I hear something…what is it?

Like a voice which whispers to my very soul…

She tells me that I should listen…and not forget…

This is important…

But why is it so hard to remember…?

[Regrettably, it seems this pleasant dream is over for you...Truthseeker.

Do you truly want to leave behind all you have known?

Beyond the Illusion there is everything you seek.

But nothing that you know.

Will you still go with me?]

#

Light flashing-

Blurry figures-

Infinite futures-

It all comes tumbling by.

The events of that fateful night are lost to me for some time. When I next open my eyes, I do not have the same mental abilities as before. I am no longer so devious, so ignorantly smart, nor so capable of scheming. My brain is oddly…slow. That is the impression that I’m getting. Instead of taking the hundred myriad shortcuts of an adult, I no longer judging things based on my past experiences. For it seems that the world is new again. Everything is…new again.

I am new again.

The unexpecting welling of emotion, something I haven’t felt in so long, startles me. So does the loud wailing which comes after. It seems to come from everywhere and yet I cannot move properly to discern the source. Gradually…a terrifying thought comes to me.

“Waaah!”

Is that…me?

Everything is so incredibly bright. So sparkly…it seems that in my depression, the world I knew had become darker than it really was. This place though, this place is different. It is bright, full of colors, and sights, and smells. All the things which have been holding me back, for a time, they drift away. A new realization comes to me then.

I…I’m a baby.

However, it might have happened, I have no clue. But I can see it in my short stubby hands, and the blankets I am rapidly swaddled in to protect against the cold. The hell is this? Am I dreaming? Though I have some thoughts like that, the truth is unescapable and no matter how I cry or beat my fists, I do not wake up. The longer I stay in this form, the more my new brain seems to erase the past. I forget who I had been and begin to lose my train of thoughts. If I had to guess why, it would probably be because a newborn baby’s brain is incapable of handling such vast knowledge as an entire previous life. Thus, for the time being, a large part of me is locked away.

At this point, you might think that I am going to get to experience the innocence of being a baby once more. Unfortunately, the world I have been reincarnated in has different ideas. All these blurry shapes slowly come into focus. A pretty young woman, only slightly older than I had been in my previous life. Dressed in a sweat-soaked robe and curled up in exhaustion, she reaches out for my small body and the nurse who has been holding me lets go. I am gently placed into my mother’s arms. As someone who had scorned his parents in his past life…right before they disappeared forever, this moment is not something I hate. As a matter of fact, warmth spreads through me. It tickles my heart and blossoms deeply. I cannot understand this instant feeling of connection. Perhaps it is just the nature of a newborn baby to love their parents…no matter how things may turn out later.

That lovely, absolute warmth, that feeling of being embraced in the safest place in the world, a mother’s bosom, I am enveloped for the merest of instants before a thunderous noise explodes outside. Exactly what it is, my current knowledge is insufficient to determine. However, instantly, the voice of my mother and the nurse become loud. Panicked. They spread looks to each other which I can just barely make out through the corner of my eyes, tucked under my mother’s breast.

“Mistress Lian! You need to go!” The nurse cries from my right. Lying in bed, my mother rocks me gently while humming. The first song I hear in this world is rudely interrupted by more loud explosions.

“S-Sorry…I just wanted a little bit longer. Let me speak to him just this once...” The woman who birthed me into this world is careful to keep her voice soft though the situation is urgent. Nervously, the nurse stares at the wooden door in the corner.

“Hurry!”

“Waaaa!” My cries mix in with the desperate, terrified noises the nurse is making. However, my mother stays calm. She whispers into my ear, carefully picking a few words in those slight moments we have.

“Hi…I’m sorry we have to meet like this. I think, you probably won’t remember this, but I just wanted to say it. I love you! If I had the power to hold you with me, to raise you myself, I would do anything. Anything…anything at all…” Her loving brown eyes twinkle as she stares deep into my face. A horrid feeling of dread rises up in me. Though my thoughts are still disordered and young, I know something bad is happening.

“You cannot delay any later, Mistress! You must go!” The nurse is tugging at my mother’s hands, trying to pry them off me. But she is tenaciously strong. Unwilling to let go of her flesh and blood, no matter the danger.

“Listen to me, that one, you must obey him! A friend of your father, from the old days. Though I must go now, he will take care of you no matter what! Be a good boy and listen to what Mephis says…” My mother takes a deep breath. “Also, your first name…since your father is not here, I regrettably had to choose it on my own! I hope you like it! Until you have your achievements and title you will be known as-!”

*BANG*

The door shudders and the nurse screeches in abject terror as something smashes against it. Instantly, I am thrown from my mother’s soft arms into the nurse’s waiting hands.

“Damnit, go! Take him to Mephis before it’s too late!” My mother commands the nurse to send me away, and she wastes no time obeying. My vision tumbles, and I lose sight of my new parent for a moment as it seems the nurse and I are going downwards. There is something in the floor…a hole. A trapdoor I suppose. My small form cries uncontrollably, wishing for the warmth and safety I had felt but a moment before. However, then the door blasts open by some unknown force. For just a single instant, the nurse shifts me and the blanket falls away so I can see the face of my mother up above us.

