Zelhaut was feeling very warm at the moment and everything was dark.

There was pressure then there was light everywhere. So bright that he had to close his eyes. Then the light went away and he could finally focus on the sounds.

“Grgrf okhfri gffds frfe.” Gibberish. All he could hear was nonsense. When he finally opened his eyes again the world was in black and white with shades of grey. He had trouble focusing on anything, it was all very blurry. He could see two figures standing above him shouting nonsense at one another.

He tried to focus and stand when he realized he couldn’t.

He was unable to stand up. And now that he thought about it, these two people above him were tall. He realized then and there that he was a newborn baby.

Others might think he was jumping to conclusions but Zelhaut was sure. He had read many novels about reincarnation and also knew some fun facts about babies. Including that when babies are born they have very poor eyesight and are unable to see color. Also, the fact that he was hearing a language he had never heard before, and he had watched many foreign films so at least he knew what many languages would sound like.

This was a reincarnation into another world. Something that he had dreamed about happening but dismissed when he got older as impossible. But now it was happening.

What will he do in this world? Will he save it from a demon lord? Will he marry many beautiful women and build an empire? Will he be the hero of this world and be adored by all?

He was interrupted from his thought about being a hero by a kick that sent him flying through a window. As people who have been kicked three meters before should know, it is quite disorienting and hard to tell what you hit. He assumed it was a window because the shattering sound and scratches on his body were pretty convincing.

Who kicks a baby through a window?

So, he did the only logical thing to do if you were a baby getting kicked through a window.

He cried.

He cried a lot.

He laid there crying wondering what the fuck just happened. He could feel the glass shard digging into his body with every movement that he made. It was dark in the room. He was in a room, he was sure of it. There was a temperature difference in the room from where he had been and he landed on what seemed to be a shield. Not to mention, but it was not a very soft landing when you fall onto a piece of metal.

Finally, someone came towards him and picked him up while he was lying on the floor crying. Nobody was in view for what felt like hours but in reality, was only a few minutes. They picked him up and brought him to a brightly lit room. They set him in a shallow tub of cold water. He felt himself getting washed by this mysterious person, the cuts stinging in the open air. The figure was muttering to itself. Still as nonsensical as the other two screamers. Now three screamers as he was still crying.

He then heard a series of words that felt different than before. The words were soft, they felt like a warm embrace. He felt like he could understand the words, yet he could not. A very strange feeling that caused him to abruptly stop crying and focus.

The figure seemed surprised judging by how their chant reached a slightly higher pitch when he stopped crying. But they soon returned to normal and continued chanting.

Zelhaut could feel the shards of glass leaving his body and could hear the clinks of glass shards hitting the floor. Then he felt itchy all over has his cuts sealed themselves. The bruises remained for some reason.

He had hit the jackpot on this one. Reincarnation into a world of magic. This was the best If you ignored the kicking a baby through a window part.

He was picked up and moved to a crib. Very roughly he might add, now that he was not distracted by the pain of the cuts, he could feel their handling better. The crib he was moved to was barely a crib in his eyes. It did have a fence around it, but there was just a bunch of material that could be considered straw if you ignored the smell, no mattress at all. The “straw” smelled like vomit. He wasn’t sure what straw smelled like but he was pretty sure it did not smell this bad.

He lay there thinking about what just happened. Trying to ignore the smell and the itchy feeling he still had from getting healed by magic.

This was a bit saddening to figure out, but no matter, he was an optimist, always looking for the bright side. The bright side in this situation would be that he was reincarnated into another world, plus one that had magic. Nice.

Yes, he had it all figured out. An orphan grows up to be an ally of the poor, he overthrows the kingdom with his amazing strength and helps the peasants live better lives as the strongest king in history.

Now, he was very tired. According to his estimation, he was just born then kicked through a window. What a busy first day. Now, it’s time to do what a baby does best, sleep.

….

Zelhaut was feeling groggy when he woke up. He tried to sit up but realized he couldn’t, also that he was in a crib for some reason.

