The school bus trudged along the familiar route, filled with the chatter of children excited to go home. Among them, Aella, who had the joy of today being the 8th anniversary of this life, sat by the window, her expression dull and full of profound boredom. Grade school had proven to be an uneventful experience for her, as she had expected. As a reincarnated soul, the curriculum held no challenges, and she found herself covertly dozing off in class more often than not.
It wasn’t all bad. The history of this world she found herself in was quite amusing. Out of all the parts she found interesting, the most intriguing one was the fact that in the last century, the world has only had two large-scale wars.
Back home, wars between all the greatest powers in the world happened every other decade until Aella came along and accidentally forced the world to unite under the threat of annihilation.
She sighed, gazing out the window at the passing scenery. Her eyes, wise beyond her years, reflected a world-weary understanding that contrasted sharply with the carefree laughter of her schoolmates. The other children, naively oblivious to her unique circumstances, failed to comprehend the vast difference in knowledge and experience that separated themselves and her.
Not that it mattered. She had no interest in mingling with actual children unless the situation she had met them in interested her. After all, it’d be a lie if Aella said she was capable of recalling a single one of her classmates' names, much less any from outside the 20-some kids she was forced to interact with every day.
Closing her eyes, she entered her Inner world and idly watched her Dragon Core. Every day it moved more and more, yet never showed any signs of hatching. Unsure when it would finally hatch and finally reveal its contents, Aella could only watch patiently.
‘If I were to breakthrough into the [Ursa Minor] realm, would it speed up the hatching?’ She wondered to herself. In theory, it made sense.
Since the egg of the dragon, the Dragon Core was inside her Inner world, it should be a being made nearly of pure mana. Every time she used magic, the core began ever so slightly more lively, which all but confirmed her suspicions.
The issue was her own body. In her last life, Aella began cultivating Mana at the age of 12 and even that was considered far too young to do it safely. She didn’t know if the body of an 8-year-old child would be able to maintain such a comparatively large amount of mana.
As to not throw her life away pointlessly, she’d wait a few more years unless something came up.
Finally, the bus pulled to a stop near her house, noted via her inner world shaking slightly. With impatient steps, Aella hurried home while stretching; each and every movement of her body was light and purposeful. Upon entering the house, she was greeted by a surprising silence. The lights were off, and her parents were nowhere to be seen.
She narrowed her eyes, touching the tip of her finger to the tip of the wall, the rest of her small amount of Mana pulsing through the building, acting like a sonar. The layer of Mana used was so thin that even her Father, who had cultivated Mana and had a dragon familiar, couldn’t notice.
‘The Kitchen, huh? Are they trying to throw me a surprise party?’ She questioned, noticing several floating objects shaped like balloons and some other vaguely party-esque silhouettes.
With her current level, she could only gain a general idea of what shapes were where but that was more than enough to figure out what was going on.
Deciding to play along, finding her parents’ attempt cute, she dispelled her transformation and took her hood off before curiously exploring the house. Eventually, she “Coincidentally” found herself in the kitchen, where a soft glow emanated from within. As she stepped in, the room was suddenly illuminated, revealing her mother and father standing amidst an array of decorations and gifts.
‘Happy birthday, Aella!” Her parents chimed in unison with warm and genuine smiles.
Aella blinked twice with a delayed reaction, pretending to be taken aback. No, to say she wasn’t taken aback would be wrong. Aella was genuinely surprised that her parents would do something like this conceptually.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
That being said, it was a little sad. She didn’t have any friends to experience this with her, yet her parents had gone to such great lengths to make her day special.
Aella’s amethyst eyes widened as she feigned surprise. “Ow, wow! A surprise party? Just for me? Thank you, Mama, Papa!”
Slade’s familiar Wyrm, Ane was his name, slithered into the room with a large wrapped box in their hands hands… Scales? However, he was holding it.
Aella accepted the gift with a smile, her gratitude genuine. Before she could begin to unwrap the gift, her parents began to speak.
“Your father and I talked about it, and we decided that you’re finally old enough to play with Magitech. We hope you like it.”
Looking at the box with wonder, Aella began unwrapping it, revealing a set of toys powered by magic. Each one had a simple design yet was intricately inlaid with circuits made of Mana.
It only took a glance to understand their usages, and much like their design, they were simple. One was a quaint little music box that was imbued with low-level Psychic magic to help someone sleep. Another was a small drone with a remote control.
‘Both of these things can be made with just magic or just technology, yet they combine them anyway? Is it a show of expertise? A… Flex, I believe that call it here?’ She asked herself.
After examining them for a short while, Aella looked back at her parents with a massive smile. “Thank you, Mana, Papa. I love them,” She said as she embraced her parents and Ane tightly.
As the evening unfolded, Aella’s home was filled with laughter and the warmth of family. Although she lacked friends her age, spending time with her parents was more than enough for the time being. In a way, it felt like the roles were reversed. Her parents sheered and played with her as if they were her kids, desperately trying to please and entertain their mother.
It was impossible for her not to think this way. With her mental age and the average length of Foxin's lifespans, it wasn’t uncommon for you kids to be centuries younger than you. Aella’s original mother was 300 years older than her!
Unfortunately, that warmth and laughter didn’t last for very long as a sudden tremor rippled through the house, causing the lights to flicker and the dishes to rattle on the table. A hushed silence fell over the room as the family exchanged worried glances. Something unusual was happening, something that sent shivers down their spines.
‘An earthquake? No, that’s not the sound of tectonic plates shifting.’ Aella hummed inwardly, pretending to be scared as her parents tried to comfort her.
A low, resonating hum filled the air, barely perceptible at first but growing steadily louder. The very fabric of reality seemed to twist and warp as if protesting against an unseen force.
Moving together, Slade, Anastasia, and Ella quickly glanced out the window to see what was going on. Ane prepared to protect them from any items that might fall because of the shaking.
Outside, the night sky darkened, stars masked by an ominous shadow that cast an eerie glow over the surroundings.
Aella tried to expand her senses to tell what was going on but fell to the ground instead because of overexerting her Mana. With how little she had, even if her tanks were full, it’d be unlikely to show any good results anyway.
“Aella! Are you okay?” Anastasia panicked.
Rubbing her head, Aella nodded. “Owie.” She said, playing it off as the rumbling made her lose balance.
Anastasia clutched Aella’s hand tightly, her eyes wide with concern. “What’s going on?” she whispered, her voice laced with fear.
Before either Aella or Slade could respond, the ground beneath them began to quake even more violently, causing the rest of them to lose their balance. The walls of the house seemed to breathe, pulsating with an unnatural energy. In an instant, a blinding surge of light enveloped the entire room, momentarily blinding them.
In the blinding light, Aella felt her mother hug her tightly, along with Slade and Ane preparing for the worst as their Mana flared up.
The amount of Mana he had was pitiful for an adult male. At best, he was in the level after Ursa Minor, [Ursa Major].
When the light subsided, Aella found herself in an entirely different landscape without her mother or father anywhere in sight. The once-familiar surroundings were replaced by a surreal, otherworldly landscape. She stood on a rocky outcrop, overlooking a vast, dimply lit expanse that stretched as far as they could possibly see. Strange, glowing flora adorned the world, casting an eerie glow on the cavernous walls surrounding them.
|
|
|
|