Part 1

I was sleeping, or was I not?

I was conscious but at the same time I felt like I was not myself, or at least not the person I was before.

Strange huh?

Before what? I did not know.

As I was in this uncomfortable state I felt like something was pulling me.

My counciusness was regaining its strength but my instincts were sending danger signals like crazy. Why I wonder?

[Someone is calling] I thought.

But I couldn't hear any voice whatsoever.

Uneasiness filled my mind as I felt the call once again.

Why is someone calling me but I can't hear it? Wait, in the first place how can I feel that someone is calling me but can't hear any voice?

It was strange, it was all too strange. Everything I felt since now was strange.

I felt that the best option was to ignore whatever the source of those calls was but bad habits are hard to break.

My curiosity got the better of me.

I opened my eyes.

Or so I thought but I was not better than keeping them close.

Were they even close in the first place ?

Everything was pitch black. I couldn't see my body or everything that was in front of me, anything at all.

That's when I noticed that this scenery felt somehow familiar.

I had already seen something like this. It felt like being in a deep tunnel without lights.

But it didn't feel like I was the one moving, it was the tunnel itself.

[What is this place? What is happening to me?]

As I was losing myself in those thoughts another call reached the depths of my consciousness, stronger this time. It was not a gentle pull but a fierce one like a dog pulling his favourite toy from his owner.

A light appeared out of nowhere.

Just a moment ago I was looking at a pitch black darkness and now a little ball of light was standing right in front of me.

She was vivid, so bright and dense like the light itself was made of something tangible.

It was beautiful, something I have never seen yet so familiar. I felt I knew it yet I did not.

[Wait she ? What the hell am I even thinking?This is bad… This whole thing is bad!]

I tried to run but my legs won't even move. I tried to push but my arms had no motion.

The light spoke.

They were words for sure but i didn't understand any of it. Was it a foreing language ?

The light’s voice had no tone and yet something was telling me that it was somewhat smiling.

As I was trying to understand I felt another pull, the strongest since the first one started. It wasn't an angry pull but more of a desperate yet hopeful one like the hope and desperation that the gambler feels when the dealer delivers the cards after the gambler gambled every one of his possessions.

I lost consciousness.

Part 2

Sudden pain struck my whole body.

No, it wasn't pain it was just a mixture of sensations. A ton of them.

I felt hot yet it was not a “beach day “ type of hot but more like a light fever one.

Something was pressing on my body.

Mainly two things. One was something pleasantly cold, it was light and soft. It was rubbing against my skin and making my whole body tingle as it was gently pressing on me.

The other thing pressing against me was strong yet not harmful. It was underneath the first one and was pressing against my back and my forehead.

Then pain.

The real one this time.

Right in the center of my chest.

An excruciating pain pierced my chest just like a bullet would.

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out of it. Instead something came in.

In mere fragments of a second air came rushing from the outside eager to fill the void generating the piercing pain in my chest.

Ah, now I get it, I needed to breathe! But..why was I holding my breath? It didn't feel like I was holding my breath, more like I was gasping for it!

I had no strength but I forced myself to lift my eyelids that I noticed were close for this whole time.

My vision was filled with a burning light.

Instinctively I closed them but the dazzling effect didn’t diminish at all.

One more time I tried to open them. This time I was not blinded but it still was pretty hard to see anything at all. Everything was spinning and slowly becoming clearer by the second.

“XXXX---XXX”

[A voice?]

Instinctively I looked for the source of that sound.

It came from a woman… A very beautiful woman. She was young, probably in her early thirties, light brown hair was laid loose on her shoulders and forehead, some wisps were covering her face but not preventing her from seeing.

She was looking at me with two big blue eyes. Not only looking but those eyes were fixed on me, with widened pupils and half closed eyelids that felt both filled with happiness and fatigue.

Her forehead, or at least what could be seen of it, was filled with little drops of shining sweat falling down her nose and dripping through the cheeks to the neck just to end up being absorbed by the piece of cloth the was covering her. She was smiling and panting at the same time, it felt like looking at a marathoner winning the race.

She tilted her head and looked over my shoulder.

“XXXX-------XXX---XXX---”

She said with a sweet voice.

Her tone was lovely.

“----XXXX---XXX”

Replied someone.

The voice of a man, I was sure of it.

A warm voice, the one you instinctively trust .

I turned towards the source of the new sound.

There, a man was on his knees extending his arms towards me.

He grabbed me by the armpits and brought me closer to his face.

[Damn this guy is handsome] I thought while looking at him.

Short black hair randomly scattered through his head and falling on his forehead. He had a stylish undercut highlighting the small ears and the earring on his left lobe.

Small light green eyes were directed towards me, they looked awesome standing out with his black hair. A light beard was covering a strong sharp jaw .

Truly an handsome man in his early thirties just like the woman from before, maybe a little older but the beard may deceive me.

“XXX----XXXXXX---”

Said the man in such a manly voice.

“XXXXXXX---XXXX--XXXXXXX---XX!”

The woman answered displeased.

“XXXX---XX”

“XX--XX”

[What are they even saying ?! What kind of language is this? I don't understand a single word of it!]

