One thing was for sure: Racism would have a hard time existing in this world.
Mom finally took me outside the house when I was a few months old, and oh boy was it a wild ride. People who looked mostly human (like mom) were actually a minority, with crazy colored hair and even odd skin color being among the most minor differences (mutations?) that I could see.
One constant was that everyone I saw was primarily humanoid in shape, but aside from that it seemed to be all over the map. For example, I saw a man and woman walking along with a toddler between them holding their hands, and none of them looked alike at all. The man was covered in fur from head to toe, and had oversized feet that were so large he either couldn't wear shoes or choose not to; the woman had swirling patterns of black and white scales and a long tail sticking out of the back of her dress, which was coiled loosely around the child’s waist; the kid between them looked pretty normal, except for the fact that he was completely bald and had a series of stubby horns running along the top of his head (which looked pretty cool, actually).
It made absolutely no sense to me, of course, but very little had since getting on that damn airplane, so I decided to just accept it. Everyone looked different from everybody else, but nobody cared. Families also didn’t seem to share any obvious physical traits, though my walk was brief and I had only seen a few dozen people. As far as I knew it could be just our one isolated village that was like this.
We lived in what I would consider either a large village or a small town, and it seemed surprisingly well-made, but I didn’t see even a hint of modern manufacturing. It was more like an old European village than anything else I could think of. Construction was primarily stone and wood, while the streets were finely cobbled with stones of varying sizes all carefully placed in an artistically random fashion.
I found myself starting to get more and more adjusted to my new life as time passed, although if it wasn’t for mom’s constant presence and glowing smiles I might a lot less welcome. She sure liked to yell at Jaws, but I found it genuinely pleasant to be around her, which made my abrupt transition from an independent adult to a helpless infant a lot easier to handle.
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A few weeks later I felt something shift in my mind when I drifted off to sleep, as if I had recalled something that had been bothering me for months, and I could finally completely relax and fall deep, deep into slumber.
It was not like anything I had ever felt before - as if everything was right with the world, truly and completely. When I awoke I felt amazing, energized, and ready to face my new life with renewed vigor!
In fact... my sleep was too good, and I felt so great that it quickly caused cognitive dissonance with the memories of my previous life; things like that didn't just 'happen', and something strange was going on. In a way, it reminded me of when I was prescribed t-3s after a serious skiing injury, and I felt like everything was great even though I was still injured and in pain - contentment, but without any identifiable reason behind it. This felt like that... but different, as if it was less hollow, more real.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I looked around my crib, which was well made from sturdy polished wood, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. What did I suddenly remember last night? I recalled the sensation, but I seemed to have forgotten whatever it was again, and I found myself thinking that it must not be all the important.
Which again caused cognitive dissonance with my previous 20-odd years of memory. Why would I think it wasn't important? It was obviously pretty strange, and nothing like it had ever happened to me in my previous life, so dismissing it like that didn't make much sense.
I struggled to focus through the feelings of relaxation and contentment that were still flowing through my body, and then it suddenly came to me - the book the celestial had given me! Where had it gone, anyway?
And then I knew... and then I blacked out...
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Mom was holding me when I woke up this time, and I saw her expression go from worry to a smile so brilliant that I smiled back at her. She hugged and kissed me for a while, speaking to me in a soft but urgent way that I hadn't heard from her before. I wondered if I had slept too long, and that made me remember the book, which made me start to feel like I was about to fall into a void again.
I quickly tried to focus on mom's face and drag my mind away from the abyss of the book, and I found it easier than I expected. I still knew it was there, but as long as I didn't put effort into thinking about it, or remembering what it looked like, I would only get a little dizzy when.
At least there didn't seem to be any lasting damage, and being slightly disoriented just made me act more like a normal baby anyway. At least mom seemed fine with it, and we quickly slipped back to our normal routine.
However, the next time I went to sleep the same thing happened again - the strange sensation of remembering something, then a deep sleep, then feeling amazing the next morning - except this time I remembered the book, and that I should avoid thinking about it too deeply. I still got dizzy every time my mind involuntarily brought it into focus (trying not to think about something on purpose is quite hard, it turns out), but at least I had a temporary solution.
The situation remained more or less the same over the next few weeks, but after almost a month I started to notice that the book seemed a lot clearer now whenever it popped into my head, especially right after I woke up, and I was less affected by the pull of the dark void of unconsciousness. I still had to be careful if I didn't want to pass out, but it was getting easier and easier to deal with, which was nice.
I wondered if I was just too young, or if there was some other issue going on. Thinking back to what the Celestial had told us, the book contained a way to absorb and refine the energy of the universe. Maybe my body was just too weak to handle that kind of strain, or the book needed some time before it was ready.
Either way, waking up feeling like a million dollars was worth the occasional bouts of dizziness, for now, so I decided to just bide my time and see how things were in a month or two.