"Stand Up, Victor!"
I was in what seemed like a dimly-lit room. I forced my dizzy body up and looked down. There was a blood-soaked rock, presumably from my forehead. I turned around and maybe by sheer luck, I dodged a punch. I was dizzy so I stumbled out the way of a punch. A man much bigger than me turned around to attack again. Is he some form of a giant? No, I was just ...small now? Then it struck me, my hands were much smaller than the ones I was used to. The realisation wasn't the only thing that struck me. A fist sunk into my stomach, I could feel all the air escape my lungs.
Damn! I gasped and prayed for any sort of air to enter my lungs again.
"You know, I always assumed that the love of my life would be the one to take my breath away not a middle-aged man"
A weird language came out of my mouth but for some reason, it made sense to me.
"Oh...You've got quite the mouth on you"
"You won't win until you manage to activate basic magic, Victor!" I looked around the room and saw a middle-aged man wearing armour yelling out. Am I Victor?
The second of distraction cost me more pain. This time he struck out with a combo. Twice in the chest and third to face. The last punch I blocked and managed to redirect the punch away, I followed in with a knee strike to his abdomen. My Grandfather was quite heavy on learning self-defence so I was decent when it came to fighting. The child-like body I was in, however, didn't allow for much strength. The man shrugged off the damage twirled his body and struck me with his elbow, I blocked it and jumped backwards to lessen the blow. My body felt heavy, I could now feel the fatigue that had caught up with me. I had to remember that I had the stamina of a child. Maybe the gate/ portal I stepped into turned me into this child in this world. I had no chance to ponder on it, as the man without relenting ran at me. Why was I in a dimly-lit house fighting with a crowd around me? Why was I fighting a much older and stronger man? I don't know. Right now, it didn't matter.
"How are you gonna protect your sister and master with that feeble strength, Victor!?"
My master? Was I a slave? Maybe he was talking to the big guy.
"IS THIS HOW YOU WANT TO DIE, VICTOR!?"
I ducked under a kick, ran forward and pulled his other leg towards me. I watched him fall. I climbed onto, spun and with my elbow, fell heavily onto his nose. I could almost feel it dislocate. I quickly got off of him but his hand wrapped around my ankle. Only one thing ran through my head at that exact moment..."Crap."
He pulled me by and slammed me onto the ground, I held protected the back of my head so I wouldn't die as I assumed Victor had. I most likely took over his dead body, if zombies are possible, why can't soul transfer be?
The big guy's hand was still wrapped around my ankle as he threw me this time. I was in pain, immense forsaking pain that can only inspire depression. It was weird, I had never felt more alive than being on the edge of death. My body was now immensely heavy, felt like I was carrying my parent's expectations all over again. HaHa, If I can still make jokes guess it's not yet time for me to die. No, it is not yet time indeed.
I stood up. The man once again started running at me. I started to feel an unknown strength swell within me, or maybe it was just fear. Adrenalin coursed through my veins. I almost forgot about the pain plaguing my body. I slowly entered a fighting stance again, this time the man came at me with a right hook, I stepped back to dodge it, then dodged, once more, the jab that he threw. I moved closer to him again, to create distance, he stepped back but his strength was distributed unevenly due to the punch causing him to stumble backwards. His abdomen is where I would strike and I did just that. I shifted the weight of my body into one strike, with an upper-body rotation I pushed against the ground with my legs and punched him, twisting my fist as I did. It took me a minute to register what happened after that, the big guy's body flew into the circle of people gathered around us. It seemed like he had a rib poking out of his skin but I'm not sure, the lighting isn't amazing. The ground beneath my feet also had cracked. I still had my fist stretched out in front of me, I could see a light gold, almost cream coloured aura coming off of my arm.
"Well done Victor, you can rest now"
A hand gripped my shoulder firmly. I can rest? My body felt light and my eyelids, heavy. I slowly drifted into a calming sleep.
"Brother! I don't want to leave. Brother! Help me! PLEASE!"
"ALENA!"
I woke with a jolt. I had to quickly grab my head as a splitting headache came in. Memories not belonging to me flooded in.
"Relax young master, your body is still injured, the awakening should make you heal faster using ambient mana, however, your body has still sustained serious injuries, Lord Kin can be incredibly reckless making such a young child fight in the underground"
The man wearing a butler outfit mumbled the last part.
According to my memories, he should be called Sebastian.
"Sebastian...?"
"Yes Young master"
"I would like to take a walk around but could you guide me I'm still a bit hazy from the fight yesterday"
"Young master, I highly suggest resting, you're yet to recover"
"I appreciate the concern, however, my body feels stiff and I don't want to become rusty from resting, besides I feel better already"
"Understood, right this way"
I hoped that I could sort through these memories while I walked around the house. New memories are not fun, it feels as if I can't decide what mood I'm in, as if I can't remember who I am, not a fun experience.
I got off the bed, my body was covered in bandages, This body of mine would turn 9 this year, however, it seemed that I had a decent amount of muscle on me, not like an adult but akin to maybe a 15-year-old. I put on the cloak that Sebastian handed me and started to follow behind him.
The cloak was coloured black and incredibly comfortable, its expensive price was made known through its comfort. There was an insignia on the right arm of the cloak. It was a red shield with what seemed like a grim reaper holding a sword on it.
In this world, it seems like everyone could use magic, well at least the basic kind. Most people unlock the ability to use magic at age 6, some natural talents can do it when they are born, my father is one such person. After you awaken you are able to train and increase your mana. So my father managed to climb through ranks on a battlefield and achieved enough merits to be granted the viscount rank. He is highly favoured by the king, when I was born they had hoped that I too would be a natural talent, unfortunately, I wasn't. That wouldn't have been much of a problem if I had awoken before or on my 6th birthday. I hadn't. I can't remember, or it might be better to say that I can't access the reason as to why but I'm not able to remember why but my father suddenly became worried the family lineage and rank, in order to save it, promised her marriage to a count's son. My sister, Alena is incredibly beautiful and most likely the reason the count agreed to allow his heir to be married to her. She left today in order to meet her fiance.
She clearly didn't wish to leave. The original Victor didn't wish for her to leave with a man she didn't even love so he begged his father for any chance or way to awaken, he never had a magus tutor as he had no talent for magic so he had no one but his father to ask for help. The quickest way to awaken was known as the false awakening, it was being so far on the verge of death that your body forces mana in to survive. It was a method that was looked down upon as a misstep could result in death. Which of course, it did. Victor died and here I am. It would be unfair to say that Victor has died since I am him now. With me, Victor continues to live.
What did my father mean when he mentioned protecting my master? Even with Victor's memories, I can't remember serving anyone.
I was led outside the first sight that I was greeted with was the training yard. There were a variety of weapons on racks and many people were being trained. Victor was ungifted to the point of being trash in both swordsmanship and magic but if anything he had unbreakable willpower, he would train every single day, people in this world didn't need rest days due to the mana healing the body constantly. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I had a younger brother aged 5 he unlike me, was much more talented. Like my father, he was a variant. He had the unique magic of swordsmanship. He could imbue aura into his blade, this made him effectively eliminate the weakness of distance when fighting a magus. Unlike my father, however, he could imbue an attribute, fire, to his blade. My father hopes Zac, my brother, can surpass him. I should probably mention that he is not my actual brother, it seems my mother died after my sister was born and my father had re-married. Victor didn't agree with it but he had no say in the matter. I believe that Victor's father, my father is planning to hand the title of heir to Zac, hell, he probably has secretly.
"Young Master, WATCH OUT!"
My thoughts were interrupted, as I turned around I could see a sword spin towards me.
It was seconds away from impaling me.