All was dark and still.

Then suddenly, there was a slight tremor. Demund’s mind shocked into life like he had been dazed the entire time. He tried to blink his eyes, trying to understand the darkness he was in.

He concluded he was lucid dreaming and was happy that he could be so aware and awake in his dream.

Awake? No, that definitely wasn’t right. It was definitely a dream; he had been lying in his bed moments before. He still remembered the sucking sensation while his vision was becoming blacked out. He had been so tired…but now he felt strangely refreshed but strangely weak at the same time.

Once more, Demund could feel himself being sucked into somewhere. Or rather, sucked out of somewhere. Something was pushing him upwards, to the direction of his head—was that really upwards? It was hard to tell. His mind was still hazy like he was drunk, and all around him was darkness.

And warm wetness.

“What the heck?” Demund thought to himself. “What's going on? Is this a dream about me being eaten and digested out of some animal? I did watch that weird elephant video a while back, but this feels too real…”

Demund was genuinely confused. Never had a dream felt so realistic and so bizarre at the same time. Maybe his power had manifested?

A word randomly struck his mind. Metamorphosis. Perhaps this wasn’t a dream but rather a change in his body? Perhaps his power was finally manifesting. But then his potential would have been higher. He remembered reading in a textbook that only powers of B class and higher could physically alter their bodies.

Perhaps the examiners had made a mistake. That was it! He decided that he would ask the examiners for a re-evaluation. They would stay for three days in school, after all, to take care of their unfinished work and receive students’ confirmations if they wanted to take the Selection.

After putting his mind in order, he relaxed a bit. And he waited. He wasn’t breathing, which was weird, but he concluded that it was all part of his transformation. He wasn’t suffocating, after all.

The environment was still dark and wet. Demund waited for some change. There were tremors throughout the area, so he theorized he would probably be out in an hour or less. Transformations had to take a few hours, he thought.

〄 〄 〄

Demund tapped his fingers nervously on his thigh. Or he would have if he could actually move his fingers. He was starting to get very nervous as countless seconds had passed since he first gained consciousness. The environment was also rumbling in a very weird and furious way like it was about to explode. It seemed to go on forever, and he thought he was sweating but couldn’t tell because all around him was filled with liquid.

He was hearing some murmurs that sounded human, but it was all muddled in his ear. The voices sounded harsh and fast like an argument was going on. He patiently waited for something to happen. He prayed that something would happen.

Then the rumbling stopped. His surroundings suddenly came to a halt. Surprised by the unexpected change, Demund too froze in his place. Not that he was moving that much anyway. The whole place was quiet, and Demund stressed his ears to listen to what was going on. He was probably still in his room or had been transported to a nearby hospital due to his transformation.

Noise—muddled from all of the liquid around him, but there was definitely noise. The voices were softer than before. Demund’s patience was running low as he had been confined to an uncomfortable position for quite some while. It didn’t hurt, but the sense of pressure and imprisonment started to get on his nerves.

He finally decided. He would go out himself. If this really was a transformation, he would be stronger than before and would have no problem getting out. His nerves felt numb, but he would do it until he succeeded.

Then suddenly.

"Alright. Let’s go out in one…two…th—what the!!

Demund was hastily sucked out with a force that reminded him of a water slide, and his head shot towards an opening. He felt a faint tug on his stomach, but his mind was more focused on grasping what the heck was going on.

Then he was out. In the open. Everything was so bright and dazzling. He felt cold air rush around him and heard a faint *snip*from below. Pain filled his head at that instant, and he realized that he was suffocating for some reason. He couldn’t blink properly either and thought he was going blind. Shocked from all the stimuli, Demund did what any newborn baby did:

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” (WHAT THE FUUUUU)

“It’s a boy! Congratulations!”

“I knew the telekinetic spell would do the trick. Look how fast he came out.”

“I know…Melsei had to suffer for two hours. Why didn’t you come sooner?”

“I was at the central town square! It takes an hour just from here to there on horseback, and I had to run!”

What the hell was going on! That was all Demund could think about. He couldn’t see anything properly, as the light and blurriness made that very difficult, but he could still hear the voices of the people in the room.

Someone murmured something, and Demund could feel a soothing wind go over his skin. The stickiness and wetness he felt before was suddenly gone. He was swiftly wrapped in a comfortable blanket but was still screaming at the top of his lungs because of how shocked he felt.

Upon realizing that he might be making a fool out of himself (and the pain wasn’t as bad as he had thought), he quickly shut his mouth and tried his best to blink his eyes for some vision.

“You know I didn’t mean to—?!”

“…………?”

“…………………um, doctor, the baby stopped crying. …He’s not dead, is he?”

“Well…during times like these, all you need to do is to give him a decent smack on the bum and he’ll start crying again,” said a raspy, hard voice. “Should I?

Demund instantly felt shivers go up his spine. He didn’t fear getting smacked, but the tone that came from the “doctor” definitely implied more than a simple bum-smack.

“It’s fine doctor~. Look how peacefully he’s sleeping. Let me cherish this quiet moment some more.”

Ah! The voice of an angel! Demund felt relief fill his whole body. The voice had come from directly above him, so it was probably the one who was holding him.

Wait a minute…had they said, “son”?

“If you say so,” said the doctor while making an unfamiliar windy noise, “his vital signs are perfectly fine, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Vital signs? Were they talking about the transformation? Then why did he feel so weak? Wasn’t this supposed to be a transformation? Demund felt cold sweat going down his neck. At the same time, anticipation filled him.

“Garthan? Darling, come here, we need to name our baby,” said the voice above Demund softly.

Oh. Damn.

“Ehem. Yes. I was preparing myself,” said a gentle, solid voice. “This is quite an important moment after all.”

Demund could now see shapes of the people looming over him. They had all crowded around him for the ceremony, and he finally realized the truth of the situation he was in. His head was filled with so many questions, but he knew the potential of what this moment held. He had read a lot of manga after all.

Goodbye…

“Son, your name…”

My dull life.

“…will be…”

I am reborn.

“Shaden.”