I never believed in the whole "light at the end of the tunnel" rumor where people, after experiencing near-death experiences, would startle awake in a cold sweat exclaiming, "I saw the light!"
But here I am currently at this so-called "tunnel" facing a glaring light.
The muffled voices became clearer and I made out a "Congratulations Sir and Madam, he's a healthy boy."
…Wait
I guess normally, I should be thinking along the lines of "Time to start a new journey as a badass anime protagonist!"
But strangely, the only thought that seemed to pop up in my mind was, 'So the bright light at the end of the tunnel is the light coming through into the female vag…'
Haha... let's not think about it anymore.
Assessing my situation in rational manner, I noticed, first of all, that wherever this place was, I understood the language. That's always a good sign.
Next, after slowly and painfully opening my eyes, my retinas were bombarded with different colors and figures. It took a bit of time for my infant eyes to get used to the light. The doctor, or so it seemed, in front of me had a not-so-appealing face with long, greying hair on both head and chin. I swear his glasses were thick enough to be bulletproof. The strange thing was, he wasn't wearing a doctor's gown nor were we even in a hospital room.
I seemed to have been born from a normal bed, as soon as I looked back, I saw the beautiful hole I had just come from, "Stay loyal Akatsuki, stay loyal..."
I looked up and saw the female who pushed me out of her tunnel. Calling her mother should be fair. Taking a few more seconds to see what she looked like, I'd have to admit she's a beauty, but that might have been caused by my half blurry eyes. Rather than a glamorous beauty, I would better describe her as lovely, in a very kind and gentle sense, with distinct white hair and ocean blue eyes. I couldn't help but notice her long eyelashes and perky nose that made me want to just cling to her. She just permeated this motherly feel. Is this why babies were attracted to their mothers? I don't remember mine, probably cause I was three at the time when she died, or when both my parents died. I hope the childhood I will have will be fun.
I peeled my face away and turned right to barely make out the person who I assumed was my father by the idiotic grin and teary eyes he gazed at me with. He had black hair and black eyes, his features were also very sharp. 'I think this is the Waifu God's blessing in affect, with handsome parents, of course I'll also be handsome.' I thought, then my dad drew my attention as he said, "Hi little Aka, I'm your dad, can you say dad? Are babies smart?" I glanced around to see both my mother and the house doctor roll their eyes as my mother managed to scoff, "Honey, he was just born."
"Hmm, he isn't crying. Doctor, I thought newborns were supposed to cry when they are born." I heard my mother's voice.
By the time I finished checking ou… I mean observing my parents; the wannabe doctor simply excused himself saying, "Ah, you want be to make him cry? Sure thing!"
SPANK
"WAAAAAAAA!"
"Fuck! You old geezer! Don't slap my son's ass so hard! He isn't your woman!" my dad took me out of the wannabe doctors arms.
"Oh! My bad! Well then, my jobs done here, bye bye!" he said as he slammed the door shut.
"Don't slam the door so hard old geezer! Your gonna burst my son's ears!" my dad yelled, not realizing he was yelling next to a baby
The following couple of weeks after my journey out of the tunnel was a new kind of torture for me. I had little to no motor control over my limbs except being able to wave them around, and even that got tiring quickly. I realized all too grudgingly that babies don't really get to control their fingers all that much.
I don't know how to break it to you guys, but when you place your finger on a baby's palm, they don't grab it because they like you, they grab it because it's like getting hit in the funny bone; it's a reflex. Forget motor control, I can't even excrete my wastes at my discretion. I was not yet the master of my own bladder. It just… came out. Shit…
On the bright side, one of the few perks that I became happily accustomed to was being breastfed by my mother.
Don't get me wrong, I had no ulterior motives whatsoever. It's just that breast milk tasted a lot better than baby formula and has better nutritional value, okay? Er… please believe me. I have a wife! Fuck you!
The birth place seemed to be my parent's room and from what I figured, the technology in this place was highly advanced. The place had holograms and what not. Sad I can't bring any technological advancements to this world. That would have racked up a lot of Points for the Fight After Death.
Then the day that changed my life happened. One day, my mom healed a scratch on my leg from when my idiotic father bumped me against a drawer while swinging me around.
No…Not like, band-aid and a kiss heal, but a full blown, holy light with a faint hum from her fucking hands type of healing.
Where the hell am I?
My mother, named Ane Verio, and my father, named Akatsu Verio, at least seemed to be good people, hell if not the best. I suspected my mother was an angel because I've never met such a kindhearted, warm person other than my wife, which I had already confirmed that she was the God of Angels. While being carried on her back by a baby cradle-strap of some sort. This town of Shiniriya, we walked on the street where there were stands on both sides with various merchants and salesmen selling all sorts of things—from common, everyday necessities to things I couldn't help but raise a brow at, like weapons, armor, and rocks… shining rocks!
The strangest thing that I couldn't seem to get used to was the people carrying weapons like it was a luxury designer bag. I witnessed a man of around 170cm carrying a gigantic war axe that was larger than him! Anyway, mother kept talking to me, probably to try to get me to learn the language faster, while shopping for the day's groceries, exchanging pleasantries with various people passing by or working in the booths. Meanwhile, my body turned against me once again, and I fell asleep… Damn this useless body.
Sitting on the lap of my mother who was caressing me in her bosom, I was intently focused on my dad who was currently reciting a chant, which sounded like a prayer to the gods, for close to a good minute. I leaned in closer and closer, almost falling off my human seat while expecting some magical phenomenon, like an earthquake splitting the ground or a giant stone golem emerging. After what seemed like an eternity, trust me, for an infant who has the attention span of a fish, it was, three adult, human-sized black flame swords emerged from the ground and slammed against a nearby tree.
What in the name of…that was it?
I flailed my arms in anger, but my idiot father interpreted that into a "WOW" and had a big grin on his face saying, "Your daddy is awesome huh!"
No, my father was a much better fighter. When he put on his two iron claws, he was a battle god. With quick and firm movements that were surprising for his build, his fists carried enough force to tear into space, but were fluid enough to not leave an opening. In my world, he would have been a world ending threat, but to me, he was my idiot father.
For what I learned, this world seemed to be a fairly straightforward, one filled with magic, monsters, adventurers, and technology where power and wealth decided one's rank in society. In that sense, it wasn't too different from my old world, except for the lack of technology and the world ending things that could breath and destroy a city.
Enough about that though.
The currency in this new world seemed pretty straightforward from the exchanges my mother had with the merchants.
Copper was the lowest form of currency, then silver, then gold, then PLATINUM! ...sorry, just a huge KIS fan. While I had yet to see anything costing as much as a gold or platinum coin, normal families seemed to be able to live off of a couple copper coins a day just fine.
100 Copper = 1 Silver
100 Silver = 1 Gold
100 Gold = 1 Platinum
Everyday involved honing my new body, mastering the motor functions residing deep within me.
My life was fun a peaceful, but in order to meet my goal, things had to change, and funny enough, they did.