In what appeared to be an instant I was conscious again, but the world seemed so much larger. I opened my eyes, and I was very clearly in a brick room, being held by a giant. I looked around, and there were two other people. One had an immensely regal feel, looking on with a happy expression on his face. The other was congratulating him on a healthy baby boy. Baby? Boy? WHAT?! I remember reading when being held captive taking a few moments to gather your surroundings and being quiet could be immensely helpful, but I was so confused. I lifted my arm, which seemed to be the equivalent of lifting the world. What was in front of me was a tiny, pudgy little hand that was oddly pale. I was pale, but this was deathly pale, my skin looked like bone.

I looked at the figures again, they all clearly had horns. I looked at the giant holding me, and there were clearly amber eyes looking at me with the joy of the world. The regal one had the same pale skin I did. Either I was reborn in a different world, or I am on the best drugs the hospital has to offer.

“He is not crying dear. Is something wrong?” the giant (my mother?) asked. It was strange, I didn’t recognize the language, but I clearly understood what they were saying.

“That is strange. Trying rubbing him more with the towel, and if that fails try a light pat on the back.” the third person instructed.

“Hold up! What is going on?” I tried to ask, but it just came out as a cry. It was the only sound my poor control over my vocal chords could make.

There was a collective sigh of relief when I made that pathetic cry. I sensed this odd sensation in the air around me as well, like it was part of me, but not physically part of me. The distinct feeling this was not a hallucination came over me when I glanced outside. There is no way I could imagine that.

There were two moons: one was blood red, the other was deep ocean blue. The stars absolutely covered the night; I had never seen a picture of the sky that clear. I tried reaching out, trying to pull myself to the window to see better, but my arm barely wiggled. I looked at what I presumed was my mother and tried beckoning to the window.

“Do you want to see the night sky?” she asked.

“Yes please.” I tried to reply. All that came out was an intelligible series of cries.

“Dear, can you show him? I feel a bit too weak to bring him close to the window.” my mother directed at who i presumed my father to be.

He came over and cradled me in his arms. His regal aura was much more intense with him holding me. I could tell even as he gingerly held me, he was immensely strong. Unnaturally strong. He moved over to the window so I could look at the sky. I was clearly in a massive castle, made out of some black brick. A large fantasy looking town sprawled out beneath. It was hard to make out more details as for the most part, I was staring up at the sky. It was breathtakingly clear. The purple light created by the moons had a mesmerizing beauty to it.

“Your Imperial Highnesses, what will you name him?” the third person in the room asked. Did he say Imperial Highnesses?

“We decided to name him after his grandfather Nil.” my mother replied. My father nodded in agreement.

“And Sathanas for his middle name to follow tradition as well.” my father added, which my mother seemed pretty happy about.

Nil? As in nothing? What kind of name was that? It was after my grandfather? Sathanas? At least it was my middle name. Nil was better than that for sure. Was it some tradition to name people after their grandparents? What kind of naming convention was this?

Now that I was thinking about it, looking at my mother and father, they were definitely not human. And this odd weight about me wasn’t going away. It definitely wasn’t my body being a baby. The sensation was odd, like the presence of something I could just feel but there was nothing it could be. By the window was getting chilly, so I looked at my mother. I tried doing the same motion with my hand, trying to pull myself to her. I felt this sensation of a grip, or having anchored something, and tried to pull myself towards it. This time however, there was this odd surge. The world distorted, like it stretched out, then I was in my mother's arms. It lasted a brief second.

What the hell was that? I thought as a wave of nausea slammed into me. My head felt like it was about to split in half. The odd feeling I felt was completely gone, just replaced by this odd emptiness. It hurt, my body just radiated pain. I tried asking what was happening, but only cries would leave my mouth. This is humiliating, this hurts so much.

“Did he just?!” my mother exclaimed in surprise while trying to comfort me. She lifted her hand and this odd green light started pulsing from her hand to me, which was starting to make the pain fade. What was that? What is she doing? How is she doing whatever this was? They have horns, there are two moons, unnatural coloration of eyes and skin, why wouldn’t it be possible? Magic? Am I really in a land of magic?

“That’s my boy!” my father proclaimed loudly which might as well been nails on a chalkboard. Whatever my new mother was doing was making my body feel better, but did little to put a dent on the headache. It definitely hurt.

“The Night of Fire and Ice truly does provide a <Blessing> my Imperial Highnesses. He seems to have inherited your <Affinity> Emperor Azzeck.” the third person in the room. Emperor. Does that mean I’m a prince?

“Aren’t you supposed to make a <Record> or something by now Cesar?” my mother asked, still maintaining the soothing green light.

“I am. I, Cesar Asmodeus Armstrong, make <Record> today, Unified Year 1624, in the Month of the Moon, on the twenty eighth day, born of Emperor Azzeck Lucifer Crowthorne and Empress Senna Sathanas Crowthorne, I announce to the world Crown Prince of the Speranza Empire, Nil Sathanas Crowthorne!” Cesar boomed.

His voice seemed to carry an immense weight and presence, and clearly amplified by what I assumed to be magic as a piece of paper seemed to materialize from thin air after he finished. My father walked over and touched it with his finger, an immense surge of light burst forth, leaving a brand on the paper.

From what I could tell, <Records> were some form of magical documentation. Probably similar to a birth certificate. My head was feeling a lot clearer, and my body no longer had that odd emptiness to it. My body felt full. Nil Sathanas Crowthorne I repeated to myself. For some reason it made me, what was this feeling? Happy?

I looked at my father, who seemed to be over the moon (moons?) at the moment. This is going to hurt, but only one way to find out. I thought to myself as I gestured to my father. I felt the same thing as before, it was definitely like I anchored something, and pulled towards it. Again, the world seemed to invert and I was at my father. More accurately, about two feet off, outside the window. Uh oh.

Gravity definitely worked. Before I moved more than a foot however, my father had already caught me. The same empty feeling and pain returned. It was even worse than last time. I’d like to say I toughed it out. That would be a lie. Maybe becoming a baby messed with me in some way. Look, it hurt. A lot. There was an odd, and extremely uncomfortable sensation that accompanied the skull splitting headache, waves of nausea, and my body feeling like it had just been hooked up to a car battery. I bawled my eyes out.

Azzeck carefully walked over to Senna and handed me to her, where she proceeded to produce that calming green light again. This time, Azzeck sat next to her where he was when she originally gave birth to me. Note to self, don’t test my ability to teleport with the intended destination being next to an open window. Would I be able to go through the window if it were closed? I am not testing that on this floor though.

“Twice in less than an hour since he was born. You have quite the troublemaker there your Imperial Highnesses.” Cesar exclaimed.

“I thought I felt him start to form <Mana> into a <Spell> again, so I was ready to catch Nil. I think the <Spell> deflected off me unintentionally and was redirected, unfortunately out the window.” father explained.

“Lucky for you that you caught him. We are going to need a different maid to help look after him. If he is already able to use <Warp>, no telling what mischief he can get into.” mother snapped at him.

I was less than thirty minutes old and already branded a problem child. As the pain subsided, my body began to feel extremely heavy. I think I just needed to close my eyes for a minute. It will only be a nap. I thought to myself as I sank into my mothers’ arms.