I was enveloped by darkness. Not the typical dark of the night. No, this was total, all-encompassing darkness, and I could not see or hear anything.

'What's happening? Why is it so dark here?' I thought dazedly. My thoughts reached out into the emptiness that enveloped me.

The loud hum from before had been replaced by deafening silence. I can't tell how long I was in this weird space, as I had no concept of time.

Suddenly, darkness was dispelled by light, and I was momentarily blinded.

Through my blurred vision, I could make out the outline of an unknown room. Strange faces lean over me, speaking in a language I don't understand.

'What's happening?' I thought again as I tried to move my body, but for some reason, I could not.

Then I was lifted off the ground by someone's hands.

'How can they lift me so easily?' I thought briefly before looking down and seeing my own body for the first time. It took me a while to realize I was looking at a newborn's body.

'What the hell?'

'Did I... Die?'

That was my last thought before I succumbed to the peaceful embrace of sleep...

The next few months passed in a blur. All I did was eat and sleep, as all babies do. Slowly, I came to accept the fact that I had been reborn.

As time passed, my memories started to slowly return to me, and I eventually remembered the events of that fateful day that changed everything.

My name there was Michael Jansen, and I was a regular IT student at the university. I didn't have any big aspirations in life, so I spent most of my days playing PC games with friends and reading novels.

I was quite smart, so I passed all my exams with high grades despite my somewhat laid-back approach. However, this peaceful routine abruptly ended on that fateful day.

The day I died...

***

I stepped off the train, bidding farewell to my pal, Mike, after one of our gaming nights.

With a heavy sigh, remembering the assignment I had to write for one of my classes, I walked from the train station back to my apartment.

The early morning air was crisp, carrying a hint of rain as if the heavens themselves mourned my departure.

Streetlights cast long shadows across the asphalt road. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice the approaching headlights until they were almost upon me.

The blinding beam seared into my eyes, momentarily blinding me to the imminent danger hurtling towards me.

My heart leaped into my throat as I heard the honk of a horn and a scream clawing its way up my chest. However, it was too late.

'This is it,' I thought briefly before the impact.

Time slowed down as the truck appeared before me, a monstrous behemoth roaring with malicious intent.

The world around me turned into a blur of chaos and despair for a fleeting moment before darkness consumed me.

'Hit by a truck, what a stupid way to die,' were my final thoughts before I lost consciousness.

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***

Although I couldn't understand the local language, I caught one word my new mother repeated over and over: "Darian." 'That is probably my new name...'

I was also bothered by the fact that I had memories of my previous life. 'How is that possible?' I often wondered as I lay in my crib, but I decided not to dwell on it too much since I couldn't explain it.

Another few months passed, and I started to explore the environment around me. From what I've figured out so far, it's unlikely that I'm on Earth anymore.

'Unless I somehow returned a few hundred years back in time,' I thought bitterly. Both the clothing my family wore and the house itself looked like something straight out of medieval times.

However, the greatest shock for me so far came when the local priest came to our house. From my feeble observation, I presume that this was some kind of ceremony to deliver blessings at the beginning of spring for a good harvest.

The priest said a prayer, and at the end, he stretched out his arm, and his ring started glowing. A soft yellow radiance slowly spread outward, encompassing the whole room, and I watched it in awe with my mouth open.

'I live in a fantasy world!' I realized that this was undoubtedly some sort of magic.

My love of gaming immediately kicked in. I wondered what kinds of adventures I could have here and if I could use magic too...

But that would, of course, have to wait until I grew up and could walk on my own...

***

"Here you go, Darian." My new mother, Varya, smiled at me tenderly as she handed me a small wooden toy.

I looked at it, and it was a simple, crude figurine carved out of a single piece of wood. 'Hmm, I'd rather have that magical ring the priest has, to be honest, but oh well,' I thought dejectedly. However, I still smiled brightly at my mother and pretended I liked it.

She smiled back while caressing me before placing me back in my crib. Today was my first birthday in this world. At least that's what I think since, aside from the toy I got, the village priest came again to perform some kind of blessing on me.

I already started to understand some words of the local language and figured out that I live in a small, nameless village at the edge of the "Wild Lands," although I still don't know what that means.

My father's name is Gorn, and he works as a village blacksmith. That means our family enjoys a better life than the other villagers, who have to toil all day in the fields.

However, we are still very poor by the standards of this world, and we don't have much money.

I also have three siblings. There are two older brothers, Rolf and Konrad, and a sister, Helga. However, they spend most of their time playing outside in the village, so I don't see them often, only at dinner.

'Ah, I can't wait to be able to walk so that I can go outside too…'

***

Being a baby with an adult mind is a very boring existence… One day, when I was bored out of my mind lying in my crib all day, I thought to myself, 'Since I have nothing better to do, what if I try casting magic?'

Being a mage was always my favorite class in any game I played, but I have no idea if it will be possible at all since I've never seen either my parents or siblings cast any magic.

Besides, there isn't any convenient character screen with skills like in the RPG games I used to play...

'Let's just try to imagine casting some spells in my mind and seeing what happens...'

I then immediately started to conjure images of various types of spells I remembered from my favorite games, like "fireball" and "ice spear."

In my fervor, I completely forgot that I was inside a house and that casting such spells would be a very bad idea.

Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, for me, nothing seems to be happening. 'Hmm, this doesn't seem to lead anywhere... How could I figure out if I can cast magic at all?'

Meanwhile, my mother was looking concernedly at me from the kitchen when she saw me squirming in my bed.

However, I was too engrossed in my endeavor to pay it any attention. After a few hours of futile effort, I decided to change my approach and try meditating to see if I could feel any kind of magic at all.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening. However, after a while, I noticed a faint warm feeling inside me that was different from anything I ever felt back on Earth.

When I focused my mind on it, it pulsed a little bit. 'This is it!' I thought while smiling happily.

'But how would you cast spells with it?' That was still a complete mystery to me.

For the next few days, I focused on that weird feeling, and it seemed to move a little bit inside my body. I then named this feeling "Mana," since I had no better words for it.

While I was happy to make any kind of progress at all, it was also accompanied by severe headaches every time I focused on it for a while.

After about a week had passed, the headaches seemed to subside a little, and I could focus on feeling the mana a bit longer than before.

I then decided to try something different. While I focused on my mana, I tried to push it out of my body while imagining my toy lifting up from the ground.

Nothing happened at first, but after several attempts, when I was heavily focused to the point of a headache, I felt my mana move and then expand outward.

I looked with wide eyes as my toy slowly lifted a few centimeters off the ground.

'I did it...! I can use magic!' I exclaimed inwardly in my mind.

But in the next moment, I felt all of my energy being rapidly drained out of me, and before I realized what was happening, I passed out...