My New Life?

(POV: Tristan Devroop Akvash)

'Hold on, w-was I supposed to be dead? At one point, I was somewhere in that senseless void, but next... There was that odd-looking light... Wait? Isn't this like some reincarnation stuff that often happens in novels?' Tristan was still pondering what was happening while adjusting to the light; he was also wondering why his memory of the past was so damaged, and he couldn't find any answers. A period later, he started to hear jumbled voices, making it hard to understand. As soon as his vision came to, albeit barely as he was a newborn infant, he saw what would be his parents, who looked like they were arguing about something; they looked like they were enjoying it too... Maybe a bit too much, though. But something resonated within his heart. He wanted to keep this moment for as long as he could.

'Why? Just why am I enjoying this so much? I- I don't know what to think of this. Watching this up close makes me want to stay here with them. I can't lose this again.' Tristan made a vow without knowing why he said it in the first place with his hazy memory while watching his new parents' playful bantering. After they were done arguing, both stared at him with a heartwarming smile familiar to Tristan; their eyes upon him gave him great reassurance and comfort... Enough for him to slowly close his eyes and fall asleep, which he needed.

(POV: Parents.)

Away from prying eyes was a seemingly comfy-looking place that looked like it had just been built recently was a one-story deep red oak house that looked like a cabin with a tented roof and two blue windows by the front of the house that were symmetrically side by side and far apart, with a patterned black oak door, but it was a decently big house with plenty of rooms. It had a basement that looked like an underground Sunhouse farm that grew a specific plant that could land them massive money in the weed business, 'magic weed,' but what surrounded the house was a mountainous, snowy land that looked enchanting with the trees from afar.

"Ahhhh!! Look who's sweepy! It's you, my little munchkin!🥰" Dahlia said in a motherly tone as she cradled Tristan, but Julius was the most surprised as this was the first time hearing someone like her talk in such a tone. But he joined in.

"Yes, he is. Honey, let's just put him in that new crib that I stole- I mean bought- yeah, that's what I meant- and let him rest. " Julius's slip of the tongue caused Dahlia to pause and stare intently at him. Julius was ready for his punishment as he started shaking like crazy. And then she finally said.

"I have so many questions, but why didn't you let me come with you to steal a crib? And I sure as hell know there wasn't a crib around yesterday night. So it had to be when I was asleep... *sigh* You know what? Never mind my rambling; I'm quite proud of you, Julius, for doing something I didn't have to ask for, especially for our child." That took an unexpected turn for Julius, who was given such a compliment for this.

"But, I'm still mad about not joining you in your little heist, but I do understand that I was pregnant at the time, and it did look like I was ready to burst at any moment. So you and I must do something else to make me feel better." Julius just had a light bulb sticking up for the next thing to do together and gave a happy grin

"I think I have something else coming up, but let's have our little boy rest in his crib before we start planning." And that's what they both did while they put the sleeping baby in its crib. Now, the father asked without a shred of his former humor.

"Dahlia... I tried checking our child's fate... and..." Julius was having difficulty describing what he saw, and Dahlia was dreading what their child would go through in the future. So she shook Julius by his shoulders and violently whispered so she wouldn't wake little Tristan.

"Just say it, Julius, don't just pause on me?!?! You are starting to freak me out here, you dumb#ss?!!? What's wrong with our child, you stupid f#ck??!" Within 35 seconds of waiting, Julius' expression changed back into what looked like an excited toddler as he started giggling, similar to a madman, but still kept it peaceful as they were still in front of a baby.

"Well, honey, let's leave our little Tristan's room and talk about the good news, my lady." The worry over the child's fate had Dahlia's heart pumping fast. She was beyond p#ssed but still listened. They silently walked off to a different room from Tristan, and Dahlia cast a spell to dampen any sound vibrations so no one could hear or listen in.

"well, my BELOVED! I'm listening now. So what is this good news YOU wanted to tell me." Dahlia was still angry with Julius for making her worry badly for Tristan but was trying her damnedest to calm herself so that she wouldn't try strangling her husband and partner in crime. And with the different scenery away from Tristan, Julius began.

"Well honey, I'm going to start with the good news for both of us as our genes, 'mostly mine,' have created an ANOMALY AMONG US!!!!!" Julius really was trying to pick a fight with that faint whisper after he said genes, but this only left Dahlia even more confused, and on her face were veins popping on her forehead as her face was also turning red. Unbridled irritation was all she felt, but she held all of it in, but just barely so she could form coherent words instead of bludgeoning him with her bare hands here and now. She covered her head with her hands instead and articulated.

