I traveled along a white plane, and if I had a body, I would imagine my hair being whipped back, skin and eyes pressed flat against my body due to great speed. As it was however, I just had the perception of going very fast. Suddenly, it all stopped, and with a pop of pressure, I felt my mind settle into something. Everything went black, but I felt something attached to me. Were those… Hands? I had a body! I had gone so long without one I almost forgot what it felt like. With a cry, I attempted to shout my triumph and move my new body. Except, that’s not what happened. A sound suspiciously like the wail of a baby sounded out and my arms and legs just flailed around a bit. Oh no. This better not be what I think this is I thought with a sinking feeling in my gut. A soft sheet was wrapped around me, and I was placed in another person's arms. “Congratulations Lord and Lady Shan! He’s a healthy boy! And by what I sense from his Ki channels, the ritual worked! ” My suspicions confirmed, I tried to open my eyes and tried again to speak, and again a baby's wail pierced through the room. My eyes opened, I was finally able to look around, and what I found confused me. Forget being birthed, did I just get summoned by a demonic ritual? An honest to god ritual circle complete with the full roster of weird crystal candles, unknown purple powder, and glass-looking orbs surrounded me and the people I assumed were my parents, The person holding me – my mother?-- was an auburn haired beauty with bright green eyes and a heart shaped face. The person standing over the women holding me had brown hair with bright, fractured blue eyes, and bronze skin. The man smiled at me and said “What should his name be my love? It should be something strong and true, as he is the future of our family” The woman continued to look at me with a tender smile before saying “How about Xien? The name of the founder of our family.” The man looked up with a thoughtful “Hmmmmm” Before nodding with a smile “Yes, Xien Shan has a nice ring to it.” He turned to another person in the room I had missed, the person stood partially in the shadows up against the right wall of the room, so I couldn’t see their face. “Emissary. Let it be known that the heir to the Shan family will henceforth be known as Xien Shan” The shadowy figure nodded before disappearing with a bang of sound, and rushing air. I shouted in surprise, but it came out as a wail Damn baby body! I railed internally as my father and mother tried to comfort me. Looking around, I again saw someone I had missed on my initial room scan, he seemed to be cleaning up the ritual circle. My eyes widened as wind circled the room, sweeping the dust, orbs, candles, and the circle itself inside a small bag. It might have been my imagination, but the bag looked too small for all that to be placed inside. I started to feel my eyes droop, being birthed apparently too much for my newborn body to handle. “Let me take him to the nursery so you can rest” The man with brown hair – my father? I was still very confused about what to think about that– took me up in his arms, and carried me away to a door on the far side of the room. As we walked out of the room, we walked down luxurious hallways with red carpet, gold veins running along the walls accompanied by jade veins. Just what kind of family is this? I thought, gazing around in wonder, as my eyes drooped further. We walked a few more feet before coming to another room, where we entered. The room had a few cribs, with a bunch of toys littering the floor. They were all wood or a weird green substance that looked squishy, but before I got to look further, My father placed me in one of the cribs. I swear, it was the most comfortable thing I’ve ever laid down on, and I fell asleep almost instantly.

I awoke slowly, the blankets covering my form warm and very comfortable. “No I don’t wanna get up” I mumbled, trying to roll over and fall back asleep. Instead, A small “Wa waaa wa” came out and I just kind of flopped around. What the hell is going on? Where am I? Why does my voice sound like that? Huh? The tide of questions and disorientation came to an end as I remembered what had happened. The car crash. The void. The presence and being born again, and falling asleep in a crib. I looked around again to find a person in a plain black and white dress hurrying over to my crib, with a bowl of something in hand. Oooh I hope that’s food! I’m starving! Being a baby was hard work after all. Indeed, the bowl was food, some sort of apple sauce that had an odd zing to it that made it delicious. Being hand fed was slightly embarrassing, but considering the near zero motor control I had right now, I was grateful. All embarrassment faded as the first bite reached my tongue, as well as tasting delicious, the food energized me like a shot of pure caffeine, tearing the last remnants of sleepiness to shreds. After finishing, the girl left quickly, and I pondered how to use this time. First off, I'm going to hold off on telling my new parents about being reincarnated. I'm assuming having memories from your past life is very unusual, I don’t know how they'll react, and this is a world of moving fast enough to break the sound barrier and magic after all. next should be motor control, as this flopping around is horrible. I need to find out about this world as well, I don’t want to continue being completely ignorant for much longer. Mind made up, I started to move, feeling out my new body for the first time. As I suspected and knew, my motor control was zilch, with anything even remotely dexterous being out of the question. Slowly moving my arms, I found everything was… delayed. From when I wanted to move to when the movement actually happened was delayed, and was constantly messing me up. Whether this was a response to being reincarnated with all my memories or just because I was a baby, I had no way of knowing. Continuing my slow movements I started to reduce the delay a little bit. Not much, barely enough to be noticeable in fact, but it did reduce. After only 10 minutes or so, my eyes felt heavy again, and though I tried to fight it, sleep soon took me.

