On the far-east coast of the continent of Albion there stood a small seaside town called Bright Cove. Its name came from the fact that each day it was the very first place in Albion to see the sun rise. In fact, Bright Cove Beach was somewhat famous as a tourist destination for that very reason. The majestic sight of dawn’s first rays shining across the ocean was spellbinding.
On this particular morning, there was only one person on Bright Cove Beach awaiting sunrise. It was a child, roughly eight or nine years old, with pale blue hair and eyes and delicate, porcelain-like skin.
“*Sigh*” The child’s voice didn’t carry far before it was drowned out by the sound of gently crashing waves. “Eight years. To think, it’s been eight whole years since I started my new life.”
As he looked out across the horizon, James reminisced about the eight years that had passed since his reincarnation. One of the disadvantages of being reincarnated with his ego and memories intact was that he could remember far more of it than he should.
The first year had been particularly miserable. James shuddered as he thought back to how he had been reduced to a crying poop monster. “The body and soul are one,” his master had once said. James never understood what that meant until he reincarnated. Even though his soul was that of a seventeen year old young man, the moment that it was crammed into the body of an infant he found himself a slave to the impulses of a newborn child. When he wanted to poop he pooped, and when he wanted anything else he cried like a screaming banshee.
James marveled at the sheer amount of patience and tolerance that it must take to be a parent. “I would’ve thrown me in the ocean if I’d been in mother’s shoes,” he admitted.
The next few years had been better, but James still felt like a prisoner in his child-like body. Of course, he knew that he would eventually grow up, but there was one thing that would never change no matter how much time passed. James slowly reached down to the spot between his legs. “Gone,” he moaned, “a man’s most important thing… Oh God, why must you torment me so?!”
Almost like some kind of cosmic joke, when James was reborn, his new body had turned out to be… female! At first James had been horrified. After all, so much of his previous life had been defined by his identity as a male, and now he was supposed to just become a woman? Impossible! His greatest fear, however, was the effect that his new body might have on his soul. The body and soul are one, so what happens to a man’s soul placed in a woman’s body?
Surprisingly… not much. James certainly felt differently than he used to, he already had trouble visualizing himself as the young man that he used to be, but he attributed that mostly to becoming a child rather than becoming a girl. In any case, he knew that the situation might change drastically once his body started producing that dangerous cocktail of hormones during adolescence, but, since there wasn’t really anything that he could do about it, he decided not to worry and just go with the flow.
“I’ve got to say though,” James said with a smile, “even if this process does change me, and the person that I used to be disappears, it’s more than worth it for a chance to live in another world!” The moment he spoke, several kilometers from the shore an enormous sea serpent broke through the surface of the water, its scales glittering with light of the rising sun. It shot nearly one hundred meters into the air before arcing and diving back into the ocean. “Yup, definitely another world.” Despite seeing such an extraordinary sight, James didn’t flinch at all, as if he had already grown accustomed to such things.
Now that the sun had emerged from beyond the horizon, James rose from his seated position and began practicing the martial arts taught to him by his master. At times like these he could practically hear the old man’s aged voice lecturing him. “Dawn is the best time to train. When the first rays of the sun stimulate the yang qi you’ll be able to train with half the effort for twice the results.” Usually, he would then accentuate the point by beating James over the head with his Walking Stick of Doom.
I miss you Master, James whispered, deep within his heart. James would never say it out loud, but, eccentric and cranky though he may be, over the years he had grown rather fond of his master, and, although Master Fu would never admit it, James knew that he felt the same.
“Hah!” James drove the sad thoughts from his mind by immersing himself even further into his master’s techniques. If Master saw me like this, he’d find a way to cross dimensions just to beat me over the head with his stick for being an idiot!
As James trained, his movements seemed to emulate the forces of nature becoming both beautiful and profound. Move like surging waves, bend like supple branches, strike like raging thunder, this was the core of his master’s Martial Dao. After more than an hour of training, James collapsed on the beach, exhausted and panting. Even so, he grinned, fully satisfied with his progress.
