Chapter 2: A New Soul under a Loving Home
I couldn't move my head as I was wrapped in some kind of soft fabric with a hand holding my head. It took me a few minutes to be able to open my eyes enough to see, taking longer than I was used to adjust to light. I looked up to see a woman with features that reminded me of home, being rough and a little weathered by time unlike the never-fading beauty of the nobles, secretaries, and priests.
She held me in her arms speaking softly to me in a language I couldn't understand, but it was clear with her eyes that seemed to be focused only on me, and her smile that refused to stop, that she loved me unconditionally. It didn't take long for me, I understood that this woman didn't know anything about me, about the man I used to be or would become in the future, but just wanted the best for me. Though it was degrading to me, I didn't want to let her expectations down as she tried playing with my little arms. Though I smiled and tried to giggle a little, the best I got out was some sort of weird noise as the spit bubbled and popped.
Though I wanted to entertain her as best I could, my mind and body weren't ready to be awake any longer, for some reason I felt a tiredness that I couldn't compare to even after I finished a weeklong campaign without rest. Throughout my sleep, I had a rare lucid dream, something that I had frequently back when I used to live amongst the forest, but I slowly stopped having as I slept less and there were battles to be won.
In my dream, I was not the baby that my new body was, but my body was much younger than I remember it being. I conceived a mirror in front of me, and when I looked into it, I was a young man standing at 6'2, in ragged clothes that were only worn amongst the peasantry. It seems that in the depths of my mind, I still see myself as the young man I once was, alienating myself from when I was just a weapon that you pointed at the enemy and let loose.
I looked around me as the empty space slowly filled with a warm light and nature grew from nothing but emptiness, starting from the dirt, to the grass, to the saplings, into a forest. Though I was pleasantly surprised, I expected my mind to make a scene like this, and soon I found a wide stump to use as a chair. It was time to acknowledge the strangeness of the situation, as having a lucid dream wasn't unusual for me, the fact it happened right after I awoke in a place unknown to me as a baby at that, I found to be no coincidence. Even the fact that I had woken up as a baby when I was supposed to die an old man was a shock to me, as while I knew some people believed that souls exist in an infinite cycle of death and birth, it was also known that those memories from life are erased.
While I sat contemplating my current situation and how I would proceed, anywhere from just mentally locking myself away from my past memories so I can enjoy a new life, to escaping at a young age and becoming self-dependent and training back up my strength. Soon a bird from above cried, which was strange because in a weird way, I know what in this world is fake and real, and I am supposed to be the only real thing in my dreams. Soon, though, multiple creatures of the forest approached, the birds landed on branches, the rabbits hopped close, even bears, ducks, deer, frogs, and a plethora of the forest's inhabitants.
They all opened their mouths, "It's regrettable that we didn't get to talk before you were reincarnated." I sat there and put my head in my hands as I just rubbed my temples.
"Is something wrong, Arthur?" All the animals talked in unison. "Yes, in fact, there is. Please shut up and just use one mouth. I'm not deaf, but if this goes on I will be."
The animals looked around at each other before receding into the forest and seemingly disappearing after they got out of sight, leaving just an albino deer with golden horns with weird etchings. "Certainly, young Arthur. Now, I do apologize that I couldn't get to you before you were reincarnated, but do understand that your soul moved expectantly fast and didn't resist death like most do, so our ETA was off."
"You understand, do understand I don't know about half of what you just said means, don't you?" He could only look at the deer with a little bit of disbelief, that this was the entity or one of them that had control over his mortal soul. "Ah, yes, I forget that you come from a world that is a bit inept and don't have a concept of many topics outside your limited scope." The deer said in a seemingly casual voice, but for some reason, I felt like that was a little bit of an insult?
"Can you just explain why I'm now in the body of a baby, and what happened to the soul that was supposed to be in this body? I'm not so desperate to live that I'd take it from a child." While finally just accepting that him and this entity were clearly working off different scopes of knowledge and were struggling to even have a normal conversation.
"Well simply, your feats were seen by the god of your world. You never prayed, but you never sinned past murder committed for your nation, and even then it was only entities invading your world, and the humans that occasionally assisted them, and you defeated the demon invasion that even your world's chosen heroes failed to do." I nodded along, realizing that this could be interpreted as a reward then.
"So this is my reward for solving the world's longest war, and freeing half a continent from fire and brimstone, and opening the way for the continued existence of humanity?" Though to be honest I was satisfied with this reward, but on another hand, I didn't expect the gods to be so... frugal.
"Do not test the gods, Arthur Emrys Wynn! They do not look favorably upon it." Lightning struck nearby as the winds stirred up before calming down just as fast. It seemed I would have to avoid any further smart remarks. "You will be happy to know, though, that the world you've been brought into is one of great advancement. This world is nothing like the one you lived in before, with every pleasure that even your king enjoyed surpassed by even the mere commoner here."
I could hardly believe it, the commoners could live better than his king? The dining room seats his king sat on every day cost more than his annual salary at the very least.