While thinking so the idea of asking struck my mind.

I tried to speak.

“ Agha”

Nothing came out of my mouth except those weird noises.

“XXXX----XXXXX!”

Said the woman while cracking an awfully large smile.

“XX--XXXX!”

The man replied as he started laughing.

[Are you making fun of me bastard?! Is the sight of someone who can't speak so hilarious?!]

But why couldn't I talk?

A chill started from the back of my spine and rose to my head.

To confirm it I raised my hands to my face so that they could enter my field of vision.

The shock made me tremble.

The hands in front of me were small and puff...very small.

Those were baby hands.

I panicked.

Part 3

Two weeks had passed since that day.

Those two weeks were really heavy for my poor brain.

I was trying to process everything that happened.

I was a baby, and that much I figured it out right from the start. I suppose the two who I met are my mother and my father.

I am a newborn baby, my physique proves it.

So why the hell do I have memories, even though they are very blurry?

The answer came by itself.

In time those blurry memories started becoming clearer.

By the time a month passed they were crystal clear.

I knew who I was, what I had done but, I had no idea of how everything came to be as I was experiencing now.

First of all, who I was?

My name is Keichiro Tsukasa and I'm dead. Or so I thought.

I died and I was sure of it but somehow I was now a baby.

How is this even possible?

Only one answer came through my mind.

I was reincarnated.

I couldn't even believe it myself!

Is it possible? Is reincarnation even a thing? Why was I reincarnated?

So many questions and so little answers.

The fact that i was a baby but still had my memories almost intact was a fact, but still being reincarnated was totally out of my scope of possibilities!

This had to be a punishment.

Part 4

Explanations are in need I guess.

In my past life I was called Keichiro Tsukasa, Japanese living in Tokyo. I died at the early age of 28. I killed myself by jumping from the eighth floor of my apartment building. The last thing I remember was the rain hitting my face while I was falling supine and the dark blue sky looking at me though the spaces between the skyscrapers, truly an outstanding view.

I was an olympic athlete. Tryathlon was my forte, and I was pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

At the age of 24 I was at the peek of my career. I had everything: a good reputation, a pointlessly large amount of money, a healthy body, a loving girlfriend , a welcoming family and the physique of a greek demigod. I was truly happy. I was planning on living like this until I was still in my prime then retire from the spotlight and be a coach or an athletic teacher, marrying my girlfriend and buying ourselves a house in the outskirts with a big garden. I would visit my family more often and take care of them as much as I could.

Truly a peaceful life.

But everything was crushed right in front of my eyes.

My dreams, my career, my family...everything was taken away from me.

The only loose screw in my plan was one person named Josh Delrick, an US athlete and someone I considered a rival.

We were always competing one against the other. If I won a competition he would win the next one, as soon as I was admitted in the olympics he was admitted too.

I truly considered Delrick my one and only rival.

But in hindsight I was the only one with that kind of feeling. He only saw me a nuisance and so he acted in order to eliminate that nuisance and grant himself absolute win.

I had never used drugs or steroids, never once even thought about it, I pitied the ones who made use of them.

My team of doctors and coach had my utmost trust yet I was betrayed by that same trust.

Delrick came from a rich family, way richer than me.

He bribed my team.

A week before the start of the olympics we athletes were asked to deliver samples of blood and urines to drug test us. The foolish me had nothing to fear since I had never even touched drugs in my life.

Two days later I was brought in front of a judge and charged with doping. I was shown the results of the test and they were positive. I was shocked...how could this happen? Of course I pledged innocence but the judge did not blindly believe me of course. He asked my team and the answer was unanimous...I forced them to treat me with steroids and threatened them with their families.

Only later I understood that my samples were corrupted by my own team in order to frame me and obviously the lie about me threatening their families was their own idea to protect themselves.

This was a scheme devised by Delrick.

I was radiated by the athletic association and banned from ever taking place in a competition of every level plus I had to pay an enormous fee.

I was done for.

The people who supported me began to hate me to the point where I could not show my face in public. I was the one who brought shame to the whole country. Even my family started avoiding me to the point where my own father disowned me.

I had no money, no reputation, no joy from the sport that I loved and no family. The only thing that was left for me was my girlfriend.

But it did not last long.

Due to everything in my life crumbling I developed depression and anxiety and with them alcoholism started chewing my life out. If I wasn't in my room alone I was in a bar drowning myself in a bottle of some cheap alcohol.

My girlfriend tried her best.

She tried to help me, support me, scold me whenever I was drunk, get mad at me and love me. This had gone on for six month after the incident. No human being could still bear with someone who wanted to destroy himself.

I don't blame her at all, I loved her but I was too blinded by my sadness and sorrow to notice that I was losing her, and when I did it was too late.

She left in the middle of the night.

I was in a random bar until the sun rose. When I went home I found it quiet. Usually when I came home at an ungodly hour I would get screamed at, but it did not happen.

On the back of the door a piece of paper was hanging. Only the words “You are the worst. Im sick of acting like a mother for someone who doesn't even look my way. Don't come search me. I don't want to see you ever again. Goodbye.” were written on that piece of paper.

