. . .
. . .
How long have I been here…?
I can't tell…
There's no time in the void…
No pain…
No thought…
No shape…
Just… nothing.
Begin System Boot… Failed.
Re-attempting System Boot… Failed.
Running System Diagnostics… Complete.
Initializing System Reboot… Complete.
All Data Has Been Deleted… Generating New World Seed…
Selecting Soul Data From Archives… Soul Data No. 901 Selected… Failed. Selected Soul Data Has Been Corrupted.
Searching For Backup Data… Complete.
Searching Material Vessel… Complete.
Checking Compatibility… Complete. Compatibility Rate Exceeds 60%… Approved.
Uploading Soul Data… Complete.
Establishing Soul Link… Complete.
Finalizing… 99% Complete.
Error Detected. Data Is Corrupt.
Verifying Data… Complete. Extracting Essential Data…
All Essential Data Has Been Confirmed and Finalized.
Initializing Transference Sequence In… 3. 2. 1. 0.
Transference Complete.
May Your New Life, Be A Fruitful One.
. . .
The full moon's eclipse looms in the dark cloudless sky, casting an eerie red glow over the sea of trees.
From afar, wild beasts grow restless, retreating into the shadows, sensing the unnatural air.
Deep within, the forest mountains hide a small dimly lit settlement, partially walled off on all sides.
Inside, a mining field slowly reveals itself—a pit scarred with rows of crude buildings and dark caverns.
The area is under constant guard patrol.
Their torches light their surroundings, spears ready in their free hands, catching orange flickers.
Inside the settlement, rows of iron barred huts line the passageways filled with men, women, and children curled up on the floor, with their wrists and ankles shackled, wearing nothing but rags covered in filth.
Their limbs are as fragile as twigs, and their faces and bodies hollowed by hunger and exhaustion.
In one of these huts, a woman lies motionless, her cloudy, dilated eyes staring into nothing.
Blood seeps from between her legs, pooling beneath her.
A newborn wriggles weakly in the mess, its naked body drenched with blood and afterbirth, while its umbilical cord is still attached to its mother.
Above, the blood-red moonlight seeps through the narrow barred window, casting the newborn in an otherworldly glow, as its cries echo through the darkness.
. . .
What the... where am I?
I thought I was dead.
My eyelids twitch. Everything's hazy. Heavy.
I try to move—nothing. Only warmth… and wetness?
Is that—blood?
I look down—or at least, I try to.
These hands… so small… Am I, a baby?
I struggle as hard as I can against the bloodied floor, trying to lift myself up.
But still, I'm too small, and too frail to move my muscles.
Footsteps march closer, armor clanking heavy and fast, as the prisoners shout for help, while rattling their bars in desperation.
Soldiers burst in, one after another, torchlight flashing across sunken faces and skeletal arms.
"Oi! What's all the bloody ruckus!?" one barks, his voice cutting through the barred window like a blade. "You 'ave a death wish or sumin'?"
An old man, his joints creaking as he leans forward, clutches the soldier with bony fingers.
His breath rasps out in a thin whisper.
"B-baby..."
One of the soldiers peels away from the group and edges toward the blood-soaked cell.
The moment the stench hits him—the iron tang of fresh blood mixed with the rot of dead flesh—he gags.
Doubling over, he vomits onto the floor, the sound wet and choking in the cramped passageway.
"F**k me!" The soldier wipes his mouth, grimacing. He coughs and spits on the ground and straightens.
"I-it's cursed!" They all turn toward the other soldier as he shouts, fingers pointing straight at me. "Born in blood? Under a red full moon? Bad omen I tell ya! Look! It stopped crying and it's now staring at us!"
"Oh come on, don't be daft. That stuff's only told in old myths and fairy tales to scare children, stop exaggerating." One of the other soldiers says sarcastically.
"Then explain the white hair and red eyes, go on then!" He argues back with certainty in his voice.
Another figure steps forward, his boots scraping the gravel with a harsh, deliberate sound. The crowd parts like a wave as his towering presence commands attention.
His sharp eyes sweep the dimly lit corridor, and every prisoner instinctively recoils.
He pauses, with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. A soldier stammers, his voice wavering with fear.
"C-Captain!"
"Well well well! What do we have here?"
The man's lip curls. His voice cuts the soldiers into silence.
"Someone get a cleaner! Let 'em know another one just kicked the bucket!"
