So much noise! And I was in such a good sleep too! I almost feel like crying... This place is too bright- HEY! Stop moving me aroun- DON'T YOU SLAP ME! Take this! HA, YAH... Dammit, can't reach them...
Tsk, just wait until I open my eyes, I'll show you a slap... Oh? Someone's hugging me... Or should I call it holding? These people are huge...
*Yawn* so sleepy... I'll worry about the giants later, for now, back to sleep it is...
~ PoV change~
"Congratulations! It's a big baby boy!" Said the midwife while she held up a baby. Right after she gave a short frown before lightly slapping the newborn on his buttocks. "Oh?" she exclaimed when instead of crying, the baby shouted while trying to hit her with his tiny hands. "HAHAHA! The boy's a fighter!"
"Lana, stop goofing around and give me my child." Said a tired woman lying down nearby while being attended by maids that cleaned her and her bed.
"Just a moment, my lady." Answered Lana with a big smile while she cleaned the baby boy before handing him over to his mother.
Just then the door to the room opened in a rush as a man walked with a tense look on his face, "Is it done? Is something wrong?" He asked in a hurry.
"Everything's fine, dear, our son was born safe and sound." Answered the mother with a small smile while she held the boy in her arms.
"Thank goodness, I was starting to worry when I heard no crying. Lana, did you make sure he's breathing?" Said the father while he calmed down slightly.
"Sure did, my lord. But I think the boy takes after his mother, I never had a baby try to hit me before! HAHAHA!" Laughed the midwife while ignoring the once again tense face of the father.
"Quiet down, Lana! You'll wake the boy!" Commanded the mother with a voice that could only be described as a 'whispered shout'. Lana only answered by stifling her laughter. "Don't just stand there, dear, come see your son." Hearing that, the father jolted before walking over.
"He's so big... So this is our first son, huh? Archimed-" "Absolutely not!" the mother interrupted the father's monologue, which gave him startle. "What do you mean?" The father asked with bulging eyes. "We had a deal! Your Victoria if a girl, my Archimedes if a boy!"
"We made the deal before he was born, look at him! He has strong arms for a newborn, and you heard Lana, the child is fierce! A name like Archimedes simply. does. not. suit him!" She argued, her stern tone making it clear that this wasn't a negotiation.
"Fine! Then Aristo-" "Stop trying to give our baby child old people's names!" The father got interrupted once again. "They're not old people, they're ancient respected sages!" He retorted.
"I don't care! Either pick a simple name with some fierceness to it, or I'll do it myself!" The mother gave an ultimatum together with a glare.
"Kuh! You already named Athena, this one is mine!..." He answered before going into a thinking position with his hand in his chin and brows furrowed.
As if she was being called, a young girl with curious eyes but holding a stern expression entered the room cautiously.
"There you are Athena, come say hi to your baby brother." Said the mother with a small but gentle smile when she saw her daughter.
The girl called Athena approached the bed and soon her eyes locked on the sleeping baby. "What's his name?" She asked without looking away.
"I stopped your father from giving him some fancy old men's names, so now he's thinking a new one with some fierceness to it, any suggestions?" At her mother's question Athena perked up as her eyes seemed to brighten.
"How about Lance?" "NO WAIT!" Her father seemed to panic just as she made her suggestion.
The woman holding the baby gave a smile while ignoring her husband "'Lance' huh? Simple and fierce, I like it." "STOP! THIS IS MY TURN!" The father continued to interrupt. "Lance it is then!"
"NOOOO!!!" The father lamented while forgetting the whispered part of the 'whispered shout'.
"Ba-paap." Said a small seemingly grumpy voice, as everyone went silent.
~PoV change: MC~ (italic words aren't understood by MC)
"Shut uup" I say while being rudely awoken once again, 'these guys just have no manners' is what I think while I struggle to open my eyes that seem heavy.
