Supreme Magus novel Chapter 6

*"He his alive! I did it! I managed to save your boy’s life."* (please, remember that * means words that Derek is not capable of understanding.)

After the midwife triumphantly said those words, the room exploded in cheers and tears of joy. The people in the room were hugging each other and the mother in turns.

Meanwhile, Derek lied limp in the midwife’s arms, looking left and right trying to determine how bad was his current situation.

"Well, well. What do we have here? The bedridden woman is clearly this body’s mother. She definitely needs a bath." After delivery, the sheets were stained with blood, urine and feces.

"The crying, rough looking man should be the father. I wonder if he is crying for my sake or just because he was afraid of losing his wife. I bet the second one. Then I have a bigger brother and a sister. This is bad."

Suddenly another woman entered the bedroom bringing with her a little boy and a girl that raced to the bedridden woman.

"Oh dammit! This is even worse that I thought. So far I have only two possible choices. Option one, grow into this large family, fighting every day for the few available resources. Malnourishment is most definitely a given. Then, when I am old enough, starting to work with father and brothers, getting married, having children, etcetera. Option two, wait until I am tall enough to grab sharp objects, put me out of my misery and take another spin hoping for a better outcome. I think I’ll go with option number two."

Meanwhile the room had become silent. The midwife had already finished cleaning the newborn, wrapped him up in a clean cloth. During all this time Derek neither moved or cried.

*"Nana, what’s wrong with the baby? Why is he not crying? It never happened before!"* The mother was worried, and ignoring the pain was trying to get up.

*"Shush, child, and don’t you dare to move. I still have to heal you."* The midwife tone did not leave space for reply. *"I delivered dozens of children, a silent one is rare but nothing special. Do you want to see how strong he is? There you go!"*

She unwrapped him from the cloth, and while holding him gently gave a little spanking, to force him to cry.

Derek grunted a little, while staring at her in dismay.

"Want to play rough, old hag?" He thought. "Fine! You just triggered my trap card! Twin Flood, activate!" And out of the blue he relieved both his bowels and bladder.

The backdoor attackers splattered all over her feet, while the front door flood struck her on the face and chest.

Derek started giggling loudly.

*"Well, this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but as you can hear for yourself, this little imp is breathing just fine."* The midwife handed the baby to another woman to clean him.

Derek kept giggling, proud of his work. After washing her face with warm water and a cloth, the old hag moved her left index finger drawing a circle in the air, striking it through in the middle from right to left. Then she pronounced a single word.

"Ekidu!"

A black energy manifested on her fingertip. She proceeded to point it over her wet dress and then over her shoes. The smell of feces and urine suddenly disappeared and so did their source.

With his mouth agape in shock, Derek watched as his poop would dry and crumble, turning into dust. It was akin to watching one of those fast-forwarded videos where in one minute you could see a seed becoming a flower.

"Heisenberg’s beard! She is not just an old midwife! She is a real magician, in the flash! I have never been so happy in my whole three lives of being so dead wrong!"

Derek was ecstatic, and not only because that world had magic, but also because as soon as he heard the word Ekidu, he had felt something clicking inside of him.

Like if something deep inside of him had started taking root, and suddenly had become engrained in the very fabric of his new reality.

He started repeating obsessively the magic word in his mind, and trying to engrave in his memory every detail of the circular finger movement.

*"Now that I’m clean let me stop that bleeding, dear."* The healer approached the mother and placed her hands above her nether regions.

"Is it time for another magic? Show me, please!" Derek begged in his mind.

Nana first spreaded he fingers wide then started to move both arms in a circular motion, first up over her head, then opened her arms as much as she could before joining her hands, palm against backhand, at her navel’s height.

"Vinire Lakhat!"

Derek, all wrapped up, tried to mimic all her movements, step after step, memorizing every single detail he could grasp, no matter how small.

A sphere of light enveloped Derek’s mother lower body and she quickly recovered her complexion. The pale skin reverted to a healthy pink, while all the traces of pain and fatigue disappeared from her face.

Once again, something clicked inside him. After the dark magic, he could clearly feel that simply by hearing the power word, a connection had been established between him and light magic. Derek could not stop grinning.

"If, and I say if I have enough magical talent, it would mean there is actually a third hidden option." He thought. "I can become a magician and live free for the first time in my life! No shackles, no responsibilities! But it’s better not get over enthusiast. With my luck I could just have a poor talent or..."