Ardent woke up, though he clutched his head as if he was in pain.
"Ouch, note to self. Don't go on a drinking spree ever again." yet, despite the promise, he knew he is just going to do it again, to wallow on his sorrow and whatnot.
Especially after his breakup with his girlfriend. Though, he did not blame her, when it was a mutual decision and both could not go on living like this.
As he clutched his head, he suddenly realized something.
"Wait, why am I not having a hangover?" Despite drinking glasses of wine, he was not buzzed, which is impossible as he knew that while he was not a lightweight, he is not the type that can handle multiple glasses and not get a hangover. Though he wish he was.
Then, he realized something else,
"Wait, why is my voice so squeaky?"
He looked at himself before realizing he was not wearing his regular clothes. The clothes he was wearing is what he expected to see in a museum, namely the medieval and maybe Renaissance section.
Ardent looked around, to see wooden wall, which should not belong there as he lived in an apartment. He wondered if he was kidnapped or something before he decided to get off the bed, and head towards the mirror.
There, he see the reflection of someone else.
Ardent did not think himself as handsome, only around average in the look department. But he always see himself as someone with a kempt look. His trimmed mustache and shaved beards help formed the image with his brown hair being cut into crew cut.
Yet, now, in the mirror, is a young boy, maybe in his 7 or 8 years of life. With messy black hair and blue eyes, the only way to describe the look is slightly exotic due to how rare is it to find a black-haired man or woman with blue eyes.
His appearance, which can be called cute, will likely evolve into one of a looker, similar to playboys he had seen in bars. Yet, Ardent was dumbstruck as he put a hand on his check, the boy doing the same thing.
He quickly followed it up with flicking his ears, pulling his hair (not painfully), and even give his cheek a light slap. The boy did the same, to his surprise.
"W-wha- am I that buzzed off?" he asked himself, trying to believe it to be that, for the alternative is too fantastical and should be impossible everywhere except for anime and manga.
"Maybe I am still sleeping and just in a dream." he said in complete denial as he return back to bed, hoping to sleep and waking up in his nice apartment.
However, all hope were lost when a loud voice echoed from the halls.
"Ardent! Wake up! It's time for you to go to the lesson hall!" a voice of an older woman can be heard screaming.
His eyes slightly dead, due to him being dead inside after realizing the truth. Despite the shock he was feeling, Ardent stood up before heading towards what he believed to be the bathroom.
To his surprise, there seem to be a pipe, which he made him take a quick glance of his current outfit.
"Am I in the medieval period or even further in the future?" he muttered to himself. He did not know when piping is introduce but it should require a pumping system to distribute the water through pipes.
He will not look at the gift horse in the mouth though and quickly clean himself up. After the cold water drenched him, he realize he was and truly is, had been transmigrated into somewhere. Maybe the past, maybe another world, who knew, but at least, he was no longer in his old world.
"Fu-"
-x-
Now clean, Ardent head to the dining room, where two people were waiting for him, a man and a woman. The woman is a slightly plump, maybe in her middle twenties, the man probably having the same age.
'Still, rather young to have someone my age,' he then remembered the fact he was in the past and many things like laws and belief of the future did not exist. One of them being underage marriage.
'Mother should have me at 18 or 19 years old.' he guessed before taking a seat.
"Ardent, it's not like you to be late for lesson.' his mo-, no, the mother to his current body asked.
"I'm just a little tired." Ardent replied, hoping it would not look out of hand.
The woman looked at him closely, as if examining his entire past, present and future before nodding in acceptance.
"I see. Then make sure to rest. You can even skip going to the lesson hall for the day if you need to." his mother said.
Frankly, Ardent was tempted to do so. He did not know much of the world as unlike some of the transmigraters in manga or so, he seem to not receive the memories of the person he currently using.
A jolt of pain burst into his head as he clutched it, hoping it will reduce the pain, with zero success rate.
"Aahhh!" Ardent screamed, unable to bear the pain before collapsing on the ground, the last thing he sees is the worried and horrified expression of his 'parents'.
-x-
Ardent did not know how long he was unconscious for, but he was certain it was a long time, or not. It's hard to tell really.
What he did know, to him it was a long time due to reliving every single moment of the person whose body he was using.
As it turns out, the person he was using is a 7 years-old with the same name as his. Though, there are no surname due to those of lower class tend to not have one and the place of birth of 'Ardent' is in a village in Europe, at least from the map of the continent 'Ardent' had seen before.
As for how he was occupying the body of the young boy, despite there not being anything dangerous around him, it seem the body had died because of suddenly developing mana.
It is rare but occasionally, a person develop the ability to use mana earlier than most, which should be seen as a gift but most consider it as a curse, for a young body could not handle such thing, which kill the soul of 'Ardent'.