I stewed in darkness for a bit, incredibly annoyed at my current situation but the soothing voice that called to me nearly nonstop soon washed away the annoyance. The voice of my new mother was nearly constant, speaking to me or about me to whoever she was interacting with. The language was foreign so I couldnt understand what was going on but I could recognize my name when it was spoken and the absolute love that was contained within. I spent a long time just listening and becoming familiar with the voice until it eventually took on a sleepy tone and she fell to sleep while muttering my name. A surge of feelings built up inside as silence fell and I'm sure i would have cried if it had been physically possible. A single day. In a single day I had felt more love from my new mother than I had felt from everyone throughout my entire past life combined. My emotions and thoughts spun from gratefulness and love to eventually the frustration and anger at those from my previous life that I couldnt let go. As if she could sense my growing agitation my mother woke and started to call to me again, quickly shattering the negative emotions and smothering me in her love again before she returned to sleep. I admonished myself for letting things spin out like that, it was almost sacrilegious to have such thoughts while surrounded by my mothers love. After a time in silence I finally cast a thought out into the void. "Thank you, Cth..., Thank you Father."
"It is nothing son. It was even necessary. Your soul cannot be placed into an already formed body. It needs one to grow around it. So you will have to be patient for a time, enjoy your childhood, no trouble will come to look for you if you dont seek them out first in your early years." His tone was soft and carried the same feeling as my mothers, just to a unfathomable extent, the usual echoes and reverbs currently a gentle rocking. The change in tone from him shocked me greatly but he explained it briefly after sensing the confusion. "We Eldritch are a very tight nit group, but family is different. We are just as responsible for bringing ourselves into being as our parents are. It may seem odd to you but we are not truly parents until our children accept us as such. Your acceptance has much more meaning to me than you can currently comprehend. Pay it no mind, you will understand it in the future."
"I understand why I have to start from scratch. It makes sense, just caught me very much off guard. But I was saying thank you for giving me such a mother. She already has so much love for me it would almost scare me if it wasnt so soothing. It is nice to have someone to care for me this much already."
"Hehe, You are very lucky. This could have turned out much differently. You can only be given birth as part of a favour. Either as the price for a favour or as a blessing onto one as the favour itself. Your mother is the latter of the two. She wanted a family, a place to belong, someone to accept her regardless of anything and she cried out into the void. I answered. You had just passed the final hurdle and I would need to look for one like her and fortune favoured you. I offered her a child and she wept with joy, she asked me if it was truly possible. Apparently she had been injured a short time ago and told she would be unable to become pregnant. If you had been a normal baby it would indeed be impossible as her wound had a tinge of divine influence on it but you are no normal baby. Such is your luck. A mother devoted to you in the utmost as she was willing to trade anything for you, but also she carries a wound corrupted by divine power. You will have a choice later in life in regards to your mother, it will bring you into the sight of gods should you choose to intervene. Be ready." His tone was patient and tinged with some respect when he spoke about her. He gave me a lot of information to unpack but obviously not everything, there was much more to the story if someone had been important enough to wield a divine imbued weapon had tried to kill or intentionally rob her of the ability to have children. This thought sent a cold fury through my mind that I quickly coiled up and suppressed so as not to let it seep out and disturb her. Fathers voice broke into my thoughts as I reigned in my fury. "You are learning fast, controlling your emotions is very important. I am glad you are aware enough to restrain yourself before you woke her again. Before you ask, I will not be giving you any more information about her story, you will have to get it from her when she is ready to tell you." I gave a mental nod in acceptance before speaking.
"So does she know that I am not human? That I wont be like a normal child? She has already given me so much in a single day, I dont wish to make her sad. Also, I may enjoy her voice but I cant understand her, shouldnt I be able to? Isnt that standard rebirth package stuff?" I voiced a couple thoughts and questions a bit apprehensive about the answers. A chuckle and response came to me.
