Reborn

"What’s going on? Where am I? It’s pitch black—I can’t see anything. Where’s Akane?

... Right. I died—didn't I."

"Bad luck, that's what it was, nothing more, figures—since It followed me everywhere, like a curse I could never shake. 

I guess it makes sense that I’d die bleeding out in the middle of the street. A Fitting death—right? For a worthless nobody like me—

The burned-out case."

After a few minutes, I regained consciousness. My vision returned—blurry at first—but I could make out the shape of a man looking down at me.

He was handsome but looked greedy, and he didn’t look that much older than me. 

Maybe he's in his mid-twenties. I thought. 

He just stood there… grinning.

Why is he looking at me like that? 

I tried to speak—to ask where I was—but no words came out. My throat didn’t even move. It was like I’d forgotten how to speak.

 I started to panic but forced myself to stay calm. The man leaned down and picked me up. Effortlessly. 

Wait—how is he carrying me so easily? I weigh about 144 pounds… Don't I?

Then he handed me to a woman. She was beautiful—late-twenties—maybe, with soft green eyes and long—golden hair that shimmered like silk. 

Her features were flawless, like something out of a painting. She looked somewhat petite or rather she looked like a delicate flower.

And yet…

She lifted me up as if I weighed nothing. Like I was paper. She started speaking, but I couldn’t understand her. It didn't sound like Japanese. In fact it wasn’t any language I knew. 

She turned to the man and said something softly. Her voice was gentle, almost melodic. They both looked at me and smiled—As if I was some sort of treasured gift.

What the heck is going on?  I asked myself.

I tried to move my legs—nothing. Only my fingers twitched. I slowly raised my right hand—and; It—was—Tiny. Incredibly tiny.

What… the… hell.  

Those where my thoughts as I made a confused expression.

I was a baby, a literal baby. I didn’t know how or why—but somehow, I had been reborn. In simple terms, 

I’ve been Isekai’d! Are you kidding me! I thought, as the woman gently touched my cheek and smiled as the man leaned in and hugged us both. I stayed quiet. I didn’t cry.

Even though I had just been born again… I was still a twenty-year-old man on the inside. But in that moment—I had a lot of questions that needed answers.

Why am I here? What is this place? Who brought me here? And for what purpose?

Even though I had a lot of questions I inevitably had no answers—I was a child after all, so it's not like I could talk.

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[Seven Months Later.]

Time passed, and I slowly came to accept the truth—I had been reincarnated in another world. Like the stories I used to read in light novels and manga. But the difference was that this was real. Insanely real.

Mother entered an unknown room. The room looked like it was meant for a child, that makes sense—since it had been my room for the past few months.

As she walked across the room my thoughts in that moment were: It's been a few months since I was reborn, and I've noticed a few odd things about this world. First of all—there's no electricity in this place. Secondly—the food is strange. and thirdly—the language is foreign. But even so, life here is—simple and peaceful.

I was placed in a lavish nursery, complete with a custom-made crib and child-sized furniture. Whoever my new parents were, they had money. But more importantly—they had kindness. 

I learned the man’s name quickly—it was Lyrien. He repeated it to me daily—proudly, like a battle cry. I’ve seen him train in the yard on multiple occasions. 

"Lyrien is a Swordsman—no doubt about it. When he trains, his blade glows, or rather—it's covered in flames. Which I deduced to be—Magic. It actually exists here.

Mother—whose name I eventually learned was Mira, is a mage. From what I’ve seen, she specializes in healing magic. They’re both powerful. And if they can use magic… Maybe I can too."

One month ago. I was crawling around my room, and discovered a small wooden chest beneath my bed. With effort, I pried it open. Inside were wooden toys, yes—but also a worn journal. It looked like it was used frequently in it's time, judging from It's current state.

I flipped it open and found entries written in the same language I’d been hearing for months. But something about the handwriting, and diagrams—it was clearly a personal journal, which had notes about magic.

