As a baby with past memories, the intake of brand new experiences as I entered this world began to slowly dwindle as I lay comfortably within my mother's arms, feeling the warmth of her skin. Then, suddenly, an intense feeling of hunger took me. My mother's unwillingness to separate from me seemed to have dulled her senses that newborns need to eat quickly after birth.
I needed her attention.
I felt a deep unwillingness to follow my quickly formulated plan, as a deep sense of pride kept me from crying to gain her attention. If there was one thing left I could still control, It was my emotions.
Ugh, is this how I die? Less than 20 minutes past my birth? How humiliating…
Just as I was about to give in, a pair of dignified footsteps seemed to ring closer to the bed. “Mistress, I believe Tene is hungry for food, as most newborns are” The mature older woman in the black robe decorated with strange patterns stepped in above me and gave me an inquisitive look in her hazel brown eyes.
“To not cry out even in intense hunger, we might have quite the intelligent child here—a far fetch from the young master who cried and wailed seconds after birth. Even while being fed, he still wouldn't stop crying,” she uttered in a matter-of-fact way. As I reached out to suckle on my mother's pale, modest bust, I heard a soft giggling from my mother as I began to drink from her breast.
“Please, go ahead and tell the world, Lisette,” My father replied with embarrassment clearly hidden in his voice.
Even though this older woman seemed to work under my father, it appeared she had my father's Trust. “Oh, relax, young master, until a male heir is produced, this child might one day lead the Renhart family and take up your legacy. Until then, I will guide and protect her to my utmost ability with my life.”
She bowed slightly towards my father and looked at me with a deep, bottomless gaze. “And you, little one, quite the prideful one, aren't you?” I couldn't help but momentarily stop suckling on my mother's breast. Although a child not crying could be for a multitude of reasons, she had pinpointed mine. But was it a simple guess, or perhaps something more?
My father let out a slight snicker, perhaps taking it as a small opportunity at revenge for his earlier embarrassment. “Talking to children now, are we, Lisette?”
“Well, I already do so daily, young master,” she replied, looking at my father with slight playfulness.
My Mothers breasts began to vibrate slightly as it appeared she was attempting to hold in her laughter. I expected my father to lose his temper or perhaps revel in complete shame. However, instead, he took it in stride. “Well, it looks like you have your work cut out for you. It appears my castle has become quite the playground.”
I couldn't help but slightly respect my father for his composure because I knew I certainly wouldn't take such mockery, even though I had lived far longer. It was also feasible that everyone in this room already knew he had such a character, allowing for such banter.
This scene was probably common as my mother's attention shifted toward the maid standing in the back. “Lita, why don't you come down here and hold Tene too,” she said, looking at Lita with a tender, encouraging gaze.
“Young mistress, I wouldn't dare. After everything your family has done for me,” Lita's cold voice replied respectfully, breaking slightly towards the end.
“No, Lita, Our Family'' for the first time since our encounter, my mother's voice was hard and held traces of reprimand, strikingly contrasting her usual flowery tone.
“I've said this many times before, Lita, you are one of our own now, and Rena is to be seen as your little sister. Is this understood?“ Lita’s cold demeanor seemed to shake slightly as her eyes lost focus for a second.
“My wife is right. You became a part of our family as soon as I took you in, Lita,” My father chimed in, a soft smile appearing across his face.
Lita’s gaze seemed to cloud as her cold exterior tried to hold up her usual cold front. Then, after a brief hesitation, she dashed across the spacious room with swift movements and nearly grabbed me from my mother's arms before containing herself.
At this moment in time I had had quite my fill and had begun to become drowsy, my eyes struggling to stay afloat against my will. Finally, I felt myself being gently passed over into Lita's arms.
Just before Sleep took me, an extremely odd scene took place before me. “Awwwww, so cuuuute,” her cold exterior completely cracked, no, broken down. She looked at me with tender eyes as her mouth opened into a broad smile, and her face beamed joyfully.
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Wow, what a transformation, I thought to myself, as I finally allowed sleep to take me fully.
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When I finally regained consciousness, a familiar scene appeared before me, darkness.
Similar empty darkness to the one I had seen for countless years, The feeling of my recently acquired mortal body missing.
…did the goddess return on her word and trap my soul in its former prison? I thought to myself.
As a feeling of dread slowly crept up on me, a familiar lazy voice rang within the empty void.
“Hi there, if you're hearing this, then you have successfully incarnated into the body of a mortal, hopefully within a world of my sister's domain” The voice that rang out was clearly that of the goddess that had brought me here. The voice seemed to lack awareness, as if she had spoken in preparation and delivered it here.
“As you have probably already guessed, this is a pre-recorded message. I chose this method for two primary reasons. The first being that I would prefer if my sister did not notice my presence, and the second being….” It was relatively obvious what the second reason was. I had yet to hear another of her Appalling pauses within her speech patterns.
