up and the victims confirmed. About 300 victims were affected. And 156 which lay under the debris were all dead.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
***************
Wha!
He jolted himself up. Waking up in someplace. Someplace which seemed like nowhere.
Opening his eyes he watched intently.
It was a scene to behold.
Lush green trees were all around him. The sunlight shone on the trees making the trees have a beautiful, sunlit green. The trees were very large. Humongous should be the right word. The sunlight did not reach down the canopy into the forest.
The trees were pretty far-off from the rocky platform he was seated on. The platform was flat on the top, and his sides seemed like a mountain’s. It was like a miniature plateau and it along with some land down the platform, or the mini-plateau, contrasted the lush forest which had like a tawny-brown color.
The sun seems to be about the same. So it should be about the same time.
But what was that? And what is this? Is this a dream? Wait, I need to calm down.
If it's a dream then killing myself should be an effective way to wake up. But if, this really is some kind of strange mystical or magical or divine or whatever occurrence. Such action will probably lead to death.
He raised his leg and lifted himself up at the top of the platform. He tried to hear intently and see as far as he could.
But all on sight were green-cotton-ball trees which appeared small from this tall, mini plateau. And all that could be heard was just ghostly-quietness.
Then suddenly he realized that his legs were a bit different from before.
My leg! It's fine! What is this, a miracle?
I need to figure this out.
He held his hands a bit more wide, shifting his eyes, looking to all sides from time to time. He looked down the platform, and sometimes far to find the end of this queue of trees. He looked anxious.
As he was thinking, suddenly the sunlight disappeared as if something eclipsed the sun. An ethereal, blue light came flowing down the sky and in a matter of time, a deep, loud and invigorating voice echoed through the wilderness.
“Hello, Deus Qillian.”
“ Your creditor is here. ” He chuckled.
“A creditor?”
“Yes, Dues, your creditor. ” He spoke, specifying the your part.
“You need not understand everything just yet. It is just a matter of time and you will learn about stuff like this.”
“So what do I have to pay with? I have nothing I can give to you. Are you here for my soul?” He spoke, quite spooked by the blue-thingy sky's humorous tone.
These are the people hardest to deal with. He thought.
“Hahaha. No, I’m just here to give you an opportunity. Ask me three questions and I will answer them.”
“Any three questions..”
“Well… that will be decided by me.”
As expected. It’s just a scam. He sighed.
“Ok.” He spoke.
Carrying a stiff expression on his face, he spoke.
“What am I?”
“You are a Qilian. They are species who are not human. ”
“Qilian? But that is my surname. Were my foster parents not human?”
“No. They were human. This is just a coincidence, little boy.” He gave out his quiet laugh. Nothing was possible but, it sounded like a narcissistic smirk.
“Last question left.”
Yeah, this is a scam. I wanna ask about if I have my powers or if I can have any. But that can be discovered by myself too. What if there is a system? Wouldn’t this question go to waste. But if there isn’t then I’ll have to work a bit harder.
“What would be the best advice that you would give me right now?”
“Oh! Do you not wanna know about your parents and stuff?" He talked in his mocking tone again.
"The books will guide you a bit.” “ But remember kid to become more powerful. Investing your emotions efficiently is a necessity.”
“Is this all?” he spoke
“Yeah. You will figure these things out by yourself.
"And what if I don't?" He scoffed.
"Let me rephrase it. You definitely have to figure these things out. "
"And here’s a parting gift for you. Rise fast. At least be a good slave, if not a good debtor. ” He chuckled.
An object flew down towards Deus in the blue light. It hovered over his head till he extended his hand and took it.
Humoring itself, the existence vanished as it came and the sun started shining as it was.
This is definitely a Dream. But let’s say it’s a fantasy-got-true moment.
A Qilian? But that’s just my name. Deus Qilian. He looked at the transparent game-potion-like bottle filled with a deep-blue liquid.
He said something about the book, right? Is there something new again?
Flap! He opened the book again, still sitting on the top of the platform.
Holding onto that lifeless book, he gripped the pages with one hand and stuck his thumb on the remaining. Reading the page…
I’m now able to decipher the language! I’m not very proficient I would say. I’m almost like an infant. But at least it’s recognizable.
“The Qillians…….. Venom…… snakes of the Universe…..Infant…..Soul……Zoros…..Elixir of life”
What am I supposed to deduce from this? I was excited but…
First of all, I know I am a Qillian. Second, are they somehow related to venom and snakes? Seems like it. The way my body feels different, is it not my body? A soul? Have I become a Shinigami?
Zoros and Elixir of life seem important. I should take a note.
From my understanding, Qilians, which are a different species, have souls. It seems I am a soul right now. Considering this, I might have died and this is a different place. I have been transmigrated is a bigger possibility but, the blue sky seems to know me and my name is the same. I probably have come to some other realm. And the debt is probably from the past life.
As these thoughts raced in his mind. The book fluttered like it had a life of its own.
Flap, Flap….. It flapped all the way to the first page where few lines were clearly visible without any “Infancy syndrome”.
“Qilians are the most primitive of the species. They possess the Mystical Power Order-10. The Infant should start their journey of becoming a true Qilian by drinking the Venom. The venom should be a layer-0.
Be Furious! Be Ferocious! Be Fair! And become a True Qilian.
But to use the power there should be an equation of give and take.
Emotions must be invested efficiently.
The more you grow, the more you feel. The more you feel, the less you give. Not following the maxim will result in a disaster. This is the consequence. ”
A True Qilian huh. And this Infancy reading stuff was just a joke but it seems to be a legit term.
Be Furious, be ferocious and be fair. Is it a way to develop? No. Emotions seem to be the key. Investing your emotions rightly. The blue sky spoke the same thing. My dying seems to be a bigger possibility now because I haven’t even awakened as an Infant and yet my leg is fine. I was always a Qilian but my leg didn’t heal. So I have died and this is my soul.
“Emotions must be invested efficiently” is just my thing.
And this book unfolds with my advancement seems to be likely.
He picked that glass bottle filled with an ocean blue liquid. With his one hand resting on the ground he picked the bottle over his head and checked its colors in the sunlight. Making the deep-ocean-blued bottle shine.
Ok. Let’s be ferocious and drink it.
Plop. The bottle opened revealing a creamy-citrus odor.
It sure smells even better. Is it even poison or is it because I am a Qilian?
Gulp, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp. He drank it.
Suddenly a shock ran through his body. Similar to the one he felt on the train but this time he didn’t lose his consciousness.
Squirming to and fro on the top of the plateau, he half-opened his eyes with effort, and now an ethereal-tingling sounded his ears and a healing fire ran through down his throat.
Hah! Hah! Hah… He regained his senses and brought his moving chest to a gradual stop. When a sound echoed and his eyes enlarged seeing a visual display.
[
*Stats*
Race: Qilian
Order: 1
State: Infant
Soul Strength: 5
Venom Stat:5
Zoros: 10
Adherence Points : 0/100
*Skills*
1. Venom Control Lv. 1
2. Transformation Lv1
3. Zoros
]
Can I access the skill info? He wondered and immediately:
[
1. Venom Control Lv1 :
Can manipulate and control venom in the body and outside the body to a small extent. The poison is a layer 0 poison.
2. Transformation Lv1:
Can transform into a snake which is an innate power of the Qilians. The length is 10 meters. Tough scales and increases venom control by 10%. Soul Strength increases by 10%.
3. Zoros:
Innate Mystical Potency of the Qilians. ]
Woh.