I awoke again, thirsty and still full. Guess I haven't been asleep that long. It would be nice to get some water though. As if summoned by my thoughts, the lady with the dress came into the room by the same unknown side-room with a bottle of some strange blue milk. Okay, I don’t care how thirsty I am, I am not drinking that. I thought silently as the women came closer. Unfortunately, my body didn’t care how messed up drinking glowing blue milk was and betrayed me the moment the liquid touched my lips, and it slid down my throat thickly. I didn’t care how gross the texture was though, because the moment I tasted it, I started chugging it because the stuff was damn good. It tasted like mint ice cream with a mix of chocolate too. Apparently my ferocity with drinking surprised the women, as she raised her eyebrows a little bit and said with a smile “Well, you're an aggressive one aren't you?” she swiped aside a small bit of the stuff off my face. I blushed a little and she raised her eyebrows a bit more. Oh, right, Babies don’t blush. I want more of that stuff though, it was deliciou- And what comes up, must go down. The aftertaste hit the back of my throat like a ton of bricks, and I gagged and gave a fitting wail of disgust. It was as if a dog had decided the back of my throat was a wonderful area to take a dump, and I almost vomited, but held my bile back. The lady chuckled “Finally hit you eh? That’s the problem with alchemical solutions, the aftertaste is horrid.” Am I an experiment? Alchemical solutions being given to a baby does not sound safe at all. The taste faded, and the woman was turning to leave when I felt a familiar feeling not at all welcome in my current form. Unfortunately, babies didn’t seem to have the capability of holding in nature's call, and my diaper filled quickly. Blushing again as the lady turned around and walked back over and said “Guess your parents don’t pay me for nothing I guess” Wait, was this lady a housemaid or nursemaid? Guess that makes sense since neither of my parents are taking care of me. I yelped in surprise as I was lifted, not by hands, but by a warm wind before being efficiently de-diapered, cleaned up, and re-diapered in around 30 seconds. I was then gently placed back in my crib where I lay, processing my exciting? Traumatizing? Delightful? First close up experience with magic. Definitely not delightful I decided with a dazed look. Apparently too much for my frail body to handle I fell asleep again with barely a warning.

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I woke up again being rocked, and surprised, opened my eyes to see my mothers face over me. She looked down, feeling me shift, and smiled when she saw me awake. She was wearing an expensive looking gold and green dress that complemented her eyes and accentuated her beauty. She had earrings with diamonds the size of my older body's thumb, surrounded by sapphires. She also wore gloves with gold thread delicately tracing the fingers and forearms, and had a net of pearls on her hair.. She looked back up and called “Cho, dear, Xie’s awake!” A call answered her and a minute later my father walked up to us, also wearing an expensive looking suit, with green and gold trim, and an emblem of a phoenix inside a swirl pattern over his right chest, and his hair was tied back into a neat man-bun, with the sides of his hair trimmed down shorter than the top. He had a bejeweled katana on his hip, the light refracting of its hilt creating small rainbows. “Ready dear? This is a big occasion.” My father –Cho I knew now– asked my mother. “Of course, the central branch now has an heir, and he should grow into a strong and proud heir to the Shan” I looked around at the room, the same luxurious decorations adorning the walls, and paintings of people lined the walls. A large archway was situated at the rightmost wall, and it led to another hallway ending in a large set of double doors. “Indeed, and look at his curiosity at only a day old already! It’s remarkable!” As my parents continued to go back and forth about this so-called event for a few minutes, while I was nursing a growing suspicion that I had just been born to a family of nobles. Not only that, it seemed that I was the heir to the whole noble house. I smiled happily at the thought that I wouldn’t be wanting for money or influence in this new life and settled further into my mothers arms. My mother smiled down at me again while my father took me from her arms and spun me around while smiling. For the first time in a very long time, I smiled as a long forgotten emotion filled me. The love of a mother and father for their child. A man with black hair and a gold and green accented suit with the same emblem as my fathers, just smaller, walked into the room and said “Lord and Lady Shan, all the guests and branch families have arrived. Please follow me” My parents