While his body recovered from its exertion, a cool breeze blew in from the east, carrying with it the primordial spirit of the sea. James’ chi surged in response. “This world is amazing!” he shouted. Ever since reincarnating, James had been able to train at an absolutely ridiculous speed. His body seemed to draw power directly from nature itself, accomplishing in one day what would normally take weeks even with special medicines and bone breaking effort.
His results were particularly astounding when he trained near water, which is why he preferred to train on the beach whenever possible. Years of drawing from the boundless strength of the ocean had made James’s strength, even as a child, rather terrifying.
“Hah, a few more years of this and I’ll be able to surpass the strength of my previo-”
“Sophie!” James was interrupted by the sound of a lovely, and somewhat angry, voice. Sophie… that was his new name, the one that he had received upon his reincarnation. “Sophie, what have I told you about sneaking out of the house in the dark!”
Sophie turned around to see a beautiful woman walking towards her with a stern expression. The woman looked like an adult version of her with the same porcelain skin and light-blue eyes and hair. For a moment she marveled at how her mother didn’t seem to age a day in the eight years since her rebirth. She was still as young and as beautiful as ever.
I wonder if people in this world age differently, Sophie found herself wondering. “I’m sorry Mommy,” she whispered, trying her hardest to look adorable. This wasn’t the first time that she had been caught sneaking out of the house to train. She knew that, if she wanted to get off the hook, she’d need to pull out all the stops. Trembling, innocent expression… check, fake sincerity… check, and, last but not least, PUPPY EYES! This was Sophie’s trump card. She’d lost track of the number of times that it had gotten her out of trouble.
However, her mother wasn’t buying it. She gave her daughter the Death Glare, the divine power bestowed to all mothers so that they might cow their children into obedience. She even planted her foot and crossed her arms, indicating that she was on the verge of unleashing a mom’s most powerful weapon… the Eternal Lecture of Doom!
Sophie braced herself for a tongue-lashing, but instead she found herself pulled into a warm embrace. “M-Mom!” She hadn’t been expecting this. A scolding she could deal with, but, when her mother hugged her like this, it made her feel legitimately guilty and ashamed.
“Oh Sophie, what am I going to do with you?” her mother lamented. “You can’t just sneak off like this. Do you have any idea how much I worry about you?”
Sophie couldn’t help but think back to her parents from her previous life. They never even noticed whenever she snuck out of the house. Even if she was gone for several days, she could just walk in through the front door and her parents would treat her like she never left… or like she was never there to begin with.
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“*Sniff* *Sniff*” Sophie had no idea who she was supposed to be anymore. Man or woman? Child or adult? The only thing that she knew was that she didn’t want to lose this feeling. “Mom *Sniff* I’m sorry Mom. I promise, I won’t sneak out without telling you anymore.”
“There, there, Honey, Mommy forgives you.” Sophie’s mother stroked her head comfortingly until she had calmed down. “Alright then,” she said, standing up, “we’d best get you cleaned up. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.”
“I do?” Sophie tilted her head in confusion. It was her eighth birthday, but she didn’t see any reason for why that would hold any significance. Birthdays in this world weren’t celebrated the way that they were in her previous world, unless you were a figure of great renown.
“Haha, that’s right.” Sophie’s mother waved her hand and a cool breeze drifted by, seeming on command. Suddenly, Sophie was no longer dirty. The sweat and dirt from her training had vanished, her red and puffy eyes had returned to normal, even her clothes had become spotless.
“Magic!” Sophie whispered breathlessly. In her old world, magic had been nothing more than a fairy tale, a story that the unenlightened told to explain things that they didn’t understand. Even someone like Master Fu, who had gained the ability to control his body’s chi, couldn’t do anything that could be called real magic. Here though, in this fabulous new world, people could twist the very forces of nature to their will with but a thought and a gesture.
For years, Sophie had begged her mother to teach her magic, but every time she refused, saying that it was too early. But this time… “Do you want to learn how to use magic?” Sophie’s mother asked.
