Chapter 2: Mama?
1.5 years....Its been over 18 months since; since I had been reborn.
I don't know what was going on for much of the last 18 months, but I guess my brain wasn't developed enough to handle my former life's experiences, and, as a kind of defense mechanism, only bits and pieces were there. Fragments, that only now, were coming together to return my memories.
I have some scattered fragments of thoughts and emotions, but there wasn't much in the way of logic. I guess its been so long since I was a baby, there was no way I could understand the patterns of early life. Eat, sleep, poop, and not much else. Even now I can't remember my birth, or what happened at all, until nearly 6-7 months ago. The rate of learning for a baby is incredible, so much so quickly. I was completely overwhelmed, nearly stupefied. My new parents must have thought I was born dumb, since I just sat or lain in place, no expressions, no sounds. I drank when a nipple was presented and pooped when it was ready to come out, but there was little to no communication between us.My little brain just couldn't handle the abundant information, and it took me this long to get most of it sorted.
Well, if I had to go though life again, I might as well make the best of it.
So, for the first time I was truly aware of my surroundings I was sitting on a wooden porch wearing a small pair of half shorts sewn from old sack cloth, the kind they used to use when harvesting crops back from my old life, quite rustic. The house itself was more of a log cabin, it had the usable rooms: a kitchen, and 2 bed rooms. I think there was also an outhouse in the back and if my baby impressions were correct.
My mother was quite the beautiful woman, blond hair and green eyes, delicate facial featured, but in contrast her body was built like a tank, from my old world; tall, muscular, and robust.
Ahh, you might have noticed I used the phrase, "from my previous world." As to that assumption, well the huge, red, and glowing metal sword leaning against the wall behind her makes that very apparent.
She must have notice I was beginning to look around with some interest, rather than my usual stupor. "Magnus? Hey little fellow, are you feeling better now?" she says to me in a way I can only assume she thinks is cute. Coming from such a statuesque woman made this a terrible attempt, for all that, it was still a pleasant sounding voice, neither high nor too deep, but with a very thick accent to my ears. At least I can understand her, so communication shouldn't be too difficult.
She was wearing a curious outfit; rough leather pants, leather moccasins, and a shirt made of some kind of metal backed in leather with ties and hooks holding it together. She bent down to pick me up which I decided to play along. I reached out to her with the customary, childlike, "Mamma!," to which she froze solid. Emotions warring across her face: astonishment, relief, and even a little fear. Finally, happiness won out as she snatched me up for a big hug.
"HAHA! You really are ok?", she exclaimed loudly as she sandwiched me between her metal covered breasts.
"Owwy, Mama.", I tried to say but it came out sounding like "ommmm", like having your body crushed by a couple of steel drums, would make anyone have a speech problem.
"Oops, forgot I was in battle clothes." As put me down on a nearby bench, concern showing on her face.
"Liz, why are you shouting? Did something happen to Magnus?", the softer voice of another woman came from inside the house, "I only asked you to watch him for a bit while I cooked dinner."
Instead of an immediate reply, Liz stepped up to the door and yanked it open, and let loose a hardy, "Ha! the boy called me "Mama!. That healing you got for him worked; he seems aware now."
"What!" came the reply from inside. I could hear something bang form the doorway as another woman ran quickly out.
She was nearly the spitting image of Liz only younger and thinner, not nearly as robust, and was wearing a gray cotton dress. It took less than a second for her to locate me and snatch me up. "Oh, my little boy." she said breathlessly, as tears started to stream from eyes.
Maybe I was wrong, and this was my mother? My memories as a baby are still a bit fuzzy, but they both smelled and looked like my memories of my mother. They even sounded about the same, maybe sisters? "Ma-ma?" I said hesitantly, looking at the faces of the two women.
"He really is ... there." By now both women were hugging me and crying so much I was about to drown. So I did what any respectable child would do, I patted their faces with a smile, and I waited. Eventually, the water works ran dry, and they started to try and explain things to me. As much as they thought a child could understand but, still get the information across.
Apparently, neither was my mother. These sisters were named Eliza and Elanore. They were adventurers of sort, the kind one would find in a video games or story from my first world. They were part of a 6 person troop, each with his or her specialty. As far as I could tell this is patterned after games from my world, or maybe those games got their ideas from dimensional leaks. So, people had classes and professions. Even gods really existed here.
The reason for my existence with these two was due to the betrayal of one of their party members. However, to tell the tale completely I need to step back a bit and explain. Eliza and Elle were both born on a remote farm in one of the small villages outlying the Renfor Empire. Along with four friends, two boys and two girls (another set of sisters), they decide to leave the village and become adventures at the age of twelve, which was considered adulthood. This worked well as each had their own special talent and could cover each other with varied abilities. However, after a few years, an issue arose between the two men in the groups. Apparently, the term love triangle doesn't even cover it, One of men was bedding all four of the girls, and the other was still a virgin, this, of course, caused a lot of tension.
Normally, this would just cause a break up of the group with the priest going his own way, however, he decided to teach the summoner a lesson, instead. So during a particularly difficult dungeon, the priest decided to let the summoner, whose creatures were doing most of the fighting, die instead of healing him. This lead to a chain reaction which got the priest and the girl alchemist killed as well. So the surviving members carted the bodies back to the temple for resurrection.
This is where things went awry, as far as I can tell. resurrection is not guaranteed, one would pay the church and the high priest would attempt the resurrection ritual; the rest is left up to the gods. The gods were apparently having a bad day resulting in: the successful resurrection of Krystel the alchemist, unsuccessful resurrection of the priest John, and one rebirth. Guess who was the rebirth?
The priest's failure resulted in a zombie, which was promptly killed by the attending priests.
So, that was where I came from. Although, honestly, the memories of my old world, make this more of a transmigration rather that of a rebirth. Well, the original body and soul belonged to a summoner, maybe that had something to do with it?
So, Eliza (Liz), Elanore (Elle), Krystel (Krys), and Karol (Kara) bought a small rural farm and decided to take care of me (Magnus), or try anyway. Lack of money had forced Krys and Kara to work for income, Liz was defending the farm and doing the farming, while Elle kept the house and cooked the meals. Whew, a lot to take in a once, even for an old grandpa baby.
By the time I had a handle on things, Krys and Kara were already home for the day, and they couldn't have been more different. Krys was short, dark haired, plump, and had a musical voice; she was a bard after all. Kara the Alchemist was a fiery ginger, very thin, and of average height. Neither was as pretty as the Liz and Elle, but they were not ugly either. Kara had a large scar across her forehead from the upper left hairline all the way into the right brow.
For awhile they all had the same reaction, hugs and tears were everywhere.
As time went by, they took turns with me sleeping between each pair of sisters since there were only two beds. However, as an experienced old man, I could tell this seemed to stem mostly from a sense of guilt, and a lingering fear that I might disappear. Getting up each morning reassured them I was still there.
Since I was now aware and could eat normal food, rather than milk, which I learned came from Kara's potions, they would take turns drinking it to lactate for my feeding. This was specially formulated to make my physical body grow faster. Although I had not realized it, I was already the size of a 3-4 year old even at 18 months.
And so, with that, they began to fill me in with information, especially about my "former" self.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone