"Welcome Chief! We have been waiting for you."
Olivier heard a pleasant and enthusiastic voice of a female in his mind. He was startled. Not on the ground that he had heard the voice in his mind but by the words it uttered. it was strangely familiar.
He was in a magical world where humans could fly and birds could sing in human language. Elves, dwarves, orcs, treants, dragons, and numerous other races existed in this world and he himself had interacted with a couple of them in his sixteen years of life in this fantasy world of magic.
Initially, he was not from this world or it would be more precise to say that he had lived and passed away in another world. A world called Earth where no magic existed but the people in that world could do wonders with their insight that people in this magical world couldn't even dream of. The people in that world believed in science and encouraged innovation and creation. Transportation, Communication, Education, Trade and Economics and Skilled manpower, five altogether. They called them the five infrastructure of development and developed countries where education, transportation, and communication were so easy and modest. The world was connected by the internet, another creation of humanity. Phone, another ingenious creation of humanity that every individual possessed in that world.
But once he discussed about phone with a dwarf. Dwarfs are the most talented race in this world in terms of creation. The most lavish and the largest palace in the world, 'The Diamond Place', the most remarkable weapon in this world, 'The Deity slaying sword', the most impressive defensive armor, 'The unbreakable', and so on. Anything in this world that could be portrayed with the word 'most' were either built by dwarfs or had the shadow of the dwarfs behind their creation. Regardless of being half-a-times shorter than humans, the dwarfs were one of the most regarded races in the world.
Once, he conversed with one of the dwarfs who was passing by through the town that he lived in. That dwarf was called a virtuos craftsman by people of the town but when he heard about the phone and its capacity, he was left stunned and sweating. Embarrassed to admit that he could not craft that 'powerful artifact' called the phone, he said that only the blacksmith god could craft such an ingenious artifact. Thus, a new legend was circulated in this world with regards to the artifact the 'Phone' which supposedly could only be crafted by gods.
Olivier was speechless when he heard this. Was he living in the world where everyone owned a god artifact before? Obviously not. He knew that the phones were mass produced in factories in Earth and even had that duplicate chinese version of them circulating around the world at cheap price. It was then he decided to never talk about his previous life.
Sometimes, he would find himself wondering if that world called Earth even existed? Was everything that happened to him before even real? Was he dreaming the whole time? But then he would look at the tattoo in his hand, a birthmark so to speak. It wasn't bizarre to be born in this world with a birthmark, it was said be auspicious. Birthmark in this world are considered as a mark of a destiny, a destiny to transcend others. Thus, when he was born with mark in his hand, his new birth-parents were wild with joy and even threw a party. And when he was found to be more wise than other children of his age, he was hailed as a genius. But only he knew that he was a grown man being compared to new-born childrens for godsake. He was dying of embarrassment inside.
Olivier had a birth-mark at palm of his hand. A birthmark of shield blocking two arrows. He was shocked when he first saw this because he knew what this meant and what it meant to him. It meant that Earth existed and everything was real. His first life was not some illusion because honestly, he was afraid deep inside, afraid that all of the things he experienced was illusion . Because people could do that in this world with magic. Powerful people could trap other in their illusion where they would live another life and lose themselves and lose the ability to differentiate between illusion and reality, doomed to live their whole life trapped in illusion.
A shield with two arrows.
This was the logo of game that he played in his first life, a world building strategy game called The Clash of Clans. This was the logo of his favorite game.
When he first saw his birthmark, he was happy and filled with expectation, expectation for it to be something magical, something that could could actually give him the destiny to rise above others. Having grown reading novel and watching anime about heroes with the same fate as him, reincarnation or transmigration, he was sure that it could give him the power hero of this world. Alas, greater the expectation, greater the disappointment. He was frustrated when nothing happened in this past sixteen years of his life, that it was a simple birthmark the fate granted him as a souvenir to remember his previous life.
Be that as it may, what he wanted was not a souvenir, he wanted power. Power that could help him carve his own path, write his name in the pages of history of this world. power to make his name eternal. immortality, world domination, Fuck that. He simply wanted to be remembered by the people of this world. He wanted the people to know that he, Olivier Martin, was born in this world and died as the ghost of this world. He wanted to leave his legacy behind, his own name because that was something he never got to do in his previous life. No one in Earth would remember his name and reminisce about him as a person other than the few people he knew and interacted. This was his eternal regret after his reincarnation. Because he realized that not only he had he lost his life, he had also lost his existence. What hurt more than death? A denial to his existence, to be forgotten.
So, in this life he wanted to make up for his regret. He wanted to carve his existence so deeply into this world that it could never be erased whether it be praised a symbol of good or denounced as curse for evil.
Olivier with this goal had worked hard from his childhood. When other children could walk, he was running on his two foot. When other children could speak, he could recite poetry and sing songs that could mesmerize others. When other children were playing with mud, he was reading books. He was was always walking few miles ahead of others his age whether in terms of knowledge or intelligence. He was ahead of others enjoying a wide view while others his age's could only watch from behind distracted from the view he was enjoying. That was only untill the age of twelve because something called talent came into play then. Talent, something that could topple the whole foundation build on intelligence and knowledge.
In this magical world where people could destroy mountain with bare fists, knowledge and intelligence was regarded as secondary. While it was important for the success of any individual, the criteria was always talent. Talent was synonym for power. people in this world could train and become powerful, so powerful that they were capable of doings thing that only the 'gods' described by the people on Earth could do. In a world where one could become as powerful as gods, the rules, morals, values, ethics were all pushed to the ground and buried by power. the Might to make all wrong right, whiten the black. Only the powerful had the right to speak. Intelligence? Knowledge? What useful was it before someone who could kill you with a fist.
With the desire to become powerful, he trained bitterly. He trained and trained but soon, he was surpassed by others one by one. His view that once used to wide and clear was now blocked, blocked by the back of the numerous people who he had left behind by miles due to his unique insight and vast knowledge. His talent in the martial arts and magic was awful, so bad that he could only watch as other overtake him one by one with the 1/100th of the effort that he was making. It was painful and frustrating. He was in despair untill he heard that voice.
"Welcome Chief! We have been waiting for you."
Then, a white light was emitted from his palm which enveloped his body. Then a portal was opened and sucked him inside. Then, there was silence. He was gone, he had disappeared .