Part 1
I woke to a bright blue sky.
Am I dead...?
Or... somehow still alive?
Either way, who leaves a body in the middle of a grassy field? Couldn't they at least bury me? What a shame.
*Itried turning my head
Why was it so hard to turn my head?
From what I could see, I was lying beside a dirt road surrounded by tall grass and bushes.
Seriously? They just dumped me here?
When do I get to ascend already? I've been staring at this sky for... what, three? Maybe five hours?
A rustling sound came from the bushes.
Then...
Sniff.
Sniff.
A wolf?
Great.
Just great.
Maybe after it eats me, I'll finally move on.
I tried to lift my hand toward the sky.
...
Wait.
Why are my hands so...
Tiny?
They looked like a baby's hands.
Definitely not the transparent arms of a spirit.
Hold on...
Am I... an infant?
...
Did I just get reborn?
So reincarnation is actually real?
Guess those Buddhists weren't completely making it up.
Still...
If I was just born, why would someone abandon me on the roadside?
Then I remembered.
The wolf.
"Oh no..."
I finally got a second chance...
...and now I'm about to die again?
Is this some kind of cosmic joke?
I didn't know what else to do.
So I did the only thing a baby could.
I cried.
"Waaah!"
A shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight.
At the same moment, something flew past me.
The wolf was sent tumbling into the bushes.
"Shh... stop crying now, my son. What a pitiful place to find you."
The old man's voice was calm, but I couldn't understand a single word he was saying maybe it was another langguage?.
What are you talking about?
He gently picked me up.
He looked to be around fifty or sixty years old, with long pointed ears and silver tied up hair and some dark red eyes.
His clothes carried a strange smell.
It took me a moment to recognize it.
...He smells like a marketplace.
Unable to do anything else, I simply stared at him.
He placed me inside his carriage.
As we traveled, all I could see was endless greenery.
Grass.
Trees.
More grass.
It looked like a forest stretching forever.
The scenery was so beautiful that it hardly seemed like Earth.
It reminded me of the fantasy movies I used to rent.
A few hours later, we reached what looked like a village.
A large wooden gate stood before us, carved with leaf-shaped symbols and letters I couldn't read.
Two guards stood at the entrance.
Just like the old man...
...they had long pointed ears.
My eyes grew heavier,And i couldnt focues more.
Sleep slowly overtook me.
I closed them.
Everything faded away once again.
Part 2
I woke to the gentle rocking of a wooden cradle.
The first thing that greeted me wasn't the ceiling.
It was the smell.
Fresh earth.
Dried herbs.
Wood.
The entire house carried the same scent as the old man.
The wooden door creaked open.
Right on cue, the old man stepped inside, carrying a small wooden bowl in one hand.
Guess it's feeding time.
Although...
Shouldn't babies drink milk?
He walked over to my cradle with the same calm smile he always wore. Carefully, he lifted me with one arm before setting the bowl on the small table beside the cradle.
Curiosity got the better of me.
I peeked inside.
It looked like a watery porridge made from crushed grains.
Wait... are those freshly ground grains?
Is this old man seriously planning to feed a newborn this?
He dipped a wooden spoon into the bowl and gently brought it toward my mouth.
I took a tiny bite.
...
The moment it touched my tongue, I spat it right back out.
What in the world is this?
It tasted like someone had mixed damp dirt with warm water.
Is this guy actually capable of raising a child?
The old man simply smiled, completely unfazed.
Then he scooped up another spoonful.
Arin sighed with a helpless smile before blowing on another spoonful as if convinced the temperature had been the problem.
...Help.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Well... at least it felt that way.
Life as a baby was surprisingly repetitive.
Eat.
Sleep.
Cry.
Repeat.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I could understand the old man's words.
At first, they sounded like meaningless noises. But after hearing the same words every day, they slowly began to make sense. I never consciously studied the language. It was as if my infant brain absorbed it on its own.
Does every reincarnated person go through this...? Or is it just children in general?
I also noticed something else.
Whenever I caught my reflection in a bucket of water, a pair of slightly pointed ears stared back at me.
Not as long as the old man's...
But definitely not human.
Over the past three months, I'd learned a few things.
The old man's name was Arin.
He was a merchant who spent most of his days traveling between villages, buying and selling whatever people needed. Whenever he wasn't away on business, he tended the small garden behind his house.
He always placed my cradle beneath the shade of a nearby tree while he worked.
At first, I thought he simply wanted to keep me where he could see me.
But after spending enough afternoons there, I began to appreciate it myself.
A cool breeze constantly drifted through the garden, carrying the scent of damp soil, herbs, and blooming flowers. It was strangely calming.
I often found myself falling asleep before Arin finished watering his crops.
His house was much larger than it looked from the outside.
Everything was made of wood, from the walls and floors to the furniture itself. It even had a second floor, though I had yet to see what was up there.
The village reminded me of the countryside back on Earth.
There were no paved roads.
No cars.
No electric poles.
Only dirt paths winding between wooden homes, surrounded by towering trees and endless greenery.
Still...
There was one thing that made this place feel completely foreign.
Every single person I had seen possessed long, pointed ears.
Children.
Adults.
The elderly.
Everyone.
By now, I had grown used to the sight.
At this point, I was certain.
Those ears weren't some rare genetic mutation.
There was no point denying it anymore.
This wasn't Earth.
Whatever waited for me beyond this quiet little village...
It belonged to another world.