Born, once again.

First person POV

Before I could finish the sentence, I was transported back to what seemed like the same void I came from, but here I could feel what seemed to be water, as if I were diving into the darkest sea known to mankind.

Before I could continue using metaphors to describe the environment I was in, I began to notice how all the water was draining away, immense pain coursing through my entire body, feeling how what once seemed like a void was slowly closing and pushing me outward.

I swear the next time I see, or rather hear Hades, since I couldn't see him, I'm going to make him feel all the pain I was feeling right now. I don't know how much time passed from when the pain started until it all ended and I finally saw light. The light of my new life, here I go.

And finally, after I don't know how many years, I could feel what it is like to be alive again, feeling the sunlight on my skin, the touch of my skin with that of a woman who was wrapping me in a cloth, to pass me on to a young woman who was a mess in what seemed like a straw bucket with a small cloth on top.

The worst part is when I could see who seemed to be my father, he didn't even have the face to look at his own newborn son, instead of letting my mother hold me the first time, he took me and started taking me somewhere unknown.

However, not all were bad news; I could see more or less where I was born in my new life.

And I'll say it again, the next time I hear Hades, he's going to pay me back.

Around me, there were food stalls, women buying from them, in their white tunics. Seeing the poor structure around me, I could assume that my family was not considered rich.

By the way, I forgot to mention, the man carrying me is wearing the typical Spartan armor.

Again, it doesn't take many neurons to deduce what era I am in, in Greece, and from what it seemed, the closer you got to the center of the city, the richer the atmosphere became.

Finally, after I don't know how many minutes of sightseeing and my kidnapping, I arrived at what was a temple.

Inside the temple, there was a table or altar, I don't know how that piece of marble would be considered at this time but it didn't seem good, since the Spartan just left me there while the elders around me looked at me with curiosity as they analyzed me.

I could swear I had heard something in my past life in a history class, about how the Spartans determined if a baby was strong or not at birth, if it was considered strong, it survived, and if it was not considered strong... you can imagine the rest.

I don't know how I remembered that class, or if I hadn't even had that class. Was it Hades' doing?

Leaving aside that small detail, let's focus on the important thing, I am in the hands of these elders to determine if I live or die.

I could hear them speaking and discussing in a language spoken by the Spartans. While I saw some pointing at me and touching my arms.

It didn't take them long to determine my fate, and fortunately for me, I survived. However, I don't know if it's because of my appearance or if the elder who was looking at me looked like that to all the surviving children, but he didn't have the look of good friends. He looked at me as if I were the worst thing that had happened to him today.

Once the Spartan had picked me up again and we were about to leave, I saw another Spartan carrying another newborn inside.

'Good luck to you'

I have to admit that the city I am in is beautiful, it's like seeing a living museum of history and architecture.

After a few minutes, I finally returned to the hut where my mother was still lying weakly on the straw bed.

Upon seeing me, I could see a smile of pure love on her face and how her eyes lit up with that motherly love.

"Το όνομά σου θα είναι Deo, γιε μου" (Your name will be Deo, my son)

(Author's note, I couldn't find a translator for the language used by the Spartans, so this sentence comes from Greek)

After hearing that sentence and seeing my mother's gaze, it was the first moment I realized that this would be my new life.

Deo, god of death.

*Time skip 3 years*

Since my mother gave me the name, 3 years have passed.

In those 3 years, several things have happened.

The first is that unfortunately, my mother died a few weeks after giving birth to me due to an illness. Although I had spent little time with her, something in me changed, seeing my helplessness in that situation.

I didn't cry, but it did leave a small void in me. After becoming an orphan, my supposed father has not yet appeared, so here I am, at 3 years old and without parents. What a start.

However, it's not all bad news. A woman who was a friend of my mother, named Asteria, decided to take care of me until I could take care of myself. Which in this era seems to be until the age of 7, and once reached, I would be considered of age, able to start training to be a Spartan or find a trade.

But the best thing that happened to me was when I turned two, and my adoptive mother's husband, Deacon, decided to take me with him to hunt.

I have to admit, one of the strong points of this era is that there are too many animals. So we didn't take long to discover our first prey. A rabbit.

Seeing that the rabbit hadn't noticed us and that the wind was against us, my adoptive father decided to take out his bow and aim. Since my adoptive father is a hunter by trade, he knew that this shot could not be missed.

So once he was sure the arrow wouldn't miss, he released the string, letting the arrow fly at great speed and accurately hit the rabbit's neck, leaving it on the brink of death.

When I saw that the rabbit was still alive, I thought Deacon had missed. But when I saw him nodding and looking at me while pulling out what was a stone hunting knife, I understood what he expected from me.

"Go and take your birthday present, today we'll have dinner with the meat you catch yourself."

