I woke up.
I stared up into the branches of a tree above me while lying down on the cool grass
Huh... Where am I?
A small breeze picks up, making the leaves dance.
This... Must be the afterlife.
Birds chirped in the distance.
I continued laying down looking at the branches without a care in the world.
This isn't too bad actually.
I close my eyes so I can just listen to the sounds around me.
"Yeah, I can get used to this." I say... In a kids' voice.
...
"Uhhh?"
Wait a second...
It dawned on me.
"What the hell!"
...
I jerked up in confusion at the realization of my voice but was even more shocked after seeing my body.
"What the- what is- why am I-??"
I couldn't talk or think clearly as I sat there and inspected myself. I was no longer in my adult body...
But rather, the body of a small child.
...
"This isn't an afterlife. Am I dreaming again?"
I sat in silence staring at my hands not sure what to do at this point.
The wind picks up blowing through my hair causing me to look up.
The bright sun shined down on the land that was filled with grass and trees that stretched for miles.
Past the trees, far off into the distance were mountains that stretched high up.
In the foreground of this sight were a few houses, and some livestock could be seen in the grass fields.
I gaze at the view from atop the hill where I sat.
Looking down near the hill I was sitting on, a horse leading a carriage down a dirt path in the direction I was looking.
I sat and stared at this sight completely forgetting what I was just thinking about.
"This sure is some dream."
I look back down at my hands, now able to think clearly.
"I don't know why I'm experiencing this from a child's perspective. But now I'm curious about what else this dream has to offer."
"Touma!"
A child's voice calls out from behind the tree.
I curiously peek from behind the tree to see what else might occur in this supposed dream.
A brown-haired boy who looks around 9 years old, was walking down the dirt path calling out for someone.
"Where are you?!"
Huh, he's speaking Japanese. How odd. Guess I've been in Japan too long. Wait, actually now that I think about it, in that last dream I had they were also speaking in Japanese.
The kid, looking in my direction, calls out to me "There you are, come back! You know you're not supposed to be this far from the house without me!"
Is he talking to me?
"Yes Touma, I can see you behind that tree!"
Can he read my mind too?
"Come on, lunch is almost ready!"
I stepped out from behind the tree and started walking up to this kid I didn't recognize.
Who is this kid? He's younger than me, but he's just bossing me around.
I walked for what felt like an hour with these little legs and stood up to him and realized the difference in height between us.
Well... I guess he is older than me.
I looked near his waist and there was a wooden sword strapped to his belt.
Hm? Is he playing pretend sword fighting or something?
He reaches down, grabs my hand, and drags me down the path.
"Whoa, hey!?" I shouted.
"Come on, Touma." He demands.
This kid is... Probably my older brother, I'll play along and see where this goes.
We walked down the path passing a few houses and arrived at a decently-sized two-story house with a horse stable standing a few yards away from it.
This must be our house. This architecture is a bit outdated, which era is this?
Looks to have been built somewhere between the 1300s and 1500s if I had to guess.
The unknown kid drags me through the door where I'm greeted by who I believe to be the owners of the household.
"We're back!"
"Oh hey kiddo!"
I look straight up. to a well-built man who also has brown hair.
This man completely towers over me. He must be the-
...
This makes me very uncomfortable.
The man suddenly picked me up and held me in his arms.
"Did you have fun exploring?" He asks me.
Can you simmer down, sir? You're kinda loud.
"He went off to the same tree that I would always take him to." The kid informs the adults.
"Oh, already going that far by himself huh?... Maybe it's time we got him a sword so he can protect himself." he proclaims heartily.
"Glenn! We are not giving Touma a sword, he turned 6 years old only a few days ago!" a woman exclaims leaning out of the kitchen, with long black hair extending near her waist.
The fashion here seems to also be from the old era's.
"I know I know, I was just kidding, Leyna. Haha!"
"And Touma you need to stay close to home when you're outside by yourself, ok?" The woman says to me.
"Erm, Okay." I respond.
"Now then, lunch is almost ready. Isamu can you go fill the bath for him, so he can get cleaned up."
"Yes, mother."
The man put me back down on the ground.
Please, never do that again.
The kid then leads me by the hand down a hallway.
So I'm some random couple's son and my name is Touma, and this kid's name is Isamu.
I turn to look back at the mother and father.
And their names are Glenn and Leyna... Huh, interesting.
Well, it sure beats floating in the darkness listening to random women talk.
Aimlessly following behind Isamu lost in thought about my circumstances, I found myself in what... looked to be the bathroom?
It's just an empty tub without a faucet. How am I expected to clean myself?
Faucets existed during this time, didn't they? Or am I mistaken?