Then he remembered what happened before he went to sleep and started to get excited. He was in a fantasy world where magic was real, well, at least healing magic was. He had not seen any other magic yet, but he was sure there was more to be discovered.

He heard the creak of a door being opened and struggled to turn his head toward the sound. There he saw… A blur. He was still a baby, his vision won’t suddenly get better.

This blur moved towards him until they were at the foot of the crib he was currently lying in. The blur leaned down until Zelhaut could finally see his face and what a surprise. He had imagined an old woman to be at an orphanage caring for the children, but what he saw in front of him was a man. A man with a pretty kickass mustache, it was long, stretching from one ear to another. He had dark eyes, tanned skin, and a big nose.

This man stared into his eyes for 5 seconds exactly. He counted because it was a very awkward situation. The macho man picked him up and carried him down what seemed to be a hallway. Again, a baby’s eyesight is shit. It was a long, straight walk with walls, that’s all he knew.

The man set him down in some grass in a fenced area outside. There were some other, fellow babies playing around, picking grass and whatnot. He did not know what the man expected of him, he was just born he could barely even move.

That is when he felt his vision begin to change. Flickers of color started to come into view. He was beginning to be able to see color at one day old. Babies usually start seeing color after about a week. This should have been impossible, and yet it was happening.

Was it possible that there is something special about the land he was on or is it just something to do with the people of this world having faster growth rates? Or maybe it is because he is the chosen one meant to lead the world into a brighter tomorrow?!

He looked at the other babies, feeling smug about being special. It was while he was feeling superior to a bunch of babies older than he was when he noticed the color difference of the grass near the edge of the fence. After all, how could he not notice it when looking around at his domain and now being upgraded to color vision.

The grass inside the fence was blue surprisingly, meanwhile, the grass outside the fence was just plain old green.

He giggled at his pun. Then got depressed that he just Had to have an epiphany. It was the location that was speeding his growth, not because he was special. The location must have been blessed or something along those lines. After all, what would a fantasy world be without real gods playing around with mortals for fun?

That was very odd. He did not remember being so toxic and sarcastic towards gods before. Has there ever been a reason to hate them before? He thought he was onto something when he was suddenly picked up by macho and brought back inside.

He must have lost track of time while outside. It seems that when he first went out it was light outside, now it was darkening. Nightime reminded him that he had yet to eat anything today. How strange, that place that speeds our growth must do so by increasing cell activity plus nourishing the body, so we don’t need to eat. What an ingenious way to run an orphanage. No need to pay for food for the children, just get the gods to do it. Although, I wonder if this is just an orphanage thing to do or if everybody does it? I did see quite a few babies in the space. Must be an everyone activity.

Looking around right now as the crib approaches, he does not see many other cribs. Since his vision has improved, he can see two other occupied cribs. They both look older than him. He could tell that they had better cribs than himself, he wasn’t born yesterday, he could tell quality when he saw it…. Of course, he was born yesterday, but that isn’t the point.

He was now settled into his crib still thinking.

Why did these two have better cribs than him? He thought he was in an orphanage, not medieval Europe. Although, judging on how he landed on a shield when he went through the window, he would say he’s not far off with the medieval part.

He cheered himself in his mind, improving his mood.

He wondered this as he was laying in the smelly crib. Why do people want their children to grow up fast? Do people here get extra annoyed by little kids? No, that couldn’t be it, that’s just dumb. People on earth put up with little kids all the time. Maybe it is dangerous for kids? Yes, that seems plausible. After all, in a world full of magic, there must be some pretty dangerous magical creatures, like dragons and sea monsters.

As he drifted off to sleep, he remembered that he did not seem to have been given a name yet, as far as he could tell anyway. He started thinking about what he could call himself in this new world. For the life of him, he could not think of a new name. So he would just stick with the name he remembers. Zelhaut.

People on earth used to always mispronounce it. Calling him (Zel-Hat) when it was pronounced (Zel-Ha-ute). He hoped he could find letters in this world to spell his name so that people don’t mispronounce it.

With that final thought, he went to sleep, dreaming of being a hero to the people and some less appropriate dreams regarding a harem. He would survive in this new world, he could feel it in his bones.