"My little one, today I am going to tell you about the genesis of our world and life on Azur. This story has no beginning and probably no end either. Nevertheless, by oral and written tradition we can retrace certain stages of its existence as well as of its synoptic functioning." Muttered tenderly Laore, my mother, who was a fine-featured young woman who looked no more than 25 years old.
One could observe, below this exotic sky composed of two moons, a large building isolated in the middle of a vast expanse of greenery. All around this plain, a mountain range overlooks the horizon. The young narrator held in her arms an infant with the same facial characteristics as her and was sitting in the shade of an old oak tree.
The woman continued "It is said that there has never existed anything but abstract forms and concepts without any real essence. However, once in contact with the universe of sensations, also called the world of qualias, these obtained, through sufficiently complex beings, a sensible reality. Luca, the first being of the celestial body on which we find ourselves, engendered by multiplying, many versions of himself which gave over time, for reasons that are still unknown, all the species in their great diversities that we know today. But to come back to our beginning which is perhaps not one, the ancient texts talk about an expansion in every place of the cosmic web from an infinitely small space…"
Lawrence, my father, approached and interrupted her. "Incredible! Even on vacation you never stop telling your fantastic stories to our child. I know you would like him to become a mage like you, but he is only a few months old, how do you expect him to understand anything. And even if that's the case, you'd better teach him the basics of magic and alchemy or stimulate him with epic adventures of chivalry and nobility rather than these baseless tales."
The mother waited for her short dark-haired husband to finish and then replied, "My dearest, know that the study of ancient myths is highly respected by aristocrats. What's more, when I see his eyes and notice his silence as I speak, I can't help but imagine that he understands me. Anyway, I guess we'll be going home soon if you're up so early, a new contract?"
"Hahaha! You still know me so well! Indeed a new contract, and not just a small one, Count De Trienne gives us the exclusive supply of iron to the town of Shernat and its surroundings. This is in exchange for a 15% price reduction compared to the competition and all thanks to you Laore! We can by using the runes of winds that you have installed for us, increase the temperature of the furnaces and enlarge their sizes to produce more with less combustible material!"
"You know Lawrence, I think that magic has unsuspected potential in optimizing production and if other mages would sometimes deign to come out of their ivory towers and serve to something other than war, then we would already be light-years away. In short, let us hurry to prepare for our departure."
A brief twinkle flashed through the child's purple eyes as both parents mentioned their departure.
(Hey hey! I'm finally going to be able to discover this world a little more. It's been three months since I arrived here, I can't speak or move as I would like, let alone complain about the humiliating treatment I have to deal with every day, from changing nappies to breastfeeding, passing through my father's gouzi-gouzi... Anyway, enough chatter. I was nevertheless able to connect the dots of the local language thanks to a learning and memory retention function of the neuralink chip by analyzing diction, repetition as well as facial expressions. I could now understand the spoken language around me quite broadly.)
(Here, my name is Mayron Lizharte. It took me a while to realize that it was not a dream and that I was reincarnated as a human.)
(Since then, I have never stopped trying to adapt to this new world and accept my situation. Fortunately, my mother has been talking to me since I was born to explain to me where and how this world works.)
(To begin, there are 6 months in a year all broken down into 61 days, or a revolution of 366 days around our star called Gliese. Years are used only for historical purposes and by educated people. Otherwise, locals speak in "seasons", which are three in number per year to count their ages as well as the time of agricultural harvests. We are the 37th day of the fourth month of feortia in the year 458 of the new dynastic calendar period marked by the rise of the Nauplian royal family. That is 37 feortia 458.)
(The continent on which I find myself is called Pangaea and extends globally for several hundreds of thousands of kilometers in all directions from its center. It is surrounded by an ocean whose immensity remains even today unknown. This complicates the estimation of the size of this planet which seems abnormally huge to me. This makes me wonder about its gravity strangely similar to that of a celestial body like the earth. If I could understand everything that is thanks in particular to my advanced education on earth, but above all thanks to the teaching my mother gave me here below. Regardless of the reasons that make her teach so many things to a newborn, I can only be indebted to her. Everything seems more or less familiar to me except for the existence of magic. My whole being is preoccupied with the study of this unrealistic phenomenon!)
