"Come on, Kairos," I muttered to myself. "Just a little more."
After what felt like an eternity, I managed to get one leg over the edge. I teetered precariously, my heart pounding in my chest. One wrong move and I'd fall right back in. But I couldn't afford to fail—not on my first mission.
With a final push, I tumbled out of the cradle and landed on the soft rug below. The impact was jarring, but I was out. I took a moment to catch my breath, the exhilaration of success filling me with newfound determination.
"Good job, Kairos," Eclipse chimed in. "But you're not done yet. Crawl to the chest."
I eyed the chest across the room. It seemed miles away, but I wasn't about to give up now. I began to crawl, my movements slow and uncoordinated, but each inch I covered brought me closer to my goal.
As I neared the chest, my limbs ached from the effort, but I pressed on, determined to complete the task. Finally, I reached the chest, my tiny hand brushing against the cool wood.
"I did it," I thought, a triumphant smile spreading across my face.
"Well done," Eclipse responded. "You've earned your first skill: [Crawling Mastery Lv 0]. It's a start, Kairos. Keep pushing yourself, and you'll unlock your true potential."
[Status Board]
Name: Kairos Solari (formerly Ichibei Sukejuro)
Age: 1 week (biological), 32 years (mental)
Race: Human (Aurelian)
Title: [??]
Affiliation: Solari Family, Viscounts of the Celestial Peaks
Attributes:
Strength: 0.5
Dexterity: 0.5
Endurance: 0.5
Intelligence: 1.0
Wisdom: 1.0
Charisma: 0.5
Luck: 0.5
Mana: 0.5
Skills:
[Observation Lv 0] - Passive ability to notice details, currently limited by physical capabilities.
[Crawling Mastery Lv 0] - Basic mastery of crawling,
Special Abilities:
Eclipse: A mysterious system granted by the dark god, serving as a guide and companion.
Memory Retention: Ability to retain memories from past life.
The status board displayed before me was proof that even in this fragile body, I had a future full of potential. My journey in Eldoria had just begun, and I was ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.
With the adrenaline of my first mission began to fade, exhaustion quickly set in. My tiny limbs, already strained from the effort of escaping the cradle and crawling across the room, grew heavy. I could feel my eyelids drooping as I slumped against the cool wood of the chest.
"Damn… this… baby body…" I muttered in my mind, struggling to stay awake. "Can't even… keep my eyes open…."
But the weariness was overwhelming. Despite my determination, the infant body I now inhabited was still a newborn, with its limits. My thoughts grew muddled, and I cursed the frailty that came with this new life.
"Stupid... tiny... limbs..." I groaned inwardly, my mind slowing down. "Need... more... stamina…"
With one last, frustrated sigh, I couldn't fight the drowsiness any longer. I fell into a deep sleep, my mind drifting into the comforting darkness of rest, right there in front of the chest I had fought so hard to reach.
Moments later, a maid entered the room, her soft footsteps barely making a sound on the thick carpet. She gasped in surprise when she saw the young master, Kairos, lying peacefully on the floor in front of the chest. His tiny body was curled up, his silver hair shimmering faintly in the dim light.
"What in the world…?" she whispered to herself, quickly kneeling beside him. Gently, she scooped him up into her arms, marveling at how he had managed to escape his cradle and crawl across the room at such a tender age.
"You're full of surprises, young master," she murmured, a mixture of astonishment and admiration in her voice.
As she cradled him against her chest, she couldn't help but smile.
"You're going to be something special, aren't you?"
she whispered, more to herself than to the sleeping infant. Carefully, she carried him back to his cradle, tucking him in with a tender touch before leaving the room with a final glance of wonder.
Back in the realm of the dark god, he sits on his solitary throne, reflecting on his decision to send kairos to Eldoria. The vast, empty expanse of his domain is eerily silent, save for the occasional flicker of dark energy that pulses through the air like a distant heartbeat.
His throne, a towering structure of shadow and obsidian, looms over the desolate landscape, a stark reminder of the power and isolation that define his existence.
The dark god's voice echoes in the chamber, a deep, resonant sound that reverberates through the emptiness. "Was this the right choice?" he asks aloud, though no one is there to answer. The question hangs in the air, heavy with uncertainty.
He shifts slightly on his throne, his gaze distant as he continues,
"What did Tsuki see in this mortal? Why entrust so much to one soul? A soul burdened with the weight of two lives…."
His voice softens, almost as if he's speaking to himself now,
"This prison… this realm… has given me nothing but time. Time to think, to regret, to wonder if I could have done things differently."
He pauses, the silence pressing in on him like a living thing.
"But it's too late for that, isn't it? All I can do now is wait… and hope that she was right."
He clenches his hand into a fist, shadows swirling around it, but there's no one to witness his display of frustration.
"Hope… what a pitiful thing for a god to cling to." The bitterness in his tone is palpable, but it's laced with something else—fear. "If this fails… if he fails…."
He trails off, the thought too painful to voice. Instead, he lets the silence take over once more, the only sound the distant hum of dark energy that flows through the white chamber.
His doubts, his fears, are swallowed by the void, but they remain, festering within him as he continues to watch and wait, his gaze fixed on the distant world of Eldoria, where the first steps of a long and uncertain journey have just begun.