January 10th 2020, unspecified Japanese city.
----------------------------------------
Life in Japan will be easy! They said.
It has great views! They said.
So why it's not easy! Michael cursed to himself as he miscounted and didn't have enough money to buy snacks from the vending machine.
He moved to Japan after watching countless animes, reading countless mangas. It hasn't paid off yet. Michael was slapped by reality far quicker than he had possibly predicted, life in Japan is demanding.
Considering he allowed animes and mangas distortion of his perception to the point where he felt confident moving to Japan with minimal savings, he's irritated that every probability is against him as a foreigner.
Dammit! He curses under his nose again, staring at his reflection in the glass.
He hums a tune to himself to calm himself as he goes across a narrow bridge, then comes to a halt for a time. The views are truly wonderful, and that much cannot be denied, he liked it. The mountain in the distance, along with the small river with clear water, and the fish in it. Only if he had been wealthier and prepared more for a stress-free life would things have turned out different, easier.
But the truth is that he is in desperate need of money. Almost all of his savings have been depleted, if this continues, he will be unable to pay the rent in a few weeks. The time is ticking against him.
I need a job. He mutters to himself resignated as he wanders towards home.
He lives in a humble apartment, which isn't ideal, but at least he's not cold. He stops at a crosswalk, looks both ways and walks... he hears a roar of engine, not slowing closer and closer to him until a loud crash can be heard, a car hits him, and he flies at least 10 meters from the crosswalk.
His mind goes blank from the pain, and utter shock.
What? A simple question resonates within his mind.
At glance, his life has been pathetic, no girlfriend, no sustainable income, and now he lays there on the ground. His body has been broken in multiple places, and he has trouble breathing. Ideally, an ambulance would arrive, but it would need to be called upon first. The driver departs the scene, leaving Michel pondering just about how he ended there in life, until he can't think any longer, as his eyes close on their own and the pain fades.
It's chilly and dark. He cannot see his body when he looks down, all he can see is the endless darkness. He can't even hear or smell anything. It's just eerily cold, nothing seems to emerge from this never-ending, icy abyss.
Is this how the afterlife looks like? He ponders.
Unknown date, unknown city.
----------------------------------------
A few minutes, hours, days, or longer go by. It's impossible to pinpoint a precise moment, to Michel, it seemed like eons. Until a tiny light started to show. In an unusual tongue, he hears some unfamiliar female and male voices.
He opens his eyes to see, a small room, it seems like a hospital, the walls are white, spotless, everything seems sterile. He tries to stand up, but he finds himself unable to, as he looks around, there appear to be a lady beside him, sleeping. She was holding him, unquestionably exhausted.
Where am I? Is a question he asks himself demanding an anwser from something, and thus far, he encounters more questions than answers.
He sighs, helpless to do anything else.
Few days go by, and it's clear now, he has been 'reincarnated', his 'new' name is "Caimraig", or at least he thinks it is, being unable to understand the language makes information gathering harder than anticipated, but they do refer to him by that word.
His fathers face, as always stoic, showing little to no emotion, but Michel can notice a small smirk forming on his lips as he sees him. He still doesn't know his name, or his mother's for the matter, and he doesn't really care, but assuming from the uniform he appears to be a soldier, the uniform is unrecognizable to Michel. It resembles a dot camouflage, he's not expert on camouflages, but it's strangely comparable to German one.
Taken back in time? Michel confused looks around.
No. He contemplates in his own head.
Yes, it's true that it can't possibly be a reincarnation to the past. The technology is new and far too "advanced" for that era, it is somewhat similar, but not quite. The medical equipment appears to be powered by a glowing stone rather than electricity, even though the light above appears to be normal.
At the same time, there are no phones, laptops, or televisions in anywhere, all he hears is beeping of medical equipment and traffic outside the window which gets his attention.
He notices an unusual flag outside the window flying high above, likely from a government building, with a triple-headed golden eagle on a black-and-red background.
