2. Life

I woke up abruptly, from the pain in the fifth point. Unable to withstand such a mean act, I screamed out of character.

— $&# & #&## & #&& & 2$&# & #&&# $! (My congratulations, you have a son!) A vague voice rang out.

"Oh my God, don't scream under my ear. Never have I felt so bad. Weakness, my whole body aches, I want to sleep, I don't see anything, this is not how I imagined rebirth. My brains turned into porridge, I can't think anything. And these people are muttering something under their breath, annoying.

While the newborn soul was thinking about his unenviable position, another person approached him and, taking him in his hands, began to casually examine him. Spinning it this way and that. Opening his mouth and eyes with his unclean fingers, as if looking for something...

— Hmm. $$&$$ $ & #$ $#@#$ & #@@ @#$&. $@# $&#@ & #@$ &$. (I have bad news for you Jiri. Your son won't grow up for more than ten winters.) He said to the woman lying on the floor, on the soft skin of some animal.

"Ta give me a rest, I'm just sick. I went through a lot in the end, I ... "- Not having time to bring his thought to the end, he, under the influence of weakness, did not notice how he fell asleep.

How is that, sir priest? Is there really nothing I can do, except for him I have nothing! Ha-ha. - Already turning into a scream and almost tearing herself up, the pale woman said before, and after what she heard, she became worse and worse.

- Take the baby. The rest will leave the tent. I will still stay here. - He said to a woman standing aside, who, having taken the baby, wrapped him in some rags and carried him away.

"Jiri, you have a son with a curse. - Immediately, after the others left the small tent, the priest said.

After these words, the woman twitched and froze, as if waiting for the words that this was just a joke, not true.

- He has no pupils. I do not know who and why cursed you and your son, and even so cruelly. But never see the world.

- Not! NO! It's all lies! Not true! Why are you deceiving me! Kha-kha! Why! Why…" She finished the last word in a barely audible voice. And literally in the next moment, tears flowed down her cheeks. And in a moment, as if the dam had burst, she began to sob.

- Why do I need this. God why are you doing this to me. What did I do to get all this suffering. First my dear death, and now this! The tears were falling continuously. She wanted to get up, but the priest stopped her.

- Lie down, you are only after childbirth. Drink this decoction of the leaves, you will feel better. - Taking out of nowhere an earthenware bowl that appeared, bringing it to her lips, he said:

- Calm down, tomorrow we will continue our conversation. He got up and left the room, not paying attention to the already asleep woman.

- Get out there. And don't touch her. Now she needs peace... - He went on to inspect the inhabitants of the village.

---

[3 days later]

The priest walked towards Jiri's tent with a frown on his face. Making his way through the chaotic buildings and trying not to fall on the wet stones scattered around after the rain. He went inside.

"Priest, why did you lie to me!" You promised you'd be back two days ago! - The woman immediately attacked him with her accusations. The priest, ignoring them, stood near the woman and said.

"My previous words about ten winters were false. He won't live more than five. These words seemed to explode the woman's brain. Making the next words stuck in my throat. Eyes filled with tears again.

- What's again? she mumbled.

- He sleeps too much, only recently woke up, he has a weakness not typical for babies. He's sick with something else. Eats little. I'm afraid that about five winters, these are the best forecasts. - With the same even voice as at the beginning of the conversation, as if talking about the weather, and not about the life of a baby, the priest said.

- What? What should I do? The woman said, holding her head. - After the death of my husband, I will not be able to feed myself and a sick child ... - Thinking about what will happen to them next, how she and her child will starve, freeze in cold rains, fight for the last root. She went crazy.

- I have a suggestion. As a token of our old friendship, I can take your child to the creator's temple. Only there will he have a chance to recover. The priest said after a short pause.

- What?! Not! Don't take it from me!

- You're a smart woman and should understand what will happen to you without outside support. Your husband's inheritance won't last even a year. And I'm offering you a chance. A chance for your son's recovery! Don't be so selfish. And think carefully about where it will be better for him. - Barely holding back his voice, almost shouting said the priest. Jiri froze, thinking she realized that the priest was telling the truth. In the temple, her child will be better off. And how sad it would not be, but it will be right. Stay with her, he will most likely die an early death.

Give me time to say goodbye to him. She said softly looking down. Everything in my chest ached. Sadness flooded his head.

- Three days. He replied turning around.

- What? So few? Let ho..." She didn't finish when he interrupted her.

"In three days, when the sun is at its highest, I will leave for the main city. Try to keep up with this time.

"Good…" she said softly and the priest left, to the quiet sobs of a woman who had lost everything.

---

[Evening of the same day]

A woman entered the tent with Jiri carrying a rough bundle. Gently handing it to Jiri, she left. Looking tenderly at the face of the bundled baby, she whispered.

- During the time that we were apart, I sorted out your name, I tried to choose the best of all for you. Your name is Aysel. You are my last ray of light in this dark world. She noticed how Aysel began to wake up.

"Oh, I think I woke him up. - She said in a whisper. She looked at his cute plump face, with a white down on his head and a small line of red hair.

A moment later, his eyes opened and she saw them, an empty pale veil, as if a dead man was looking at her. These thoughts made her feel heavy and sad. To distract herself, she tried to feed him, but it didn't work. He just didn't want to. And yet, unable to withstand the pressure, she began to speak. Even realizing that this child will not understand her.

— Forgive me Aysel, I'm sorry. Forgive me for giving birth to you like this. Aisel, I'm sorry. She started to have tears in her eyes. She pressed him to her, gently so as not to strangle him, and began to rock him.

— Forgive me, Aysel... — Twenty minutes later, she and her son left for the realm of Morpheus.

