Chapter 3：Price and Privilege

Icarus walked towards the light. He didn't know the exact amount of time he had spent walking, the darkness around him remained unchanging. It could have been an eternity or it could have been an instant. The light expanded to cover his entire view and he saw a white room. A man with white hair and purple eyes was sitting in the middle of it.

'Hello, Icarus, why don't you take a seat?' He gestured towards the chair opposite him. After Icarus was seated, the man began talking again. 'So, I believe that you want something, is that correct?' Icarus nodded. Despite his appearance being completely dirty with dishevelled hair and torn clothes, he managed to utter a single word. He would forget everything else, all his woes and worries. Everything he considered precious, was nothing to him, compared to this one word.

'Redemption.'

The man frowned when he heard this. 'That's quite a tough request you got there.' He stroked his chin. 'Frankly,' putting his hands together on his lap, he leaned forward and whispered, 'I can't grant your request.' Icarus felt something breaking inside of him. Everything he did, everything he wanted, was it for nothing? Was his quest doomed to be forever in vain?

'I can, however, offer you the chance to earn it.'

His head shot up when heard that, glaring at the man, who seemed unfazed by the intense gaze.

'Beware though, when you make a choice, you earn a privilege and have to pay a price.' The man leaned in close and whispered into Icarus' ears. 'As with every choice, this one too has a price and a privilege. The privilege will be great but if you don't follow through, the price will be your life.'

He leaned back on his chair as he smirked at Icarus, 'Now, will you accept.'

'Yes.' Icarus nodded without missing a beat. He didn't care if he had to pay with his life, as long as he had a chance, just a chance, at gaining redemption, he was willing to do it.

The purple-eyed man nodded, 'as expected.' He raised his hand and opened up his palm, a blinding white light shining on top of it, 'this is your privilege. It will aid you in your quest for redemption.' The light faded away to reveal a pure white pill sitting there. Icarus reached for it and picked it up. He stared at it for a bit before swallowing it up. 'I will remind you once again. By swallowing that pill, you will be encumbered with a destiny and a journey in which you could lose your life. So choose carefully.' Icarus didn't even flinch as he put the pill on his tongue and gulped it down.

The man didn't say anything at this. He just stared at Icarus. At first, nothing happened but soon, his vision started swirling and he started to feel light-headed. Icarus began feeling a numb, warm sensation spreading throughout his body. Darkness began to overtake his vision and soon everything became completely pitch black. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't feel anything, he couldn't hear anything and he couldn't smell anything. He was used to this, he had gone through this kind of experience before. He didn't know how long had passed but a thought appeared inside his head.

'Say status screen in your head' he didn't know where it came from, he just knew that the thought wasn't his. He didn't know what was happening or how the man was messing with his thoughts but in the end, he decided to humour him. 'Status screen.' A holographic screen popped up in front of him. He wasn't expecting it but then again, he wasn't expecting anything that had happened so far. There were words on it, only half of which made sense to him;

Name: Icarus Dragonsword

Age: Foetus (-6 months)

Constitution: 0.001

Power: 0.001

Agility: 0.001

Dexterity: 0.001

Vitality: 0.005

Intelligence: 0.1

It took him a good few minutes before he figured out the effects of the pill. 'Ohh! So I'm not in my previous body anymore. In fact, I'm not even in a body, I'm in a foetus!' He finally understood the reason behind feeling so strange. Currently, he was in a womb, he didn't know how he got here but he decided to just go with the flow. Thinking about the way he was going to spend the next six months, he heard a bell go off inside his mind. The words on the screen in front of him changed;

Daily Quest; He's kicking!

Kick.

Reward: +0.001 Power, +0.001 Constitution, +0.001 Agility

Penalty: Death

Time limit: 24:00 (1 day)

'What the hell?' Icarus was confusedly staring at the screen when the time limit started counting down. At the same time, he realised that this wasn't a joke and a panic spread over his chest.

