The necklace rested in his palm like a drop of solid night.
Kael turned it carefully; each small angle opened a firmament: spirals of light, beams that seemed to collide and be born again, miniature constellations curving within the stone as if time inside it were different. It wasn't brilliance, it was depth. To look at it was to peer into an infinite well.
"This… doesn't belong in the house of normal villagers"—he thought—. "It doesn't belong to Martha nor to Jhon, damn it."
"How am I supposed to have this?"
"Think, Kael, think…"
With two fingers at his temple, as if he wanted to focus, Kael opened his eyes.
The idea pierced him like a fine needle: this damned world is not normal.
He remembered Martha: warm hands, a gaze that never blinked when it came to him; beautiful by nature, with her tanned skin and light brown hair. He remembered Jhon, with slumped shoulders, dull eyes; a man who seemed to exist at the margins. Nothing about them explained an artifact that contained galaxies.
His mind, twisted by readings of another life, was tempted with clichés: "abandoned protagonist," "sealed lineage," "sign of destiny." He bit back the impulse.
"Fuck, fuck…"—he cursed, realizing that it probably was like those novel protagonists.
But as soon as the thought came, he slapped himself to keep it from going to his head.
Pah. —his skin reddened and stung from the slap, but he managed to clear his thoughts.
"Get off the cloud, Kael"—he ordered himself—. "First breathe."
"Haaa…" —he exhaled, calming himself a little.
He let himself fall onto the bed. The wooden ceiling creaked as if it too were exhaling. He closed his eyes to empty his head: sleep before inventing a tragedy.
Three hours later
He awoke with hunger and light.
Rising slowly from the bed, he made it with a habit that didn't match that of a small child and went to the living room.
There, Martha was placing steaming dishes on the table: toast on the verge of burning, thick stew, herbs perfuming the air. That smell of home filled the gaps in the walls like hot paste.
"Gulun." —he swallowed at how good the food looked and from his hunger. He headed toward the table, not without first checking the house to familiarize himself better.
Through the open window he saw Jhon in the yard, chopping wood with short, subdued blows. His silhouette carried nothing of him: neither the curve of the cheekbone, nor the skin tone, nor the spark in the eyes. There he confirmed the suspicion he had been chewing for three hours: with them, yes; of them, no.
"Kael, darling. Come." —Martha smiled with that devotion that always brushed fever.
He sat down, feigning naturalness; for he didn't know how to act with a woman who looked at him in such a strange way.
Martha, who knew his every breath, watched him as one measures a fever with the wrist. Squinting at his "mature" behavior, she kept serving.
As always, she left a plate for Jhon in the yard and returned to the table with her son. They never ate all three together. That absence had become habit, like a chair that no one sits on but no one removes. It was proof of how a single selfish decision can change an entire family's life.
"Do you feel better, darling? What did you think about while you slept? Did you miss mommy?" —she launched questions one after another, breaking through the stew's steam.
"Hehe… about nothing." —He averted his gaze, not knowing how to answer correctly. 'I didn't think acting would be this hard,' he thought.
"Mmm." —She didn't insist. She brushed his cheek with her thumb—. "You are my world, Kael. You know you can tell me everything, right?" —she looked at him with that beautiful, but chilling smile.
"Of course mommy, I know." —The only thing he could do was tell her that and give her a smile he believed "charming."
That phrase stuck inside him. That dynamic was very strange for someone who had only been in this world for a few hours.
Seeing that the killer smile worked, he ate. Meanwhile, she stared at him intently.
Between spoonfuls, he asked childlike questions: what's beyond the river?, why does the sky shine on certain nights?, what is the ether the travelers talk about?
Martha replied with vagueness that sounded like stories: ether as a mist that bathes everything, the force some mold, the reason the earth is generous and bodies heal better. She spoke without ever having cultivated; her words carried the smell of cooking, not doctrine. For Kael, it was enough for now: he would seek more information in time.
-------------
One year later
At five, Kael already walked the village as if he had dreamed it before being born. Whitewashed walls, living fences braided with vines, ovens exhaling bread and clay. People greeted him by name, gave him fruit, scolded him for running in the square: he belonged to everyone a little.
He had discovered something else: Martha and Jhon were not a marriage, they were two islands. The house seemed hers, and Jhon lived on the edge of that coast by tolerance, not by love.
The ether—that invisible dew—was supposed to be for cultivation, but it also improved things and made everything more… vivid than in his previous world. Skin looked better, eyes shone, hands were strong.
