Chapter 1: Reborn
The details of the accident were largely lost to Ethan.
One moment, he was strolling down the sidewalk, the next instant every fibre of his being wrenched in an ungodly pain. A bone-chilling coldness seeped in, making him regret every second he was alive.
Wait, am I even alive?
Ethan was unsure. He barely had any recollection of what had transpired. The last thing he remembered was returning from school when something struck him blind. And hard. He thought he heard snapping echoes of bones cracking, then all he sensed was the darkness and the agony.
Soon, the memory resurfaced. Ethan remembered being in a car accident.
Well, fuck!
He was on the phone, talking to a friend of his. What was his name again? Was it Jim or Sophia? Either way, it mattered not who he was talking to; his eyes had been on the path. Hell, he was not even on the street, creeping along the sidewalk as he usually did, with his apartment being less than a mile away from school.
Yet some motherfucker went out of his way from the street to crash into him, ripping the very life out of him.
Abruptly, a booming voice struck him, accompanied by strings of flickering texts.
[Anomaly detected.][Initiating combat measures...][Error.][Purging premature consciousness][Operation failed.][Initiating second phase...]
"Can’t you shut up already?" Ethan cried.
[Overwriting system protocol...]
He swore. Can’t even let him die in peace, can’t they?
He had no clue what in the world that was supposed to be, but at least the loudmouth stopped, the glittering text fading from his sight. Only the silence of the void kept him company.
Wait! Ethan snapped. Come back! You can’t just leave me all alone here.
Neither the glittering text nor the voice returned. But, to his surprise, the chilling coldness receded. Not only that, a comfortable, cosy warmth filled his chest.
Then the wrenching agony tormented him once again. A wail escaped his mouth involuntarily. Then came a flurry of lights, so bright that they blinded him. Through bleary eyes, he could only make out blurry shadows moving around him.
Perhaps the mad driver had not been as thorough as he had imagined. Ethan could not help but hope. Perhaps there was still a chance at life.
But fuck this pain! He cried like a baby, the sound grating even to his own ears, but stopping seemed to be beyond his control.
With the hellish torment crawling through every fibre of his being, would it even be worth living? Even if he was not bedridden for the rest of his life, Ethan did not think he would ever be in any condition to play football again.
But for the love of God, don’t you people have anaesthesia? Hit me with the highest dose already.
All that screaming seemed to work. His misery faded, and in its place, warmth and a cosy air surrounded him, keeping him alive for a little longer. Finally at peace, Ethan let the darkness swallow his thoughts as his consciousness faded into deep sleep.
Time passed in a flurry. He was unsure if he was in a coma, but time and time again, he would wake in a fit of cries and see blurry lights and silhouettes moving around him. At least the pain had stopped tormenting him, though the powerlessness still lingered. He was even helpless to twitch a muscle.
Until one day, his eyes cleared.
Ethan found himself in a situation that went beyond anything he had ever encountered. He was not in a hospital, nor was he in a coma. No, no. He was now trapped inside a newborn baby.
He was struck dumb for minutes. Instantly, his mind went to the various religious connotations of rebirth. Even if rebirth or reincarnation were true, people did not get to keep their memories, did they?
Well, his mind was hazy, a thick cloud shrouding it. But still, Ethan felt more whole than he should be.
He did not even believe in Buddhism, or was it Hinduism that spoke of the gospel of reincarnation? Besides, as far as he was aware, his karma credit should not be high enough to be reborn as a human again. Well, he had never done any harm intentionally. As for all the good, there was nothing of note other than donating a few pounds here and there.
The best chance he would give himself was a dog or a cat, not a stray one, but a pet of some good family.
Wisecracks aside, his mind drifted to the alien voice he had heard. Something about anomaly and premature consciousness. So it had nothing to do with religion?
Despite the suspicion, he could not confirm anything. Racking his brain for an answer only brought a tinge of pain and a headache that could only be quelled by going back to sleep.
The days passed in a blur. Most of it was spent sleeping. Some days, he barely had any recollection of waking. The few waking hours were spent feeding, defecating, crying for reasons unknown even to him, or ruminating on those troublesome thoughts.
He did not know how many days it took for his eyes to finally adjust. Nowadays, he could make out some details. He had to squint a bit, but he could finally remember the visage of his mother. She had a pale, pretty face, her hair fair and blond and always in a braid. She looked to be no older than twenty-five. There was a little girl always at her side whenever she attended to him. Although she was young, barely seven or eight, the resemblance in their features indicated she could only be his elder sister.
More figures came and went into the house; some of them even glared at Ethan as though he owed them money, but not a single one of them matched a fatherly figure.
Ethan was unsure what to think about that. If anything was to go by from the father of his previous life, then perhaps it was better not to have one.
Shaking his head free of those idle thoughts, Ethan concentrated on more productive ones. Looking at the plastered walls, the luminescence, and the ever-present warmth radiating through the room, he could safely assume that he had won the reincarnation lottery, that he was born into a well-off family.
Now that his brain functioned a little better, he began to count the days. It was the eleventh afternoon when his mother took him outdoors to get some fresh air. She made a habit of it, cradling him in her arms as they sat outside, either on the porch or the swing, or on a stroll through the neighbourhood. Ethan liked it outdoors, but his gaze would always remain skyward if his mother allowed it, as if trying to catch the number of stars in the deep cerulean sky.
Actually, he did catch two suns for once or twice. Even now, although he could not see both of them with his head cradled to one side, he could glimpse the radiance coming from the other direction, equally as potent, perhaps only overshadowed by the colossal, island-like structures hanging in the sky.
