A Cursed Child

In the capital city of Altren, an opulent mansion sat illuminated by a blood moon. Its looming ivory walls were washed crimson with the moon's light, and not a single occupant dared step foot outside under the ill omen above.

The eerie silence of the city surrounding the mansion was interrupted by the echoing cries of a woman in labor. The halls of the home were swarmed with dozens of servants running back and forth, preparing for the birth of Duke Elcott's third son.

A woman no older than twenty-four years old lay in a blood-stained bed, her legs propped up as a midwife dabbed at her forehead with a wet cloth. Her golden hair hung in matted curtains around her head, her beautiful face was twisted in agony, and her delicate hands gripped the sheets around her in pain.

The midwife went to the foot of the bed and glanced under the bloodied sheet to check the woman's progress," you are doing well, Milady. Just a few more deep breaths, and you'll be done."

Duke Elcott paced worriedly by the window, glancing nervously at the blood moon rising higher and higher outside the window. His cropped black hair rustled as he paced back and forth with greater speed. His piercing blue eyes furrowed at the edges as he glanced between the woman and the moon above.

The woman screamed again; the sound echoed hauntingly in the room, bouncing between the walls and deafening everyone nearby.

Suddenly, the cries of a baby sounded in the room. The noise was shrill and sharp, but the volume let everyone know the baby was alive.

The midwife quickly cut the umbilical cord, took the baby in hand, and cleaned it of blood and mucus. But midway through, she gasped, horrified.

She placed the baby on the blanket that had been prepared for its birth and stepped away, tugging at the symbol of a god that hung around her neck on a chain.

"What?" The mother panicked, worried that something was wrong with her child. " What's wrong? Is my baby alright? What's happening?"

Duke Elcott strode over to the baby. The look of disgust that crossed his face made the woman fear the worst. Had the baby been born with some defect?

The Duke didn't spare the child a second glance; he just looked at the mother forlornly and then left the room without a word.

"M-My baby! Bring me my baby!"

The midwife ignored the woman's pleas, so a maid nearby hurried over to the child, grimaced, swathed it in the blanket, and came over with the bundle," Here, Miss Eris. Congratulations, it's a boy."

Now that she could look at her baby, she knew why Duke Elcott had reacted the way he had. The baby's tiny tuft of hair and skin were white, and his eyes, which peered up with innocent curiosity, were a deep, vibrant red.

"Oh… my baby boy," tears rose to Eris' eyes. She gazed at the baby and instinctively knew that the child's appearance was meant to be some sort of curse," why would a god do this to you?"

Despite how the child looked and how others would see him, she couldn't help but think he was beautiful, in a way. She hugged the baby close to herself and wept over him.

Her tears fell heavily onto the child's face, but the baby was oblivious; he had fallen asleep.

Later that night, when Eris had fallen asleep, and all of the servants had cleared out of the room, the baby shifted in the cradle he had been placed in.

'Well, that was awkward,' Nate thought as he tried, and failed, to sit himself up. The weak noodle arms of an infant weren't exactly good for much,' this is gonna drive me crazy.'

I could always seal your consciousness until you reach an age where you can operate relatively freely.

Nate shuddered,' Yeah, no. I'm not letting anyone mess with my head, especially not… who are you again?'

I guess you could consider me an extension of you now.

Nate shifted in his pudgy baby body and tried to say something out loud, but all that came out was indistinguishable baby babble. He swung his fat little arms in indignity.

How eloquently put.

'Shut up. I'm a freaking baby! This stupid baby mouth won't do what I tell it to.'

That's because your neural pathways and larynx haven't been properly developed yet. Your new body can't interpret electrical signals from the brain yet, so it's a bit like a person being trapped in their own body. Although, you can move, albeit with heavy restrictions.

'So I'm basically a freaking potato that can flail, babble, and piss and shit itself. Lovely!'

I could always seal your—

'I'm good! I'd rather not have more extra-dimensional beings mess with me.'

I'm not an extra-dimensional being. I'm just you, or at least a version of you.

Nate's little baby brow furrowed,' huh?'

Let's just say the first time we made that deal, we didn't have anyone to help us. We ended up being reincarnated just like now, but we didn't have the last two clauses that we added.