“!!!” Sophie couldn’t even speak for a moment. “Yes! Yes! Of course! Will you teach me?!”
Her mother chuckled indulgently and patted her head. “That’s what today’s all about.” She said. “Most children manifest the ability to use magic between the ages of eight and twelve, so it’s customary to check for magic potential once a year starting from the child’s eighth birthday.”
So that’s why she always refused to teach me magic, Sophia realized. It’s not that she didn’t want to, it’s that she didn’t know whether or not my magical ability had even manifested. “So how do we check for my magic potential?” she asked.
“Well, the easiest way would be to go to the Church of Light,” Sophie’s mother explained. “There, they’ll be able to perform a Soul Delving in order to determine what kind of Spirit Realm you have.
Sophie frowned at the unfamiliar terminology.
“Haha, how much do you know about how magic works?” her mother asked, noting her confusion.
“Not much,” Sophie admitted. She must have asked every adult in town to explain magic to her, but all of them just laughed and told her to wait. Then they laughed even more when she begged or pouted or threw a tantrum. It’s amazing the things you can get away with when you’re an adorable little girl.
While the two walked back into town, Sophie’s mother offered a brief explanation of magic. “The ability to use magic,” she said, “comes from the Spirit Realm which dwells deep within a person’s soul. This realm produces Spiritual Power which can be used to command the elements.”
“Are there differences between Spirit Realms?” Sophie asked. She had long since noticed that different people seemed to be gifted with different types of magic. One person might be able to use magic to command fire and nothing else, while another person might be able to command everything but fire. It seemed likely, then, that the differences in ability might be accounted for by differences between individual Spirit Realms.
“Exactly!” Sophie’s mother seemed proud that her daughter had come to the conclusion on her own. “Different Spirit Realms take different shapes and the shape that yours takes will determine your magic potential.”
“And the Soul Delving will find out what kind of Spirit Realm I have?”
“That’s right. What’s more, once your Spirit Realm is revealed, you’ll be able to find it on your own and draw power from it to cast spells.”
Sophie and her mother were now passing the first row of houses. The people of Bright Cove were already up and about. Some of them called greetings to the two as they passed by.
“Morning Cassandra!” and elderly man greeted from his front door. “You’re looking as lovely as ever!”
Sophie’s mother laughed good-naturedly, “haha, you flatter me Martin. How has your wife been?”
“Oh, any day now I imagine she’ll be up and about and browbeating me same as always.”
Many such conversations could be heard as Sophie and her mother made her way through town. Sophie couldn’t help but marvel at how much things could change in eight years. When Cassandra had first arrived in Bright Cove, alone, pregnant, and with nothing but the clothes on her back, the people had viewed her with suspicion. Many of them had assumed that she was some nobleman’s mistress on the run and wanted nothing to do with her. However, Cassandra’s powerful magic had since made her an indispensable member of the community.
After being repeatedly sidetracked, Sophia and her mother finally made it to the temple of the Church of Light. The temple was, without a doubt the largest and most extravagant building in town. Even the mayor’s house paled in comparison. The entire structure looked as though it had been carved out of a single piece of white marble. The entrance was decorated with carvings of angels while the stained glass windows displayed the visages of honored saints.
Seriously, how gaudy can you be? Most people would find the structure intimidating, but Sophia only noted how out of place it seemed in such a small town. Compared to the great monuments of Earth, such a paltry display didn’t amount to much.
Standing before the temple, Sophia suddenly felt nervous. “What’s wrong?” her mother asked, noticing her discomfort.
“Well… what if my magic hasn’t manifested yet?! Or worse! What if it has, and it turns out that my Spirit Realm is trash?!” Once Sophia opened her mouth, all of her misgivings came flooding out. Magic is the dream of all children. Especially so for someone who used to live in a world where magic didn’t exist.
“Don’t worry,” her mother reassured, “I’m certain that you’ll be an amazing magus.” She sounded quite sure, but Sophia was unconvinced. After all, all mothers are supposed to tell their children that they can do anything. Even so, Sophia decided to suck it up and entered the temple.