Black Magus

The first thing that came to my awareness wasn’t a shining light or a beckoning voice. But a scream. A scream of pain and glory followed by a prickling cold that surrounded the entirety of my tiny body in an instant.

Cold and wet.

That’s how the first few seconds of my new life were remembered.

And after those few seconds, a warm snake seemed to force its way through my nostrils to force the first phlegmy coughs from my lungs in the form of an embarrassingly loud wail. Thus beginning the restless cycle of my new lungs.

In that moment of confusion, I distantly felt a gentle; dark, embrace surround me and quickly wick the cold wetness away from my body. I managed to get the crying under control just as my nausea died down. And with my senses now stable, I attempted to take a look around to study my new environment in earnest. Now eager to learn of the relative time period of the realm I’d been born into.

The bed upon which I was born was a rectangular mattress of some plush material curtained under a silk drape of black with a gilded trim that matched the covers of the bed. A flickering amber glow danced along the walls and floors of the room from a place I couldn’t yet see. Leaving only the burrito blanket that was myself and a pair of cheerful, grayed-out faces in the forefront of my view. One was the woman smiling down on me from above; whose arms I was nestled into, the other was beyond my bound feet; leaning over the side of the bed with a teary smile of pride smearing his face.

As I stared, I began to feel a distinct longing for those washed-out, gray faces, smiling and brimming with pride at me and each other. Deep in my mind, I began to feel as if I were reuniting with one of many long-dead friends. The connection with this man and woman just grew deeper and deeper as the seconds passed and before I knew it, I found myself studying every facet of their visages as they studied mine.

Giggling away helplessly all the while, just like the child I was.

My mother was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. From what I could see in the afterglow of the fireplace, her skin was a purple moon color. In the middle ground between an ashen tone and a darker one much like my own, only overlaid with the vibrant, violet shade seen on the clouds during sunset. Her forehead was small. The nose was stout and pointed, paired with a slender jawline. Eyes like that of a feline in shape only; irises like that of a human. Colored in the same vibrant violet as her skin and subtly glowing in their own right as if they were infused with some type of energy. And occasionally occluding those brimming eyes were the few pewter curls not plastered to her face from the thin sheen of effort that seemed hesitant to drip from her brow. Even as she swayed along to the tune of a strained hymn or melody borne from her rocking me in her arms.

The most notable aspect of all, however, was the sharp points of violet cartilage breaching through her hair around where her ears should’ve been.

Her actual ears, in fact. Sharp and pointy like the man in green himself.

“Kooloo-Limpah!” I exclaimed in glee. ‘So, I’m… an elf?’ I wondered to myself and a little out loud. Resulting in such incoherent babble that caused my mother’s eyes to perk up with love and warmth; relief and joy, as well as that same strange, otherworldly aura from before.

Before I could begin to try and wiggle or turn to see and study my new father, my mother averted her gaze from me and gestured to the man in question to mutter something in a language I’d never in all my years had heard before. A strange and mystical tongue that sounded as much like a song as any spoken word. A song that utterly captivated me with an impulse- a need, to hear more. To learn it. To speak it myself.

An impulse that died from a set of more familiar words that demanded my attention.

“You know I don’t know what that means, Eved.” My father sighed with clear impatience.

“He’s beautiful.” My mother, on the other hand, sighed with pride.

“He is.” He admirably nodded before abruptly standing and shuffling to turn about and shout. “Ebbet!” Towards the end of the bed. “Bring the lens!”

After a bit more shuffling, he calmly turned back to hover over my head as if he hadn’t just screamed across the room and closely looked into my eyes. Giving me all the time I needed to have a good look at him.

It didn’t take long for my eagerness to die down, however. As the more I looked, the more I felt as if I were looking at a lifelike rendering of a relative I’d never met. Dark brown skin; a long curly afro tied back into a puffed ponytail; leaving a thin sheen of waves atop his head, crested with a gilded band with an elaborate symbol at its center. Dominating his face was a large, bulbous nose and full lips tainted dark from years of smoking. A human. A man with more or less the same genes I had in my first life.

Which meant that I was in fact, a half-elf.

Still better than a full human, in my opinion.

The only other notable thing about my new father came from his fancy dress. An asymmetrically-buttoned evening robe made of an undoubtedly expensive and rare fur, dyed in the same color scheme as the bed below me.

In short. He, my mother, and the room around me were all gilded flags of the wealthy. Possibly of nobility. If not royalty.

‘I’ve never been born with a silver spoon before.’ I chuckled to myself. Emitting another giggle in the process, much to the pleasure of my parents.

‘Thanks, Telin.’

While I’d normally never be caught doing such activities as a respectable man, I couldn’t help but feel some type of excitement about my new situation and wholeheartedly indulged in the lavish lifestyle of a newborn infant and began to anticipate the prospect of becoming a living god of this realm.

It all happened so fast, it still seemed so surreal. Seeds. The Digital Multiverse. Eternals. I was walking to my death just an hour ago and found myself in a magical realm with rich parents after being reborn in this digital realm. Telin had told me such, of course. But actually seeing it; living it, was another matter entirely.

