Viltrumite nursery, Room 10:
the cry of infants rang across the room, as two viltrumites clad in the their regular white and gray attire, with the symbol of viltrum on their chests. One male and one female
One particular baby seemed to take their attention. An infant boy lying perfectly still without making any noise. He seemed surreal, not at all seeming to care about the chaos around him.
Most infants would be quick to join in on
"This one seems promising. " The female caregiver said.
"That's what you said about the last batch. Not a single one lived to see their tenth year. "
The first viltrumite huffed at this but didn't offer a word of protest.
"They're all good. Load them up and take them to the academy."
__________
I woke up with a jolt, hands reaching around erratically.
'What? Where am I!? No wait... Who am i? ' I looked around frantically.
I couldn't remember who I was, what I was doing nor could I tell my location.
'Urgh my head, why does it... hurt? '
I I tried to get up or look around and quickly realized something.
I was a baby. My hands and legs were thin, with stubby fingers and toes, my skin appearing fragile and pinkish. I could just barely make all of this out with my blurry vision, and anything beyond a few steps from me was completely obscured.
I could make out, just barely, the rough and hoarse voice of a male.
"Designation: 10-32780N27, age: 4 days, gender: male. Take him in for evaluation. "
A few minutes after I heard those words, I heard the sound of some kind of door opening. A few minutes of silence passed before felt two hands lift me up from my bed(?) with surprising gentleness.
I could kind of make out the silhouette of a person, a woman it seemed. She brought me into her arms and looked closely at me, close enough for me to identify tanned skin and black hair tied into a bun behind her. Her eyes looked at me with a cold look, but I could make out a hint of warmth.
Just a hint.
And it vaished quickly, as if she was trying to hide it. Then she spoke.
"So this is my son. "
"Indeed."
"What is his designation? " My mother asked.
After a short pause. "10-32780N27."
My mother observed me for a little bit longer before nodding.
The other person who appeared to be some kind of doctor took me and fed me some kind of gel before putting me in machine. The device let out a blue light and slid over my body
"Vitals are all normal, seems to be holding out well. 11 lbs, good condition and good genetics. He's promising. "
I heard my mothers voice, filled with hope, ask the 'doctor' another question
"So... he passed? "
"He'll live. " The doctor replied
This caused me to miss a heartbeat. I realised what just happened.
'Were they about to kill me?! If I wasn't 'promising'? What the fuck kind of society is this!? '
After the evaluation, my mother pucked me up gently and carried me away.
I was still freaking out about what just happened when suddenly a feeling of weightlessness washed over me and I was quickly able to discern why.
'We're flying!! '
Without any kind of ship or gadget that I could see, my mother was flying!
I felt her hold me tightly to keep me from falling. I completely forgot about almost getting killed in the evaluation room, now simply relishing the feeling of flight.
We landed shortly after, and as I was still dazed from the experience, my mother leaned in a little.
Her expression was awkward, as if doing something she wasn't used to. But eventually she relented and slowly and carefully touched her forehead to mine.
"I will... see you soon. My... son. "
A little while after she said that, I heard the hissing of a door opening again and my mother passed me into the hands of another person.
'Well, that was weird. '
__________
(6 months later)
'This isn't good. '
Over a span of six months, I had gathered a plethora of information. From listening to the nannies taking care of us, and the parents that visit to see our progress.
I was not human. I was now a species known as a viltrumite.
Apparently later on, I would be able to awaken abilities like flight, super strength, and the likes, similar to my mother.
Naturally, I was extremely excited to hear this.
'I have super powers! I can fly around and punch really hard like Superman! Maybe I can even be a superhero! '
Unfortunately, I quickly came to realize that such a scenario was unlikely.
Apparently, the viltrum empire in which I resident of was a huge gathering of emotionless conquerors who believed in absolute superiority of the viltrumites over all beings in the universe and ran the biggest slave trade in the entire galaxy.
From the moment we entered the nursery, the viltrumite officers stationed as my nannies had been constantly speaking to us, probably to get us to start speaking as early as possible.
I would have thought this a good sentiment, if not for the fact that they were trying to brainwash us from a young age by talking only about the 'glory of the viltrum empire' and the need to 'purge all weakness and filth' from our society.
I crawled over to another baby who was trying to stand and pushed her over before walking away.
Viltrumites love bullies. In fact, they highly encourage bullying. Paired with the fact that I was the biggest baby here and also the first one to start crawling, they had started to pay special attention to me.
Hence, I had decided to routinely terrorize my fellow infants whenever I was bored.
'Sorry guys. You'll understand right? '
Suddenly, I was lifted of the ground by a pair of rough but gentle and familiar hands.
It was my mother, Vara.
It was not unusual for viltrumites to vist their offsprings to check on their progress and even give them some personal training so that they could grow to have as much of a head start as they could against others. These visits had nothing to do with parental love whatsoever. More like training a future underling or subordinate personally.
But something told me my mother wasn't like the other viltrumites.
The careful manner in which she held and carried me. The subtle warmth in her eyes. The times in which she took me out to a corner and whispered to me about how her day was. How she would gently brush my hair until I fell asleep. I could feel that she was emotionally attached to me.
Just as I had grown attached to her.
And from what I had hear, she's seemed to be an extremely high ranking warrior. All the surrounding viltrumites would usually freeze and salute her whenever she passed by most of the time.
As she flew through the air holding me, I absentmindedly reached out my hand and grabbed her hair. She didn't seem to mind at all, slowly reaching out to offer her finger, and I gently grasped it.
'Well, in an empire of emotionless murder hobos, at least one person is on my side
__________
(4 years later)
It was another normal day. Well, as normal as it could get on viltrum I had just got back from my combat class.
I was quite surprised to learn that viltrumites learned anything other than combat. Though they did find a way to incorporate combat into everything.
We started our education at the age of three, but our combat classes started the moment we learned to speak, which for me was around 11 months old.
The instructors kept a strict control of our diet and exercise. We were given a plethora of steroids, supplements and strange healing liquids to make sure that our infant bodies could handle the intense training that we were eing put through, and due the advanced technology of viltrumites, most steroids had almost no consequences or side effects.
These supplements were mostly just for us infants since they wouldn't really have any effect on on the ones who have gotten their powers.
A sigh escaped my lips as I wondered of the future.
'I both anticipate and dread the day I get my powers. '
Just then
"Hey N27! " A small voice called out.
I turned around to find an equally young girl walking towards with a nervous expression.
"Y-you bastard! Today, I'm gonna make pay for all the times you picked on me! Put your hands up! " She said while getting into a fighting stance.
'What was her name? Oh right, N32. I heard she's a year older than me. She's probably trying to get the instructors attention by beating me up. '
"...To bad you chose the wrong opponent. " I said with a grin.
I dashed towards her with my arm already shooting out with a quick jab.
She stood confidently, shifting her head and body so that the jab landed on her shoulder...
*BAM*
... which got instantly pulverized k