While I dithered inwardly, five men had already chartered a spacious carriage in which we sat. I snuggle up against my mother all while observing this unearthly world through the large window adorned with gold embroidery at its edges. (It's not so bad to be born with a silver spoon in my mouth! I think I'm going to enjoy it right now by taking my umpteenth nap of the day… Er, I mean my union rest *cough* well I deserved it, after all, the profession of infant is tiring ...)
I ended up dozing off with the jolts of the stagecoach.
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When I woke up, I heard my parents discussing possible improvements in blowing combustion air from the stove by preheating it with fire runes.
"Laore, you always have crazy ideas. This theory is in total disagreement with the established practice which favors the coldest possible air. The commonly accepted idea being that the coldness of the air explains the better quality of the cast iron then produced."
"Trust me Lawrence, the instincts and knowledge of nature I possess as a mage should be enough for you though! I never fail!"
(What insurance does this mom have!)
"That's also what you told me last year and it has cost us relatively dearly. A large company like ours cannot afford such an investment on mere guesswork. Especially in this critical period when we have to face our competitors to maintain our hard-earned monopoly thanks to the promised reduction"
"And all thanks to whom… *sigh*. Especially since I am sure of my shot this time! The continuous and automatic triggering of the fire rune, coupled with its new version will work for sure."
"Stop stop stop, I'll see if I can reserve a stove and employees for you from time to time, but no more. I'm really sorry, for the moment you should concentrate on your personal research, remembering that you are accountable to the order of magicians.
(If only I could explain to them that the benefit of cold air is only that it's drier.)
Suddenly, shouts from the escort echoed outside. "Abominations! Guards, in formation!"
The carriage braked suddenly, a man opened the door and made his report. "Madam, I'm afraid I have to disturb you, we are dealing with abominations, wolves belonging to the forest of Greywitch, we count about forty of them!"
"Strange, there are way too many of them for it to be a mere coincidence, would the ether wave be getting closer? What do the demons have in mind?" said Laore in a low voice
She quickly got out of the carriage, entrusting me to my father. "Very well, hold them back for a minute while I prepare my spell."
The man nodded and went back to prepare for battle.
"Don't worry my little boy, your mother is not only famous for being a scholar!" my dad said with a smile tinged with concern as he tightened his arms around me.
Watching my mother anxiously through the window, I noticed that light began to surround her and then gradually gained in intensity.
The five men in armor and armed with swords formed a line on the side of the dark forest from which dark purple quadrupedal shapes could be observed approaching.
Four featureless wolves pounced on the guards, who immediately reacted, wielding their swords with dexterity. Eliminating them with some damage, the armor of two of the five guards seemed to melt visibly as they came into contact with the slimy skin of the deformed canids. The corpses of the four abominations emanated steam and disintegrated very quickly only leaving bones.
"My spell is ready!" said Laore to the guards who took refuge in an instant near the carriage, ensuring our protection.
Sounds that could not normally be uttered by a human came out of Laore's mouth and echoed in all directions.
The glow around her grew larger, gathering into several slender shapes. They followed the movement of the outstretched arm in front of the magician and whistled at full speed in the direction of the pack.
About twenty explosions took place in contact with the earth, all taking the life of several monstrosities. A smell of burnt flesh and vegetation gripped me and intense gray smoke rose to the sky.
"May you rest in peace," expressed Laore, who waved the guards off and got back into the stagecoach in stride.
"As soon as we arrive I'll be off to report to the Count on this, don't worry darlings, I won't let anything happen to you all, so get that anxious face-off Lawrence."
"I'm not worried for us but for the future of this country, you know very well what happened to the countries that had to undergo the wave of ether. The homeless continue to flock to the surrounding countries including ours, while the cold period is approaching. We won't be able to feed everyone… The riots and crime will only increase and I wonder if we should expand our trade further north."
"I understand your reasoning and your concern my love, the northern empires are constantly at war and expanding so the demand for iron can only continue to increase, and they are not subject to ether waves. However, as you liked to point out to me earlier, I have an obligation to the order of magicians in this country and I cannot abandon it so easily or risk being hunted down and executed later."
(Huh? Sorry? Abomination? Mass migration? War? Execution? What a crazy world have I landed in! Sorry mom, dad, I think maybe I'll leave you and reincarnate again…)
(*sigh*. And my life as the pampered king I had imagined! Dammit!)