The next image he saw was the face of a female who was sleeping on a bed of bones, hugging a large bone, her features and attire unclear. The woman raised her head slightly and smiled at Avrin, a look of curiosity on her face. She reached towards him, but the voice of the being Avrin had talked to echoed out.
"If you interfere, see if I don't overturn your side, I dare you!"
The woman stopped midway and sighed with annoyance, feigning innocence, but it was clear she took this threat seriously. Her hand lost its skin, turning skeletal before she retracted it and hugged the bone again. The image lasted a fleeting moment before darkness again for Avrin.
Finally, he felt odd. He felt weak and helpless, but he felt comfort and warmth, the beating of a pulse, shuffling, and then pained cries. He felt something touch and embrace him before it began to pull on him gently. Soon he felt a bit cold, like the air touching him. He wanted to cry like an instinctual thing but managed to hold it in. He tried his best to understand his surroundings but couldn't do much. One thing was certain: he knew that his current state was definitely that of a newborn.
"A baby boy!" a female spoke with warmth and joy. "Dear Princess, it's a healthy baby boy," she spoke again, but a ragged voice uttered in exhaustion, "Why isn't he making any noise?"
Soon other females began to talk before Avrin heard a door open.
"He looks fine. He's breathing. Not crying must mean he is strong-willed like his parents!" the first woman spoke, as if to console the exhausted other.
Avrin then felt some others speaking. The door would open again and again before he heard shuffling footsteps.
"My son! Haha, I have a son! Urganth, quickly check his body!" he excitedly asked. Avrin was then passed to another; he couldn't open his eyes and could only listen in a weak daze.
"Hmm..." Avrin felt a warm current that explored every inch of his body. This happened several times. "My lord, he, uhh..." the individual who held him continued again and again. "Your son, there seems to be a problem."
Having spoken, Avrin was then passed to another. He felt his body scanned again with this odd current.
"What... This can't be... There aren't any Spirit veins? Impossible! My son is a cripple!?" a sound of disgust in the tone.
"Fuck you too..." Avrin thought in his mind. Though he was just too tired, he couldn't stop the exhaustion and fell asleep.
He awoke again, a little later to the sound of arguing and things smashing.
"This is your fault, I knew my father was right, I shouldn't have married a human!" the man's voice, belonging to his father, was angered and displeased yet sorrowful.
"My fault? You spend years trying to win my affection and now I'm the one to blame for finally giving in!?" his mother retorted.
Avrin fell asleep again, waking up an unknown time later due to hunger pain. He understood his position was not good but he still needed to be fed. He forced a crying sound to which a female servant holding him uttered, "M-mistress, he is hungry."
A reply soon followed from Avrin's mother. "I refuse to feed this useless thing, go find him a wet nurse."
Some time later, Avrin was fed by a prepared wet nurse. He understood his position was not good, his fate unknown. Thinking too hard simply tired his little brain more, so he went with the flow. He wasn't sure how long this lasted, but there was a day he woke when he heard his father speaking up, "My father has already refused to let me rule as long as this child remains, my brothers and sisters are already mocking my failure... Damn it all..."
Avrin soon heard a voice from another woman, seemingly more mature, speak up. "My dear son, the solution is simple, throw it away and try again," a cold yet concise sentence.
"So much for the love of grandparents," Avrin thought to himself.
There was silence from both of his parents until his father spoke a sentence that made Avrin worry.
"You're right! There's no need to feel down, I can just try again! Both of you, go dispose of this thing, I don't want to see it again!" Hearing his father's demand, Avrin's heart grew cold, wondering if he would meet his end again so soon.
"Yes, my lord," both the servants bowed, then with Avrin in the female's arms they exited the room. Avrin, of course, unable to see what they would plan as he fell asleep. Both the servants headed out, a look of nervousness. "What should we do...?" the female spoke, gently patting the baby Avrin's back, a look of reluctance on her face.
"Push this on to someone else. Hmm, I got it!" the male servant with the short beard had a sneer on his face. "Come with me." Soon both left the back of the large estate carefully, obviously such an event needed to be kept under wraps as these two were the most trusted servants in the household.
