There was nothing around me. Well, what I assumed was me. As best I could tell it was some sort of energy. Maybe. It did seem to change with my emotions, becoming more active when I was angry and more calm when I was calm, so it had to be me, right?

Wait. What was that? I seem to...hear something? No, that’s not right. It wasn’t a sound. More like a sensation. Like an inner voice in your head, but you know it didn’t come from you, and also you don’t have a head. Or a brain for that matter. Still, if it was talking about me, that would make me a slave, right?

There it was again. Another person’s voice, for lack of a better word. And it’s responding to me?

How? Was this telepathy? Did telepathy even exist?

Great, random medical exams by people who paid my taxi cab. Nothing weird about that.

I tried to not do anything, but it was so boring. I needed to do something to pass the time. I guess I could play a game, but then I’d have to keep track of all the pieces, and I’m not sure I could do that. Singing it is then. I paused a second before I began. Baby shark, dodododo

So, you’re a nature god?

Gods have money?

So, what’s a tier three soul?

So, what does that mean for me?

Oh, well thank you. So, have you finished you’re exam?

If only I was a seven out of ten when I was alive.

Not really. As long as I’m not particularly hideous, I’ll manage.

Paid to have me abducted, you mean?

Sorry. You seem bothered by the idea. I was just trying to get the upper hand in our negotiations. I didn’t mean to upset you.

Stolen story; please report.

So, typical Isekai. I need to go defeat the demon lord, rescue the humanoids, yada yada?

You want me to be Moses, and lead your people out of slavery?

That’s it? Seems like a small request in exchange for giving me a new life.

So, deific politics?

Sure, why not. I don’t really like the idea of slavery either, and it beats floating around in the aether for another thousand years. Go ahead and send me down.

Boy or girl?

I guess so. So is this goodbye, or?

Thanks. I didn’t get a response.

The next thing I know I’m floating in something warm, like a bath. I had no idea how I got there, but it was comfortable just floating there, rolled up in a ball. I could just go to sleep.

The next thing I remember is waking up and finding that my warm pool has been deflated. The walls are pushing up against me, and there is a bit of light coming from below my feet. I squirm to try and deal with the uncomfortableness of the walls pushing against me and feel my feet slide out into open air. Well, I guess I can’t stay in here any more. I stopped struggling and soon I had been completely removed from my cocoon. It was chilly, and before I could assess my situation someone smacked me on the butt. I screamed in response and just kept screaming. I don’t know why, but for some reason it just seemed like the thing to do. Maybe because I was tired?

I was wrapped up in a blanket by a middle aged woman with green hair who said something I couldn’t understand before handing me to a younger woman with red hair that was lying in a soaked bed. Not auburn or ginger hair, red hair, like a stop sign. The color was just off enough that I stared at it while the green haired woman handed me to her. She looked at me for a few seconds while speaking more nonsense, but I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I was warm now, and just wanted to sleep. The only thing I remember immediately after that was something being put in my mouth and a warm, sweet liquid going down my throat. All of this while getting snuggled up beside a massive pillow.

The next few weeks were a blur, as I woke up and went back to sleep so often that I don’t know what was happening. I do remember being held by that same red haired woman a few times, but that’s it. Some time after that, around the time I started being able to control my arms and hands the way I wanted them, I remember a blue haired child being put into the bed beside me by a woman with hair a slightly darker shade of blue. When I started crying she picked me up and pushed me to her chest. Well, guess my mom has hired a wet nurse, now.

By the time I figured out how to crawl I had learned a few words. The woman’s name was Tanya, and the kid she put beside me was Marya, her daughter. Marya was born about three weeks after me, so she couldn’t crawl yet. Still, I made a game out of making Tanya chase me. It was boring being a baby, after all. I needed to do something to entertain myself.