nodded, and my mother waved her hand. A small 3 foot half sphere of solid fire appeared and I jumped a little, still not used to the regular usage of magic. My dad side eyed me, probably wondering at the strange reaction and I internally kicked myself for the slip. My mom flicked her fingers, hollowing out the half sphere, before filling it with blankets and pillows from who knows where. My father put me in the nest of blankets, despite my struggles to not be put inside a hollow ball of solid fire and despite my misconceptions, just like the blankets and pillows, I didn’t go up in flames. My father marched us through the large archway, and towards the giant double doors, me and my “chariot” floating along beside my mom. Pushing them open with one hand, my father walked us into a massive ballroom with crystal chandeliers, glowing crystals that floated to different levels, swirling designs of jade, gold, and white marble along the walls, making the whole room feel grand, expensive, and ostentatious, which was probably the point considering the people I saw within. People who, upon seeing me and my parents, stopped and bowed towards us. People with expensive looking tailored suits and dresses, with the women adorned with rings, necklaces, and delicate gloves. I felt my jaw drop a little before stopping myself. I had never been in the presence of so much wealth in my life! My father spread his arms, and with the gesture, a slight presence filled the room, it pressed down on everyone slightly, just enough to be noticed. Cho smiled, and announced “Good evening branch families! Today is a wonderful day, as my son, Xie Shan, the heir to the Shan family, was just born yesterday, and I am sure he will grow to be a powerful and respected leader and cultivator! So please, let us enjoy each other’s company, and celebrate the continued future for the Shan. So by the four gods of heaven, earth, life, and time, let this Celebration of Life begin!” With that, a band in the corner started playing an upbeat, catchy tune, and people started mingling. Servers with silver trays moved through the crowd, offering drinks and finger food to the many nobles. My mother and father, being no exception to the crowd, moved through together, arm in arm, while my mother pulled my fire orb closer to her. They began to mingle with the others, giving compliments and graciously accepting them in turn, while giving every opportunity to show me off like the prized bull I was starting to feel like. About to close my eyes and try to fall asleep, I heard my father talking to someone about me, but he had called him “brother”, which would make him my uncle. He had the same brown hair as my father, as well as the same strong, chiseled jaw. His nose looked slightly crooked, as if it had been broken once or twice, and his eyes were a deep amber, sharing the fractal quality my dad had. He was tall and wiry, but the rippling muscle beneath his well tailored black suit belied his strength. The man smiled down at me when he saw me looking, and walked over to me. “Xie, meet your uncle, Taburn, meet Xie, your grandson” My father introduced us. Thinking it a bit weird to introduce a toddler, I still went with it, staring up at my grandfather. Uncle Tab as I had immediately dubbed him said in a rich, deep tone his frame didn’t hint to at all said “Finally! I have been waiting for years for a grandson! Can’t believe you made me wait this long to have one! At least he seems to have taken the best of you and Timara though” With a start, I realized I hadn’t even seen myself yet. “Too early to tell right now Tab, although it does seem that way. So I'm sure you're right” Uncle Tab scoffed at my dad’s words “Bah! You worry too much Cho, He’ll be fine!” My uncle and dad talked for a while more while my mother talked with the other ladies. I switched back and forth, meeting my cousins, aunts, uncles, and even what equivalates to godparents on earth, called dao parents, who were basically my elders on the path of cultivation until I surpassed them or something like that. I hadn’t really paid attention to that part. They were both middle aged, and the man was named Aku, and his wife was named Chen. They seemed nice enough, but they were a little bit dismissive and left a bit after the introduction. Eventually, as the celebration died down, and I had set a new record for how long I had been awake for (2 hours somehow), my mother walked me out of the room. Once we were out of sight, she dismissed the cup of fire after pulling me out. The blankets and pillows disappeared before they started falling, and I heard her mutter something about “power plays”. So that's what that was! That whole thing was a power play within the Noble house. Interesting. I continued to contemplate this as we walked back to the nursery. Inevitably though, 2 hours seemed to be my max, and I drifted off to sleep.