After Ayla was born, my mother had to devote most of her time to taking care of her, which left me feeling a mix of curiosity and loneliness. I couldn’t help but wonder what made her so special, but I also missed the attention I used to get from my mother. Despite this, my daily routine remained largely unchanged. I did try to spend a little time with my sister to help my parents by watching over her. Not that they let me, considering I was a five-year-old. One night, I snuck into my sister’s room, curious to see if she was reincarnated like I was. If she was, she hid it exceptionally well; if not, then she simply wasn’t reincarnated.
With my mother being busier with Ayla, my father spent a little more time with me when he could, which felt like a small but meaningful effort to keep me from feeling neglected. I cherished these moments, even though they were fewer than I would have liked. He even took me to the barracks where he was stationed to see if I could learn more about the sword from some of the other guards there. Although I gave my best effort to learn from them, I never truly grasped the sword the way I naturally connected with the shield. I remember one session vividly—my father instructed me to parry a straightforward strike, but my timing was off, and I ended up disarming myself instead. Moments like these underscored the disconnect I felt, as if the sword and I were always out of sync. I could use it to some extent, but it was obvious that I was never going to go very far with it, as I always seemed to just scrape by with my understanding of the sword.
The shield, however, seemed to be a more natural extension of myself. I wouldn’t claim to be a shield master, but I was able to move it around much more fluidly than my sword. Using the shield also seemed to meld with my style more when paired with my perception training. I was able to move the shield into the correct position to block strikes when imagining the attacks coming from my back, while with my sword, I was never able to get it into just the right position.
My dad was very impressed with the awareness training that I was doing. He thought that it was a great idea to try and push myself with it and hoped that it could possibly become my talent. Having an ability that let me see all around myself would make me a very strong opponent, as I would be able to notice everything about my opponents instead of just what I could see in front of me. He told me to try to push myself as far as I could and to think about how I might try and use the ability in different ways. This way, I could try to put myself in scenarios that would force me to rely on this ability.
In this way, the next four years seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, filled with countless hours of training and small but significant milestones. From honing my shield skills to improving my awareness through relentless meditation, I felt myself growing stronger. Each step, whether a new technique or sparring session with my father, brought me closer to understanding my own abilities. At 10—or well, at least close to it—I was already tall, taking after my father, standing at 5 feet 4 inches. My dark brown, almost black hair was kept very short, mirroring my father’s style. I was also very fit from all the training I did with the sword and shield. Every time I started to get used to the weight, we would increase the size of the sword or add a metal band to the shield.
Despite the training improving my swordsmanship slightly, I could never enjoy wielding the sword. I felt that I was just missing something with the sword that I had found with my shield. I could perform the movements correctly, but that was just what it felt like—a performance. In my previous life, I had done some training in martial arts. In the Navy, I was a part of a team that was trained in Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, and boxing. With the shield, it just felt like I was fighting normally, with just a heavy weight on my arm.
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I had gotten to the point where I could spar with my father evenly; he was obviously taking it easy on me, with my eyes closed and wax in my ears. The way that I perceived things when I was doing this was in black and white. Mostly, everything was black with white outlines. However, when something was going to move, little ripples of white would start radiating out from the point of movement in the direction it was going to move. This allowed me to anticipate where a strike would originate and where it was headed.
My meditation techniques were proving incredibly effective. Each night, I could vividly reenact my spars with my father, refining my skills through these mental exercises. This also helped with my perception training, as I was able to reenact that ability in my meditation as well. It helped me to notice if I missed something that my perception had seen.
The night before my 10th birthday, my father pulled me aside to prepare me for what was to come. “Son, I know we haven’t told you much of what to expect, and there is a reason for that. The night before your 10th birthday, everyone has a dream. This dream is what we refer to as your revelation,” he told me in his deep baritone voice.
“I thought we got our talents when we turned 10?” I asked.
He chuckled lightly. “You are right. When you are 10, you receive your talent. However, your talent is a part of you and always has been. It is believed that the gods suppress our talent until we are 10 to protect us from a child having more power than what they know how to do with and not enough sense to listen to their parents. The night before is just the gods releasing this suppression and giving us a dream to understand what the talent is.”
Since I came from another universe, where no one had such an obvious talent, it made me wonder if the talent was given to us by a god instead of just being a part of our souls. I felt that if that was the case, then why didn’t the old man tell me about it? “Do the gods give us this talent when we are born, or do we always have it? Like, is it a part of our souls?” I asked.
“Now, that is an interesting question that has been up for debate for a long time. Unfortunately, I am nowhere near qualified to answer that question. If you really want to figure that out, you will have to speak to the scholars. Now, as I said, the first revelation is always at 10 years old. The second revelation comes once you have pushed your first revelation and learned something about yourself on a deeper level. I wish I could tell you more, but it is always personal to you. Some have learned that they like wine, and this revelation makes them have their second revelation. While mine was that I would protect. Before you ask, I won’t tell you what mine or your mother’s talents are tonight. I will, however, tell you tomorrow. Now head to your room and get to sleep. We will speak of what your talent is tomorrow.”
Buzzing with excitement at the thought of discovering my talent, I dashed upstairs after bidding goodnight to my parents and sister. My heart raced with anticipation, and I couldn’t help but imagine all the possibilities that awaited me. What kind of revelation would the gods bestow upon me? The questions filled my mind as I hurried to my room. I jumped into bed and meditated to calm my mind. It didn’t take long until I was calm and had gone over every aspect of the spar I had with my father that morning. Once my meditation was complete, I lay down and tried to will myself to sleep as quickly as I could.
As soon as I fell asleep, I found myself in a modern-day, one-room apartment. There was nothing in the room except for a desk with a computer on it, which had a black screen with a blue box.