What a strange feeling... This nervousness still hasn't gone away after three days.
Alexander was lying on what seemed to be an old, almost medieval mattress. He looked around with his red eyes as if he were in a small wooden and straw house, but something still felt off.
"Still not feeling well?" A woman asked, catching Alexander's attention. She was kneeling beside him, her clothes were strange, and upon closer inspection, they resembled a Japanese or at least Asian.
They were purple, and she wore an apron over them. Looking at her face, she had large green eyes and brown hair tied up and covered by a headscarf, but what caught his attention were her ears. She had long and pointed ears, like the elves in the game he used to play.
"...No." He replied, looking at her with empty eyes, but his face showed no expression. The woman laughed.
"I think you'll stay like this for at least a week. Healer Tanegashima will arrive today to treat you, dear, rest. Are you hungry?" She asked, grabbing Alexander's hand and squeezing it tightly.
"...No."
"How can you not be hungry? You need to eat to regain your energy, Shura."
"Shura..."
"Shura... Your father was against that name, and said it brought 'evil spirits,' but I always thought it was beautiful. They say it's the name of the god of war, so maybe you could become a warrior." She laughed. A warm and gentle smile spread across the woman's face. She wasn't old, her face well-preserved and somewhat beautiful, a beauty in simplicity. But she seemed troubled, perhaps by the boy's gaze.
"Is something worrying you?"
"Yes..."
"Tell me, dear, mommy can help you."
"Mommy?"
The woman's eyes widened, and she squeezed his hand harder.
"Shura... I am your mother, what's going on, don't you remember? Could that accident have affected your memory?"
"Accident... Can you tell me what happened... mom?"
"You don't remember?" "I remember fragments. It was cold and wet, my head hurt a lot... there was a girl, I think she was holding me in her lap, my vision was blurry, but I remember people shouting my name, this girl, a boy, and a man. That's all."
The woman took a deep breath, looking at him with what seemed like pain in her eyes, a mother's pain.
"From what your brother told me, he was flying a kite when it started raining. It seems a gust of wind got his kite stuck in the branch of a tree, and he couldn't climb up to get it, so he called you. You climbed up and got the kite, but because of the rain, you slipped and hit your head on a rock."
She said with a sorrowful sighing, perhaps because she had to recall it.
"He called your sister who was doing the laundry and your father. They said you spent a few minutes without moving or opening your eyes, but in the end, everything turned out fine." She smiled a smile that tried to hide the worry she felt. Alexander took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Father, mother, brother, sister, this is my family. Can you tell me their names?" He asked with a subtle smile. Such words made a tear roll down the woman's face, and she covered her mouth to stifle her sobs.
"Your father... His name is Seki, your sister's name is Inoue, and your younger brother's name is Uchida." She said, holding back the sobs, while Alexander looked deeply into her eyes.
"What's yours?"
The woman quickly stood up, letting her sobbing fill the room. She grabbed her shoes and left the house, apparently calling out for her husband. Alexander was left there alone. He turned his eyes to something else, the translucent golden box floating in front of him, displaying a few words.
[!!!Welcome, player!!!]
"She didn't mention this once, she probably can't see it," he muttered, trying to sit up. Stretching his arm, he touched the box that looked like a game message window, and the message changed.
[!!!The player has successfully arrived in the new world!!!]
[!!!The player has been given the chance to live once more through the power of the gods!!!]
"New world? Power of the gods? This sounds like the background of a game, I must either be in limbo or one of those reincarnation stories. Maybe I survived and fell into a deep coma..." He placed his hand on his stomach, remembering the piece of steel that pierced him during the accident.
[!!!At the moment, the player is recovering from their transition to this world!!!]
[!!!Rest! Once you recover, the tutorials will begin!!!]
The message box disappeared.
"Tutorials, huh? So, it is like a game... interesting." He said with a smile, not a gentle or calm, but a challenging grin.
His moment was interrupted by the door to the house opening. His mother was there, along with a large man dressed in green clothing that resembled a kimono, a blonde girl who seemed a little smaller than Alexander, wearing a red outfit similar to his mother's, and finally, a small boy also wearing green clothes.
They made way for a man to pass. He was wearing beige clothing with a blue coat over it, and though it resembled traditional Japanese attire, his was noticeably more detailed. He carried something in his hands, something like a briefcase. Like everyone else, he had pointed ears, but he was old, with a slightly wrinkled face and hair beginning to turn gray.
"Good afternoon, young man, my name is Isei Tanegashima, I'm a healer from the neighboring town of Touya. I came here at your father's request, they told me it could be urgent," he said with a warm voice and a smile on his face. He removed his shoes and approached the boy, kneeling beside Alexander.
"How are you feeling?" asked the healer. Alexander studied the healer with his eyes, though he kept a gentle smile on his face just to disguise his true feelings, then laid back down again.
"I feel dizzy and have a strong headache, I also feel a strange nervousness in my stomach," he responded. The healer placed his briefcase on the wooden floor of the house and opened it, revealing some objects inside. He began removing the bandages from Alexander's head, revealing a huge bump with a wound.