Isamu lets go of my hand and walks over to the tub.
"Hey uh, Isamu?" I say to get his attention.
"Oh hey, you got my name right this time, good job." He responds.
"Uh thanks, anyways where's the faucet?"
"What do you mean? We don't have one." He says.
"Why not?" I ask.
"We don't need one."
Do we have a well or something? I didn't see one outside.
"Anyways start getting undressed so you can take a bath."
I glance at the small empty wooden tub.
"There's no water in there though." I say in a puzzled voice.
"I know genius. That's what I was going to take care of before you asked me a question." He responds irritatingly.
How though? Is he going to go grab some buckets of water?
Just then Isamu raises his hand above the tub with his palm facing down.
With a concentrated look fixed on his face, he spoke "Water."
A blue circle with symbols forms from the palm of his hand, and water comes pouring down into the tub filling it in just a minute.
Magic?
Never in my life did I think I could see something like this right in front of me, for the first time I was completely speechless.
I'm dreaming about a life that has actual magic right now.
"Hey..."
This is more vivid than when I dreamt about magic as a kid.
"Hellooo?..."
Here I thought I gave up on these wild dreams.
"Snap out of it..."
It's probably just another vivid dream that won't mean anything, that's all it must be.
"Touma!"
Startled by the sudden call for attention, I collected my thoughts and just put the whole magic thing aside.
"Sorry, your... magic... surprised me." I say.
"Why? I do it all the time. Anyways, hurry up and get cleaned up." He says as he leaves and shuts the door behind him.
After getting undressed I sit in the tub lost in thought about what I had just witnessed.
"This is so interesting. I wonder what else this dream has to offer me?"
Also, if I am dreaming... This is not a good situation to be in right now. I thought to myself as I stared at the water.
I take my hand out from the water and stare at it.
"I wonder... Could I do that too?"
I slowly raise my arm above the water in the same form as Isamu.
It was just 'water' he said, right?
"Alright here goes nothing..."
"Water..."
...
Nothing happened.
I let out a defeated sigh.
"I guess I can't perform any magic. That's lame."
I slouched over and flopped my arm back down into the water in disappointment.
"Wait, when I was watching that one anime Haru showed me, there were different types of magic. Would any of those work by chance?"
After I cleaned myself up and finished getting dressed I tested my theory. However...
"Fire..." Nothing.
"Air..." Nothing.
"Earth..." Nothing.
"Light..." Nothing.
With my curiosity dying, I was beginning to run out of patience.
"This is starting to get boring... I think there's only one other type I haven't tried yet."
"What was it?... Oh yes, that's right... It was Dark magic."
As soon as I spoke, a small deep black mass that was the size of a pebble began forming above my palm.
I was left speechless once again, I guess I can do magic. However...
"...Why are you still growing?"
Shit, it's the size of a tennis ball now.
"Ok, that's enough..." Not knowing how to handle this I just gestured it with my other hand, but it continued growing slowly.
I have no clue what kind of damage it could do, but it probably won't be pretty.
I was starting to panic a little bit as this mysterious thing kept growing in my hand.
"What do I do??"
"Stop! End!"
I started throwing out any kind of word that meant stop.
"Cease!"
"Terminate!"
"Finish!..."
...
I let out a long exhale as the mass finally stopped growing, now the size of a bowling ball in my tiny hand.
Not sure if one of those words actually did the trick, but at least it stopped.
"Well, looks like I- Ow son of a-"
A searing pain, causing me to drop to my knees, suddenly started forming in the hand that was holding it.
I quickly grabbed my arm trying to support it with my free hand.
Black veins started leading from my hand slowly beginning to pop in my forearm, ripping the sleeve of my shirt from just the pressure alone.
Well shit, this can't be good.
The pain continued to grow and sweat started pouring down my face.
Damn, now what do I do?...
!
"Wait a minute!"
I jumped up
"Touma are you-!"
I burst through the door not realizing I demolished whatever was behind it. Sprinting down the hallway as fast as my little legs could carry me.
Strange, why do I feel like I'm running faster than when I was 6 years old in the real world?
"What was that sound?! Touma! What are you-!?" Leyna exclaimed as I dashed by her.
Must just be an effect of the dream. Whatever it doesn't matter.
Now out of the front door, I ran to a clear opening with no houses in sight.
My father made his way out of the front doorway.
"Touma!!"
I stopped, pointed the heavy dark mass towards some trees, and... "Release!"
The mass ejected from my arm and flew at an incredible speed toward the trees.
However, my small body wasn't able to take the recoil from the discharge and completely blew me back.
I was now on the ground blacked out.