Name: Delta Alana Skyisle Age: 1 hour old [since creation] Species: Homomagicus [+ 4 in base Agility & Dexterity] Affinity: Infoscope [Affiliated skill bonus] Specialization: Soul hunter [+ Soul Devourer skill] Level: 0 Experience: 0/50 Health: 0.1/0.1 Stamina: 0.1/0.1 Mana: 0.1/0.1 Mana regen: 0.1 m/hr Strength: 0 Agility: 0 [+4] Dexterity: 0 [+4] Vitality: 0 Charisma: 0 Magic: 1 Luck: 0 Intelligence: 164 Wisdom: 0 Soul:

73

Skills: [Infoscope LV 125] [Soul Devourer LV 0] Vows: Sacrifice of: [Destruction]

I was… alive? I really expected to be consumed, to be killed by Dr. Kerenski. It’s what I would have done, more specifically what the dominant, Phantasm-Squid part of me would have done. For it, there was no other option, no other path. It was hunt, attack, and multiply or stay still and get eaten. All of its children within its carapace were in fact souls of other things that it had dominated, added to itself. If brother had done nothing, I would eventually be led straight back to the phantom-mother by the call of the deep.

He locked me into inaction with a question using a flaw in my thinking pattern. The phantom part of me would have figured out how to devour him if it wasn’t for his clever machinations.

I glanced at my stats again and felt a bit miffed. Why did the stupid destruction-sacrificing Vow carry over, but not the Mindspace or Create or Modify skills? Those would be nice to have... the System was being unfair to me. It deleted many skills we've shared without even asking me if I wanted to keep them!

Argh!

I tried to look on the bright side of things. I was alive... I was a self-aware spell!

I felt relieved, happy. My soul-brother had actually done it. He made me into a homomagicus! I was no longer a human soul, nor a Phantasm-Squid. I was reborn and I had the [Infoscope] skill from Dr. Kerenski and [Soul-Devouring] from the Phantasm-Squid. The gnawing hunger, the desire to devour souls was still there, but it was manageable and wasn't taking over my mind completely. Also, my soul was no longer fractured and I was no longer bound! I was free! Free to go anywhere, to do anything!

I wasn’t going anywhere specifically though at the current moment. I was slowly drifting through a forest. In the moment of my rebirth as homomagicus I had lost all control and floated away!

Argh!

I flexed my threads and eyes, Identifying everything within my surroundings.

[Soul-Devourer LV 0] skill was atrociously sad. It was time to level it up with a feast! I spied a perfectly defenseless level one bee heading my way and flashed towards it, grabbing at its soul with my hooked blades.

Om nom nom.

Stop resisting me, you stupid bee! Take me to your leader!

[ _____________ Alan Skyisle]

“He’s not breathing!”

“I’m casting a healing spell!”

“Again! Cast it again!”

A current of magic shot through my heart, restarting it. I screamed. I sounded like a crying baby. Ah, I was crying... and a baby. Everything hurt terribly. Not sure what I expected. I thought I had more time, but alas getting attacked by a Phantasm-Squid and finding out that I had a twin soul-sister had derailed my grand plans somewhat.

Where was I? This wasn’t the womb. This was… I was being held in the air. I was breathing! Had I slept through my own birth when I was pushed into a coma by magical exhaustion?

I kept on crying. This was normal. This was totally what babies do. I’m totally an ordinary baby and not a...

“His stats! They’re all over the place! This can’t be right! This… this is impossible!”

Please ignore that. A perfectly ordinary, normal baby.

“He’s level six?! Ave Ishira!”

“What?!”

“Your. Child. Is. Level. Six!” The scratchy, female voice punctuated every word. “His System is unlocked! His stats are irregular! This is an abnormality! His body is incredibly underdeveloped, small and weak… but the other stats… how can this be? One hundred sixty four Intelligence?!”

“Are you screwing with me, midwife Tamara?”

