"I'm going to the store, Ruen. Be a good boy!" Alicia hurriedly exclaimed while running out the door.

As the door locked behind his mother, Einar immediately got out of bed. He had no interest in sleeping. This was the first time his parents had left him unsupervised, and he was going to utilize this time to the fullest. Though he suspected being able to, he had never actually tried to walk in his new body. He took a deep breath, trying to feel every muscle in his body. He attempted to call upon his old muscle memory, but as he had expected, it didn't work.

As soon as he attempted to stand, his balance betrayed him, sending him to the ground. Undeterred, he persisted in trying, each attempt met with a similar outcome.

'Well, that's to be expected.' He thought. 'These muscles lack any form of muscle memory and I'm not used to walking with these bodily proportions.'

He stood up once more and fell flat on his bottom. After a couple more failed attempts, he ultimately managed to stand up straight for more than an instant. He tried to hold the posture for as long as he could, letting his legs get used to the sensation.

‘Let’s give walking another shot.’

He moved one foot in front of the other, slowly pacing forward. He succeeded in taking four whole steps before toppling over again.

‘Not bad, not bad at all. It's literal baby steps after all.’ He smiled.

After his initial success, he improved by leaps and bounds. Once his legs had gotten used to the weight, moving around suddenly wasn’t the challenge it had been before. After about half an hour of relentless practice he was able to pretty confidently walk around the room. His newfound powers enabled him to truly explore the world for the first time in his new life, even if, for now, that world was confined to the walls of his apartment. It didn’t even take him a second worth of pondering to decide what he would do next.

“Alright, the first order of business is exploring the apartment.” he declared to himself, his voice echoing slightly in the stillness of the room.

He embarked on his journey of discovery, methodically opening each and every closet and cabinet. Yet, disappointingly, the contents revealed nothing of interest. His parents' modest financial status became even more evident; there wasn’t a single book to be found in the entire apartment. To his disappointment, his parents’ also didn’t seem to have too much to hide. Except for the memory of Vedel’s secret box, his parents both seemed awfully mundane.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

'What do I do now?' he pondered, a subtle frown creasing his forehead. The absence of excitement left him with an unfamiliar sense of dissatisfaction. After an entire lifetime accustomed to the thrill of danger, he had momentarily forgotten how boredom was a battle to be fought of its own. The silence around him echoed with the stark reality of a life that, for the first time, lacked the constant hum of excitement.

He decided that the time had come to try the thing he’d been putting off ever since his Rebirth; Confirming whether or not his Magical powers truly were gone. Magic was the only thing in this world that he remembered from his previous life. It was like a memento that served as a constant reminder, yet the memento had apparently been corrupted, for the Magic in this world seemed to operate according to completely different rules than what he remembered.

Einar was scared, scared of finding out he had no more Magical powers. Scared to cut the last tie that bound him to a bygone time. Even though he had long since accepted his new life, he had yet to let go of his previous one.

"Enough procrastination," he declared, his eyes filled with resolve.

Drawing a deep breath, he entered a state of intense focus, bordering on a meditative trance. His concentration extended to his physical being and the surrounding world, a careful attempt to conjure a spell once second nature to him. A spell that had demonstrated his competence as a mage in childhood and later entertained his children as an adult – the spell Firework.

He focused his mind. He inhaled deeply and tried to call upon the spell he had used countless times in the past. The spell that proved him to be a capable mage as a child, and the spell he used to entertain his children as an adult; Firework.

Everything went flawlessly, he was absolutely sure of it. Yet, nothing happened. No matter how much effort he put into it, not even an ounce of mana answered his call, there were no energies coursing through his body. The movements he made to cast the spell did nothing but tire his tiny body out.

He stood there in absolute silence, completely dumbstruck. For a while, he did nothing but stare at his hand. His look carried a tinge of betrayal. It was as if a part of his soul had abandoned him, leaving it scarred and deformed. He collapsed onto the ground. Tears rolled down his cheeks. For more than half an hour, he did nothing but cry. Einar cried like he had never cried before.

On the ground, in the tiny apartment layed a baby with the soul of a man that had just experienced a pain worse than death. For he had not only lost the greatest power a human could have, he had lost the only thing that made him who he was. Now that even the Magical energies that had accompanied him for most of his life were gone, he was truly alone.