“I can splice my messages together as if I spoke it all in one go” I was slightly grateful she chose such a method to deliver the incoming message. After all, I didn't want to spend a second longer anywhere that reminded me of there.
“To start off, I will begin by telling you what I would like you to accomplish in the world I sent you to” Now this, I would like to hear.
“I want you to fully regain the power that you once had” Power? As her tired voice continued on, I couldn't help but focus on this point. Had I been powerful in the past? If I had, then in what way? Most importantly, what did a god have to gain in someone like me gaining power? Even though I was supposed to have fewer questions, they instead kept piling up.
Deep inside me, though, I knew Power was a key to the goal I sought.
“You currently don't need to know my motives. I will, however, inform you that once you regain your past power, you will become substantially useful to even a god. Hopefully, that clears a couple of things up” No, no, it doesn't.
“Now, common knowledge Within most planets is that Knowledge is power. For example, if a person spent his entire life crafting up a skill and incarnated into a different person with his memories intact, depending on the skill. In that case, it should incarnate alongside him or at least become far easier to learn” Although I couldn't pinpoint a memory to confirm this, I felt that what she said made sense. After all, my time living in a limbo state made the birthing process much easier for my mother.
“Although most planets have separate types of systems in place, This still holds for a person incarnating between them. So basically, memories gained will take form in some way, differently depending on the planet” I was beginning to get where she was coming at. Basically, my regaining my memories would correlate to me gaining some kind of power, even in this new world.
“I'm sure it won't be long before you figure out why I picked this world in a domain outside my control. As a hint, let's just say it will help you regain your memories at a much faster pace” Could the attainment of my power from my memories have a much more substantial effect in this world?
“Now, there is one more rather significant clue I would like to inform you of before I leave you with a small gift” For this divine being to use the word significant, especially with her particular attitude of taking very little seriously, my alertness meter shot up.
“There are two types of gods, Tene. Gods who are born and gods who are made.”
Huh? That was all. No additional words to her supposedly significant statement were added further. The recording also seemed to stop, as if she wanted me to contemplate deeper on the subject.
Wait, could she be perhaps inferring that me to become a god? Could that be why she chose this planet as well? Did it have some secret to creating beings of her scale? If so…
A feeling of intense pleasure, no, contentment filled me, as if this was the direction my soul ought to take, as if this god's wishes were also in alignment with my own. Me? Become a god? A being that can capture stars and dominate planets, A being with infinite power. I wanted this. No, some part of me knew this was a crucial step toward my goal.
Although I couldn't understand the mechanisms of this recording, it seemed to resonate that I had come to an interpretation and conclusion on the vague hint it gave me.
“Whatever decision you have made, know I will not fault you. You may live your life however you please.” I couldn't help but feel she knew this would be my final decision. She either entailed this from our short meeting or knew this beforehand.
“As to why I simply don't just return your memories. It's because I can't. This should give you an idea of the power of the being that imprisoned you” Her sleepy tone seemed to shift slightly from this sentence, practically unnoticeable to a casual observer. The only word I could use to describe it was a slight chill, or apprehension, like whatever did this to me was truly fearful, even to someone like her.
“Stay cautious, Tene. Although I freed your soul, his mark will remain until you fully regain your memories” Then, as if to leave the dreary topic, the chill within her voice seemed to dissipate, returning to its old, relaxed nature.
“Now for the gifts. You should have already seen the first. You didn't think you could just understand people straight after birth, did you?” No, I already had an idea this was her doing. I also subconsciously knew I didn't really understand the language, and I currently wouldn't be able to speak it.
Hearing my family speak earlier was directly the same as listening to the goddess right now. More like understanding their intentions to the simplest details rather than what they were actually saying.
I knew if they couldn't do the same thing back as the goddess could. Then, they wouldn't be capable of understanding me.
“You can see this as something similar to a universal language comprehension as you can read the soul's intentions similarly to how gods do. It should also greatly increase your ability to learn any language” This gift did feel extremely useful in this unknown world. However, why do I feel she didn't share this skill with me?
“The final gift is to unlock your first memory fragment fully. I had to wait until you had a physical body to accomplish this. Sadly, this is the only one I can assist you with at your current strength. Some fragments are beyond my reach, locked behind extremely complex smoke and mirrors.” I couldn't help but feel a primal excitement as if one of many doors were about to open up for me. My elation and eagerness clouded my thoughts as I overlooked the severity of her voice.
“A word of warning before we hopefully meet again, Tene. Try to avoid the eyes of my sister. In your world, she goes by Eldara. She is a kind, just god. However, the state of your soul very much makes you comparable to an evil being” Quite the warning there. I certainly don't need enemies at the level of gods– just yet.
“I wish you a safe journey, no matter what kind of life you choose to live. May we meet again, Tene.” As her voice slowly faded away, indicating the end of the recording, I felt my consciousness begin to rise from the darkness.