With a loud cry, the room was suddenly silent, the only sound being the soft panting of the mostly naked woman lying on the bed. Then, merely a moment later, the crying started. It was loud a loud, piercing sound yet one of the most beautiful things the newly made mother had ever heard. The nearby doctor already had the baby snuggly wrapped into a blanket as it continued to wail, the joy-filled father standing just outside the door. The scene was nearly picture perfect - except for the perturbed face the doctor made as he looked down at the child in his arms.
"Mam... your child appears to have both sets of genitalia..."
"W-What?" The woman, still out of breath asked with no small amount of shock, craning her neck to try and get a look at the baby.
"I mean that its gender can't be confirmed, it's up to the mother and father to decide the baby's gender," with this the doctor handed the infant over to a nearby nurse who seemed to do a quick check, a frown matching the doctor's stretching across her face.
"What is it this time? Just say something!" the father asked raising his voice, the earlier excitement having mutated into a mix of panic and curiosity. The nurse looked up to him then the mother, shaking her head.
"It's an unusual case even compared to what we've dealt with before - you see, usually rather than having a set a child with ambiguous genitalia has only one with properties of both, while the internal genitalia sticks to only one gender... this baby has both though, both internal and external,"
"So what does that mean? What is my baby?" the frantic mother asked shakily, looking to the father who could only stare blankly back.
"Aethra, Peter... your child has both genders, which means it's up to you what this child is,"
The argument lasted a week, both parents arguing for a different side as tensions only seemed to grow. The baby was blissfully unaware, having been left in the care of the medical staff while the two sorted things out. Peter wanted a strong, handsome boy who he could teach all the tricks he had learned from his pa. Aethra wanted an elegant, beautiful girl who she could show to be a proper lady and find just the right man. The relationship had been at the breaking point when the deadline passed, and they finally reached a compromise. The child would be raised as both genders, Peter teaching him how to be a boy while Aethra taught her how to be a girl.
Seven years later
"Daddy... is this necessary?" Fen asked exasperated as Peter handed him a wooden sword, grabbing one of his own. The couple had decided on the name Fen for the young child, although Peter often called him "Fern" while Aethra referred to him as "Felina". The child simply thought of themself as Fen though, and always felt weird when either of his parents called him one of the nicknames.
"Of course son, you need to learn how to defend yourself," Peter called over, walking a few paces off and taking a stance. His father wasn't an experienced fighter, but whenever they ate at the dinner he always seemed to have some story or tale of his adventures before he found mother. One of Fen's favorites was about his fight with a giant spider. He always sat enraptured as Peter stabbed his fork into the table like he was plunging a sword into some beast's skull - although mother never approved and scolded him every time.
Fen had been getting lessons with his father since he was five, and his stance was much more relaxed than his fathers, but also less experienced. The wooden sword felt heavy in his hand as he gave it a practice swing, a frown creasing his face. Peter had already altered his stance into a defensive one, watching his son intently. Then with a breath, Fen dashed, sword dangling loosely in his left hand as he ran towards his father.
The second he was close enough his grip tightened and he swung, but it was slow and easily blocked by the father with a sweep of his blade, nearly throwing it out of the young lad's hand. Then with a quick maneuver, Fen was flat on his back with an aching chest, clutching at it with a cry of pain. His - no, her now - her father had hit her developing chest squarely on the left side, and she could tell without looking it was bleeding, if only slightly. But that's all it took, that sudden shift in reality making he become a she seemed to tilt the child's entire personality as she immediately began crying.
"Oh for - Fern! Didn't I tell you to start binding those things!?" Peter screamed, angrily throwing his sword to the ground to stomp over and pull Fen to her feet, the poor girl still bawling like the child she was.
"B-but mama said if I do that it could hurt their development - "
"That's the point you stupid brat!" he was right in her face now and his voice was deafening, only making the tears fall faster. Then with the slam of the door, Aethra was there, face an angry storm as she practically rushed Peter with a kitchen knife. Fen, seeing the quickly approaching angry mother shifted back to being a boy and stopped crying, ducking out of his father's grasp and scrambling out of the way.
"You little - we were just practicing, put that damn knife down woman!" peter yelled at the still quickly approaching Aethra who was currently brandishing her knife.