I would have pinched myself if my baby hands weren’t so useless.

“He looks just like you.” Mother- Eved, was her name, smiled as she looked up to who I presumed was my father.

“And within him, I feel the blessings of your people.” My father nodded. Slowly.

“And I feel your Sorcery.” My eyes darted back to the mother above me, gently retorting. “He has your mark, after all.”

“He does.” I snapped my attention back to my father nodding resolutely before he turned to retrieve something from the hands of a burly woman.

I couldn’t even begin to think about what just transpired due to the warm feeling that began spreading throughout my bottom area at that instant. Looking down as best I could, I saw that I’d soiled myself more than one would think possible for a creature of such small size.

Embarrassed as I was, I quickly became shrouded by amazement after witnessing the damp fabric surrounding me quickly brightening in tone as the urine magically wicked away within seconds. Leaving my body as comfortable and toasty as it’d been just seconds before.

With the resolution of my mishap, I turned my attention back to addressing what my father just said. ‘The blessings of your people.’ Telin did say elves were aware of his existence. Not only that, he specifically stated that as my Overseer, I would have a direct connection with the creator of this universe. 'So, was that why I'm a half-elf? To make my connection with him deeper? Or does it have something to do with mana? And then-'

“What’s it say, Emmy?”

‘Emmy?’ I internally recoiled, turning first to my mother before following her gaze to my father. ‘What’s with these names?’ I snorted out a giggle. Eved would be normal for a human. Not in Saturnia but perhaps mars or something. Not sure what counted as a common name for an elf though. But... 'Emmy? What the actual fuck is that?’

“He’s truly blessed by mana.” Em- Father, gasped in disbelief.

As I was staring at him, he in turn was staring at me through some type of monocle. And as I focused further on the eyepiece, a strange blue aura seemed to appear from… well, everywhere. All around us like a gas thick enough to become visible. Waving in the air like heat waves in the distance. Seeping into the monocle at a steady rate and causing it to glow akin to a flashlight as my father studied me through its lens.

“A Sorcerer through and through. Unsurprisingly.” He proudly announced before losing his enthusiasm in the next split second. “His Mana Well is… well.” He chuckled, half in amusement and half in evident despair as his head slowly shook from side to side. “It’s as dense as ours and as large as a human's can be, it seems.” He smiled reassuringly before opening the gates on whatever mechanism caused the energy to flood the eyewear. “I measure… wow.” He paused to chuckle again. “D - 12.

“Unbelievable.” He muttered in disbelief a moment later.

“If that’s what the device says then so be it.” Mother hushed the matter aside, clearly unconcerned. “What can you see of the Core? His mark is far darker than yours or your grandfather's.”

“I saw it, yes.” Father nodded and seemed to tune his focus. “Indeed, the Core resides in the same place. Though it is indeed far darker. I’ve no idea what it could be. If not Death.”

“Then we must summon him at once.” Mother quickly replied.

“I’ve long since sent word.” Father nodded affirmatively before muttering under his breath. “Though you can bet a fortune he’ll show up whenever he so wishes.”

Ignoring my father's words, my mother- Eved, then turned her gaze back to me and began to position herself to feed me. Her eyes filled with the same notes of pride and love and warmth that had been there just moments before.

“My son.” She whispered in whatever they called English in this world before continuing to say something else in that strange language from earlier, just before her eyes lulled close.

Finally giving me time to parse through my thoughts while I filled my belly.

First and foremost of them was my one and only complaint about Telin’s ‘briefing.’

He didn’t even ask.

In truth, I wasn’t even sure I even want to become a Prime Eternal in the first place. I assimilated into the Hub to escape the real world. Not to return to it as an android or a digital construct immediately after getting bored. Though, the prospect of coming and going to see how the petri dish changes over time will always remain an interesting prospect.

That said, I didn’t exactly wish to be just an Elder Seed either. Or any of the named Deities for that matter. If I was to be reincarnated countless times over, no matter what I did during those lifetimes, then I’d want nothing less than the place of a Higher God- to be able to choose what realm I’d spawn into next and live another lifetime as a powerful being.

But then that begged the question of boundaries. What did it take to be judged as a Prime Eternal? Or a God? A Deity, or an Elder Seed?

It was easy to assume that I’d have to live as a truly fucked up individual for me to be reduced to the lower end of the spectrum. But what about that ripe middle region that I so desired?

With my limited knowledge, the only conclusion that could be drawn was to live up to the virtues of the Saturnian Empire; where the Hub and thus these realms remain tethered to physical reality. That was the objective variable. No matter how much we lied to convince ourselves otherwise.

No matter how much I lied to convince myself otherwise.

Honor. Intellect. Technological Proficiency. Elegance. Aesthetics. Self-Worth. And Wealth. Values that appeared to have bled into this realm as well. Perhaps due to Telin’s influence, or maybe due to the innate personalities of the Hub’s denizens. These… Seeds of Consciousness.

Judging from Telin’s words and the hierarchy of these Eternals however, I had a strong inclination that they valued individualism; or more precisely, character. And thus Telin and the other Eternals were simply interested in observing my life to determine if I was the kind of person they wanted among them rather than give me a creed or doctrine to live and be judged by.

