The sound of thunder shook the sky as a Man in a beige suit ran through the rain. His hat long lost to the wind and his own determination to not be late. The Man's name was James Mistmire, A high ranking Noble of the Kingdom of Bellmuze, He had been the second son of the Last King with his older brother taking the reins when their father had died in the middle of a war a few years back.
At the time this hadn't seemed like too big of a problem to James, who was far from interested in the burden that came with being king, but soon another burden had become his. While his brother, the current king had won the war and sent the invaders packing, He had taken a serious injury, and while he had recovered with time, he had been left incapable of siring children due to the placement of the injury.
As the only other child of royal descent it had become James duty to make sure the kingdom had a future king. This had come with its own problems, while James and his Wife had been happily married for over a decade, it had been with the mutual understanding that their marriage was purely political. In all honesty they found no physical interest in each other but had built a business-like relationship instead of a spiteful life of pretend love.
In order to give the kingdom a heir they had resorted to some somewhat fickle magic to avoid having to be touch one another. At first everything seemed to be going well, but when his wife had been predicted to have not one child but four, the fear that the spell might have done more than it was promised to do was all but confirmed.
"She wasn't supposed to be due for another two weeks," James swore, having been in a completely different part of the country when he had gotten the news his wife had gone into labor, "It's like it was waiting until I couldn't be around to stop anything going wrong," With everything going wrong and every tiny thing becoming a roadblock James had given up on using any kind of magic to get around after managing to get to the city after a few hours of delay and was now rushing to the Mansion on the outskirts of the Kingdoms capital, He could just see his home and a few of his hired help.
"Master James," Mordecai, his gardener who was built like a small giant, called out, "You must hurry, the first child has already been born," James didn't acknowledge the mountain of a man and rushed into the house. Madeline, His head Chef, a woman with long spiky blond hair and only one hand, called after him.
"You can teleport you twat," She informed him, he ignored her and rushed to his wife's room, where their head maid Mary stood waiting for him, opening the door without a word and closing it once he ran inside. His Wife had the estate's private doctor at her side with several maids in the corner.
"Are…are the…" James tried and failed to speak as his adrenaline failed him and he lost all of his wind.
"It's a boy," Doctor Green announced as she held up the forth and final child for James to see.
"Don't show him," his wife Zoey complained, "Show me first," Doctor Green let them both see their youngest son, a boy with Blue eyes like his mother and red peachy fuzz atop his head that promised to turn the same shade of red as his fathers hair.
"He's alive," James noted, "what about the others?"
"Two Girls and Two Boys in total," Doctor Green informed him, "But…you should know that something isn't quite right with-"
"Cut to the chase," James barked at the Doctor. "You know what we did and how we did it, did any of them come out wrong?"
"Yes," Doctor Green informed him, "The first born son is…off,"
"Let me see," James demanded as he made his way to the where the Maids who were doing their best to act as nurses were caring for the other three children.
The Two Girls looked to be identical twins and had short fuzzy black peach fuzz like their mother, the maids informed him they had their fathers Green eyes.
The final child however looked completely out of place, he had hair as white as snow that, despite having only just been born, was already long enough to be at his waist, with purple eyes that looked venomous, while the two girls were sleeping, the boy was staring directly at him, no laughing, no crying, no curiosity, just blankly staring at him.
"We need to get rid of it," James decided without hesitation, "It's been possessed by a demon no doubt,"
"Like. Hell," Zoey said from the bed as the maids took the final child from Doctor Green and the doc went to work making sure Zoey was in a stable state, "We took a risk, and we're living with it,"
"Living with it?" James laughed at the notion, "Zoey that's just why this demon did this, It's not our child, just a corpse with a monster hiding inside, you think it's an accident it was the first born?"
"I've given all of the staff instructions," Zoey replied calmly, "that if you try to do anything to any of my children or try to silence me, they will all tell the King what we did to conceive the children,"
"You'll go down with me," James hissed, "And destroy the other three's lives in the process,"
"Try me," Zoey shot back as Doctor Green left Zoey's side and went to the four cribs the children had been set up in.
"Come along then," Doctor Green said, "We must commence with the Naming ritual, as per custom the first born-"
"Yes," James cut in as he walked up to the son that had been delivered as he entered the room "This, our first born son, who will inherit the throne,"
"Sir I-" Doctor Green tried to cut in only for James to Grab her by the hem of her coat.
