I took three days to finally understand what was going on, or actually I got it the moment I woke up, I think it’s better to say it took me three days to finally accept what I already knew: I died, I was reborn, I am a baby, with no control over my body which means I shit myself a lot and can’t communicate. Sad, sad reality.
Thinking back, I have some theories about the cause of my death, it could be either the blinding light of the package or the plane crashing moments later, about how I remembered my past life, this was a rather difficult question, I had many theories, but no way to prove them.
First of all, there was the problem of no one in my old world remembering their past lives. What does it mean? It was the first life for everyone there thus there was nothing to remember? When we reincarnate we go to another planet and here everybody remembers their past life? Is this some kind of heaven or hell? Silly question, the way I lived my old life, no way this is heaven. Then there is the option I am still on earth. There is the option every baby remembers of their past lives, but forget it in the first days before they can show it any way? Very unlikely, i’ll find out about it eventually anyway as I get old, so no use worrying about this theory.
There is also the theory everybody reincarnates but forgets their memories, and for some reason I am an exception. Could it be related to that crazy light from that device? Well… I think i’ll never know the answer, all i’m grateful for is that I was born human and not some insect.
The following day I saw something that made me wonder whether I went crazy or not, I saw one of the maidens that came into my room to take care of me making a small fireball appear on top of her thinger, and used it to light a candle. That was totally the craziest thing ever! And i’ve seen a lot of crazy in my life, at least one thing was for certain, any theory about this world being earth was gone.
By the end of the first week I got some control over my body, unfortunately I got tired really quick from using my muscles, which was annoying, but not as annoying as not being able to understand a single word! I wasn’t even familiar enough with the language to see the pattern. Thus I did all I could to speed up the learning process: every time I was left alone I would cry. Eventually people would walk with me all the time, and I would listen to conversations more often. Would they hate me for it? Who cares, i’m a baby, they must forgive me for crying.
The results could be first seen a few months later, when I first started to understand the meaning of the words. In these first months of life I learned a few things about my life. My father always wore the same uniform cloths that suggested he is some kind of soldier, by the maidens we have in our house and quality of life, I think he is an important one, he seems to be around 36-39 years of age, redhead and with a good build. My mother carries a lot of books and papers with her, I can’t figure out her job just by this much, she is a little over 30 years old as far as I can tell, she seems to be a busy person, but tries to give me attention as much as possible.
I also have a brother and a sister. As far as I can tell my brother is 9 years old, he trains magic and the sword everyday with an instructor, and father praises him all the time for that, I think he wants brother to follow his steps, having taken our mother’s blond hair. Sister seems to be learning how to behave like a lady with an old maiden, she is 7, I feel sad for her as her studies leave almost no time for her to behave like a child. Brother is the same, but at least he seems to like what he is doing.
A few months later I could already understand basic conversation, I also spoke some words, not that I could not speak more, but as they treated me like a normal baby I figured in this world remembering one’s past life is not normal, so I would act like I am also normal, in a world where magic is possible it’s better to keep it safe, who knows what kind of experiments they could do to me? This also made me forget about some theories, not that after so long I still care about them, I just accepted my fate, I will make this life as good as possible for me, my last one was already full of problems. Having learned enough about the language, I learned the names of my family: My father is Ashex Gallymane, my mother name is Lareha Gallymane, my brother is Harod Gallymane, and my sister is Vayja Gallymane. My name is Vokier Gallymane. These names seem pretty stupid for my old world standards, but who am I to judge? Grow up and get used to it.
By the end of the day, when they had free time, my brother and sister would always come and play with me, unfortunately they did treat me like a baby, but what else could I expect?
By the time I turned 2 my family had already noticed that I am smarter than other kids, I spoke to them normally, even so I still used simpler sentences. My mother made a maiden take care of me and told her to start teaching me the basics of etiquette, he told me he would have a great future ready for me in the future, but I would need to work hard to get there.