Days pass and his new 'family', which he still is unable to recognize as such, he doesn't want to suffer, again. They take him somewhere, he's assuming to their house.
Where else would they take me? He chuckles in his mind.
After a long drive, of being stuck in traffic, they take him into an apartment, it appears to be more on the outskirts of the city, the cars and architecture are straight out of 40s-50s. And many soldiers appear to be stationed all across the city, in the same uniform his father is in.
The apartment itself is quite big, tidy and warm feeling. They take him into his room, as Micheal assumes, it's well, childlike. A lot of animals on the walls, some unrecognizable, some seemingly normal.
September 20th, Imperial year 231, Aldenos the Imperial Capital.
----------------------------------------
It's been 7 years since Caimraigs reincarnation, his surname is Reinhardt as he had found out, hes the son of Angelina Reinhardt and Tobias Reinhardt. The language is called Aldoranus, the city he was born and lives is Aldenos, and the country Aldoran. It's an Imperial state, meaning it has royalty, the country is new, but in only 231 years of its existence it made itself known as a militaristic, and expansionist state.
It's located in the outskirts of the continent. In this world only one supermassive continent exist with lots of islands around the world, big and small, 100s of countries exist on it, most unrecognized by countries, Aldoran being one of the stronger ones. Countries divide into three groups, minor power, a state and supermassive state, Aldoran counting into the third one, due to its rethorics and a few big wars gaining its reputation among the other states.
And a new war appears to be on the horizon, at least from what he had deciphered from the newspaper with "New era of war?" as its headline, left by his mother unattended, it says that the wide country of Britannia, which is a superstate with giant navy that feels threatened by the Aldorans expansion of its own navy, Aldoran though does not feel sympathetic about the idea of lessening their focus on it, stating that "It is their right to do so.". She's clearly worried by the coming storm, he had no idea if she's worried about him, herself or her husband, or all of the above, though one seems to be clear, ever since the escalation on the political levels his father is not home much, apparently he's an 'Oberst' of the 22th division, 2nd regiment, Imperial infantry.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Caimraig himself is worried, after all if war happens, his stability in life will be shaken to the core, and something tells him his life won't be easy, with or without war, and if his father dies as much as he still didn't develop proper relationship with him, his livelihood will be endangered, he earns good money and his mother cares about his father, and Caimraig came to care about his mother, after all she feeds him, provides for him, and shows affection for him, countless times.
I cannot let myself be manipulated again. He promises himself, remembering the unfortunate past life.
His mother seems to cope with the situation, good, or relativly good. He constantly sees her cooking something for him, just cleaning or looking out of the window. She doesn't really read the newspapers, so its rare for him to gain on information as much as he did today.
At least she has something to do. He thinks as she pretends to play with toys, after all, he's still a kid, or well, in a body of one.
But the longer he thinks about the situation, the more he thinks this is some kind of joke, being reincarnated into a world of war and hate. Where his stability is about to be in shambles, he hates it. It's always the politicians - this time the royalty making conflict and the families being hurt, is what his perception is yelling at him.
To Caimraig it's clear that war will happen, not if, but when. The significant mobilization, absence of his father, the constantly moving armies near his home, and the much increased amount of propaganda and call to arm posters as his mother takes him for walks. It's too clear what will happen, why everyone is so calm about it?
He sees soldiers marching with their heavy boots, singing and humming happily national tunes. Their uniform consist of the dot pattern, a some kind of standard issued bolt-action rifles, similiar to K98k, their boots are shining, probably cleaned not so long ago.
The posters themselves claim that Aldoran as an independent state has rights to military buildup as much as they want to, they show a soldier with a gun pointed at a flag of Britannia, public seems to be stupid enough to accept such reasons.
Figures. He sighs.
In Caimraigs mind, it's all nonsense, war only leads to loss, no matter how you look at it, it's meaningless for Caimraig. And no hope seems to be on the horizon, he wants to curse all those masses of what he thinks are, imbeciles, agreeing to all this, It's just unthinkable to him.