"Explain- what- do- YOU- mean- NOW!!!!!!." At that point, her husband knew that he f#cked up incredibly horribly, so he had to explain fully and quickly before Julius became a hunted animal.

"O-ok honey, l-let me explain... You and I both know that every being has a connection to fate, and others can use it to affect others, good or bad, but our son has nothing at all!! This is my first time seeing something like this. OUR son isn't even connected by FATE itself, Dahlia; he could genuinely walk through any path he so desires without being an Archmage that studied the arcanum of fate!! I believe he will become a FANTASTIC mage when he grows up!!" with Julius's declaration, Dahlia finally cooled down. She finally questioned.

"That is fantastic, deary!?!?! But you also said there was bad news, too... So give it to me straight, Julius." Julius lost some of his humor with the bad news for the second time.

"I did say that our son wasn't affected by fate, but that doesn't mean we aren't affected by it either; I had an unfortunate revelation about our fate during my little check-in with Tristan... We won't be able to take care of our child later down his path, as our lives seem to have been cut short. I will try to prepare and see if we can fight against it, but this type of fate seems extremely malicious; however, all we can do is take care of Tristan and love him for all he is." Julius voiced in a seemingly hollowed-out tone; even though he did try to sound light-hearted, the hopelessness can be seen with his shoulders rigid. Dahlia wanted to be the one to comfort Julius this time, as at this moment, she saw back then that Julius was only trying to get her to focus on something else with his jokes, not caring about what reaction he would get from her, even a fierce one. So Dahlia went over and hugged Julius, took a deep breath, and finally expressed herself.

"... I did want to ask... about the time of our supposed end, but Julius, you know we are in this together. No matter what, right Julius? As you said, we will try our best to get through this fate together." With those words from Dahlia, Julius' stiffened shoulders relaxed mostly from his strain, but his facial expression began to break apart in anguish.

"A- and we o-only have ten years to take care of our T- Tristan, t- too..." This struck a chord with Dahlia; time was too short to be with Tristan, but even then, she wanted to comfort Julius in this time of sorrow for both of them.

"Ohhh sweetie, all we can really do is try to prepare like you've said, as sadly we, or I mean you, made more enemies, and we only have a few allies that could help, and when the time comes, we could try to find someone to take care of him in our stead, I truthfully have no regrets with the time I had spent with you, and this fate of ours can't separate that fact, our regret would never being able seeing our young baby grow up," Dahlia spoke as best as she could, and Julius said with great misery.

"But- but- but- but, I'll never get to see if he will ever get any B*TCHES, y- you know, this will mean that I'll have to teach him EARLY, and I sure as hell don't want him to be an actual edgy goth, but an EDGELORD, they're completely different, and you can't tell me otherwise!!!! I GOTTA teach him everything about women so that he wouldn't be single but be DROWNING IN B*tc-!?!" Dahlia immediately closed his mouth with her hand; she was utterly shell-shocked by what Julius's rant was about. She didn't know if she should laugh or knock him out to let him sleep. A moment later, she uncovered his mouth and said.

"W-why do you have to be such an idiot?" She didn't have much else to say as she held in her laughter. Julius replied with a grin.

"Well, you're the one who married this idiot who has been gifted with an immeasurable charm, *wink*." After they had both cooled off, there was a long silence between them as they hugged each other. Dahlia eventually asked.

"So... other than that heavy topic, what about our next heist together this time? I'm guessing it's something for Tristan... wait- will we homeschool him? I mean, that should be an obvious duh, as I don't trust the government, and you are especially on their hit list when you started evading the IRS because, as you quoted, 'Hah, like I'll let those bloodsuckers drain me dry like one of those 5 dollar h##kers.' and because of your means of evading the IRS had led to making enemies with the Special Affairs Department... I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other fields of the technocracy would catch wind of us with our means of using magic." Julius, the ever-loving husband, had something to add

"Well, Dahlia, I have a friend who hates the IRS as much as I do. Even if he is a vampire, I don't think every vampire should be considered bad if they hate the IRS, too. He could probably take care of our son if the time comes; he holds tight personal control over Chicago's banking industry!!"

"... My GOD, Julius, we are NOT going to let a VAMPIRE take care of OUR CHILD!! And also, even if that does sound enticing, I don't think it's a good idea... take that as a mother's intuition. And having our child a part of the world of vampires isn't exactly the brightest idea either; I am just stressing how dumb that is, honey, I mean, I am not entirely a xenoist but your friend, even if you trust him, I wouldn't trust any of those blood-sucking, paled skinned monkeys after the carnival incident during midnight." The not-so 'xenoist' Dahlia said a minor derogatory thing towards a race of vampires. And Julius, who tried his best to pray toward whatever god was around within his head, sighed and gave another option that would soon be cut short.

