When I regained the ability to see, the first thing I noticed around me was a darkness, only dimmed by the faint lighting of candles and chandeliers placed neatly at various points in the room.
Although, on second thought, I wasn't in a room. It was a gloomy hall built with dark bricks, with various pillars supporting the structure.
Looking down, the first thing that caught my attention was the ritual circle beneath my feet. It was only then that I realized my skin wasn't the usual tone: it was dark blue. A deep, cold blue, almost like mist was coming out of my body.
That was when I noticed something else. Despite having reincarnated, I already had a fairly mature body, though not entirely. It looked like that of a teenager.
The last thing that caught my attention was the atmosphere. The air was filled with an immense pressure. Absolute. Suffocating. I could barely resist the urge to kneel.
If I thought it had taken me a while to notice the color of my skin, this was the last straw.
"Ah... Shit, I'm about to—"
"-fall..."
I couldn't help it. My knees hit the floor with a loud thud that echoed through the entire hall. The pressure filling the air was something I couldn't withstand; it was like my entire body was being crushed by an invisible mountain. I could barely move, let alone understand what was going on.
The only thing keeping me conscious was the cold emanating from my own body. That icy, dark blue, almost unnatural... It wasn't just my skin, it felt like my very essence had changed.
As I struggled to regain composure, I heard a sound that cut through the heavy atmosphere: a distant echo of footsteps, firm and deliberate, slowly approaching. Each step seemed synchronized with that overwhelming pressure, intensifying it.
My eyes slowly rose, and I saw a figure approaching from the shadows. Tall, imposing, dressed in a black robe adorned with intricate golden patterns. In his hand, he held a staff topped with a glowing crystal that seemed to pulse to the rhythm of my growing panic.
When the figure stopped in front of me, he spoke in a deep, resonant voice that made the walls tremble and my very being shudder:
"So, this is the last one... Interesting."
The last one? What the hell did that mean? My mind was in chaos, but I didn't have time to process anything before he raised his staff, and the pressure in the hall doubled.
As I struggled to catch my breath, the man spoke again, his voice echoing like a cold resonance filling the space.
"He's still immature and can't handle his own magical power. Perhaps, with some training, he might become useful."
Hearing those words sent a chill through my body. Was he talking about me? Before I could process what he'd said, a blurry figure I hadn't noticed before moved suddenly, darting across the hall with inhuman speed, like a flash in the shadows, and disappeared without a trace. I stood frozen for a moment, trying to absorb what had just happened.
The man's voice snapped me out of my daze, even more authoritative this time, almost hitting me like a whip.
"Get up and follow me. This is not a request, it's an order. And I won't repeat it. Hurry!"
I couldn't afford to hesitate. Almost stumbling, I got up on one leg, trying to keep my balance despite the pressure that seemed to crush me into the floor. My steps were unsteady, but I followed the man, dragging myself behind his imposing figure. His mere presence was suffocating, and the atmosphere around me seemed heavier with each passing second.
As we walked through the endless corridors, I couldn't help but debate with myself what was more intimidating: the terrible, dark, and sinister architecture surrounding me, or the imposing back of the man leading the way. Though, on second thought, it wasn't exactly fear I was feeling. In fact, I wasn't feeling anything. It was almost like someone had ripped all my feelings and emotions straight from my soul.
Well, thinking about it... maybe it wasn't almost. What if my soul had actually been sent in pieces by that lunatic? The possibility seemed absurd, but at this point, what wasn't absurd? At least I still had the comfort of the blessing the angelic voice had given me.
As I walked, my thoughts wandered, and without realizing it, I began speaking softly, looking at the ceiling.
"Wait, what was the blessing? Was it the blessing of...?"
Before I could finish the sentence, the man suddenly stopped and turned toward me, catching me completely immersed in my thoughts. I froze as he observed me silently, his gaze piercing through me until I finally realized his presence.
"Ah! Eh... Sorry, I was thinking about something else."
His response was a slight change in his expression, a kind of disappointed look that barely seemed real.
"I see."
Though, I wasn't sure it was disappointment. He barely moved a muscle in his face, and his tone of voice was so flat it was impossible to decipher.
