I simply couldn't believe it. This must be a mistake. Why would my body revert to this state again?
I knew that the lady under the sea was not properly explaining everything, but this was another type of craziness.
Small limbs, weak body, all the strength I used to have in my old body just gone in an instant. Needless to say, the promise scar on my left pinky had vanished and was restored to the smooth baby skin.
As I was stunned in the position, the woman who held me was pulling my body closer, sticking me onto her face, and spouted some words which somehow sounded sweet in my ears. Although I didn't exactly know what she was trying to say, the words were coated in a kind of affection towards me.
"Byar kutengo san aya," the lizard-woman who was standing idly said something with a sincere smile and turned back to exit the room. When she showed her back, I noticed that she was probably not a lizard at all, but a turtle.
A huge familiar greenish shell was hanging on her back, guarding her rear with the seemingly thick shell. However, the head of hers did not resemble anything of a turtle I ever saw or could remember in mind. So it was a hybrid of the reptile and the sea animal?
This world was truly weird. I wondered if Aria was handling the same reverting-to-baby spectacle as mine.
A person entered the room, not the turtle woman but another individual with human looks, and a male one to be exact. His adult body was well built and his height was above the standard of my country. He had similar greenish hair with hues of white lines in some places.
His black eyes were shimmered with gratefulness as he looked straight at me. I could not particularly say that he was handsome, but he was actually pleasant to look at.
"Tampa baik anakan," he uttered with so much enthusiasm in his voice. He approached us with careful steps before lowering his body and joined the woman on her side. They shared the lift of my body on their hands while also gently embracing me in their tight presence.
Just like that, the tension which occupied my whole nerves left by itself from my flesh. I still had several questions about my state and Aria's especially in this nonsensical world, but I felt they could wait for later. The sensation I indulged in was too comfortable to be missed as they brushed my skin with their warm fingers.
I had seen this view once a long time ago, the sighting of an important familial event: the aftermath of childbirth. The baby's respective parents would hold them together for a long time, thanking everyone for the success of the whole frantic process. This moment left a crucial question in my mind as I looked at the man and the woman in front of me.
Were they really who I thought they would be toward me? The people whose role was solely taken by my grandfather in my previous life.
My parents.
This warm yet fuzzy feeling that kept beating inside me which I could not put into words. The sense of calmness that spurted from a mere gesture of tenderness on their palms.
I faintly remembered all of those sensations when I was still a much younger and simpler boy when my grandfather used to feed me the share of his food patiently. A sensation I also felt when Aria gave me a hug before we met our end.
It was a delight to be able to see this view. This time though, in this world, I had been given the chance to look directly at the people who were responsible for bringing me into life. But it hurt badly when my chest was filled with so much remorse.
The face of my grandfather easily overlapped with them and I simply could not take it. Accidentally, I let out more tears and bawls on my face, leaving my nostril to be blocked from the snot that piled inside.
They shared the same glance of worry toward me before the man quickly stood up when he heard my runny nose. The woman hushed me lightly while also rocking my blanket patiently to calm me down.
She must have been distressed from the birthing process but she still showed a considerate amount of strength in front of me. The man then wiped my nose with a clean cloth carefully to make sure I did not choke, effectively reducing the count of weeps and whimpers from my mouth.
After my crying fit had finally come to a halt, their bright face returned on the foreign faces they possessed and the turtle woman made her entrance to the room again. She brought another set of clean clothes on her shoulder that at the very least were able to wrap my small body.
"Sihat anakan? Marima endi siboka bu," the turtle woman spoke with a fully polite manner, sticking out both of her hands as if asking them to hand me out, which they did afterward.
The woman carefully placed me on her hands and gave a peck to my forehead while the man held my finger before letting me go. With the support of the hybrid-animal woman's hand, we made our way out from the room and traveled to the place that must have been the house of the pair. If I was really their child, then it would become our home.
The place was filled with wood as the main component of the house. The wall, the roof, the foundation, all of them were built with wooden planks. This house was definitely bigger than the previous one I dwelled in my life.
When we exited, we were met with a big room that contained tables and chairs, also I spotted other entrances to other parts of the house. The windows were covered by sheets that repelled the strong rain outside, creating pitter-patter sounds everywhere among the house. Candles and also steel-looking boxes which contained a gleam of illumination inside were the sole light sources on the night.
As I scanned the surrounding premises, my eyes stopped after noticing a peeking person on a dark door space. With a quick look, I assumed that she was a young girl from the age of five to six. I caught the glimpse of her brownish hair before she instantly pulled herself back in a panic and disappeared into the room.
Lead by curiosity, I tugged the turtle woman and pointed my finger to the position of the girl as a kind of guide, but she did not even realize what I was trying to do. I could not do anything other than to gaze on the same spot while spouting out nonsensical noises. She kept on walking unfazed until we made a left turn to a long hall and stopped in front of a room before the stairs.
The door slid open, revealing a narrow space with a bucket full of water and also a platform with a big hole on it. She slowly put me on a small cradle in the middle of the room before opening my cloth and dragged the bucket near her feet. A moment after, she sunk her hands onto the water for quite some time as I kept waiting for her to move.
What was she doing? Washing her hands?
Contrary to my expectation, she pulled out her palms from the bucket and I had witnessed something extraordinary from the talking animal in front of me.
The water rose upward, following the gesture of her hand.
One of her hands was making up and down motions to pull the water high enough while the other was twirling in place to gather the water into a big clump. After collecting many streams of the liquid, she then commanded the water to swirl around my body and wet it thoroughly.
I was bearing the terribly ticklish sensation but strangely I wasn't able to do any kind of movement, or rather I was too dazed to do one. As soon as she finished with her work, she dumped the water onto the hole and dried me with the clean cloth she brought previously.
When she picked me up again after completing my supposed bath, my view of her had completely changed. Compared to the suspicious and horrifying feeling I had towards her before, the impression I had now was similar to that of astonishment.
This world was really full of surprise.
For once after going through my death, I experienced a feeling that was gone from me for a while.
A thrill to live.