As he took his last breath, Pond felt himself getting detached from his physical body. He floated and slowly ascended. Checking himself, he was sure that he was dead as his body was somehow translucent. When he looked around him, he saw both Pete and Ae crying over his cold dead body that was lying on the ground.

Pond wanted to move to try to get back to his body. He wanted to know whether he could still go back and live. If that would happen, then he would surely scare both Ae and Pete. Unfortunately, when he tried moving back to his body, he could not do it. He continued to float in the air.

"That's too bad," he whispered to himself with bitterness.

Soon, his spiritual body slowly disappeared. Thinking that it was the end for him this time for sure, he closed his eyes.

When he thought that everything for him ended, he would then hear sudden noises around him.

"Don't ever go near her. She's a traitor."

"What is she doing here? Isn't she supposedly banished by the Beast God Emperor?"

Pond finally opened his eyes. He found himself standing amongst the crowd of people. He looked around and he became stunned. He was back in the Beast Gods' Dimension. Why was he here?

As he further examined his surroundings, he seemed to see other beast gods and other normal beast residents. What was happening? The beast gods were supposed to be gone? They were supposed to have left the dimension a long time ago.

As the row of people continued to show their contempt on a supposedly considered a traitor that was walking in the middle of the unpaved street, the baby that was held by its mother started crying.

"Shh...shh... It's okay, little Pond. You'll be okay," the mother of the baby who was covered in dirt and ragged clothes said with a cheerful weak smile. Her once great strong reputation and beauty were nothing more but part of her past. She was unbothered by the hateful comments of the crowd.

Pond's eyes widened at the sudden realization. It seemed that he was back in the past. The baby must be him and that the person who held him was his mother.

He never knew or saw his parents since he became an orphan at such a young age.

Knowing that it was his mother, there was a mixture of feelings within him. Yet, overall he was somehow happy to see her. Although he was not quite sure why he was back in the past, with the current situation, he wanted to go and help his mother.

Unfortunately, even though he seemed to have a physical body, he was like a ghost. No one could see him nor hear him. Pond could not touch anyone nor communicate with anyone. He was dead after all.

Not being able to do anything to help his mother, Pond felt pained. Although he was unsure why she was treated this way, no one would like to see their parents suffer.

The residents began calling her names and threw things such as stones at her.

"Traitor! Go away!"

"You don't belong here!"

"How dare you still show your face here!"

Pond, although it was unreasonable, tried to shield her mother from the things that were being thrown to her. Sadly, it did not work.

When a stone hit his mother's head, she started bleeding. She seemed unaffected by it. It did not let it bother her, although the safety of her son concerned her.

As the atmosphere became more tense and violent, the traitor started to run towards the Beast God Emperor's palace. Pond followed her with a heavy heart.

After successfully arriving in front of the palace gates, she was prevented from entering the gates by the palace guards. It was a place that was once her home. Now it was the place she detested the most. The person who betrayed her family currently reigns the entire land.

"I would like to have an audience with the Beast God Emperor," she said in an exhausted manner.

The two guards standing in front of the palace gate scoffed. "The Beast God Emperor wouldn't want to see you, traitor. You should already be grateful that he let you live. You even brought your child here. Don't you feel bad already?" one of the guards said.

Pond's mother still insisted as she looked at her baby. "Please, I would like to see the emperor."

"I already told you, the Beast God Emperor wouldn't want to see you woman!" the guard shouted at her. He pushed her to the ground due to irritation.

Pond, who was standing right next to her mother, was angered. He punched the guard in the face, but he was only hitting air.

"Is that how you treat a defenseless woman?" A man with an ancient scholarly white robe asked in disdain to the guards.

The guards became nervous all of a sudden. "Th-that is..."

"Enough," he said as he approached Pond's mother.

When Pond's mother looked up, she saw that it was the emperor's advisor. He was a good friend of hers.

"I'll let the emperor know that you're here, Athena," the advisor said as he helped her get up.

"Thank you," she said with a trembling smile. To meet her childhood friend in this state, it was somehow humiliating. This was not the life she wanted for her family.

Hearing her mother's name, Pond cracked a bitter smile. He finally knew his mother's name.

"Athena... Athena... Mother...," he whispered in front of her mother. Tears were starting to form in his eyes as he was seeing his mother's unfortunate state.

Athena waited for a few hours until finally, she was permitted to enter the palace and meet the emperor. As she crossed different paths, everyone would throw malicious comments about her. She did not let them bother her. She was used to it at this point.

When she entered the palace's main hall where the emperor was currently in, she could not help it but feel resentful. This was rightfully her husband's palace. If it were not for her son's curse, they would not agree on giving up their claim to the throne. Although she thought that everything would be fine afterward, for some absurd reason, they were accused as traitors. Her husband was sentenced to death while she was banished from the palace. She was never to return. She wondered what went wrong? They just wanted to live in peace, but they ended up in this horrible situation.