"You awful brute of a man, what did you do to make my daughter cry!?" She screamed - although she did slow down at least a little upon seeing Fen's face. Fen was currently pulling at his shirt to take a look at his bruised breast, grimacing at the spot of blood near the top of the mound. Despite his young age do to the nature of their gender he knew much about his own body - both parts - and as such felt no discomfort with any part of his body - unless he was a girl.
Due to the nature of their upbringing, he had developed a type of multi-personality, a male and female side. Generally, the two were merged, and he acted much like any average male child with only some feminine qualities. If he had a high dose of stress though the two separated and the female personality came out, causing him to be much more sensitive and moody. Normally though Fen decided what they were, either he or she depending on their mood or just what they wanted to be.
As his parents once again started to fight - a sadly common occurrence when it came to him - he slowly slipped away, leaving his sword in the dirt to go and get a bandage from the bathroom. He didn't blame his father for the wound - it had been his own fault for getting hit, but he'd never been particularly good at avoiding his swings or landing his own. He hoped he would improve as he got older, although he also worried his red hair would cover his eyes when he was older which would make it harder to fight for a whole different reason. But that was enough thinking for now - right now, he just needed to get fixed up.
Later that day
The argument hadn't gone well and his parents were sitting at opposite ends of the table glaring at each other. Fen had been a girl for a little while and made dinner after patching himself up, and now sat wearily between the two eating the simple PB&J he had made for himself, the ones he made for his parents untouched. The family lived in the town Flortria, which was on the east edge of the continent Wortellin. It was a small town on the outskirts, but it was generally safe compared to most of the other towns and cities in Wortellin. The nearest danger zone was a good way off, which meant they lived in relative safety for the most part.
They also didn't have all that much in terms of resources though, hence the simple dinner. "Hey, guys... I'm fine really, it was just a scratch you really don't need to fight over - "
"You don't get it Felina, this man hurt you then scolding you for being a woman - " Fen flinched, both at the nickname and the telltale sign of another argument. Sure enough, his father's head shot up and began to raise his voice against his mother, who's voice rose to match his father's. Fen, feeling overwhelmed for the second time that day dropped his half-eaten sandwich on the table, slid under the table, and wept.
As time passed the gap between his parents only grew as the gap between their genders shortened and shortened. Before long Fen could be considered both a girl or boy depending on what they wanted, but that only made his parents angrier. He was too girly to be a man and too manly to be a girl. He sat in limbo, feeling as if one wrong step would trigger another fight or even another beating. Oh, of course, his mother never beat him, but Peter got away with all he could in their practice. Fen had already been mature for a seven-year-old, and by now he could be considered an adult despite only being 14.
Seven years later
Fen woke that morning to the sounds of screaming. Before he had even fully registered the sound he was out of bed and reaching for the metal sword his father had gifted him when he was 12, hand clasping the leather handle. Quickly running to the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes with one hand while the other swung open the front door. Smoke was heavy on the air, obscuring most of his vision as he surveyed the town, noting that about four of the ten homes that made up Flortria, but that wasn't his main goal.
His first hint as to what happened was the corpses - there were at least five scattered across the ground, all of them burning and mangled. Her heart leaped up into her throat as she saw the closest one's scorched face, barely recognizing it as their neighbor Ms. Norbert - her jaw was missing and her eyes were gone, and his mind immediately tried to think just what could leave wounds like that. He began to run as he thought, heading for the nearest scream, racking his brain as the grip on his sword tightened.
He came to the first house that wasn't on fire, and with a look, he had his answer - fiery men. The danger zone close to Flortria was still a good three hours off, and even then it was composed of twisted beings that absorbed whatever life they touched, often referred to as Se Tagane, or "absorbing men". This simply meant that this thing shouldn't be here - a creature made of fire, slightly small then an adult male with long claws that could easily char and scorch flesh while also able to set fire to homes. This one currently had its claws plunged deep into the base of the home, smoke already curling from the wood as a second one went into the house to look for survivors. Fen couldn't seem to move until he heard another piercing scream come from the house, jolting his body into action.
With a roar Fen quickly closed the distance and swung his blade in an arc impeccably aimed for the fiery man's neck, the blade whistling through the air before sinking deep into the thing's throat. The monster screeched as it pulled away, head seeming to loll to the side as fresh flame started to flicker from its neck like spurting blood, giving Fen a surprising sense of satisfaction. It didn't last long though as the normally fatal wound stitched itself back together with bands of flame that seemed to thrum with unnatural life. All he had done to it was tickle it - if he wanted to actually kill it he had to take it's head clean off.