"If I go down you all fall with me, and I can not give my brother that Demon as an heir, if you want to keep the Demon we're listing it as the second born son,"
"Get off me," Doctor Green said irritably, "Go ahead, name your Children in the 'order' they were born,"
"Eric, Hanna, Molly, and Nebbie Mistmire,"
"Nebbie?" Zoey called out in defiance, "we agreed on-"
"We agreed to get rid of the Demon if there was one," James spat back "You want the child fine but It won't be receiving the name of one of my forefathers or foremothers, it'll be luck to get away with a life in poverty when I'm done with it," James turned to leave when a bright golden light filled the room.
"A Unique Skill," Doctor Green looked on in awe, James turned to the Demon child ready for anything, before realizing all four children had started glowing. After a moment the glowing stopped and Doctor Green used her Inquire skill to find out what skills the Children had been blessed with.
"The Hero's Seed," She whispered as she looked at Erik, "The Warrior's Seed," She added as she move on to Hanna, "The Mage's Seed," Molly yawned as she rolled over in her sleep and Doctor Green turned to Nebbie, who was still staring her down. "The Demon Lord's Seed," She finished in awe.
"My Children all have a Seed of power!?" James demanded as Zoey let out a sound of delight.
"Seems that Spell had a built in measure should a Demon be born with it," Doctor Green noted, "To grant the other siblings the power to stop it should the Demon be born,"
"This is perfect," James sighed with relief, "We just have to keep the Demon at arms length and make sure the other three know the destiny they must one day serve," James waved to his wife as he left the room, "Put the girls in the same room, put the elder son in the largest of the guest bedrooms, and put the Demon down in the cellar where the help live, we need to make sure it knows its place," James left a little too loudly and Molly started crying, this resulted in the other two quickly following suit as Nebbie continued staring at Doctor Green blankly.
As the three crying babies were each assigned one of the maids in the room to watch over them Zoey called out to the head maid. Mary entered the room and walked to Zoey's side before speaking.
"Would you like me to prepare one of the guest bedrooms for you ma'am?" Mary Questioned "Due to the early nature of the nights events none of the childrens rooms will be ready until at least tomorrow,"
"Doctor Green will be taking the Children for the first few hour," Zoey informed Mary "And as my bed is coated in Blood and other such thing I will be changing beds once the maids are free to help me clean myself up for the night,"
"What will be keeping me too busy to help ma'am?" Mary inquired calmly.
"You're being assigned maternal duty over Nebbie," Zoey pointed out Nebbie and Mary walked over to the child, who stared at her just as blandly as she stared at it.
"Ah yes, you mentioned this might happen," Mary offered Nebbie her hand, Nebbie looked at the hand and grabbed one of her fingers, but after his curiosity on what was near him was stated he lost interest and let go, simply staring Zoey in the eye.
"I accept this job," Mary decided as she pulled her hand back, "Doctor Green I presume you have the potion for breastfeeding already prepared?"
"I'll give it to you and the other three maternity maids once we get the children to the nursery ward,"
"I was unaware you had one,"
"I instructed Mordecai to set it up for me once Zoey went into labor, knowing him it was finished before Nebbie even started crowning," Doctor Green began directing Mary and the other maids on how they would be moving the babies after Zoey participated in the final step she was directly required for. Doctor Green picked up Nebbie and brought him to Zoey so they could meet eye to eye properly.
"Hello," Zoey greeted happily, "It's nice to meet you," Nebbie showed more interest in Zoey than he had shown in anyone else as he made his first noise and laughed at Zoey's touch. Zoey brought him up so he could touch her face and laughed back at him as she enjoyed a moment alone with him, after a minute Nebbie seemingly decided he'd had enough and curled up against his mother's chest, quickly dozing off before Doctor Green could take him back and give the other three children the same right of one on one contact with their mother.
***
The Bright Neon Sign of A Gas station stood proudly in the darkness as the booming sounds of a Thunderstorm filled the air, the sound of music desperately attempting to drown out the sounds of thunder and rain and the sound of fluorescent lighting. Residing within the Gas station was a single employee, and one Customer. The man looking to make a purchase had long black hair, greasy and unkempt. He was Tall with gangly arms and a pear-shaped body. He had Green Eyes with a flat nose. The Name tag stuck to his work shirt proudly displayed his Name was Izzy.