---

Time passed, morning came. The son woke up before the mother, starting to think about the whole situation.

"So, apparently I am now in the arms of my mother. It's much better than it was before, yet lying as a baby in nothing but rags on a hard surface is not good. I don't want to eat after that nasty mess. My hearing has more or less recovered, but as for the eyes... They still show nothing but a white veil. But that's probably because I'm a child. Being on Earth, I read somewhere that children see poorly for about a month, so you just need to wait "- After lying down for a bit, listening to his feelings, he noticed one more thing.

"Yes, and some kind of constant weakness. As an example, I can cite a severe cold, but without snot. You are either hot or cold, your body aches, weakness and you want to sleep all the time. Something like this, but much stronger."

"The next, but no less important detail. Where am I? If you think about it, I don't know. Without sight it is difficult to understand anything. Although from the facts that I have collected, it can be concluded that this is either the Middle Ages, or a very, very poor country, in a world similar in terms of manufacturability to mine "

"Although if you think about it, even in such countries the living conditions are better than here"

"But to judge the conditions only by the sound, but the sensations of the body is probably wrong" - The soul came to the conclusion.

"We need to wait for the restoration of vision, and then it will already be clear for eighty percent in which world I am in development"

"But we'll postpone that for now. Let's say I'm in the Middle Ages now. What worlds do I know in this manner? Hmm, well, there are quite a lot of them and each is original in something. But the most dangerous of them is some kind of Dark Souls, although I did not play it, I only glanced at it. More Game of Thrones, yes, also a hellish world"

"Although, if you think about it, then the worlds of the Middle Ages are always scary if you are not the main character. In all such worlds, it is easy to die. Even more likely not from a wound, because here diseases will spread without problems, you will catch even a small one, as a result you will die in agony. But still, it should be easier for me, because I ended up in a world I knew. I hope that guy kept his end of the bargain. By the way, about the contract. I don't feel it. He explained to me how I would feel this channel, it would be like a thread holding on to my ear. And very tight and strong. But I don't feel it, which is very strange."

"If I somehow violated the contract and a cruel rollback would follow. I would just be driven back into the void, simultaneously tearing my soul to the core. Leaving only an empty shell

"And this will not happen only if the contract is terminated or violated by the other side. That is, there is a possibility that this god has violated the contract. If you think about it, the most likely thing he could have violated is to throw me into a world I know nothing about. And most likely he did it because of his own laziness. And how can I be then?

"Not. It's certainly good that I got rid of the contract and was reborn for free, but still. What to do..."

Behind his thoughts, he did not notice the movement that had begun. It was his mother, who, waking up, noticed that her child was not sleeping, she gently took him in her hands and began to feed him. This time everything went fine.

"What a shame. It was definitely a chest. And even if I understand that for a newborn child this is normal and so laid down by nature, but how embarrassing it is! - Imagining what his wet nurse's face would look like if she knew his real age, he was embarrassed, and swearing to himself that no one would ever know that he did not originally live here.

— #$$# #$$# $$$? (Oh, what don't you like?) A woman's voice sounded next to his ear.

"Yeah, I still don't understand you. So that you don't speak. By the way, I remembered that it was necessary to specify additionally in the contract - knowledge of languages. Here it reminds me of a mixture of English, Russian and some other languages, I can't compare because I just don't know them. And now, because of my stupidity, I will have to teach it on my own." He was embarrassed.

"But that's for later, I'm again drawn to sleep" - A moment later, yawning tiredly, Aysel fell asleep. Being in the body of an infant, there was little he could do, so why resist the urge to sleep?

The woman looked at the not long ago frowning face of her son, now sleeping peacefully. And looking at him, she couldn't help but sigh.

I hope you find your happiness Aysel. - She said and lay back, hiding in the fluffy skin of some animal.

---

[A few days later]

"The morning of the day began with some kind of turmoil, and not as usual, my mother, I will get used to calling her that, waking up sounded very upset. Her whole voice was filled with sadness. Sadness seemed to be material to me. Because of this, my mood sucks "

"I also hear voices around me, and although they are muffled, I can clearly feel the rush in them. I don't like this day anymore."

"I also found out my name. Probably... Well, it's just that my mother constantly repeated Aysel, Aysel near me. So it's probably my name. But other options are not excluded, maybe this is some kind of greeting and the like.

"And today she revolved around me especially often. Almost never leaving me. No, I'm pretty sure something's coming today."

"I hope that this is not something bad, because in which case I can't do anything. It remains to be hoped that nothing like this happens and these are all my speculations.

As time passed, the sun got closer and closer to its peak. People flocked to the exit of the settlement. There stood a man in decrepit clothes, but many people did not notice this, still crying and grieving for the departure of this man.

And among this small group of people, a woman was hurrying her way, with a bundle tightly bound in her hands.

- Wait! I'm almost there! Don't go! Out of breath, she stopped. Gently passing his last ray of light into the hands of the priest.

"Promise you'll take care of him!" And his name is Aysel! Remember! Looking as if she could burst into tears at any second, she looked into the priest's eyes, waiting for his response.

"I will try to cure him. But I can't promise anything. Everything will depend on the original. he answered.

"I'll be back here in five winters. And I will bring either bad news or him alive. - Turning around, he already wanted to go. But Jiri stopped him.

- Wait! One more thing, I may not be able to give him my love for these five years, but give him this ring. Let me remember! - Handing the bronze ring into the hands of the priest, she quickly, crying on the go, ran to her house.

The priest looked at her retreating back and finished with the inhabitants of the village, turning around, he rushed away from the village. Covering Aysel with his hand, he took with him only a ring and a bag of provisions. Set off on the road.