When the being that was once the old man woke up he found himself floating in a black space. Nothing was in here, except for the being himself. And even he didn’t have a real body but was more like a floating blob of consciousness.

‘Is this death?’, he asked himself. Strangely this thought didn’t disturb him at all. Somehow all he could feel was peace, as if every worry he ever had had been washed away. Thinking that it may not be that bad at all he began to think about what had happened.

The betrayal of Xiao Feng wasn’t all that unexpected for him. In truth he had already been worried for something like that to happen. In the last few years, as he got closer and closer to the old man in terms of power and more independent, there had been signs of him planning such a thing. But he had believed in his ability to deal with Feng. The early bonding with the treasure was more of a security to stop him stealing it and escaping and not really in case of an assassination. But the jubilant mood he had been in had clouded his mind and so he had ended up drinking the poisoned wine. Maybe it would have been better to kill him when he first had noticed his plans, but he was one of the few people close to the old man. He couldn’t force himself to do it and instead he had hoped that Feng would change, even though he knew it was unlikely.

He sighed in his mind. Was this how a father would feel if his son betrayed him? He and Xiao Feng weren’t related, but they had known each other for so long that he certainly felt that way.

Suddenly a new sensation interrupted his thoughts. A deep tiredness came over him like a wave. He tried to fight against it, but it was futile and his consciousness faded.

When he woke up he was back in the darkness. But there was a difference this time. He had a body again! He couldn’t make out details, just that it was humanoid. Did that mean that he wasn’t dead? Was he alive again? Confusion muddled his thoughts as he tried to figure out the situation.

Before he could find out more about these changes a sudden shift seemed to pulse through the darkness. A light appeared on one side of his view and he could feel himself drifting closer. But as he was coming closer another feeling appeared.

Pain. Wave after wave of pain came over him, a crushing pressure from all sides. He let out a groan, but suddenly noticed that he couldn’t breathe, his mouth was filled with water. Panicking a bit he began to wiggle his way closer to the light. Somehow he got a feeling that he had to reach it, no matter the cost. Bit by bit he drew closer. And then…

With a last push he reached the light. Immediately he could feel the feeling of air surrounding him. He coughed a bit before he took a deep breath. Air filled his lungs, stale and filled with a strange chemical scent, but air nonetheless. It made him feel truly alive once more.

Getting curious he opened his eyes, but his sight was blurry and he couldn’t discern any shapes. The same for his other senses, they were numb and useless. He could hear voices near him, but they were echoing and too blurry to understand anything. After a moment he felt himself getting grabbed by something. He stiffened, but after a few seconds he could feel how he got covered in a large piece of cloth. It got rubbed a few times over his body which felt quite uncomfortable with his dulled senses and he gave out a sound of protest. That continued for a bit before he got laid down and he had finally time to acclimate to his body.

His body felt heavy and foreign. He wasn’t even sure if he could move if he tried. Anyway, at least the pain was gone. Only after several minutes his senses finally started to clear up and he was able to see where he was.

He was lying inside a small bed in a large room. Its white walls were illuminated by the light of several large light sources on the ceiling. Strange furniture littered the walls and the ground. The walls themselves were made from a strange stone that looked different than anything he had ever seen before. All in all it gave the whole room a foreign and strangely dead or rather barren appearance.

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Just as he was diverted by the sight of the room he felt himself suddenly being grabbed and lifted in the air.

‘Oi! What are you doing! Unhand me!”

He wanted to scream and struggle out of the grab, but being in a new, unfamiliar body it ended in uncontrolled flailing her arms and legs and a yell that wasn’t even an excuse for any kind discernable language, though it was definitely loud enough to show his displeasure. While he was lamenting the weakness of his new body he was turned around and finally got a look at the one who had grabbed him.

‘A giant? No, looks too much like a human for that, not disfigured enough. Though his face… Maybe a Halfling? No, he’s too big for that.’

