Chapter 340: Babysitting the Void Baby
Krug leaned over the polished war table and stared at the infant. The newborn sat completely naked on the stone, swatting at a violet spark dancing between its tiny fingers. Pools of shifting cosmos swirled in the child’s eyes.
Kronos stood on the opposite side of the table with his arms crossed over his chest plate. He watched a tendril of void magic wrap around the baby’s wrist.
"It demands sustenance or a tribute." Kronos uncrossed his arms. "The wailing began five minutes ago and continues to escalate."
"I offered it nutrient paste from the bio-vats." Krug tapped a scaled finger against the table. "It rejected the alchemical slurry. The Sovereign expects this asset protected and cultivated for the Vanguard."
The infant let out a piercing shriek that rattled the weapon racks lining the armory walls. A miniature spatial rift tore open above the table to rain harmless white sparks onto the scattered maps.
Gulag reached to her belt and unhooked a leather sack. She tipped the bag over the table to dump a severed Aethelgard knight’s skull onto the parchment. The bleached bone clattered against the obsidian surface and rolled right into the baby’s lap.
"Give it a trophy." Gulag pointed at the skull. "A young warlord requires a symbol of conquest to quiet its mind. I claimed my first kill at age seven. This entity holds divine status and should start earlier."
The infant blinked its cosmic eyes at the skull. It grabbed the rusted visor with both hands and bit down on the metal. The steel bent under the newborn’s gums with a sharp snap.
Iron-Scale walked into the chamber and sheathed his daggers. "You confuse it with a dire-wolf. A god requires instruction on its purpose within the empire."
Krug nodded and pulled his greataxe from his back. He rested the massive weapon on the table right next to the child. The violet flame licking the edge of the blade reflected in the infant’s dark eyes.
Krug leaned his scaled face close to the newborn. "Listen to the law. The first tenet dictates growth. You must consume the weak to evolve. The second tenet commands unity under the Spiral."
The baby slapped its palm against the burning blade. The alchemical fire surged upward to engulf its arm. The infant giggled loudly as the void magic in its veins absorbed the violet flames without leaving a single burn mark on its skin.
Krug nodded with absolute seriousness. "It accepts the doctrine. I will requisition a custom set of star-iron armor and a training mace by nightfall."
Iron-Scale adjusted his daggers and inspected the teething infant. "The Sovereign wants it kept alive and secure. Arming a day-old anomaly with siege weapons creates a serious logistical hazard for the palace guards."
Gulag retrieved the dented skull from the baby and placed a polished dagger in its lap. "The guards will adapt or perish. We are raising the Vanguard’s ultimate weapon. It must learn to draw blood before it learns to walk."
Up in the sanctuary, Rubedo watched the live feed on his primary monitor. The infant cooed at the sharp dagger and grasped the hilt with tiny fingers. Glitch padded across the console to stare at the screen. The six-legged fox let out a high-pitched chirp.
Rubedo rested his chin on his knuckles. "The indoctrination proceeds exactly as planned. They will forge a perfect conqueror out of that child."
Meanwhile, Julia dragged her fingernails across the mortar between the stone blocks of her cell.
The skin around her cuticles peeled back to leave streaks of crimson on the gray wall. She pressed the side of her face against the iron bars blocking the single high window. The sounds of the Vanguard training yard echoed upward from the lower terraces of the Gildreath palace.
A high-pitched giggle drifted through the iron grate. The noise mixed with the booming laughter of Krax. Krax shouted praises as a series of sharp explosions rattled the courtyard pavement. The commanders were treating her newborn child like an entertaining weapon.
Julia squeezed her eyes shut and clamped both hands over her ears. She curled her knees against her chest and rocked back and forth on the stone floor.
The cheering from the courtyard pierced right through her fingers. Her baby belonged to the abyss now, surrounded by the commanders who had butchered her friends.
A while later, footsteps rang out in the corridor outside her cell. The rusted locking mechanism ground loudly before the thick oak door swung open.
Kronos stepped into the dim room wearing his star-iron armor. He held the infant awkwardly against his breastplate with one arm.
The baby swatted happily at the polished steel of the armor. Violet sparks danced across the child’s tiny fingertips. The newborn cooed and gnawed on a broken piece of an Aethelgard broadsword.
Julia scrambled backward until her spine hit the far wall. She stared at the shifting cosmos swirling inside her child’s eyes. The boy looked entirely human aside from the void replacing his irises.
Kronos stepped forward and extended his arms. "He requires sustenance. The alchemical vats provide nutrient paste for the soldiers. Lord Rubedo insists the child consumes natural milk for the first developmental stage."
Julia stared at the baby suspended in Kronos’s grip. She kept her arms wrapped tightly around her own shins. The infant dropped the piece of broken steel and reached its tiny, glowing hands toward her face.
Julia squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head toward the stone wall. "Get him away from me. He is a monster. You turned him into a freak."
Kronos lowered his arms slightly and looked down at the infant chewing on its own glowing fingers. "Rubedo claims the boy. You are simply the incubator. Refusing to feed the child terminates your utility to the Spiral."
Julia looked back at Kronos and stared at the deep scar running across his jawline. "Then kill me. Just snap my neck and get it over with. I have absolutely nothing left for you to take."
Kronos closed the distance and dropped to one knee. He forcefully pressed the infant into her chest. Julia gasped and instinctively brought her arms up to support the child’s weight. The baby rooted against her torn tunic and let out an impatient whine.
Kronos stood up and looked down at Julia. "You will feed him. Rubedo wants him strong. When he finishes nursing, I will return him to the courtyard."
Kronos turned his back and walked out of the cell. The oak door slammed shut to plunge the room back into shadows. Julia looked down at the cosmic void swirling in her son’s eyes.
She pulled the child closer to her chest and wept openly into the dark.