A strange feeling churns inside me, but no words come. Only a sharp, desperate cry escapes my lips, high-pitched and fragile.
The sound feels foreign, wrong. I try again to call for help, to scream, but all that comes out is the same helpless sound.
My fingers twitch uselessly, unable to grasp anything, and the world spins in dizzying confusion.
I try to move, but each attempt only brings more panic, more helpless noise, until it feels like the whole world is closing in on me, pressing down, suffocating.
A large shadow looms over me, I feel the air shift, thickening with malice.
The man's presence is overwhelming, like a storm about to break.
His boots crunch against the gravel as he kneels down, his face inches from mine.
His malicious eyes bore into me, and I can almost taste the bitterness on his breath.
A cruel snicker escapes his dry sickening mouth.
"Oh, you're one unlucky bugger you are," he mutters, his words dripping with poison.
"Y'know that, right? If there's anyone you should curse, it's that whore of a mother of yours."
He ends his words with a maniacal laugh before sighing, sending shivers all over my body.
"Too bad, she was a good woman too."
His hand moves toward his pocket, slow and deliberate, fingers curling around the cold metal of a small knife.
He presses the blade to the thin, fragile cord that still binds me to my mother. The only thing that connects me to her.
With a quick motion, he slices through the umbilical cord. The severed end twitches, blood dripping onto the stone floor.
He doesn't pause.
His fingers close around my tiny body, gripping me with casual disregard, lifting me like a ragdoll, with the roughness of his touch scraping my soft skin.
I can feel the harsh grip as he raises me higher, a fragile, helpless thing in his hands.
I cry again. This time louder, more frantic. It's the only thing I can do.
"Make sure you lot take the corpse and burn it, yeah. Don't wanna have to deal with another outbreak of undead."
"Yes sir!"
The other soldiers salute and proceed to grab my mother's lifeless body from both ends.
Hauling her away like another piece of disposable waste, as her head bobs left and right, staring into nothingness while blood drips down the path.
As he carries me down the dim corridor in his rough, hairy arms, he stops to look at me.
"Oh, before I forget, you need a name—oh wait, slaves don't need names." His laughter grows louder until it starts pounding in my ears.
No. It can't end like this. I don't want to die again.
Without warning, a bright display pops before my eyes, hovering inches from my face.
Lines of text and numbers etched in crisp neon blue.
It hangs there, suspended in the air like a digital window, with lines of text and numbers flickering.
[Current Status]
Name: Albus
Age: 0
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: Slave
Occupation: None
Location: Ferrosum
Strength: 0/ Toughness: 0/ Stamina: 0/ Dexterity: 0/ Perception: 0/ Charisma: 0
Titles: Soul Migrator
Skills/Traits: None
What the—am I seeing things? Or have I already gone crazy from all the stress?
I blink once, then again, trying to clear the haze from my eyes.
The image doesn't waver.
It stays rooted in front of me, sharp and undeniable, as real as the cold air against my skin.
It's no hallucination, it's actually there.
I look up to the man, he doesn't seem to notice it.
I'm guessing this means only I can see it?
Before I can get a closer look, I'm interrupted by the man's abrupt halt.
He enters a building, filled with even more cells and cages, this time smaller.
Looking inside, it's filled with nothing but children and young women.
He opens one of the cages, revealing a young woman with pointy ears, striking pure golden hair, and bright orange eyes, glowing like dying embers.
Is that—an elf!?
He chucks me towards the woman, staring her down like a predator.
"Make sure you keep it alive til the next collection, got that? Or it's off with ya head."
She nods profusely, her head staying low to the ground until he leaves out of sight.
I peek up to get a closer look of the woman's face, only to be met with her eyes staring back at me.
Her tears drips down my face as she hugs me closer to her chest.
"Everything'll be alright. I won't let them hurt you anymore. Mama promises this time."
What is she on about? I'm not your son.
And why're you hugging me?
We've only just met, after being threatened to look after me.
You have no obligation, so why are you making promises you can't keep?
This could be a facade.
She could try to use me as bait to save herself at any point in the future.
I don't want to take any chances, but there's no other choice for me, I can't do anything as a baby, at least until I can walk on my own two feet again.
The window from before appears again.
I stare back at it, but this time, the information displayed is different this time, leaving me with only four words.
[New Objective: Escape Ferrosum.]