I slept, peacefully, no nightmares, nothing. Just me and my cushy cradle. The first days flew by like the wind. Mostly I was sleeping, pooping or eating. And seriously the latter two were pretty awkward to do. Knowing that you are an adult and somebody is wiping your ass clean does not sit right with me.

It was embarassing so each time I felt the urge I would start to cry, sometime a few days later my 'parents' finally saw the pattern. Everytime I cried they would sit me on top of a wooden bowl. It was still embarassing to have people watch you do your deed but whatever. That way the ass-wiping was kept to a minimum.

The hardest part for me was to accustom myself to the overall situation. I was reborn, had the knowledge of my old world, the memories, the pain. Everything was still fresh but there were other things as well.

I could remember the warming sensation in my chest when I was in my 'mother's' womb. From time to time the warmth spreads again and recedes as quickly as it came. I began to worry if something was wrong with me. My head also hurt sometimes, there was to much information my matured mind sent towards my premature brain. I woudl investigate the causes later as I couldn't put my mind to it.

Most of the time I was lying in the craddle, staring holes in the ceiling and thinking about my future. I had no idea what to do from now on. It was a magical world after all.

If fantasy stories are not straight out wrong then I was bound to become an adventurer, it would fit with my past lifestyle.

Venture deep into uncharted territory, slay beasts and rescue the dammsel in distress from the fiery dragon. Mind you I was an adult but who the hell did not have these thoughts?

The mere idea was just so breathtaking! I lost my old life but in turn I got a blank slate right before me. I could be anything and anyone.

But from my observations I could tell that this was the classic medieval setting. Wooden huts, rough clothing and only sparse sanitation were the norm. And from your classic run-of-the-mill fantasy stories it would mean that strength decides everything, or rather power. Be it in the form of intelligence, physical- or magical-prowess, or your shrewdness that would fit into a world of politicians.

I would need all those aspects to enjoy my stay in this new world.

My to-do list therefore consisted of: Learning martial arts, decent survival skills and strengthening of my body; Increasing my knowledge of history, culture, flora and fauna, etc. of the new world;  Looking for magic, mana or any other source of non-earthly energy.

These few aspects encompassed a giant whole. In 'survival skills', smithing, tailoring, maintaining of all sorts of weapons, foraging, etc. were all included. It was a giant amalgamation of knowledge that was compulsory for my survival.

My chubby fingers tingled with excitement, there was so much to do, so much to discover! Yes I might have been a lazy person but only if things didn't catch my attention. How could one not be excited in a new world?!

Before I forget, my new name seems to be Hyrion. I could tell because my parents always played with my tiny feet and hands and said this one partciular word while making baby sounds.

To be honest I was quite scared when my father's face suddenly popped out of the corner of my eyes, making baby noises while lifting my body up and down.

I already got the grasp on a few words. My parents lifted objects or pointed at some and repeatedly said their names. Surprisingly I learned it really fast, I know it was because of my special physique but I thought my mature mind that was inhabiting this body would prevent the hightened memorization and learning rate that comes with being a baby.

For adaptation purposes to my future life style I tried to do a few flexibility exercises whenever my parents weren't watching. I did it to the best of my abilities though. Which means it was mostly me trying to crane my neck up and down, clenching my fists and rotating my shoulders. While I was doing all this excersize I remembered a few of the fantasy stories I have read. Where the reincarnated protagonist tries to get an early feel for magic around him, most of the time it was achieved randomly, through a life or death situation or through meditation.

I couldn't hope for the first two so I tried meditation, or rather simple relaxation. I couldn't really get into a croos-legged position so I opted for a lying position.

My hands were folded over my abdomen, legs stretched out and my eyes focused on the glowing 'lamp' at the ceiling. I changed between forcefully bluring my vision and refocusing, resulting in my mind getting dazed. In the end I shut my eyes completely, listening only to the sound of my heart beat and the rythm of my breaths.

