"Now, now, what should I do with you?" The snake's eyes glowed, and her tongue flicked as if with anticipation.
Fiona looked at the snake in terror, imagining its jaws opening wide as it swallowed her whole.
"Oh, no, it's nothing like that." The snake said, slightly wrapping its body around the infant. "I just want to…" her tongue flicked. "Get to know you." Her face was right next to Fiona's ear." Suddenly an explosion sounded behind them, only it was distant and distorted like the sound was travelling through some barrier. "Tsk." The snake turned back towards the house where the maids and attendant were still frozen in time. "How boorish, can't a lady and a baby just get to know eachother?" She looked back at Fiona. "Daddy's coming to get you. You must be very loved, or perhaps… it's just that stolen soul inside you?" She flicked her tongue suggestively as the explosions began increasing in frequency and strength. "Come find me if you want to expand those little horizons of yours. Of course," She turned back towards Fiona, her eyes subtly glowing purple. "I might find you first." She suddenly lunged at Fiona's leg and bit her ankle.
Before Fiona could react, pain shot through her nervous system, and she broke down in a torrent of tears and terror. By the time she began to recover she found her father stooping over her to lift her into her arms, looking concernedly at the two pinpricks of blood slowly falling down her leg.
"Search for the beast that did this!" He roared. "I want them found!" He turned towards one of his attendants. "Alfred, take over. She's been bitten by something, I'm running to Vaba to get her treated."
"Yes m'Lord," the attendant replied.
With a flash suddenly Fiona felt the wind rushing past her, the scenery around them blurring as her father ran like the wind with her in his arms.
"Gods, what did they do to you?" He murmured under his breath as he glanced down at the baby in his arms.
"What happened, is she alright?" Fiona's mother came scurrying into the parlor room where the magician doctor Vaba was crouched over her daughter.
"We're not sure just yet," the earl said, catching his wife in his arms so that the doctor could continue unimpeded. "She doesn't seem to be in a bad condition yet, but something's bitten her, so Vaba's going through all the tests now to be sure."
"How could this happen?" the lady pleaded. "weren't the maids with her? Didn't you have an attendant by her side? Avery, you promised nothing would happen to her. You said you had it all under control."
The earl sighed, wrapping his arms around his wife's head. "I'm sorry Ava, I thought I did too. It was a powerful magician, the likes of which I've never seen before. Thankfully they only took some blood. Maybe they want to use it against us at some point down the road." He spoke frankly, not concealing the hidden dangers.
"I just wanted one thing I could love, one thing I could hold onto." She sobbed. "Was that too much to ask?"
The earl said nothing, slowly moving his hand through her hair as he continued to hold her.
Dammmn. Fiona watched her parents as the doctor continued running various kinds of magic through her. What kind of f***ed up world did I end up in? 'One thing I could hold onto?' These guys are freaking nobles with dozens and dozens of servants, and they're acting like nothing's in their control? Just how freaking dangerous is this world? Magical talking snakes waltzing into highly protected gardens just to freeze time and bite me, all cuz, what? I transmigrated? What makes that even so special? I don't have any cheat powers! I'm a freaking baby! Wait… do I have cheat powers? I suppose since I'm a baby I wouldn't really know… But if this is the kind of treatment cheat powers gets me, I don't want them! Just let me be a baby in peace godammit!
The doctor sighed and stood up. "I'm done with the tests."
"What is it Vaba?" the earl turned to face him, his wife still in his arms.
"There's some kind of subtle blood curse alright. It's hard to tell exactly what the parameters are, but she doesn't seem to be in any imminent danger as of now."
"And in the future? Is it something that can be externally triggered?"
"As the perpetrator still likely has blood samples, I'd say that possibility can't be ruled out, but given the construct of the curse in her blood, it doesn't seem like something that could kill her very quickly, and the dangers should continue to lessen as she gets older."
The earl noticeably relaxed. "Then what does it do? Why put the curse on at all?"
"There's two major possibilities, one is that it enables telepathy, enabling the perpetrator to communicate with Fiona, though I couldn't be sure about the range as that's also something that can be extended with external effects. The other possibility is that it's a tracking spell."
"Gourmand!" The earl called to an attendant who was standing just outside the door.
"Yes m'Lord!"
"What do you think? Why would they go through all this trouble to put this kind of curse on my daughter?"
"Perhaps… they want to use her?"
Ava had broken from her husband's arms and came and picked up Fiona, blocking her view of the men in the room.
"Heyy," she intoned softly, rocking Fiona up and down. "It's going to be alright, Mommy and Daddy are going to take care of you." She wiped some remaining tears from her face as she smiled down at her child. "No matter what." She kissed Fiona on the forehead.
This…Fiona felt some warmth stirring in her chest as she looked up at the tear-stained face of her mother. Feels strange… She reached up her tiny hand to stroke her mother's.
"Ma…Mama" She forced out, the words difficult and sluggish in her mouth.
Everyone in the room suddenly turned to look at her.