Death was an interesting experience, especially for someone who majored in history to my lasting regret as well...they don't offer a lot of money in teaching unless you're a college professor. Even then that all depends on the school you teach at, so it took quite a bit of time, most of my life I believe to repay the student loans.
I did find some romance in my life, a girl named Belle and we had a child together, who luckily followed in his mother's footsteps and became a doctor. Of what kind I couldn't tell you and even then I was just assuming as by the time he graduated medical school I had fallen ill. It was a fast-acting cancer, the kind you hoped to try and catch before it was too late.
In my case it was far too late, it had spread to my bones and had damaged most of my organs. Most of my days were spent in bed, my wife by my side and my son as well. Both cried and mourned for me. I smiled at them as I lay there dying, and on my final day they gave me one as well, letting me and hopefully, they remember the happy times before all this.
Well, one could only hope, and as the light greeted me I could feel my body pass away, my heartbeat stopping and my brain shutting down. Then I saw mirrors, thousands of mirrors, all of me other versions of me.
Thousands of different realities, each one different in either small or gigantic ways. This was the light, each one shimmered with different colors all being shown to me for some reason.
Was this what every human went through as they died, as their consciousness faded into whatever came next? Was there a heaven or hell, were the Buddhists right and this was simply the next step in the reincarnation process? Maybe even one of the mythologies could be correct and the Underworld's three judges would soon judge me.
Either that or my heart would be weighed against the feather of truth and if judged impure my soul would be erased. Although...as I approached the end of the tunnel I saw visions of all of these various afterlifes. Other me's being judged by either the scale or the three previously mentioned judges. I saw myself in heaven, reuniting with family members long since dead, I saw another burning in hell being torn apart by massive demons as imps laughed as they juggled my privates around like balls.
It was all so disorienting, so mesmerizing to see as the light engulfed my eyes and then nothing but darkness. Yet I could still hear, I could...feel again, I could feel my heart racing and what felt like my brain processing all this information. Yet it all felt so new, but my body felt small, so very small and my senses felt new.
Like I had...just been born, which would expand the mumbling voices the uncontrollable crying, and the slap on the bottom to stop it. I stopped of course but it was like my instincts were in control not my mind, not me.
Which made sense considering right now I was nothing more than a crying and wailing animal that didn't know what the world looked like. It was weird, imagine knowing you were there that you existed but couldn't move. It was interesting torture but interesting nonetheless to experience such a thing.
Honestly, I was amazed I was the me that got reincarnated, although I assumed I wasn't the first and not the last. Maybe one of the few who kept their memories, but still probably not the only one. After all, if those were different universes or timelines well infinity is a big number and the odds of only one thing occurring are nonexistent.
Like a dog never wanting to go on a walk after someone says "walkies" or something like that. I mean occasionally they might be too tired but it'll happen eventually and sometimes at the worst of times.
It was a couple of months before I could finally open my eyes and properly hear, although that last bit came a little sooner than the others. When I opened my eyes I was greeted with a small cramp dirty apartment. Which you know wasn't the weirdest, as that was reserved for the old-timey radio my parents were listening to, while I sat in my crib with them on a somewhat clean mattress that had some pillows and a blanket listening to the news.
This gave me all the information on when I was reincarnated in, 1915 about three years before World War 1 ended, and twenty-four years before World War 2 began I believe if my math wasn't wrong, nor considering the fact this could be a parallel earth, one with a different history then the one I knew.
Which also explained why my father was conscripted into the army, as he was missing an arm. His dominant one if I was guessing correctly as he fiddled with the radio trying his best to increase the volume, just enough for them to hear but not enough to wake me up, even though I was already awake.
It was all so odd, especially the radio bit. Like most people from the 21st century, I had gotten used to television being the dominant form of entertainment. It was a nice change of pace, though, and it was a nice, decent way of listening to the news.
The war was going as scheduled, and even then, it would probably continue to do so until World War 2. Even if the changes I could make were small, things would still shift even without my direct interference. This would probably be the impact I would have until I was conscripted into the army. Even then, though, the impact wouldn't be significant enough depending on where I'm deployed, barring any medical stuff I may have going on with this body.
Most people if they found themselves in my position would think they'd try to kill Hitler, limit casualties during World War 2, or somehow prevent it altogether. The problem was the whens and wheres, you could memorize major events, and figure out the causes for each of them but then how would you change it and even then?
Would it be changed for the better?
Sure the immediate could be better but what about down the line, would worse events come about from that? Would the mass casualties of the war worsen or maybe the development of nuclear arms be sped up, and even then would America still be the first to develop it successfully?
That was also considering if the same people were born in this world which I was fully guessing this was a parallel world. So it was possible I was just born in the past of a Nazi Earth or well one where the war went differently.
So many things to consider and to try to research without the use of the internet, which would be...*internal sigh* be an interesting experience. Especially depending on my parent's approach to education/work. Considering where we were living and the conditions I was probably going to work in a factory, mine, or one of the other dozens of places that made use of cheap child labor.
I could also be lucky and my parents could prioritize education and force me off to school, not wanting to worry me about the finances. Although the chance of that happening was probably slim to none.
Then again I would like to not go through school again, maybe high school to get the diploma and then a different college pathway. Although I wouldn't know what to go through or what major I would even be interested in learning.
Oh well right now I was a baby and could wait to worry about all that, not like I could do much about it even if I did. So I forced my eyes shut and started to drift to sleep, trying to ignore the radio that my parents had on a bit too loud, probably first-time parents who were trying their best but didn't have a lot of experience in this.
As I drifted to sleep, I think I heard my parents talking quietly to themselves and I was finally able to learn my new name.
"Goodnight little Rumpel."
Which I could take a guess at that this was my nickname with my full name probably being something like Rumpelstiltskin, or I could be wrong. It was possible they just wanted to name me after the fairy tale for some reason and choose a shorter variation of the name.