Chapter 3 – Reincarnation

I freeze up as the situation I’m in completely betray my expectations. Okay stop. Let’s revise what happened to me so far.

Death >> darkness >> some afterlife office shit >> darkness again >> warm darkness >> hell.

Yes. Everything looks right but certainly I was wrong about that last one. I thought it’s hell because when I first got here I had been in quite a lot of pain. I mean it’s normal to think so right? Not to say that I was confused and the first thing I thought when I arrived here was that it’s hell. Painful things are bad and bad things that happens to you after death usually take place in hell. It was that sort of thinking. Well, looks like I was wrong.

There are five humans surrounding me. Two women and three men. They are all smiling and talking with each other, especially the young pair right in front of me. A bit further to my left stand an old man and woman and to my right a young man. Suddenly a brown haired woman in her twenties standing in front of me grab me and lift me up. Whoaaa Jesus! If it’s not hell than maybe Jötunheimr? They are GIANTS not humans! They are all at least 10m tall. The woman that lifted me and the man beside her point at the grandpa and grandma and say something. Probably their names. A bit overwhelmed by the situation my brain try to shut down. The woman holding me notices I’m sleepy and put me back from where she took me. Soon after that I fall asleep.

Next time I wake up I’m alone. I can finally check my surroundings with my newly acquired sigh. First of all I seem to be in some kind of wooden cage. There is no roof but that’s probably because it’s easier for the giants to observe me this way. The room I’m in has a wooden roof and stone walls. Beside my cage there’s only a giant sized ‘small’ table. There’s also a window but I can only see a blue sky from my cage. Alright. Let’s check my body now. I try to lift my head to see my body but it’s not so easy. Few minutes later with the help of my weak arms I manage to lean my head on the cage bars.

And I face despair.

My body is deformed. My torso is way too long in proportion to my arms. My head is too big and my neck is too thin. I can’t see my legs that are covered by a blanket but those are probably the same. Damn it. What’s going on? I look like a ….

… baby.

I’m such an idiot. Didn’t the woman in the last office said something important? I was too nervous to pay attention but she definitely said something about being admitted to world N something. Connecting that with the giants, cage and deformed body leaves only one possibility.

Reincarnation.

But wait. That still doesn’t explain my initial blindness here and these glowing clouds. Hmmm. Lets assume that blindness was caused by a disease or some other birth problems. Then what about glowing clouds? Right before I opened my eyes I could see them clearly but now there are nowhere to be found. Well, it’s not so important. I’ll worry when they come back.

So, what now? If I’m a baby then I can’t just talk to my parents and demand an explanation. Talking infants are creepy. Besides I don’t know the language and can’t use my voice properly. That language brings another question. Where in the world am I? Judging by the appearance of my parents (I guess that woman that took me in her arms is my mother and that man beside her my father) I should be somewhere in Europe. The problem is I can’t recognize this language. I may not be a linguistics genius but I’m sure I could recognize most of the european languages. There were students from all around the world studying in the city I lived and I’m sure I was rejected in every possible language on earth when I was picking up girls. Ughh, memories. Anyway, that aside, adding the fact that I can’t see any electric device, not even a lamp means I’m in some kind of isolated society or in the worst case not even on earth. I have no way to confirm it but I hope it’s not the latter.

When I think about how I behaved till now then I won’t be surprised if my parents think I’m retarded. I never cried not counting that one time when I was born. No point in worrying now. I lie down in my cage, or should I say crib now, and think on what to do now.

I guess I should prioritize the language for now.

Few weeks passed since I opened my eyes for the first time. Since then I made some discoveries. Person I see the most is obviously my mother. She’s the one that feeds me and clean me up. I didn’t notice but I was shitting and pissing myself all this time. What a humiliation. It’s not so unexpected since I’m a baby but I have a mind of an adult so I can’t help being embarrassed every time she cleans me up. Sometimes she sing me some songs or just talk meaninglessly. I guess that’s what mothers do. Thanks to all that talking I’m slowly learn the language. It’s still mostly names and some simple words. Looks like my name this time is Kris. Could be worse, cold be better. I won’t complain.

Back to my mother, she’s quite beautiful probably twenty something woman. Shoulder length dark brown hair and brown eyes. I would say 7 out of 10 men would look back at her on the streets. She usually wears some kind of long dress, it looks like something out of middle ages. I wonder if it’s a norm here. I still don’t know her name since she always refer to herself as mommy or mom.

Next is my father, Rirar. A bit older than my mother, I would say thirty years old, no more. Black hair, brown eyes. I don’t see him much but he seems to be a good husband to mother, they often laugh and kiss. Sometimes he’s gone for a few days. Work I guess.

Grandparents. Grandpa Tilvar and Grandma Besi. Farther parents. Tilvar has a neatly cut white beard that make him look like a badass navy admiral or something. He usually disappear the same time as father. Besi on the other hand looks like a very normal old woman. Okay, maybe not so old. Forty years max. Same black hair as father but blue eyes instead of brown.

Third man I saw when I first opened my eyes turned out to be father brother, so of course my uncle. Few years younger than father but overall similar to him. Maybe a bit on the quiet side.

Now about that glowing clouds. It looks like I still can see them even if I don’t close my eyes. They are just so faint that I lose then in the background. They are always surrounding peoples like some kind of aura. For some reason I don’t have this aura myself.

Other major discovery was when mother was walking around the room with me in her arms. I managed to take a glimpse at what lies behind the window. To my surprise it was a really ordinary looking city. That is if you take medieval times as a definition of normal. Seriously, city walls and a castle? I still has a little hope that it’s Earth, but the next thing I saw assured me that I’m not on earth anymore. It was a demon. I can’t call it any different. Down the street was walking a human with back horns protruding from his forehead. For a second I thought I’m in hell after all but my mother looked unfazed by this sight so I guess it’s normal for demons to be in this city. Also I know now why I’m in this room all the time. Simple, it’s winter. That night I had a nightmare of being tortured by the demons in hell.

I’m four months old now so I’m trying to crawl. It’s frustrating how weak bodies babies have. four months and I can barely lift my torso. I try to increase my strength but I don’t know how to do it. Walking is still a long way from me but maybe I will be able to crawl a bit sooner than normal children.

After my daily dose of head lifting I lie in my crib. Such boredom. My only entertainment is my mother but she’s not here right now. I close my eyes and can see her aura somewhere behind the wall. It’s my new trick. I can now recognize my mother by her aura. It’s yellow with red lines. I don’t see others much so I can only do it with her aura for now. Lately she has been reading me books. I can’t understand most of it but I had a chance to see how the written language looks like in this world. It doesn’t look too difficult. They use something similar to roman script from earth. Of course signs are different.

Time pass slowly as I learn the language and exercise.

I hope spring will come soon.