A New Perspective

Spark is dead, yet his consciousness isn't. Looking around, surrounded by darkness he sees nothing, not even himself. The force he felt pulling back on him vanished leaving him alone, without the comfort of a body. Floating around in nothingness, his desolate soul, replaying the events that ended his life. He remembers wanting a break from his life, but he never would've guessed that his break would be permanent. He now knew that his home and his people were headed down a path of destruction, but he felt worse about the position he had left his father in, wishing for a chance that wouldn't come. 

In the distance, a white light flickered into existence, slowly growing larger by the second. Within a minute, the light had almost entirely enveloped him. After realizing there was nothing he could do to evade this light, he surrendered to his fate once more; he was already dead, what could be worse than that?

Once he was completely surrounded by the light, it started to take form and color. People dressed in white came to be and he could perceive the room around him as he realized he was alive once more, seeing the natural light from the sun accompanied by the blue sky through a window on the wall. Confused as to how any of this was possible, he tried to voice his concerns but to no avail. His thoughts of speech were met with screams coming from his newfound mouth. He could understand everything being said around him, but he found he couldn't speak. Still unsure of the situation unfolding around him, he got wiped down and was handed to a woman lying down on a bed when it clicked; he had been born again.  Seeing as he'd never seen the sky so clearly, he concluded that he'd been born into a different world and that the woman holding him was his new mother. Coming to this conclusion, he wanted to cry. It'd been so long since he had a motherly figure in his life, that he couldn't even remember what his mother was like from his time as Spark. 

Being held in his mother's embrace, his involuntary screaming came to a halt. Relishing this feeling that missed out on for so long, a man came to the side of his mother, hugging her as they both looked into his eyes, sharing words of satisfaction and relief. He understood that this man must be his new father, which felt weird. Through all that he could remember, his only father figure was his actual father, Austin Alduwitz, the emperor of the nation of Alduwitz and now this man would take Austin's place. As his new parents talked, he heard that his mother's name was Ellie, and his father's name was William, along with what his name would be. 

On this day, Spark Alduwitz truly died. In his place, Riley Bremner was born on the twenty first of June 2106. Riley would arrive at his new house the next day, in his mother's arms, bewildered by all the differences from his world. The sun was shining during the day above a blue sky containing scarce amounts of thin white clouds, contrary to the dark grey overcast that he was used to. Trees were everywhere and the grass was a lush green. Houses lined the streets without being littered with neon signs, with a capacity much larger than the apartments the citizens of Jimat had to live in. Birds fly through the sky as people walk dogs down the streets, stuff that he'd never seen before. 

The inside of his new house was nothing like what he could've possibly imagined. A marble spiral staircase beside a modest living room was revealed by the opening of the double doors of the house. Riley cringed arriving in his new room, He was now a baby and no one would expect him to have memories of a previous life; he didn't intend to ever tell anyone about it, he thought that it would be pointless as nobody would believe him. The walls were coated in soft blue paint hoisting a window in the middle. In one corner there was a white chair facing the white crib in the parallel corner, where he was laid to rest for a nap. As he lay on his back, He could see the window over the shoulder of his mother who was now hanging on the edge of his crib with a smile shining brighter than the sun behind her.

As Ellie leaves the room, Riley continues to look out the window, the same way he would look out of his window from his room in the House of the Emperor, marveling at the clear sky and accepting the reality that he has a new life in a different world. Riley would soon fall asleep, dreaming of how he would spend his second chance at life. His mind may be older but was now in the body of an infant. While he sleeps, the world passes by around him without a single trace of malice. Riley's nap was the most restful it has ever been, not having to worry about royal responsibilities or the threat of being assassinated. He no longer has to deal with those guards that were tasked with following him around to protect him from any harm, that in the end, couldn't even do that.  

Waking up, William and Ellie enter his room to spend time with their newborn child. Adjusted to his new life, Riley now enjoys the company of his new parents, though he finds it annoying that he'll need to spend the next few years of his life pretending to be a baby; but this time, he promised himself that this time, he's going to enjoy his life to the fullest, not taking it for granted. 

The rest of his day was filled with more first-time experiences. Once up from his nap, his family went out for a walk, enjoying the scenery from the beautiful day. He was fed dinner by his parents for the first time, and not by some random retainer hired by his father, what he grew up with as the prince of Alduwitz. That night, he fell asleep between his parents, because they both wanted to spend their first night home from the hospital with their baby all together. 

Even though his day was full of confusion and realization, it might've been one of the best days he'd lived in a long time. Though through death, he was finally able to break the cycle Riley felt had been holding him back from truly living.