บท 2: Rebirth

Chapter 2

—

Plop!

My almost faded consciousness jumped back in as I gasped for air, only to feel a thick liquid gush into my lungs. I didn't choke on it though, which was concerning.

Not only that, everything was dark and I barely felt any of my other senses such as hearing, smell and touch.

I could feel myself freaking out, trying my hardest to move, but I calmed myself. In desperate situations like this, freaking out would be the last thing I should do.

It took a while, but I calmed down and instead started to think.

Where is this?

Getting my skull crushed by a bus wasn't a good feeling, it was painful. That pain was enough to make me believe that all this was not a dream nor was it a hallucination. Me surviving wouldn't be anything less than a miracle, but did I really survive?

There is a chance this is the afterlife I was speaking of, and there is another chance that this is-

*Badum!*

A loud heartbeat interrupted me. It didn't belong to me, I could hear mine separately, which only complemented my suspicion.

Unexpected death, darkness, and then a heartbeat that didn't belong to me. All this strangely reminded me of the clìche reincarnation genre. I was an avid gamer and was into anime and fanfictions before my father's death. So all this was not that startling.

I have been reincarnated.

Sounds absurd, I know. But when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

I couldn't see. That made sense. If this really is reincarnation and I am inside someone's womb, I wouldn't be able to see even with proper eyes, let alone baby eyes. But I have to confirm my suspicion. I tried to move my hands and reach out in front. It faced a warm wall, and as I touched it, I could hear a barely audible groan from outside.

Hah, so I am indeed inside someone's womb. Then again, there is a chance this is a Regression instead of Reincarnation. Maybe I have been sent back into time, and this woman I am inside is actually my own mother?

I would need to confirm it after getting out of here-

Immediately as the thought crossed my mind, I felt a force pulling me towards a small gap in existence. I immediately understood what was happening. I was being given birth to.

While the idea of coming through a woman's pussy wasn't that entertaining, I was still excited and nervous to find out where exactly I have been reborn.

—★—

It was a struggle, a great effort was spent. Both from me and the woman I was inside. It must have been so painful for her, but in the end she must be happy to see her child alive. But sadly, in case this isn't Regression, she most likely wouldn't get the motherly love she deserves from me. Most of my humane emotions died a while ago, I can't come to love another woman as my mother, not unless the sky turns upside down.

Light soon found its way to my eyes as I was pulled out by two hands through the small gap of light.

My vision was surprisingly clearer than a baby should have. Special body? Or reincarnation privilege?

I watched as the two wrinkled hands raised me in the air. With the owner of the hands, an old woman, laughing to herself.

"My my, look, it's a boy!" She looked down at me with her large old and wrinkled face.

A boy, so I am still a male. Good to know. Another good news is that she speaks English. Though there was also a very sad news. I don't recognise this woman, nor the surrounding. The house I was in was a hut made of mud.

I have most likely been reincarnated in the past, or maybe a medieval world, instead of Regressing back…

"As your late father had decided before, your name will be Amon." The woman smiled as she wiggled my body.

I shook away my disappointment and the growing lump in my throat and instead focused on my name.

Amon is a great name. Almost too magnificent. But it would suit me when I myself become magnificent one day. If this is a medieval world, magical I mean, then I have some goals in my mind already...

The woman laughed again. "Look at you, not crying even though you were just born, that's such a warrior-like thing to do. I am sure, your ancestor, Kalgara-"

She was forced to stop before I could interpret her words properly, a painful grunt coming from behind us.

"Uugh!"

The old lady snapped her neck back and I followed her gaze. Beside us, on the bed, a woman with blood and water coming out from between her legs was gasping for air like a fish out of water. It was a sad sight. From the looks of it, she was going to die soon.

"Acantha!"

The old woman in my arms yelled and slid beside the dying woman, my biological mother of this life who I didn't recognise.

"Don't just give up like that, look, here's your son!"

She put me forward to the dying woman, to which the woman reached out her sweaty hand and clasped my right cheek. I stared at her silently.

After staring at my eyes for a second with her red, blazing pupils, she smiled at me just as her hands slid down my cheeks and her head wiggled. Death grasped her soul.

"Acantha!!"

The old woman yelled again, and I sighed under my breath. I said I wouldn't be able to love anyone else as my mother ever did, but that didn't mean this wasn't a bit strange to see. She was still the woman who gave birth to me. Then again, this sadness will vanish in thin air in a few hours.

...I was wrong. The sadness vanished immediately as something else caught my eyes.

On the dead woman's back that was pressing down in the bed, two white wings were poking out. I immediately turned to the yelling old woman, there were actual white wings from her back as well.

I would have said they were cosplaying, but who would do such a thing while giving birth? Now that I focus my sense on my back, I could also feel something clinging to my back. Actual wings…

A question popped up in my mind.

They were angels…?

I immediately shook my head.

No, that's not true.

Angels won't live in houses made of mud. They must be some bird-like race.

...I need more information. If this is a fantasy world then I will have a lot of things to prepare for. Moreover, if this is an anime world… then I would have a lot more things to prepare for.

I just hope this world isn't too dangerous.

That was when the old woman stopped yelling and looked at me sadly. I didn't know why, maybe because the reality finally sunk in me, realising that I would never see my family again, or maybe because I just saw someone die, my baby hormones gave up.

Soon, I found hot streams of tears trailing down my cheeks as a cry left my mouth.