A small child was lying down shivering in a dirty shack of a house. He squirmed and reached towards a dirty thin blanket with a trembling hand. Abruptly, a door burst open, and a wretched looking man with a bottle of beer entered the room.

The child whimpered and curled up into a small ball as the man started to curse darkly under his breath.

"Fucking whore leaving me a useless little shit to take care of...." the man muttered as he kicked aside a empty bottle in his way.

"Oi, you little shit, go get me some more beer!" the man bellowed at the boy. The child rose up slowly, and went to the kitchen and brought a bottle for his father. The man grumbled and snatched the bottle from the kids hand.

The child went into the corner that the man said was his 'room' and laid down again.

I opened my eyes, trembling slightly as I remembered my dream. Panting, I desperately tried to get the image out of my head. It didn't vanish though. After all, years of abuse and misery couldn't be wiped away easily.

It had ben 2 months since my meeting with Rekces. After he sent me, I was reincarnated as a baby in a foreign world. After that, it was uneventful though.

When I was born, however, I remembered what Rekces said about fate, how beings always followed a cycle. At first I thought I were to go through hardships yet again, following the road of pain I had already gone through. After thinking carefully, I realized that it wouldn't be exactly the same as my last life.

But still, I should prepare myself for the worst.

Currently, I am living in a rather small house with my mother. She had long wavy blond hair, emerald eyes and a beautiful smile. Her body was luscious, well proportioned breasts as well as long thing legs. All in all, she was a beautiful woman.

However, these days she rarely smiled. For some reason, she would abruptly cry when she would gaze at me. Other times, she sat late at night, in front of a candle with her head in her hands. She seemed depressed, worried over something.

Besides my mother, I was also living with who seemed to be my brother. He also gazed at me with a look of anxiety every time he came home.

I am worried at how my life would end up. It seems that my family is not a happy one.

As I was reminiscing, abruptly, I woke up from a daze at a loud creaking noise.

*Creeeeaaakk*

The door to our house was slowly opened, as a wisened old lady entered the house. I stared at her from my crib. She had a bent back and was holding onto a huge basket filled with various things. I saw my mother greet her warmly, and ushering her towards me. I looked nervously as she approached my with a crooked old smile.

They began talking to each other, gesturing at me as they did so. The old woman looked over at me, a look of pity on her face.

She took out a needle and a vial filled with a clear liquid and proceeded to prick my arm. I whined in pain as the needle pricked me. A drop of blood formed, and she quickly dropped it into the vial.

My mother and the old crone left the vial on a stand and stood patiently. I watched on, curious and indignant as to why they would do that, to a baby no less.

It became clearer to me when the old hag murmured something as the vial began to tremor slightly, shifting colours as my blood dispersed in the liquid.

My mother looked depressed, with a glimpse of reluctancy in her eyes.

That's when it all went wrong.

The vial suddenly turned black, the colours vanishing into a deep dark substance. Both my mother and the old hag paled and took a step back as they looked on in horror. The vial began to shake more and more until finally,

BOOOM

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It sent my mother and the old hag flying.

I was startled,  as well as worried for my mother. I began to wail loudly, for help.

I could hear someone shouting as they ran towards our house. The young man who I think is my brother burst into the house, looking around frantically. He saw my mother and the old woman lying down and called for help.

As he entered, he looked at the remnants of the vial, and saw that the contents were black. He stared at it, then turned to me, with a look of anxiety and horror in his face. He murmured darkly as he walked towards me, worry and cautiousness deep in his eyes. I looked back at him, worried at what he might do to me.

Then, my mother groaned as she slowly stood up. The young teen moved towards her and carefully helped me up. As they did so, other men came in and helped usher both of the women out of the house.

Left alone, all I could do was worry and sleep.

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It's been two months since my child has been born. My husband had left long before he was born, and I was the only one left to care for him. I decided that his name would be Aleron, Aleron Qwintun.

Working for the family was hard for me, even with the money my husband left me. I already had a nephew that I was looking after.

Although I love my son, it was getting exceedingly more difficult for me to be able to look after him. The money that my husband had left me before he set off would only last until Aleron would be 7 years old. I became worried, as I had to decide wether to wait for my husband, or find another way to take care of Aleron when he becomes 7. I cursed my husband for leaving me and my child, going off to where he could die and no one would know.

I struggled for months, even before Aleron was born. I looked for jobs, for work that could help me support him. Eventually, I gave up, and decided to test if Aleron would be able to enter the Institute, a facility that takes in young children if they have an aptitude for magic.

I....I am a horrible mother. Try as I might, I couldn't find a way to keep him with us. Each time I gazed at him, I felt miserable, and humiliated at my uselessness. My nephew tried to help me by getting small jobs and cheering me up, but it was futile.

The situation got worse when a famine hit nationwide, causing the market price to go up.

I contacted the Institute in desperation, not even knowing wether my child would have an aptitude for magic.

The Inspector, a wizened old woman came in. I greeted her, and proceeded to check wether my child would have an aptitude for magic.

She pulled out a vial full of a fluid that would see wether they had magic or not by changing colours.

The Inspector dropped some of my sons blood into the vial. I waited feverishly, reluctant to see the results. The vial changing colours meant different things.

Yellow - No magical affinity

Green - Below average magical affinity

Blue - Average magical affinity

Purple - Above average magical affinity

Red - Extreme magical affinity

The vial shifted colours, from yellow, to green, all the way up to red. I stared at it, unable to contain my emotions of shame at being happy that his magical affinity was high, as it would mean that he would be sent away.

Then it changed to black. His magical affinity was something we had never seen. Moreover, the vial suddenly began to shake violently. Both me and the Inspector paled, and were sent flying as it exploded. I crashed into a wall, and fell unconscious.

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