Costan was kicked about some more and was just done with everything. Then an Elder God woke up. That one was completely pissed off at being woke up and even angrier at the fact that a Nekogian Immortal was outside of it's appropriate universe. There was some yelling about ancient armistice and rights treaties. The counter argument about a certain wish didn't help with the god's mood, a condemnation for Turner. Then Costan got sent way back.
This was a sort of happy happenstance for Costan, because he'd be restarting his life as a prince of the KAR Empire. The drawback was starting it from birth. The good news was that he got to keep everything, powers and all, thanks to the treaties of reality (or something like that). He was not prepared for the waiting or what happened.
He was born, the third of a set of triplets again. He was washed off and put in a box with a bottle again. Then it was time to wait until he could wave at the camera from the inside of the open box while the other two were actually held.
He was jealous of his very orange and coincidentally very stupid brothers. One was dark orange with light orange stripes and the other was a medium orange with red stripes, both would prove to have less mental equity than most of the common caste. What they lack in brains was made up for in empathy.
Then some protein pounding, roid junky looking fairy popped in next to Costan. "I am Claus. I will be your fairy god fatha." Costan, fresh out of formula, gave him a death glare that stripped the color from the wannabe Arnold Swartzefairy and hucked the bottle at his mother. Being a baby, he missed and it hit a nurse in the ear. The bottle struck nipple first, giving her a second hand wet Willy.
This act got him some attention. The nurse picked him up and swaddled him, preventing further incidents. This had the added affect of her noticing the golden fur patterns on his otherwise patternless void black fur. The nurse offered him to the Empress, but her arms were full with the other two boys. The nurse, not wanting to be imprinted, put him back in the box and took a DNA sample.
Claus saw this and pulled some magic shenanigan to understand infants. "Mind unswaddling me? I won't be able to wave at the camera otherwise, and then they will completely forget that I exist." Claus was not expecting something that coherent, but refused on the grounds that one, swaddling infants was good for them and kept them safe, and two, it was highly unlikely that they could completely forget about him.
Claus was wrong. They forgot about him entirely. Claus ended up feeding, bathing, and changing Costan for months before giving up on anyone coming back into the delivery room. They seriously got everything cleaned up, packed up, and left with everyone but Costan. Claus and Costan got to know each other during that time through many conversations, some normal and some well far and beyond any scope of normalcy.
Claus didn't want to believe that Costan knew the timing of the entire birth incident. However, being swaddled wasn't part of the script and it prevented him waving at the camera. No wave meant that the camera girl wouldn't notice him in the developed film and bring it up with his father, Emperor Karcosin, aka Karcos. He had too many nicknames. Without that being brought to light, he was stuck there until someone happened across him rather than being found half dead three days after birth.
Costan was angry because he was stuck there as a baby and said "I wish I had full motor function." Claus, being accustomed to granting wishes immediately after his mind ran the safety and fairy law compliance checklist, granted it. Claus Von Strangle refused to blight the Von Strangle name by granting something illegal or that could harm his charge.
Costan wasted no time in popping open his inventory and started working towards independence. He cooked up some sun root baby food with cream, candied meat, and sweet potatoes. It was nutritious, filling, and easy to digest with the added benefit of increased growth speed and increased maximum expected growth. Sun root was a miracle food, but excruciatingly rare, expensive, and highly regulated, hence why he would not be sharing any despite him growing it in mass.
Some would have called him greedy if they knew, but they were the same that would never have anything positive to say about him no matter what and would have no beneficial affect upon the world. These people were the ill wishers, the jealous, the cruel and barbaric that hid the fact of what they were behind the masks of law and doctrine, calling it "civility" the entire time, as they ruined everything and everyone around them just to get ahead while being pulled down by everyone doing the same. They were not Nekogian, they were sociopathic crabs, crustaceans forcing everyone else to boil alive with them.
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At three months of age, Costan made a few more wishes. "I wish that they actually filed my birth certificate." This wish was granted. "I wish that they also accidentally filed liberation paperwork on me." Claus found that wish strange, but granted it because he'd been abandoned by them (his parents). The wishes got stranger but eventually stopped.
