Memories from Past Lives (3)

My name was Mizukami Renji. I lived in a world called Earth, in a nation called Japan. In Japan, it is customary to place the family name first, so Mizukami was my family name. It was a relatively peaceful world, at least Japan was never engaged in a war during my whole lifetime. It was also a world without magic, but one with an exceptionally advanced and sophisticated civilisation.

I think my life was pretty normal. During my youth, I played, studied and spent time with my friends. My father was a chef, a high class cook, and I eventually followed in his footsteps.

I never became famous, but I think I was quite good at my job and my career went quite smoothly, overall, even if I never reached anywhere near the top of my field. My specialty was Japanese cuisine, but I also dabbled in the cuisines of some nearby nations: Korean, Chinese, Thai and Indian. And, as a curious exception, that of a nation from a whole another continent: Italian.

In that world, crossing a continent was easy; anyone could do it within a day or two, if they had some money.

I drooled just thinking of all the delicacies I had tasted on Earth. Compared to my life in the village, I occasionally got to eat some rather tasty food in my travels with my master, who wasn’t stingy when it came to food and accommodations, but with a few notable exceptions, the food I had tasted in this life was nothing compared to the world of tastes I had experienced in my past life. Even cheap, mundane food in Japan was delicious.

I felt a pang of sorrow at the thought of never eating so well again.

I “dated” – a courtship practise from Earth where two people spend a lot of time together, usually with the intention of ascertaining whether they are suited to marry, but sometimes just for fun – a couple of girls in my youth, and I was married in my late twenties and early thirties for six years. Our divorce wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t exactly amicable either.

After that, I concentrated on my craft and hobbies. My favourite outdoor activity was ice skating – sliding on smooth ice with specially made shoes. I also read a fair amount, though mainly entertaining story books called “light novels” and picture books called “comics.”

I never married again, or even dated. I wasn’t unhappy, but I admit that in my later years, I was lonely and regretful.

I resolved myself to not live a lonely life in this life. Mystics rarely marry, they tend to be too driven by their passion and live a moving life until they’re too old, so few women can handle them. However, there’s no rule or anything controlling our love life.

Next, I received memories from a life I lived in a world called Kruaal. My name was Charad. It doesn’t really matter where I was born, as I wandered all over the world in that life, never knowing a home.

Unlike my life on Earth, my life on Kruaal was nothing but peaceful and ordinary. It was a chaotic world full of war and struggle. Even compared to my current world, Vareda, a world with many conflicts, Kruaal was hell.

But I wasn’t unhappy. It was a world where the strong thrived, and I was strong. I was a warrior, and there were few, warriors or otherwise, who were my match. The warriors of Kruaal were experts on drawing upon the body’s internal energy to perform superhuman feats. Some of the things I could do with that energy were impressive even compared to magic.

I had many women in that life. Some of them became my lifelong travelling companions, some I visited regularly and some were just short acquaintances. It wasn’t at all unusual for men of power in that world, but I suppose the scale was a bit unusual, as I think I received more epithets relating to my womanising than my strength.

I never officially married in that world, but I wasn’t lonely in the least.

Of course, eventually age caught up to me and I became weaker. I was eventually killed in a duel in my late fifties, by a man half my age. But I had no regrets: I lived a fulfilling life and I managed to protect my women. None of them died before me.

Compared to my memories from Earth, my memories from Kruaal were fewer, more fragmented and more faded. If I had to quantify the memories, I’d estimate that I received about 5 years’ worth of memories from Earth and only half of that from Kruaal.

My next (or previous?) life was in a verdant, tropical world with far richer plant and animal life than any of the three other worlds I knew.

There were no humans in that world. That world was inhabited by several sentient species that could perhaps be called “beastmen”: creatures similar to the animals and monsters of Vareda, but intelligent, civilised and often as skilled and dexterous as humans are at using their hands. The level of civilisation in that world was perhaps a little on the primitive side, as nature was not something to be trifled with in that world, and most of us decided to live by its rules, but it had its own advanced elements.

My name was… something difficult to pronounce with a human mouth.

I was something like a mage in that life. Or rather, like a mystic who only knew ancient magic. But it wasn’t quite like the ancient magic I know. It was ritualistic and powerful, relying on spirits, but it was much less diverse, mainly focusing on controlling plant and animal life.

I had a faithful mate and lived a good life, respected by many even outside my own tribe. There were conflicts and troubled times, but nothing I couldn’t overcome.

Once again, the memories were much fewer and more faded than those from my life on Kruaal.

I was a mage king in a prosperous world filled with wonders of civilisation and magic, and many sentient species.

I was an assassin serving the emperor who controlled an entire continent in a world where magic was mostly used internally, not much unlike the internal energy in Kruaal.

I was a mage who excelled in temperature control magic in a hot world filled with deserts, seemingly inhospitable to life, yet with many tenacious forms of life.

I was a world-famous bard in a world where one of the ways to use magic was through song and music.

I was an alchemist …

I was a swordmage…

I was a beast tamer…

I was a soldier…

…

…

…

I received memories from a total of 24 lives, each more faded than the last, to the point where I’m not even sure what my name was on the 24th life. In total, I’d estimate that it was roughly a dozen years’ worth of more or less clear memories.

I fainted as soon as the flood of memories subsided, and for the next half a month I suffered from a minor identity crisis. My dreams were plagued with past life memories and my days filled with trying to organise the vast amount of information I had suddenly gained.

However, I noticed that across all my lives, my personality and values remained largely consistent, perhaps because some personality traits are ingrained to my very soul. Because of that, I was never in danger of losing myself. Once I found my bearings again, all the drawbacks were dealt with and only the benefits remained.

My worldview expanded greatly that night. I learned a great many things that I would find useful in the coming years. I learned a tremendous amount about magic and fighting in particular, many things unknown to this world.

Sadly, many of the ways to use magic that I recalled that night are unusable in this world, as they require a body that can use magic power – or mana, as it’s known in many worlds – directly. All magic on Vareda is based on spirits, as the humans in this world are unable to utilise mana directly.

It’s a bit of a shame that the life which I remember most clearly, probably the life right before my current one, took place in a rare world without magic. Well, I received many things from that world as well, so I’m not actually all that disappointed. Some of the fields of science I remember from Earth are practically unknown in Vareda.

I actually kind of miss my life on Earth, it is in many ways special among the worlds I now know. You see, life on Earth was uniquely enjoyable. The food was just one thing, there were many things developed to entertain people, and most of those things were available to ordinary commoners. Over the years, I’ve managed to bring some of those pastimes over to this world – mainly to entertain Mira and Anna – but there are still many more things I miss.

The memories also had an effect on my mental maturity. After that night, I almost felt like an adult. My conversations with my master became much more sophisticated, and I started to look at adults as my equals and children as something cute and precious.

I aspired and reached greatness in various ways in most of my previous lives. Perhaps ambition is something inherent to my soul? I wonder if I can become something even greater than a court mystic of a medium-sized – albeit old and prosperous – kingdom in this life? I cannot deny that my ambition is not yet sated, although I have no aspirations of the political nature.