Proofreader: Pre-rewrite: Kagenesti

Act I Chapter 1 - A new Life

On the edge off the great Asperd forest lies a simple stone house with simple clay tiles as roofing. Surrounded by a small garden, a wooden shed build out from the house itself, with enough workspace to craft in. A small creek runs on the northern side of the house providing freshwater.

By those who knows of it, it is nicknamed The Herbalist’s Hut.

In this simple house lives a small family which is about to get a new addition. The childbirth itself had been a long and hard endeavor for the young women.

After hours of hard labor and strong bleeding, their child had finally seen the midnight sky.

The sound of infants crying finally filled the night. Yet, just as the crying had started it stopped, much to the horror of the newborn parents.

With no midwife to help with the birth of their first born, and with half a day's travel to the nearest encampment, the young couple could do little more than pray to the gods of the land. And try to get the child to breathe once more.

After a rough night's fighting for the infant's life, he had finally settled into a comfortable sleep. For hours, the young parents feared that their newborn wouldn't make it. The young father had kept on rubbing his child’s back, trying hard to get life into him. The mother had at some point passed out from the loss of blood. That in itself had thrown the young man into a small state of panic, yet he had quickly tended to his wife all the while holding and caring for the small newborn.

Elisa Trovrar POV

Asperd Kingdom - Asperd Isles, 12 Miles East from The Floods Post.

I had awoken in the early morning hours, were I had found Raval sitting by my side with our little one in his arms. Looking as proud as I have ever seen him. He gave me a beaming smile, and told me it was a boy and that he was well. Shortly after my loss of consciousness the infant had start to breathe again.

His small sleeping form brought tears of joy. The sight of him lying in the cradle was the best feeling in the world.

His soul shard was now fully settled into him. Laying my hand on his head I connect to his soul shard.

“Show status”.

Name: Riin Trovrar [Infant] Age: 0 years [Infant] Race: Human Sex: Male Level: --- [Hidden] Health: 5/5 Stamina: --- [Hidden] Mana: --- [Hidden]

I smiled as the stat window showed up within my minds eye.

My sweet little boy, welcome to our family.

The time I had to spent lying in bed after the childbirth was to long for my taste but the birth had taken a toll on my body, so all I could do now was rest up to make sure that no hard was done. But even as I was confined to my bed I had my sweet little boy who was lying next to me, keeping me some company in the little bedroom. When we were not resting, we are playing and building a deeper bond to each other. We spent our days with a smile on our faces. Riin was not a baby that cried much only when he needed a change of cloth would he be as loud as any other baby. Even when feeding him he only let out his cute little cries and grunts, not a happy eater. As we lay there and stared into the celling I would be telling him stories and fairy tales. Days would glide together as we spent our time in this little room, not that I hated it but I do want to stretch my legs and feel the first sun of the year on my face. I want to show my sweet child the blooming forest and wonders of nature.

Much too Raval horror our sweet baby boy didn't seem to like his attention. Whenever Raval would pick him up or try and play with him, the little one would squirm around and let out his small grunts of displeasure.

“Don't worry about it my dear, I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm by it.”

I say with a small smile on my face as I try to hold back my laugher.

Raval only gives me a smile back.

“I know dear wife; I do not take it to heart. I simply wish that he wouldn't look so dissatisfied, whenever I pick him up.”

I can’t hold it back any longer and I let out a small laugh at his childish behavior; I gently pat him on his hand.

He lets out a rough laugh at the gesture.

After two months in bed, I feel that I am well enough to get up and out to do some work once more. I close my eyes take a deep cleansing breath, and connect me to my shard.

“Show status”.

Name: Elisa Trovrar Age: 24 years Race: Human Sex: Female Level: 3 Health: 50/70 Stamina: 40/50 Mana: 80/80 Status Effect: Penalty: Unassisted Childbirth Health, Stamina Regen down by 95%

“Yep, that should do”

I smile down at Riin, who is looking up at me from the cradle. At my smile, he too shows me a sweet little toothless smile. What's not to love about our sweet boy,

“Up we gooooooo”

Picking him up as I make the o' sound into a singsong voice, I tickle him as a lift him up which earns me a sweet little laugh.

We walk out from our bedroom into the living room and out the door. Ah, the sweet smell of the woods and a hint of herbs. The sound of Raval working on a bow from his shed drifts to us. I smile down to Riin and he returns with his own little smile.

“Wanna go and see daddy work?”

To that he grunts, I swear there is too much brain in his little head for his age when he acts like that. I look stiffly at him; to which he stops his grunting at stare up at me, waiting for something to happen. I harden my voice and speak with a serious look on my face.

“Young man, you with not show that face when we talk about your daddy. He helped you into this world, you know? So, you had better show him some love too. Just like you do to mommy, okay?”

To my ramblings he lets out a small eh’ sound and proceed to look a bit dissatisfied, but he does stop his grunting. I smile at him and give him a kiss.

“Good boy, my sweet little boy is so smart, yes he is!”

Riin’s POV

Well, how do I start? After falling into the river, I awoke in a small wooden bed, surrounded by stone walls, and a wooden ceiling, a two-man bed and a small wooden closet. All of this looked to be taken right out of a medieval story. Next thing I noted was that I was an infant, much to my displeasure. Small hands that can't grab anything and has no strength in them. Not to mention that I have no teeth, yes, I’m currently a little toothless newborn with no strength to do anything on my own. And let's not even begin to talk about the no control of my bowel movements. The complete horror. I now know why no one remembers their life as an infant. The shame, I shall bury it deep down, never to be spoken or thought of ever again.

So, for now I’m spending my days with a young woman named Elisa, who seems to be my birth mother. There is also a rather rough looking man by the name Ravel, he seems to be my father. I'm trying my best to keep my distance from that man, no good come from fathers in my experience.

But I must say that I do like the woman, she has been keeping me entertained with stories and songs.

Her stories have been very informative even if they were told as fairy tales most of the time.

So far, I know that I'm in a land called Shard or Shardindia, but commonly spoken about as Shard. Each individual has a soul shard, this lets you see your stats, level, skills, and spells. Yep, there is magic.

Air, Fire, Earth, Water also shadow and light magic exist, the latter being rarer.

Shard is the so called mortal plane, it lies in the middle of the plane called feywild and the plane called shadowfell. The three planes overlap each other, so they even connect in some places allowing for walking into the other planes. A plane is also called a planar.

Ah, we should continue this when I wake up. Being a baby is so sad. I’m so, sleepy all the time.