Nate thought about the contract, and suddenly, the piece of paper appeared in front of him,' Whoa! What the hell?!'

Calm down; it just appears whenever we want it to. That asshole thought it would be funny to let us see the contract whenever we wanted and not be able to do anything about it.

The voice chuckled evilly.

I bet that dickhead is regretting that now.

'Wait, how could you possibly be me? Or a version of me? That doesn't make any sense.'

That's a long story, and luckily for you, we've got nothing but time for me to tell it.

Nate tried to put a very dry look on his baby face but managed only to look like he needed the bathroom,' ha ha ha. You're so funny.'

I ought to be. We're the same person. If we can't enjoy our own sense of humor, then who can?

Nate wasn't entirely convinced the voice was actually himself, but he certainly sounded like a smarmy dick, so that was like him, at least.

The first go around, we were made the head honcho of evil, and we were killed by a girl named… Seraphine.

Nate caught the slight hitch the voice had at the woman's name. It was sad and forlorn, not exactly what he would've expected when talking about someone who killed you.

See, the first us missed that loophole where that asshole could just make us the embodiment of evil when he first signed the contract. But despite what our sister says, we aren't complete idiots; he figured it out a while down the road in his life and looked all over this world for someone who could possibly help.

Eventually, he found someone. It was a goddess with the knowledge and means to help him get out of this contract, but there was a problem. Even if she could give him the sigil, that symbol that appeared right before you signed the contract, he would have to engrave it inside his soul—our soul—himself.

He tried, but he didn't have nearly enough magic to fully engrave it; hell, he didn't have enough to engrave more than one line. So, eventually, when the evil that was put in him won out, he laid waste to this world and ended up dying to Seraphine.

Of course, that isn't where it ends. Technically, the first version of us fulfilled the contract, and he was given the reward that had been agreed upon in the contract. But that asshole put another loophole in the contract.

Oh, the first us got a second chance to relive our life in our world alright, but that demon never said he had to let us keep our memories or that he had to let us keep the magic we'd gained from the other world. He took our memories, stripped our magic from us, used it to empower himself, and sent us back to relive our life exactly as it went the first time.

Nate let that sink in.

When we died the exact same way you did, we didn't have any memories of the first go around, and we made the exact same stupid deal. Everything played out the exact same way… except for one.

The voice trailed off, leaving Nate in suspense,' how? How was it different?' Come on, man, if you're really me, then you know I hate suspenseful silences!'

The voice chuckled.

The first us had already engraved the first piece of the sigil in our soul, so when the second one got the sigil, he was able to add another piece to it. It wasn't much, but when we went around for a third time, memories from the second carried over near the end.

It went on like that for a while until… well you.

Nate really didn't like the implication of all of this. If it was true, then he was basically a battery that the demon had been using for a while now,' does the demon remember all of these loops? And if he does, then how does he do it?'

I don't exactly know the details, but a few of us remembered a handful of offhand comments it made about past lives. Either the external dimension isn't directly influenced by the time of the other worlds, or some other factor allows it to retain its memories.

'Shouldn't he have caught on if this started changing when more of us started getting their memories back?'

I'm sure it was curious initially, but after a few lives, it seemed to lose interest and kept siphoning magic from us. You saw how desperate it was; even with those added terms we made, it couldn't do much of anything. It needs the magic it takes from us to escape that dimension and break those chains you saw. Even now, after you pissed it off, I'm sure it's still fully expecting you to either die, complete the contract again, or fail and be sent back to it. We didn't have much time after the contract, so no matter what we do, we'll be sent back to it; we have to be.

'We're screwed then, aren't we? No matter what we do, we'll go back to that demon and end up giving it more mana!'

Not necessarily. Judging by the degradation of his chains, I would say he'll have to put us through one more loop, but this next time, he will be thorough, so I don't know if the sigil will manage to activate again.

'Then what—'

We just won't go back empty-handed. You're forgetting I got my memories of all our other loops a lot sooner than the rest of us. I know more about this world than even some of the people who were born here.

'Technically, we were born here.'

… see, that is exactly why we always got the crap beat out of us back in our world.

The other Nate sighed.

I'll help you grow stronger as much as I can, but after ten years, I won't be able to anymore—not directly, anyway. Oh, and stop thinking of yourself as "Nate." It's not your name anymore, remember?

