Average Hero

I don’t remember dying. Which is probably good as I never really did well with extreme pain. I vaguely remember that I was on a train but I don’t remember where I was going or why I going there. I found myself floating in a sphere. I had no form, just a collection of memories that faded in and out sometimes with a wisp of emotion attached. The strongest memory was of my dog, Kira. She was my best friend and I hoped she was doing well in my untimely departure.

I focused my efforts outside the sphere and there were multiple spheres all around me with flickers of other people. This was some kind of soul repository, maybe purgatory. Then the spheres shifted and I was falling, well my sphere was. I was now on a massive conveyor belt rolling with other spheres toward a massive multi armed being. Although I was still some distance from this being it was obvious he was picking up a sphere with each arm, holding it under a bright violet lamp and then placing the sphere on another conveyor over its head. My line of thought was that I was about to be purged, my soul erased. I looked around in panic and noticed the wispy forms in the other spheres were not all human. Some were animals, some were alien, and some had no recognizable form. I was the only one panicking that I could see.

The inevitability reached me. I couldn’t control the sphere and moments later the being grabbed me with an arm and I was brought beneath the violet light. I compressed my amorphous body and moved away from the light. The sphere was brought under light and by some miracle only about 70% of my sphere was radiated. I felt portions of my memories being ripped from me. It was not painful and extremely pleasant in a tingly way. I was about to move my whole entity to bath in the light but was already being raised above to a new conveyor. From the higher vantage I could see endless multi-armed beings purging and sorting spheres. The upper layer conveyers were a massive laced network that looked like a maze. Having no sense of time I turned to watching the other spheres around me. The wispy forms were there no longer, just dull gray smoke. The upper conveyer had branches and gates so I had no idea where I was going to end up. Without warning I was in a large funnel circling it like a whirlpool. Hundreds of other spheres circled with me. As I got lower I could see the spheres disappearing into a thick black liquid. When I finally hit the liquid with my sphere it felt like I was being pulled through the eye of a needle. Then my eyes opened and I was a screaming baby.

Being a baby was not fun. I had very poor eyesight, no motor control, I was always hungry, and I was always tired. It took months before I could finally see my mother. She had emerald eyes, raven colored hair, and a perpetual half smile on her face when our eyes met. She was middle-aged had a very fit physique. I learned my name was Kalen. I had two older brothers and two older sisters and it took me time to master the foreign language and develop enough vocal cord strength to start speaking their names. My mother was Calista and father was Gerrod. My brothers were Rehan and Jaylen. My sisters were Flicka and Odella. I concluded that was definitely not on Earth, or at least in a time that I was familiar with.

By the age one I was considered a prodigy. I was speaking with a modest vocabulary. With my past life coming more into focus as my baby brain developed I was smart enough to reign in any overt displays of intellect. I learned a lot about our family. My father was a leather worker, making mostly boots and saddles. The boots were a secondary product for him as he was considered a master saddle maker. Mom tended the garden, cooked and engraved designs on the saddles. My eldest brother, Rehan, worked with dad. My other siblings were too young yet to work and mostly played under mom’s supervision. I learned there was magic in is world. Mom had a very small healing affinity with her magic. She could only use it once a day and it just accelerated healing by a few weeks. It earned extra income for the family and allowed me to see some of our neighbors.

Two of the neighbors were my uncles who were tanners with their own families. There were two unrelated friendly farmer families who visited regularly with minor injuries and brought us food for payment. And lastly there was the miller’s family that were close by. We were actually less than a day to a small city but formed our own tiny community.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When I was age three mom was pregnant again. I was moving about quite well and did my best to help in the garden. I was learning a lot from mom who was always patient when answering questions. Dad was gone sun up to sun down and not much of a talker. Jaylen had joined dad and Rehan at the workshop. My mom gave birth to twin girls, Nova and Luna. Suddenly my protective mother had new children in her primary care.

I suddenly had a lot more freedom. My sister Flicka was 3 years older than me and was charged with my supervision. Odella was 5 years my senior and she helped mom prepare food. Well for the next two years me and Flicka got into tons of trouble. The edge of Duke’s forest was only 300 yards from our small house and workshop. The forest was 20 square miles and reserved as the private hunting grounds for the duke’s family. Entry was prohibited but Flicka and I entered frequently. That was how we met one of the duke’s Foresters, Abraham. He scolded us and escorted us home many a time. Eventually he took to teaching us about the forest, edible plants and mushrooms, how to move silently, the types of birds. No one was allowed to hunt in the woods besides the duke’s men but Abraham let us take mushrooms, nuts and berries home. This went on for two years and then I was alone, Flicka was apprenticed to a seamstress just outside of the city, 6 hours away. I was six and had the talk with my parents about my own future options. There was not going to be a lot of work in the leather shop. So when I turned 9 and failed my magic proficiency test I could be apprenticed to the either the blacksmith or the cooper who didn’t have any sons. There might be more options in a few years but for now those were my options according to father.

My mornings over the next three years were spent in the garden with mom. In the afternoon I sometimes made runs to my uncle’s tannery with a wheelbarrow for cured hides. When I didn’t have to go on the two hour trip I would go to the forest to hang out with Abraham. Of course I asked Abraham about becoming a forester but the Duke only supported four foresters and two of them had sons that would be apprenticed. Abraham told me of the wider world and stories of the great heroes.

The Duke’s district included the City of Rimeborn and four large towns. He was responsible for sending 30 mounted soldiers and 40 tons of provisions annually to the king. I asked about becoming a soldier. I learned there was an annual contest to select the soldiers in Rimeborn. It was an obstacle course and strength test but you had to be 14 years old to try. Also Abraham said I didn’t want to go that route as the Kingdom was at war on the southern and eastern border. If I wasn’t a soldier who was of noble blood I would be sent there as fodder. I learned there were 27 dukedoms, 108 baronies and 7 princedoms. Altogether they all sent over 5000 soldiers annually to the capital, of which 70% didn’t live out the year. Abraham knew this because he was the duke’s third son. Ok so maybe a soldier’s life wasn’t for me.

When I turned 8 Abraham said the Duke’s guard was recruiting squires. They needed 9 and only had 6 minor noble sons. If I was interested he could get me in. I would be trained in horsemanship, lance work, sword and shield combat and basic etiquette. It seemed like a good career but my parents burned that idea with a rather loud argument, well it was the two of them yelling at me, not much arguing. It did get me working with dad. Moving and caring for the horses being fitted for saddles. It was now the first thing I did at sunrise and sunset. It gave me less time in the woods and I started to miss my freedom.

My 9th year assessment for magical potential came. Father brought me to town to an adventurers guild. The process took three hours and was required by the King’s mandate to identify wizards of power to go to the magic academy and serve the crown. The testing involved using my blood to light up various sets of crystals. Well I was no power house but I did have magic. I was rated a 3 with healing affinity, a 1 with space affinity and a 0 affinity with fire. I thought that was awesome but to my disappointment found it was not. Mother had a healing affinity of 2 so I was only slightly stronger than her in potential. To be selected for the magic academy you needed a combined potential over 15 and even then you would only be sent if the need was great. If you had over 20 you were almost guaranteed to be selected. So my 4 potential was not impressive. The return trip home I was down cast. I had hoped my reincarnation would have given me some major power. My dad however was very happy. The healing affinity would give his son some prestige and ability to join the healer’s guild to earn extra coin.