'If you brought a human from Aethernia to Earth—he thought—, they'd be the most handsome and healthy in the neighborhood without even training. Of course, if I weren't there.'
The idea made him laugh in silence.
With Martha, the bond had grown dangerous for how intense and warm it was. Sometimes she insisted on bathing him or changing his clothes "like when you were smaller." He avoided it as much as he could; when not, he blushed to his ears and she, mischievous, teased him like a mother enjoying his embarrassment.
But who would take that as normal when he was clearly a 20-year-old adult in a child's body? If not for his inability to control his reactions—which made him blush like a fool—he would have already jumped on her. For while Martha was normal in this world, in his she'd be a top model.
'I never thought I'd be grateful for having a tiny peepee.'
Aside from that, everything was fine. His relationship with her improved day by day; he already considered her someone close, and her devoted treatment made him feel as when he was a child in his previous world (of course, without the obsession that characterized her).
...
By mid-morning, the village had a clean light. Here everything was bigger: poplars rose like green spears; stubble, fat with life; even the insects seemed made of glass and copper. The sky, exaggerated, with clouds high as ship sails.
"Kael!" —a little voice squealed.
Lily came with two badly made pigtails and a dust-stained face.
"Let's play 'snot on the face.'"
"Pass. I'm busy. And what's supposed to be 'snot on the face'?"
"Busy with what, if you're just walking like a fool?"
At the edge, a vein marked on his temple.
"I'm gathering information."
"Then I'll go with you, I know how to play that" —she decreed, sticking to his side.
He could only sigh and lament his luck.
They walked. Lily stared at him shamelessly at times, hypnotized by those violet eyes with red streaks that seemed to drink light. Kael noticed the glow and the blush: childhood crush. He wasn't a dense protagonist; he understood and let it go. He wouldn't feed any of that.
In the square, four elders compared proudly: their grandchildren had been accepted into military schools of the Human Empire. Amid laughter and pats there was an old, dry fear, of the war of interests with the Demon Empire.
"Demons?" —Kael approached respectfully—. "And are there… other races?" —he asked, while inwardly questioning: 'Do angels exist too? Fuck, if in my world people professed barbarities in the name of faith without knowing if they exist, I can't imagine how it'll be when they do exist.'
"Of course, brat. More than can fit on your finger" —said one, amused—. "And pray if you meet the dragons." They'll probably kill you for looking at them.
"Hey, stop saying that to the boy!" —an old woman replied, while hitting the man beside her on the arm. It seemed they were dating. Love blooms at any age, Kael thought.
But as if that weren't enough, he lifted his forehead, raised his nose, and smiled with that controlled arrogance of someone who hadn't seen anything yet.
"Perfect. I'll tame one so it calls me master." —he said, not knowing those words would crush him later.
Lily let out a giggle; the old folks shook their heads in disbelief.
He also heard about an angelic race that is rarely seen. Seems they really are real here. The Church acted as intermediary in matters that smelled of heaven. Mental archive: the map expanded.
After parting from the old folks, they stopped a while to watch the sunset's light.
"Go home, Lily. It's already nightfall."
"Nooo, I want to stay with brother Kael!" —she said while making puppy eyes with tears about to fall.
Kael, seeing her, sighed and had to convince her:
"Tomorrow we'll play together, how about that? But go home today."
"Hmpf… fine." —She pouted while her eyes and tears vanished as if by magic, but obeyed.
"This girl…" —Kael, realizing he had just been manipulated, shook his head with a smile and went to the forest.
What they didn't see was the blond boy hidden behind a hay cart, fists clenched and teeth about to snap.
"A villager talking to my future wife? When my affinity awakens, he'll understand what he's really worth" —he snorted, sowing resentment for tomorrow.
--------
The forest
Kael trained under the gloom, his bare torso drenched in sweat, each breath escaping like steam among the trees. Though his body still belonged to a child, the definition of his muscles and the coldness of his gaze betrayed a temper forged beyond childhood. He had cultivated the habit of exercise in his past life, and here he continued it; that's why he looked more like a 6 or 7-year-old than 5.
His skin, pale as the moon, seemed to absorb the light, while his violet eyes burned.
Then he heard it.
A sob.
Broken, fragile, like the song of a dying bird in the middle of the dark.
Kael held his breath. His instinct alerted him immediately.
And he ran.
What did you want him to do? Be a hero? He was already shitting himself, even more if it was at night.
"Shit…" —he was already five meters away.
But as if it knew his intent, the sob grew louder, as if it were directly for him.
Stopping behind a tree, he sharpened his hearing and deduced it had to be a girly boy or a small girl.