"..... *SIGH* what about one of the clans of the garou-" And there it was again, the perfectly equal to all species; Dahlia struck again.

"AGAIN WITH THIS CRAP!!! I mean, GOOD LORD Julius, why would we try to give our son off to a bunch of mangy rodent-infested trots!! I mean, your first idea had some ground, but this one?!?! We can't give our son off to a bunch of flea-bitten dogs in the forest; WE can't turn our son into an F*CKING FURRY!!!!!!" Dahlia, the ever-loving wife, was a legit xenoist... probably because of her run-ins with certain races; it wouldn't be surprising if she also hated faeries. Julius had to ask now.

(A/n: ....)

"Don't you have anyone caring for Tristan after we're done in Dahlia? I have two more after crossing out the others, mostly mages. The last is a hunter, and the other is a mage." When he asked that, Dahlia stared blankly at him and then said.

"Most of my friends left me to an entirely different world, leaving me behind... and the one thing they said to me before leaving was 'Protect this gate, Dahlia so that none of the daemons would reach here,' and so that's what I did because at the time I felt like I had a sense of obligation, and a little while later you appeared and gave me a new sense of fulfillment that I could never get from that blasted gate... And the few friends I made, I wouldn't trust them at all with Tristan." With Dahlia's out-of-pocket statement, Julius said nothing and squeezed her tighter.

"Alright, Dahlia... a hunter it is then, a certain friend of mine who was an ex-hunter can give our son a relatively normal life, as he was originally an Avenger of the imbued; I mean, he's probably the most laid-back hunter I have met, and for his teacher if he were to become an awakened mage, how about someone from the Akashic brotherhood? I know the person who recently retired, too. But... I do have a feeling that his awakening will be faster than we think, Dahlia, and focusing on finding a teacher after he awakens would be too much of a hassle and would go against trying to spend as much time with Tristan as of now." That was the beginning of his long-term plan within ten years of their countdown while attempting to give Tristan all their time and love.

"But Julius, how will we get to the nearest town around here without making our magic look flashy? I think my paradox is getting pretty high up there, and using it one more time is going to suck compared to my last time, where I physically turned myself into a duck." When Dahlia said that, Julius gave off a devilish grin and answered.

"Hmhmhmhmhm *cough*, ah, Dahlia, Dahlia, Dahlia, I was given this expensive teleporter from the Sons Of Ether for free! And this time, they gave it to me willingly, instead of just using the usual blackmail... Honestly, I really shouldn't trust this device, but using teleportation seems like fun, though." For some reason, Dahlia did not express facial expression as she stared at Julius, then sighed and gave up.

"You know what, honey? Let's test it here and now, as it is about time for us to go on a short adventure to find (a/n: and mostly steal) a lot of the stuff for our child so that we won't have to go out again. Doesn't that sound okay, my dear? If this doesn't work, I'll use my dream magic again to bring us back home.

(a/n: Dahlia is a Kinain, a human with faerie blood and a mutant with a fae gift of space/domain... Lucky her)

"All right, Dahlia. Let's get started." Julius turned on the button with nothing else to say, and they both went off on their adventure.

Everything turned light blue, and they both disappeared.

(POV: Back with Tristan Devroop Akvash)

A child, now named Tristan, was resting in complete bliss in his crib. Tristan had never felt so much warmth for so long. Before being stuck in that cold place with nothing to hold on to, that bright light within that void was his saving grace. It was his second chance to start over and do something he couldn't do in his past life: to become stronger to protect his new family.

(A/n: .... Sorry, boy, but I must beat this dead horse for your character development. RIP)

-------35 minutes later---------

While asleep in his crib for what felt like an eternity, there was a vast vibrating sound abrupting a few meters away from the crib, awakening Tristan from his crib. He saw a blueish light forming something unexpected; two people that seemingly came out of that light were heavily disheveled and with their clothing damaged. Dahlia and Julius seemed to have popped out of nowhere, with Julius being dragged around by Dahlia while Dahlia was limping, with Dahlia utterly forgetting that they put their coordinations in the wrong room, not even focused on the crib.

'What in the hell? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!?!' thought Tristan; his first opinion of being reincarnated was outlandish in itself, but now his family is pulling something like this. This world, to Tristan, seemed pretty ordinary, but this complete nonsense blew his entire overview of this world here and now. And now, with better hearing, Tristan had heard something absolutely wild and utterly asinine.

