When Nathaniel felt the liquid surrounding him flow away, he realised his time was coming. Finally, he would enjoy the sun's warmth on his skin, look at the world with his own two eyes and move by himself. Yet, the only thing Nathaniel felt was dread for his birth and all the following weeks.
Even much later, he would still refuse to talk of this moment; such was his embarrassment as he was being shoved by the midwife and then by his mother. Unfortunately for him, he was still too young to protest against the people witnessing his birth and babying, so there isn't a reason for those parts to be excluded from his saga.
It took a while for Nathaniel to get used to his senses as he was born. The primary reason was that, as a baby, his body had yet to develop many of his faculties. The other that caused much worry to Nathaniel was that the spiritual senses he spent his whole pre-birth developing were severely muted. He could still feel his own body, but beyond that, it became impossibly complicated.
Before his birth, Nathaniel was already aware of such limitations. He had surpassed them by using his umbilical cordon as a bridge, from which point his mother's body became as easy to observe as his own. However, there was still one significant barrier he couldn't cross to expand his spiritual senses beyond his mother's body. What previous progress he had made was so inefficient that it wasn't worth mentioning.
Now that he was born, Nathaniel realised that he should have persevered longer on this problem. Despite his newfound liberty, he was more limited than ever in what he could do. He even tried to observe the person holding him. Only to be met with failure. However, this time he became stubborn and kept trying despite the apparent blockage. He could feel there was a difference from his inability to send his senses across the air, the barrier much less tangible than before. Yet, Nathaniel knew he didn't have the necessary spiritual strength to accomplish this feat. He wasn't willing to give up, believing that since it was the only thing he could do, he might as well use the exercise to train himself.
Undoubtedly, when there's a will, there's a way. Although not in the way he expected. A moment later, Nathaniel felt he was being swapped around and tried again to extend his senses to the person holding him. This time it worked. The body he could feel was familiar enough that Nathaniel knew he was now in his mother's arms. He could once more observe the world outside by latching onto her senses. Thanks to that, the reincarnated man-turned-babe learned his name was Nate as a memento of his birth happening during the night.
He was much more willing to believe in Fate or other mystic forces regarding such a dubious coincidence now that he was living his second life.
Nate also became aware that the midwife had been the one to carry him before, the one his sense couldn't observe. If he wasn't aware of living in a primitive tribe where the most supernatural thing was people's strength, Nate might have thought the woman was able to protect herself from other's peoples' senses. As it was, the boy only believed his time spent in his mother's womb was why his senses could still observe her body.
Following this short and unsettling episode of Nate's life that was his birth, a new routine took place for both the mother and child.
For Nate, it was more about getting used to his new life. While before, he didn't have to do anything, his body staying immobile and being well fed, now he had to cooperate when eating and for other daily needs. Similarly, now that his environment didn't restrict his body and Nate could perceive the world around him, his mind was much more solicited than before. Both of those changes made it so that he could not stay awake for an extended period.
Thus, Nate tried to make the most of his awake time, moving around -more like waving his arm and feet- or observing what was happening in the tribe without relying on his spiritual senses. Both activities were embarrassingly exhausting, which led to Nate spending most of his time asleep.
Under different circumstances, it would have prevented the boy from keeping up his habits of practising his spiritual senses as often as possible. As it was, precisely thanks to those extraordinary senses, Nate could spend his dreams in an active state. He was still sleeping, and his body and mind could benefit from his rest. Only he was able to make use of his ability to Dream Walk. It proved, once more, that the power he had came from his soul and not his mind. Otherwise, he should've been forced to choose between resting his mind and using his abilities. That didn't mean Nate never took the opportunity to relax, only that his means were doubled. He could still let go of his control over his dreams and sleep as usual. But he could also shape his dreamscape into places that allowed him to meditate. Much the same way as he did previously for his mother when he started shaping her dreams.
Then, when he was in contact with his mother -which wasn't always the case, however rarely it happened- he resumed manipulating different aspects of her mind. The most important at that time was to perfect his Sensory Manipulation and develop the ability of Nerves Manipulation.
Now that Nate was born, his body growth would start speeding up, thus the need to optimise his physical development. The enticement of having the power to influence his body close to perfection, to prepare himself for immortality, was tantalising. Nate was still determining if he would be able to do it. Or rather, if he will manage to take advantage of the most opportune time.
Concerning Dew, her new responsibilities as Nate's mother took away most of her time. A time that much to Nate's humiliation, very often implied tending to his body's needs thanks to his inability to do anything by himself. He had yet to become proficient enough in his Nerves Manipulation, much less Body Manipulation, to prevent his body from having any accidents independently of his will. He was desperate to succeed, not wanting to wait for when he would have enough control over his body without relying on his extra-sensory abilities. Dew's busy day made Nate make sure not to introduce her to new things to learn for a while, as she was already quite busy with gardening.
Indeed, although Dew was a quick learner -especially considering her lack of education- she still needed some time before memorising all those new ways to improve her diet and way of life. She had had her first harvest (barely a week after Nate's birth), which unfortunately wasn't much of a success. It was still an improvement compared to the plant she used to see before, but based on her tutoring dreams, she had made too many mistakes for it to be edible. Well, it was, but it would barely benefit her body. The plant's state was too lean to contain the necessary nutrients responsible for the boon it was supposed to be to Dew's diet.
