There’s a city in World 9 called Nostel. It’s where we’ll focus for this story -- it’s a mild tourist town, with a decent school system and modern facilities. Sadly we can’t watch the whole world; Nine said it was small, but really, it’s still big. Can you truly watch every ant in an ant hill? World 9 is surprisingly pleasant. The air is cleaner, the grass is much greener, and people are kind, aren’t they? Just watching the daily life of those people, anyone lends their time to help others. Friends are easily made in this world; people are patient, and feel too much kindness to brush off anyone else’s troubles. Nobody has exact schemes to ruin the lives of others. They can’t dwell on things like this for their own profit; it’s much too obvious they have alternatives. So why in World 9 would they do something so bad? And, even if they did do something bad, people would decide to help them turn to happier choices. They’d take them by the hand and tell them everything will be okay, no matter how ugly they’ve been. It’s almost too sweet-tasting for us looking in from the outside, isn’t it? It’s almost infeasible to us in our world, isn’t it? The God we know in our world has much more complex plans; but Nine has simpler plans for this one.

Those that Nine gave a test are black sheep in this world; Nine has infected them with rare sadnesses that these people are typically able to get past with long thinking and kindness. We know these feelings well here. Unshakable sadness, undeniable losses, sticky masses of fear and terrible onsets of unfeeling. It’s unusual in World 9, the way that Nine made it, for these ailments to last as long as they have to these subjects. And so, they’ve suddenly been forced to bear what others do not in World 9.

Juventas Archembalt had no reason to be sad at any time. Her family was happy, she had a cute dog, and she was endlessly creative with the world’s magic. She could befriend even the tricksiest of fae, and dodge their terms of agreements with ease. It was almost like she was a fae herself. Though, she wasn’t, of course. She was a simple human. Humans like her could now, at this point, travel into space, and she aspired to be one of those few to ferry into the stars and speak with them. Even then, Juventas was gripped by a sadness she couldn’t shake like the others. Medication and mixtures didn’t help her. She smiled on, but her heart felt like a poor cola can being crushed by a large, stinky foot.

It worsened throughout time, but Juventas was convinced others dealt with this too, and were twice as strong as she was. So she grew determined to smile on and stand tall, no matter how much it hurt. Everyone else did it just fine, you know? Juju ought to be able to do the same as her peers.

She was a notable girl because of that summoned charisma. Something always seemed off about it, but her strong, loving form always spoke louder than what was hidden under her bed. She was given a female form rather cute; her fluffy brown hair framed her childish face well, her determined grey eyes always wide and bright. She was a senior in high school, and had a late teenage body slightly spoiled with growth. She often had trouble finding cutesy bras like she wanted because of her cup size, and pants often became a trouble for her, so she felt blessed that the school dress code was predominantly pleated skirts. Plus size was probably what you’d call it, but she didn’t feel any sorrow over it. She found herself cute, and if someone tried to be cruel, she could just crush them with her butt!

She lead a rather nice life, ignoring what she hid. But when she was alone, it was a different story.

Juventas clutched her chest where it hurt most, curled on her floor near the glass doors to her balcony. The house she lived in was several stories; her parents gifted her a room with a view, which put her often at ease. It was near the ocean, and while it dually frightened her to see such depths sprawling into the horizons, there were many days where the water was smooth, beautiful and clear. Tonight, it was calm and dark. She could vaguely hear the waves crashing outside, the urgency of the pain in her heart making it rather irrelevant.

Her family vaguely knew what she went through. If anything they just considered it teenage hormones at this point; a load of them. To keep her family from seeing the absolute extent of her pain, she locked her doors when it came on; the absolute crushing, cold sensation in her heart. Her eyes would go from bright to troubled and uninspired, if not absolutely pained. She’d grit her teeth and clutch her shirt, and often, like this moment, she would be unable to stand. Another wave of pain went through her, and she hissed and trembled on the floor. Other people surely felt like this at night, didn’t they? She wasn’t the only one who dealt with this horrendous degree of pain, right?

Unfortunately, in this world, she just about was.

She reared her head into her own carpet, nearly tearing the fabric of her shirt in her clutches. It hurt. It hurt so much. Why?

