Expect The Unexpected

"I love you, Lukas"

The last words I hear are from my seven children. As someone who lived for almost 122 years, all I can say is that I am happy. Being a leading figure in making the world healthier again, building an isolated nutrient/supplement company that used technology to separate and sustain any kind of compound the body can ever need, and lastly, creating a family.

The moment I hear those words as I am laying in the soft chair that resides on my hillside mansion, the light in my eyes flickers in and out, and eventually, I am gone.

…

"Save me! Save me!"

Unknowingly to my dead self, I was in a pitch black void with a distorted voice calling for help. A conversation was occurring, and time seemed to flow slow and fast at the same time, and without even remembering anything, my blurry eyes saw a dim candle burning in the distance.

…

The night was a tempest, a cacophony of thunderclaps echoing across the darkened sky. Rain lashed against the windows of the small candle lit room, drumming a frantic rhythm that matched the quickening pulse of the woman lying on the bed. Each flash of lightning illuminated her face, a blend of pain and determination, as she grasped the hand of the midwife beside her.

With each contraction, the storm outside seemed to roar louder, as if nature were heralding the arrival of something extraordinary. And then, in a moment suspended between fury and calm, a sharp cry burst forth slicing through the din of the storm. The world welcomed its newest inhabitant, a fragile spark of life born amidst the chaos, destined to weave their own tale against the backdrop of the raging night.

Indescribable murmurs were heard coming from multiple blurry figures. Drops of what felt like rain beaded against the newborn's forehead—the drops that gave color and sense to everything that is life.

'I feel horrible… Is this what heaven feels like? No… This can't be heaven. These people are talking to me like I am some kind of newborn baby—Ahhhh!'

Elijah's head began throbbing with a high-pitched cry that sent the figures that enjoyed sticking their noses in his face away.

'Oh no. I think I have been reborn…'

To Lukas, what makes life special and worth living is simply how it does not last forever. If it did, there would be no end goal, nothing to leave behind, no desire to change, and worst of all… No desire to live. The feeling of having to do it all over again… was disheartening. Lukas' entire life was filled with blood, sweat, and tears. Every single day there would be someone to knock him down. When the day of passing came, he couldn't be more happy with the way he had contributed to the reformation of the human species… Through health.

Processing his situation was completely thrown out the window as Lukas found himself going on autopilot, and disassociated from his reality.

During a time of two years, he had slowly been able to comprehend his situation with the help of the outdoors, which was something held close in his heart. A place of peace. In fact, Lukas – who was given the name of Elijah was a rather adventurous baby who would crawl into and out of every open door possible. Maybe there was a motive, or maybe he just wanted to return to his eternal sleep…

But by the end of these two years, he had slowly begun to tolerate his life.

Bam!

The light wooden door was slammed open by Don, Elijah's father, as he hurriedly carried Julian, Elijah's older brother of two years onto the simplistic wooden table. Don wiped the plump oranges to the side before cautiously placing the bleeding Julian on the table. "Phloria! I need you to heal Julian's back! He fell into the river!!" 

"What?! I'm coming!!"

Phloria rushed in from the bedroom hall with white garments and a brown apron tied around her waist.

Meanwhile, Elijah calmly watched from the barely cushioned wooden furniture as water materialized into thin air surrounding Phloria's hand, and somehow disappeared into the body of Julian. The water had this small ethereal glow, as if it was water that came from the moon. The reality is that this is magic – the manipulation and creation of the elements – that was also the biggest factor that went into the survival of the kingdom.

Elijah stood on all fours for the first time as he was consciously drawn to the scene before him. With the feeble and inefficient body of a baby, he was unaware of his surroundings and fell straight to the hardwood floor before uttering the words, "Maj-ik?"

Thump!

…

Even with piercing and random spikes of pain in my head – likely from the information that simply wasn't compatible with my new brain – I slowly started to realize just how stubborn I was. Another likely reason was not accepting reality. The idea of being reborn into a similar, but foreign world left me with an unfathomable amount of deep seeded fear.

Magic was not explained to me in any way. Even when I finally began to learn the language known as "Kotun".

Thankfully, with the switch of my behavior – I had gained my parents trust to venture outside. On a cloudy day filled with dark and tall nimbus clouds that absorbed the orange glow of the sunset, I waddled around the dirt path while staying in a close radius to the house. The humble abode my family lived within was made out of the most interesting type of stone and wood that made it seem like it all came from a single tree or rock. There were no splits or pieces glued together.

'This reeks of magic.'

Yes this kingdom was filled with lush farmlands and greenery that used a magnificent and fast flowing river as a source of water. But everything was covered by a towering wall taller than most mid-sized skyscrapers…

"Elijah. Since you are at the appropriate age of three years old, we are now required to tell you about magic. Something you most likely have seen. Please just listen and don't ask questions until I am finished, okay? Can you do that?" Phloria, my mother was quite gentle with her manner of speech while walking behind me in the grass-filled front yard.

A simple nod from myself sent her talking for more than five minutes. During that time I had received many spikes of pain in my head, but what I did catch was information that I had suspected from personal experience. While I never thought about it before – without jaw dropping pain – everything quickly made sense until I suddenly passed out…

Magic, natural elements, necessary for a good life, mana cores, and magical beasts – the threat of The Kingdom of Astraea.

Days passed while multiple doctors with different kinds of special magical affinities passed into the house. Water, plants, and even a young light mage who I overheard was the only light mage within the kingdom.

Of course, When I heard the idea of a light mage healing me, I was relieved from the obvious fact of light being the greatest healer of any affinity possible. My belief was how I simply needed to grow and develop a mind large and complex enough to hold the information from my past life, and the dots that I will connect in this new world. After all, it does not seem like this is a dream…

Directly after the healing session, I explained my condition, and quickly made my way outside into the small forest behind the house. It was obvious automowers did not exist in the world, nor the idea of cutting grass. All kinds of floristry combined with the long grass tickled my body with every step, but finally, I found the place I had been returning to over and over again. A mossy rock that sat close to the rapid river. The river that apparently tore through the mountains. As I looked closer, I noticed a pile of bones with what looked like small bits of flesh attached—giving me a feeling of abnormality.

My legs sat loosely on the ground while sitting on the rock, and with a few minutes of breathing, I reached a state that allowed me to cut out all sounds and distractions.

An idea to imagine my mana core came into my head, and without hesitation I acted on it. A dim and gray circle appeared in my head – a circle that didn't necessarily have a shape, but flowed with the idea I had in my head. An object that wasn't there, but was.

Almost immediately, my body began to tingle, and slowly turned into intense vibrations. The bright red and purple flowers rustled in the wind that stirred all around me. Seconds later, the colors and terrain of the world around me rushed into my head as if I had traveled at the speed of light, or the world had been absorbed into my eyes all at once.

POP!

A sound and vibration in my body caused me to have a seizure that lasted only a second. My limbs went flailing as my torso twisted before falling to the ground.

'What the hell was that? I feel… different. Did I just awaken my magic?'

Knowing there were no incantations or special movements of the hand, I tried everything while keeping a focus on the new warm sensation within the center of my chest. Absolutely nothing generated me any type of result.

Only when I had given up while leaning backwards did I notice that I was beginning to complete a backflip while floating in mid air.

However, the sensation of discomfort returned. Seconds later I lost complete control of my body while the light in my eyes began to flicker in and out.

Thump!

In the most indescribable and distorted voice, my unconscious self heard a few words.

"Save me! You must save me!"