When i finally open my eyes, everything is too bright and blurry, but after a while I manage to make out the shapes of two people, a little girl around 8 years old and a man in his early thirties with some fancy clothes, they're both just staring at me, 'is there something weird on my face?'
The man suddenly looks above me and seems to get scared of something, "Sorry." before I can try to understand what he said, some movement under me grabs my attention and I turn to look behind me.
"Geh!" It's a giantess! There's a giant woman smiling at me while holding me in her arms! Now that i look again, the other two are also enormous, the heck?! Where am i?!
"Good morning, Lance." The giantess speaks in an unknown language, she has smooth blood red hair that's slightly shorter than shoulder length and purple eyes that are literally shining, as in actually emitting light. Oh, did I mention vertical pupils? Well, there's also that. She has a small burn scar on the side of her neck, her face seems sharp and refined and she's looking at me with a small and gentle smile. "My name is Isabel, I'm your mother, you can call me 'mama'"
Oh well, at least the scary giant lady doesn't seem to want to eat me or something, but I should tell her I don't understand her language, better be polite just in case. 'Sorry, madam, I can't understand you.' "buube babaa, ga-ap gubeba bu." THE HECK WAS THAT?!
While I'm questioning my diction, the smile on the giantess' face widens and I can see her teeth, STOP THAT! YOUR TEETH ARE TOO SHARP! IT'S SCARY! DON'T COME ANY CLOSE- Aaand she kissed my forehead, jeesh, i almost had a heart attack. "Aren't you a precocious little boy? Trying to speak so soon." The baby-eater says something while hugging me tightly, okay I take the 'baby-eater' back, her hugs are great and make me want to sleep again.
She loosens the hug and turns me around to the man nearby. "That's your father, his name is Arthur, you can call him 'papa'." She speaks while pointing at the man with brown curly hair, golden eyes and glasses. He's wearing a fancy blue and gold cloak. I might be mistaken, but while his eyes are also shining, he doesn't seem to have vertical pupils. About what the giantess said, I could only recognize the words 'Arthur' and 'papa'... WAIT A MOMENT, PAPA?! No, calm down, let's not jump to conclusions, maybe they have a similar word in their language, let's just give the giant man a wave.
Why's my arm so small and chubby?
"Hello to you too, Archimede-", "Shut up." Without giving me time to analyze my situation the man says something and the woman interrupts him, was he trying to say Archimedes? Why would he suddenly talk about mathematics? WAIT! I recognize his voice! He's the rude guy who woke me up! WAIT AGAIN! Back to the chubby arm, this isn't normal at all! As I look over my body, I can finally confirm: I'm a baby! A big, chubby, weak baby!... Well, either that or I'm a mutan- WAIT A THIRD TIME! Did she say 'mama' while talking earlier?!
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
While I'm doing an investigation on my memories, subject 'mama' turns me again, towards the little girl this time, looking at her brownish red hair and vertical pupils on purple eyes (this time I can't spot any light, so it's not everyone?), I would hazard a guess that, if those two are my parents then this is my sister. "And that's your elder sister, Athena. Say hi to Lance, Athena."
"Hello, Lance, since I'm your elder you have to behave and listen to me, okay?" Haha, this kid gives me the feeling that she's trying to act like an adult, that's cute. Anyway, I'd hazard a guess that I'm Lance and this subject sister is Athena, but would subject 'papa' be called Arthur or Archimedes? On that note, I don't remember if the subject 'mama' spoke her name. Geez, why are they using so many words? Don't they know I don't understand? Oh well, let's not be rude and greet Athena.
I wave at her and say 'Hi, Athena.' "Bai, Gabeba." Goddammit, is this a curse? Looking at the girl, her expression stayed frozen, but her eyes are shining strongly. So you can turn it on and off? That's convenient.