Perhaps creating Juventas to bear a pain similar to mine was too much. She was just as naive as Nine could be as well, thinking others felt this pain. No, Juventas. In this world, you are alone. Which is why…

She let off a whimper, every muscle in her body tensed. The sadness in her heart felt like it was all being poured in from everywhere else in her body. ‘Here, I don’t want it,’ said her brain, her arms and legs. They dumped all the pain into one place. It had never been this bad. Tears were already rolling. Big, big, fat tears, her teeth still gritting in pain. Her heart hurt so much. No doctor knew how to help. They were all so useless. Why wouldn’t this end?

… Nine chose you to be a Borne. Now, let’s begin this, before the pain kills you.

“U-uugh…” She grunted, eyes shut too tight to realise the pain she felt was beginning to change. Her muscles seized, and she suddenly sat up at the mercy of her heart’s pain. She was aware, now, of this involuntary movement. She opened her eyes, staring at her ceiling now, hiccuping in unimaginable despair. Her arms her held back by her seizure, making her unable to hold her aching chest. Her eyes ran with tears, the reflection of her body in the glass door allowing her to see it all. Her chest was glowing, and along her ribcage and over her heart, something was becoming very real because of her indescribable pain.

The process lasted longer than her mind was prepared to measure. She hiccuped, her muscles exhausted by the end of it, and once the pain began to subside and she regained control of herself, she collapsed onto her butt and took a breath. “What is… going…” She reached a hand up to her chest and pulled down the collar of her t-shirt. Her fingers dragged along the skin of her neck and chest until it suddenly came upon something cold, solid, and inorganic. “... On? … Bwuh…?” She pulled her collar down further, tugging the fabric enough to reach a decent cleavage. How lewd.

That and her cleavage was crowned with an embedded stone that seemed to crystalize just in that moment.

She got up shakily and stumbled to her mirror, ripping her shirt off over her head, leaving her only adornments to be her bra (which was not as cute as she desired) and this new crystal protruding from her chest. Her breathing was labored and irregular, each pant brinking the noise 'h-huh…?' as she stared at this purple stone on her. It was faceted roughly in a starlike shape, making it very possible that hugs were going to be a challenge from now on. She poked it cautiously, leaning into her reflection as she felt her touch down to her bone. This was… This was connected to her bones.

Her face was twisted with natural confusion. But Nine wasn’t going to be the one to tell her what it was. She felt better now -- the formation on her chest was polished and pure enough to be a brilliant color that reminded her of plums, and it almost seemed alive with a swirling of color, though it was perhaps a play on her eyes. She sat, shirtless, staring at this strange crystal, occasionally tapping its face to feel it reverberate in her chest lightly, nearly entranced by it.

Knock knock.

“Just a seco--”

Creak. “Uh, Juju, it’s getting late and you need to slee--”

Juventas let off a screech. She could’ve sworn she locked her door! What if someone walked in on that whole ordeal?! What were the chances of them walking in now?! Even worse, that male voice, by the gods it was her brother no less --

“JANUS GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!!”

She threw her bra-clad and gem-boasting self at the door to forcefully shut it, but with her older brother already yelling in disgust and shock that he’d walked in on his topless younger sister, he was already in the process of shutting it on his own; he hardly cared about the odd rock on her chest.

SLAM.

“LEARN KNOCKING FIRST, YOU JERK! Uahhh...” Juventas let off a displeased wail as she leaned against the door. Her brother ran down the hall, making a matching wail in disgust. Life as a whole hadn’t changed; no world ending tragedy had occurred to give her this sudden growth on her chest. Her family was not gone. Nothing was different. It was inexplicable; but once the crystal fully formed on her chest, the pain she felt weakened. It felt… Less of a pain now. Less tragic, maybe? She turned her gaze to her alarm clock, noting the time. It was getting late, just a few moments from midnight. Maybe this was all a dream, and all she needed to do was sleep.

Exhausted from this sudden event, and numbed in disbelief, she was fully willing to fall asleep on her fluffy bed and forget all of this. She left her door unlocked in case she slept in, and meandered to her bedside before flopping onto the mass of fluff she’d accumulated over time. Pillows, stuffies, and puffy blankets nearly swallowed her up as she settled in. She brushed a hand over the strange crystal on her chest, hardly bothering to put a shirt on. She wanted to wake up and be able to see her chest first thing to confirm that this wasn’t just some big pipe dream.

And so, the one of the first Borne of Pain of World 9 drifted asleep, unaware that things would become much better from here on.