Aryan felt a heavy weight on his eyelids, a strange resistance that made it impossible to open his eyes, as if they were sealed shut. Confused, he tried to lift his arm to touch his face, but for some reason, he couldn't feel his arm—or any part of his body, for that matter. The realization that he couldn't feel his body hit him hard.
Bewildered by the dire and strange situation, a wave of anxiety gripped him. He felt small, like a lone candle drifting in a vast, dark ocean.
Just before this, Aryan had been having a great time with his friends on the mountain. He tried to piece together what had happened. A memory flashed through his mind—blood, a Wolf, and his two friends.
They had gone to the mountains to relax and spend time together, as they had done so many times before. But this time, things didn't go as planned. Unlike always, they encountered a Wolf in a vast field with nothing to climb and no way to outrun it. Aryan had a gun, but as if the world was playing a cruel joke on them, the gun—their only means of protection—malfunctioned.
The Wolf, as if seeking vengeance for a shot that never even happened, leaped from a rock and charged toward Aryan. He remembered the banter they had shared before entering the mountain, the laughter they had enjoyed. Now, everything had turned upside down.
"He would never hear Jimmy's sarcastic remarks or Alex's deep wisdom again."
Aryan thought of his loved ones—the pain he had now caused them. His father, who had given everything for him, and his friends, those two fools who had entered his life and changed it, completing it in ways he couldn't have imagined. All of it weighed heavily on his heart.
He hoped they would live happy and fulfilling lives, or at the very least, he was sure they wouldn't have money problems. In his will, he had left them a large amount of money—more than enough to live comfortably. He had been a multimillionaire, on the verge of becoming a billionaire. If not for the accident, he would certainly have achieved that status. But alas.
He had sustained the most fatal injuries. While his friends had also been badly hurt, he was certain they would survive if help arrived in time. After all, he had fired the flare gun the moment he spotted the Wolf.
Aryan remembered the way he had laughed—wild, unhinged, and maniacal—as he drove the knife into the Wolf's eye again and again. His hands hadn't flinched once. There was no fear in him, but he had felt something else. Adrenaline, perhaps. But it felt like more than that.
It felt like fulfilling something that he always seek but never found in his life.
In a way, he had chosen his death in that moment. He had accepted his desire to unleash his primal instinct, to see if he could kill a Wolf with his own hands, to see how far he could go.
While Aryan accepted the outcome, he couldn't help but echo his regrets. "I didn't achieve my goal," he thought, his heart filled with sadness and yearning. "I never found her, and I also failed to create the life I always wished for." His thoughts seemed to resonate somewhere in the vast distance...
...
In the world of Maaya, in the human empire, within Duke Liam's castle—the fiefdom known as Wilson—a woman was giving birth in the royal castle.
Aryan looked around, stunned by the sudden turn of events. Just moments ago, he had been floating in darkness, adrift in a vast, empty space. But now, he found himself in a new body.
As if to confirm his thoughts, the woman lying on the bed—whom he assumed to be his mother—rose. Her body glowed with a blue hue, and all the fatigue and sweat seemed to vanish from her face. One word popped into his mind: "Magic."
The room was adorned with luxurious furniture, its golden shine natural and not at all out of place. The curtains hung loosely on the window to the left of the king-sized bed, which was positioned on the north side of the room.
The soft morning rays streaming through the window made the scene look even more ethereal, as if the world outside was calling, beckoning to anyone who looked outside.
Aryan, who had experienced countless luxurious homes and locations as a multimillionaire on Earth, but even he had to admit that the ambiance of this room was among the most stunning he had ever seen. Very few places could compare to its grandeur.
Based on the surroundings, Aryan concluded that he had been reborn into a medieval era of some sort—there were no technological devices in sight, and magic was clearly real. From the opulent furniture, he deduced that he now belonged to nobility, or perhaps even royalty.
The room didn't have any guards present, but five women were inside. From their clothing and gloves, Aryan could tell that three of them were midwives, likely there to assist with the birth. The other two women stood out—one was undoubtedly his mother, and the other appeared to be her guard.
It wasn't hard to recognize the guard, given the sword strapped to her waist. Her blonde hair was tied back, likely with a pin or a band, while a few strands framed her face, brushing her cheeks and giving her an almost otherworldly appearance.
She wore a blue dress that accentuated her beauty, making her one of the most stunning people Aryan had ever seen—possibly unmatched by anyone on Earth. However, even her striking presence couldn't outshine his mother, whose dark, black hair was as deep as the night sky. Her blue eyes held a charm that was even more captivating, leaving no doubt that she was the most breathtaking person in the room.
Even the midwives looked stunning, though their age—likely above forty—diminished their beauty somewhat. Still, Aryan was sure that in their youth, they would have been equally radiant.
The woman holding Aryan in her arms spoke gently, saying, "My lady, the young master has been born safely and strong, with no signs of weakness, crying, or redness." Although Aryan couldn't understand her exact words, it was clear she was addressing his mother.
His mother stepped forward, taking him from the woman's arms. The woman promptly knelt on one knee, raising Aryan above her head in a gesture of reverence for the duchess of Wilson fiefdom. As his mother cradled him, she turned her gaze toward the guard and said softly, "Announce the news; the fiefdom is waiting. Also, inform Liam, Lily."
With a nod, Lily vanished from the room. Meanwhile, his mother gracefully took a seat on the couch, cradling Aryan as the atmosphere in the room settled into peace.
The moment Aryan was born, the world of Maaya changed—unseen, unnoticed by any eye. The world of Maaya shifted toward possibilities beyond anyone's imagination. A fundamental transformation took place, one that would reshape the entire universe. Not just Earth, not just the world of Maaya, but the entire cosmos would be forever altered by this seemingly insignificant event: From the rebirth of a Mortal.