She has a painful expression on her face, but when she sees me watching, a smile crosses her lips. Her hand raises into a small wave. With all my strength, I do not want this to be the last I see of her. I try to pull up my own hand to wave back. It should not be possible. Babies cannot do such a thing when they are just born. But my mother’s face flickers. Perhaps she saw her son do something amazing before she had to say goodbye. A glorious grin replaces her fear and she nods. The hand she raised to wave slowly clenches into a fist as she turns away and faces the open door of the room. Glowing blue lights, strange mystical writings, letters form in the air. What language they are, I know not, but a moment later, she waves her hand one last time and the hatch to the secret tunnel we are in slams shut as if by magic. Though noises rage up above, the nurse does not stop for even a moment. She puts me into a basket on her back and clambers down a ladder in the darkness.

*Boom Boom*

At the bottom of the ladder, I can hear terrible explosions ringing out from up above. The nurse mutters to herself, panting desperately as she tries to get us away. Water splashes as we enter some dark place. A light appears from something in her hands, but since I am on her back, it’s blocked by her head. Eerie stone walls form a tunnel to some place and she dashes away, each step jarring my little body. Who knows how long she runs, but eventually the explosions fade away. Every now and then, the nurse stops for just a second, listening. In the darkness, her footsteps echo and the delayed noise makes it seem almost like someone is following our footsteps. Small shudders spread from her terrified limbs and into the basket on her back, which I am lying in. Arms reach up and over to grab my basket. She brings me to her front and stares down at me with confusion.

“Huh…you…you’re not crying?” She closes her eyes, rocking me gently, back and forth for a moment before putting me back on her back. “Well, if the young master is capable of bearing this, I certainly can’t set a bad example!”

*Splash*

*Splash*

*Splish*

The sound of her footsteps in the water changes. No…rather, it seems that the echo which is following us is off sync. When we stop moving, something continues to splash behind us.

*Splash*

“Not good!” My nurse immediately begins sprinting. The rocking impacts shake my head, but she just yells back at me. “Please bear it, Young Master! I’m sorry!” For a long time, she runs and runs. The flickering light she uses, dances, and ghastly shadows appear on the walls, seeming to stretch out and chase us as we make our escape. The splashes from behind us grow closer no matter how she runs. It seems like they will catch up eventually. My heart beats frantically, and the breathing of the nurse becomes ragged as she begins to slow down.

*Taka*

We stumble.

Something wet lands on my face but the nurse shifts to keep the basket on her back from landing in the water. She manages to get up again with a cry of pain and hobble desperately forwards. The light in her hand, some sort of lamp, has been extinguished during the fall. All is darkness, but she feels the wall to keep her direction.

*Splash*

*Splash*

*Splash*

*Splash*

The sounds of our pursuer get closer and closer. Any moment now, they will catch up. However, a spot of light appears on the ceiling. A new set of splashing footsteps comes from in front of us. The women whose back I’m on, recognizes their owner-

“Mephis!” My nurse calls out. However, a shout, full of urgency, washes over us-

“Get down!”

*Phwish*

The world tips as we throw ourselves down into the water. Something shoots by us at a deadly speed and my cheek stings. Though it hurts a lot, I hold in my cries.

*Whoosh*

Someone jumps over us, and my inexperienced eyes widen. I catch sight of a man…his feet dancing over the air as he raises a sword in his right hand and a lantern in his left. There is a clang, and then a scream. Something heavy falls with a great splash. Then the man returns. Blood drips off his sword’s tip like black ink in the light of his lantern. He helps my nurse up while staring down at me on her back. Once my nurse is standing, she takes off my basket and hands me to him.

“Mephis…thank the gods. You came. You really…” She breaks into tears, but quickly regains herself. “Take him and go! Um…I lost my light. Do you have an extra?”

“Here.” The man named, Mephis, cradles my basket in one arm while handing his lantern to her. “I’ll be heading out from this entrance. As for you…I assume Lian has left you a way out?”

“Yes, though they already reached her. I…I don’t know if she had time to open a Gate!” My nurse takes the lantern and as the light passes over me, she gasps. “Oh my! He’s bleeding! What happened, did that arrow…” Over my head, the one called Mephis checks the cut on my cheek. He has a rough face, with very strong features, no scars of any form however. His short tawny hair dangles down from underneath a pointed wizard’s hat as he examines me.

“It’s just a flesh wound. Won’t even scar.” He declares after a moment. “Alright, we’re running out of time. I need to take…him…it’s a boy, right?”

“That’s right! No, I should be going. It’s just…I’m…” The nurse sighs. “I’m a little afraid of the dark.”

“You’ve already served your master well. They will pursue us first, so you will have time to escape. Don’t hesitate…just run!” Mephis yells as suddenly the splashes begin to come from back in the darkness once more. My nurse starts to run off deeper into the tunnel, but she’s stopped by his hand. “Wait, one more thing! What’s his name!”

“Mistress Lian didn’t have time to say it!” She responds while uneasily shying away from the darkness, and he lets go.

“Okay, go, GO!”

Just like that, I’m passed off to another person and the last person who witnessed my birth disappears. Mephis seems to be looking at me. His eyes gleam in the darkness now that the lantern is gone. The irises are a deep, crimson red which do not quite seem human. It’s like being stared at by two big, orbs, for I can barely make out anything of his face without the lantern light. Fear fills me, something which I knew little of in my previous life. My infant thoughts mix with an instinctual wariness of him. Demon…is this a demon? His bloody eyes blink and turn away as we walk to the side. There is some sort of door there, which Mephis yanks open. Instantly, bright light blows away everything and I let out a wail as my eyes sting.

“Waahh!”

“Hehe…so you can cry after all.” My bearer chuckles as he slings me onto his back. The bright morning sun forces me to shutter my eyes as he begins to run. “You…ugh, I don’t know what to call you, but hold on tight!”