‘I will never go through this shame again. I will become strong. I will not be the victim of fate again. Nay, fate shall fear me.’

Sol was having his diaper changed for the first time, letting out tears and cries of traumatizing embarrassment.

“There you go, all clean, Stinky.” Nicky comforted Sol, who still had tears in the corner of his eyes.

Sol then watched Lucy go through the same experience, but she maintained a casual expression the whole time.

“Fah,” he babbled - translated to “Freak” - as Lucy’s new diaper was placed.

However, despite him being incomprehensible, Lucy shot him a threatening glare right after, causing Sol to quickly look away.

“There are two forms of fundamental magic.” Nicky rested her arms on Sol’s crib and looked down to him.

Sol’s head sprang upon hearing the topic.

‘I haven’t been able to use magic since the first time. Hopefully, this will help.’

“Ma’am, are you really teaching your three-day-old baby magic?” Ella asked, standing to the side.

“Don’t worry, he’s ready.” Nicky gave a flippant wave and clumsy smile.

Ella started to reply but stopped when seeing her expression. Instead, she left to return to cleaning the rest of the house.

“Both types involve the soul core in your head, and the outermost layer of the soul core is called the shell.” Nicky pointed at her head.

“The type that my teacher taught me requires brute forcing the energy in your soul core out of its shell. Just make sure to give the cracking of your soul shell time for healing.” Her clumsy smile started to look a bit scary.

‘Cracking my soul shell? I’d like to hear about this other type.’

“Well, let’s get started.” The radiant smile on Nicky’s face completely ignoring Sol’s deepening panicked look.

‘Started?’

“Somehow, all your meridian channels are open, so you’re ready to start practicing.”

Nicky began reaching her hand towards Sol. Sol started trying to use his arms or legs to push himself further away, but his limbs just slid across the surface. His baby strength was too weak. Her arm inched closer to the struggling Sol until her opened hand rested atop his head.

“Try to remember this feeling.”

Before Sol could manage to struggle, a feeling of electricity ran through his brain, with each current stimulating different parts of a small sphere in the center. Sol’s head began to twitch while his body began to seize up. Even though it was abrupt, Sol closed his eyes and tried to remember the horrifying feeling.

Nicky removed her hand from Sol's head, then he fell limp.

She kissed his forehead and whispered, “Good job, Sweetie.”

Nicky lifted herself back up and made her way over to Lucy’s crib.

“I’m sorry I don’t know much about spirit cores, so I can’t help you. But keep up the good work!” Nicky bent down and kissed Lucy on the forehead, which caused Lucy to blush and look away.

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Sol’s head wobbled after he sat up. He started taking deep breaths and became a bit more steady. With a final shake of the head, it finally stopped spinning. He gave a dazed look to the ceiling, questioning if he really wanted to go through with this, but then flashbacks of his diaper being changed ran through his head.

Sol closed his eyes and tried to recreate the sensation from before. The tiny orb in his mind came in as a blurry vision. He put pressure on the point the currents were running through earlier. This time, however, he exerted the pressure from within.

A feeling of his mind, or rather soul shell, fracturing occurred as he began to move the energy from within his soul core beyond the exterior. He could even see small cracks forming on the tiny orb. The pain was minimal compared to his pain before, and it even felt a bit pleasant to Sol.

Suddenly, as Sol moved the energy further out, he felt a shiver run down his spine. He snapped his eyes open and looked around the room.

‘Was someone staring at me?”

After a few more glances around, Sol closed his eyes and returned to his practice. He visualized his soul core and began moving his energy outside it again. Suddenly, another shiver went down his spine, and he looked around again.

He stared back to the ceiling and sighed, wanting to stop, but flashes of the diaper change came back.

He repeated his steps again and ran into the same feeling. This time he pressed forward regardless. The sensation of being stared at intensified, and he began to feel goosebumps across his skin as he moved the energy across his body.

‘I feel cold?’

The energy reached his fingertip, and he pictured water. A wet sensation brushed his finger, and he opened his eyes to see a tiny ball of water. He moved his finger around, but the water seemed glued to it.

Sol’s eyes started to sparkle while he stared at the water.

He then looked to his sister’s crib across the room. He saw Lucy between the bars of her crib with her eyes closed and a concentrated expression. He looked back down to his finger and aimed it at his cute sister.

The ball of water turned into a streak as it flew across the room and nailed Lucy right in the face. A triumphant expression formed on Sol’s face. Lucy glared over at him only to be met with a condescending expression.

‘What are you gonna do about it?’

Lucy spit. The sip zipped across the room and hit Sol square on the forehead.

‘Why you little… Wait, since when can babies spit that far?’

He looked to the ceiling and contemplated it.

‘Whatever, that doesn’t matter right now.’

Sol formed another orb of water at his fingertip and shot it back over. He was met with a return fire of more saliva. The two shot at each other back and forth. Each lacked the ability to move and therefore dodge and slowly became more damp.

The battle finally ended when fatigue washed over Sol, and Lucy’s mouth ran dry. The two both passed out soaked. And looking between a crack in the door was Nicky with a wide grin.

A month passed of sullied, then changed diapers. Sol practiced his creation of water and additionally wind. His practice sometimes escalated to soaker fights, but when Lucy tried to blow wind back only using her lungs, all it caused was a gentle breeze across Sol’s face.

At times Sol would carry his sock in his hand and try to make it float. It took a week before he managed, but he slowly advanced, and recently there was even a sock battle.

The goosebumps faded over time, but the stare and the cold remained ever-present. However, every time Sol wanted to quit, his mind would go back to his most recent diaper change.

Then, finally, the day came. Sol sullied his diaper again.

‘Not again.’

Sol instinctively let out a cry. Nicky began to walk over from the next room to help. When she walked over, though, the front of his diaper undid itself. The diaper slid off from behind and tactfully folded up. Then, it dropped gently to the side of the crib.

Sol manipulated water to cleanse himself and disposed of the water in the nearby bucket. He then reached his hand out towards the spare diapers that were close by, and one started floating over. Within moments, the diaper properly fastened around Sol, and he let out tears of joy.

‘Finally!’

Nicky, who watched it all happen, picked up Sol and showered him with compliments.

“Who’s my little genius? Yesh you are.”

His eyelids started to sink down to the background noise of her soothing voice.

At least until Nicky whispered, in her same soothing tone, “Oh, and it’s best to ignore the presence. You get used to it.”