Devil’s Doll Reincarnation | Chapter 2 | A Whole New World

It’s been about two something hours since I first encountered the old man. He was staring at me, no… the doll, for a few minutes with solemn eyes. It seemed as if he was waiting for something. He said a few words before going back outside, but I of course couldn’t understand. What could make him look so sad while being around this doll? Well, no matter.

A minute or two later, I could hear the distinct sound of someone chopping wood coming from outside. Meaning I must have been gifted some time to myself. I hadn’t had much time to practice moving while he was sitting right in front of me, but now I can go all out. I’d finally regained the ability to blink in the time the old man was away. Although I no longer really feel the need to blink, I still had the ability to, which was fan-fucking-tastic. Of all the things I've seen today, what amazes me the most is that whoever made this doll, took the time to add working eyes. How it managed to hold my consciousness, or soul was beyond me.

Now that I think about it, this doll is absurdly well made. After the man had removed a white bib that was hanging down from my neck revealing the rest of this body in cute pearly white dress. Looking down at my hands I spotted greaet detail, but no aged wrinkles and veins were to be seen. The arms and legs had seemless joints built in, allowing for easy movement in all the same ways a regular human body could. I only noticed the joints because I could vaguely feel them moving, but from the outside I doubt many people would notice the differnce. I only found this out after I finalyl managed to wriggle my limbs like some newborn child.

Ending my fun, someone seemed to be approaching, so I had to forcibly still my legs and stop them from swaying over the edge of the table. I heard the clinking of the front door being opened, but it couldn't have been the old man, as I could still hear him cutting wood outside. I was quite eager to see another face, but nervous as well. From the door appeared a short woman, who was probably about twenty years old from the looks of it.

She had a kind face, a long white dress, and her brown hair reached down to her back in a kempt ponytail. I found it quite funny how she exaggeratedly crept into the house, taking long, slow strides. Being extremely careful not to knock anything over. The woman paused for a moment, looking at me with a grin. So I in turn, also took this chance to get a better look at her, keeping in mind to remain completely inanimate.

She slipping on a brown leather apron, covering her dress. It contained various artistic tools poking out of its many pockets. Paintbrushes, pencils, rulers, and other things were stored neatly in the pockets ready to be grabbed. Perhaps she was an artist of some kind? Was this a relative of the old man?

She leaned backwards awkwardly to look out the window, and after confirming that the man outside was still busy, she stealthily tip-toed right up to me, creaking the floorboards all the way. She mumbled to herself, but I could somehow tell she was talking about me… I mean, the doll in some way. Okay, I’ve got to get my mind in order, let’s just say I am the doll from now on. I can’t really argue about it right now anyway.

The woman leaned over to pick me up, her expression revealing her anxiety. What is she doing? Does she intend to take me away? I know I haven’t been here for long, but I’d prefer staying inside away from the prying eyes of others. I don’t need any other complications today.

With a relieved sigh, she lifted me from the table using little effort, revealing that the body I inhabited was much lighter than a normal human of this size. The woman carefully cradled me, in what I’d guess some would call a princess carry. After checking once more as to whether the man was still outside, she proceeded to the door, opening it. The view of the unnaturally beautiful outside world plunged into my eyes, stifling a gasp. The window was so blurred and dirty I’d never noticed from inside. I’m not sure how I would describe it, since the scenery was so foreign to me, who had grown up in the city. I could tell it was a forest, yet the blue, red, and pink plants in amongst the bright healthy green forest floor didn’t ring any bells. The straight dark brown trees looked like ominous towers supporting the canopy above, which had numerous vines hanging down. I think I even spotted a new species of monkey up there, but maybe I’m just seeing things.

If a place like this existed back where I lived, it surely would’ve been an amazing tourist spot. Possibly even becoming known throughout the world as the 8th wonder. So many new plants I’ve never seen before scoured the area, and in my amazement, I didn’t notice my mouth was hanging wide open. Unluckily for me, the woman who was carrying me did, and as I was just about to burst from the overflowing fear of being found out, she simply closed my mouth and carried on completely indifferent.

There wasn’t really any path after leaving the cabin, the only relatively flat area was just around the edges of the little building; everywhere else was covered by the forest's roots and plants, making traversing from one place to the other much more tedious than it should be. I felt like a child being held in such a way, and I can’t help but look at the woman’s head from below. She has this unnaturally determined look on her face, and it makes me feel unsafe.

...

Just as I was about to continue my inner monologue the woman tripped over a loose root, flinging me into the air. I spun around sideways, spotting her face-planting into the dirt, just managing to protect her pretty face using her hands. The force I hit the ground with was much less painful than I anticipated, leaving me lying against the foot of a tree, allowing me to see the woman slowly trying to get back up off the ground. Part of me thought it was funny, but that's not all I saw.

The old man from back at the cabin was now running towards us, still holding his axe, but looking more distraught than mad. I guess he heard the fall, since we only walked around fifty feet away and had come to investigate the cause of such racket.

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The old man was yelling out the same thing over and over as he approached us, and from the way the woman reacted it must have been her name. When the old man finally reached us, she was already sitting on the ground with a sad look. The moment the old man spotted me, his worried expression went to disappointment and the woman appeared to be apologising to him.

It was basically this inellible rabble, over and over for a few minutes, as every word that came from their mouths made completely no sense to me. The most irritating thing was when they spoke a word I thought I’ve heard before, but it apparently had a completely different meaning behind it. Over time, my body had fallen to the side, leaning on a large root that caused me to lose sight of the two. However, I did gain a rather nice eyeful of the tree tops and the sun as it beamed between the gaps. During this time, I once again spotted the weird monkey from earlier that I put off as my imagination. This time it was clear as day, and I couldn’t find any valid excuse to put off its existence. Especially since it was headed straight towards me.