He had been standing in the Gas Station for nearly half an hour, staring at the drink selection as he tried to decide what he should buy with the pitiful among of money he had. The Single Employee had long since stopped paying him any mind, since the Gas station was an equal distance between his home and his work he made a point to stop by at the end of each workday and buy himself a little motivation to keep himself going.
And each day he had the same dilemma. Should he get the same thing as last time or risk wasting money on something he might hate? After nearly two years he had yet to choose the latter of the two options, and he decided after a few more moments that tonight would be no different than the rest.
He pulled the glass door open just as the light of a car pulling up shone through the window, he ignored it and completed his snack collection. A Family sized bag of Extra Cheesy Chips, a small box of Seasoned Crackers, and his Drink of choice a Strawberry flavored Soda.
He quietly brought his haul up to the counter and was about to hand the young girl at the register the payment due when the front door opened and a sound far louder and more terrifying than mere thunder rang nearly deafening the both of them.
Both Izzy and the Cashier girl flinched and attempted to flee at the sound. Both had enough common sense to stand their ground when the source of it was pointed at one of them.
"How Careless of me," The Mugger said, a smirk barely visible from his masked face "Seems I've gone and broken your piddly ass camera," The Mugger swayed his gun back and forth between Izzy and the Woman, a Grey Backpack was in his off-hand and was quickly transported to the counter "I'm sure I don't need to say it, But I will anyway. Open the Register, Fill the bag, and nobody gets shot,"
Izzy firmly stood his ground with his hands up, his legs shaking as the gun swayed between him and the girl. The Cashier did her best to comply and used the computer to open the register, handing over a less than sizably haul. The Mugger had just received his ill-gotten loot when a second much larger man in a mask burst in through the door.
"Mark, there's a cop down the street, I think he heard the gunshot," The First Mugger turned to his companion with an irritated look.
"You Dumbass," He said as he refocused his gun on the Girl Behind the counter, Who held her hands back up.
"Please we don't have any mo-'' The grim echo of death sounded through the Gas station as the Mugger pulled the Trigger without hesitation, The Girl's body flopped against the very wall that had been painted with the contents of her head and fell to the floor, Izzy just had time to look back at the Mugger and see the Barrel pointed at his head. He shut his eyes just as the sound of the Gun going off hit his ears and after what felt like an eternity of nothing happening he opened his eyes.
Izzy was no longer inside a gas station. He was now in a room that looked like it would fit as the study of a stereotypical father from an old TV show. Izzy looked around in bewilderment at the room.
The only source of light was from a Fireplace Behind a Large Wooden Desk, the desk had a large comfy looking Chair facing away from him. Izzy quickly noted that the room he was in had no Windows or doors before the creak of the Chair spinning on its axis drew his attention back to in front of him.
A Beautiful Blond haired Woman in a Navy Blue Two-piece suit sat before him, She was looking over a Piece of Paper and spoke without looking at him as she readjusted the spectacles on her face.
"Izzy correct?" She questioned calmly.
"Yes?" he replied in confusion.
"Hmm," She continued looking at the paper, her face giving away nothing before she opened her hand and the paper was seemingly swept away in a nonexistent wind directly into the flames behind her. "Yes, you'll do, Take a seat," Izzy blinked and found that a chair that hadn't been in the room before was now right behind him.
He did as he was asked and took a seat. Shaking slightly as the realization of what had just happened to him kicked in.
"Did I just die?" He asked the unknown woman.
"Quite tragically if I might say so," She confirmed "Shot in the face by a mugger after his accomplice accidentally blabbed his first name," She shook her head "What a waste of a life," The Woman took her spectacles off and gave Izzy a once over. "But as luck would have it, your death is quite perfectly timed," Izzy just stared at the Woman in response and she chuckled.
"For me at least," She specified, "As you may or may not have noticed I am a God of Death, one of many might I add, a lot of people die every day so we're rather busy, but sometimes we have time to talk, and for a very long time we've had a bit of a bet going on, and thanks to you and the other's whose deaths are tied to you we have the perfect situation to finally settle it,"
"You want me to settle a bet?" Izzy asked, his confusion only growing with every word the Goddess said to him.
"Oh not just you," She assured him "You see as it would happen four people died that night, You, the Girl at the Register, and the two would be muggers, one shot by the other, and the last one was ran down by a eighteen wheeler truck while trying to escape from the police,"
"I just died like 2 minutes ago. How did things escalate that fast?"
