Slap!~
A woman slapped my buttocks as hard as she could.
"What the hell lady?!" I inwardly thought.
Next to her, a naked woman was laid on her back with her legs spread and a sheet to cover her private area.
Things started to make sense as the cogs in my brain started to shift.
From waking up in an unknown place next to a woman that looked as though she had just given birth, to being held up in the air by a woman that seemed no taller than 1.6 meters (5'3") and having her spank me of all things! I must have been reborn or something. It was the only thing that would make sense, given what had happened earlier. There was no way I survived that.
Slap!~
The black haired woman slapped my buttocks again, likely hoping I would start wailing to tell them I was alive and not a stillborn. Still, this was too much! To slap me so hard. Sigh…
"Wahhh wahhh," I wailed as loud as I could.
Immediately, the two people in the room sprung into action with their expressions shifting from worry to joy.
"He's alive, Diana," the midwife said, sending a bit of magic energy into him to see if there was anything wrong, causing him to shine a dim light blue almost invisible to the naked eye.
"...and he's perfectly fine, you can rest easy"
'What's this? I feel light and strong, what's this that I feel?', he thought.
Tears could be seen on the woman's face as she put her arms forward so as to say she wanted the baby given to her.
"Give him please, I'd like to hold him"
"Here, here, he's a beautiful baby boy," the midwife said, wrapping the baby in a cloth before passing him to Diana.
The woman who most likely was my mother looked quite beautiful, she wasn't drop dead gorgeous but she had nice features. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a nice sculpted nose, and pouty lips. She looked exhausted. It was as if a small gust of wind could take her away.
Just as I was lost in my own thoughts staring at the woman before me a flash of light came into my peripheral view with what sounded like a chant.
"Lux Vitae," said the midwife, meanwhile she was waving in circles a small wooden wand with a red crystal on its tip with her right hand.
Suddenly, my mother's complexion seemed to have come back, her eye bags were all but gone, she didn't look as exhausted, and looked as though she had regained her strength.
'What the hell?' I thought in confusion. I didn't understand a word they were saying but her chant and the wave of her wand-thing healed my mother.
"Thank you, Emily," she said while grabbing hold of Emily's hand and caressing it as a sign of thanks and endearment.
Everyone in the village had known Emily for the last 7 years, she was their local healer and assigned mage. She took care of the villagers for a price.
"There, all better, I'll go get your husband outside," she said smiling, letting go of Diana's hand before casting another spell that made all traces of blood, feces and dirt in the house disappear in a matter of seconds.
"Nox Umbra," she chanted, waving her wand once more.
'What the hell???' I was captivated by the things I was seeing and feeling.
It was odd the first time I felt this wave of energy, the second time was a coincidence when she chanted and waved her wand, but the third… The third time confirms it. What she did was magic!
Entering the room through the room's only door was a man, Renbrandt, and Emily.
"Here he is," Emily said, speaking to Diana.
Renbrandt was a tall man, about 1.85m (~6'1), he had black hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in simple clothes, a shirt and pants but he looked dirty with the patches of dirt here and there that clung to him.
"Nox Velis," chanted Emily, cleaning Renbrandt of dirt in his hair, skin, but the spell was unable to completely clean the stains on his shirt.
"Th-Thank you, Emily," Renbrandt said, scratching the side of his face in embarrassment.
Making his way towards his wife and child, he bent down to give her a kiss on her forehead.
"Thank you my love for giving birth to such a beautiful baby boy," he said while caressing the baby's head as gently as he could. His hands were rough from field work and hunting to provide for his family, nonetheless Jason could feel the tenderness behind his touch and from the way he looked at him.
"What should his name be, my love?" Diana said inquisitively. "...We did say if our baby was a boy that you would name him".
"Darian," replied Renbrandt without hesitation.
"Darian…I like it. Did you hear that, my little Darian?" Diana smiled, turning to snuggle her face close to her child's.
Remembering all that had occurred in what seemed like the span of 15 minutes, Jason, now Darian, recalled his past life and started crying, he missed his original parents terribly, the thought of never seeing them again had struck him all at once. From dying a gruesome death in an alleyway to thugs, to the thought of never having the chance to go back, and somehow having his memories intact inside the body of a child.
He wailed and wailed, crying at the top of his lungs. He was overwhelmed with emotion.
"So for payment we're looking at–" Emily was saying before she got interrupted by Darian's cries.
Whipping up a spell, and with a wave of her wand she chanted once more: "Vox Cere".
Darian immediately calmed down, his serotonin levels shot up just enough to make him feel relaxed and at ease, it was like all his worries suddenly disappeared. His cries stopped and he regained his calm.
"As I was saying, ahem…we're looking at 20 coppers plus the traveling fee, so 24 coppers "
Twenty-four coppers was enough to feed a family of 4 for a month straight, but given all she had done for the young couple, they paid their dues immediately.
"Thank you, should you need anything, stop by, you know where my clinic is," she said, bowing and leaving through the door.