I couldn’t read it yet, but I traced the lines, feeling the mana vibrating off the ink like some sort of magical aura. A few minutes later, Mira walked in and saw me holding the book.

Instead of scolding me, she simply smiled, took a seat beside me, and opened a new page. She placed my hand on a rune drawn in glowing ink, and my skin tingled. 

Her voice was soft, rhythmic. She began chanting—nothing intense, just a beginner’s incantation. The rune glowed briefly under my palm. A faint warmth pulsed into me. This was a lesson. She was showing me how to feel mana. 

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As the days went by I’d sit quietly and think of Earth. Of my parents graves. Of her.

Akane… Are you still alive?  I asked myself.

The memories came crashing in—her smile, her voice, the way she always reached out to me when I was falling apart.

I also remembered my parent's deaths, that painful moment when the fireman told me they were gone. Which is something I had buried long ago.

 For the first time since I was reborn… A single tear made a path down my cheek.

I wiped it away with my small baby hand. The pain was still there, but so was something else—a flicker of hope.

 Maybe there’s a way back. If there is, then I’ll find it. No matter what. So that... so that I can visit my parent's graves. And finally—see Akane again. I thought as I made a serious expression.

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[Four weeks Later.]

It was early morning. Dew clung to the grass outside, and birds with strange blue feathers chirped songs I didn’t recognize. I had finally managed to sneak away while Mira was busy in the kitchen. 

I crawled toward the small garden Mira tended every afternoon. At the edge of the garden was a smooth rock—flat, worn down by time. 

I sat on it. As I sat I saw something, and It put all the doubts I had about being in a fantasy world to sleep. It was a dragon, a white one, and it was flying way up high in the sky. 

My jaw dropped as I asked myself: "Is... that... a real... freakin'...dragon?!"  I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was a real—live dragon. 

As I continued looking at the dragon, I saw something else that screamed fantasy setting, it was a moon, actually no, it was two moons that were faintly visible since it was the middle of the day.

This world was entirely different from earth, which made me think that finding a way back home wasn't going to be easy.

Minutes later, I stretched out my fingers, closed my eyes, and tried to do what Mira had shown me days before: To focus. I imagined the warmth again. The gentle glow. The flow of something unseen. A breeze passed, and the air shimmered around me. 

A faint pulse slowly radiated from my chest to my arms, reaching down into my fingers. I held out my palm and whispered a simple word in the unknown language, I’d heard her say countless times during her teachings.

"I... Ig... Ignite.”

It was a shortened incantation, no It wasn’t an incantation, not officially. It was just a spark word, actually it would be appropriate to call it an activation word. 

My palm flickered with a faint crimson-red glow. It disappeared as quickly as it came, but I laughed—well, gurgled like a baby trying to laugh.

Behind me was a soft clapping sound. I turned around and saw Mira watching. She wasn’t surprised, just proud. She came over and knelt beside me.

“Zharis ka’the, Kyle” she whispered, brushing my hair back. I didn’t know the words—but for some reason I knew what they meant.

And they meant: "You’re special, Kyle" or something along those lines. She picked me up from the rock and spun me around as she smiled proudly. She stopped spinning and tapped the tip of my nose with her finger and giggled. 

She than held out her hand and held me tight. She said something in the unfamiliar language, which in english, translates to: "Divine art of flames—Ember!"

Mana flowed from her chest to her hand and a flame appeared slowly as it grew into the size of a ball. She controlled the flame and it launched from her hand incredible fast. 

It impacted a tree, and caused a minor explosion. Completely decimating the tree. I was in awe, her control over magic was truly impressive. She then looked at me with a cocky expression. Meaning that she was trying to impress her me. 

Was she seriously trying to impress me, hah—but I'm not gonna lie, it worked, I'm definitely impressed. I thought. I wonder—just how powerful is she?

She then turned around and walked back towards the house with me. Leaving the tree smoking from that: "Divine art of flames—Ember." spell.