The man grinned down, which looked pretty strange with a face like his. He probably didn’t even look that bad originally, but there were quite obvious signs that he didn’t have a peaceful past. His nose had been broken and healed wrong at least 2 times and there were some scars that crisscrossed over his face, albeit they had almost faded. It made the being think of him as an older mortal soldier, definitely not a cultivator, else those scars would have healed perfectly if they weren’t magical. With a strange gaze in his green eyes the man looked down at him who felt a shudder running down his spine and tried to struggle more. Whatever that gaze meant, he was sure it wasn’t good. Ignoring his efforts to escape the giant opened his mouth and spoke with a deep, rumbling voice.

“It’s a boy.”

Hearing this he stopped moving, confused. The voice was clearly speaking in a strange language, completely different than any he had ever heard in his old life. And yet he could understand its meaning clearly. Aside from that, wasn’t this situation strangely familiar? Somehow he had to think back towards the birth of his nephew.

‘Wait… could it be? I’ve been reborn?’

Rebirth or reincarnation wasn’t an unknown for him. Back in his old life he had once met one reincarnated individual. And in the higher worlds, which he had never visited but heard a lot about, there were even several clans that were completely focused on reincarnation. They utilized strange cultivation methods that allowed them to come back in a new form again and again, rejecting death itself. Admittedly, there were not much of those clans and they were very secretive, but it still proved the possibility of such things.

It was a perfect explanation. The person here was no giant, but an adult while he was a baby, obviously there would be a difference in size. Also the strange room was explainable. He was probably inside a world he had never visited before, some differences were to be expected. The same for the language, while most worlds shared the same common language there were still innumerable dialects that were unknown to him. The only problem with this explanation was his lack of a cultivation method that dealt with reincarnation like the clans had. Sure sometimes there were some lucky person who managed to reincarnate without it and there were some powerful cultivators who were rumored to be able to do the same, but he had been much too weak for that. He wouldn’t bet on luck being the reason either. Instead he had a suspicion that it had to do with the artefact that had led to this whole mess. He could remember that it had reacted when he had died, so maybe it was some kind of safety? If the user dies it would reincarnate him? Not really what you would expect to be added in a weapon, but he didn’t have another explanation either.

His thoughts got interrupted when the man, who he now assumed was his father, moved and gave him to another person. This new person was an older looking woman, probably some kind of midwife or healer. She cleaned him with a towel before giving him back towards his father, who looked down at him with a loving gaze.

“Say hello to dad”

‘I’m a baby you idiot, I can’t speak yet’, remarked the being in his mind. He originally had wanted to retort directly, but remembered that he was a baby and as such would be unable to speak. As he thought this he came over another problem. How should he behave? He was a several thousand year old immortal in the body of a baby, weak and helpless. It would probably for the best if he hid his past, at least until he could gain some strength. So for now he had to appear as natural as possible.

…What the hell was natural behavior for a baby? He had always seen them as useless small bundles of stink and vomit and not really looked how they behaved. Frowning he looked at his father. Maybe he should just smile?

He tried it and could feel a slight grin forming. It felt slightly strange, maybe because he was just born and wasn’t used to this body, maybe because he didn’t smile that much in his past life. Either way, it was a success as his father smiled back before he handed me to someone I couldn’t see.

When he was turned around he could see a young woman was holding him. Her flaming red hairs were glued at her forehead by sweat, but even though she looked clearly exhausted she had a bright smile and her blue eyes shone full of love as she looked at him. Clearly this was his mother. She looked at him and said with a melodious voice:

“He looks so cute. What should we call him?”

“Didn’t we already talk about it? I’m still for Ezekiel”

“You were drunk when you thought of that, weren’t you? No way that I’ll call my son something like that. How about Jack? Jack Erikson, that sounds at least normal.”

“Can’t we take it at least as a second –“

“No, definitely not!”

Dejected his father hung his head. Seeing this the being – Jack smirked. It was fairly obvious who the ruler in this relationship was. A bit strange considering most couples in his old lives were dominated by the male part, but it was definitely amusing.

Anyway, he was quite content with the name. It sounded foreign and a bit strange to him, but at least it wasn’t like the unnecessary long name that he had in his past life. Not that he had used it that much in the last couple centuries, but a short name like this was definitely better.

He had to yawn as a feeling of sleepiness came over him, the stress from being born made itself noticeable. Slowly his eyes closed and he fell asleep.