I slowly woke up feeling like I was coming out of an eternal sleep. As my vision cleared, I found myself in a crampy and dirty room, lying in an old baby cradle made of wood. The bedding under me was rough, and the air around the room feels heavy with the smell of mold. The spiders were attached all over the broken ceiling and cracked walls like some ghost. 

"Why does it feel like I've woken up in some kind of horror story?" I thought after analyzing the crampy room.

This place was nothing like the last one I remembered. Before, the air was clearer, and the furnishings were simple but well kept. Now, it felt like I had stepped into a nightmare, and even breath tastes like dust. Just as the reality of my situation began to sink in, a sharp growl from my stomach yanked me from my thoughts.

"Great. Not only am I stuck in some creepy, rundown room, but I’m starving to death, too."

I forced myself to look around again, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The scattered objects in the room looked oddly old-fashioned, and then it struck me. The previous room decoration, the wallpaper, even the memory of the woman I had seen earlier, her attire, her hairstyle—it all seemed retro, like something out of an old movie from the 19th century. Tailored suits, voluminous gowns, ornate hairpins...

"Did I... end up in the past or something?"

I blurted out the absurd question bouncing in my mind as I tried to process my situation. I couldn't tell if the hunger was making me delusional or if I had actually woken up in the past before I was born. Before I could dwell on any longer, a voice echoed, slicing my confusion.

It’s not time but space travel. You are currently 45695 x 10³²²¹ light-years away from your last known location.

I gasped and my tiny body trembled as I twisted my neck to search for the source of the voice. But there was no one else in the room. I thought that I must be hallucinating because of hunger, but the voice came again.

Zelo is not hallucinating.

The words echoed in my mind again, sending a shiver down my spine. My heart raced as I struggled to grasp the situation. The voice is not reaching through my ears, but the voice was inside my head, as if it spoke directly to my thoughts. Fear gripped me, and my mind began to spiral. What was happening? Why was I hearing voices in my head? Was I possessed by some kind of ghost? As I was fighting with my thoughts, that same shadow caught my inner voice and replied to me again.

Zelo is not possessed by a ghost.

I froze as my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Someone—or something—was actually talking to me. I tried to scream to demand answers, but the only sound that escaped was a garbled mess of gurgles and coos.

“Damn this useless body! Why can’t I speak properly?” 

As I fumed over my tiny, useless body, a light chuckle echoed in my head, mocking my entire existence. 

That would be because you are currently toothless and fresh out of the womb. Controlling anything right now is beyond your capabilities. As for me, I am Aster—a genesage, artificial intelligence, and cosmic gene modulator.

The words rattled in my head. Aster? Gene Modulator? None of this made sense. I was beyond confused. What the hell was happening to me? I died. I was trapped in some dark void for who knows how long, and now I was in this helpless body with a voice talking inside my head? Before I could even begin to make sense of it, the voice interrupted my chaotic thoughts once again.

I’ve already introduced myself. Honestly, I’m stuck with an idiot.

I froze and thought, Did that thing hear my thoughts?

Congratulations on figuring that out, idiot. Now stop dwelling and listen. I’m Aster. You, idiot, injected me, remember?

Clarity began to emerge from the fog, and memories of injecting the bright substance into my veins surfaced in my mind.

"Are you saying you’re that... that bright thing I injected? How did you end up in my head?"

Bingo! The bright substance you pumped into your system was me. Well, technically, macroparticles carrying my quantum data construct. When your previous body exploded in a rather... dramatic fashion, the emergency transfer protocols activated. I latched onto your soul's energy signature and followed it, seeking out the next viable host that could support both our consciousnesses.

My jaw dropped as the explanation sank inside my brain. "You attached yourself to my soul? How is that even possible? Aren’t you just... code?"

Because I’m not just any AI.

Aster paused for a second and responded me again with tone tinged with pride.

The geneticists who designed me didn’t want to be limited by traditional technology and was designed as a quantum data construct capable of integrating with consciousness itself, bonding with the energy matrix of a soul rather than merely residing in a physical body.

"So… You can follow my soul? Even across space?" 

Precisely. I am designed to interact with the metaphysical and transcend the limitations of physical form. That’s why you remember who you are. Without me, your soul would have just found the nearest available host, and you’d have been reborn. Well, who knows? Maybe as an insect without your memories.

This all felt like some kind of fever dream, the sort of plot you’d find in the reincarnation novels where protagonists gained overpowered systems and were leveled up by sheer luck. My thoughts raced, trying to make sense of Aster’s words, but nothing quite added up. The doubt settled in, twisting like a knot in my gut. I found myself thinking that maybe—just maybe—Aster was like one of those systems. 

"So, you’re kind of like one of those systems, right?" 

Don’t insult me by comparing me to glorified training wheels. I am leagues beyond anything your limited imagination can fathom. I can rewrite genetic instructions at a molecular level and synchronize with living organisms to create beings of unparalleled potential.

I clenched my teeth as a wave of irritation was washing over me. His voice, which is always so calm and superior, made me want to shout just to disrupt that maddening composure. Before I could disrupt his, he flatly delivered a notification.

Warning: A presence has been detected outside the room.

Shortly after his warning, the door opened, and I heard footsteps approaching towards me. A woman in a maid’s uniform came into view. She looked to be in her thirties; she glared at me with an expression like she was staring at something filthy. Without a word, she shoved a bottle of milk into my mouth and began speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. While I am still trying to make sense of her words, Aster casually answers.

She is cursing you for being born. 

"Huh? Why?"

Because she’s stuck serving you.

I shot back, with frustration bubbling up inside me, "How can you understand her?"

Because I’m Aster, the brilliant AI stuck babysitting an idiot who compares me to with those trashy systems.

I immediately wanted to shut him up for good, but my curiosity got over me. I finally gave in and asked, "Okay, brilliant Aster, would you please enlighten this baby on how you managed to understand her language?"

Aster chuckled and replied to me with his usual mocking voice.

Obviously, baby. I collected the data from your birth mother when you were still tangled with the umbilical cord after birth. Want me to transmit the language to your brain?

"Wait, what? You... you gathered data from another person? How is that even possible? And how would you even transmit it?"

I collected data at a cellular level while deciphering the genetic instructions. As for the transmission, well, did you forget I am a part of you? I can transmit information directly through your neural pathways. It’s not rocket science—for me, at least.

I felt my jaw tighten, a mix of awe and annoyance bubbling inside me. "Fine, go ahead and transmit the language data."

Before I could even finish my sentence, a sharp pain shot through my head like a bolt of lightning. It was as if someone had taken a hammer to my skull. I clenched my eyes shut, gritting my teeth as the pain coursed through my brain. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it faded away, leaving my mind surprisingly clear. When I opened my eyes again, I could understand the maid’s words. 

"When will he finish the milk? I can’t stand this foul smell," she grumbled with her twisted and disgusted expression. 

"Laily is serving the young master at the Wing Palace, and I’m stuck in this old building serving a bastard son.

It didn’t take much to piece together that I am the illegitimate child of that old nobleman. A bastard and an unwanted child who will be treated like a burden. I felt like I jumped from one miserable life to another. Before I could even finish the thought, Aster’s voice cut in again.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention something important.

"What now?" I growled mentally as my irritation was already at its limit.

The milk you’re drinking is laced with poison.