Part 1

Xiao Yu opened his eyes, what greeted him was an unfamiliar ceiling before his eyes.

“Where am I?” Xiao Yu mutter weakly, the feeling of fatigue lingered within him while his state of mind were at best, hazy as the only thing he remembers was an incoming train rushing toward his direction.

That’s right! It was a train, Xiao Yu finally remembered, he remembers saving a little boy who accidentally fell onto the train tract as the training was coming into the station.

None of the adults were brave enough to risk themselves, thus Xiao Yu steeled his resolve and try his best to save the kid, he succeeded, but at the cost of his life in the end.

Xiao Yu did not regret saving that kid in exchange for his life, if he had to choose again, he would still choose to save him, at least the kid has a bright future ahead of him, unlike Xiao Yu who has nothing but to live day in and day out, with no family or relatives and no one to love.

“Aren’t I supposed to be dead?” Xiao Yu became confused as he looked around at his surroundings, a marble white room decorated in red and gold with a window showing a beautiful golden sun and it light bathed the world in a tint of that gold.

Before a mirror in the room caught his eyes, a floating mirror reflecting the appearance of a slender beautiful boy with peachy skin, glowing green eyes, pointy long ears and long silky golden hair slightly flowing with the warm breeze from outside.

“What kind of sick joke is this?” Xiao Yu was utterly speechless at the sight before his eyes, in the mirror was himself, from a twenty years something young man, to a Blood Elf child in luxurious red and gold clothing.

It wasn’t long before memories that were not his own began to surface, apparently this Blood Elf child was named Aethas, ten years old and of course without a surname- not to confuse him with the famous Aethas Sunreaver, his parents named him so he could use the elf as a role-model and possibly used that bit of motivation to ascent his family into a different social class.

In a sense his family wasn’t rich but they’re not poor either, their income was enough to send little Aethas to school and learned about the world and not remain ignorant for all his long life, when you have a dad working as one of the Farstrider killing undead in the Dead Scar like a champion and a mother who owned a trade goods shop, your life is bound to cut above the common folks.

To summarize Xiao Yu situation up, he seen to have encountered that fable “I’ve reincarnated into another world” type of thing from all those novels he loved so much, even without a broken cheat like a system, Xiao Yu was glad that he got a second chance of life with a loving family, albeit it’s a bit abnormal to be an elf in a fantasy world where War is an everyday occurance, at least he wasn’t reincarnated as a gnome.

“From this day onward… I am, Aethas, I will take charge of my destiny!” Xiao Yu, now known as Aethas declared proudly in front of the golden sun.

“What are you yelling about, Aethas?” from behind the door, his mother word sounded which quickly brought him back from his chunni daydream to reality.

“Nothing mother! I was only practicing my spells!” Aethas responded, only to hear his mother gasping on the other side of the door in sheer terror.

“Aethas! How many times have I told you not to practice magic in your room! Do it outside- before that! Come down and get ready for supper!” his mother reprimanded him.

The truth was, Aethas does not know any magic- less for the basic from the memories of the old Aethas before his soul took over this body.

“Welcome to Azeroth, home sweet home for who knows how long it’s going to be.” Aethas sighed before heading out of his room to the kitchen below where his mother is waiting for him, along with the wondrous food this world, Azeroth has to offer.

Once again, Aethas (Xiao Yu) was glad that he wasn’t born as a Gnome, what fate worse than becoming spare ammunition for the Alliance siege engine?

Part 2

When Aethas arrived down from the spire, he could see his mother was waiting for him in front of the dinner table, the sight of her was breathtaking to say the least, a beautiful creature that could not and will never be appear on Earth, his old world- in all fantasy fiction he had read, one thing always ringed true- all Elves are beautiful in their own right.

Aethas had guess this is where his beauty had come from- instead of the man who sat at one end of the table drinking wine straight from the bottle, which was his father whom had a figure of a bear, all muscles and scarred, the true definition of a warrior, if Aethas( Xiao Yu) didn’t know his situation beforehand and come without the imprinted memories, he would have thought that his dad was an orc with peachy skin and golden blond hair.

Secretly, Aethas is glad that he did not inherit that “ogre” or “orc”-like gene from his dad's side of the family, it wasn’t a harmful thing if Aethas were to choose the profession of a paladin or a warrior- but the trade-off is just too much for him to handle.

“Aethas, my son! Come join your father for a drink!” his father beckoned him over to the dinner table as he uncorked another bottle of wine and poured Aethas a glass- but before he could handed the kid the glass filled with fine alcohol, a silver tray came crashing onto his head, creating a deep dent.

“What in the name of the holy are you intended on doing?! You are not suppose to give children alcohol! Did all these time spending in the Dead Scar rotted your brain you fool!” Mama Aethas reprimanded him.

“I’m sorry honey, I was only joking! I’m sure my little boy know better than to accept alcohol at his age! Did you forget that he inherit beauty from you while the good judgement comes from me?” his dad mutter weakly in front of a ferocious woman he calls his wife.

Aethas only raised an eyebrow before finding a chair and sat down.

“Aethas, are you feeling any better now? You’ve been sleeping all day today, if you didn’t wake up for supper, your mother would have called for an alchemist to have a look at you, did you catch a cold?” his father asked while sliced off a chicken leg and passed it over to little Aethas.

“No father, I was just feeling tired and wished to take a good rest.” Aethas replied while taking small bites from the food on his plate, secretly complimenting the unique flavor it has to offer, food in a medieval fantasy world with sword and magic does taste different.

His father just nodded “take good care of your health, I don’t know what magic school is like since I’ve never taken one before, but I heard it sound very stressful from my colleague, just don’t overdo it” he paused for a moment “ we Sin’Dorei have all the time in the world to master our art and magic is our birthright gift, you will get the hang of it eventually.” his father advised him.

Deep inside, Aethas has no clue of what the hell is going on, most of his memories from the previous life and this body has completely merged without much of a problem- however some were fragmented and disappeared into the void, leaving blank areas within his sea of conscious, it might not posed much problem in the long run, however for now it might be a problem as most of these memories involved the usage of magic.

“Yes father, I understand.” that was all Aethas could say, hoping for the best- what worried him now was the magic school that his parents had been talking about.

“Eat up, you need to go back to rest, less you want to not have any energy for classes the next morning.” his father told him as he passed over more vegetables while leaving all the meat for himself. “...thank you, father.” Aethas stealthily sweeped the green to the side and went back to the meat dishes.

His mother could only let out a long sigh. “Like father like son.” she rubbed her eyebrows looking at the two of them, but couldn’t help to let out a small laugh.

Later that night when both of his parents had retired to their bed, Aethas was in his room on top of the spire, looking outside the window, staring at the bright moon overhead.

Thinking of how his wished before death has been granted, receiving a warm, loving family in his next life- albeit into a very fuck up world that wanted you dead on every turn if you’re a weakling, but nonetheless, he was happy for now, might as well live it to the fullest and not wasted it like his past life.

Behind Aethas, there was an illusion of his past life Xiao Yu, standing watched over him with a kind smile, Aethas noticed this and responded back with a smile of his own, showing that he had long accepted this new life, the illusion soon faded away.

“Goodbye Xiao Yu, thank you for a good life.”