"Oh, Sweetie you died ages ago," The Goddess chuckled. "We've just been holding on to you four until our retirement, hence why you're in my realm instead of the halls of judgment.
"What?" Izzy asked in confusion, his only answer was that of the Goddess waving his question aside.
"Don't worry about it, so the bet is simple, and your part will be easy to play. Some of us think that regardless of certain benefits in life some humans will just be Evil, and some will just be Good, while some believe an evil or good person could be warped by being thrown into the opposite situation, Simple right?"
"So far it is but I feel a twist coming," Izzy was concerned about what his easy role had to do with this bet, and his concerns were quickly proven to be well-founded.
"So, taking two evil souls and two good souls, we'll be reincarnating them in different situations, A Good and Evil soul in a good position, and another Good and Evil soul in a horrible position,"
Izzy frowned as she smiled, "Which am I?" He asked fearfully.
"Oh don't be silly, that would be telling and we can't have you disrupting the experiment by knowing more than you need to," The Goddess held up her hand and a myriad of paperwork flew into her hand as she began looking over them "Oh perfect someone used the spell," The Goddess let the papers fly off into the fireplace.
"Your lot has been drawn my boy, now I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about it or give you any real advice, can't temper with the bet now can I," The Goddess summoned another four sheets of paper and, after a moment one of them started burning on it's own. "And here's your ride," The Goddess flipped the paper over and Izzy found himself looking at a shining light that quickly blinded him "Enjoy your new life," The Goddess cheered as Izzy lost all of his senses for a moment before the sensation of being wet and the sound of voices in a panic overtook his senses.
"I can't hear anything," A Woman cried out in despair "Let me see them,"
"Calm yourself Miss Zoey," Another Woman said as his vision began clearing, he found himself looking at a very tired Woman with Shimmering Blue eyes and a Luscious Mane of Coal Black Hair.
"Ah," The Woman chuckled, he body convulsing as though she had just been punched, "The Demon, I thought you might come, thank you for letting me be a mother," Izzy just stared blankly at the Woman as he was handed off to a Woman in a Maids outfit. A group of maids went right to work making sure he was dried, and placed in what felt like a pair of Silk footie Pajamas, His new PJ's were crimson Red.
With all that was happening he just stared at the Woman around him as he was placed into his crib, unable to even think of what to do he just stared and listened as another child was born, and then another, and finally a fourth just as a man burst into the room.
He just watched as the man saw the son who had been delivered last and then demanded he be shown the child who was wrong. Izzy just stated at the man who was now his father as he declared they needed to get rid of him
"Well this didn't last very fuckin' long," he cried out mentaly before his mother cut in and informed her husband she had measures in place to keep him form getting ride of Izzy "Thank you sweet Mother," Izzy cheered as his father fought against keeping him, once it was decided Izzy would be labeled as Second Son his Father began the naming and dubbed him with the new name Nebbie Mistmire. "Mistmire a weird last name," Nebbie muttered, thankful not to have the responsibility of being the future king weighing down upon his head.
Nebbie watched as his father was about to leave when he started glowing "What did she send me to the wrong body or something?" Nebbies confusion was quickly answered by the Doctor and was informed he and his siblings' Unique Skills.
"I don't wanna be a Demon Lord!" Nebbie complained "That sounds like a one way ticket to getting my teeth kicked by my own brother!" Nebbie's own concerns were interrupted when his Father slammed the door and made his new Sister Molly start crying. Nebbie watched the Maids comfort his distressed siblings as Molly's tears got them all going. One of the maids reached their hands out and, not sure what she wanted from him he just stared at her before she declared she would take the job and began asking about Breastfeeding.
"I'm sorry what?" Nebbie demanded as the Doctor picked him up and brought him to his mother. "My Hero!" Nebbie cheered, managing to find his vocal cords enough to laugh in delight at seeing his new mother, who seemed equally happy to see him despite believing he was an evil entity from hell if that concept even applied in this world.
"Hello," His Mother greeted him happily, "It's nice to meet you," Nebbie enjoyed himself as she held him up and he poked at her face, mostly due to his own baby instincts demanding he do so. He Enjoyed familiarizing himself with his mothers face before falling to his own little body and becoming overcome with exhaustion he curled up to his mothers chest with a yawn as he drifted off to sleep.