The last thing Caden remembered was the cold, sterile air of his laboratory. He was a chemist who spent more time touching glass test tubes than human skin. Then, an explosion—a flash of white—and everything went dark.
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't dead. He was being held in a pair of warm, soft arms.
"Look at him, Silas," a woman's voice whispered. It sounded like music.
Caden looked up and felt his tiny heart skip a beat. The woman holding him was **Elara**, his new mother. She was breathtaking. Her hair was the color of a sunset, messy and damp from the sweat of labor. Her skin was pale and creamy, and even through his infant eyes, Caden could see a shimmering red glow surrounding her.
In this world, everyone had an energy called **Aether**. Because of his chemist's mind, Caden could see it like a colorful mist.
Elara's red Aether felt warm and inviting, like a cozy fire. When she pressed him against her chest, the skin-to-skin contact felt like a drug. It wasn't just motherly love; it was a physical rush of pleasure that made his new body tingle from head to toe.
"His eyes," his new father, **Silas**, said. Silas was a tall man with broad shoulders and muscles toughened by cutting wood. His Aether was a deep, steady brown. "They're gold. Like liquid sun."
As Silas reached out to touch Caden's small forehead, their energies touched. The brown mist and Caden's own golden light sparked. It felt like a tiny electric shock—one that made Caden feel powerful and hungry for more.
Caden—now **Caelum**—realized two things very quickly:
1. He was in a world where magic was real.
2. In this world, touching someone wasn't just a gesture; it was a way to trade power and pleasure.
He closed his tiny eyes, feeling the soft curves of his mother and the strong hands of his father. He was a master of chemicals in his past life. In this life, he was going to be a master of a much sexier science.