Frank slept a dreamless sleep, half expecting to wake up still bleeding to death in his camper. When he opened his eyes he was in a different room. He was laying on his back in a wooden crib. He wasn't able to stand or move much other than his head. He took in his surroundings and found that he was indeed in the body of an infant.
"Is this what's supposed to happen when we die?" he thought. "If it is, why do I still have my memories. For that matter why haven't they given me a name yet?"
The shock of his situation was starting to wear off and a feeling of curiosity was taking over. Frank decided to acclimate himself to his surroundings. He couldn't do much else anyway being hardly a day old and unable to control his body. He was however, in control of his head.
He surveyed his room and noticed that it was much larger than the one he had been born in. This room was also made from cut white stone, it had a smooth wooden floor and a single window set into the wall to his right. The window didn't have glass but what appeared to be some form of energy. It shimmered slightly every few moments. There were runes and designs carved into the stone that formed the archway of the window.
"Is that some sort of laser window?" he thought. "Part of me feels like I'm a thousand years in the past, the other, a thousand years in the future." Frank was dumbstruck by what seemed to be space age technology that surpassed his previous world.
He continued his visual search of the room finding who he now thought to be his mother. She was sleeping peacefully on a large wooden bed. The mattress appeared to be rather soft and resembled an expensive mattress from his previous life. Tarra was covered in a thick blanket and her head rested upon an over stuffed pillow. Above her on the wall was another carving, this one depicting a creature that resembled a wolf with two curved horns and two tails.
"This place just gets weirder and weirder." Frank said, well what came out was more of a confused cooing sound. "I'm still not sure if this is real or if I'm going to wake up soon. I may as well make the best of this until I discover the truth."
Just then his mother awoke. She was surprised to see him awake and not crying and smiled when their eyes met. She went to his crib and scooped him up in a warm embrace.
*"Look at you little one, so strong and alert." Tarra said. "I believe Father was right about you."
The next few days went much the same, Frank mostly sleeping and eating, never far from Tarra. He saw his father again and also met his two older sisters. Astrid and Brenna.
They looked to be between 8 and 10 years old. Astrid was tall and lean, a blonde like their mother but with their fathers green eyes. Brenna was younger and shorter but more muscular with dark brown hair and the ice blue eyes of their grandfather. Both of them seemed overjoyed to meet him.
All of them talked to him constantly and he was beginning to pick up a few words from their language. He still couldn't understand most words but he had put 2 and 2 together and learned mama and dada and both of his sisters names.
He felt foolish having the brain of a 30 year old man and having to try to learn only the words spoken to a baby. He decided that at least it was a start. If this was to be his new life he had to play the part.
"I still can't understand why I have no name." he thought. "It must be some sort of cultural thing, a tradition."
Finally a week after he was reborn Tarra dressed him and wrapped him in warm furs and took him outside.
This was the first time Frank had been out of his home since he came into this new world. He was eager to see the village and what surrounded it. He was met with a sight that he didn't expect. His home was large, built of the same stone outside as in. It had a sharply pitched roof with thick exposed wooden beams. The roof was covered with wooden tiles that resembled scales and the at the peak of the roof rested another wooden beam with intricately carved creatures on each end.
The village itself was large. It seemed to be broken into two distinct rings. The inner area consisted of stone homes of a higher quality. His house was here and one of the largest. The outer area were simple wooden homes. They were not as large but still featured intricate carvings and adornments. Outside of that there was farmland stretching far into the distance. At the edge of the farmland there was a dense forest with towering trees that would've compared to the great redwood forest of his previous world. A large reinforced stone wall separated the village from the farmland and was manned with soldiers.
Soon Frank was hurried off toward a large building that stood near the center of the inner area. There was a large gathering of people in front of the building. In front of the crowd stood the hunched figure of a woman. She was elderly and had a heavily lined face. She wore simple robes of a dark brown color. They were adorned with various types of jewelry. Most of her accoutrements were made of stone or bone with various gems set into them. On her head she wore a set of antlers mounted into a headdress of a sort. Her wrinkled hands bore tattoos that glowed with the same faint blue light as his assorted family members. She was obviously someone of great importance.
Frank was presented to her during a ceremony for all the recently born children of the village. He looked around at the other families present and noticed that some also had the tattoos so common in his family. Most all of those that had them had far fewer than even his parents. While others had none at all.
Those with the markings typically wore either leather armor in browns and greys or simple robes that bore a unique symbol emblazoned on the left side of the chest. The others that had no markings wore the plain clothes of farmers or tradesmen.
Frank was one of six infants present. As the ceremony began the infants were taken inside the building one at a time with their parents. Frank was the last in the series and waited anxiously for his turn.
As the families exited the building there were announcements made and each child was given a name.
"So this is what they've been waiting for." Frank thought. "It's about time I had a new name, I haven't wanted to be Francis Shepherd my whole past life."
One by one the infants were taken in and brought out. There was much joy and excitement accompanied by cheers and applause after the naming. Finally after what seemed like hours the old womans gaze fell upon Frank. As he and his parents were led inside he felt the tiny baby hairs stand up on the back of his neck.