"Ahhhhh!!!"
A raw cry reverberated off the white marble walls of the bedchamber. Lady Ariya's fingers dug into her blood-soiled sheets as her newborn slid out with one final, soul-tearing push. The moment the baby was free, a torrent of joy, love, and profound relief gushed from her heart, washing away the pain.
The newborn was gently carried by Chronis, the midwife. Her eyes, a kaleidoscope of abstract colors, darted over the infant, observing for abnormalities. There were no obvious deformities, save for a single dark dot on the inner part of the baby's right wrist, like a speck of ink. The observation did not seem to hold the midwife's attention.
"Chro… Chronis… why isn't he crying?" Ariya's voice, thin and reedy, reached the occupied midwife. But before she could finish her question, Chronis was already in motion.
She turned the baby over, letting his tummy rest on her left palm. Her right hand began to move in a practiced rhythm, drawing phantom sigils across the amniotic fluid-soaked back of the newborn. "O River of Life, flow through me," she chanted, her voice a low hum. "Strengthen this one and rid him of all impurities that seek his life."
A sea-blue glow enveloped her palm. Misty blue smoke flowed from her hand, passing into the newborn where she made contact.
Jay, for his part, hadn't had time to appreciate any recent developments. Since being rudely rejected by the warm, comforting sock that had been his home, he'd felt as though he were several feet submerged in water, his entire being saturated and heavy.
'Is this how my new life ends before it even begins?' his mind managed to register as he felt life fading.
Then, a stream of cool energy seeped into his being from his back. It traveled throughout his body before concentrating in his lungs, forcefully pushing out all the fluid he had failed to expel.
"Huuu—Aaarhh—heuuu!"
His throat croaked as the fluids left him. What escaped his mouth wasn't a cough, but babish cooing and bawling that finally stretched into a proper cry.
'What the heck?!' his mind spun. 'Have I been reborn? Is reincarnation real?'
He'd never considered himself a religious person, though perhaps a bit spiritual. He liked to think the world had something deeper to it, a comforting thought to counter the paltry, sick existence he had endured.
'Another life!'
The words were meant to feel unreal, but they couldn't. He was getting another chance.
'I hope it's in a new world,' he thought, and the fantasy worlds he'd consumed in his brief years on Earth began to shuffle through his mind. 'Please don't be a cultivation world,' he made a silent prayer, the memories of his exhaustive bed rest flashing through his head. 'Definitely not a world in the Iron Ages.' He wasn't ready for smoke-filled air and exhaustive formalities. 'I would appreciate one with dungeons and magic… Yes, I would. As long as they don't have Apocalypse-Level disasters like dragons and krakens.'
'Heck, I'll take anything, as long as I don't have a diseased physique.'
As Jay shuttled through his endless thoughts, Chronis brought him back into a cuddle. He finally saw her face properly. Her hair was the color of industrial smoke—a weird observation. Her eyes were a mystery, the irises a swirl of shifting colors. She was pretty enough to demand attention on any world.
'That's one pretty midwife,' his mind couldn't help but sing. He tried to tilt his head to catch a glimpse of his new mother, but the angle was wrong. His face only nudged into the midwife's soft breast.
"Zamia, tidy him up and invite the Lord in," Chronis ordered as she handed the baby to a waiting maid.
Jay's eyes widened as he tried to parse the words, but all that reached his ears was gibberish. 'So I have to start from scratch. Language, walking, culture… I hope they aren't too otherworldly.'
Zamia, the maid, used a warm towel to gently clean him. Cradling him with care, she carried him to his mother. Jay's tiny eyes widened to their limit as he absorbed every detail of her. She was in a simple white undergarment that clung to her sweat-sheened body. Her hair was light and luminous, her eyes a deep sea-blue, and her face was a work of art. Looking at her, Jay couldn't resist tilting his head to see if he could determine his new physique. It wouldn't be so bad to be a girl with features like hers. Unfortunately, his infant body denied him the freedom to find an answer.
Her face bore none of the fatigue he'd expected from a woman who had just given birth. Her excitement and happiness were radiant as she held him.
His analysis was cut short as a male figure entered the room and immediately planted his lips on the lady's. After what felt like an eternity, their faces finally regained their independence. He spoke to her in the same musical gibberish Jay failed to understand.
Druke Swordborne could not contain his excitement as he scooped up his first child. The baby's hair was dark like his, and his eyes were the color of the sea, like his mother's.
"He is almost as handsome as me, eh?" he said with a devious smile.
His wife couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "You wish, you ugly orc."
Curiosity got the better of Druke as he spread his magic sense through the newborn, searching for a trace of his mana essence to figure out his origin affinity. His smile slowly vanished.
"How can this be?" Druke asked no one as he scanned the newborn over and over again. The change in his expression did not escape his wife.
"What's wrong, Dru?" Ariya asked, her voice laced with growing anxiety.
"I can't sense any mana in him. At all." Druke turned to the midwife, his tone sharp. "How is that possible?" If anyone would have an idea, it would be Chronis.