He didn't have the time though - if he took any longer fighting this thing then whoever was inside the house would be killed, or even worse converted. So as quickly as Fen attacked he ran, sword held out in front of him as he charged into the house head snapping from side to side to look for the fiery man. It was there at the end of the hall, peering at something in what Fen could only guess was the bedroom before it started to head inside, sharp obsidian teeth glistening evilly in the light.
It took him a moment to redirect his momentum and keep him from crashing into the dining table and instead send him stumbling down the hall sword waving uselessly in front of him in an attempt to divert the thing's attention. Its head was already through the door though, and by the time Fen made it all he could do was watch as the mother's scream was cut short with a gurgle, the fiery man's clawed hands already deep into her jugular. The child, barely 6 years old pressed itself against the wall, trying to get as far away from the monster as it could as tears streamed from its eyes.
Fen recognized the young boy - his name was Fredrick, he had often entertained the small child with what little sword skill he had when he was younger, and later had thought of him as a little brother. With a new sense of fury Fen tore through the room, sword raised high before coming crashing down straight at the thing's neck, both hands on the hilt of the blade as it cut cleanly through its neck. It screeched as it died, the sound so loud one of Fen's ears started to bleed as Fredrick clutched at his ears with his small hands, eyes scrunched up in pain from the noise.
Then with a flicker of flame, it was gone, leaving only the mother's corpse - who he now remembered as one of his mother's friends named Janet - with her throat torn open and bloody, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Fen was panting, hands clutching the sword so tight that when he finally relaxed the grip his hands were white.
"Fredrick... you okay?" he managed to pant out, reaching out a bruised hand to the still crying boy.
"Y-yeah, thank you Fen, you s-saved me..." the young boy whimpered, starting to walk towards the offered hand with shaky steps.
"don't mention it we don't have time, we have to get out of - NO!" Fen's soothing voice, now like that of a woman's turned into a shriek as blazing arms plunged through the glass, shattering it and clutching at young Fredrick's face. Fen raised her sword but it was already too late - Fredrick's voiced filled the room with a scream that was a mix of panic and pain as his head caught fire in seconds, hair turning into wisps of smoke as the fire quickly enveloped the rest of his body. Then, after a few seconds, the sound stopped and the first fiery man withdrew its arms, leaving Fredrick to stand blankly in the middle of the room.
"F-Fredrick?" Fen, despair and panic making her voice heavy as she slowly pulled back her hand, clutching at her sword once again. The new fiery man's eyes were blank as it stared at her, head slowly tilting to the side as if asking a question. Then after a moment, it's lips spread wide to reveal a pair of newly blackened teeth, in the mockery of what once was an honest boy's smile. And it was all. Her. Fault.
Only Ten Minutes Later
They were all around him, the air choked with smoke as he began to cough, doing his best to keep his sword from shaking in his burned hands. It hadn't taken long for the fiery men to take down the remaining houses and decimate the remaining villagers, leaving only him. He had been too busy dealing with what had once been Fredrick then escaping the house before it burned down the house he had been in, the first fiery man having returned to its original task. Since then it had all been a blur of fire, smoke, and fighting. He had managed to take down five of them but they had managed to scratch him a couple of times, on getting his hand with the tip of its claw before it died leaving the back of his left hand a bloody mess, the heat scorching the flesh where it had been touched.
And now he stood alone, surrounded by at least ten of the things with no seeable escape. Their combined heat was making him sweat profusely, and his body felt exhausted from all the exertion he had experienced, his body still tired from its slumber only minutes ago. His sword had begun to blacken from all of the exposure to the heat as well, leaving him a tired, nearly defeated mess. As if aware of their approaching victory every fiery man there was smiling wide, slowly closing the circle around him as he spun, trying to hack at anything that got too close. He knew it was futile though - he knew he was dead.
But what was worse than his approaching death, the fatigued screaming of his limbs as he pushed himself farther than anybody ever should was the knowledge that he could have helped. If he had woken up sooner, if he had killed that first fiery man, if he had grabbed Fedrick - all the what-ifs circled in his head like vultures, picking at the corpse that he already knew he was. This would be no honorable death like his father spoke of, nor a noble death of a woman of high standing - it was the killing of a welp who couldn't do anything.