"Though I will tell you the warnings you would've gotten before, this world is like I said different from the one you knew in every way, and while it has no magic, they can emulate everything your priests could do and more with what they call technology, and this world was chosen as it has the capacity to satisfy you until the day you die a natural death once more. You would typically be granted an amount of wishes based on a value determined by an algorithm much too advanced for you to comprehend."
It started rattling off all sorts of information about how there was some sort of predetermined wish that was much better for me long term that had already been granted, so I just needed to deal with it.
At this point, I was tired of talking with this entity that at this point wasn't even hiding that it saw itself as above me, which I guess it was, but I still didn't care to entertain it any longer. "Alright, I get it, I get it, so I had some wishes or something but they were made for me by your system or something so you apologize or something, but let's get down to it, you're just telling me this cause you have to, but you don't really care and you can't do anything about it."
"I'm glad you're so understanding, and I will tell you now that statistically, wishes made on your behalf by those behind the curtains usually are a lot better than any wish we could grant you, and you could make." With that, the deer finally walked back into the forest and disappeared, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Though that luxury didn't last long, as my world around me started crumbling, with the dirt falling into the abyss with its hosted plants falling not far behind.
"Oh great, a horrifying way to end a dream."
It didn't take long for the dream to end as I fell in, opening my eyes with my body already whining for me as I had a seemingly endless hunger. It was my luxury though that I was fed with some sort of clear container with a soft cap that made it possible to suck the milk out of. It seems while I was in that dream more time than a simple nap had passed.
I was in what I can only imagine was my new home, to say the design was unique was an understatement, some sort of solid wall, not seemingly made of bricks or wood, did these people cut their walls from giant stones? It had that grainy texture if I looked really close, the paint on it made it extremely hard to notice the texture from even a short distance. It wasn't a hard adjustment though, it was just a different building material, I could get used to living in stones, especially if there were all cut this nicely.
It took a while of existence to do anything more than eat, sleep, and relieve myself. As I was only moved around really for the sleeping part, as I wore some disposable cloths, a true luxury for my bottom. The milk seemed to be never-ending, which was great for my stomach as well. Though I don't know of what caste my new family was, we certainly weren't nobles by the minor wrinkles on my mother's face, and by the dark circles around my father's eyes every evening when he returned.
Though by the quality of food they ate, and the limitless milk and cloth, I had to assume we were direct servants of some high noble, or at least something similar. I've seen many family pictures around the home in frames, it seems they have some way of capturing moments instead of needing them painted. I've also seen one where my father is with many people all dressed similarly to him, which is what I assume is his work uniform. By deducing all this critical information, I have come to the conclusion that we may be generational servants, having been under one family for a long while. Also, that my father was some kind of scribe as I have noted he rubs a cream on his wrist and yet his hands aren't calloused, indicating that he uses his hands a lot but not for manual labor.
Though I must recognize the many marvels I've noted simply around our house. The lights can turn on and off in a room by speaking, though I can't yet imitate their words, I am slowly learning their language. They cook on stoves, but there is no fire, and they can heat food quickly in some disastrously loud box that won't shut up when it's done. They also don't have a cold cellar, but a cold box, its design is still a mystery to me, as I've never been placed in sight of the interior of the box.
Though it is comfortable, and I am accepting of the arrangements compared to what I'm sure were probably worse in my old life as a baby. These chairs they sit me in are dastardly, as they limit me from even attempting to crawl or turn around just to see what they're up to. Luckily, after being sat and fed during their dinner, I am promptly returned to a nice soft crib, though I would attempt escape just for the joy of doing anything, the cribs of this world use some sort of string mesh wall held with metal pipes.
So until I can at least sit up on my own, there is no chance I can support myself up for escape. Truly, they have thought of everything, I can only resign myself to this bed that seemingly wraps around me, making perfect curves and filling in my back so I don't need to strain myself in any way.
This process of futile thinking went on for months, specifically five months. It took that long for me to learn how to crawl, as I was able to roll onto my front in my crib and practice. Eventually, they moved my crib out of their bedroom and into a separate room, and while they did gate the door, they would also let me out and monitor me as I was left to roam the entire room on my own. While I appreciated the thought, I didn't find any toys that piqued my interest, as many were soft creatures, and without anything cool, even if I wanted to, my imagination was limited here.
Eventually I had to recognize that I would not be getting any toy swords or wooden toys that would make an impactful noise when slammed on the floor, so I had to use my imagination to the extreme to stray from monotony. I set up the stuffed animals against one another, luckily there were enough that resembled rabbits that I could make a dedicated rabbit platoon, and the other army was a mixed fighting force, most likely mercenaries hired by there rivals.
Only once I was done setting them up and with my proud mothers clapping did I realize that I had truly abandoned my identity as a proud sword master. And fallen to the comfort and simple pleasures of being a child.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BorisTakerman
BorisTakerman Hey! Though I know most people skip past this, I just want to say that I appreciate your power stones, and thank you for reading my work!
But if you are very intent on supporting me, the best thing you can do is leave a comment, and add this to your collection, no matter how mediocre, even just a " Bad Chapter! Boo! ", is better than 100 power stones to me!
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