"You need to feed him." Alia's mother said, rubbing Alia's shoulder, as she got up from where she knelt next to them.
Hadrian's eyes widened.
Feed him. Feed myself, on myself?
He looked down to baby Hadrian who opened his eyes and looked back up at him. Baby Hadrian was wrapped in different colored tattered clothing.
Hadrian's brow furrowed as he looked up to Alia's mother who stood there with a knowing look on her face. A faint smile formed on Alia's mother's face. "It's okay. I'll show you."
As she said this, she got closer to Alia and brought down her brown gown to expose Alia's left breast. Hadrian flinched.
The mother placed her arms to the back of baby Hadrian and brought him up to Alia's nipple.
After taking over his vessels, some of their actions were natural to him. Baby Hadrian opened its small mouth and latched on to the nipple.
It's okay.
Hadrian told himself.
It's just like sucking on one's thumb.
Alia had not eaten for a day, luckily, she had drunk a lot of water in that time. The milk that came out was still of little amount, however.
I plan to make this baby my main vessel.
Hadrian thought. I need to prioritize its growth and nurture.
There was nothing wrong with Alia's body. Hadrian had existed as a rat, but he still viewed himself as that teenage boy.
He also felt he needed a main vessel to ground himself. Not to mention what had happened when he turned the baby into his vessel.
"I'll go see what I can find." The mother said after ten minutes of cleaning up the place and herself.
In Alia's memories, Hadrian had seen she would do all sorts of work for pay in food or coin, mostly in empty promises.
Why even struggle? Would someone like you or my old self's lives have mattered?
Hadrian's sight changed and he looked past the mother's skin, flesh and bones and into that vast space of grey fog. It was calmer than before.
Hadrian called at the fog. A thin misty tendril formed and flowed to Hadrian.
Just one?
The moment Hadrian made contact with it, stress and panic clutched at his chest.
The mother's brows pinched, her eyes narrowed at Alia and her lips pressed tightly.
Hadrian dismissed the tendril. He wasn't planning on making her a vessel. He was simply testing something.
Now that I have a human vessel, grasping another human's essence is not as impossible as before. It is still difficult, though.
With his current strength, if he agitated another human and they attacked him, he would more than certainly lose. Unless he plans to take over children vessels.
Not to mention humans were more intelligent and with more potent souls. The time to take over one would be longer than thirty or forty seconds.
How will I achieve my revenge on the mages at this pace?
Hadrian cursed.
"I won't be too long." The mother said with a heave.
She walked out and picked their door from where it lay, placing it to cover the opening.
Hadrian's eyes darted around the place. It was small and reeked, the makeshift walls barely standing.
I might not be a rat anymore, but I'm still living like one.
He placed his baby self on the piles of the clothes, covered his left breast and shuffled off the bed.
He staggered with a grunt. He turned to his baby self, "what are you staring at, eh?"
The baby's eyes fluttered.
Tsk. I plan to go crazy like this? From now on, you shall be Baby Hadrian. Until you aren't a baby anymore. I shall name all my vessels in such a manner from now on too.This girl….
He looked down at his small body.
Shall be Alia Hadrian.
He pushed his hair behind his small ears, biting down on his lip.
This won't do at all.
Suddenly, he sensed something he could tug at from within him. It was different from the tug of the dull white space the first time.
Licking his lips as his eyes narrowed, he sent out his intent to the force. A small amount of energy washed over his muscles and bones.
Huh?
This was from the soul bodies of the rats still in the dull white space. Though he'd lost them, he could summon some of their attributes at the expense of his own essence.
Well, the rats were basic lifeforms with no attributes other than their natural physical ones.
Walking up to the makeshift wooden door, he focused the energy to his right arm and pushed it off.
Hadrian winced, his hands rising to cover his eyes for a moment.
She did say it's been ten hours.
The sun had already risen and people were already active outside. Hadrian was no stranger to this district, the poorest in the city, Calos district.
The road was partially made of filth, the houses were small and pressed against each other, leaning to one side. The air reeked even worse than inside their house.
Hadrian picked up the wooden door and covered the open space.
Hopefully the mother does not come back before me, otherwise she might die from shock.
Carrying baby Hadrian with him would have been too much work. Besides, Hadrian could still see through the baby.
If a rat or something else attacked him, he could transfer all of Alia's and the rats' energy to the baby to deal with it. If it was another human, he did not see why anyone living in this place would wish to burden themselves with other people's problems.
Alia's feet were bare. The ground was luckily dry at this time. The wind blew at her hair strands, sometimes to the back, other times across her face and Hadrian would have to push them off.
What he needed was a vessel. Having experienced having multiple bodies and perceptions, he felt vulnerable having only two rather immobile vessels.
It wasn't hard to find a rat in the filth. However, even before Hadrian had called at its essence, it had already squeezed through places Hadrian couldn't reach and ran away.
Someone shoved Hadrian's shoulder as they passed through. On their shoulder, they carried two deathly looking chickens.
Chicken. Hadrian's stomach rumbled. When was the last time I ate meat?
Thinking of this. He altered his sight to one of the chicken's essence sea.
Without much thought he called onto it.
The chicken started flapping its wings violently making chaotic loud clucks. The other chicken did too, though not because of Hadrian.
The man brought the chickens off his shoulders and put them down. Their legs were tied with a rope the man held. The one chicken thrashed as it tried to get away. Hadrian could sense the fear in its fog tendril.
Looking at the chicken's eyes, he felt a pang of guilt for a moment. Not at stealing it, he wasn't new to that, but how hopelessly it fought back wanting to live.
Hadrian shook the emotion off.
Few people stopped to stare. The man holding the rope to the chickens' legs only had a puzzled look on his dry face.
After twenty seconds, the chicken calmed down, and not long after so did the other one.
With a higher ranked vessel, the time to take over basic lifeform has reduced. Though not by much. Hadrian noted.
He watched as the man placed chicken Hadrian on his back and walked off.
Hopefully, he does not get far. I will wait for the right opportunity and make a chicken escape. Only to eat it.
Hadrian came across a dog sniffing at the filth. It didn't mind the people passing by, shouting.
He hesitated. Scared of how it'll react. Altering his sight with a sigh, he called at the dog's essence.
As soon as the tendrils made contact with Hadrian, the dog's ears perked up as its head rose. It turned and looked directly at Alia Hadrian.
Hadrian's heart jumped to his throat.
The dog's expression twisted into a snarl. It growled with its sharp teeth exposed and head lowered.
Hadrian immediately let go of its tendrils, but the dog's agitation towards him didn't disappear.
It jumped to where he stood with a bark and Hadrian let out a yelp, bolting in the opposite direction.
"Help!" Alia's high-pitched voice sliced through the air.
The dog caught up quickly and bit down on Alia's ankle sending sharp pain up Hadrian's left leg.
"Arghhhh!" Hadrian screamed and some people finally came to her rescue, beating down on the dog until it whimpered away.
"Don't be stupid." Someone told her before they left without any further help.
If I find a place where the dog can't reach me, perhaps I'll have a chance. Watch it jump up and down barking as I take over its stupid body. A dog would be very useful.
As he thought this, Hadrian heard a harsh shriek cut through the air. His eyes rose to the azure sky. Far up there, descending as they circled in the air. Two large hawks battled.
A Hawk. Hadrian's heart picked up pace.