The first thing he felt was warmth. Not the suffocating heat of summer or the sharp sting of a fever, but a gentle, encompassing warmth—like being wrapped in a thick blanket on a cold night. His body was heavy, his senses dulled, and his mind… fractured.
'Where am I?'
Memories flickered in and out of his grasp, like trying to hold onto water with bare hands. He remembered lights—bright, unnatural lights—a car horn, and then…
'The accident.'
He immediately tried to move, only to find that his limbs barely responded. His fingers curled—tiny, weak, almost nonexistent. His breath hitched as realization struck him. He was probably in a hospital, lying weak.
Slowly but surely, he managed to open his eyes—only to shut them again as sunlight seeped into the room, blinding him. Eventually, his vision adjusted, but something felt… wrong.
'What's going on?'
It wasn't just the pain he should have been feeling. It was something deeper. Something was fundamentally off. As sensation slowly returned to his body, only one word came to mind.
'Foreign. This body… it doesn't feel like mine.'
He raised his hand into his line of sight, regaining enough control to move his fingers. That's when he noticed the impossible.
'I'm a baby…'
Panic surged through him. He couldn't understand what was happening—something was horribly wrong. Was this a dream? Maybe the kind they called a 'Lucid dream' or something along those lines?
"System Initialization Complete"
[Received. You are not dreaming.]
'What in God's name was that?'
[Received. That was the notification of a complete synchronization between me and your soul.]
His tiny, fragile heart raced. He knew this. He had read about things like this before. It was all too familiar.
'I… I've been reincarnated, haven't I?'
[You are correct in your assumption. You have indeed been reincarnated, and I am at your service. You may ask whatever comes to mind.]
So many questions ran through his head that he didn't even know where to start. Before he could fire them out like a machine gun, the sound of a creaking door caught his attention.
Footsteps—slow, deliberate. A shadow passed over him, and then a voice—soft, tired, yet unmistakably feminine.
"Look at you, you're awake already."
A woman's face entered his blurred vision. Dark skin, sharp yet gentle features, and deep brown eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions—relief, fatigue, and love.
"My little one… didn't feel like crying out to alert me today?"
She smiled at him while using a finger to caress his cheek. She was beautiful, but there was something else—something in her eyes. Intelligence, quiet sadness, and a fire that refused to be extinguished by the struggles she had endured.
His mother.
And in that moment, every question in his mind disappeared, replaced by an overwhelming wave of emotion. His lips parted, and though he hadn't meant to, he let out a loud, wailing cry.
WAAAH!!
---
End of Chapter 1