Reincarnation is often thought of in reverse.
The modern era faded into medieval traditions as the slow, humble lifestyle of those who came before making its resurgence. And with it, perhaps, a touch of primordial magic.
The manipulation of elements themselves, the appearance of divine abilities, the strengthening of one's body through mystical refinement...
It was always a rebirth up the river—into the past.
And, somehow, not a soul questioned if the opposite might occur.
A reincarnation where the space age has been conquered, and not a single galaxy remains out of reach of mortal hands.
Factions stretched across galaxies, occupying millions of solar systems.
In a universe where size is irrelevant, its only sign of death the inevitable heat death in trillions of years.
Not fantastical magic, but nanobots gone wild, propagating across the stars.
A humanity no longer bound by flesh.
An ascended machine treading the path of immortality.
***
"Icarus… Icarus!"
A switch echoed, followed by a blinding light down the boy's closed eyes.
"I can't believe you're still sleeping! The ship is coming in two hours; you need to get ready!"
Groaning while subconsciously pulling the sheets over his face, the just-turned fifteen-year-old boy mumbled.
"Five—"
"Wake up already!"
Something far stronger than him snatched the sheets right off his fingers, letting the cold winter temperature spread throughout his skin despite wearing thick pajamas. Opening his eyes as his hair stood on ends, Icarus reluctantly sat on the bed.
With a big yawn, he glanced at the clock on his bedside table, marking shy of ten in the morning.
He clicked his tongue.
"We're ten minutes away from the spaceport. Is it necessary to wake up this early?" Staring at his adoptive mother, Icarus added with a scoff. "Or is it that you want me out of this house as soon as possible?"
Sneering, the woman turned around and said.
"Get ready."
Seeing her disappearing beyond the walls of his bedroom and into the hallway, Icarus mumbled.
"Guess it's the latter."
Pushing himself off the bed, the young teenager quickly put the clothing he had prepared last night, storing the pajamas in the open suitcase with a small spot ready for it.
Despite his initial lazy reaction, he had been yearning to leave the shithole he forced himself to call home for the past years.
He sighed, recalling his last moments from another life.
A car crash against a truck. Two massive headlights. The sharp pain never even reached his brain before he turned into paste.
Not a second later, Icarus saw a strange white dot moving far faster than the headlights did, engulfing his entire body in a second and appearing in a hospital yet again with unknown people.
From there on, his memories turned foggy until he turned three years old.
Upon regaining proper consciousness and analyzing the state of the situation… it could be said that he was livid.
Recalling those memories, Icarus scoffed as he pushed the suitcase up and began dragging it.
'A horrible life only to appear in yet another hellhole. Just that this time, spaceship crashes are far more frequent than car crashes. How ironic.'
At first, curiosity had kept him going. But that curiosity had long since vanished. This world, while futuristic, was still disappointingly familiar. Until four months ago...
'Let's see how it goes this time.'
Stepping out of the building, Icarus turned around only to realize that no one had the decency to accompany him to the spaceport. At least they secured him a self-driving car to reach the port.
Getting inside, Icarus started the vehicle, and it automatically set off into the road, merging flawlessly in the lanes among the other cars.
As he merged into the no-limits highway, the car quickly reaching up to 250 km/h, Icarus noticed several more cars similar to his—and a family in most of them.
Parents and single children, some with sisters, brothers, and even pets.
Sighing, he leaned back into the seat and watched the journey down the road.
His biological father died in the war, and his mother died due to a rare virus after giving birth to Icarus. He got adopted by a family in a child-care program, which would receive a considerable sum of money if Icarus was properly taught and excelled academically.
Despite his initial skepticism, Icarus played their game and—using his past knowledge of basic concepts—managed to go through a flawless primary and secondary school.
Predictably, their attitude changed entirely after the benefits of the program became obsolete.
'All that just for some money.'
However, that wasn't enough.
Four months ago, Icarus received the news that would change his outlook on this new life. In fact, the main catalyst wasn't his exceptional academic marks but the rare virus that killed his mother.
Following confidentiality, he would only receive the news a few months before turning fifteen. What was the news?
His body cells had a concentration of nanobots high enough to become a Half-machine.
Icarus had reincarnated to a world where humans could power beyond their mundane limits by using nanobots.
Following that news, he tried to get more information, but the only response was a ticket to the planet known as Broken Canyon, where the Faction Red Waters would nurture his future as a Half-machine.
Naturally, he had to try it out.
He had nothing to lose after all.
***
Spaceports were similar to airports, including wait times and exorbitant prices.
Icarus waited an hour and a half for his ship to arrive, giving up on eating anything other than the sandwich he gulped down in front of security after they tried to take it out of his suitcase.
After his boarding gate opened and he got into the spaceship—rather similar to how planes were distributed—Icarus waited until take-off.
He stared out the window, watching how his home planet became smaller and smaller.
It didn't take long for the hot plasma coat to appear, ruthlessly striking against the spaceship until it got out of the atmosphere and into space.
That part was the most exciting to Icarus, despite having taken a spaceship five other times for extra-scholarly activities.
Forcing his cheek against the glass, he took one last look at the spiky planet, Towering Peaks, before focusing his gaze on the empty space.
Unlike Earth's planes, space travel often consisted of staring at the nothingness for hours on end. No sea, no mountains, no nothing.
And it wouldn't be any different today.
Hence, he kept himself entertained with a series he had downloaded to watch. Twenty-four hours later, at frightening speed, the spaceship reached Broken Canyon's proximities.
'What the… What is that?'
Staring down the spaceship, Icarus could see an immense wound on the planet itself, almost cutting it in half. There were small patches of water, but most of its surface consisted of fiery-like flora, and he could even see a large river of molten iron flowing down.
That's right, he had done his studies.
Broken Canyon is well known for its frequent liquid metal rises, which created rivers of literal lava that shape the planet constantly.
The reason the planet didn't fall apart was simple.
Nanobots.
'I think I did well in not taking the fast way out. I'd have missed all of this…'
Pushing through the atmosphere and into red clouds, the ship quickly landed in one of Broken Canyon's spaceports. All the passengers climbed down the ship and into the building, staring at their holographic bands.
Icarus did the same, opening the email carrying the ticket along with the location of the bus waiting for them—just outside the spaceport.
Making his way out while pulling from his suitcase, the fifteen-year-old quickly spotted the bus, where a large pack of teenagers was also waiting.
Moments later, the bus opened its door, and a digital reader popped out beside it. All teenagers put their tickets over it, the light blinking green, and were given leeway into the vehicle.
Storing his suitcase in the storage below and sitting down on a random window seat, Icarus watched as the last passenger stepped inside and the bus drove out of the spaceport.
Heavy gas blocked their sight, making them unable to see where they were going.
However, despite that, they reached their destination in twenty minutes.
'Bless self-driving vehicles…'
Situated in the middle of a dried-up swamp, surrounded by mountains of solidified metals and chimneys of colorful gases, the hundred teenagers reached Red Waters.
The place where they'd spend most of their years.