In a crumbling district of lower Veyrith, where moss ate the corners of brick and children ran barefoot between bones of old buildings, a piercing screamed rang out.
The eyes of woman with cobalt-blue skin and curling violet horns, glowed faintly red with pain as she cried in labor.
Her clawed fingers digged trenches into her mate's shoulder as she pushed with all her might.
Her husband who was taller, broader and had a darker indigo skin with horns etched into his head, held her tightly in encouragement as they huddled in a candlelit room where water leaked through the ceiling.
All of a sudden, powerful lightning spread across the sky...
But not the kind that splits from cloud to earth...
Seven bolts of lightning with different colors: crimson, sapphire, gold, jade, violet, obsidian, and pearl, erupted across the heavens.
They spiraled downward in a celestial vortex above the tiny crumbling home like ancient heralds returning to reclaim the land.
The world froze at this moment as all of Veyrith stopped.
Every glyph, every etched rune and dormant magical artifact across the island throbbed uncontrollably.
Ancient Path markings on the flesh of nobles shimmered without consent. Distant towers in the upper sanctums cracked as energy swelled without warning.
In the high towers of Veyrith, glass shattered. Magical sigils warped. Scholars panicked. Seers collapsed with bloodied eyes.
And in that tiny room… a baby was born that didn't weep was born.
The baby lay still in his mother's arms, wrapped in thick hidecloth.
His skin glowed faintly, emitting a shade of ethereal cerulean, unlike any commoner or noble.
Two small horns curved from his forehead with spiky base like they were carved, not grown.
His eyes were open and they emitted a deep red light.
The moment the world came into better focus, he smiled.
The midwife screamed and dropped her tools before fleeing into the streets while whispering prayers in the old tongue.
His parents who were simple Eshu laborers, clutched him while weeping in awe and fear.
Outside, thunder clapped with no clouds. The seven-colored lightning remained, spiraling above their home, refusing to fade.
The kid thought:
'Well. That was dramatic.
Blue skin, red eyes, tiny horns. Not what I expected but hey, at least I'm cute. In a mildly terrifying way.
Seven lightning bolts. Real subtle, you ancient space wizard. Was the celestial fog machine broken?'
He couldn't speak yet, of course, but his thoughts were sharp. The memories of his past life were fully intact. He remembered the fire. The sacrifice. The laugh before the jump.
He remembered the glowing throne. And the cosmic old man who dragged him into this new life.
Sam who hadn't been named yet in this new reality, looked up at the glowing room, taking in the sharp ridged walls, the glyph-marked fabric around him, the eerie silence of his exhausted parents.
Definitely not Kansas.
---
~ Days Later ~
In the Court of Nobles - Upper Veyrith
The crystal orb hanging in the Path Council trembled violently, showing the sky rift from earlier. Seven spirals of energy had torn reality for the span of thirteen breaths, each counted, recorded and analyzed.
"Seven," whispered Archon Vhaes with a voice like crushed leaves. "That number has not occurred since the Breaking."
Lady Selnira stood at the council's heart. Her black feather-glyphs shimmered faintly on her blue neck. Her expression was cold.
"The child is not noble-born," she stated. "His bloodline is untethered. His parents dwell in the Cracked Crescent slums. No family glyph. No legacy."
"And yet the world bent around his birth," murmured another. "Do we truly believe this is coincidence?"
"It is heresy," barked a noble with twin spiral horns. "If he were born of us, perhaps. But no Path awakens in a mud-blooded larva. Seven? It's impossible. It's a trick."
"Or a threat," said Selnira.
The room fell silent.
...
...
Sam's parents, Aeshen and Mirka, were not scholars. They did not speak in layers or prophecy. They knew fear. And they knew survival.
By the fifth day, whispers reached their cracked district.
"The boy… he draws too much."
"The nobles will take him."
"Or worse."
Mirka wrapped Sam close to her breast and clutched her satchel. Aeshen had procured a boat of blackwood, barely seaworthy.
"We make for the southern cliffs," he said. "From there, we will get off the island."
And so they fled their dwelling in a bid to get off the island and protect their child.
However, they didn't make it far.
The Marked found them first.
Three blue-skinned warriors with fragmentary tattoos on their necks from nobles they served, dropped from the sky in silence. Their horns glowed as their eyes tracked movement like predators.
Without uttering a word, they chased after their targets.
Mirka screamed as Aeshen ran with Sam tucked beneath his coat.
The tattoos of one of the Marked, glowed up as he conjured a spinning hexagon that emitted a red light.
The construct swept forward but fortunately, Aeshen dove to the left before it could reach him.
The construct hit a rock up ahead and dragged it into the air, suspending it in place.
Another Marked stomped the ground, causing blinding circles of runic light with powerful suction force to appear all around.
Rocks, dirt and shrubs were pulled from their original spots into these blinding circles of light.
Upon getting sucked in, they would reappear from the circle beneath the marked who conjured them.
A circle of light appeared behind Aeshen and his wife, causing a suction force to pull them backwards.
They struggled with the pull, clawing and grasping at anything they could in order to avoid making contact with the circular light.
Mirka couldn't hold on for long. Not only was she weak and still recovering from recent childbirth, the force was too tremendous for any normal person.
She was close to getting pulled in despite holding onto some vines connected to a tree up ahead.
On the other hand, Aeshen noticed the massive rock he was holding onto had began cracking at its base.
The crack spread in a circular format till a link was established and then it broke apart.
The moment the rock came apart and floated into the air, Aeshen spun around while still holding onto it and swung it towards the circle.
The massive rock, hit the circle and was unable to instantly get sucked in due to its size. It was at least three times bigger than the circle.
This gave them ample time to flee since the rock disrupted the suction force of the circle.
Aeshen and Mirka with their baby(Sam) made a beeline for the mythical forest of strange trees up ahead.
Over a minute later, the three Marked Eshu arrived before the forest's entrance and paused briefly.
"They went into the Waking Forest... should we still chase?" The one who conjured the glowing circles questioned.
"Yes, we do not have a choice," the only marked female Eshu who happened to have a single eye, responded.
In the next instant, they charged into the forest.
...
Mirka and Aeshen kept running as fast as their legs could carry them despite the build up of fatigue.
The trees in the surroundings were at least a hundred feet tall with some reaching over five hundred feet. The trees would occasionally sway unnaturally and make some weird belching noises as though they were speaking.
And then, the unexpected happened...
The trees suddenly pulled out their roots from the ground causing the surroundings to quake as they developed legs and moved around.
Mirka and Aeshen began to dash around from side to side, avoiding getting stomped by these gargantuan trees.
The rough terrain not only made it difficult but even the quaking had them losing balance a couple of times.
Aeshen stumbled uncontrollably the side when a tree in front suddenly pulled out, causing his surroundings to quake more intensely.
He lost his footing and staggered towards the left... however, just as he arrived in that position, the massive root-like legs of another tree was descending upon him and the baby.
Mirka suddenly dove forward, pushing them out of the way and landing directly upon her husband.
Fortunately, they managed to evade getting stomped.
She panted heavily while checking on the baby to make sure he was fine.
"He never cries... such a calm child," Tears brimmed in her eyes as she gazed upon the blueish baby lovingly.
Sam on the other hand just kept watching all the drama with keen eyes.
'Damn, I didn't know I would be born into calamity... I just got here,' his thoughts churned.
Aeshen, pulled himself and his wife up before reassuring her that they would get across safely.
"We're close to the edge... if we can get there, we can leave the island..." he urged her while pointing towards the distance where the sea horizon could be faintly spotted.
She held his hand with a look of hope and nodded.
Just as they stepped forward, a spinning hexagon of red light suddenly swept forward, encircling all three of them.
Their bodies instantly ascended into the air, unable to move any muscle except their eye.
"We got them..." one of the Marked Eshu voiced with a victorious tone as he stepped forward.
"Good job Nrexu," the marked female Eshu stated as the trio slowly appeared from the distance.
"The baby... its still moving..." the third marked voiced with a tone of disbelief as he stared at the hexagonal construct of red light up ahead.