I held my eyes closed tightly as I preemptively clenched my teeth in preparation for the pain. A breath, two breaths turned to four before I finally opened my eyes when the pain never came. I could have sworn that just moments ago my harness had broke and I had been sent crashing off a two story roof.
Part of me chuckled mirthlessly at the fact that at least i would be getting some workman's comp. Hell maybe even sue the construction company I worked for for using faulty equipment that me and the other guys had been telling them about for months.
The laugh actually bubbled up to my lips only to die when I finally took notice of my surroundings. The concrete jungle of the city I had traveled with my crew to work in was nowhere to be seen. Trees replaced the lights and poles, grass covered what should have been dirt and pavement. Not even a single rumble of heavy machinery or vehicles could be heard, just the chirps of birds and hums of unseen insects.
Managing to push myself up from the ground I looked closer at everything around me. The cold air brushed across my skin and through my hair, definitely not the hot and humid air of the southern United States that I was used to. Peeking out over the tops of the trees I could see the peaks of mountains forming a wall that stretched farther than I could see.
"What the fuck?.." I couldn't help but mutter as I stood up. That's when I noticed that I was also wearing different clothes. Though that may have been generous, the rags equating more to a sack someone would hold things in. Rough spun that now that I noticed had me feeling itchy at the fibers poking me.
I seen a small stream on my left and crouched near it to peer at my reflection and had to fight keep myself from panicking as I stared back at a face that was not my own. My brown hair replaced for a dark black and piercing green eyes inspected my body where blue ones used to be.
I no longer had the scruffy beard, giving way to a baby face. Still weathered by the sun and elements, but a baby face nonetheless. As I focused on this face, new memories slowly began to pour in. A family that lived crammed in a small rundown shack, a truly gigantic family. I had been fairly tall before, standing at a couple inches over 6 feet, but these people were each easily over 7 feet tall with a muscular body to match it.
Memories of me and what I assumed was my father and older brother carrying large logs on our shoulders with seemingly little strain. I was staring at their backs as I carried my own load, admittedly much smaller than their own, though I was half their size. The biggest one paused in his lumbering and turned to me, a giant beard covering his face the same black hair as my own and equally piercing green eyes. Though it didn't feel scary, just as if he was staring right through me.
"Good, Steel?" His voice rumbled in the memory enough to give me goosebumps. My vision shifted with a nod and I knew that I had smiled as Steel sped up to walk next to the giant of a man.
"Yes, Pa!" I heard my voice or rather, Steel's voice. Pa's giant hand caked down gently to rub my head as he smiled back, and I could feel the warmth spread through my body at the memory.
I also knew that the name Steel was because my parents wanted me to become as strong as steel, the strongest thing they knew of. My brother had been named Mountain, for a similar reason. Though the more the memories filtered through my mind something became increasingly obvious. My family were not intelligent.
Not in a standard way that someone from a more modern civilization would think of someone from a medieval setting. No they were completely illiterate and knew only the most basic of words. I could also see it in the way the other villagers of Marlow treated us. It was obvious the way the looked down on us and insulted us behind our backs with words my family didn't know.
Taking advantage of us by paying pennies compared to what others made, despite my family doing twice if not thrice the work of even 2 men.
The memories finally caught up to where I was now. Steel had taken a liking to a girl in the town and the townsfolk had not taken kindly to that. Three older boys and an adult that Steel knew to be the girl's brothers had grabbed him while he was working and dragged him deep in the woods. He didn't understand why and didn't fight them thinking they just wanted to be friends due to their words.
The oldest ended up being someone with powers, hearing Steel's memories he was something called a mage, an augmenter specifically at the black core stage. That's when the other 3 boys restrained Steel, and he finally realized they didn't want to be friends. Despite only being 10 years old to their 15+ he was still just as big as all of them due to his family's genetics.
Considering he didn't want to hurt them and had no concept of fighting, he held on for a long while before the man finally landed mighty punch straight into his solar plexus. The air escaped his lungs and the power behind the blow managed to stop his heart. Leading to me now taking over his body I guess. Though part of me hoped that, like me he was reborn, but in a world that would be kinder to him.
"Good luck in your next life, Steel. Hopefully I can do you justice and help your family out." I spoke quietly as I looked up at the sky.
"Steel! STEEL!" A now familiar voice rumbled in the distance and pushing away the brief moment of anxiety I turn toward the sound and call back.
"Here, Pa!"