Claus realized quickly that this job would be a rather sedate one. He didn't mind a sedate wisher, but the job specifics were not normal. Costan, now going by Nihil, was quick in getting himself squared away and, for the most part, set for life. Five wishes, just five, that were so plausible that they would remain even after Claus left. The more realistic a wish, the more likely for it to remain true after the fairy leaves it's godchild, like requesting that their lousy parents actually filed their paperwork.
Claus was sent because Costan's life was going to suck without him... And because Costan was forced to assassinate a bunch of people at hands of an evil wisher, he who can't be named. Jorgen was busy, so his cousin Claus was sent. The wish for a legally acquired and valid identification card and copies of all needed legal paperwork was out there for a four month old infant, but not as much as him already having a platinum bar and wishing for it's lawful auction and to have a lawfully acquired account fully under his control for which the funds to be paid into.
Only five wishes, two of which could have been counted as multiple, but he only said "I wish" five times. Claus was impressed with Nihil's maturity and practicality. Nihil had everything else squared away on his own. He only needed mobility, legal stuff, personal sovereignty, documentation, and a bank account. Then things got rolling.
Nihil moved via the secret passages from the delivery room to the abandoned forge, which took a three day hike. He was a teeny-tiny baby after all, and it was the equivalent of twenty kilometer walk through twisting, turning, dark, and maze-like tunnels, crawl spaces, forgotten rooms, disconnected aqua ducts, and a damned sewer. Okay, a backup septic cistern for high overflow, but still a form of frickin sewer; he hated sewers because he always ended up having to go through one.
Nihil set up shop in the old forge, and took a well deserved shower. Claus was not far behind him with the mention of a shower, getting his first good look inside one of Costan-Nihil's extra spaces. This one looked like a shrunk down version of a post modern apartment and Claus couldn't find a fault with the design or craftsmanship.
Costan explained it as an automatically adjusting personal living space with all the amenities that one needs. Claus was feeling a bit like an extra wheel, but Costan cheered him up. What could an infant possibly do to cheer up a magical entity of unknown age? Gains. Costan talked about the sun root and it's many wonderful benefits and it's one bypass-able drawback that wasn't that bad and was sought after by shamans.
They had a nice meal after washing up. Claus had pot roast beef with sun root and other veggies while Costan had more baby food with sun root. Claus asked about the name Nihil and what was wrong with the other names. Costan put it bluntly, "Nihil was the first name I ever had, but Costan was my most prevalent. Everything from when I was Costan effectively never happened now that I've been sent back in time, so I guess I could make some changes."
"I wish for my legal name to be Nihil Cosin Tangent." It was the wish that broke the gods. It was the establishment of a new future and the shattering of many plans. Nihil had gradually regained his first memories, from being gently released from the blossom of the World Tree to suicide and everything in between. Similar to jet lag, he finally caught up with himself and selves; he was not pleased or amused, anger was the prevalent emotion.
The gods would pay, and the common caste would pray, but nothing could stop the train wreck. Costan had no mercy in any endeavor anymore. He was all in or not involved, and let greater powers decide how to judge the dead. It was only a month later that Claus grew concerned enough to act about Costan being parent-less.
Costan was approaching a year old when his grandmother showed up. He'd never met her before, only seen her a couple of times at other people's parties. He had suspicions about her showing up when there was no celebration for her to attend at the palace and of her coming to the old forge on the abandoned floors of a disused wing of the old sections.
It was like she had an extra sense and she homed in on him. He even took measures to avoid her, but eventually she caught him. He thought he'd lost her after the ventilation to deadwaiter switchover. She was there as the door opened and wrapped him in a big hug.
Costan let out a defeated mew and gave up. He suspected Claus of causing this serious inconvenience, but would need time without supervision from adults to converse with the roid fairy. He just had to deal with Gamgam and her affections for the time being. While she was being cheerful and happy on the outside, Costan knew she was seething with unfathomable rage on the inside.
Gamgam marched through the palace and straight up to her son, the Emperor. The news reporters were expecting the same boring press conference. The conference was not so disinteresting, as the Emperor's mother beat him with a slipper for "abandoning his own child to turn feral".