The man and the female walked some time before reaching a building in the bustling city. It was late at night so other than those who had business to tend to, in such an area it was quiet. The man knocked on a large door with iron frames.
"Yeah?" a voice from the other side spoke. The male servant explained he was here to see someone and gave his name.
Handing a token that gave a soft glow through a slot in the door, the door creaked open and both of them entered before being led down a hall. There were crates of goods and people writing on parchment, as if listing and keeping track of things. Both the man and woman with Avrin in the lady's arms continued down the hall until no one could be seen. They both entered another room that had two guards present, both of which were covered from head to toe in armor that seemed to glow a soft red.
"Welcome, welcome!" They were greeted by a short round man with a missing eye. The room itself was simple, a bed, a carpet, no windows at all and a desk that was piled with sacks of gold and other gems.
The man and woman walked over. "Brother, I have a bit of an issue I need your help with." The male servant soon explained what was going on. After finishing, the short man seemed thoughtful.
"Well... it's no big deal, it's just a baby that needs to disappear, right? I know some buyers that may be interested... hehe." The woman hearing this, jabbed her elbow into the male servant's sides. He winced a bit and gritted his teeth.
"Look, I know what you're planning. You owe me for getting you some contracts. Find an orphanage or family, far from here, not some cultists. If the lord's bloodline is used against him, it will be our heads!"
The man who appeared to be a trade merchant slowly brought his hands together, smiling which exposed a few golden teeth. "Okay, okay, we're blood brothers, right? Disappear, right? Easy, I'll handle it."
Both the male and female felt relief, and some time later, they both left after leaving the baby Avrin in the man's arms. When Avrin woke up again some time later, he let out another quick cry from hunger pain.
"Give him some beast milk, I don't want to hear crying all the way to Bracken city..." an annoyed voice spoke out.
Avrin could feel some bumps and movement, mumbling too. He heard the sound of a woman who cradled him and then stuffed a bottle in his mouth. "Why are we transporting a kid with the goods?" the woman spoke, her attire suggesting she was a guard.
Avrin drank from the bottle as he listened. He understood that currently he was being transported with trade goods in a caravan to God knew where. "Could be worse..." he thought to himself.
This cycle lasted some time. It had been several days from what Avrin could gather when he was awake. They would reach a stop, unload some goods and load some more and travel onwards. Today marked a month since the trade caravan had left from where Avrin had been given to them. It was currently late at night and they had set up camp and were resting as their journey onwards would be continuous for some time. Using dried beast meat, they were preparing meals over the campfires and setting up their tents.
"Hey, did you hear about the battle last week?" The guards were seated beside a campfire, engaging in small talk to pass some time.
"The one about the Outer realm invading?" another guard responded as he sharpened his blade with a whetstone.
"Yeah, fucking bastards are getting brave, I'll give 'em that. The details are insane though. Heard a farmer on the way to sell goods to a city nearby saw a hand reach out and scoop up an entire city and its people like it was nothing. Not even the Aetheric barrier stopped it, shattered like glass." He made motions with his hands as if to make it more exciting.
The nearby guards listening shuddered slightly. "An entire city? That's a lot of people gone just like that, huh... What happened after?" one guard who had been listening asked after speaking.
The main guard telling the story nodded. "Well, don't get worried. Those at the top obviously didn't take kindly to that. Farmer said he saw a flash of light enter where that hand came from, then a roar so loud the farmer's ear bled. Said when he opened his eyes again, the city was back, and that white light carried a giant severed hand."
The guards then laughed proudly with one proclaiming. "Ha! No outer realm bastards are gonna treat us like nothing, that'll teach them. This time a hand, next time a head!"
Meanwhile in a tent nearby, a different kind of entertainment was taking place.
A giggle could be heard from the tent Avrin was resting in. "Stop it, the kid's here..." a shy female voice spoke up followed by a man replying. "Who cares, he doesn't cry unless he's hungry anyway. I can't wait any longer either, I'll be quick..." The female complained as the sentence was spoken. "Be quick? Geez, you men are frustrating."