Thus, her days were now spent in erratic sleep patterns, tending to her baby most of the time by breastfeeding or cleaning him. The rest was spent trying to catch up with her duties as a tribe member. At least regarding that, her fellow women were much more comprehensive of her slowness and inability to help.
Time kept flowing, and soon another two months had gone by. Nate got to experience his first migration since he was born. The risk for Nate was relatively low during those times. Indeed, all the children were kept in the group's centre and sat upon wheelbarrows and rickshaws with their belongings. A few mothers were also present in this group, those whose children were too young. Nate was relieved that his mother would remain in the safest place for a few years. They were then surrounded by the other women, the whole group protected by the warriors. From the inside of the formation to the outside, it was the elders, the young, and those in between. It ensured the more skilled and able warriors were on the front line. Then the younger but less experienced could renew the ranks when exhaustion and wounds accumulated. At the back, the elders would watch, their hardened gaze allowing them to give direction and provide tactical support. They would also constitute the last line of defence, despite their body starting to betray them, either due to their wounds or their age.
As the tribe moved to a more promising area, the landscape kept changing along the way. Despite their path never straying afar from the plains, it didn't mean there weren't any changes in the lands around them. Nate could observe a few forests not too far away and rivers whose rumbling flow was brought their way by the winds. He also suspected having seen a swamp or bog at some time but couldn't say for sure.
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Yet, every landmark was always avoided as far as possible. The only exceptions were rivulets; even then, the tribe stayed a couple hundred meters away. Going by the beasts, or rather monsters, that were seen or even just glimpsed near most of those areas, the caution was warranted.
It allowed Nate, much to his apprehension, to learn about many new and terrifying beasts. Different ones from the first beast Nate saw -part boar, part rhino- at the beginning of his new life. Many of those beasts were a mix between two Earthly animals or more, sometimes with a natural aspect blending in. As was the case with the bark-like hide of the beast Nate observed being brought back by the hunters.
Meanwhile, Nate struggled to improve his skills, the complexity of reaching any part of the skin and their associated nerves staggering. He could do partial changes, both in scope -around a palm-sized patch of skin- and depth -either touch, temperature or reflexes- but more than that was still beyond him.
On the other hand, Dew made some progress in those months, precisely four months after her first harvest. It was the time matching her second tentative. A much more successful one since the woman dug out a dozen small potatoes. Unlike their previous shrivelled appearance, these bulbous roots were much more appetising. Dew's first taste of boiled potatoes made her a believer. Praise be the potatoes. Emboldened by her success, she looked for more of the plants, drawing her mate into the task. This time, rather than ignoring her supposed weirdness, he happened to support her aim. Undoubtedly won over by those tasty roots. Praise be the potatoes. They almost taught how to grow the potatoes to the rest of the tribe but decided it might be better to wait until they had enough healthy roots to make it easier to grow. Dew knew how she used to get to this point was hazardous at best. It would be better to make it as simple as possible for any future person wanting to grow those plants.
She also was pregnant again, although more than a month had gone by the time she noticed. The birth would be expected when Nate was a month short of his first year.
By the time Nate had reached his fifth month, the tribe had hosted and sent several couriers to other tribes, discussing their incoming regrouping. The following migration, to be done in a month, would be the start of their exodus. A continuation of more frequent migrations, one after each Full Moon, leading them towards their future home. Soon, they would experience what it meant to adopt a sedentary lifestyle. Based on what he could hear from around him, Nate knew they were expected to meet another group during their subsequent migration. Then, the horde would keep expanding another one or two times until they arrived at the promised land. From this, Nate could infer that this city would eventually contain several thousand individuals. Maybe even ten times that.
(~ 500 per tribe, with around 8 tribes in each cardinal and ordinal direction (8*8 = 64), makes for 32K people)
Considering his current situation, it made Nate very curious and not a little terrified of who might have the means to gather most or all of the tribes wandering through those lands. They covered as much ground as a small country from his old world. Since each community moved from two to five times per year, depending on the tribe, while rarely crossing paths with each other. For more than sixty tribes -or the equivalent in number if each was five hundred large- to be convinced to gather in one location, it boggled the mind.
Once concerns about his future sedentary life were put aside, Nate fascinated himself with his current nomadic prospect. Or, well, moving. It was closer to crawling. Still, it was a glorious success for him!
It wasn't.
For one, Nate still needed to stay in contact with his mother as often as possible to train his spiritual senses, as he had yet to cross the hurdle a foreign environment caused him. Then, it was so tiring and inefficient to crawl that the only feeling Nate had about this was frustration. He knew he needed to keep trying to ensure his body would grow properly, but for once, it wasn't the sort of training he enjoyed.
His only way to avoid being reminded so often of his humiliating condition was to focus on harnessing the power of his soul. Hopefully, by the time he could finish all his predicted ways to improve his spiritual senses, he would've grown up. Being a baby was so much worse than Nate had ever envisioned.