(POV: Dahlia And Julius, Back from surviving)

As soon as Dahlia fell on her knees after dragging Julius along, she took another deep breath, closed her eyes, and yelled, "DID YOU GET THE STUFF IN THAT F*CKING SPACE RING, JULIUS!!! I SWEAR TO ALL OF THE GODS IN THIS WORLD THAT IF YOU DIDN'T, I'M WRINGING YOUR D*MNED NECK RIGHT HERE AND NOW YOU SHITSTAIN."

Julius, who didn't seem bothered by his wife's outburst, said slowly while moving his face to the side to speak. "Yes, honey, *cough* I did, but I wasn't expecting the device to teleport us to Jupiter, and I also wasn't expecting there even to be a store in JUPITER of all places too, and it had a lot of stuff surprisingly enough, so I took everything." After that was said, Dahlia went off into an entire tirade.

(A/n: think of the store itself kind of like the backrooms but safer, with an in and out. They had to take turns defending it from a creature that could destroy it.)

"You know honey, I'm not mad about the device taking us to Jupiter as we still could get what we needed anyways. But do you know why I am so close to breaking down Julius, my darling? ITS BECAUSE YOUR FUCKING DEVICE TELEPORTED US CLOSE TO A FUCKING PRIMORDIAL OF ALL THINGS?!?!?! I MEAN, WHAT WAS ONE DOING ON JUPITER!!!!!?" Julius went quiet for a bit to think before saying anything else.

(A/n: Primordials are closer to fundamental laws of the cosmos made manifest; incomprehensibly powerful Wyld entities who created the gods and first warped Creation from the chaotic stuff of their realm. They were thought to be impossible to slay until the most powerful champions of Gods, The Solar Exalted, killed one with them, starting The Primordial War between them and the Gods; most of them were either slain, went to hiding, or some of the most important ones. Some primordials were butchered so thoroughly that they were eliminated from reality altogether. In addition, at the end of the Primordial War, a few remained unaccounted for, whose whereabouts and status are still unknown. So, a few of them will still be running around but are rare to see, and without the proper preparation, fighting one head-on would be a death wish unless a few powerful mages are distracting it or fighting it with their specialty for a certain amount of time. Archmages are a different breed of bullshit, though.)

"Well, I do kind of regret trusting the device created by that son of a wh*re Ether Tradition, and they probably did make the device to set us to Jupiter as a childish prank, but everything else went completely wrong in about a span of 15 minutes, too... At least we have everything we need for our child, and we are far, far away from that thing. Seriously though, this is the last time I'm doing any- *cough!!!!* oh f*ck- anything this insane again." after a moment of silence between them, Dahlia started to throw one last fade of words towards Julius before she focus on her surroundings and finally realized they were next to the crib with their child looking at them wide-eyed. Dahlia can only mutter to herself, only letting Tristan hear.

"You know what, Julius, just go f*ck ye-self! *Flips him off before focusing around*... Ohhhh, f*ck me, umm, Julius. Look in front of us now!" she said as she started covering her face with one of her hands. Tristan barely got himself up as he started looking around in utter confusion.

"What do you mean by that? Wait a darn minute? This seems to be a different room?!?! Weren't you supposed to teleport us to our original room? I mean seriously-!?!?!?!?!?!? Oh..." Julius finally had the same realization as Dahlia as he started looking towards the crib and sweating like crazy. And Julius did his best to stay as calm as he could as he slowly limped his way to Tristan's crib.

"H-hi there, my little shade; I know it's a little surprising seeing something as crazy as this, but we are only here to check on you." Julius got close enough to grab ahold of Tristan in a cradle, and as Julius did that, he saw what looked like intelligence within the boy's eyes, and this made Julius joyful; the happiness he felt from this moment couldn't be described in simple words, his new pride and joy was in his hands, and his little joy was even more special then he could realize. Julius did not need any magical predictions to see. Something woke up from his trance while Julius looked at the child he was holding.

"Honey? Is everything alright?" Dahlia was already next to Julius, and she also gave a long look at Julius and then at Tristan, who had such adorable-looking eyes full of curiosity and a hint of confusion. She definitely knew that her husband knew something else crucial about their son, and she had her own guesses, too, but this moment was much more meaningful.

"Yes, I am Dahlia... I believe we have our work cut out for us, huh?" And with that was the beginning of their short yet meaningful time as a family, and the new life for Tristan Devroop Akvash.

(A/n: This is an unrelated note, but the reason why there was a random store on a different planet is because a realm called the dreaming would sometimes seep into random parts of places or planets.)