Clenching his teeth, he yielded and in the end advanced toward the sound.
As if he weren't the coward who had been running just a moment ago.
Among the shadows he found a little girl kneeling, with silver hair spilling over her face like a cascade of dim light. She hid her face between her knees, trembling, as if the whole world had discarded her.
"Are you… okay?" —murmured Kael while faking bravery, his voice barely a thread among the trees.
But if you looked at his legs, you'd see them trembling a little.
How could they not, if this seemed like the beginning of a tale where the idiot boy approaches the sob and ends up devoured.
The girl didn't lift her head. Her voice came out broken, trembling:
"Mom doesn't love me… that's why I left. I'm lost… nobody loves me…"
The words stabbed Kael like blades. For an instant, he remembered a woman he knew in his past life, only to push that thought away. 'Leave the past behind, Jacob, now you're Kael.'
He swallowed, and without thinking, let slip a truth that compromised him.
"Don't say that, little one. Maybe she doesn't know what she sees… but what I see is a beautiful and strong girl."
The silence that followed thickened. Slowly, the little one lifted her face. Her eyes were a deep green with slits that didn't seem human, but Kael didn't even notice. A sickly spark danced in them, and on her lips trembled a clumsy, almost feverish smile.
"D-do you really think so?" —she asked, with trembling voice, as if her life hung on that answer.
Kael stepped half a pace back, with a bad feeling, but he didn't deny it.
"Yes. I believe it."
The change was immediate. The girl lowered her head and, suddenly, began to laugh. A low, broken laugh, rising like the echo of shattering glass.
"Heh… hehehe… he said I'm pretty! He said I'm pretty!"
Kael felt a chill crawl down his spine. That laugh didn't belong to a child. It was too sharp, too possessive.
'Fuck, what the hell did I just get into.' —he was already cursing himself inwardly.
Then, the air changed.
A devastating pressure fell on him, crushing him against the ground. His knees gave in, his lungs burned for oxygen, while blood began to flow from his nose and eyes. The whole world weighed on his shoulders.
"Urgghh" —Kael groaned in pain.
From the shadows emerged a woman. She was the spitting image of the girl, but adult: silver hair like a waterfall of liquid moonlight, smooth skin radiating inhuman perfection, and red eyes so abyssal they seemed to devour the very essence of the soul. She smiled with cruel delight while humming with sharp nails that didn't even look human.
"Curious…" —she whispered, her voice like sweet poison—. "Few children resist my pressure. I thought you'd fall immediately, like the other walking wastes of that bastard, but… perhaps you're worth it."
The girl stepped forward, tears still fresh on her cheeks, but fury blazing in her eyes.
"Don't touch him like that, mother! He's not just anyone! If you hurt him again, I swear I'll kill you."
Kael looked at her incredulous, his eyes nearly popping. The girl's threat sounded real; if she didn't stop, maybe she'd lunge at her.
The woman only let out a low, indulgent laugh.
—"Oh… you've grown well, daughter. So determined… so possessive. Hehehe… I like it."
—"But you'll have to train for thousands of years if you want to harm a single nail of mine."
The girl, who knew that, only pouted and stood more protectively in front of me.
But as if it didn't matter, she took the little one's hand and began to leave. The girl, before disappearing into the thicket, looked back at Kael. Her cheeks blazed and a twisted, almost broken smile lit her face.
—"Goodbye…"
Kael didn't reply. His body trembled under the residual pressure. He dug his nails into his palms until breaking the skin, bit his lips until bleeding. He couldn't allow himself to show weakness. That woman must not see him break.
Only when both figures vanished did Kael let himself fall against a tree. Blood ran down his face, humiliation weighed more than pain.
"Idiot…" —he muttered between his teeth—. "Fucking idiot…"
While trying to compose himself and cursing, without perceiving it, high above the clouds, with wings so majestic they seemed not to fit even over half the forest, she still observed him, with an enigmatic and cruel smile.
"Interesting, perhaps he has a bit of talent" —she whispered, before vanishing into the forest's darkness.
Kael couldn't even see her, as if something blocked his normal perception.
And so, under the oppression of destiny, Kael understood that in this world, even the most innocent tenderness could transform into a threat, and that weakness was never forgiven… ever.
"And I didn't even ask her name…" —he thought with a bitter smile after approaching a small pool of water and cleaning the blood off his face.
'Looks like that lady healed me somehow' he realized, since he no longer felt any pain.
"She was fucking hot though!, damn it" —he muttered while heading home, exhausted, not physically, but mentally.