"Good boy," subject mama speaks from behind me while turning me back to her, while I'm turning I notice some people I missed earlier, are they family too?... "You must feel tired from all this talking," she says as she hugs me again, talk about comfy. "Mama is tired too, let's go back to sleep, shall we?" She seems to get herself comfortable on the bed while still holding me in her arms. *Yawn*, would you look at that, seems I'm still sleepy, I hope no one awakes me this time...
~Time skip~
Okay, it's been a few days since I was born and I have some answers to my earlier questions and a bunch of new ones on top.
First off, yes I'm a newborn baby, my name is Lance, nice to meet you. My father is called Arthur, and he seems to be some kind of scholar, my mother is called Isabel, and while I can't tell what's her job, I can tell she likes to exercise. I concluded they are my parents simply because my mother feeds me when I'm hungry and I saw the two of them kiss once, so that seems like a safe bet.
Aside from them I also met Athena who is either my sister or something similar to that (cousin maybe?), and an older woman called Lana who seems to be some kind of maid, I feel a vague grudge whenever I look at her, I wonder why? I don't remember the names of the other people around, but I'm pretty sure they are servants like Lana.
Being a baby is very embarrassing, uncomfortable and boring. Embarrassing because I'm always taken care of in emasculating situations (like being fed and cleaned); uncomfortable because I have to 'do my business' on my diapers, call and wait for other people (normally Lana) to clean me; and boring because all I have to pass the time when I'm awake is observe the people around me and do some basic stretches and vocal exercises.
Well then, here we get to the weird part: I'm pretty sure I'm not a normal baby. Wait! Don't roll your eyes! Let me finish. You see, normal babies aren't supposed to have complex thoughts and have knowledge of things they never saw, like light bulbs and computers. Hell, I doubt babies have the brainpower to think as much as I do!
I know what you're thinking, my imaginary companion! 'You're obviously a reincarnated individual!' But there's a big issue with that theory: Who was I before I was Lance? Normally when someone reincarnates, they'd have memories of their past life, normally even including how they died. Then they'd meet a god of some sort that explains to them why they are being reincarnated and sometimes tell them about some big baddie demon lord or evil god or whatever. And don't even get me started on cheat superpowers!
Now where was I? Oh right. I have no personal memories of my past life, no name, no family, no friends. I remember skyscrapers and the names of a few celebrities, but nothing about myself... Oh well, not like that changes anything about my current situation.
What's my current situation you ask? It's the middle of the night and I feel like 'doing my business', so I'm shouting as loud as I can so that a maid comes to clean me, no, I'm not crying, it just sounds like it because of my baby speech curse. *Creak* Oh there they are. Oh? I don't know this maid, normally it's Lana who takes care of me, though I guess she too has to sleep at some point... Why does the maid have fire floating above her finger?
"Good evening, young master Lance, did you call for me?" I obviously proceed to ignore the somewhat tired looking maid. It's here! Ever since I saw my mother's eyes I already suspected. This world has MAGIC! Oh right, I need to 'do my business'. Wait for me magic, I'll be right with you. I gesture the maid to wait for a moment with my hand and when I'm done, I gesture to my behind. 'please clean me' "bwis gu-ey be." Close enough.
She seems to understand and moves to clean me, magical fire still floating nearby. "Lana did tell me young master is a smart baby, but I always thought she was exaggerating, sorry for underestimating you young master." I recognize the words Lana and young master but I'm not paying attention to that, I'm busy studying the fire. I am most definitely not trying to block out the fact that a young and pretty woman is cleaning my business, no, sir...
Oh, the humiliation...
Okay, I'm witnessing magic right in front of my eyes, the fire is about the same size as a candle's flame and is floating about a meter away from me. This is enough evidence for me to accept (at least temporarily) that magic is very much real. So, how does it work? Is there something like magic power/mana that is being commanded by this maid's consciousness to take the place of fuel? After all, if we want to follow scientific common sense, nothing is created nor destroyed, only changed, so the fire needs to come from somewhere. Well, if I were to guess from generic fantasy logic, before a spell comes the control of mana, and before the control of mana comes the feeling of mana.