She had appeared in their lives a year ago and was the only reason Ariya had carried their baby to term. Ariya's health had started depreciating rapidly after she took in. Local healers and even a high-paid alchemist had offered no help. She was barely holding on when Chronis arrived at their manor, offering a milky liquid medication Druke had been deeply skeptical of. A self-invited healer with trial medication and a mana core he couldn't even grade… it screamed suspicion. But, at the end of his rope, he had allowed it. To his amazement, it had worked.
Chronis didn't immediately reply, instead bringing a hand to her chin in contemplation. The pose looked slightly off on her feminine physique, but it was the least of Druke's concerns.
"It is a rare phenomenon," she stated calmly. "It can happen when a soul is born with an affinity so potent that their infant physique is too weak to handle it. As I mentioned during the pregnancy, the baby's soul is unusually frail. That is the likely cause."
"A rare phenomenon? I have never seen or heard of such a thing in my life, Chronis," Druke barked with irritation. If not for all the help she had offered, he would have seriously considered putting her in the dungeon for a week or two.
"Well, do you have a better explanation, Sir Druke?" Chronis asked, her voice laced with skepticism. The maid, Zamia, had to use all her experience to hold back a giggle. This was how it always was when the Lord and the healer were in the same room.
"You will have to buy more of the Laika milk from me to feed him," Chronis continued, her tone business-like. "You will need at least six months' worth."
Druke didn't reply. The healer was a full-time thief. The Laika milk—the same liquid that had treated Ariya—cost five silver coins a bottle, and a bottle only provided three doses. A single silver coin was enough for a family of five to live on comfortably for a month. Druke did his best to hold back his rage as he calculated the sum. A bottle lasted a day. Sixty bottles for six months… three hundred silver coins. He could afford it, but it was no small sum.
"He must be on three doses of the Laika milk a day," Chronis voiced, as if reading his mind.
Druke almost spit blood. That was nine hundred silver coins. Enough to generously equip a hundred men. "If he weren't so handsome, I wouldn't do it," Druke muttered under his breath, earning another glare from his wife.
"Draka Swordborne," Druke said with suppressed emotion, holding the baby up. "Welcome to life."
Ariya smiled in satisfaction. The five years of trying had been worth it.
Chronis looked at the couple, a hint of displeasure on her face. "You lovebirds haven't forgotten my request, have you?"
Druke's triumphant smile returned. "Draka Void Swordborne," he corrected himself.
The subject of all this, Jay, continued to observe everything in confusion.
"You will have to excuse us, My Lord. The baby and his mother need their rest," Chronis said, gesturing for the maid to take the baby. Druke handed Draka over with reluctance, pecked his wife once more, and left the room.
Ariya shed her gown, exposing her snowy skin. Jay couldn't keep his eyes off her, ogling shamelessly. 'This view was worth dying for,' he thought as the maid handed him to Chronis. 'Though it feels different, observing her. It's beautiful, and that's it. Just… appreciation.'
'Guess I have baby hormones, too.'
Chronis took him to a small tub built into a segment of the room. Jay was beginning to feel sleepy again when his mind went into hyperdrive.
Chronis's form shifted. Her feminine curves sharpened into a masculine frame, her presence suddenly severe and imposing. The face remained indistinct, shrouded in a subtle, identity-concealing shadow, just as it had been on the battlefield.
'What the hell!'
"Welcome back, Void," the figure said.
The voice was masculine now, and chillingly familiar. Jay stared in fear and confusion. The figure brought a hand to the baby's ear and traced a glowing sigil before repeating his welcome. This time, the words were not gibberish. They were clear as day.
'How can I understand him?!' Jay's mind raced. 'And that voice… why does it sound so familiar? Why is he welcoming a baby like he expects a reply? Who is Void? Me? Are babies born fully developed in this world? Did they reincarnate the wrong person?!'
"Interesting," the figure said, his brow seeming to raise beneath the shadows.
'Wait! Can he hear my thoughts?!'
The figure brought his hands to Jay's head again. This time, he didn't just trace a sigil. He commanded, "Mind Meld!"
A strong glow enveloped Jay's head. He felt as if someone was rapidly flipping through a book containing every memory of his seventeen years of life.
"That's new," the figure said, studying the baby anew, as if seeing him for the first time. "The spell I cast on your ear is a high-level spirit art. It will allow you to understand the meaning behind any sound you hear, as long as it has intent. That is my gift to you, young one. Impress me."
'He knows I can understand him. Who the hell is this gender-switching midwife?!'
The figure's form switched back to the feminine Chronis as a wooden gourd materialized in her hand. A dark green liquid flowed from it into the small bath. The moment the liquid touched the water, it began to sizzle and release smoke like boiling oil.
"Alright, time for your bath, young one."
'What bath?!' Jay screamed internally. He understood the words perfectly, but what kind of bath boils like that? A calming, herbal smell reached his nose, soothing his nerves, but the intensity of the roiling water kept him on edge.
"Oh Fire, make this one's form yours," Chronis recited as her hand traced a sigil across Jay's chest. Bright orange markings, like intricate circuits, flared to life all across the baby's body.
'Please, no!!!' Jay screamed internally as he was lowered into the steaming bath.
The moment his body touched the water, he felt a wave of profound relaxation hit him, a calming and soothing sensation so strong that his small brain immediately shut down