I felt groggy as I picked my head up from my desk, everything seemed hazy as I looked around the barebones room I had resided in all my life. In my head, I felt like I needed to go somewhere, so I grabbed my bag and made my way outside. As I walked through the streets, I felt like there should’ve been more people, because I was the only one walking towards my destination. That was when I approached an intersection, one I knew as I passed it every day, but something told me this would be the last I saw it. As I walked, people joined me, but they seemed to be different shades of color with either white covering their eyes or black, but I couldn’t tell who they were. They all seemed to have my destination, my school, which we all entered and filled into the auditorium as if this was a normal day. Some had taken to a different room, but I felt a pull to the auditorium as many others seemed to have.

Taking a seat, I looked around to see who was with me, but no features seemed to say anyone was someone I knew. My head seemed to scream with pain, something felt familiar about the pain running through me, not even my usual headache relief methods seemed to ease this head splitting pain. When I looked up to the stage, someone seemed to be talking, but I couldn’t hear them, almost like my hearing was affected by this headache. It seemed like questions were being asked, and answers were coming from the person in the front, but I couldn’t even hear the people right next to me, my ears were more likely to ring before I heard what was being said. For now, I was going to let this continue, I could ask what this meeting was about from the teachers later.

Eventually, someone who wasn’t one of the people sitting down had come up to me, speaking something I couldn’t hear. Their hair was pure white, eyes glittering like gold, but I couldn’t make out in the haze if they were a man or woman. They went silent for a moment before saying something again, so I spoke, hoping my voice still worked, “I can’t hear you… I got a headache…” I felt weak saying that, like I could hear my own voice despite being unable to hear anything else. The individual seemed to sigh, but they stood me up and walked me out of the auditorium, taking me towards the nurse’s office. When I sat down, I felt my hearing slowly return as sounds of a regular school day became more and more audible. Soon, the person spoke again, “Can you hear me now?” They didn’t sound male or female, almost like a middle ground, but I had to reply, “Yes… I hear you.” The individual sighed, “Good, I’m surprised someone had this issue in this group like yours.”

I was confused, sitting in here made me slowly realize the oddities I was experiencing today, I said, “What’s going on? Something… something isn’t right.” The individual sat down in the nurse’s chair, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to give this to you straight. Unfortunately, you died.” I thought, but I didn’t recall dying, as some of my more recent memories seemed to be hazy. The individual said, “You’re likely confused, it makes sense considering you suffered some blunt force trauma which took some of your memories. They’ll return in time, but I want to tell you what’s in store for you.” I wasn’t surprised, with how I was treated, I guess dying somewhere along the line wasn’t impossible. Maybe I though it was a when it was going to happen, not an if, maybe that was why this didn’t surprise me as some would expect.

After a bit, the individual said, “In this regard, you’ve been chosen to be reincarnated.” I heard the term, in this regard, who hasn’t? It was used in media to show the world and life was no longer the same, or as part of a religion, but why me? I asked, “Why was I chosen? There are far more competent people than me for something like this.” The individual smiled, “Well, the divine didn’t choose you, but four others wished for you to be reincarnated. Two have long since departed from the world you’ll be reborn in, but the other two will be born around the time you will be. Chances are, you’ll meet those you’ll be reborn with, and maybe find records of those who had come before. However, I cannot say who wished for this, it’ll be up to you to find out.”

I did wonder who chose me for this, not like I knew anyone well enough for something like this, but I wasn’t going to turn it down. The individual said, “I do want to ask, is there anything you’d want in your new life? Others in your shoes are being asked the same, so ask away.” I thought for a while, but I didn’t really want anything special, I’d rather live what other people got to live, a normal life. I said, no doubts in my voice, “I’d rather live normally, to not know what I’ll have, to not know what family I’ll be born into. To live and learn is how life goes, and by knowing what I may receive makes part of my life set in stone, and I don’t want that. I don’t need any cheat skills, I don’t need an overwhelming amount of mana, I just want a life I can say I lived well.” For once, in what felt like a long time, I smiled from the bottom of my heart, “Is that really too much to ask?”

The individual shook their head with a smile, “No, that isn’t too much, in fact, it’s refreshing that someone didn’t ask for anything for a change. People like you are a rarity, so we’ll gladly let you have what you seek.” The individual went silent, maybe they had telepathy with their friends, so I just let it happen. Once finished, they asked, “Since there’s time before you’ll be sent down, let’s chat. How did you know there would be magic in this world?” I realized what I said, so I replied, “In my world, we had this genre called Isekai, people being reborn in another world was one of the many plot lines for such a story. A lot of these stories involve magic, it’s why I said mana earlier. I didn’t really know there was mana in the world I’ll soon be entering.” The individual chuckled, “You reincarnations from Earth never cease to amaze.” From here, they asked about regular Earth society, so I answered to the best of my knowledge. I guess not many from this… place I guess, never really learned about the world we come from. So, I indulged them, to calm myself before I began my new life.

After some time, not like time existed here, the individual smiled, “I wish I could speak with you more, but the time has come. Are you ready?” I nodded, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I walked with the individual; my mind uncertain about everything. I mean, even though I accepted my death, I was being reborn in another world, likely with my memories intact. Almost everything I learned on Earth will likely be useless in the other world, but that was alright. But… I knew my first life would weigh heavily on me, even though I was free from it now. I shook my head, I had plenty of time to work through this, I had to focus on the now. The individual led me into a room with what seemed to be people like him, he spoke to them, and they nodded, understanding what he said. Once they were done, a much older individual approached me, certainly male from the beard that seemed well cared for. The man asked, “Are you ready young man?” I nodded, and the man held his hand out. A light blinded me, and all I saw next was darkness.