Regardless, there was little I could do about living in any particular way at the moment, so I put my mind to more important matters. The first being the Eternal Eye business. I spent more than three-quarters of my life with machine parts integrated into my body. Here, in this world of magic, it seemed almost like a waste to have something so remarkable mimic something as unremarkable as augmented reality. And so, I dove into configuring how my fully digitized mind would feed me the information I’d cultivated over so many years.

An effort that took a shockingly short time.

While I had my issues with it, I didn’t do away with augmented reality entirely. Its use as a heads-up display made it an invaluable tool. But only when used to quickly gather information about my immediate surroundings at a glance- A compass rose and a mini-map of the environment; the name or some other basic information about a person, place, or thing. Or whatever this whole Class deal was. It was detailed information; technical knowledge and both short and long-term memories that I didn’t want occluding my vision. For that, I used my perfect memory recall to my advantage and essentially set the Eye up as a sort of cloud brain linked with a storage and retrieval system. Or in another sense, A server for my biological brain. One tailored to function like personalized ads that delivered relevant information to my stream of thought as the concepts crossed my mind.

Any information that passed through my senses would be retained by the Eye, regardless of where my focus was. I could be in a daze, daydreaming about things that don’t yet exist in this realm while someone gives a lecture or while I flip through a book and I’d retain a vague concept of whatever that subject was. Thinking further on that vague memory would bring it forth from the Eye like an instantaneous memory transplant. Invoking a sort of lucid dream that would pass in an instant from an external reference frame.

With a few iterations, the Eye was fully configured and the change was like night and day. I could relive any point of my life, in a sense. Take my time focusing on any specific point of the memory that my senses were aware of at the time. Progressing and regressing and even slowing down the dream-like state as I so pleased, and with not even a second passing in real-time.

With this, I’d be able to learn what I assumed was Elvish, as well as any other language from both the Sol and Tiatus systems in an unprecedented time. Something I greatly intended to abuse.

Next was to delve into the nature of Mana, Magic, and these Classes. I had literal years ahead of me before I could walk and talk and operate without my parents hovering over my shoulder. And even more time until I awakened my affinity cores and gained the ability to take on a class. Thus I had significant time to carefully research everything I could regarding the prior two. Magic and Mana. And with the abundant energy swirling around, it was easy to get a start.

Though, as a literal hours-old baby, I dared not try and interact with it. And so I simply observed and hypothesized.

As I observed earlier, I could see the energy everywhere if I focused my eyes. It appeared as a fluid in a dual phase of gas and liquid, colored like the blue waters of the Caribbean. It emanated from everywhere at once, yet flowed into things and replaced itself even as it dissipated. Even as it fell towards otherwise innocuous places like the fireplaces, a few trinkets and chairs, and even the walls and floors themselves. The energy just reappeared from nowhere.

Noted.

After spending some time working on a few theories, I put my ideas on ice and started to think back on what my parents were saying. Wells and Marks and Sorcery.

Being wrapped in blankets, however, I couldn’t exactly see anything on my body. And so I did the only thing I could think of at the moment.

I used this… Mana Sight, to give my body a lookover.

Unremarkably, the energy was seeping into me like it was my mother and a variety of other things inside. Albeit at a much slower rate than the one whose arms I was cradled in.

The only thing I could think to do after that was to try and meditate or see inside myself or something. In truth, it felt silly to do as a baby. But then again, such feelings were only an illusion of the mind.

It’s not as if my sleeping mother could scry my thoughts, after all.

With that thought, I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. Then focused on the small bundle of matter that made me, me.

There was nothing at first. And after an indiscernible length of time, I began to see an ethereal outline of my body. Almost like a ghostly double. Glowing at its center was a cylindrical mass slightly larger than my heart. Like a beer can had been implanted beneath my sternum. Only, instead of blood, the same glowing energy that I could see outside was contained inside. Only far, far denser. Like quartz or diamond instead of the gaseous liquid around me.

Most surprising of all was the… bean that sat just below it; around where my naval was on my physical body. Like a kidney or a curled-up leech that was so black in color that it appeared to be a blot on reality itself. Like a region of the space within had been erased from existence. Leaving essentially nothing in its place.

My Hereditary Core, I assumed. Making the larger one my Mana Well.

After gaining enough data points to contemplate for a while, I allowed my mind time to relax by letting it wander. Subsequently, as the minutes passed and my stomach filled, I grew extremely tired and lethargic.

Thinking back, I became surprised that I’d stayed up for so long in the first place. It’d been hours since my birth and I hadn’t even slept for a second.

In an attempt to sleep, I continued letting my mind drift and surprisingly, found myself thinking about something I’d convinced myself I wouldn’t. My body.

My first body, with skin like dark coffee and eyes to match. Topped with a mop of black locs that’d been grown and trimmed and regrown over the course of nearly a century and a half. The same body I would one day grow into, in this realm. Or so I thought.

‘But, where is the original?’ I wondered. ‘How much time has passed on the surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan?’

That was a question that, once spawned in the back of my mind, I couldn’t quite shake loose. No matter how many years passed thereafter.