What’s that? It might be a cute and curious monkey, that’s just wondering what I am? I’d think so too, if it wasn’t for the bright red fur, long panther like teeth, and the stink eye it was giving me. It was also much larger than what I’d previously thought, now that its main features were showing themselves in all their threatening glory as it quietly came closer and closer to the three of us.

The red monkey was attached along the side of a tree behind the the woman, and old man. It looked like it was ready to pounce, baring its fangs towards the two. This was hardly monkey-like behaviour. I’ve got to warn them somehow, or else they’ll be hurt!

Mustering what little strength and control I had over this new body, I managed to lift my hand up and point towards the monkey. At the same time, the old man was gesturing towards me, resulting in seeing my warning immediately. The woman picked up my sudden movement. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers before she spun around, in what I believe was an attempt to run away. At this point she saw the monkey, and it saw her, taking its only chance to attack by leaping from the tree towards her.

Just as I thought she was going to be hit, the old man swung his axe, lopping off the head of the monkey and sending it sprawling between the two of them, sliding to a stop right in front of me. The moment the adrenaline washed away I crumpled back onto the ground, feeling my whole body hurting.

My vision was fading, but I could hear the faint sound two-people arguing over something. The girl leant over me and picked me up, once again cradling me in a princess carry. She looked anxious and kind of scared, but she held me nonetheless, then began whishpering in my ear. Sadly, I still couldn’t understand a word she said. Even though I wanted to stay awake, I felt the last of my energy leave me. Forcing me to close my eyes, I heard a quiet, exited gasp from the woman. After that, everything went dark for a while. Meaning I must have fallen asleep, or lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes, I heard the woman and old man gasp in astonishment. I felt incredibly sluggish. One thing for sure though, was that they were calling me Fumi. They took me back to the cabin from before, and I was once again sitting on the big wooden table. The two were talking enthusiastically together, most likely about me, and as the woman came closer she kept saying one word. Whilst simultaneously raising her fingers in accordance to the pitch of her voice. 

“Anna… Anna… Annnnaaaa~," she said, likely trying to make me say her name.

I haven’t tried speaking for a while now, but I guess it couldn't hurt.

“A-an-Annn…… Anna.”

How a body like this could actually speak didn’t make any logical sense, it lacked the lungs and complicated mouth parts required. Not only did it make no sense, it made me feel incredibly tired to the point where I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. The woman, or Anna as she called herself, was bouncing around the room with a smile beaming from her face. The old man grabbed her shoulders telling her to calm down. Anna pouted, but left anyway. As soon as the footsteps of Anna had gone quiet, the old man rushed towards, donning an expression you’d see on a eager child during Christmas. He leaned over the table and repeatedly started saying his own name.

“Geralt… Gerrrrelllt…”

My god you people, you know I get tired from this right? I mean, I guess I could amuse them for a little bit more. Well, let's just get this over with.

“Geralt," I mumbled, nailing it on the first try, despite being so tired already.

Geralt was momentarily stunned in amazement, while at the same time I realized they were treating me like a baby. How humiliating, someone like me getting stuck in such a ridiculous situation. I had plenty of time to think things over, and yet I still wish I could go back and at least beat up the guy up who caused my death.

The old man, known as Geralt, suddenly leapt back into his previous position. Why did he do this? I asked myself. It was because that woman came springing back into the room. It seems that Geralt has some things he wants to hide too, I guess. With Anna's entry, I immediately noticed the different air about her, for example, she had washed her face, removing all the previous dirt and grime. She looked maybe two or three years younger if a bit paler. Instead of twenty, that childish face of hers made Anna look around eighteen, if I had to guess.

I had also spotted the book she was holding, unlike the clean and pristine new books I’d get from the bookstore, this one looked very old and worn. Like it had been sitting in an attic somewhere for a few years. Actually… that’s a very likely scenario. She skipped over to me with a sparkle in her eyes, slamming the book down onto the table beside me. She started flipping through the pages, searching for something specific, and then placed the book onto my lap once she found the page she was looking for.

This entire time I hadn’t moved a muscle, simply because I didn’t want to waste anymore of my precious energy. However, what I saw in that book made my tired half-open eyes widen to absorb the knowledge on its pages. I know, I know... I still couldn’t read anything, but it was the pictures that interested me.

I put a tonne of my remaining energy into moving closer towards the book for a better look. It was an image of a ghost or spirit, flying into an artificial body, called a golem. Even without the words I understood what it meant, the drawings were made well, and clearly depicted what looked like a body made of stone, coming to life after a being’s soul was placed inside it. A lot of writing was on this page, and I felt the need to understand it, as it could make some sense of all this weirdness.

Geralt and Anna were ecstatic that I understood the pictures to some degree, and in Anna’s burst of happiness, she picked me up into a hug and spun me around. She was even nuzzling her cheek on mine lovingly, yet the whole time I couldn’t understand why she was acting so overjoyed.

After their little celebration I was placed back down, now with a cushion to sit on, and Anna continued showing me pictures from various books. Most of the pictures were hard to understand as I couldn’t read the text beside them, howeverm, I did find many repeating fantasy features within these books. Such as magic, demons and monsters. Whether these otherworldly things actually existed is another thing entirely, but that weird red monkey from before does make a good starting point.

Anna eventually realized I couldn’t read the words and started drawing her own pictures to help me understand. Despite how exhausting it was to move, I still blinked and wiggled my fingers to show I was listening every once and a while.