At least he won't be directly involved in the conflict, but who knows what will happen when the times get desperate? There also is a youth paramilitary organization, which Caimraig think of as nothing more than indoctrination division for kids.
People just want blood, they want to prove that they are better than everyone else, hence their agreement to the stupidest reasons propaganda gives, is how he explains it to himself. His mother seems to worry only about him and his father, seemingly not onboard with the propaganda, at least from what he noticed.
That's good. I don't want an indoctrinated mother, it's a receipt for disaster. He shakes his head lightly while looking up at his mother as they are walking.
She's a blonde woman in his early 30s, her face is pretty, makeup made well, her green eyes shine in the sunlight with a gentle glow. But that gives him a reason to think.
Given Caimraig age, it is not out of the question that he might be forced to join the paramilitary organization, to 'educate' himself on imperial ways. As such he rather just proclaim his want to join the military, probably effectively avoiding the organization, he assumes that out of the experience as he saw a few kids already do that, he doesn't appriciate the idea of being 'enlisted' into the damn indoctrination division. But that brings risks in the future, as he will probably be expected to really join the military.
My father is an officer, I am sure I will have it lightly. He happily thinks as he stares out of the window appriciating the bird view of the traffic down below.
March 9th, Imperial year 238, Aldenos the Imperial Capital.
----------------------------------------
Caimraig turned 14 this year, it's an age of which he needs to choose his high school, given that his father is in the military, and the pay is good, so far no war had happened after all - to his amazement, after all the Aldorans did almost everything to provoke Britannia, but given the hard circumstances they are in, the probably just search for good moment of weakness from the Empire or for alliances, either way he doesn't like this.
After a thrughout thinking about his future, he choose a military high school with officer academy right after.
It cannot be that bad, with a father in the army, I just might get special treatmen. He giggles to himself.
If he has to suffer, he rather have some degree to manipulate his fate. Being civilian in a war that doesn't care about them, is a death sentence.
Though as he told his mother the idea of it, she immidietly looked startled with worried expriession on her face. Even though they are close, they do not speak much at all.
What is wrong with this family and this country? He mutters annoyed under his breath, as he looks at the celling.
He tries to find any different reason to give himself other than wanting to manipulate his fate if war comes. But he cannot find any, perhaps to protect his mother? No. He found himself to be quite the selfish invidiual looking at people no more than resources he can use to provide himself good life he oh so longs for, and his mother just just another asset to use as is his father.
Glory in the blazes of war. He stares out of the window.
War will bring suffering, damage, and all that yes. But if he was to join military? It would speed up his career by 10 fold, just a few decorations, and he can live out a safe and happy life. What is a few years of suffering in exchange for the rest of his life liven in glory?
He will forge his own fate if he has to, he will use whoever he needs to inorder to archive that. Who cares about being good if it only will bring misery in the long game.
"Sweetie! Dinner is ready." Brings him out of his thoughts, it's his mother.
"Coming." He says with calm voice, perhaps too calm for his age.
As he comes down, he sees his mother prepering dinner, for only them two, again.
He alredy has been accustomed to the lack of his father, military is unforgivin in such times after all.
"Come eat.", his mother points at the chair in the kitchen.
Caimraig sits on the pointed chair, looking at his mother seeing she's anxious about something, shes slightly moving around, tapping her foot.
"Caimraig... please rethink your... military carrer.", his mother says out of the blue, with worried look.
"I am sorry mother, I won't. It's a great ocassion, I am sure father will help me." He says while looking at her, she looks back at him, with sad and shocked look in her eyes, as she quietly sits down.
I am not leaving my fate on a cliff to fall. He shakes his head.
The rest of the dinner was quiet, uncomfortable even, he came to his room, looked out of the window, happy how its all slowly coming along after all. His school starts just in a month, the die was cast.