The Housewife Arrives

Ariana stood on the porch of her cottage, looking out at the gardens. It was a morning in the height of summer, and the sun would be unkind to her produce. She contemplated the tasks ahead of her as she tied her long white hair into a ponytail, resting it over her left shoulder. She shielded her amber eyes from the rising sun and peered beyond the gardens to the woods in the distance. 

She thought she might go foraging for those plants the pigs didn’t like. They might keep them from trampling the potatoes again. Though she wanted very much for her plants to finish growing safely, she tried to use the magic granted to her sparingly these days, to water the plants and help them develop a little faster. There's no sense wasting it on keeping out the animals if there’s an easier way.

Ariana was not always this way. In a previous life, she was a housewife. She lived in a small apartment with her husband and their son, Alexander. In that life, she had black hair, brown eyes, and no magic. Her husband went to work, her son went to school, and she was content with that life, though there was a part of her that always imagined more.

Ariana was not exceptional, but she was a dedicated mother and wife, a unique kind of extraordinary. She did the laundry, washed the dishes, and loved their son, things one might expect of an at-home parent. This was the case until there was one particularly awful fight. This argument upset Alex, and he ran out of the apartment. She gave chase. That day was a rainy one. The boy ran right out into traffic and tripped. In one blind leap, Ariana screamed out and moved to protect her child.

She died.

Then, a shape of light was before her in a dark place. All she could think about was her son. The light assured her he lived, but in saving him, she had perished. Before being given time to process this, the light spoke to her. “Your selfless act of sacrifice has afforded you a second life. In this life, your strength will be fivefold, and your motherly instinct will give you an affinity for water and nature magic. Good luck to you.”

She woke, as if from a dream. Now awake, Ariana saw the canopy of a wooded place. The sun was barely peeking through the leaves overhead at a slight angle. She could hear the rustling of leaves and grass, the call of some birds, and the murmur of distant water. She could feel the grass and fallen leaves beneath her. Her hand brushes against a flower. There was a fresh, earthy scent about her. Perhaps, she thought, this was heaven.

She sat up slowly and looked around. Looking at herself, she looked paler than she was used to. Also, she had no clothes. This realization startled her, and she moved to cover herself. This sudden movement scared some animals around her. She was thrown into a state of panic. Her mind rushed with thoughts. Where was Alex? Where was she? What was this place? What happened to her skin? Why was she naked? Where was the traffic? Of all these thoughts, the most pressing on her mind was of Alex.

On top of that, her vision became flooded with various indicators, each conveying different messages: Time of day, temperature, direction, season, level, remaining magic, remaining health, indicators for every mushroom, every plant, the animals, a list of skills; the sheer amount of information flooding into her was overwhelming.

She sat there in that spot trying to weigh her situation. She remembered. She sacrificed herself to save her son. Then that voice, that light, gave her a new life. Reincarnated, she thought. It claimed Alex was safe. It brought her some comfort to know that, but… how could she know for certain? Even if it were the case, would she ever see him again? For a time, she wept.

When she regained her composure, she focused on the information taking up her vision. It was too much. How could anyone live with all of this? She turned her gaze to the daylight indicator. It was the afternoon. Surely, she thought, she could figure that out by looking at the sky, couldn’t she? She didn’t need this information! With that thought, that indicator went away from her vision.

With this, she had a realization. She went through all of the indicators that obscured her vision and removed each display one by one. As she did this, she took stock of all the things she knew. She kept only the least intrusive indicator, a Danger Sense at the edges of her vision. With her vision cleared and her thoughts focused, she stood up. She looked at herself again and sighed. She needed something to cover up with.

She observed her surroundings again. Leaves, branches, mushrooms, those were the things at her disposal. If she had something to sew with, she might be able to make some clothing from leaves. If only there were one big leaf, like a blanket or a sheet, she thought.

Then she remembered the light. It told her she could do nature magic. Perhaps she could make a big leaf? She pondered for a while on how to cast magic. She thought back to some of the games her son played; his characters could cast spells. How did they do it, she wondered? She tried to think back on when her son described it, but it was hard not to tune him out when he spoke for a long period.

In those games, she saw menus for that, but she had had quite enough of all that filling her vision. Those characters usually had a book or a wand with them, and the word for the spell popped up, so she assumed they were speaking the magic out loud. Ariana didn’t have any books or wands. There were also some of those games where the character just put their hand up to do magic. She figured she could try that.

She raised her hand towards a bush and spoke. “Leaf!”

Some birds took flight. She sighed. Perhaps she needed a different word. “Grow! Nature! Plant!” Nothing seemed to be happening. She thought long and hard about the conundrum. There was a show her son watched where the characters used martial arts, and when they did, it summoned fire and tornadoes with each punch or kick.

She took a firm stance and pushed her fist forward. “Hah!” Nothing changed. She did a kick. “Hyah!” Again, no response. She sighed, glad no one could see her; it probably looked ridiculous.

As she pondered, a rustle in the bushes stirred behind her. She gasped and turned to see… a little boar piglet sniffling about. It rooted around in the leaves and grunted a bit. She thought it was adorable, but knew all too well as a mother that children are seldom by themselves. She scanned the area, making sure to steer clear of the piglet.

A red sharpness intruded from the corner of her vision. Suddenly, a larger and angrier boar burst from the bushes and rushed towards Ariana. She shouted and raised her arms to defend herself. As she did, a short wall of roots shot up from the ground between her and the boar. The boar squealed and turned around. The piglet was scared off as well.

Ariana looked in awe. At that moment, she wanted the boar to go away, to be stopped. She tried to focus again on the roots. She moved her arm out, and the roots moved with her. This was progress. She turned to a tree and focused on one of the leaves. Raising her hands, she took a deep breath. She moved her hands in a circular motion, pulling back, under, over, back, and forth, all the while maintaining focus on the leaf. It expanded, stretched, grew, lengthened, steadily larger.

Eventually, it was as long as she was tall and twice her width. She swirled her hands around as if tying off a knot and pulling. The leaf broke free from the tree. She donned the large leaf over her shoulders like a cape. It helped, but it didn’t do much to cover the front. She repeated the process for another leaf and some vines to use as rope. She made herself a quick outfit with the leaves.

With her clothing settled and magic figured out, Ariana felt more confident to explore her surroundings. She again looked around, now able to take in her surroundings with more detail. She noticed the place where she was lying had a ring of mushrooms around it. She thought it was strange. After a time of taking in her surroundings, thoughts of her son returned. She was holding him before she came here; he might have come to this place with her. She had to find him.