"She knows you will not be human, and that you will be somewhat abnormal. She was even proud that you would be unique, so you neednt worry about that. As for the language, maybe if you transmigrated, but you are being completely reborn, no translator for you son. You gotta learn it yourself, and any other languages you come into contact with. You do however have an advantage you can use. If you form a tendril of mental energy you can make contact with others, it can help you learn and communicate until you are able to use other methods. I encourage you to use this time to familiarize yourself with the more metaphysical tendrils and their uses. I dont think I should have to tell you but just in case, using physical tendrils while still in the womb is inadvisable and most likely harmful. Save those for practice after birth. I think thats enough for now, I have a few things to take care of still so I'll wont talk much longer. I'll be sure to check in occasionally if you come across any questions about Eldritch things. Take care son, grow well." His massive presence slowly drifted away after speaking his fill.
"Thank you Father." A small ripple and then his presence vanished completely and I was left in darkness again, the only sound a soft rhythmic breathing that told me my mother was still asleep. I kept the advice about tendrils in mind. Keeping away from forming physical tendrils in the womb seemed, while obvious, worth the caution of advice and the suggestion on using mental tendrils to communicate and learn was a huge help. I started to try and form a mental tendril only for it to unravel halfway through. I tried again..... and again..... a small sour feeling popped up. Apparently it was much harder to form mental tendrils than physical ones, a small tidbit that Father failed to mention, but that was of little concern really. I had nothing but time for the foreseeable future so it was a bit of a blessing I guess, I have something to do for now and it will be a useful experience for any other tendrils that arent physical in the future. I tried one last time and failed before a wave of exhaustion came over me, I guess it takes more out of me than I thought it would. Not only are they harder to form, mental tendrils apparently use up an insanely large amount of energy to do so. I made a mental note to go over some more things when I wake, see how much of a head start I can get in this world before birth. Then I fell asleep, the sound of my mothers breathing gently blowing away the rest of my thoughts and accompanying me into my dreams.
I awoke later to a beautiful melody being sung to me, again being bathed in my mothers love while thankfulness filled me. Before I tried to form more mental tendrils I figured I should check out some other things first so as not to exhaust myself too fast. I tried to examine myself and found a notion came to mind. I thought of Father mentioning a skill equal to divine appraisal that I should have, and as I thought of using it on myself a page popped up in my mind, a bunch of illegible words strewn all over in seemingly random order until the slowly shifted into place becoming readable and containing information about myself. Either because the way Aela was, Fathers whimsy, or my own preconceptions the page was incredibly reminiscent of a standard rpg status page.
=============================STATUS===============================
Name: Vi'Cothol
Race: Eldritch (Human)
Age: 0
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Class: Eldritch Scion (None)
Level: 1
Experience: 17
Skills: (Appraisal)*, (Intimidate)*, (Tendrils of the Abyss)*
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Professions: None
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Accomplishments: None
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Well there doesnt seem to be much there yet but I guess that make sense, I havent been born yet so there usually shouldnt even be a page yet. My race and class seem to have replacements already but what about the skills, they show up as if they are replacements but there is no corresponding skill. I focused on them and a little tooltip opened up catching me by surprise.
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Skill: (Appraisal)- A skill in place of hidden racial trait 'Eyes of Chaos'
Skill: (Intimidate)- A skill in place of hidden racial trait 'Aura of Trepidation'*
Skill: (Tendrils of the Abyss) - A skill in place of hidden racial trait 'Eldritch Tendrils'*
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Racial Trait: Aura of Trepidation* evolution possible (currently locked)
Racial Trait: Eldritch Tendrils* mutations possible
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Alright. That clears some of my wonders up. I guess listing racial traits in a status page would be incredibly redundant, you wouldnt see arms or legs or tails on a status page of other races so having tendrils and eyes that are just part of my being would be nonsense. The aura confused me a bit but I assume its just like a divine presence but more of and eldritch hue to it. This was very handy and I'm glad I have it, and being able to use this on others later should give me a huge advantage. After closing my status page I enjoyed the sounds of my mother and began the exhausting and proving incredibly difficult process of forming mental tendrils. A process that would end up taking me what I assumed 3 months to accomplish... A lot longer than I assumed it would. But It payed off in the end, I could finally contact my mother and well..... she was definitely not expecting it...