On the first day I felt nothing and the same held true for the second day, the third, the fourth and so on. Until the end of the third week. I was normaly meditating when I remembered the heat that tended to spread inside of my chest. It was spontaneous, sometimes lasting for a few minutes and other times only for seconds. I tried to pry further into the matter and when I did I felt a sudden change in the atmosphere.

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At first I thought it was the air that was fluctuating because of a slight breeze or the like, but I couldn't even catch on the slightest sounds other than breathing and heartbeat. Then my skin began to prick slightly and the warmth in my chest began to travel down along my limbs.

It felt as if something was exploding inside of me as the heat errupted. I openned my eyes and gasped for air only to be shocked even more. The air was dyed in all sorts of colors. They were burning and dancing in the air, even the furniture had bright colors on them.

To be honest, I first thought I meditated myelf into some kind of fully baked state and was merely hallucinating but the moment when my concentration waned the colors receded and everything turned into its usual state. Large droplets of sweat trickled down my face as I breathed out haggardly. It took a few moments for me to catch my breath again.

Without further notice my parents came barging in, breaking the door open with a powerful kick my father came in. He held onto a large warmace and my mother equipped with two daggers and a handful of throwing knifes stripped on her thighs, followed from behind. They eyed the room carefully and approached my cradle, weapons raised and ready to strike when needed. My mother looked at me, worry visible on her face. She looked my body up and down, her eyes told me she was looking for some kind of change, a wound or scratch.

To reassure them that everything was alright I gave them a wide smile, something I never did before in this world. Both of them looked at me, my father sighed and put the mace down while my mother was less tense as well.

My father nudged my mother while looking at me.

"Little... one... adventurers... good!". Is what I understood. He probably thought my smile was directed towards their admittedly badass entrance and their cool weapons, making me want to become an adventurer even more than ever. Nah not cool at all, that is for kids. No, I really don't wanna run around killing monsters while wielding a giant battle axe, who would want that? Pfft, laughable!

My mother kissed me on the cheeks and both of them left my room. I was still confused. Why did they seem to be so alert? 'Did something happen outside?', I began to wonder.

Drawn by a feeling of absorbtion all over my body I shifted my attention to my inner workings, once again entering a zen like state. After weeks of doing nothing but meditating it became quite easy.

I felt my body changing, greedily absorbing a foreign energy surrounding me. A searing pain sparked through my mind as my chest heaved up and down, my lungs worked overtime as they tried to keep up with my unstable puffs. Sweat once again formed on my face as it reddened through the extreme exertion.

The energy flowed into my body, changing something deep within, expanding it, breaking its limits only to be raised up again. The flow of energy became even more forceful, shattering the internal barriers one by one. My mind was going crazy as the pain amplified by multiple times. Without teeth I tried to clench my jaw muscles as hard as possible, making the pain less unbearable.

I willed the energy flow to stop, to retract from my body and it did. The pain stopped and I slowly openned my eyes. Nothing changed –at first–.

From within I forced the energy to squeeze out of me, of whatever vessel contained it. Slowly the energy surfaced and the world was once again soaked in bright colors.

I raised my arm up and touched a small wisp of red, willed the energy to enter it.

BOOM!

The red exploded into a fireball and burned my hand which was hastily pulled back. The small wisp of fire soon grew and the are surrounding it became colored in a dominant red. Fiery flames licked the air as the temperature rose.

With panick filling my mind I willed the energy to come back and soon the fire dimmed down until it puffed out of existence with only a thin line of smoke remaining.

Great concentration was needed to will the energy back into wherever it came from and with it the world returned to its former glance.

I gazed at my small, chubby and burned hand. The pain was neglectable as it was only a slight burn.

I couldn't help but feel myself growing more excited. Whatever I did it was pretty close to, if not already, magic! Impatient I went to sleep, hoping for the new dawn to come sooner than the ones before.