I liked etiquette classes, for once I was not treated like a baby, but like a gentleman, and this is a great change for once in a while. Sister had been promised in marriage to a noble family that ruled a small town in south last month, father promised some military support, and they were more than glad to accept our offer.
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Our family, even though it was a noble one, had no land possessions. My father was a personal guard of the king and had 4.000 soldiers at his disposal, which made our family quite respected despite our land situation. The king had already promised my father land of his own, but he denied claiming to maintain “family tradition”, it seems his grandfather’s grandfather had been an important general, and ever since our family has followed the military path. I for instance hate the military, and any force of the state. They keep people from doing what they please and make sure that what a crazy person says becomes truth. No, thanks. Fortunately not everyone in this house is crazy, mother is a teacher at the Salamander Magical Academy, she specializes in water magic and is more focused in researching things that matter than supporting the army. The idea of all of the children becoming highly educated since early is hers, she thinks this will grant us a better future amongst the nobles. I can’t say I disagree.
The magical academy is named after the kingdom, Salamander Kingdom. The reason? It seems the first king and founder of the academy was a badass fire magician with this name. The Salamander was one of three human kingdoms, there were others, but they were not ruled by humans, some had better relationships with other races, others would close themselves from the world. As far as I could tell enslavement is a normal thing everywhere, anymore detailed information about kingdoms, races and interracial relationships are still unknown to me, in the future I will focus more on that, my focus now is on learning how to read.
Next year my brother is going to the Magic Academy, after all, there’s a limit to what you can do with a sword without the help of mana (magical energy). Father has already been teaching him the basics about how to infuse mana in your body to enhance it and in the sword, it seems a hard thing to do, since brother is having a hard time to learn it even though he practices almost all day long.
-Hello mother, how are you? - I asked politely just before bowing. She seemed happy that I was learning etiquette so fast. Today her parents would come for a visit for the first time since I was born, and she wanted to show them her new son. I wonder if they will be happy or scared to see a person that has barely learned how to talk or walk being polite, I keep it simple, so I think nobody overthinks it too much.
-My little baby, did you have a good night of sleep? - She hugged and placed me on my chair, different from the others, so that I could have the table by my reach despite my height, then kissed me multiple times.
-Yes mom. I’m hungry.
Mother putted some fruits on my plate and started talking with the head maiden about the preparations to receive her parents. All of our 4 employes have been working their hardest for the past week by mother’s orders, her parents are the lords of a small town to south, which doesn’t mean a thing to mother, since she is married to father and her older brother is going to inherit the land, she has no rights over it, not that she really cares, she says taking care of a city is troublesome. I don’t think it is, but then again, the city I did own in my old world was not fully ruled by me, I gave the orders and John took care of things, besides, there was never a money issue with the help of the organization, or power issue, with the help of the local militia.
A few minutes later sister showed up for breakfast, politely sitting after telling us good morning. Mother asked her how were her studies and some other questions to keep the conversation up.
-I’ve just learned yesterday how to make a small torch of light! - Sister almost yelled out of excitement. She focused on her hands and a few seconds later a small ball of light appeared.
-Congratulations! Mother is really happy for you Vayja! - Mother kissed my sister on the cheek.
-Congratulations Vayja!
Actually she sucks as a magician. Brother has great potential, which is to be expected, since he is mother’s and father’s son, and both excel at the use of magic energy, but sister is another story, it’s normal for people to develop magic abilities after 6 years of age, again, brother developed his a little after turning 5, and that’s awesome, but sister is 9 and just last year she began to be able to do basic magic. Mother believes she may be able to do basic magic when she becomes an adult with enough effort.
Vayja smiles, but soon it fades away as she remembers nobody should be happy with so little magic potential. It makes me sad to see her like this, noticing that mother tries to cheer her up by telling Vayja magic isn’t that important. In general, the better your magic skills, the higher your position in society is, there are some exceptions to this rule, like if you are the king, or very rich, in both cases you can just hire someone strong enough to ensure your power.