Side Story: Daniel's Reincarnation (Patreon)

This one is a bit off-tone compared to most of the story. It actually started life as an april fools chapter, to answer the question of 'how short would the story have been if Peter was born evil?' I modified it into Daniel's backstory, but there's nothing plot relevent in here that wasn't in chapter 81 or the interlude, so can be skipped if it's not your thing.

Life was unfair. It had always been unfair; from the moment I was born, I had to make do with my brother's cast-offs. Always given second-hand clothes and toys, there was hardly anything new, things that were specifically for me. It was worse growing up. He was always popular, in school, at home, at scouts. I never was. No-one would talk to me at school, the teachers hated me, and my parents would never congratulate me, only tell me off. It was always, 'why can't you behave as well as your brother?' If only he wasn't there, maybe they would stop comparing us...

He went off to university. They wouldn't even let me in, complaining about my grades. Always with the complaining; it wasn't my fault if our teachers were rubbish, and I couldn't learn anything from them. Even our local college didn't want me, but for once I didn't care. He had moved halfway across the country. Finally he was gone, and I was alone with my parents. Perhaps now they would finally praise me and stop comparing me to him? I even went and got myself a job, just to prove to them that I wasn't as useless as they kept saying I was.

It worked, for a while. They praised me for being employed, even though I was just running deliveries. But my employers just kept giving me more and more packages. Just how much did they expect me to do? It was stupid! One day, when I'd already been at it for hours and still had my car half full, the next delivery was addressed to a property right next to a river. If I just... got rid of a few, that's understandable, right? They shouldn't have given me so much work to do!

My employers found out, somehow. Even though it was obviously all their fault, they had the audacity to blame me and fire me. Well, screw them. I didn't want to work for such an exploitative corporation as that, anyway. But when I went home and complained to my parents, they took the corporation's side instead of mine! Well, if they were like that, then what was the point in working?

He finished university. He wasn't anything special, graduating in the middle of the pack at a middling university, and yet our parents wouldn't shut up about it. He'd landed some boring sounding desk job somewhere, and it was all, 'at least your brother is working.' Just shut up about it. I tried working. It was stupid!

My parents threatened to kick me out of the house if I didn't get a job, as if they couldn't afford to keep me here or something. They had more than enough money; why should I have to go and deal with unfair employers again? But just to show them that I could do it, I got myself a job in the nearby supermarket, and for a little while they were happy again. I could see they were just trying to antagonise me though; even though I got the job, they didn't ask me for rent, so that just proved they didn't need the money.

Then a stupid customer got irate at me, just because we were out of some product or other. How is that my fault? What exactly did he expect me to do about it? But just wouldn't shut up, and I was forced to punch him just to get some peace. And then he called the police on me, even though he started it, and my manager sided with him and told me to get out and never come back, and then the police sided with him, and locked me up in a cell, even though I wasn't even the one who started it! I swore, when I got out of there, I would make that customer pay.

They let me out with a caution the following day, but how was I supposed to find that customer? I stormed back home, and let myself in, only to find with disgust that my parents were on the phone to him. They should be helping me; I was the one who needed it right now, not him! And then I heard what they were talking about; they were congratulating him on a promotion.

I'd stood up for myself against a customer who was obviously wrong, and I got fired. Meanwhile, he got a promotion. What has he done? I hadn't heard anything; he's just been boring, keeping his head down and working. How the hell is that supposed to be fair!

It's always him. Maybe if he wasn't there, my parents would look at me instead. Congratulate and praise me. My hands clenched, and I stepped back out of the house. My parents hadn't even seen me, so engrossed were they with my brother. Everything was his fault. I could have been the one in university, if only he wasn't there. The one with a promotion. The one who everyone liked.

I climbed back into my car. I didn't want to be here with parents who were too focused on him to even notice me. I started driving. I had no idea where I was going, just that it was away. But then I had an idea. Maybe if he wasn't there, my parents would look at me instead. Maybe that could be arranged. I checked my fuel gauge, and I had enough. I had the knife in the glovebox, that I kept for protection, and smirked to myself as I turned towards my brother's home.

His car wasn't there and no lights were on. Perfect; the place was empty. I let myself in through a back window and waited for him to return, smiling as I thought of finally getting the attention I deserved. He turned up not too much later, and I hid in the shadows by the door, gripping my knife. He stepped through, and I lunged, but he spotted me and backed away with a gasp. When he saw the knife in my hand, he immediately turned and ran, screaming for help.

I chased after him; I wasn't going to let him ruin everything after getting this close. He ran down the street and out into the road, but the idiot didn't even check for traffic. I heard horns blare, followed by a smash, and by the time I caught up, he was lying unmoving on the tarmac, bleeding heavily. I saw him struggle to twist his head, and he looked up at me. I just smirked and turned away; the idiot had saved me the trouble of dirtying my own hands.

Finally, I was free of him. Finally, my life would improve. But I heard someone shouting, followed by a weight hitting my back, knocking me to the ground and the knife from my grasp. What the hell? Someone was sitting on me? "Get off!" I yelled.

"Just sit still until the police arrive," said someone. Why? I didn't do anything. He ran out into the road. I struggled, but it was useless; apparently everyone was ganging up on me.

Then the police arrived and arrested me for murder! I never touched him! And it was all his fault to begin with, anyway. Even with him gone, is everyone still going to pick on me?

However much I explained it wasn't my fault, however much I shouted and screamed, no-one would listen. They locked me up with criminals. As if I was one of them. For years I had to live with the thugs, and even my hateful parents refused to visit. Refused to even recognise me as their own son. Once I get out of here, I'll make them regret that. He's gone now. They have no more excuse. If they're still ignoring me, it's all on them.

