Sitting in front of the Kore Orphanage was a lone baby resting in a wicker basket. The sun had just set over the horizon, and the light shining from the lantern hanging beside the door was all that illuminated the emptying streets.
A sudden gust wind blew against the door knocker, giving the illusion that someone had knocked on the door.
Ethan's eyes slowly opened as he regained consciousness.
'Where am I? I remember killing the president, but what happened after that?'
His head ached as he tried to recall what happened to him. As he moved his hand to rub his head, he noticed something strange and started to panic.
'What the fuck!? What happened to my arm? Why is it so small?'
He tried to curse in surprise, yet nothing came out but gibberish wailing. His confusion level continued to climb as he looked around and noticed he was lying in a massive basket in front of what looked like a door made for giants. He was wrapped in a warm white blanket, shielding him from the frigid night air.
While he continued to panic about the odd situation, the door in front of him slowly swung open. A woman dressed in a nun's attire with sky-blue hair stepped out. She took a few glances around before locking eyes with Ethan.
"Another unfortunate child." She sighed while looking down upon the infantized Ethan sitting confused in a basket.
'A… Child?'
His memories came back crashing like a tidal wave. He had died, and he had been reborn in a new world. Most importantly, he had succeeded.
'I succeeded. God or whatever said I had the karma of a whole world, so what I did must have worked right? My family is safe right, but why do I feel so empty? They are safe, so that should be all I care about, right?'
Despite reasoning with himself, he couldn't stop himself from crying. He knew he would never get to see his loved ones again, and that realization was tearing him apart. His wails echoed on the now-empty street, just as a normal baby would.
The woman quickly pulled him out of his basket into an embrace. She began gently patting him on the back.
"There-there little one, you're going to be ok. Your big sister Siara is here for you." She said with a soft, quiet tone. She had been working at this orphanage for almost 10 years now, and she had a knack for handling children.
As Ethan began calming down, he started to get a little embarrassed. He looked like a baby, but he was a 25-year-old grown man, yet he was getting consoled by a stranger and crying like a baby. He felt pathetic.
As Siara cradled Ethan in her arms, she picked up the basket. She found a white card inside the basket with the name, "Ethan Moore" written in golden text. She put the card back in the basket and quickly went inside with Ethan held in her arms.
Ethan scanned his surroundings as Siara carried him through a large hall. He was pleased to see that everything looked very high-class. Beautiful paintings adorned the walls, the red carpet looked soft and pristine. He could not find a single bit of dust or dirt anywhere he looked. It seemed that god had dropped him at a well-off orphanage.
Up ahead a door was cracked open slightly with two small heads peaking out. Two children popped out into the hallway after they took notice of the unfamiliar baby in Siara's arms.
The older of the two was a 6-year-old boy with raven black hair and eyes. He had a gleam in his eyes as he bounced up to Siara. "Is that our new sibling? Are they a boy or a girl? Do I get to have another little brother or sister? What's their name?" He asked while jittering in place.
Siara looked down at Ethan. "Their name is Ethan, it sounds like a boy's name but I haven't checked yet." She said while lifting the blanket covering Ethan's body.
Ethan writhed in embarrassment. Being a baby was humiliating, he couldn't do anything to stop her. This was something he would have to get used to, unfortunately.
"Yes, he's a boy. You get to be a big brother Denton. You too Lia." She said with a smile to the boy and girl.
Lia was a girl who looked nearly identical to David with short raven black hair and eyes. In contrast to David's hyperactive personality, Lia stayed taciturn and showed minimal emotion. Even with her reserved attitude, she eyed Ethan with interest.
"I'm sorry we stayed up past our bedtime Siara. I tried to stop Denton but he was curious about the doorbell ringing." She said while bowing her head.
"Nuh-Uh! Don't lie, you were curious too!" He said while glaring at Lia.
"I was not!" Lia said while glaring back.
"Quiet down you two, you'll wake up the other children," Siara said quietly. She whispered to the two, "You've satisfied your curiosity, now head back to bed. You can see him again later."
"Ooook." The two said together whispering back as they shuffled quietly into their room.
Siara continued walking down the hall with Ethan in tow. They entered a room with dim lights which prevented Ethan from seeing much of the interior. All he could make out were four cribs next to each other on the far side of the room. Siara gently placed Ethan in one of the cribs and then quietly left the room.
After Ethan's eyes adjusted to the dim light he could make out the silhouettes of two other babies in the cribs next to him. Siara moved quietly so neither of the two woke up from their slumber.
Ethan sat still just staring at the ceiling. The dark stillness consumed him, forcing him alone with his thoughts. His back was drenched in a cold sweat.
He worried about how his siblings were doing. He worried about how difficult being a child again would be. He worried about what mysterious powers were given to him. He worried about his future in this new world.
His worries were crushing him. He needed something, anything to distract him from his thoughts. If he didn't find something to attract his focus he was sure he would go insane.
Magic was one of the options he was given while he was dead, so magic must exist. Even if he didn't receive an innate bonus, he might still have some talent in using magic.
Focusing his mind, he tried his hardest to sense anything he could. His brows creased, and he started sweating more intensely.
After straining himself for ten minutes straight he felt a slight fluctuation in his surroundings. It was so faint he almost convinced himself he was imagining it. He tried his best to catch that feeling again but all he felt was the soft silk sheets he rested upon. He was forced to start over again and continue straining himself to focus on his surroundings.
Five minutes later he was able to catch another fluctuation. This time he was sure he felt something and wasn't hallucinating. One time could be a coincidence but twice made him more inclined to believe he wasn't crazy. Now all he needed to do was see if he could clearly sense whatever this fluctuation was.
The next time he felt the fluctuation was shorter than either of the two before, it only took two minutes. He was reassured that he could feel the fluctuations happening faster and faster. He heightened his senses and focused even more than before, waiting for the next fluctuation.
When he felt the next fluctuation he poured in all his willpower in an attempt to interact with it. He imagined pulling the fluctuation closer to him. It moved so slightly he couldn't even be sure he did anything, but he could sense the fluctuation longer than the previous times.
Suddenly he felt some unknown energy in his body being drained out. His attention wavered and his eyelids started to feel like boulders were pressing down on them. The fatigue made him drift to sleep.
-
Days passed by with little change in Ethan's life. As a baby, he would spend most of his time asleep. Babies needed a minimum of 14 hours of sleep, and he slept even more than that. Whenever there was no one around he would practice moving around the fluctuations, which quickly drained all of his energy. He always fell asleep soon after exhausting himself.
At various times a day, he would be fed a milk mixture in a bottle by various workers at the orphanage. He also had to endure the shame of using diapers and being cleaned. It was especially embarrassing whenever Siara did it, as he found her quite attractive. His current baby body had no libido in it, but he still had his beauty standards as a previous man in his twenties.
Ethan looked around the room he was in to double-check check no one was watching. The only people in the room were himself and two other babies. He wanted to keep his practice sessions a secret, but he doubted the two babies would notice what he was doing. Even if they did notice, there was no way babies could remember what he was doing anyway. He planned to do his practice sessions away from them whenever he was old enough to roam around by himself, but for now, it would be fine.
He had gotten a lot better at controlling the fluctuations. Today he planned to see if he could pull the fluctuations into himself. If his fantasy knowledge was correct, the fluctuations were the lifeblood of magic, mana. If he could somehow collect this mana, he theorized it could increase his mana capacity. He still remembered the dragon card he could have chosen and how it would increase his mana pool by +6. He still had no clue how much the numbers signified, but he did know it was possible to increase his mana pool size.