Written by - Silver Crown
In a desolate land, at some place of the great wilderness, there was a cluster of primitive hay huts built neatly around the place. A tanned skin indigenous man was walking back and forth outside of a small hut.
Inside the tent, a woman was delivering a child. Her screams from the pain can be heard from the outside.
An old nanny with a face full of tattoos said some words occasionally to encourage the young woman.
Many seconds and minutes passed, yet the child hasn't come out. The woman was exhausted too much. Her cry becomes hoarse. She was panting heavily and frequently. Her face became more and more listless. Regardless of the fact, she was putting her best of her effort to deliver the child.
But it was pointless.
"You are exhausted too much, I'm sorry but I have to pull out your child," the old woman said.
Although this action is risky for infants, she has to do it anyway. She could see the amniotic sac membrane was already broken. Moreover, the baby doesn't seem to be moving or breathing.
If this continued, both mother and child were going to lose their lives. The young woman shook her head. She continued her futile attempt to give birth.
The old lady's hands are already under the blanket. She pushed the baby back. Using her hand she corrected the wrong birth positioning. After that, she murmured some incantation. She told the woman to relax.
Taking a deep breath, she gently and firmly held the infant's head and pulled him out. A baby's cry resounded inside the tent.
Both of the women smiled.
The old lady gently pulled out the infant with her hands from the blanket covering the young woman's lower part.
Their smiles froze when they saw the infant in the old woman's hands.
"Demon child" the old woman exclaimed.
The young woman's eyes were now filled with tears. She shook her head in denial. She started to wail loudly.
The child was white like chalk. The child's eyes, hair, skin, and even nails, and lip are white without a slight trace of blood or color.
The man walking back and forth outside the tent stopped his step. As soon as he heard the child cry, he was exhilarated. However just before he celebrates, he hears the wailing of his wife. Anxiety starts to hit him. He realized something might have gone wrong.
He abruptly opened the curtain and came inside the tent. As soon as he entered, he was welcomed by the sight of his crying wife and sleeping baby in nanny Dakota's embrace. His face became ashen.
He held himself from kneeling on the ground. As a man, he mustn't show his weak side in front of his beloved one. He had to stand strong for them.
But this time, he couldn't hold himself from asking one question.
"Why" he questioned the wilderness deity totem.
As if the deities weren't hearing his grief, there was no whisper or an answer from the land.
"This child cannot live with our tribe, you have to abandon him within a day."
"My condolences," nanny Dakota said.
After cutting the embryo cord and wiping the blood and filth, she wrapped the child in a cloth.
The nanny placed the crying infant in the cradle. The man hugged his wife. He leaned her on his shoulder and silently stayed beside her. Comforting her grief, he let her tears flow across his chest while holding back the tears.
Although none of the tribesmen came to inquire, they already knew what happened. The bleak expression on the nanny's face was confirming their doubts.
This wasn't the first time where a tribe member gave birth to a demon child and maybe it won't be the last.
A Demon child is considered a reincarnation of the sinner. They believe that he or she has to atone for the sins with misfortune throughout life. They only grew a few years before they died from the disease.
At the previous tribe meeting, tribe men have a certain pre-warning from the grand seer.
In a dangerous place like the great wilderness abandoning a newborn child means a death sentence for the child.
Either he/she becomes a quick meal for roaming beasts or dies from starvation.
Normally, they don't abandon their infant. Abandoning the child needs a certain procedure. They usually let the child live until his time comes. The unfortunate thing was this wasn't the usual time.
....
The infant stopped crying when his hunger got quenched by goad milk flowing from the nanny. She was using a finger from her remaining four, as a pacifier for the child.
One could see that her feeding finger of hers has no fingernail. She has to cut off that finger when the time comes. That was a traditional way to sever ties with the child and tribe.
There wasn't a trace of resentment in her eyes. But she felt pity for the child who was born with a curse (of the wilderness) in this world.
Looking at the hungry child she remembered that she had done the same kind of ritual for another child. It might be three lunar months ago.
The little infant in her embrace curiously gazed at her face and a ball of milk that adhered to her palm.
Inside the infant mind space
"Another body? Wait, something's wrong. I'm not inside the green liquid tube, like previous times."
Nanny Dakota didn't notice the infant's iris became brighter because they were closed.
Sitting inside the tent, she gazed at the departing back of the child's parents and softly said in her language
"Poor child, our tribe doesn't have the power to shield you from your calamity."
"Only let us depart and cut off our destiny."
"May the Styx River carry your soul and erase your sin."
Her voice sounded like a lullaby. She knew the child could only hear the syllables but won't know her words' meaning.
But no one would imagine this child is another species.
The newborn baby boy didn't know the words she said but he understood her words' meaning. He tilted his head a little.
The nanny thought that the child was full, so she stopped feeding him. She patted his back and made him burp. Then she put him back in the cradle. His cute face has a little bit of seriousness in his sleep.
No.1134.76 Log: didn't awaken in another homunculus body but an infant,
last activity; piloting mech was devoured by a wormhole.
Establishing series Q&C...
Check-1, New data deduction, According to mind transmission, probability P/N, of
this body to be abandoned?
Check-2, Resources available, a newborn infant body, available psychic energy
very weak. #can't communicate back with other parties.
Check-3, Doubt stimulation?
Result and solution, case-1 positive, case-2 insufficient resources, case-3 not enough data.
Establish mission- 1: Collect data, 2: Find a way to accumulate resources...
He wanted to look around but he couldn't move his head. So, he could only use psychic sense to sense surroundings. A little distance from him was old grandma who feed him, then found some mattresses and weird masks with strange symbols.
He couldn't sense when his range reached 3m of the original earth unit.
Unknown error: Was it a planet? Did I reborn as a human?
Didn't humans have souls? Why does a homunculus like me become a human with a soul? Is this the simulation of that mad Doctor or someone from the council?
But human supremacy like him doesn't have a reason to conduct himself like this. The council had banned that technology.
*Irrelevant, use of unknown language detected
Emergency; consciousness shutdown…
"Owh.." he tried to voice.
Nanny Dakota heard the baby cry, so she came back and shook the cradle. In some unknown world/universe, last code name no.1134.76, a super homunculus with ace-level mech piloting skill, is reborn in a human child's body. Whether this is just a simulation or reality no one really knows.