Chapter Text
Prologue: Reborn in Another World
‘I’m so tired.’
The thought drifted through my mind as I lay motionless in a hospital bed, listening to the steady beeping of the machine beside me.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
It monitored my failing heart with cold, mechanical patience.
This room had been my prison for as long as I could remember—ever since I was a child.
White walls.
A white ceiling.
White curtains hanging around my bed.
The faint smell of disinfectant.
Cold sheets beneath a body too fragile to move without pain.
And that damned machine beside me, constantly reminding me that I was somehow still alive.
“This is so unfair…”
My voice came out as little more than a breath.
“What did I do to deserve this?”
Of course, no one answered.
There was no one there.
My parents had died a year ago.
I still missed them.
Every single day.
They had been the only people capable of making this miserable existence feel bearable. My mother would sit beside my bed and read stories until her voice grew hoarse. My father brought me videos of places I would probably never see—mountains rising above the clouds, forests untouched by concrete, ancient castles overlooking distant valleys, and cities glowing beneath the night sky.
They never told me that everything would be fine.
They knew better than to lie.
Instead, they promised that they would remain beside me for as long as they could.
And they had.
Until they couldn’t anymore.
After they were gone, I was placed in the care of my aunt and uncle.
My so-called guardians.
They weren’t exactly overcome with grief.
They had access to the money my parents had left behind, and they had no problem spending it on themselves. The last time they visited had been five months ago. They arrived wearing expensive clothes and spoke proudly about everything they had bought.
Apparently, they deserved those things for enduring the terrible burden of being my guardians.
I stopped expecting them to return three months ago.
“Screw you,” I whispered, gathering what little bitterness I still possessed. “I hope you both die in a ditch.”
It wasn’t much of a curse.
My voice was too weak to make it sound convincing.
I turned my head toward the window.
It had rained earlier. Droplets still clung to the glass, catching the pale light from outside. Beyond them, I could see a narrow strip of blue sky.
Somewhere beneath that sky, people were walking.
Running.
Falling down and standing back up.
They complained about aching muscles, long journeys, crowded streets, and exhausting days.
I hated them for it.
I envied every painful step they took.
Just once, I wanted to know what it felt like to stand beneath the open sky.
To feel mud beneath my bare feet.
To run until my lungs burned.
To fall and scrape my knees.
To become tired because I had actually done something—not because my body was slowly dying.
My eyes began to sting.
I closed them before the tears could fall.
“I wanted to live…”
The words slipped from my lips like a confession.
The machine continued to beep beside me.
Beep.
Beep.
Beeeeeeeeee—
The sound stretched into one unbroken note.
Then everything disappeared.
No pain.
No cold sheets.
No white ceiling.
No loneliness.
For one quiet moment, there was nothing at all.
Then I heard voices.
“—xxx… xxxx—”
“Xxxxx… xx—”
Was that a nurse?
Had they managed to revive me?
I forced my eyes open.
Two enormous faces hovered above me.
The first belonged to a man with sandy-brown hair and bright green eyes. He looked exhausted, but the enormous smile on his face made him appear almost childish.
Beside him was a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. Her face was pale and damp with sweat, yet she looked at me with such warmth that I forgot to breathe.
“Xxxxx—xxxxx!”
“Xxx… xxxxxx… xxxx.”
Their mouths moved, but the sounds meant nothing to me.
Before I could process what was happening, both strangers leaned closer until their faces occupied my entire field of vision.
“Xxxx—xxxxxx!”
“Xx—xxx—xxxx!”
‘Hey! Personal space!’
I tried to shout at them.
What came out instead was—
“Ooooh… Aaah…”
I froze.
The man laughed.
“Xxxx—xxxxxx!”
The blonde woman answered softly, her expression filled with unmistakable affection.
It was the same strange language as before—one I had never heard in my life.
Annoyed and increasingly frightened, I raised my hands to push their faces away.
Two tiny hands entered my vision.
I stared at them.
Small fingers.
Soft skin.
Chubby little arms.
‘Huh?’
My thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
‘What is going on?’
I tried to sit up.
My body barely moved.
A faint rustling sound came from beside me.
With considerable effort, I turned my head.
Another baby lay wrapped in cloth next to me.
He had a small tuft of light-brown hair and a round face. His green eyes moved deliberately between the two strangers, far too focused for someone who had supposedly entered the world only moments ago.
Then his gaze shifted toward me.
For several seconds, we simply stared at one another.
There was something strangely unsettling about his expression.
He did not look frightened.
He looked confused.
Confused in a way that seemed almost thoughtful.
Almost intelligent.
‘You have got to be kidding me.’
I squeezed my eyes shut.
This was a dream.
It had to be.
Perhaps my brain was producing one final hallucination before shutting down. I had read about such things. People supposedly saw bright lights, departed loved ones, or fragments of old memories.
Apparently, I got two overly affectionate strangers and one suspicious-looking baby.
I waited several seconds before opening my eyes again.
They were still there.
The man gently lifted the brown-haired baby into his arms. The infant stiffened briefly, as though deeply offended by the indignity, before reluctantly settling against his chest.
The blonde woman gathered me into her arms.
Her skin was warm.
I felt her heartbeat against my cheek.
Strong.
Steady.
Alive.
For the first time in years, nothing hurt.
My chest did not ache.
My joints did not burn.
Breathing no longer felt like dragging air through broken glass.
I inhaled.
The air entered my lungs effortlessly.
I inhaled again, deeper this time.
My body responded without pain.
My heart pounded inside my chest—not weakly or erratically, but with a strength I had never known.
The realization struck me harder than any physical blow could have.
I was alive.
Not merely existing.
Not waiting for another organ to fail.
Not counting the days between treatments.
I was truly, completely alive.
Tears gathered in my eyes.
The blonde woman immediately became concerned. She rocked me gently and whispered words I could not understand.
Her voice was soft.
Kind.
It reminded me of my mother.
That was all it took.
I began to cry.
Not the weak, silent tears I had shed in the hospital.
I wailed.
My tiny lungs filled the room with a sound far louder than I had thought possible. The other baby flinched in the man’s arms and turned toward me, his strangely aware eyes widening in surprise.
Good.
At least I wasn’t the only one confused.
Standing a short distance away, a maid with reddish-brown hair released a quiet sigh of relief. She must have feared that something had gone wrong during the delivery, but no one paid her much attention.
The man laughed again.
The woman continued rocking me.
I cried until my lungs hurt.
And somehow, even that pain felt wonderful.
Was this another life?
Was this my chance to experience everything that had once been denied to me?
To stand?
To walk?
To run beneath an open sky?
I curled my tiny fingers against the woman’s clothing and listened to her unfamiliar voice.
I did not know where I was.
I did not know who these people were.
I did not know why there was another strangely intelligent baby beside me.
But I knew one thing.
Whatever this new life offered me, I would seize it.
I would walk every road my old body had denied me.
I would climb until my hands bled.
I would run until my lungs burned.
I would fall, rise, and live.
And I would never allow myself to become a prisoner again.
This was not where my story ended.
This was where it truly began.