New World, New life.

A baby boy was born in a certain household, on a certain planet, in a certain galaxy, in a certain universe. But something was not quite right.

The baby boy was strange. Very strange. Well, that's what the doctor and nurses thought, anyway.

On his body—on his skin, and especially on his right arm—there was a birthmark. If it could even be called one. It was an intricate design, woven from complex lines that formed a mesmerizing pattern. As they stared at it, it was as if they were looking into an infinite void of blue. The beautiful design pulsed with blue every so often—a stunning work of art, as if carefully drawn by The Creator Himself.

The doctor and nurses were so captivated by this work of art that they momentarily forgot themselves and the work they were supposed to do. It wasn't until the mother spoke that they snapped back to reality.

"My baby... my baby," she gasped between uneven breaths. "My baby, WHY ISN'T HE CRYING YET!" she managed to shout in a weak voice. The doctors and nurses, quick and well-trained, performed some checkups and confirmed the baby was alright before handing him over to his mother.

~ Meanwhile, deep in the thoughts of the baby—who was previously known as James ~

"Argh. I really should have thought things through before following these guys. I feel too weak—I can't get anything done at this rate. I can barely even move my limbs."

No one could blame him. After using the mirror to traverse into this world, his mental power had been seriously drained, his sense of time tampered with. Simply put, he wasn't the same person he was before. Forced to stay in a cramped space for so long, he felt utterly helpless. If he hadn't felt his new body forming bit by bit, he might have thought the plan had failed and that he was trapped in an infinite void. And now he had to go through the long process of being born. To make things worse, he could barely move his limbs—and he couldn't even see anything! What a sad life. Sigh. But, on the bright side, he had finally succeeded.

Now all he needed to do was… was… wait, what did I need to do again? I can feel it. My memories are fading little by little, and there's nothing I can do. I try to hold onto them, but they slip away faster and faster.

Then suddenly, the birthmark on my shoulder started to shine. It glowed brighter and brighter until the memories I was losing slowed down and nearly halted—preserving the recollections of the life I had lived up to that point.

"Whoa, where am I?" James thought, as he realized he should have died from that attack by the ancient beast. The last thing he remembered was a giant claw swiping at him. "Maybe I lived after all. But something feels off—why does it feel like I have a small body? Did I shrink somehow?" He noticed that he could barely move. Maybe he was just too badly injured, and the shrinkage was merely a side effect of the medicine. But even if it were a side effect... didn't I just get way too small? Ahh, forget it. I'm sure I'll recover soon. Then I can continue my journey to gain the Redstone—if my teammates haven't already found it. But it'll be useless to them anyway. So, I'll just buy it from them.

Poor James—he lost a heck of a lot of his memories, and they stopped at this point. The birthmark alone wasn't powerful enough to stop all his memories from fading. They halted at the moment he was nearly killed by the ancient beast's swipe of a paw. He was saved by a powerful doctor who decided to help him because James had something that doctor needed. Back then, he wasn't even near the apex of his world. The difference was like comparing a grain of sand to a whole planet. They just couldn't be placed on the same level.

~ "My son is just too cute." ~

James's mother cooed as she hugged him and rubbed her cheek against his. In the midst of his thoughts—carefully calculating how much he must bargain with his teammates for the Redstone—James was suddenly caught off guard. Who was this woman? And why was she rubbing her cheek on his? Was she one of the doctors who treated him, or what?

"Well, whatever—just don't harm me, and we'll be even," he tried to say, only to realize that only weird "googoo gaagaa" noises were coming out.

"I think he likes it when you do that," one of the nurses remarked.

"Yeah, Mrs. Samantha, your baby is just the best of the rest. And he's just too cute. I'm sure he'll be a very good kid and won't worry his mommy too much," they showered James and his mother with praises and congratulations.

"This place is full of creeps," James thought. "Get me outta here. And why does he have another mother? My mom's name wasn't Samantha, anyway—besides, what would his mother be doing in this faraway place? No one would be kind enough to send me home, even if they knew me. It's just too far away. Too far.

"So maybe these people are just pretending to do whatever they're doing. 'Cause this isn't my mother."

Poor James didn't know he was just overthinking everything. He had lost all his precious memories. He didn't even remember the time he spent in the womb or when Samantha gave birth to him. All he remembered was being scared out of his wits when that giant paw came for him—of all people.

"Damn, I need to get things right." he thought as he kept on being cuddled by his mom.