1. End and Beginning

Start from the beginning
                                    

"They are of no use to a dead man like me." I spoke, shaking my head in denial. "Instead I would like to hand them to you, having witnessed the way you use these for everyone' s sake. I wish you luck on your endeavors ahead and that you achieve your dream of becoming the Wizard King."

With my final goodbyes, my soul departed the artificial body, Patri had prepared for my soul to reside in. I had no more lingering attachments in the world of living and can finally rest in peace with rest of my tribe, Tetia and of course Lumiere.

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Darkness.

All around wherever my eyes went, I could see darkness. 

This isn't supposed to be the afterlife is it? Is it really supposed to be filled with this much darkness. 

In this space I could not even feel my limbs, neither could hear my own voice. It felt as if all five of the basic senses of the body has gone numb. No sight, no vision, no sound, not even the feeling of one's own arms and legs.

Just where is this--

Before I could brainstorm my mind on where I had arrived at after releasing my soul from the artificial body, I saw a light at the far end of the tunnel. Does that mean my vision is returning? I could feel the light getting brighter and brighter while the distance between myself and light started reducing. 

Is it someone's spell? Am I being attacked? I should prepare a defensive spell just in case.

Questions flooded my mind but despite my vision, no other part of my body or my senses were responding to me. Even if I thought that I should prepare a defensive spell, I couldn't even access my mana, let alone prepare a spell. 

It felt as if I never had mana in the first place.

The light started getting brighter and brighter, reaching a stage where it seemed difficult to keep my eyes open anymore. Muffled voices of either cheering or laughing started reaching my ears. 

I guess my five senses will be returning one at a time now.

But why should they return? This question plagued my mind as my closed my eyes shut. It had become unbearable to keep my eyes open in front of the blinding white light. I should be dead so there is no reason for my five basic senses to return one by one. I am not a living being anymore--

"Congratulations Your Majesty and Her Highness! It is a healthy baby boy!"

Healthy baby boy?

"Ha! My lovely grandson!"

Lovely grandson? I don't remember having any grandfather. 

Are these the words which a dead person regaining his five senses supposed to hear right off the bat? As my hearing returned back to me, I could hear and make out all sorts of voices which I didn't recognize at all. 

Its time to open my eyes and endure the blinding bright light.

The first thing that I registered after open my eyes was a beautiful motherly face of a woman who had the expressions of someone that had just given birth but also seemed like she is on the top of the world. She had silver hair that fell in curls down her back and her eyes were round shimmering a light blue hue. Her clothing indicated that she belonged to some kind of royalty like Tetia and Lumiere.

Though the feature that caught my eyes the most were her pointed ears which I could recognize at once glance. How could I not? These ears are what makes us different than humans in the basis of appearance. 

She is an Elf. 

Just like me she is an Elf.

Though I don't remember her being in our tribe or someone is our tribe wearing royalty clothes and having silver hair. Were there survivors left from the massacre? I don't recall anyone surviving that vast attack or did I miss someone?

"Licht." The woman suddenly spoke out my name. "That will be his name."

Wait! Are you naming me with my own name? Hold on a second! Why are you even naming me in the first place?

I was about to protest with words of my own when reality of my situation struck me like a lightning bolt fired off by Lufulu. 

Instead of literate words, what came out of mouth were incoherent cries. A cries that mostly newborn babies give out. I remember Drova's sister, Eclat letting out similar noises when she was born. 

I tied raising my arm up to my face and somehow a menial task as raising your arm up proved to be a challenge for me. And when I was met with the sight of my tiny, chubby, baby hands, I finally understood the predicament I was in. 

Somehow I had been reincarnated as a child of an Elf. Did I not fully cancel the reincarnation spell? Even if I put all my brainpower into remembering it, it would change the results. I have been reborn again with memories of my past life intact and fresh in my mind. And this royal elf woman is my mother in this birth of mine. 

It seems the forbidden Reincarnation Magic has more to what I know about it. 

"You thought of a name for him already?" 

Snapping out of my thoughts, my gaze travelled to now a tall, muscular man, clad in loose decorated robe. He shared the similar silver colored hair as my mother and had sharp, emerald eyes gave him a dignified persona. Yet right now he seemed relaxed and more over enthusiastic on being a father.

"Yes. Don't you like it Alduin?" My mother expectantly gazed at my father. 

So Alduin is my father's name.

Well I had no reason to complain against my name even though I am no state to complain at the moment. It is my very own name and I am relieved that I will be living my new life with the same name.

As if to show my satisfaction, I let out a hearty noise, prompting all the heads present in the room to turn at me......I will admit, all eyes suddenly at me seems nerve-wrecking.

For someone who could look straight into the eyes of a devil, this situation really makes me doubt myself just a little bit. 

"Looks like he likes the name equally as much as I do, Merial." Alduin chuckled. 

"Can I hold him too?" 

Right next to my father popped out a old man with an idiotic, laid back face though he did had sharp facial features. I swear if it weren't for him fanboying over me right now, he could easily kill someone with his mere gaze alone. Unlike my father and mother, his hair was completely white showing his age and were tied on his back.

"Be careful father." My father gave a simple warning, seeming unsure of handing me to the man whom I quickly figured is my grandfather.

"Ah hush! I have handled you too when you were in this state." My grandfather retorted before picking my tiny frame up from my mother's lap, into his strong arms.

I never had a grandfather in my past life so I wondered what does it feel like to have one. I let out another round of excited baby sounds which made no sense to me, but at the very least all the elders in the house seemed to be happy at my reactions.

And I somehow was getting the feeling that I would be pampered way too much, reading all the facial expressions around. I should avoid that from affecting me as you never know how a pampered child might end up. I need to be---

"Uaaaaaggghhhhhh!"

Letting out a cry of utter despair I now understood why my father felt a little bit uneasy about my grandfather holding me in his arms. Right after being I born, I had to experience the feeling of being flung into the air by an adult who is laid back and idiotic, only to be caught right back at them. My sympathies to all those poor babies who have to go through this near-death experience.

'I now realize why Drova never let Vetto touch Eclat...'

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