“Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.”

Lemuel Gulliver

Awakening to pangs of hunger, something never felt before, I opened my eyes to a land of giants. I was so small in comparison. For the first time, I could see more than the walls of the womb.

Waking up like this was disorientating, my change in circumstances so great. I was no longer in the womb. It bears repeating. It was that new. Ravenously hungry I tried to formulate some words. But never having had air before to practice with my tongue was still a lump of lead in my mouth. I have air, lungs and sound but no consonants yet.

I am so hungry.

I am so crying.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

It's not hard to pretend to be a baby when you can't talk. Not sure exactly what my face is doing but I doubt it's very pretty right now.

Feed me

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Can Babies move much? I'd like to think that with my physical stats above 10 I could make a could go of it. Even without much co ordination or practice.

But I am swaddled up so tight that I doubt that Houdini could escape.

I can roll a little to the left and a little to right.

Unable to move, all I can do is cry.

Suddenly, I’m held close. Where was she? Where am I? I'm not hidden in the womb anymore. People can see me. People can touch me. People can hear me.

People . . . can . . . hear . . . me!

I'm hungry! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I latch on. My hunger abates.

It's at this point that my brain kicks in. I realise I'm not using any of the skills I would normally be using to work out what was happening my listening, echolocation, mana sense skills. I'm simply overwhelmed by all the other sights, senses and smells.

The next thing I realise is that I'm magically cured. I remember passing out from the pain and the exhaustion. Mainly the exhaustion and the lack of stamina. But there is no pain anywhere! Is it that my vitality is so high now it has enabled me to heal? Or is there another reason?

I look up and get my first look at my mother without my brain being clouded by pain, exhaustion or hunger. She has dark long flowing hair that curls and twists falling down past her shoulders. She looks tired but then I’d be to her after what we went through together. Hope she has healed up as well as I have.

Although it can't have been that long. Checking my status. I've only been asleep for 40 minutes.

Her warm brown eyes are staring down lovingly. We’ve only just met but I feel like we’ve known each other forever.

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It’s easy to see how babies can’t tell the difference, can’t differentiate between themselves and their mothers. We've simply spent so long together it feels like we’re still one.

But we are not alone together anymore. I can see a huge giant of a man, my father, now bending low to look at me.

Then there is another face appearing, a sister. My older sister appears excitedly over the edge of the bed. Creeping ever closer.

I look.

I stare.

This is my family.

"Aaaeeo" Is the closest I can get to "Hello" not that they would have understood it. But it is loved anyway and they burst into a babble of sound. It is my very own tower of Babel. This is going to take a while to work out. But if babies can do it then so can I. Time to put that hopefully impressive mind stat to use.

Focus, focus, focus.

No new levels, no new skills, simply the experience of being part of a family again.

My mother sings.

The songs I know.

I fall asleep.

. . .

I wake four times that night ravishingly hungry. I’m no longer fed directly, my umbilical cut, and it seems like I need to eat a lot.

Each time I'm woken by my stomach, I wake them in return.

Until what goes in must come out.

Not my proudest moment.

And I know . . . there are going to be many more I'm not proud of.

. . .

Each time she sings me to sleep.

Until finally on the fourth time.

I hum along and I notice a flicker of surprise in my mother‘s eyes.

Then then I’m falling asleep again.

. . .

This goes on for a couple of days.

Each time I wake hungry.

I eat, sleep, repeat.

A very short cycle sometimes expanded to eat, sleep, poop repeat.

But throughout it all I'm looking, I'm listening, I'm learning.

. . .

. . .

Each time my mother sings me to sleep but now with other eyes watching.

I hum along and I notice the surprise in my father and sister's eyes.

Then then I’m falling asleep again.

. . .

Sometimes, I eat, sleep, pee.

This meant, I finally got to work out whether I was a boy or a girl.

. . .

I’m a boy!

. . .

Although the manner and method by which I found out wasn’t particularly impressive.

Turns out that if you can pee above your waist line, while being carried around or lying down and being changed you are definitely a boy. Haven’t seemed to quite manage to control that part of my body yet. But hoping to soon.

. . .

Finally at the end of my first week, I'm carried out of the house, down through a town to the edge of a lake.

There, before more people than I have a chance to count, I am thrown into the water for all to see in what seems to be a dedication of some sort.

I’m quickly taken out of the lake by my mother and father, half drowned but still alive and held up for all to see. Then promptly dried and swaddled.

It was only for a second but I swam.

. . .

Then the crowd roars.

. . .

******** Kai !

. . .

******** Kai !

. . .

I might not know much of the language yet,

but . . .

I think . . .

my name is . . .

Kai.

Tabula Rasa.

Name: Kai

Level: 2 Experience: (0/400)

Health: 200/200 Stamina: 133/133 Mana 100/100

Vitality: 20

Endurance: 10

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Senses: 10

Mind: 10

Clarity: 10

Magic: 10

Free Points: 10

Skills: Humming (Lv 1)

Skill experience:100

I have tried to keep my lies simple, the humming skill seemed a big enough change for now. Meanwhile I continue to grow and my hidden stats with me.

Secret Status

Name: Kai

Level: 8 Experience: 1310 / 51,200 Age: 1 week 0 hr 40 min

Health: 970/970 Stamina: 403/403 Mana: 210/210

Vitality: 97

Endurance: 12

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 12

Senses: 27

Mind: 87

Clarity: 22

Magic: 22

Free Points: 0

Skills: Time sense (LV 11) Listening (LV 10) Meditation (LV 10) Sense Mana (LV 10) Swimming (LV 10) Eavesdrop (LV 10) Memorisation (LV 10) Echolocation (LV 10) Recall (Lv10) Composition (Lv 10) Mind fortress (Lv 10) Expel Mana (Lv 1) Absorb Mana (Lv 1) Mana Drain (Lv 1) Pain tolerance (Lv 1) Humming (Lv 1)

Skill experience: 100

Origin experience: 0

Combat experience: 0

It has taken me a week to get used to life outside the womb.

Time to move beyond eat, sleep, repeat.

No prison can hold me,

I just need to

get

out

of

my

SWADDLING!