Eventually I started being able to walk. By that time I could understand a few hundred words but could only properly say a few. Still, I tried to explore to relieve my boredom and still Tanya had to chase me, carrying Marya on her back. I got good at walking that way, and could even dodge a bit by the time Marya started walking. I decided not to annoy Tanya after that. Now was time for her to work with her daughter. I sat down and colored, finger paints mostly, but I did have some chalk I could draw with. If only this world had invented crayons, then I would have a proper drawing tool.

I also started eating solid food, and even learned to feed myself. I considered entertaining myself by eating all of the food I could, but then I remembered something that god said. “No strong predisposition to vices.” I think he said. Wouldn’t becoming a glutton go against that? Beside, throwing my food at things to see if it stuck was more fun. I flung some kind of mashed vegetable that tasted a bit like carrots at the wall and was surprised to see that it did, indeed, stick. I laughed in congratulations, but the bald butler seemed annoyed. Right, someone would need to clean that up. I’d have to not do that that often.

Eventually I could speak well enough that I could ask someone to teach me to read. Tanya didn’t think she should be the one to do so, but when I pointed out that she would be teaching Marya soon, she agreed to teach us both. I learned quite a bit quicker, and after a few months my mother heard about it and talked to Tanya about it. Three days later, Tanya was moved to the kitchen and I was introduced to a man named Reginald who had yellow hair. Again, not blonde, yellow. Reginald said that he had been hired by mother and father to begin my education.

For the next few months he taught me to read more and more words, and I only saw Tanya and Marya when I went to the dining room to eat, with was only twice a day at most. Shortly after that, Reginald began bringing books about various things in the world, religious books, and story books of legends. I really liked the book about animals. One day I saw a person out the window with cat ears and when I called them “Cat Woman”, Reginald got a stern look on his face. He corrected me that the word “Woman” only applied to people, and told me to use the words “adult” and “female” instead. When I asked him why, he explained that it was for the same reason you wouldn’t call a prized mare a woman, even though it was an adult female horse. It was then that I realized how far the racism ran in this country. The woman was clearly able to walk upright and think, and only her ears and tail really made her look like and animal, but to them, she was no different than a housecat.

Knowing that only education could stop people from being racist, I decided to learn everything I could so that I could teach it to others. I spent all of my time in the library, reading every book I could, with Reginald encouraging me, seeing me as a prized student. He, of course, chose books that he thought were appropriate for my age, but soon the house’s library had run out. It was then that, even though my fourth birthday was still a month away, he showed me a book titled “Introduction to Magic.”

Normally children wouldn’t start learning magic until they were five, or closed to it, but in my case, he assumed that I had a good enough handle on all of the concepts involved that I could begin even at my age.

The book explained that magic was basically the manipulation of mana, something that every lifeform had inside of them. Animals might accidentally learn to use it in a specific way, and monsters might have a talent to use it in a limited way, but intelligent beings could use it in a wide variety of ways. Even the lowest Beastfolk could learn magic if they were dedicated and smart enough, though they usually only learned basic utility spells for serving their masters more easily.

There were two main ways to manipulate mana, Detection of a property and Imbuing of a property. Most people only learned to imbue properties, but if you got good at doing both, and had a talent for magic or magical devices, you could combine the two to make very specific spells. One example it gave was the devices nobles used in their castles and palaces which would make a crystal glow if a person stepped near it while wearing a weapon. Basically a magical metal detector. Maybe one day I could learn to do that.

The next day Reginald brought out a candle and lit it. He told me to focus on the flame. I did. He then told me to feel a pressure within myself. I pictured myself as a water balloon, and could feel a bit of water inside me. He then told me to try to release that pressure towards the flame while imagining it getting bigger. I imagined a tiny hole in the balloon in my palm, like I put tape over the area and poked a pin in it. I then imagined that the stream was gasoline and shot it at the fire.

As soon as I opened the stream, I started to get tired. I only managed to keep it up for a few seconds before I felt the hole that was releasing the gas close again on its on. I started to close my eyes only to notice that the candle flame was at least twice as tall as it was before, but was shrinking.

“Congratulations, sir. You did it.” Reginald said, and I laid down on the floor for a nap.