Cage woke up to find himself floating in a place without anything insight; it was a void. Staring blankly at his surroundings, he thought, 'Who am I? I'm... Cage, where am I? Damn, I can't remember anything... Only fragments...'
Cage could not remember anything other than basic information. If he tried to remember his past, his head would hurt, and it would be like a layer of fog was over it.
'Ugh, I know I died... but how? I wish I could know something! ... Is this my subconscious or something? There doesn't seem to be anything here; should I just wait? Can I even do anything?'
Seemingly as if in response to his question, specks of light started zooming from the outer expanses of the void and began to converge into an orb at a point in front of him. As more particles flew into the orb, it grew until it was twice the size of him. After the last speck of light flew into the orb, it started to turn into a liquid with a myriad of colors swirling around.
The colorful liquid began to swish and swirl around him, forming a cocoon of colors. 'I hope this isn't bad, although not like I could do anything about it, seeing as I can't even move around,' he said, thinking to himself, 'If I'm dead, I sure hope this doesn't kill me... again'. The swirling colors rushed towards him and, with a flash of different colors, and his mind blanked for a moment.
After his mind blanked, he felt... cold. 'Wait, how can I be cold? Aren't I dead? Am I not dead?'
Cage was instantly bombarded with light as he tried to open his eyes. 'Ugh, it's bright... what a strange dream...' While his eyes were adjusting to the light, He quickly realized that he was definitely not dreaming or waking up. He was underground.
After staring at the dirt and stone walls, He looked up to see a woman looking down at him with a slight smile. She had black hair and blue eyes; she also had a complexion looked tired. She wore tattered rags that covered her upper chest and hip regions. Around her neck was a simple, plain necklace with a copper bead attached.
'She has a nice face, but why does she look so malnourished. Also, why is she so much bigger than me?' he thought.
The woman looked away for a second then looked back at him with the same expression; he saw a tail dip down to him. Following the tail to its source, he traced it till he saw it led behind the woman. 'Wait, that's not right... IS THAT HER TAIL!?!'. He looked a little closer and saw that the woman had cat ears the same color as her hair. He reached with his hand to confirm it or not, but he then made the second shocking realization. His hand was small and chubby.
'There is only one possible explanation for my small hands... Am I a baby now? Does that mean I got reincarnated? I don't understand why this is happening. There is no way this is my old world; that would make this a different world or planet. If I really did get reincarnated, That would explain the lady with cat ears and a tail as well as me being a baby now... but that shouldn't be possible. Why would I have my memories?' he thought after contemplating his unexpected circumstance. 'Well, I probably won't get any answers. Assuming that lady is my mother in this world... wouldn't that mean I also have a tail and cat ears as well...'
After having a minor internal crisis about his identity for a little while, being unable to confirm it or not, Cage returned his focus to his surroundings. The dirt room had very little; it had some straw on the ground to act as bedding and a large rag which was presumably a blanket. He suddenly felt a pressure weigh down on him, Almost as if a tiger was breathing down his neck. It made his body feel like it was made of lead. The woman suddenly turned towards the entrance to the dirt room and watched with a nervous expression.
An old man with a beard walked in. He had dark silver hair and a scar going over his left eye. The old man was also remarkably well built for his age. The old man seemed to be in his 70's; he wore a green uniform and partial plate armor on his body. Two others followed in behind him, wearing similar clothing and armor. The old man with the beard had two silver stripes wrapped around his right arm, while the two following behind each had one copper-colored stripe on their right arm.
(A/N: please note that the double asterisk means that it is spoken in a language the MC can't understand)
**"Hey Demi-human! I presume your little runt has been born?" asked the old man.
**" Obviously, as you can see he is in my arms, right now," she said sarcastically.
Looking at her with a glare, **" I thought you learned your lesson..." The man continued, **"Get on the ground and beg for forgiveness... This is an order".
The two cuffs that he overlooked until now on her wrists started to flash with red energy and sparks. "AAAH-" The woman let out a pained cry as she immediately fell to the ground on all fours as soon as the man finished speaking the command. Unfortunately, he happened to be in the woman's arms, so he went flying as soon as she let go.
As he felt himself be thrown forward and fall towards the ground, he let out a cry, "WAAAAAAAAAAH." He didn't know if it was his body's natural response to his dilemma, but tears started to flow from his eyes.
'If I fall from this height with my frail body...!' he cried inwardly.
**" Woah! don't want to damage the merchandise," the man responded. While he was falling, the man stuck out his hand and said, "Float." After the man finished speaking, a gust of air gathered around and then made him start to float. He was awestruck; he stopped crying with a dazed expression on his baby face. He felt the energy flowing around him. Seeing this, the man chuckled to himself inwardly.
'What! was that magic? how does that work!?!' after calming down a little, he thought that it could be related to some energy unknown in his old world. 'Maybe it is some type of world energy or something; I think a lot of theorists on my old world thought that. I'll just call it world energy; for now, I'll probably find the name out later.'
**"I beg you... Forgive me... for... my foolish words..." the woman said with ragged breaths.
**" You're forgiven" the man said.
The red flashes and sparks stopped, but the woman remained on the ground for a moment catching her breath. She seemed exhausted and there was sweat dripping from her face.
'Wait, those cuffs seem like they forced her to obey, is she a slave? Is slavery legal in this world? If she is a slave, and she is my mother...' as he thought this, he started to panic a little. Seemingly as if the world read his thoughts, **"Get out the binding cuffs and crystal, we need to get the runt bound" the man ordered.
**"Yes Sir!" The guard reached into his bag and pulled out the same cuffs his mother was wearing and a crystal with a blue glow that fluctuated on and off. The old man made a gesture with his hand to have the wind pull him forward. The guard handed the cuffs and crystal to the old man. The old man grabbed his wrist, he suddenly asked **"Does the runt have a name?".
**"He does not" she meekly responded, still a little out of breath.
The old man nodded, **"Let's call him Cage".
The old man proceeded to pull a needle out of his bag and pricked Cage's finger. With a tiny drop of blood on the needle, he put it over the crystal in hand and lightly tapped the needle to make the drop fall. After the drop fell on the crystal, the old man placed the cuffs on Cage's wrists. The cuffs seemed to be made of some type of metal and had runes inscribed on them. The old man then pricked his own finger and added his own blood drop to the crystal.
The crystal flashed brightly and illuminated the walls of the dirt room while steadily turning blood red. While the crystal was turning blood red, the cuff's runes on Cage's wrists started to glow a blood red as well. When the crystal finally became full blood red, The old man uttered **"Bind".
Cage felt a sharp pain spread from his wrists to his entire body. 'Shit, it feels like needles are pricking my entire body both inside and outside!'
The pain kept intensifying every second until it almost made him lose consciousness. While his consciousness started drifting, he was able to look inwardly by accident and saw blood red chains wrapping and circling around around a small translucent orb surrounding a less translucent core with white wisps flowing off it. The chains expanded outward in almost every direction like a cobweb into the expanses of his soul-scape. 'What is that, is that my soul? Crap, it's being bound! What do I do? What can I do?' he thought. Clenching his fists, he tried to get through the pain. It felt like his very essence and being was being pulled apart from all directions. After what felt like hours, the pain subsided and the red glow faded. The cuffs then began to shrink till they fit his wrists snugly like a glove.
The old man closed his eyes and said **"The binding process is done"