Falling headfirst against the bed, the weight of my mind seemed to increase with every throbbing pulse, painfully reminding me that this wasn't some delusion, but the cruel and unforgiving reality I had hoped to abstain from. In truth, I had initially clung to the fact that everything was a dream…

That was, until now.

In a moment of reprieve, my brain had been allowed a moment to digest the information it was given, processing the fact I had been snatched from my old world with little memory of how it happened, a day suddenly vanishing from my memory.

And if things weren't bizarre enough, my body had regressed to that of a seven-year old's. Or perhaps the right term would be I "stole" it from the rightful owner. Did I feel at all guilty about the turn of events? Sure it was jarring, but surprisingly, no.

As with most things in life, there was probably an equivalent exchange during the body transferring process. The possibility of merely having my consciousness swapped with the original owner always remains, it was a theory sure, but one with real chances. Though I had no possible way of knowing, even Renna, for all the doll's wisdom, hadn't an inkling as to what truly happened.

Other than that, there was very little else that happened during the day. A quick tour, a short introduction to the rules: and the consequences of breaking them. It was all fairly tame to say the least, though I suppose it made sense since we'd be going over the basics of alchemy tomorrow.

I was somewhat excited to learn. However, I also dreaded what was to come, never was one to memorize come to think of it. Then again, this was the path I chose, and I wasn't about to quit so early on into the game.

Tucking the blanket over my body, a warmth filling my entire being. In little more than a few seconds, the day's stresses slipped off my shoulders, as the ideas and thoughts dispersed into dust, leaving nothing but a cold drowsiness.

Sleep was good, and too much thinking is bad. Maybe tomorrow won't be as disastrous as today? Well, whatever happens, a man- boy can dream. My eyes blinked for one last time, before shutting under the weight of my fatigue. A new day would come, and my worries would be dismissed as nothing more than crazed ramblings.

Hours passed in a flash, naught a dream passing in my mind before a trio of knocks awoke me from my slumber. Immediately, my eyebrows furrowed, tightening like braids as I stared at the wall in disbelief. For a moment, I doubted I had even slept. Weren't it not for me feeling refreshed, I would have thought time accelerated in the blink of an eye.

"Walter! Breakfast is ready!" Renna called out from the other side, her voice lighter compared to the day before. "Get down here before it becomes cold!"

At the mention of food, my stomach growled, a not-so-subtle reminder that I skipped eating yesterday. The temperature of my cheeks rose, a crimson hue dusting them as a sigh left my lips. "Coming!" I squeakily shouted back, the veil that shielded my mind now shattered as I heard two voices speak.

Recoiling in shock, my right hand jittered as I raised it up into the air. Right, another thing to get used to, but I didn't have the time. Getting off the bed, I dusted off the imaginary dirt that littered my body and crept towards the door, creaks bellowing beneath me with each step.

My hand grazed the wooden handle of the door, lingering for a second, only to pull back the next. There was something, either mentally or physically, stopping me from going forward. Unknown phantom sensations touching my skin like a distant memory. Vague, yet, oh so familiar.

Twisting the knob, the mechanism within clicked. A mix of springs and wood jumped into place as it opened, revealing a blue-tinted woman on the other side. Whose head tilted to the side once she saw my shorter figure.

"I hope this form's more comfortable for you. Over the course of my research, those reincarnated seem to be more willing to talk with those whose appearance is similar to that of a human teen's. I can only hope you share the same sentiments."

"So, you're another one of Renna's dolls, yes?" Without missing a beat, she nodded her head, offering a hand once she was finished. "Wait, if you have more than one, does that mean there's a hundred more in the basement?"

To that, she giggled, covering her mouth with a hand as glints of blue light trailed down her arms. "Not a question I get every day, but yes. I do have more bodies just in case and for any situation. Any competent enough doll maker will have at least one for every situation. Now, let's head to the dining room, we can talk on the way there if you'd like."

Words stumbled from my mouth, pausing for a moment before the edges of my lips arched upward, letting myself go and living in the moment for once. I took her offer, grabbed it tightly, and never let go, all the while a smile beamed from my face.

