Wistful Reincarnation
am the original author of Wistful Reincarnation. I am also publishing this story on RoyalRoad.com under the username Tuttle Fish: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/778432/fictions
Auden died with nothing.
No legacy, no loved ones, no one who even knew he was gone. His life was quiet, bitter, and painfully forgettable—cut short by a betrayal he didn’t see coming. As his final moments faded, so did any belief he had that someone might mourn him.
But death wasn’t the end.
He wakes to a world unfamiliar. Magic exists, but it’s nothing like the fairy tales—twisted things called Hexes bend the rules of reality in terrifying ways, and those who use them are marked. He’s reborn into a quiet village, into a family that isn’t his, and for a while, he tries to keep his head down. Keep things simple. Keep his distance.
But life never cooperates.
When danger comes too close to home and he’s nearly killed protecting the people who took him in, something in Auden changes. It’s not bravery. Not heroism. Just a desperate, selfish feeling he can’t ignore:
He doesn’t want to lose them.
So he makes a vow—one he never made in his old life.
If he’s been given this second chance, then he’ll do everything he can to protect it. Even if it means enduring pain, hiding truths, or confronting the strange, broken power buried inside him.
‘Wistful Reincarnation’ is a grounded, slow-burn fantasy about second chances, quiet bonds, and the long, often painful road toward healing. It’s not a story of grand quests or chosen ones—it’s about a boy who once had nothing, learning—slowly, stubbornly—what it means to have something worth losing.