Then, with a scream that seemed to pierce the night sky his brain simply seemed to snap - the stress of death, the guilt of his town's murder, the mystery of why they were even here in the first place - breaking his mind into tiny, little pieces. At that moment his - no her, wait no their - body seemed to glow, every wound and scratch on his body suddenly seeming to pump out all the blood left in their body - leaving them a dried husk that walked, a puddle forming on the ground at their feet that started to bubble with foul energy, turning an ugly red like dried blood before creeping up their body and back into Fen's wounds, refilling him.
Every fiery man present took a step back at the spectacle, their bestial minds comprehending that something just changed - something dangerous had just come into existence. Fen's sword clattered to the ground, and after a moment they began to cackle madly, laughing so hard their body shook with the effort. Then after a minute they slowly raised their head, eyes locking onto two figures standing next to each other that Fen could somehow identify as their parents.
"Well then, I guess I'm a him for now, right?" Fen asked slowly, his smile only seeming to widen as his body went loose, hands opening before lurching forward, arms snapping with ferocious speed towards their necks before his hands clenched down onto their necks with unbelievable force. His hands immediately began to smoke as the flesh cooked from the contact, but rather than pull away he simply squeezed harder, laughing maniacally as his weight pushed them onto the ground, pinning them as his hands sizzled like cooking bacon.
Every fiery man present let out a roar and charged onto him, clawing and tearing at his flesh with their claws, tearing it off in chunks as he continued to squeeze harder and harder, smile only widening until his face hurt. Then, finally, with a disgusting crackle, the heads of his former parents popped off and rolled away, their bodies puffing away with a small burst of flame. The fiery men paused in seeming shock, hands still in his flesh as he slowly turned his head to look at them, smiling.
"That hurts, you fucks~"
One day later
Fen was whistling as he traveled along the road, bare feet padding wetly on the ground as he walked, the blood from his wounds giving him bloody footprints as he walked. His face was miraculously fine, happily staring up at the clouds while the rest of his body was a mess. One of his breasts was missing, leaving a bloody hole that exposed his somehow beating heart and skeleton while multiple other bloody holes riddled his body, but none of that slowed him down or even seemed to hurt. He just simply walked along, heading to where the danger area had been marked on his map.
Fen gave his body a stretch, then looking down at his left hand which was badly mangled and burnt, his middle two fingers missing after he had flipped off one of the fiery men before punching it's head clean off greeting him.
"I suppose I should be a girl for a little while, need to give both sides equal time to be..." he mumbled, then with a shake his eyes - now her - eyes seemed to change, becoming brighter in a cold way as she surveyed her body. "Now then, I need to find some way to fix this... a proper lady should not be missing one of her breasts, or have her heart that exposed," she said dismissively and began to pick up the pace, turning what had been a lazy walk into a slow jog instead.
Within a few hours, she reached her destination, gazing down at the pit which held all the se tagane disdainfully. They were ugly monstrosities, their bodies looking like water balloons filled with organs, bones, and other such things that were dragged along the ground by a pair of six arms near the front of the blob, a small bulge near the top resembling something that could have been a face. If that face had been smashed with a hammer, stung by a million bees then stabbed a few times for good measure. They were, to say the least, very unlady-like.
With a huffy sigh, she jumped down, approaching one of the sacks of flesh as it seemed to notice her, gurgling grotesquely before beginning to drag itself towards her at surprising speed. Any small green sprouts of life it passed over were absorbed into its body, leaving behind a barren patch of rock where there had once been life. In only moments it was on top of her, but she seemed to barely notice - letting out a yawn before plunging her left hand deep into the thing's side.
It seemed to pause as if expecting for her to get dragged in - but against its expectations it began to be dragged in, it's body shriveling like a raisin as it's own absorption factor was turned against it, seeming to repair her body as more of the flesh slushie was drained through the wounds in her hand. before long all that was left was a limp sack of skin, the worst part being it was still alive - arms weakly twitching as if trying to get away from the crazy woman who had basically just killed it.
She did the same thing to the remaining se tagane, body completely repaired as she let out a contented breath, as if she had just had a hearty meal. Then the air around her seemed to visibly snap as the broken remnants that had been her - no, their mind - for the past day repaired itself, leaving Fen whole - if not sane. For a moment he stood there, gazing blankly at the ground before he raised his head to the sky and barked out a laugh, feeling his body up and down.