"State your business," the Beast God Emperor said indifferently. There was no one in the main hall aside from the emperor.

It all made sense to her now. She was betrayed by him. The beast god who she thought was going to help remove the curse from her son was the one who created this situation on her family. Yet, what can she do now? She could only beg to this emperor and hope that he would help them.

"You already have the throne. Now, it's your turn to fulfill your side of the bargain," Athena said firmly.

"I did promise that I would remove the curse on your son... but I changed my mind," the Beast God Emperor said with coldness.

"What? What do you mean, you changed your mind?" Athena became infuriated as she expressed the grievances that she suffered trying to fulfill her side of the bargain.

"You promised! Without us, you wouldn't be sitting on that throne! We suffered enough! My husband is dead. I'm banished from my own home because of lies. Y-you promised that you'd help us!"

"Mind your tone. And what can you do? Hmm?" the emperor slyly smiled. "I could have you killed right now if I wanted to. In any case, the curse of your child is quite formidable. I don't want to risk my life for some child."

Athena looked fiercely into the emperor's eyes. "Why would you do this? We've been nothing but good to you! We trusted you! How could you treat us this way?" Athena's lips trembled from her hatred and feeling of defeat.

"You should've known what kind of person you're dealing with. That was your fault for trusting me. Now, as you can see, I'm the emperor! Hahaha!"

After a few moments, the emperor calmed down. "I've had enough of this. I'll let you live and your cursed child. Killing you would be rather an easy way out for both of you. So, it would be better to let you suffer. I wonder with all these things that happened to you, what would you do?"

With a chilling smile, he shouted, "Guards, throw them away! Don't ever let them near the palace grounds!"

Athena was dragged away while she carried her child firmly with her arms while the emperor's laugh echoed throughout the hall.

"You'll pay for what you did! I swear you'll pay!" she shouted endlessly until her voice became hoarse.

Pond now knew part of the truth of what happened to his parents. He was part of the royal family and they were betrayed by the emperor.

At that moment, everything disappeared. He was then transferred to another point in the past.

Currently, he was in a small dilapidated home in an unknown place. In the only one room of the house, the baby version of himself was crying. He was much thinner compared to before. As for his mother, she seemed to have changed for the worse. It was as if she had turned crazy as she was murmuring to herself.

"Those beast gods...will pay...especially the emperor. If you want this land then die with it," she whispered. Her appearance became much more horrible. She was much thinner and her appearance was unkempt. On the floor, there was a mysterious symbol that surrounded her. It was drawn with blood. Her own blood.

She started chanting. "All beast gods will be cursed! The unfair fate that my son befell to, shall be also the fate of the beast gods in this land!"

Soon a black cloud of smoke appeared from the mysterious symbol on the floor then dispersed in different directions. After that, Athena fell. She was never to get up. And so, her baby was left by himself.

Thankfully, an accidental passerby came. It was an elderly beast in a turtle form. Despite being a turtle, she could proudly say that she was one of the fastest in the land. At first, she wanted to see if there were any treasure inside that she could steal, but by the looks of it, there was nothing to steal inside. It was a small home that was poorly made by wooden materials found nearby in this secluded forest.

Just to make sure, she went to check inside. As soon as she entered, she stumbled upon a dead woman on the floor with her blood flowing still. She freaked out and wanted to leave, but then she heard the cry of a baby. The elderly beast quickly went to the baby's side and took him. She then looked around to see if there was anyone else at home. She realized that it seemed that it was only the dead mother. Before leaving she checked if there were any other valuables worth taking. There was none.

She left before anyone could see her and accuse her of murder. As she examined the baby wrapped in a cloth, she asked, "I wonder what your name is?"

She checked the cloth and saw that there was a sewn name on it.

"Pond."

"Well, I'll be your parent for now. Although, I'm too old to be one already," she told the baby as she sighed. For a baby to already experience hardships was quite cruel.

Of course, as Pond was cursed with misfortune, the elderly beast would not live that long. Pond would grow up alone and would become infamous for being evil. As for the curse brought to the beast gods by Athena, it became known to them. They figured out later that it was her who cursed them. To save themselves from the curse, the beast gods have decided to leave the Beast Gods' Dimension for good. Athena's curse was only empowered in the dimension. Although it was hard for the beast gods to leave, they had no choice, and so they left. The only beast god who remained was Pond as he was imprisoned underground. No one knew his relationship with Athena, but if the other beast gods knew, they would certainly find it funny on how fate played with them. In the end, the one who continued to suffer was Athena's son.

That was Pond's story. A life full of misfortune and tragedy.

Pond was somehow speechless. Why was life unfair to him?

As he was contemplating and grieving, his surroundings turned dark. A voice echoed throughout the emptiness.

"Would you like to have a chance of rebirth?"

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Got sick last week so I was unable to update. Anyways, if you have time, please check my work by visiting profile. Bye!