A middle-aged man was rushing through the beautiful halls of the Crystal Palace. Even though he was in a hurry, his bearings as a powerful and educated being flourished to all who saw him. His perfectly athletic, lean and robust yet flexible body seemed to fit perfectly in the red robe with the sign of the mythical Phoenix depicted on it. The man seemed to be in quite a hurry as he started running as soon as he heard the sound of a woman screaming in pain.
'I hope nothing will happen to her? Will she be the first one to break that curse?'
The man thought as he accelerated and in a flash went out of the Palace, surprising the guards in front of the portal, to appear in front of a small wooden cabin that seemed to only be able to accommodate three to five people inside.
When he arrived, he saw an old man with an incredibly strong, and muscular build standing in front of the wooden door of the cabinet. When he noticed the presence of the middle-aged man he forced a smile and spoke.
"Son! Whatever happens, make sure to stay brave, alright!" The middle-aged man smiled back painfully aware of the whole situation.
"In this family, no women have managed to survive childbirth! So, I was hoping that we would be able to break that curse. Don't you think that it is possible, father?" The old man got annoyed with his son's attitude and hit him on the back of his head making the latter stumble forward.
"Listen! You're Arnold Swayer, the current Emperor of the Crystal Empire. The son of the Swayer family's head and one of the 'Three Divine Emperors'. Plus you are the strongest member of the 'Seven Heavenly Kings'. So, you better clean this ridiculous face you have right now and brighten up hoping that everything will end on a good note!" Arnold was about to answer back as he steeled his heart to what was about to happen when they heard the cracking sound of the wooden door open.
*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
"Your majesty, the baby is successfully born. However..."
Arnold clenched his fist as he looked at the woman in front of him. Even the old man started sweating because of the sudden tension brought by this lady. They both had the urges to beat her to death to relieve the tension, however, they controlled themselves by breathing rhythmically. When they heard the word, 'however' they both felt their hearts clench, especially Arnold who dearly loved his wife. If she was to really die today, his whole world would falter!
"However, Lady Swayer is still alive!"
Playfully, the woman said as she made her way back inside the room. Relieved by the announcement, Arnold and his father sighed and followed the young woman inside the wooden cabinet.
"If you were not my wife's little sister, your head would be rolling to the ground right now!" Arnold reminded the woman who just ignored him to take care of her big sister who weakly laid down on the single bed in the room while holding and smiling at his newly born little boy.
"Elizabeth, how are you doing?" Arnold asked as he approached his wife Elizabeth.
"My life is not in danger! However, it seems like my ovaries have stopped working. In other words, I've become infertile!" Elizabeth grunted in pain as he answered her husband's question.
"I don't care about that, as long as you're alive. One heir is enough anyway, why would we need another kid! Now hand me the little baby and rest for now." Elizabeth did not want to part ways with the cute sleeping creature but gave up after looking at the pitiful expression Arnold gave her.
'He looks cute when he does that!' She giggled and gave him the kid
While the two were talking to each other, Arnold's father approached the girl who gave them the announcement and asked:
"Anna, Did you already diagnose her?" Anna, Elizabeth's little sister looked at the old man and smiled bitterly.
"Yes, Uncle Sam! The whole process destroyed her Ovaries, she can't produce any more follicles." Samuel or better known as Sam by his relatives frowned when he heard that.
"Did you already try to heal her? I made sure to protect her with a spell before the labor started, what went wrong?" the old man cursed himself as he was trying to think about it.
Anna looked at him and kindly smiled. She too was heartbroken by the fact that her lovely sister would not be able to hold a child anymore, however, it was better than dying.
"At least it is better than seeing her die! If you did not protect her she would not have been here with us right now and I can't even try to imagine that, a world without Elizabeth is simply impossible!" Samuel nodded and smiled fondly.
"Well, you're right! And I would not like my son to despair as I did back in the days!" He looked at the couple and smiled before looking back at the young Anna.
"If we trust history books, that was the time you made a name for yourself through the multiple battlefields and created this empire! That must have been hard for you!" Samuel nodded
"The world has become peaceful now! I hope this unfilial son of mine starts his expansion plan soon, that would help me engage the other two old monsters." Anna furrowed his brows
"He just had a son and you're expecting him to start wars, are you out of mind? Plus going against the other 'Divine Emperors' is out of the question!" Samuel glared at her and retorted
"What do you mean out of the question, aren't I part of the Divine Emperors?" Not wanting to enter in an argument with this Uncle of hers', Anna calmly answered.
"The kid is just growing up. Before anything happens to him, we need to train him hard so that he could fend for himself during the next wars. I'm not the kind of person that likes fighting, however, if someone tries to harm my relatives I'll gladly welcome them!" Samuel didn't have anything else to say, so, he sighed and continued looking at the pair playing with their newborn baby.
'The more I look at the little guy, the more I want to protect him from the cruelty of this world! I haven't felt that way since little Arnold was born!' Samuel thought while fondly looking at the newly formed family. Remembering something, he called his son and asked.
"By the way, he still does not have a name. What is it?" Arnold and Elizabeth looked at each other and simultaneously said:
"Magnus Swayer...
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'It sure was a pain acting like a baby. Now at least I can be myself!'
Magnus thought as he climbed out of his King-sized bed. He has been living in this new world for seven years, eleven months and 30 days. He started his own physical and Martial arts training at the age of five, though in secret because his parents told him to wait until he is eight years old before he could start training. Also, he managed to learn a lot about the history and geography of this world and also forced his parents to teach him how to write and read when he was four years old.
'I better train real quick before anyone comes looking for me!'
Putting his thoughts into action, he started by warming up and did some an intense seance of physical training before finishing with perfecting some of the Martial Arts he had learned back on Earth.
After finishing training, he took a shower and wore some of the clothes he designed himself and ordered their families tailor to make. Magnus comfortable black pants with the drawing of a red phoenix on it, a white shirt and a black hoodie with a big phoenix designed on it's back.
He looked at himself through the mirror in front of the closet and satisfyingly nodded appreciating how he looked. His style of clothing may be common on Earth but here, people have never seen this kind of clothes. Even the tailor had some problems making them since he had never worked on something like that.
'That gave me the idea to start a clothing shop while basing myself on the clothing styles from Earth. Now I only need to ask my mother to support me on it!' Magnus thought.
Just as Magnus was about to go out of the room, his personal butler, Albert knocked on the door and entered in when he was given the signal by Magnus.
"Young Master, your father is looking for you!"