'H-how am I supposed to move this thing?!' He tried to feel his body parts but it was to no avail. After two to three hours of trying, he decided that he needed a change of strategy. 'Okay, let's see, how do I kick? Maybe just put power into the body until something happens?' Icarus felt his strength so he decided to just use it up to agitate his body, 'something should come of it'. He took a deep breath, even though he was foetus so it wasn't actually possible to do so, and put all his strength into his body. As soon as he did so, an extreme amount of tiredness came over him and his consciousness began to fade. 'This foetal body is getting tired really quickly.' It made sense but it still wasn't helpful to prevent his impending doom. Just as his conciseness had completely faded away, the last thing he heard was a ringing sound going off inside his mind.

Icarus regained his consciousness and immediately panicked. He didn't know how long he had been out for but he had wasted precious time. This second chance was priceless and he didn't want to squander it due to a trivial reason such as not being able to kick. 'Status screen!' He brought up the status screen and noticed a change from last time;

Name: Icarus Dragonsword

Age: Foetus (-6 months)

Constitution: 0.002

Power: 0.002

Agility: 0.002

Dexterity: 0.001

Vitality: 0.005

Intelligence: 0.1

Completed Quests (1)

He didn't see the "Completed Quests" sections before so he decided to open it;

Daily Quest; He's kicking! (Complete)

Kick.

Reward: +0.001 Power, +0.001 Constitution, +0.001 Agility

Penalty: ——

Time limit: ——:——

'Yes! I was successful!' He sighed and found that his consciousness fading. 'I guess I need some more rest.' The status screen disappeared from in front of him and he went back to "sleep". He slept soundly until he was awoken by a ringing sound. He opened his eyes to find the same words in front;

Daily Quest; He's kicking!

Kick.

Reward: +0.001 Power, +0.001 Constitution, +0.001 Agility

Penalty: Death

Time limit: 24:00 (1 day)

'What?! I just did it!' He was befuddled at this repeat of the quest. That was until he realised the quest was called a "Daily Quest". He used the same method again with more success than before. 'I guess I figured out how I'm going to spend my time for the next six months.'

Sana Dragonsword was lounging on the front porch of her house, feeling the cool air blowing across the fields. Her eyes couldn't help but wonder over to the fields, seeing her husband working up a sweat. Sighing, her gaze was filled with a thousand different emotions, including those of love and concern. Her mind seemed to drift along with the summer wind, blowing through past memories until she was snapped out her thoughts by a popping inside her swollen belly. Sana giggled as she gently rubbed it, 'you've been kicking a lot lately little guy. Make sure you take care and not to hurt yourself in there.' She continued lounging on the porch, enjoying the bright afternoon sun.

It wasn't until the sun was going down did her husband finally come back, covered in dust. He helped her stand up and they began walking inside slowly. 'Did he kick?' Daedalus smiled at her and asked.

'The little rascal won't stop' she smiled back at him, although without the toothy grin. He laughed before becoming quiet. Sana could see that he was deep in thought from his frowning expression. She knew the matter weighing on her mind. 'Daedalus, why don't we let Artemis see her nephew? Lionel can make sure that they are not followed, I'm sure he could at least manage this.'

Daedalus shook his head, 'its not a question of whether he could. It's a question of whether he should. You know that Artemis is pregnant as well, the Helios family's elders and the Dragonsword emissaries will be watching her like hawks. It's too dangerous in such a situation to let her see us. Perhaps a few months after she has given birth.' Sana couldn't help but sigh at this. She wanted Artemis, who was like a real sister to her, to be present at the birth but the circumstances seemed against her wish. Keeping herself strong was the only option in this case since there was one person who wanted that to happen more than her, yet was bound by circumstances.

'You know, the baby's kicks have been getting stronger and stronger lately.' She whispered into his ears.

'Oh? How so?' Daedalus was surprised as well as happy.

'At first, it was quite gentle like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings but now its closer to a popcorn popping.'

'Hahaha! That's great! It means that it will be born strong and healthy child!'

Sana smiled at Daedalus. To her, nothing was more precious than seeing that goofy smile on his face.