A white room. There was nothing in it-nothing but an endless, colorless emptiness... and a man. The man was lean and somewhat muscular, with monkey-like facial features.
He stood up, confused, staring into the blank void around him.
The man's name? Geese Nukadia.
In front of him, another figure appeared-a mosaic silhouette. His body was distorted, blurred, as if reality refused to give it shape. His gender was impossible to determine, but some features still pushed through the distortion.
The most striking one? His disgruntled expression.
"You look like shit," Geese said, clearly mocking at the figure in front of him.
The silhouette only frowned and opened his mouth. "We have a problem."
"No shit? I thought we were doing just fine," Geese replied sarcastically
The figure clenched his fist but remained composed. "It's Rudeus' son. He has become a Water saint."
Geese looked surprised "Woah, Lucy is really talented."
The figure bit his lower lip "I'm not talking about Rudeus' daughter. I'm talking about his son!" the silhouette finally shouted.
Geese was confused "That's impossible, Rudeus only has 2 sons, and both of them are only 2 years old... wait... no way..." Geese's eyes widened, his mouth opening in shock as realization hit him.
"Now you see the problem," The silhouette said, turning around.
"And it's not just the fact that he has become a Water saint. He keeps getting stronger at an incredible pace," The silhouette added, rubbing his chin.
"Can you see his future?" Geese asked, still in shock.
"I can't. I've only seen the future of the people he will eventually meet. And believe me, he will be stronger," The silhouette said with a somber tone.
Both of them stayed in silence. After a while, the silhouette turned around to face Geese.
"Continue with the plan," The silhouette said with a smile.
"Ugh. You have that creepy face of yours," Geese replied.
The silhouette just laughed maliciously and added,
"I have an idea"
---
Today was an special day. White mother was giving birth. Everyone was calm but alert. Since I have 2 older sisters and a twin brother, everyone in the house seemed very experienced with this. Leo escorted my siblings and me to a room and kept an eye on us. I was very nervous. I had never seen a birth in my past life, but I was very aware of the possible complications that come with it.
We started hearing screams and cries from downstairs. They were actually just from White Mother, and I knew that was normal since she was the one giving birth, but still, it got on my nerves. After a while, the screams stopped and were replaced by the cry of a little baby. Leo looked at me as if to say, "Don't worry, everything is fine." That relaxed me.
But suddenly, I heard screams again-from different voices-and I noticed Leo tilting his head, worried. Something bad was happening.
I ran from the room. Leo followed me to catch me, but it seemed that my training with Red Mother actually worked, because Leo couldn't catch me.
When I arrived downstairs, I saw everyone gathered around White Mother, who had her eyes closed. Father was next to them with a worried expression, holding a little baby in his arms. Red Mother stood in front of me in a defensive posture, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She was emitting a bloodlust I had never seen from her before.
What Red Mother was looking at was a masked man in a white uniform. He had some kind of royal aura, and honestly, he reminded me of a knight from a fictional story.
"Rudeus Greyrat. Perugius-sama requests your presence," The masked man said, looking at my confused father.
The masked man suddenly looked at me. "Perugius-sama also wants you to bring this son of yours," He said while poiting at me.
Everyone noticed my presence as soon as the masked man spoke. My father regained his composure and replied, "I just had a baby, and my wife is very weak. Could you please ask Perugius-sama to wait a few days?"
"Mmm, I'll tell him," The masked man said, and then disappeared in an intense light.
Perugius Dola. The Armored Dragon King, and one of the Seven Great Heroes. I had read stories about him. He and his comrades sealed away an evil Demon God who almost destroyed humanity. And now that Perugius Dola was asking for my presence.
The following days, everyone carried a mixture of sadness and nerves. The sadness came from White Mother. Ever since the birth, she had been deeply depressed. I didn't understand why at first, but Blue Mother explained it to me.
Five hundred years ago a Demon God named Laplace started a great war against humanity. He forced all the demon races to go fight on his side. One of those races was called the Superd. Apparently, Laplace placed a curse on them-one who drove the Superd into uncontrollable violence and bloodlust.
When the war finally ended and Laplace was sealed away by Perugius and his comrades, the superd race became hated across the entire world. And not only them, but anything even vaguely associated with them… including their green hair.
When my little brother was born, he had green hair. I didn't see much of a problem with it. That war happened five hundred years ago-why would people still care about something so old? But then Lilia explained things to me in more detail.
Apparently, when White Mother was a child, she also had green hair. In the village where she and my father came from, she suffered a lot of bullying because of it, and her only source of comfort back then was my father. Knowing all of that, I could understand why White Mother was depressed. She feared that her son would suffer the same fate she did, and because she was the one that naturally carried the green hair, she probably felt that all of this was her fault.
I didn't know how to help her except by staying close and comforting her. Seeing her like this reminded me of the times I saw my mother sad in my past life, and even though the reasons for their sadness were completely different, I still felt frustrated for not being able to help White Mother.
There was also another problem, and the reason for the nervousness around the house: Perugius-sama had requested my presence. Nobody knew the exact reason, but everyone could form an idea—it was because of my power.
The news that I had become a Water Saint was well received in the house. Everyone was happy about it, and I could see more pride than shock on their faces. But it seemed that the news of a two-year-old becoming a Water Saint had spread beyond the walls of the house, reaching Perugius Dola himself.
I could only assume that Perugius-sama was interested in my abilities or, in the worst-case scenario, felt threatened by them.
"Ryker," Red Mother spoke to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Instead of staying worried, keep yourself busy with training. Follow me," She finally ordered.
"But we already trained this morning" I replied, with a hint of concern.
"We'll do something different," She said, without looking at me, as she walked outside the house.
I followed her. When we reached the yard, she handed me a small wooden sword. I looked at her, knowing what this meant. "Am I ready?"
"You're ready to start learning," She replied, getting me into a fighting posture. "Start brandishing it," She finally ordered
The first time I brandished the sword, it felt unnatural, weird. Red Mother fixed my posture and instructed me how to brandish the sword correctly.
"There are three major sword styles," she began, circling me as I kept brandishing the sword. "The first one is the Sword God style, the second is the North God style, and the third is the Water God style." As she spoke, I could feel my movements with the sword becoming more natural and comfortable.
"I will teach you all three, focusing mainly on the Sword God style, which is the one I'm best at." She stopped walking and stood firmly in front of me. "Ryker, from now on, things are going to get more difficult. If you want to survive and protect those you care about, you need to be stronger," she said with a determined tone.
I listened carefully. From now on, I would meet stronger and more important people, and I needed to be ready to face them.
"Don't worry, Red Mother," I said with a smile.
"I will be ready"