Before that could happen, one of the thugs I shared the building with tried to steal my food, so I kicked him away. The idiot tried to fight back, so I punched and kicked and bit, but then he scored one good punch on my face, and the world went black.

"Xjev e cieavogam cecz cuz. Zuas peni ot Daniel."

What? My ears were still ringing from that punch, but that didn't sound like any sort of language I knew. Why can't I move properly? Why can't I see? My memories are all blurry, and why is the whole world rocking? Just how hard did that idiot punch me?

Wait, is someone carrying me? Is that why I'm rocking back and forth? What the hell? Who would do that to a grown man?

How could someone do that to a grown man?

Oh great, I'm dreaming that I'm a baby. Bloody awesome. Well, whatever. I'll just have to put up with this until I wake up.

Three months later, I still hadn't woken up. Was I stuck in a coma somewhere in the real world? This was stupid. These people kept nattering away in some incomprehensible gibberish, but for some reason I knew they were supposed to be my parents. Well, obviously I did now, given that they kept feeding and changing me, but I'd known it right from the start. I also knew that while they pretended to love me, they secretly preferred my older brother, who could also talk fluent gibberish along with them. I wasn't quite sure how I knew that, but it seemed obvious. This is a dream, after all, so it doesn't need to make sense.

Something that equally made no sense was this stupid house. It's tiny! We all sleep in one bedroom, for goodness' sake. There are no lightbulbs or heating, or even proper plumbing. Instead, everything is done with little crystals that glow or heat up or dribble water. As dreams go, it's not a particularly realistic one.

I needed to wake up, but how was I supposed to do it? I hated my brother so much that I wanted to kill him, so maybe that was it? This was like a game level, and I had to fulfil the mission requirements to escape? If this is a game, shouldn't I have a status screen of some sort?

Name: Daniel
Species: Human
Class: Commoner (Level 1)
Soul Points: 0
Health: 7/7
Stamina: 4/7
Mana: 13/13
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Endurance: 2
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Charisma: 4
Skills: None
Traits: [Abnormal Soul]
Titles: None

Woah... I really did! Suddenly, I felt a lot better about my situation. This might even be fun! It was time to plot a murder and win this game.

Being a baby was a big limitation. I felt that my best option was to use one of the heat generating crystals, but right now I couldn't even move freely. Was this game hard-mode or what? It took another three months before I could crawl properly, and even then my parents tried to keep them out of reach. Out of reach of a regular baby, that is.

Under constant watch during the day, I was forced to act at night. I waited until everyone else was sleeping, then quietly crawled out of our shared bedroom. I knew the cupboard they were stored in, and even though it took a while, I managed to stack up enough furniture to reach them. I returned holding a small, stone box. All I needed to do was take this to my brother's bed, and drop it into his open, snoring mouth.

I returned to the bedroom, doing my best to crawl silently despite dragging the box, and managed to reach my brother without anyone so much as twitching. Thankfully, the beds were just mattresses on the floor, rather than raised, or this would have been a lot harder. I reached for the box to open it and tip out the contents, and the world flashed white.

Huh? What happened? I hadn't cleared the level yet. Did I get taken to the next one already? I looked around to find myself in a white, circular room, with some sort of glowing orb set on a pedestal in the middle. What was I supposed to do this time? Last time my instincts were obvious, but this time there was nothing.

Nothing happened all day. Every few hours mushy food and water would appear from nowhere near the pedestal, but aside from that there was nothing. I needed a nappy change already! I must have completed the previous level too early. Was this one some sort of room escape? There was a large pair of doors, but they were closed tight and had no handle. There was a big golden plaque covered in squiggles, but nothing that seemed to have any meaning. Statues of fantasy monsters decorated the room, from spiders to leeches to wolves. Maybe there was a switch hidden among them? I searched for hours, but being a baby, I could barely reach them. Was I going to have to stay here until I grew up?

ding

There's that odd noise again. I'd heard it occasionally back in the first level, and thought it was a neighbour or something, but why is it here too? Does it have something to do with the game? Some sort of message notification?

Trait [Abnormal Soul] devolved to [Unusual Soul]

It was! Dammit, how many vital messages had I missed? I didn't even have any idea what this one meant. Why didn't this game come with instructions? Well, no matter. I'd just have to do the best I could with what I had.

Nothing happened after that for days. Beyond food and water, there was nothing. I'd had to use some of the water to clean myself, but there was enough. Thankfully, waste just disappeared somewhere into the floor, but even so, I really wasn't looking forward to living here for months or years until I grew enough to find whatever switch I was looking for.

ding

And what is it this time?

Trait lost: [Unusual Soul]

Something about traits again. I didn't even know what traits were. Is this some sort of game about souls?

A different noise started, the sound of a rustling forest. This was new. Was something finally happening? I looked around for the source, but found nothing. It continued for hours, and I hoped it wasn't going to be a new continuous thing. How was I supposed to sleep?

"No."

I looked around. A voice! And it had spoken proper English! Finally! Now if only I could talk back...

"Such a filthy soul. I cannot let you roam freely within my world."

What the hell? Who does this voice think it is? Is this supposed to be my next target? But it didn't speak again; instead I felt a debilitating pain as the whole world seemed to shift, and I realised with alarm that I was somehow looking at the back of my own head. The pain quickly went away, but now I couldn't feel anything. Did I lose somehow? Reach some sort of time limit? This isn't fair!

"Forget."