Once I heard that, I could only nod as I took the knife and approached my victim.

I took one last look at the rabbit writhing in pain with the arrow in its neck, while I knelt down and raised the knife above my head with both hands.

And without thinking twice, with all my strength, the knife pierced the rabbit.

"Well done, Deo."

I could hear Deacon congratulating me as he put a hand on my shoulder.

I heard Deacon continue to talk to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying as I was staring fixedly at the rabbit.

Or rather, the shadow that protruded from the rabbit.

I knew perfectly well what I needed to do, since I more or less suspected what my power was before killing the rabbit thanks to Hades' clue, but seeing the shadow protruding from the rabbit confirmed it. But what surprised me the most was that I could observe how part of the rabbit's strength entered me, strengthening me.

Although the change was minuscule, it was not surprising, since even as a two-year-old child, I had more strength in general than the rabbit I had just killed.

But this didn't stop me from imagining how strong I could become if I started absorbing the strength of what I killed. I don't know if this has a limit or would be an infinite increase. But there is only one way to find out.

"Deo, are you listening to me?"

When I heard Deacon's shout, I finally snapped out of my trance.

"Sorry, Deacon, what were you saying?"

I saw Deacon roll his eyes before repeating the question.

"I was asking if you want to keep hunting or if you're tired already?"

I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was still high up, so I could deduce more or less that it was 12:00. We had left around 10 in the morning because according to Deacon, it's the best time to hunt rabbits.

Although there were many more animals in this forest, Deacon told me that I was still too small to think about hunting any other animal than rabbits.

"I can go on all day, Deacon, I have too much energy to go back already."

Listening to what I said, Deacon started laughing heartily.

"That's the spirit, take the bag and put the rabbit in it while I look for the next one."

He tossed me the bag, which was made of what seemed like leather or animal skin, still empty.

Upon hearing that he was going to let me carry the rabbits, I couldn't help but smile; this was just what I wanted. I needed to be alone to be able to summon my first shadow.

Once I made sure Deacon was far enough away, I proceeded to say aloud the word that I had read so many times in one of my favorite comics.

"Arise"

And after saying it, I could see how the shadow of the rabbit began to take shape until it became a rabbit made of shadows.

I stood watching the whole process without moving a single muscle, until I felt my first shadow jump and settle on my shoulder.

What can I say, going from seeing the process in a comic strip to real life, are two worlds apart.

As I caressed my first shadow, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Deo, stop laughing and come here"

I turned around running while the rabbit entered my shadow.

"I'm coming!"

That day, we caught 6 rabbits.

Since then, Deacon decided to take me hunting once every 7 days.

And so a year passed until the present day.

Where finally, after much insistence and much against Asteria's wishes, Deacon let me go hunting on my own.

When Asteria heard that Deacon had given me permission to go hunting alone, she almost killed Deacon and destroyed the house.

It was the first time in this life that I broke out in a cold sweat and realized that no matter how much power I have, I should never anger my adoptive mother.

'Thank you very much for everything, Deacon, your sacrifice will not be in vain.'

Fortunately for Deacon, I had his defense well prepared when he defended himself by saying that I am too strong compared to the other children my age.

Which is true, after a year of going out hunting every 7 days, although the rabbits and small animals we had caught didn't strengthen me much, when many drops come together, they form an ocean. Although I still can't consider my strength as an ocean, I know that my current strength is roughly 10 times that of an average child my age.

"But, what if something happens to Deo?"

"Don't worry, dear, he's only going after rabbits as we've been doing for a while now, besides, it will be good for him to gain courage and be able to have his first adventure."

After hearing Deacon's words, Asteria looked at me with tears in her eyes as she approached me to give me a hug.

Or so I thought, but when I felt the strength of the hug, my ribs almost broke. Again it served as a reminder to never anger her.

"You heard your father, Deo, just go after rabbits, if I see you bringing back anything other than a rabbit..."

And after saying that, the strength of the hug increased again. I could barely lift my head to see Asteria looking at me with a smile on her face, but with an aura like no aura I had ever seen before.

"Yes, Mom, don't worry."

I said with my last breath, and just before I passed out, Asteria decided to step back and still with a smile on her face tell me.

"You better, and remember, we love you very much, so don't make me have to get angry."

"Yes, ma'am!"

I quickly grabbed the leather bag and ran out of the house.

And without realizing it, a smile like never before had appeared on my face.

And it was no wonder, it was my first adventure in this new life. And I was eager to see how strong my little army of shadows that I had managed to gather was.

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Hello, here's the author. I came to ask you to let me know in the comments who you would like Deo to adopt. Would you prefer it to be a historical figure or an OC? Also, I'd like to ask you to point out any grammatical mistakes you may find so that I can correct them. Of course, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one. Chaooooooooo!