Childhood and Childbirth

15 years before the present, a child was born in a world called Tenalp.

"I didn't think we'd be able to have a child at this age," said a woman as she lied in bed. "His life force was weak and I thought he was going to die. I'm so happy we have another child!"

"Hopefully this one listens Rei," said a man as he stood beside her. "Hopefully he will accept the weight of the family."

"He's young now and we haven't even given him a name Youchi. The responsibilities of the family can wait," said Rei(40)

"I know, but I can't help but to still be upset. I didn't have the power to make them do it and they left like they knew it all. That's why I hope this one listens and respects the family tradition," stated Youchi(53).

"What should we name him?" Rei decides to change the topic.

"He doesn't look special." stated Youchi. "The energy flowing around him didn't have a special reaction. His life force is below average, as if to say he doesn't want to live. The cosmic energy is the only thing that reacted, which is normal. He had a below average birth, even worse than mine."

The child's face showed an expression of pain and sadness and eventually

started to cry. The more his father spoke the louder he would cry. Rei would try to call him down. You'd think that Rei would be mad and upset that her baby was crying, but if you looked at her face there was a smile. Not because she's into that sort of thing, it's because of what the baby was reacting to.

"I thought of a name for the baby," smiled Rei "Khusus Sangat Austėja"

"That's.. That's actually a horrible name," Youchi stared at Rei "Screw That! Why would you ever call a kid that, do you want him to be bullied? Gosh!"

"Do you have a better name?!"

"..."

"That's what I thought!"

"Wait..Why don't we give him a generic name like John?"

"Hmm…I suppose."

The child's name was decided. John Austėja. After hearing this, the baby's

face became distorted again. Tears started forming in the child's eyes and he started to cry again.

"Wahh! Wahh! Screou!" wailed the baby.

"Okay, okay he doesn't like that name.." Youchi paused for a moment. "Did he just say screw?"

"Yeah, I think he heard you say it earlier." Replied Rei. "Maybe you should lay-low on words like that."

"Heck!" coughed the child.

"Now where did he get that one from?" wondered Youchi.

"He's just coughing," explained Rei "He cried more than his body could handle!"

Everyone started to calm down after the coughing stopped and the baby

yawned and looked tired. The baby didn't fall asleep though. What happened next would be hidden from the child until he was 15.

"His life force is weakening and his breathing is increasing!" cried Rei.

"We can't lose him, he made it so far!" Youchi started to think. "I'll go get it"

After that Youchi left the room to Rei and the baby. Rei looked at the child and

saw that he was sweating. She waved her hand over his body to check his condition. The cosmic energy around him was being absorbed into his body. The reaction with the cosmic energy within his body was causing his illness. The baby wasn't consciously doing it, it was coming from an anger. Rei moves her hand onto the child to try and relieve his pain. Hurried footsteps approached the room.

"How is he?!" Youchi hurriedly asked.

"He absorbed too much cosmic energy!" Explained Rei.

"Don't worry!"

Youchi placed a bag he received from the other room on the bed. He looked

through for a couple seconds and retrieved a tool called the "'Forced Channeler'. He placed the item in Rei's hand and held it with her. They closed their eyes and focused.

"He overdosed on cosmic energy," said Rei who was laying in bed

"Okay, we'll retrieve on the count of three!" Said Youchi who stood beside her.

"1..2…" They began to count. "3!!!"

They simultaneously activated the device with the intent of retrieving the

excess cosmic energy from the baby's body. Right before the device activated

the babies body stabilized. The device was beyond stopping at this point and

it retrieved half of the cosmic energy within the child's body since the body has just

stabilized. After that the baby passed out.

The baby woke up a few minutes later to be greeted with crying and tears.

The expression on the infant's face was not that of a baby anymore. It no longer looked innocent and stared them in the eyes blankly. After seeing the baby was alive the parents cried even more. Not because they wanted him to die it was because they were so happy to see him alive. The parents have loss a child before and didn't want to lose their only chance of having another.

…

Now that I think about it, you don't understand what cosmic energy is. I'll

explain that to you after I'm done with this bedtime story. I'll also throw in some extra information about pregnancy.

…

5 years after the birth of the child(who was named Khusus Sangat Austėja) Youchi made a decision that would change the young child's way of thinking.

"He is ready." stated Youchi(58).

"He is only 5, can't you wait a little longer?" asked Rei(45).

"No. My Father began my training at a very early age." stated Youchi.

"You were 7, he still has two more years." said Rei.

"Considering what happened at his birth, he'll need to start early. We will begin training in an hour. Tell him how to prepare." commanded Youchi as he left.

Rei sighed and went to Khusus' room. Khusus was lying on his bed with his

eyes closed like he always did every morning when he woke up. When Rei entered Khusus' room he opened his eyes, and looked in her direction. Plenty of thoughts ran through his mind, but he wasn't expecting his training to begin today. Khusus was a smart kid and only showed interest in paying attention to people's actions or zoning out in his room. He never played with the kids outside he just sat on the side and watched. Not because he didn't like the kids or wasn't good at their games. It was because he enjoyed analyzing how they acted and sometimes he would zone out so much that he wouldn't recognize people talking to him.

"It's time. Prepare your mind." that's all Rei said before she began to leave the room.

"Wait!" said Khusus. "Already?"

"He said he had his reasons, now do what I said." Rei stopped to answer Khusus then shut the door.

Khusus closed his eyes again and repeated the words in his head. "Prepare

your mind". Khusus knew that his father would train him someday he just didn't know how or when. Khusus decided he wouldn't be surprised no matter what he had to do. He decided he would follow through with it if it would make him stronger in the future. He had known that his grandfather was a great adventurer, and wanted to follow in his footsteps. 'I have to become stronger' thought Khusus. Not because he wanted to protect his friends or anything cliche like that, he wanted to for self gain.

After sitting in his room for an hour, Khusus heard the call of his father. The

training has begun. Khusus entered the central room of his house to greet his father. His Youchi didn't speak and just motioned for Khusus to follow him. Khusus followed Youchi to the fireplace, and watched as he waved his hand over the fire to put it out. He then moved to put his hand on the wall. Khusus stared in confusion as his father just closed his eyes and stood there.

After about 3 minutes Khusus heard and felt shaking all around him. The

centerpiece of the wall that looked attached to everything else, slid into the ground revealing a dark and slightly dirty passageway. Youchi didn't say anything and just walked into the darkness. Khusus was smart enough to follow. After walking through the pathway for a short amount of time, everything began to brighten and the lighting returned to normal.

At that time, they entered a room full of old books and items. There were

torches lighting the room. Khusus was confused by this because the room looked very old and torches wouldn't be able to burn forever. His thoughts ended quickly because he was distracted by something else in the room. In the center of the room there was a nicely decorated sheath that contained a sword. Youchi noticed what Khusus was looking at and finally decided to speak up.

"Are you wondering what that is?" asked Youchi.

Khusus nodded his head.

"That is the weight of or family and our family artifact.." Youchi began.

"Austėja's Sheath"

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*Cosmic Energy: A force that is created by the conflict between life energy and the traces of death. Instead of using magic, people control cosmic energy in different ways. Cosmic energy is everywhere and all living things(except plants) need it.

*Pregnancy: When a woman carries a child in her womb. The child takes a portion of mother's cosmic energy to sustain child's life force. Khusus didn't do this causing him to do it outside of the womb.