"That was quite the blow. Tell me what happened." The healer started inspecting his face, eyes, mouth, mostly the forehead and the wound, piece by piece.
"Three days ago, he climbed a tree and fell in the rain. When he fell, he hit his head on a rock," said the father. He was a large man, but his voice carried the true concern of a father for his son.
"I understand. I will do a scan to assess the severity of the injuries." That sounded strange. The healer reached into his briefcase and pulled out a small green crystal that resembled an emerald. He brought his hands together and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Body scan."
Something strange began to happen, it was as if green flames had enveloped the healer's body, but even so close, they emitted no heat, like an aura. Alexander's body shivered from the sensation of being near it, it was something powerful.
"What is this... what are you doing?" he questioned.
"I'm just using healing magic. A simple spell to check the damage, my boy. Haven't you ever seen it before?" The mother knelt beside the boy, but not close enough to get in the healer's way.
"He's having memory problems, it must have something to do with the injury," said the mother, worried. The healer's expression changed, becoming more serious.
"If he's having memory problems after a blow to the head, it's not a good sign, especially since it was a fall. Was it a tall tree?"
"At least three meters high."
"A three-meter fall, hitting his head on a rock— it's hard to believe he's still alive... Let me see if this could be true." The healer slowly brought his hands close to the bump on Alexander's head, keeping his palms just a few centimeters from the wound.
"Now, let's heal the injury completely."
The green flames began to spread, covering the wound, which made Alexander uneasy, but he continued to just watch. He could feel an intense heat on his wound, but not to the point of burning, and slowly he could feel the pain fading away.
Even the swelling that had been bothering him, along with the headaches, and the cold sensation in his stomach, all of it disappeared.
"It's done."
Alexander sat up, bringing his hands to his head, feeling his forehead to search for any remnants of the swelling. He even smiled, glad the pain was gone, but the smile quickly faded—the shiver from the healer's magic still bothered him.
"It seems that all your injuries have been healed, but something surprised me during the scan. It was an unfortunate fall, you shouldn't even be conscious, let alone alive as we speak. The gods truly saved you from the worst." Healer Tanegashima turned to Alexander's mother.
"How did you treat these injuries at the time?"
She approached, still on her knees.
"My daughter used a bit of healing magic at the time. She has healing talents like you, although she's still very inexperienced and has little power. After that, I used warm towels, bandages, and herbal remedies from the forest." The healer nodded, as if he had already understood, then turned to Alexander's sister, Inoue.
"Young lady, your healing magic, though inexperienced, saved your brother's life. It seems you have some talent. Would you like to become my apprentice in Touya?"
The girl smiled and bowed.
"Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Tanegashima, but I already have a mentor. Lady Kugimiya." "Ah yes, the healer of the village mayor. I wonder why they called me instead of her since she is much more talented than I am."
"The mayor traveled to the capital, and as usual, took his servants with him, including Lady Kugimiya."
"I see, in that case, it's unfortunate." Healer Tanegashima turned to Alexander. "Your mother mentioned you had severe memory problems, my boy Shura, tell me everything you remember: about your life, your family, anything you can recall." Alexander knelt, staring into his eyes, a neutral expression on his face.
"Before waking up in my sister's arms, nothing."
"Absolutely nothing? How did you end up there, what were you doing before you fell?"
Alexander shook his head.
"Until this morning, I didn't know my name, didn't know that the person taking care of me was my mother, didn't remember my father or my brother's faces or names until I saw them in front of me. I don't know where I am, I don't know what world this is, I don't know who I am." These words made his mother start to cry, as well as his sister, but he seemed indifferent to it.
"You don't remember anything, son?" asked his father, his face filled with pain, his eyes moist.
Alexander raised his hands to his ears, feeling that, like theirs, they were long and pointed. "I remember that I'm an elf."
"Mr. Tanegashima, is there no spell or magic that can bring back his memory?" asked Inoue, her voice trembling with tears.
"Unfortunately not, miss. Unlike the body, the mind is like a deep ocean, very difficult to understand and reach. Only a few sorcerers in the capital can enter the realm of the mind, but I doubt a humble farming family like this could afford to hire them." This did not comfort either Alexander's mother or sister, but he seemed a little bothered by it.
"I recommend resting for a few more days and eating plenty. I'll be at a friend's house near the temple of the harvest goddess. If, for any reason, the headaches or dizziness return, please summon me immediately." The healer said as he stood up.
The whole family prostrated to him, bowing their heads to the wooden floor of the small house, thanking the healer. Everyone except Alexander, still watching Mr. Tanegashima, studied him with those empty eyes.
Night came. After the family ate dinner around the fire, they all went to sleep, everyone except Alexander. It wasn't easy to leave the wooden house in silence, but he managed.
The night was illuminated by the immense full moon, but something unsettled him—perhaps it was the huge moon in the sky or the second, slightly smaller moon, equally beautiful, but this one was blue.
"I'm not on Earth, interesting," he said with a smug smile. Alexander walked a little further away, paying attention to the path so as not to get lost, and after walking a bit, he finally stopped.
"Alright, let's see if this is really like a game." The message window appeared at that very moment.
[!!!Does the player wish to begin the tutorials?!!!]
"Yes."