"Anyway, you'll sleep here, and whatever you want to do in your free time. The rest of the facilities will be introduced to you tomorrow: the dining hall, the training room, the study room, and so on."
Ah, I see. I'm some kind of prisoner. That didn't really seem fair, considering I had technically just been born... But well, it is what it is, I guess.
The man stepped aside, leaving the way clear for me to enter the assigned room. The walls were dark bricks, which didn't help make it any cozier. Still, the place wasn't as terrible as I had imagined. It had a simple wardrobe, a bed that at least looked comfortable, a desk, a half-empty bookshelf with a few books, a small bathroom, and a window... with bars, of course.
For what I thought would be a cell, it honestly looked like it was going to be pretty comfortable.
I collapsed onto the bed with a sigh, staring at the brick ceiling and the only light coming from the candle that had been left burning. The room was silent, except for the distant sounds of the hallways and the echoes of the place. I thought that maybe, just maybe, this place wouldn't be so bad. At least it wasn't a dungeon.
My mind kept going over what the man had said. Training, study rooms, dining halls... Could all of that really be considered a 'life'? I had reincarnated into a strange body, in a strange place, and what awaited me didn't seem very promising. Did I really have any choice but to follow his orders?
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the window with the bars. The feeling of emptiness was still there, as if everything in this place lacked purpose. I didn't feel fully alive, nor dead. I just existed, like a shadow passing through a world it didn't belong to.
Then a breeze came through the window, and I saw something move on my desk. I quickly got up from the bed and walked over to see what it was.
There, on the desk, was a letter. I don't know how I hadn't seen it before, considering it was the only thing on the rough wooden table.
It was written in an unknown language, but I could read it. I don't really know why, I shouldn't have that kind of knowledge. I don't even understand how I was able to understand what the man had said earlier. But honestly, I didn't understand anything. This whole dying and reincarnating into a strange body... It could seem like a fantasy in an anime, but... The truth is, my life wasn't starting off very well. Though, I can't really complain. I could have been born into a non-humanoid body, in an unknown territory, with no one to talk to, right?
Just think about it. Being born into a completely different body, not even remotely like my previous one, in an isolated place like a cave... I really don't know what I would've done.
Back to the point, the letter seemed like some kind of farewell. Was it really for me? I didn't know anyone here.
< We love you very much, Mom and Dad.>> What an unplanned situation... I'm conceived in an enemy base and they expect me to escape as a newborn? And how was I supposed to know all this if I managed to escape? Why, right after being born, would I know that I had to escape? Did they really think all this through before doing it? Or did they just want to be free themselves and put the burden on me? Am I asking too many questions? Should I stop? I guess I'll read the books before my prisoner schedule begins... At least they left the books. Although, if I had escaped, how would I have read them? *** After reading a couple of books about my race and its history, I learned several interesting things. First, I wasn't human, though I suppose I had already come to that conclusion, I was an ice demon or something like that. In the books, my race was mentioned in various ways. Second, the war was fought between my race, the demihumans, and a nameless race, almost like it was forbidden to mention them. They avoided them in all the texts. Third, my race's strange method of reproduction involved merging magical cores and using parts of the parents' bodies to materialize the resulting being. It was done in a ritual with several strange elements, but that's the most relevant part. Apparently, my parents used everything of themselves to have me, ensuring my birth. So, as a result, I have two cores, an abnormally resilient body even for my race, and an incomplete soul. Wonderful. Oh, I also forgot to mention that when someone from my race is born, they receive part of their parents' knowledge and magical power. I guess that's how I was supposed to know I had to escape. At least that helped me understand the man and be able to read. Well, time to sleep. *** When I woke up, the man from yesterday was already at my door, opening it to wake me up, I guess. Well, I was already awake. As I got up, he explained everything to me. And yes, I was locked up, but it wasn't like my parents told me; it was more like a military magic academy. That doesn't really improve the situation, considering I still can't leave by my own will. This is going to be a bit tough. --- Goodbye, Kai again. Did you miss me? I hope so, because the next chapter returns with my story. Did you enjoy seeing the perspective of the secondary characters, my friends? They're not on the level of the main protagonist, but well... Anyway, see you in the next chapter.