So, can I feel mana? I close my eyes and try to concentrate on the direction of the flame. Hmm, I'm only feeling the slight heat that's coming from it... Oh? I think I can feel a little something... It's like a weak wind (or maybe scent?) is coming off the maid and bunching up where the flame is before being consumed. I try to concentrate on the maid this time, is there a specific place in her body that the wind comes from? Hnng concentraaaate. Well, I can vaguely feel what I guess is mana inside her, but I can't spot a source or storage unit, I tried concentrating on the brain, heart and stomach but it just feels like every other part of her body.
Oh well, moving on, do I have mana? Turning my senses back to myself I try to look for the feeling I got from the maid... Hm, as expected, there's nothing- WAIT! I can feel something similar! It's quite different from the maid's mana in that mine feels like is sleepy and doesn't want to move, I wonder if this is because I never used magic or because I'm a baby? I almost missed it because of how quiet it is.
Do I just will it to move? Let's try to pump it around my body like blood, at least the maid's mana felt like it did that... I don't know if it's working, it doesn't move no matter how much I concentrat- It moved! It's just really really slow, as if it's very heavy.
"There you go, young master, you're all cleaned up." Oh, the humiliation is over. Wait, don't leave yet!
"Ei! Don bif." I call her attention.
"Hm? Is there something else, young master?" Good, she's listening.
I gesture towards the fire and say 'that!' "Bab!"
"Oh this? This is called fire, young master. Can you speak it? Fire. F-i-r-e." Oh, is she trying to teach me the word for fire? Not what I wanted but might as well.
"Bai-eh..." Not quite, let's try to pronounce the F properly. "Pai-eh!" Well, at least it's better than before. 'Is that good enough for you, miss fire?' I ask myself as I look back to her.
She giggles. "Almost there, young master. Fi-re. Fi~re~." I know the word, woman, I just can't pronounce it because of my baby curse!
Screw it, if this will buy me time to study her magic, I might as well play along. "Pai-eh!" "Fi-re!" Why are you getting so invested in this? I continue trying to speak 'fire' while my mana is slowly speeding up its movement.
After a little while, I feel it's going fast enough, it gives me a feeling of being full of energy, now let's see if I can will it to come out of my body like she does... Hm, I feel it separated from me a little, but then it returns to my body... Oh well, baby steps I suppose... No pun intended.
By now I can separate a strand of mana a reasonable distance from me, but how do I stop it from coming back? I stop trying to speak and concentrate on her fire again, her strand of windy mana goes to the center of the flame and bunches up, and then disappears as its turned into fire.
I turn back to my mana and try to make it bunch together into a tiny sphere, I kind of succeeded but soon after I lose control of it and it comes back. "Hm? Young master? Did you do something just now?"
Don't interrupt me, miss fire! I'm almost there, I just need to figure out how to ignite the mana!... Igniting, huh? Would I need something like a spark? What would be the mana equivalent of a spark? Maybe like wood I could rub mana with more mana really fast? Or maybe I just need to imagine a spark really hard?
Oh well, let's try both. I concentrate really hard and make two bunches of mana, one is a sphere, and the other is slightly concave, like a really shallow cup. I make them touch while spinning in opposite directions while imagining a spark with all my concentration. This is quite hard, I doubt this is how miss fire does it, but might as well try for a little while longer...
"Young master, what are you doing?" Quiet down, miss fire, can't you see I'm busy? Oh right, she wants me to say fire.
'Fire!' "Phaire!" *Crack!* *Woosh!*
"..." Oh dang, mom is going to be so mad. I left a huge burn mark on the ceiling.
And now I'm super sleepy again. Let's see... miss fire is unharmed, that's good, though she has a funny expression on her face. If that's all then I'll worry about the ceiling tomorrow. Good night...