Seven Sources

The midwife was confused as the baby went from painful crying to laughing to whimpering before starting all over again. The city they lived in had a number of strange and unique ailments. The midwife's eyes glowed green as she moved the energy of Anodular through the baby to see if anything was wrong.

As she did the baby stopped and stared directly into her eyes. The intensity of the look caused her to stop the spell. She had delivered hundreds of babies and this was the first that had such an understanding behind their eyes.

'Oh, I died again. Thank god. I never want to live through something like that again.' The baby thought.

"Is something wrong with my baby?" The mother, Levanya Aslanbek, called out.

The father, Vivek Aslanbek, moved towards his son, circulating his Qi to see if there was anything wrong.

Before he could use his soul sense to inspect his son, the baby started crying like you would expect a baby to cry.

'Alright got to play this right.' The baby thought. 'They look human so they'll expect me to be a little fussy. The infant years are never that great. I really hate diapers. Hopefully they potty train early in this world.'

Vivek and the midwife froze for a moment. After collecting themselves, he used his soul sense and she sent Anodular energy into the baby to make sure he was okay.

'Huh, this is weird. I've never been in a world with multiple Sources. I've never even repeated Sources.' The surprise caused the baby to stop crying for a moment.

Thankfully the two thought it was because they were scanning him.

"Oh, is he reacting to my Qi? Do we have another Cultivator in our home?" Vivek gave his wife a playful smirk.

"He might be reacting to Anodular, making him a Druid." Levanya teased back.

"Unless you have Druids in your family, he'll most likely be a Cultivator or a Mage. There haven't been any strong Source Winds during the pregnancy so there shouldn't be any surprises. Actually, the Source Winds have been unusually balanced the past few months." The midwife was very matter of fact about birth.

She then handed the baby over to the mother before going to her medical case.

If the baby was able to understand his new parents language he would have had a dozen questions about this strange new world. Those questions would come as the midwife soon began some tests.

He did have a general feeling and understanding of what they were saying as a leftover gift from his fourth life when he was an Esper. At this point he liked what he was sensing from the couple that would raise him in this life.

"Hold him tight. They tend to get fussier with every prick." The midwife said. "Though we should know his Source within the first two."

The baby sensed the intent to cause it slight harm. Since he only sensed slight harm, he just continued to act like a real newborn.

"Oh, he's a tough little guy like his mother." Vivek said.

"Don't you mean like his father?" Levanya said.

"What? I'm a coward. I cry from the simplest ouchy." Vivek rubbed the top of his son's head.

The baby gave his new father a genuine smile. The feelings he was getting from his current parents reminded him of his first parents. They really loved each other and that would always lead to a better childhood.

He'd been in some messed up families throughout his other eight lives. Especially that last one.

His control slipped a little and his face took on a look of revulsion as memories from his last life surfaced.

"Look, you're scaring him." Levanya said.

"I think that's just a fart." Vivek said.

The two smiled at each other as the baby regained control of himself.

'Whoa. That last life was really bad but I gotta keep it together. It's just good to have my thoughts and soul to myself again.' The baby thought.

"Do you want to start with Qi or Mana?" The midwife asked.

"We can start with Mana." Vivek said. His wife gave him a smile. She knew that he really wanted a son with Qi as his source.

"I mean we'll be doing both either way. A child of ours is bound to be special, so he might have access to two Sources." Vivek continued.

"That's always a chance." The midwife was just humoring the new parents in this area like she always did. It was very rare for people to have more than one Source so she'd let the disappointment just come naturally.

The baby was too busy trying to keep up appearances for his parents and hold back the trauma for his last life that he didn't notice the midwife quickly prick one of his fingers.

There was another moment where he paused to figure out what happened but began fidgeting while paying attention to what the midwife was doing with his blood.

'What's she up to?' He thought.

The midwife dropped the needle into a small vial that had runes etched into its sides and contained a small amount of blue liquid. The three adults watched it intensely.

A few moments later nothing had happened.

"It's okay. We can move on to Qi." Levanya said. The baby could sense a bit of disappointment from his mother and hope with a little bit of disappointment from his father.

This time the baby reacted appropriately as he was pricked by another needle. The midwife dropped the needle in a vial with an orange liquid this time.

Once again they waited and a sense of disappointment came from both his parents when there was no reaction.

"My great grandmother was a decently powerful Angelus. Maybe that got passed down?" Vivek said.

"The Source Winds were pretty equal so there's a chance." The midwife said.

After another prick the needle was dropped into a vial with a yellow liquid.

No reaction.

"Don't you have a distant Uncle that's a powerful Esper?" Vivek asked his wife.

"I do." She didn't want to mention that that Source came from a bloodline she wasn't related to.

After the next needle sat in a violet liquid for a moment the baby began to feel his parents worry.

He sighed internally. 'It looks like I'm due for another life of mediocrity.' The baby was used to being born into worlds of fantastic powers only to be average or even below average.

His first life on Earth contained no magic or fantastical environment but he had read about them in a number of books. His first few lives he thought there might be a greater purpose to his reincarnations but they always ended up being rather average.

Except for his last life. That was literally Hell.

"Let's keep going. There are many children that have a Source outside their family lines." The midwife tried to reassure them.

The violet vial was followed by a green vial and an indigo vial.

After seeing that their son wasn't going to be a Druid or a Weaver. The parents were conflicted if they wanted to see a reaction from the red vial. They would love their son either way but Daemous could be discriminated against in various worlds.

Once it was clear that there would be no reaction the new parents looked at their son with love and a bit of fear.

The baby was able to tell that the fear wasn't of their son but for their son.

'Yep, another common life. At least it seems my parents won't care and will be there for me.' The baby thought.