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~~~

I think I began to dream, almost like my life flashing before my eyes in a way. But instead of anything good, it was just the worst of it all as I relived a life I’d rather forget. I looked up to two caskets I couldn’t see into, something within me feeling empty as I tried to get up there somehow. I can’t remember how long it took for someone to come to me, but I was soon spoken to, by those I knew as my parents. I can’t remember what was said, it was when I was young, maybe three or four years old if I’m not mistaken. Looking back on these memories now, I really wished I didn’t feel hopeful with these people, it just made the pain even worse later.

I looked through the eyes of a five-year-old, noticing my brother who got a C on an assignment in the same class I did, and I showed off the A I got. I was excited, but when my brother celebrated his improvement with mom and dad, I was told in a regular way I did good. My brother was praised and rewarded, while I was left to my own devices. I think this was when my life slowly began to deteriorate, I began to slowly realize that nothing I did was going to make my parents happy with me. My brother “improved” and got rewarded, I kept my grades up and I got nothing for my efforts. By eight years old, I slowly let my grades drop, my all As went to low Bs and high Cs. It wasn’t like I couldn’t bring it back up, but I felt like even if I did, it wouldn’t do me any good.

Time flew by, elementary school teachers didn’t seem to care about me because of how kids acted within that time in their lives. But when my brother and I hit middle school, teachers began to take notice of my grades. Many noticed my slow decline from good grades to barely passing at best, some brought it up with my parents, but their complaints never got through to my parents. They always said, “He tries his best and barely passes” or “We’ve tried, tutors, study sessions, nothing works”, when those were all things they were doing for my brother. As he improved, I just did enough to stay passing, no more, no less. I had guidance counselors talk with me, and I did tell them what I was going through, but that was a mistake. They told my parents, which got to my brother, which then began my alienation. People I considered friends left me, saying I was a bully and other untrue things.

I shook my head, I didn’t want to see this anymore, I didn’t want to be here anymore when I knew I was going to get a second chance! I began to use a trick I used to use when I suffered nightmares, I began to imagine opening my real eyes, not the eyes in my dream. After a few failed attempts, I saw light and darkness. I had briefly opened my eyes, from here, I just had to properly open them now.

~~~

I managed to finally open my eyes, from what I could tell, I was a baby again, maybe a few months old at best. I blinked until I could properly see, the first thing I needed to understand was where I was, as I would likely be here for the foreseeable future. What I saw was something I believed to be a church, the outfit of the woman carrying me seemed to be a one of a nun. From this, I understood I was likely an orphan, but I didn’t mind as this was likely for the best. The nun who was carrying me seemed to approach a priest, I could at least understand the language at the bare minimum, “Isn’t it great that most of the children were adopted? It’s good they found families who’ll care for them.” The priest sighed, “I hope that’s the case, knowing some people, you can never know.” The priest reached a hand out and began to rub my head, “I just hope little Ledo here can find a good home.” I didn’t react much, I just let his massive hand rub my small head, not like I could speak or move in this state anyway.

I didn’t pay attention for a bit, mostly as I struggled to stay awake considering my body couldn’t seem to handle much just yet. But I heard the doors to the church open, and I was turned to face it. People were chatting, a group of them, one saying, “Well, we’re here Alden, this is a big step you know.” An older gentleman said, “I know, I just hope you all will help me in the future.” A woman said, “You bet! All of us are planning to stick together after all!” They were a tad rowdy, but I noticed there were at least three of them here. One seemed to be an older human, one who seemed to be growing a grey beard. The second seemed to be a younger man, the third seemed to be an elven woman who’s age I wasn’t even going to assume. Knowing elves in folklore and media, they could be in their twenties or two hundreds for all I know.

The priest seemed to know the name mentioned, he said, “Alden? Alden the Court Mage?” The older gentleman, who I could now see had a robe on as he carried a rather large staff, said, “Yes, I’m surprised you know of me despite the distance from the capital.” The priest chuckled, “I try to keep up to date on the kingdom’s affairs, can’t be too cautious you know.” The younger man, who I could see wielding a sword, said, “I can’t deny that father, information is invaluable.” The priest asked, “Now, what can I do for you today? I’m afraid that with this being a remote church, I can’t do as much as those in bigger churches.” The elf, who I noticed had a wand at their hip, said, “Alden is looking to adopt a child, he finally feels the will to be a parent it seems.” The priest seemed surprised, then said, “I believe that’s possible, but most of the children have been adopted already. The only young one with us still is little Ledo here.”

Alden reached out to me, a smile on his face, “Hello Ledo, nice to meet you.” His eyes seemed… gentle. I don’t recall ever seeing eyes like this in a long time, if at all. There were glares of judgement, disgust, hatred even, but never kindness. I looked to the other two that were with him, and they seemed to have the same eyes as Alden, as the priest and nun who cared for me. With those eyes, it made me realize something, I was free from my past, it wouldn’t hurt me anymore. With that realization, I felt my energy give out, I guess being so young meant I would spend most of the day sleeping, eating, and repeating. The one thing I was going to do was what I told the being I spoke to between my first life and this one, I was going to live as I wanted, not chained to another’s expectations.