Of course, he was not on Earth.
From that day on, he kept his eyes turned towards the striking blue sky whenever he was outside. There were indeed sometimes two suns in the sky. They were almost identical, though he suspected there could be more than two, judging by how they drifted throughout the day.
That got him thinking. Clearly, he was not on Earth, despite the similarities he could draw from the memories of his previous life.
Now, what did two or more suns mean for him?
Well, his mother and all the other adults did not seem too worried about it, and they were living in comfort. So it was safe to assume nobody was waiting for him to solve the n-body problem here. Not that he remembered being good at maths.
Time passed painfully slowly, especially once his head had some clear ideas about his surroundings and new life. There was not much to do aside from pondering the many mysteries of this world. They did not seem scientifically advanced enough to figure out artificial gravity, so how in the gods’ name were those blocks of land hanging in the air? Even the answers to how many household appliances worked were largely lost to him.
One afternoon, they were all resting on the porch. Ethan was on his sister's lap, and their mother was sewing some new woollen clothes for the winter, when the noise of horse hooves clattering reached his ears.
He opened his eyes and found a whole company of soldiers drawing closer to their house. The horses faltered just before the fence, and a tall figure in white-clad armour stepped forward. Ethan stared at the man and, curiously, found he was staring right back at him, a collection of raw emotions flowing in his eyes.
With one step, he cut the distance between them and reached out to grasp him. And his sister even allowed it. The man was incredibly careful with him, supporting him fully with both of his large palms.
Ethan stared at the man suspiciously. He had a stupidly handsome face with a chiselled jaw and sharp nose. His ebony-brown hair was cut short, complementing his slightly darker skin tone. A long sword was latched onto his back, which brought a line between Ethan’s brows.
From the architecture of the houses and the homely appliances, Ethan could tell that the world was not far behind Earth in technology, perhaps only missing smartphones and computers. They should have already invented guns and gunpowder. Then what was the sword for? It did not seem like a ceremonial accessory either, not with the tough armour covering him.
All those thoughts played in his mind when the man leaned in to kiss the top of his head. Meanwhile, his sister had already hugged him.
The soldier turned towards his mother and smiled warmly before returning him to her more comfortable arms, but not without exchanging a passionate kiss.
Well, that proved it, Ethan thought. Perhaps his father was not a bastard after all.
He was a soldier of some high command, the leader of the whole company, it seemed, as, under his orders, more of those people entered their courtyard with boisterous laughs and congratulations. They even came bearing gifts.
So, a respectable man among his company as well.
After a little exchange, they went about their way, leaving their leader some alone time with his family. The first thing his father did after entering was to remove his armour. While Ethan had some interest in its build, what stupefied him was how each piece seemed to vanish into thin air at the wave of his palm.
Ethan blinked. Even when the boots and the last few pieces disappeared one by one, he still stared in utter bewilderment.
That had to be magic. There were no other explanations for it. Or perhaps their science had advanced to such an unfathomable degree that it seemed like magic to a layman.
Unknowingly, an unimaginable amount of excitement filled his heart, so much so that he wiggled his little arm towards the man.
His father smiled at him, said something incoherent to his ears, and walked off to the other room.
Come on! he cried. You just piqued my curiosity. You can’t just leave like that.
His mother too handed him to her older child before going after him.
With their father finally home, even his sister wasn't too eager to take care of him. Lying him in the crib, she began sifting through all the presents his father’s companions had gifted.
An incredible amount of childish fury coursed through his mind. How can you all leave like that? he thought, feeling all the powerlessness in his body.
I guess I can only succumb to the only power I have right now.
Ethan tried to clear his throat, then opened his mouth and cried at the top of his lungs, rolling in his crib. He was so unbridled that his head bumped against the wood, and then the tears came unbidden. He was now crying for real. His fragile form could not even endure the barest of knocks.
His mother came running, shouting at her daughter. She cradled him in her arms, patting his back soothingly, when the other person joined with only a towel hiding his dignity. It appeared he had come straight from the middle of a bath.
Gazing at him awkwardly, Ethan shut up. His father drew closer and rubbed the red patch of skin on his head. A translucent light flickered from his palm and spread across Ethan’s head.
His heart quivered, feeling a warm, soothing energy easing the little bruise. In no time, the pain was gone, leaving only the warm sensation of energy coursing over his scalp.
Healing magic?
Before Ethan could come to a conclusion, something else pricked at his being. He jerked, but the sensation remained the same. It was only like a light touch, but it made him uncomfortable nonetheless.
[Would you like to learn Mana Sense (Copper)?][Accept | Decline]
Ethan arched an eyebrow, looking at the mysterious disembodied text gleaming before his eyes.
His parents betrayed no outward expression that suggested they had seen anything out of the ordinary. It was almost like a video game HUD, only far more mysterious. The letters were runic, esoteric even. He could not even be sure if they were in English, yet he could interpret them all the same.
The tabs of “accept” or “decline” glared before his eyes.
Tentatively, Ethan concentrated on the Accept tab. Yessss?
[Skill gained: Mana Sense (Copper)][+10 EP][Human Tier 0 (0 → 10/300)]
A warm, fuzzy sensation flooded through his body, and before he knew it, Ethan was arching his back. It seemed to course through his veins, raising his body temperature by a couple of degrees, giving a sensation close to intoxication. The thought of how these alien texts could interpret his inner thoughts barely brushed his mind.
[Congratulations. You have gained your first Copper skill. As per Arcanum’s Edict, you have gained access to your Status.]
Then a larger, expanded window opened before his eyes.