"But you're still Renna, right? Or does it work like a hivemind?" Ducking under an open cupboard and sliding between shelves of bottled chemicals, I shot the question at my guide with much curiosity. "Sorry, just a bit confused on how all of this magic business works. There were various stories in my world, but nothing at all concrete."

"Fair enough." She acknowledged with a nod, turning the corner and stepping down the stairs in a rhythmic beat. "Even those native to this land find it hard to difficult to understand. Seeing as the process is quite taxing to the mind, I can't quite fault them either."

"To answer your question, it's more akin to giving someone a set list of directions. Autonomous like a golem, but with the capacity to imitate human behavior, to a certain degree sadly." Her head spun backwards, unnaturally turning to face me, adrenalin shooting up my spine at the sight.

If seeing was truly believing, then I had finally seen what an uncanny valley looked like. "So familiar, yet so distorted." Words passed hushed between my lips, leaving all but a faint whisper. And as if to a candle on top of a demented cake, she flashed me a smile, calm and laid back. The same one a person would use to reassure them of something.

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"Of course, there is somewhat of a stigma with how dolls are perceived. But to me, they're my window for interacting with people. Just as I am doing right now with you." Returning her head back to its natural position, her shoulders rolled backwards, the clothes adorning her tightening to conform to her graceful figure.

And as the final door unlocked, a wave of pleasant smells and distinct aromas hit me in an instant, the sizzling of meat in oil reaching my ears. "After you, Walt." Renna's body lowered, blowing with a hand stretched out, leading towards a chair seated in the middle of a full banquet.

Plates of food sat on a wooden lazy susan, the subtle but present mixture of contradictory scents merging to one, it was… perfect. A slice of heaven within a mortal home of chemicals and machinery. A sense of warmth bottled up within me, a veil of serenity wafting over my rose-tinted glasses. "This can't be real, right?"

A soft giggle left the doll-like woman's lips, tugging on my arm as she cleared her throat. "It's as real as you want it to be. For all I know, this could be nothing more than a blissful dream and we would both be none the wiser. Though, even if it were one, I wouldn't mind taking a few bites. It would be a shame too. After all, I was the one that spent all morning cooking it."

Wiping away the trail of drool that had gathered along my jaw, I happily obliged her advice, taking the sole seat facing a window showcasing the outside. And what a sight that was behold. How unfortunate it was I wouldn't have enough time to admire the view, not with this amount of food laying in front of me.

On one side stood dishes with at least one of every meat type from poultry to elk, and on the other, a sea of fruits and greens. In a new world such as this, it was definitely bound to have some interesting new food based on the culture.

Nevertheless, some of the food still looked the same. From what I could see alone, there were a few steaks, pieces of grilled fish, pears and even an orange. Though, for everyone I recognized, there were fifty to entice my interest, latching onto my mind with no sign of letting go.

"What are you waiting for?" Renna's voice pulled me out of my stupor, eyes fluttering for a brief instant. "All of this is ours to gorge on, it would be a waste to let all of it go cold without having at least one bite, right?"

A sentiment I could get behind. "No need to tell me twice." I replied, grabbing a plate of meat and shoveling a small steak onto my plate, eyes drifting to the next piece. So many options, and it felt like there was so little time…. "Say, you cooked all of this, right?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Then you wouldn't happen to have a list of recommendations? A few that stand out in particular as your favorite. Because frankly, it's kinda hard to decide." Her brow rose, eyes swaying from side to side, almost as if to ponder something.

"Can't say." My shoulders slumped just as quickly as her swift answer. "Over the years, it was seldom I actually ate. Unless it was for pleasure, there was no reason to partake in it other than for social junctions. Even still, you could say all of the things before you are my favorite. I simply wanted to make you more comfortable by giving you what makes me comfortable."

"Huh, if you say so then…" I paused, silently picking up a few more portions before returning my plate to the center of the mat. "By the way, you wouldn't mind if I asked you a few more questions over breakfast, would you?"