Hey! I know that voice. That’s my father’s voice. I blinked tears out of my eyes, trying to focus. It didn’t work very well. I saw vague, blurry shapes in front of me.

“I’m not! The Evaluation Eye says…” An enormous, blurry woman in what looked to be a white dress was waving a blurry, black sphere in front of my face. Some kind of shimmering blur was moving within the sphere, akin to a spell circle. The eyes of a newborn sucked. I instantly regretted giving up my Infoscope. Where did Delta go? Did she forsake me forever?

“Maybe you dropped your stupid whale Eye if its showing you this garbage!” My father barked at the midwife. “How could a newborn have unlocked stats?!”

“I have to report this… extreme irregularity to the Church of Equality!”

“Please don’t,” my mom tiredly groaned from the bed. I turned my head towards her. Yep, she was just as blurry. I looked back at the white blob that was midwife Tamara.

“I’m not going to break the rules, Cassandra!” Tamara groaned. She sounded just as beat up as my mother. I wondered how many healing spells she had to cast on me. “This... irregularity could threaten the village. What if he’s been cursed or he's... an aberration.”

“My newborn son isn’t a threat to the village! Don’t be ridiculous! Your stupid Eye is broken!” My dad’s voice plowed through the chatter of the old midwife.

“When I scanned your wife’s belly five months ago the Eye told me that you have a girl! I even told you that you were going to have a girl! Don’t you remember it, Georgi?”

“So your Eye was broken back then too! My son is clearly not a girl!" My father barked. "If he was an aberration, his gender wouldn't show up as something completely different! My wife was never struck by a Phantom! How old is that artifact?”

“Uhrm, forty six years,” Tamara muttered.

“Exactly!” My dad declared with confidence. “The runes in it probably decayed over the years of use. Tammy, you’re tired. We’re all tired. Go home and get some rest and then order a new Eye from Agamemnon. I’ll even pay for one myself - we can’t have a healer in our village without a proper evaluation artifact! Just don’t send any reports to anyone until then, alright?”

My dad leaned towards the midwife. I guessed that he was likely giving her a very stern look. I knew exactly what his stern look was like - I've seen it before.

“Fine.” The midwife sighed. “Take care of Cassandra and your... boy."

"I will," my father said.

"I won’t submit the report," the midwife continued. "I’ll tell the Equality Overseer that my artifact Eye broke, if he asks about… your son. In the book of Skyisle records your son is already listed as a girl. I’ll try to correct the list when there’s nobody at the church. An Overseer might come around to investigate him sooner or later. It might happen tomorrow or in a month or never, it all depends on how diligent the Overseer is. I will put in an order for a new Eye. I will return when it arrives.”

“Thank you.” Dad nodded. “We’ll deal with it when it comes to it.”

I heard the clinks of metal coins being passed to the midwife.

“Now can I have my son, please?” Mom whispered from the bed.

Dad passed me to my mom and I clutched onto her breast. I was starving. I was glad to have such supportive parents.

“Ishira be with you.” The midwife departed with the sound of a closing door.

“She told us we were going to have a girl, Georgi. The Eye was wrong! We can’t name our boy... Destiny. What are we going to name him?” My mother muttered.

“Hrmm.” My father scratched his brown beard. “Perhaps, Dante? Yes. An acceptable name… a strong, enduring boy!”

Mom nodded in agreement. Damn it! Really wish I could speak now… but then again a talking newborn would be very suspect, not that I wasn’t already very suspicious with my highly irregular stats.

[ Tu du! Full name assigned: Dante Alan Skyisle! ]

The System dinged. I mentally sighed. No name that started with a V for me. Oh well.

I realized that there was another System notification waiting for me to acknowledge it. I now had enough XP to get to Level 7! Creating Delta was an enriching experience in both the XP and my self-worth. I had something to be proud of - I had finally given someone life instead of killing them!

I initiated the level up and settled in for a nap on my mom’s warm chest, the beating pulse of her heart relaxing me.