'Oh, right. I guess we would've been given another name. What is it?'

Why don't you have a look? Just think "System," and it'll do the rest for you. Now I've got to go. This mushy little baby brain can only handle so many consciousnesses at a time.

Finally, he was left with no thoughts other than his own, or at least the current him's thoughts. That was still freaky to think about. There had been countless versions of himself before now, and they had all led either completely similar or drastically different lives.

'I wonder how the first me handled things? Was he just as freaked out as I am now?'

Probably.

'He was probably more scared, at least I have someone to guide me through things; he didn't even have that. He had lived an entire life in this world, found out about the demon's trick, and done everything within his power to try and save himself from becoming the thing he had been sent to stop. Just to die, find out he had technically accomplished his goal by doing so, and not been able to enjoy the reward just because of another loophole.'

Could he morn for himself? That seemed so foreign a concept he didn't know if it was possible, but either way, he silently closed his eyes and hoped he could make the sacrifices that first him had made matter.

'Okay, now let's see my new name. System.' A glowing screen appeared, floating in open space and defying the fundamental laws of physics,' oh, you've got to be shitting me!'

Name: Abneir Elcott

Race: Human

Level: 0

Stat Points: 0

XP: 0/5

HP: 5

MP: 5

Stats:

Str: 5

Dex: 5

Con: 5

Int: 5

Wis: 5

Cha: -35

Luck: 35

Blessings

Luck of the Mural Crown Goddess: Be it through your own merit or just dumb luck, you have impressed the Goddess of Luck Tyche. You have been granted a boon that greatly increases your luck.

Effect: +35 to Luck

Curses

Stigma of the Fallen One: You have angered the Fallen Angel Lucifer, and he has cursed you with his stigmata. You are born with traits of the Fallen One. They make you an aberration in your new world. Because of this stigma, your charisma is significantly decreased.

Effect: -40 to Charisma

'Fucking Abneir?! Seriously? What possible god could I have possibly pissed off to get such a shitty na—' He trailed off, either not believing the thought that had entered his head or not wanting to,' there's no way that asshole could be that petty, right? And what's up with this abysmally shitty charisma? I get that the stigma or whatever was gonna be bad, but this shit is borderline a handicap. Basically, every single person I ever meet is just going to hate me instantly… I mean, that was already happening before, but at least I had to open my mouth first! And then there's this weirdly high luck stat. If I had to get blessed by a goddess, why couldn't it have been some buff goddess who could bless me with huge muscles and better strength stats?'

He really didn't want to be called Abneir his whole life.

"What's the matter, Abneir?" He looked up and saw a woman standing over him. It was his new mother. Her name was Eris, right?

She looked considerably better than when he had first seen her, but to be fair, that had been directly after his birth, so she deserved a pass.

'Wait? Does that mean I came out of her… no, no, no! Don't think about that! I'm going to be scared for life.'

He tried shaking the stupid thoughts out of his head, but he only managed to wiggle his fat little head.

"Aww, are you getting hungry?" Eris smiled tiredly down at him and picked him up, supporting his head against her chest as she did.

'Yeah, I could really go for a burger about no—' Eris started to unbutton her maternity gown,'Whoa, whoa, whoa! No! I'm not doing that! I'm way too old to—'

His stupid baby body's instincts kicked in, and for the next few minutes, he tried his hardest to disassociate as much as possible. Thankfully, after a few minutes, he was pulled away and burped on Eris' shoulder.

'I think this is the single most embarrassing day of my life.'

She went to his crib and swathed him in his blanket again, but instead of placing him inside again, she padded heavily back to the bed and sat with him.

Eris smiled sadly at him and ran her thumb against his cheek; her hair caught the light of the moon outside and turned strawberry blonde." I'm so sorry. I thought you would have a better life since I was meant to marry your father, but after this, I think we'll be sent to the outskirts of the country. I just hope the other wives won't make your life any harder than it will already be."

He stared up at Eris, feeling bad for her. She had been married off to some duke as one of his wives, and now that he had been born, she was being all but tossed aside. And here she was, worrying more about him than herself.

'I'm really sorry,' he tried with all his might to reach up and somehow gripped Eris' finger with his baby hand.

Tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks, and his mother hugged him closer to her chest," Oh, my little Neir. What am I going to do?"

He wished he could do more than just lightly grip his mother's finger at that moment. He wished he could tell her everything would be alright and that he would make sure they wouldn't be outcasts forever. But all he could do was try in vain to console her with his unresponsive body.

'Neir, huh? I guess the name isn't that bad if I use the nickname.'

As she hummed a forlorn-sounding tune and gently rocked him back and forth, Neir was slowly lulled into a fitful sleep.

The next time he woke up was during the day, and it seemed that they had left the home he had been born in and boarded a wagon at some point.

His mother smiled down at him through the cloak she wore, her delicately upturned nose crinkled at the edges, and her emerald eyes sparkled with the light of the sun," are you finally awake, little Neir? You're certainly a lot easier than other babies, aren't you?"

She giggled, and Neir had to suppress the feeling of embarrassment that flared up,' it's not my fault! I was really tired! I just got born, lady!'

The same maid who had handed him over to his mother when he had been born laughed as she looked at them," he's certainly an interesting baby, Miss Eris.

Now that he looked at the maid with clearer eyes, he saw that she was actually fairly young. She looked no older than eighteen, with dark brown hair, a soft round face, a small nose, and rosy cheeks. Her hazel eyes were crinkled at the edges, and her mouth seemed to draw up into an easy smile naturally.

His mother stroked the little tufts of his white hair that stuck out from the baby blanket and hummed that same sad song from before.

He lazily turned his gaze out through the flapping canvas of the rear of the wagon, where they sat beside an entire stock of goods. The countryside outside of the wagon passed them by; fields of green grass and hills dotted with trees came and went as they moved. The clear blue sky overhead was a stark contrast to the moon from the night before, which had ominously heralded his birth, but he was happy to see familiar sights.

The world didn't look much different from his old one, but Neir didn't exactly know what he was expecting.

Something on the hills in the distance moved. It looked like multiple little piles of green jello that rolled unaided.

'What the heck?'

His mother leaned down and followed his line of sight. " Oh, are you curious about those? Those are monsters called slimes. They roam in open spaces, taking things into their membranes and dissolving them over time."

Neir was sure his eyes were sparkling,' whoa! There are freaking slimes in this world?! I mean, I knew people had an RPG system to level up here, but I didn't expect there to be monsters roaming around.'

Neir's expression of wonder seemed to be taken as one of fear because his mother drew him closer, rubbing her cheek gently against hers, "Don't worry; Mommy will protect you."

He tried desperately not to enjoy the contact, but it seemed his baby brain and body were hardwired to enjoy contact with his mother,' shoot me now. Please, anything is better than admitting I want my mommy!'

The wagon traveled for days and days. The journey seemed to take a great toll on his mother, if the deep bags under her eyes were anything to go on, and he expressed an inner distaste for his new father, who had forced a woman who had just given birth to go on such a journey.

'If I ever get the chance, I'm beating the crap out of that guy.'

After the seventh day, his mother and the maid, whose name he had found out was Nerissa, disembarked from the wagon. They had arrived in a village with little more than fifteen houses dotted around sprawling fields of some crop that took up a majority of the land the settlement was on.

People tended the fields off in the distance, and a man with an obtusely large sword strapped to his back patrolled the edge of the forest to the right of the settlement. The forest had a much more dangerous aura to it compared to the forests in his old world, and somehow, Neir could tell something other than regular animals lurked deeper in the shadows of the trees.

"Look, Neir," his mother pointed up toward a hill where a house sat overlooking the village. Its brick structure was ringed with a wooden fence. It seemed a bit sturdier than the other houses, whose facades were made of wood, and the tree that grew beside it offered a moderate shade from the summer sun overhead," that's where you'll be living with Mommy and Miss Nerissa from now on. Isn't it pretty?"

He had to admit the house was pretty picturesque, and the village's slow, sleepy but earnest atmosphere definitely added to its appeal.

'Looks like that demon was wrong. Our life isn't terrible in this world! I mean, sure, our dad is a deadbeat, but we can have a great life here. Maybe that luck stat is working out for us already.'

The voice of his other self was ominously silent.