"Ha! Incredible, I thought I was dead! Ha, ha ha ha ha..." the single laugh turned into many, and before long the laughter seemed to turn manic, Fen clutching at his sides as he laughed and laughed for minutes.
"I'm a personification of undeath! I can feel it in my bones, I can't die - I'm immortal!" his laughter suddenly caught off with a serious air, his - now her smile turning wicked. "Wait... if I'm immortal, doesn't that make me a god? I had heard that Hypnos was immortal and that's why he's considered a god, so doesn't that make me one too?"
His lips peeled back to reveal a wicked smile, eyes cast to the sky as he slowly raised a fist.
"If that's how it is, then fine world, I accept your challenge! I will become a king of men, no, a god! Nobody will oppose me, nobody!" then his smile turned cruel, and he could hear the crackling of his parent's heads popping off all over again. "And if they do oppose me... it's only my right as a god to kill them for it, right?"
"Maybe, if you were actually a god... that's what Greece did anyway," a cool, even voice said from behind him as he quickly turned around to face the voice, but all he saw was a figure cloaked in shadow, their figure seeming to constantly warp and twist from beneath the dark veil. The air behind them looked like it was ripped open, leaving a gaping wound in the fabric of reality that defied everything Fen had known - but now he knew better, he was a god now.
"Well isn't that rude of you, sneaking up on a lady when she's barely wearing anything," Fen sighed sadly, shaking her head while pulling a hand up to cover her chest while walking towards the figure. Then, with seemingly no warning her free hand swung forward towards the shadow, a smile stretching her lips. "Especially your future god-king! How disrespectfu -"
His words were cut off as the shadowy figure sidestepped the punch and suddenly seemed to appear in front of his face before it was covered with one of the figure's hands, squeezing hard and causing him to feel the first real pain since his transformation. He screamed, body going limp as it felt like his mind was tearing itself apart again, rearranging itself in a whole new way before his entire world seemed to simply blink out as he passed out.
"Are you sure that was a good plan?" Alastar approached from behind Jean, coming through his own shadowy tear in the world as he looked disapprovingly at the newly born personification.
"It's faster than trying to get them into therapy, if not nearly as healthy," Jean commented idly, casting a glance of her own at Fen. She had hoped it wouldn't turn out like this, but she had a feeling if this had gone on any longer then what he said really could have been true - they had so much potential that if it was brought up by an insane mind it could easily destroy the world, or make it's already bad situation worse.
"I still think that you should have just killed him, would have been less work and then we wouldn't have any possible problems," Alastar complained loudly, walking over to flick the knocked out Fen's forehead with his forefinger, glaring at the boy before walking back to Jean, shaking his head.
"They were a good kid for the most part despite their parents, they just broke too soon - all I did was set their mind back to before it broke, so he'll wake up remembering his village burning down but rather than fighting they escaped - it's genius, in my opinion," Jean huffed, turning her head as she began to set her destination back to her own home - wherever that was, exactly.
"Except for when they learn about what really happened - whatever, just know you'll be getting a lot of angry letters if this blows up in my face later," Alastar sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, the two departing to their separate homes, simply leaving the knocked out Fen in the pit, surrounded by the nearly dead abominations.
An hour later
"Hey, isn't this supposed to be the place?"
"That's what the map said anyway, but I'm not seeing anything... wait a minute, there's somebody in there!"
"Well don't just stand there get them out of there - my god, they killed everything in there... who are they?"
The figure's eyes slowly opened, the deep ruby color seeming to reflect the sky's light. "My... name is Fen, the personification of undeath - who are all of you?"
"We, are here to help,"
"I don't need your help, I can get up just fine..."
"we're not here to just help you... we're here to save the world, want to join us?"
"...I can't think of anything better to do, count me in - what is your name though, you haven't actually told me despite asking who I am"
"My name, is Emreila"
Author's Note
So this story will be tying into "A dreamless world", and after this will basically be "poisoned mixing pot" remake - that will hopefully have a more intriguing title. Any helpful criticism or ideas would be appreciated.
Alastar - Also try not to question the whole gender thing with Fen, I think if asked they would probably just identify with whatever they thought of first or just call themselves "gender fluid" - it's a story mechanic to give them more character and to act as conflict, don't think about it too hard. (This is not meant to offend anyone, and if it needs to be simplified think of Fen as a boy who occasionally thinks or calls himself a girl)