“He’s almost out!”

The shout suddenly jerked Felix awake.

‘Where am I?’ He wondered, staring around the dark expanse around him.

‘Am I back in the void?’

This thought sparked panic within him, until he saw light close to him.

Huh? Light?

And then suddenly, he was pushed out.

The sudden light blinded Felix and he scrambled to get his bearings.

He tried to cover his eyes with his hands but…

Wait what?

Were his hands normally this small?

And then a huge shadow fell over him.

It was a rather beautiful woman, with light brown hair and flawless skin. However, she looked quite weary and tired, with baggy dark circles under her eyes. But there was pure joy in her bright blue eyes.

But why was she so much bigger than him?

Felix looked at his tiny hands, which looked soft and pudgy.

And then at the rest of his body.

‘Oh.’

***

Pinera Elris’s POV:

‘Oh my god.’

Staring at my son in my grasp, all I could feel was pure happiness.

With dark blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, he was absolutely adorable.

He looked almost exactly like…

Odon.

‘What am I thinking?’ I thought, shaking my head to clear them of these dark thoughts.

After all, it was a common superstition among the Hihtun that if one brought forth a baby while thinking dark thoughts, the baby would inherit the darkness.

My hand absentmindedly stroked his blonde hair.

‘Oh yeah. His hair’s blonde.’

While this was not exactly such a bad thing, as the Hihtun had started to encourage marriage between different races, he would still be quite an outlier.

And it wouldn't help that the father was missing.

“Pinera!” The door of the small white room flung open and my mother, Amoria Elris, and my father, Omok Elris, rushed in.

Amoria rushed to me first, knocking over Omok in her hurry.

“Are you okay? Where's the baby? Oh! Oh my god! So adorable! Let me hold him, please? I’ll be carefu-”

Omok, laughing, put his hand on my mother’s shoulder, stopping her rant. “Let her rest, dear.”

I smiled up at him, feeling comfort in his deeply wrinkled, but sturdy face. I turned to my mother. “You can hold him.” I handed her my baby, feeling a tinge of reluctance of letting go of him.

Amoria held him carefully, studying him like a sculpture of glass. “He’s so cute! What’s his name?”

“His name?” I asked, my mind already running through all the names I had researched before.

And yet, for some reason, a name popped up in my head. A name I had never heard before. However, it just felt right.

“His name?” I repeated again, staring at my baby’s pure, cute face staring up at me.

I once again stared at his dark blonde hair. At least his eyes were bright blue, just like mine.

“I’ll name him Felix.”

***

‘How did I end up in this position?’

That was the only thing Felix could think of as he saw the woman in front of him, who was apparently his mother in this new world, waving a simple wooden toy that was shaped to be like some kind of creature that he was not familiar with.

‘Huh.’

Felix swiped at the toy, thinking that maybe it wasn’t too bad to entertain the woman by acting like the 5 month baby that he looked like.

After all, the food here was actually so good.

Though because he was a baby and could not chew anything yet, the owl soup that he had eaten days prior was so good, that Felix just could’ve eaten gallons of it, if only his tiny body could hold that much. It apparently contained spices from the ‘other continent’, if he quoted his mother, enhancing the otherwise regular soup.

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Felix sat up and crawled to his mother, cursing slightly at his inability to move his legs.

She picked him up. “Are you sleepy, Felix?”

Felix answered by cuddling up in her arms. Unfortunately this was the only way to get his point across to her, as his vocal chords weren’t developed enough yet for Felix to speak.

“Okay, Felix. Guess it's time for your nap.”

After his mother laid him in his woodend crib, Felix didn't sleep, however. After all, he had a lot of things to think about.

First of all, the system. Felix knew that the notifications came from some sort of system. However, after the incident, or the ‘trial’ as the system called it, the notifications ceased. There was nothing anymore, it had already been 5 months. Felix had even tried to call out to it in his mind, and it still had not worked.

Second of all, his new life. Felix knew that he had been born to a woman that was part of something called the Hihtun City Cadre. He wasn’t sure what kind of world he had been reborn in, as he had not been outside yet, but he still knew that this place was different from where he had come from. And his instincts told him that it was drastically different.

Third of all, the thing that had sent Felix here. He originally entertained the idea that perhaps the system sent him here, but he felt like that wasn’t it. He felt like someone had made the system to send him here. Perhaps it was the gaze he felt back in the void?

“Sigh..” Felix leaned back. All this thinking had made him tired. After all, his young body couldn’t handle such mental output.

Felix looked up at the ceiling. At least he be able to learn more about this world tomorrow. After all, his mother had said that she would take him on her daily shopping.

‘I just need to learn more about this world.’ Felix thought, his eyes brimming with hate. ‘And I will find and kill you, father.’

And then Felix promptly fell asleep as the youthful body couldn’t take such strong emotions.