I had nothing.

Despair filled my next three years.

Every passing day was worse than the previous one and I ended up losing count of time.

I was barely able to eat and I stopped training like I used to. I ended up weighting half of my standard weight.

I didnt even dared to look at a mirror. I hated the pitiful face that was reflected on it.

I broke my phone, my computer and everything that was connected with the outside world, only the TV was left.

I used to keep it on all day and all night long just to have some sounds in the house.

I despised that silence that filled my walls, it felt like a void slowly sucking me in.

In the end I couldn't take it anymore.

One night I made the ultimate choice.

Tired of everything, tired of being sad, tired of knocking myself out with alcohol to sleep I decided to jump.

That night I died.

Part 5

[This is the worst!!]

I got reincarnated.

Is this some kind of joke? Did the gods despise me that much? Is fate toying with me ?

Why was I, someone who was fed up with life, forced to live another one?

I decided to kill myself because I couldnt bear the weight of all that loss and hatred.

It's gotta be some kind of punishment.

[Why me?]

I spent a whole month thinking that.

Not a single answer was found.

Well there wasn't much that I could do anyway. I was still an infant!

I could barely move my limbs and head so thinking was my main activity.

Tho as they say bad habits are hard to break.

In my past life I was very curious, that's how I got into athletics. I guess my personality was keeped within my memories. So beside thinking a hole in earth I entertained myself by visually exploring the rooms that my parents brought me in.

I was mostly in a small room. The walls were low and made of a dark brown wood . When I say low i mean something between two and two and a half meters. A single wooden door was used to access the room. On the other side a big glass window was filling the room with warm sun rays during the day and with a feeble white light during the night. The room was not highly decorated. I was placed in a tall wooden cradle filled with a strangely soft mattress and cushions. Beside the door a weird lamp was the only source of light during the night. It was not an oil lamp yet looked like one. It had no ignition button yet I never saw my parents bring matches or lighters. On the wall in front of me only a reddish kind of flag was hanged. It had a silver deer engraved in the center of it. It looked so medieval that I couldn't wait to find out what it was, to be honest I was kinda thrilled! On a corner a light brown wooden desk with a chair of the same kind of wood was usually used by my father. The desk always hosted some books but they used to change very often due to my father bringing more of them and taking some out. Also a pile of papers and what looked like a quill and ink were scattered on top of it.

I rarely got inside other rooms, just what looked like the kitchen a couple of times and my parents bedroom from time to time.

But by being held in my parents arms I was able to get the gist of the house.

It was a two floor house made of dark wood and what looked like dark grey stone bricks only in the lower floor. The lower floor was mostly like the living place cause I could hear my parents voices coming from downstairs. In the upper floor there were only bedrooms I think.

The kitchen was beautiful.

The mixture of wood and stone was so antique-like, just as I enjoyed in my past life. I loved the mountain inns made of only wood.

A big rectangular dark wooden table filled the majority of the room while a light grey kitchenette was placed in a corner on the opposite side of the table. The table could host at the very best eight people, even tho in the family it was just us three, so I thought my parents as some kind of famous people and having to host some small banquets or something. Aside from the kitchenette a big fireplace in polished dark grey stone bricks caught my attention every time I was brought in that room. The hole was large enough to fit a big chunk of firewood, at its base the hot charcoal was grouped up and on top of it there was a socket where a metal grill could be inserted in. The top of the fireplace was used as a shelf so it was full of some kind of terracotta bowls and vases. In its center there was something like a long wooden holder but it was empty. I couldn't figure out what it used to hold. The fireplace itself ended with a high flue that broke through the top of the roof and disappeared outside.

Only two doors were built inside the room, one opposite of the fireplace and the other between the table and the kitchenette.

The walls of the room itself were kinda plain. Nothing was hanging except for the same type of lamp that was in my room. The room only had two windows, a big one behind the front seat of the table and a smaller one on the side of the fireplace. Wooden stairs close to the smaller window were used to access the room from the upper floor.

My parents room was very simple.

A big window was the main source of light. Flowers were displayed in bluish terracotta pots outside of the glass panels.Those were some strange flowers but beautiful nonetheless. They were mostly white and purple. It was a nice combination.

Good choice parents!

Other than the window what mostly caught my eye was a pointlessly large bed. It was at least king size if not even bigger. Long white blankets were covering the mattress and their ends were so long that they were wiping the floor. A wooden structure rose from the four corners of the bed and withish see-through curtains were hanging. The rest of the room had nothing of particular notice: a wooden wardrobe, an hanger fixed on the wall, some shelves and a couple of bedside tables.

The house itself had other rooms. I didn't really know how many but I sure was curious because the one thing that came on my mind while exploring those three rooms was one and one only: it was a medieval style house!

But not just like a modern wooden inn or something but a hundred percent real medieval house.

I was so thrilled!

Either way my parents were devastatingly poor or I was reincarnated in a medieval style world.

Needles to say that the latter stimulated my curiosity to the point where I stopped thinking about my condition and thought:

[I want to explore this place!].