"No, not at all." She waved off my worries, successfully shifting the topic. "In fact, I encourage it. Ask as much as you'd like and I will answer each of your questions to the best of my ability, that was the whole point of this, after all. Though, do mind your manners."

Picking up a piece of meat with the fork, I stared at it for a moment before diverting my gaze back to Renna, whose figure squirmed in place. "Simple enough, I haven't been so famished over the past day thanks to the fruits you've given me. However, I would like to ask. Why are the utensils similar to that of my home world's? Having different cultures and all, you'd expect some kind of difference, no?"

"Very perceptive, a wonderful trait for anyone to have." She noted, taking a bite out of the apple she grabbed. "They're a more recent addition, all things considered. Your fellow reincarnators have introduced us to quite the number of things, with most of them improving the lives of those who use them."

"Which brings me to my next point. Who are they? And when did they start appearing? The 'Reincarnators' I mean." Gulping down on a glass of water, I patiently awaited her answer even as she paused in her movement, almost as if she was thinking deeply, even if she was an acclaimed golem with no real thought.

"Sorry about that. It's just been so long that I've forgotten when it was." Her voice was as reassuring as it was hollow, the incessant buzzing of empty silence only becoming louder in the room, it made me shift in my seat, "Last I remember, it was somewhere around forty-two years ago."

Immediately, my brows raised, furrowing while confusion ran rife in my mind. "You're that old?" Once again, it grew quiet. Though this time, the room grew cold, drowning out the sun high above, shivers cutting at my sides and arms. "Could that be why I haven't seen your original body?

My words only seemed to have caused more provocation, a side effect with having such a way with speech. Attempting to off-set the situation with laughter brought nothing but colder chills, frost accumulating along the edges of my mouth. "When you put it like that, it almost sounds like you're insulting me. Say, Walter. Are you trying to insinuate something you aren't?"

"You could say that." With a blank face, I stared at the woman opposite to me, the warm caress of the sun taking over, as beams of light pierced through the window. "I'm not trying to sound rude, quite frankly, it's the opposite. To have grown so adept at using a single type of magic or skill that it becomes so ingrained into your life… it sounds surreal, to me at least."

The expression on her face gradually calmed, the figurative sparks of understanding working their way through her brain. Only to then second guess myself. There were many holes in what I had said, panic arising as my mind picked up the pace.

However, Renna merely giggled at my plight. "No need to worry, there's nothing wrong with what you said. In fact, I appreciate the sentiment. Seldom is it to find a person who could acknowledge a craft such as mine as something more than a jester's trick. It flatters."

"Still, it is impressive to have lived that long." The fact I had regressed into a child certainly helped that train of thought. "It feels almost weird, to now be faced with such a long road ahead, and to not know where it led or where it even ends. Like, what was the purpose of regressing me into a child? To give me a fresh start?"

Riddled with the possibility, I shook my head, munching a piece of glazed bacon on my plate in frustration. "Whatever it might be, I'm just happy to have been sent here, honestly." A gentle smile tugged at the doll's lips, infectious in its spread as my own arched. "For me to have been transported into a place where someone who knew what happened, also just so happens to be the one taking care of me. If it isn't a coincidence, I would have thought it an act of god."

"Perhaps it was." A few words was all it took to enthrall my mind. For whatever could she mean by those words? "Rituals, divine punishment, and those of the sort, are quite common here, very much unlike yours, if I recall correctly. So perhaps it might have been the work of a higher being? A prophecy waiting to be told."

Blankly finishing the scrap on my plate, the veins on my forehead bulged. The implications were… they made things fit into place, loosely, but it was just a theory. Fragmented memories flashed in my head, like snapshots from an old camera, showing themselves one after another.

A revelation, though one without basis it might have been, it was enough to ration the events that had befell me this past day. Musing upon these ideas brought me to many avenues of thought, each more outlandish than the last. "Don't think too hard about it, really. Not unless you want to fry your brain come time for our lessons."

"Wait what?" Maybe I've had too much to eat for one day.