***

Omok Elris’s POV

I stood before the Monarch, trembling slightly at the aura he was giving off.

‘As expected of the Monarch of Lednia.’ I thought to myself, as I looked down at the ground.

“Is he still not back yet?” The Monarch asked, fiddling with his hands.

“No, Sire.” I replied, bowing my head.

“Cmon, Omok, I said that we should act more familiar with each other. After all, my son married your daughter.”

I sighed. “Yes, I know. But it doesn't help that you're second in command to only the Queller himself.”

The Monarch sighed too. “And yet I still cannot find my own blood.” He said bitterly, staring at the dying flames of the fireplace. “Can you light that up again? It’s getting quite dark.”

“Sure.” I said, activating my Asar magic. I pointed towards the fire and watched as ghastly blue flames sprang up, as I felt a few drops of blood leave my body.

The Monarch stood up. “I've been searching up the Lotano Highlands. I planted some Tracers there, but I couldn’t find any evidence of him being there. What about you?”

I shook my head. “I was searching down south, but nobody reported seeing him.”

The Monarch massaged his head, curls of dark blonde hair falling over his forehead. “Keep searching. I’ll put some Tracers at the West border too.”

“Very well. I’ll go to the capital. Perhaps Vetitum knows something.” I said, backing out of his chamber. I nodded at the guards as I passed, and went out of the building.

Instantly, I was surrounded by the familiar noise of glass breaking as the people traveled through the glass dimension. I breathed deeply and looked around. I should be heading home right now, as Amoria would be worried. But I found it hard to be in the same house as Pinera’s baby. He just looked so much like Odon.

I looked up at the sky, and tried to feel comfort in the dark sky. I used to always take Amoria out to the mound of grass in the south side of the city. There we would lay there and look up at the night sky.

Unfortunately as we lived in a city full of light, we couldn’t see the stars, but I was always content with Amoria laying right next to me. I always felt safe.

But unlike every other time, the sky only was a symbol of uncertainty. It only held the unknown this time. No comfort, no content.

And that scared me. When did things change?

Sighing, I massaged my forehead, trying to get rid of the sudden headache I had.

‘Maybe I should get a drink before I go home.’

***

Felix looked around at the city in wonder from the depths of his stroller.

‘Wow’

That was the only thought he could think of.

The huge skyscrapers reached out to the heavens, and the strange triangular architectural designs fascinated him to no end.

But what was that sound?

It sounded like glass breaking?

“Felix, look! They have the soup that you like!” His mother said, smiling at him.

Felix looked up at her. He still wasn’t used to the idea of a mother. After all, his past mother had died from birthing Felix. However, he found it impossible to love this bright, bubbly woman.

But where could the father be? He couldn’t possibly imagine someone abandoning a woman as pure as this.

Felix’s thoughts were broken as his mother suddenly started running, pushing the stroller fast through the crowds.

“Felix! They're doing a show!”

Huh?

Felix peered out of his stroller. There was a man on a bright painted stage, wearing a tight-fitting black outfit. He smiled at the crowd as the applause began.

“My name is Julun, and I’ll be your performer for today!” He said cheerfully.

“The first act will be… the Fire Flowers!”

Applause and hooting immediately followed.

Felix leaned in further. ‘I wonder what he’ll do.’

And then the man brought up his hands…

And suddenly Felix felt a wave of something pass over him. It almost felt…

Like the gaze from the void.

Felix shuddered as he felt chills and goosebumps arise.

The man slowly took a step back.

And he clenched both his raised hands…

An instant later, waves of fire began to twist out of his knuckles. It wrapped around and around in the air, creating intricate patterns that really did look like flowers. Beautiful, fiery roses and violets tingled the air.

Shattering applause followed the first act.

Felix just sat there. Looking at the slowly fading patterns in wonder.

‘Huh?’

What in the world?

He looked down at his own hands. Could he do what that man did? Was it possible for an outsider like him to do that?

If he could, killing his father would not be a problem.

He could tap his father to oblivion.

He began watching the man much more closely.

“Second act! Water Trees!”

This time, the man shook his hands and threw his hand out in front of him.

Immediately, water spurted out of his palm towards the crowd.

Felix flinched, waiting for the cold splash of water.

But it didn’t come.

Gingerly, he opened his eyes and saw the sight of the water having been twisted into intricate roots, spreading around all of the audience.

‘Wow…’

He looked around. Apparently, except for some people looking pleased, they weren't anyone that looked shocked.

‘Perhaps this is a normal occurrence in this world.’ Thought Felix.

Although Felix wanted to watch more, his mother pulled back the stroller. “We need to go now, Felix. Your grandma wants some herbs from Lotano.”

As Felix rested comfortably in his stroller, the images of the magic kept coming back to him.

That was what he needed.

With that, he would be able to figure out a way to get back to his world and kill his father.

Now, he would just need to learn it.