Silence. And darkness
Nothing but silence. And darkness.
For a long time Kurtis could taste nothing. Feel nothing. Smell nothing. Hear nothing. And see nothing.
He was surrounded by darkness and couldn't even hear his own breathing, in fact he was almost certain he wasn't breathing. This coupled with the apparent lack of a heartbeat is what made him almost completely certain he was dead.
And yet he could think. It made no sense. He could remember everything and was so sure that he had died, so why was he somehow conscious.
He came to the conclusion that this must be the after life. How else could he think but not feel. The lack of any of his senses and the thought of having to live like this for eternity sent a wave of fear through his lonely conscience.
"Hell -this mist be hell' he thought.
He couldn't help agonize over his new life (if it could be called that) . No body. Nobody. That was what he was. A nobody. He had always been one in a metaphorical and social manner but now he was quiet literally a nobody.
He remained like that for a long time with nothing to do but curse his old life and blame it for the everlasting psychic and emotional torture he was sure he was going to experience.
Then suddenly he could feel again. He still could not taste, smell, or hear but he could now feel and see. He could see! At this point he had been completely broken by the idea of spending the rest of eternity like he was so it took him a while to adjust to the sudden return of two out of five of his senses.
From what he could now feel he was in some sort of liquid, it felt like what he remembered water felt like but immediately he noticed two things.
One: He had something attached to his body. He had yet to open his eyes so he could not see what it was but from what he could feel it was some sort of tube. Slowly an idea of where he was and what was happening had begun to form in his mind but the next thing he noticed confirmed it to him.
Two: He could feel that wherever he was he wasn't alone.
He opened his eyes. It was dark, he could barely see in front of himself. He confirmed that he was indeed in water and proceeded to check his body. What he saw when he looked down was a small undeveloped body in an unironically foetus position. His heart began to pound, he didn't need more reassurance of what was happening. He looked to his right.
Pressed up against him was another body much like his own. It's eyes were closed.
He no longer had any more doubts. He was certain. He was a developing foetus inside a mothers womb. Which could only mean one thing. He was being born.
Again?
What?
How?
Why?
All these questions plagued him as he began to panic.
'That can't be possible. I've heard of reincarnation stories but that shouldn't be possible. Am I supposed to still have my memories. Does that mean I'm gonna have a new life? New family? New- wait does this mean I'm gonna have a new mum?"
He thought back to his mum. How she had died trying to protect him but to no avail. A fresh wave of panic and fear shook his mental being but it was now mixed in with a heavy does of sadness and longing.
He didn't want a new mother. He new that he probably would never get another mother as caring and supportive as Geneva had been and felt entirely responsible for her death. Thinking about his mum reminded him of what she would often tell him whenever he felt down and depressed.
"One day son, you'll be able to live a happy and fulfilling life anew. One day you will be reborn and life will hold the utmost meaning and importance to you."
He couldn't move his body in the first place but he mentally froze.
'She couldn't have known this would happen could she?' He thought to himself 'no, there's no way she could've known I would die'
These thoughts persisted for a long while until he turned to his right again and saw the eyes of the foetus beside him staring at him. The eyes where small and dark as if it was straining to see him.
Kurtis found himself attempting to talk but to no avail. All he could do was open and close his small lips and emit nothing but bubbles. Very soon the foetus got bored of staring at him and once again closed its eyes, leaving Kurtis to return to his pressing thoughts and worries of what he would see on the other side.
.............
For Who knows how long, nothing happened. Kurtis spent so much time worrying, reliving the memories of his old life and being scared that he no longer felt fear towards what was coming. In fact despite still hoping and wishing to have the same mum, he was exited to see what new life awaited him.
The foetus next to him would now often open its eyes and stare for extended periods of time at him as if trying to recognise him. It had occurred to Kurtis that this was his soon to be twin brother and he had tried and failed many times over to converse. He couldn't speak and the other didn't seem interested in communicating, instead opting to continuing staring at him.
Things stayed like this for ages. Kurtis could feel his foetus body growing and developing, he would've liked to move around but with the two of them so close together, there was barely any space.
Eventually they grew big enough for Kurtis to guess that it was almost time to be born.
When the day came Kurtis couldn't calm down his anticipation. He could now move a bit and would not stop. He had expected to be born with lots of crying, swearing and shouting like he would often see in movies, but oddly enough there was none of that.
There was mild swearing but no shouting and definitely no crying.
It took a while, his brother went First and there was a weird pause after his brother's birth in which Kurtis could hear the murmuring of unknown words outside.
He could not properly hear nor understand what was being said on the other side but if he could he would've heard:
"Two heirs! That's perfect!"
" Indeed. That's the ideal number for royalty such as yourself. Congratulations sire"
"congratulations my liege" (multiple voices)
"Thankyou my dear servants, your congratulations are much appreciated"
"my lady, what is wrong?"
"My dear wife, why do you not join us in our celebrations?"
"Be-*Pant pant*-Because, *hah hah* its not ,*hah* over. Yet"
"What?"
"what" (multiple voices)
"you mean there's a third?"
"Y-Yes"
"..."
"well don't just stand there! Get it out!"
"B-but my lord are you sure?"
"another child means another heir, more than there ideally should be"
"Well I can't just leave it in there! My wife will die! Take it out, we'll deal with it later!"
" Yes my Lord"
Soon after, Kurtis was born again. Despite having been able to see well over time while still in the womb, he found that he could barely see now. As he was moved about he could just about see multiple faces looking at him disdainfully for some reason. In particular a stern and serious one who stood in the middle with the others surrounding him.
The face looked at him for a while before saying something and having Kurtis moved to a cot. From a distance he could see two other babies inside it.
"No wonder it was so cramped in there. There wasn't just two of us ,there were three! I'm in a triplet!
His excitement quickly died however, when he was placed beside the other two babies who turned to face him, apparently also struggling to see since they were squinting hard.
The three babies stared at each other for a few minutes. Then looks of recognition began to spread on their faces and their eyes widening despite their lacking eyesight.
Kurtis' new heart sunk in despair and new worries and fear plagued his mind. Even with the baby features, the chubbiness and the lack of much hair. Kurtis would never forget those eyes. Dark blue and incredibly light brown respectively. The looks of recognition also on their faces confirmed his fears.
He had been reborn into a triplet.
With Joden and Blaise.