Chapter 1 - Death and the New Beginning

Today was an awful day, I worked at the office for 14 hours straight. What made it worse was that it was a Sunday. I had been working at this company for 2 years and it was rough. Working hours was from 8 am to 7 pm every day of the week and the only Sunday was a holiday. But yesterday there was some trouble with a client and I had to work on a Sunday to meet his needs. It was tiring and took the whole day. This has been my life from the moment I took this job. The pay was good and I had to search for months before I found a job so even though I was overworked I did not resign from the company to look for another job with better working hours.

My name is Charles Clive. I am 26 years old now and had moved out of my parents' house to live on my own. The flat was good and rent was cheap. The week long job left me so tired that Sunday I had no time to go out and meet my friends. I had lost contact with most of them in these two years that I started working in this company. The Sundays were spent doing laundry and sitting in bed watching movies or reading some novels. The novels included various manga and fan fictions and then to light novels. The books gave an escape from thoughts about my current life and helped keep me sane. So this was my lifestyle for the past two years, job and then novels. My health was deteriorating and many people asked me to leave the job and look for new one. I decided to stay for one more year as with it I would have enough saved up to last me for a few years to look for a good job. So I continued this job.

But last week was too hectic and including today I was too tired. Thinking about next week gave me chills. No wonder most people left the company within 2 years as it would affect their health too. I was too tired to think anymore and directly went to bed and fell asleep. Then the darkness took over me.

The next time when I opened my eyes something felt different. The first thing I noticed was this was not my room and I was not alone. I looked around and the place was a bit old and everything looked about decades old. My body also felt old and I couldn't even control my hands properly. I looked at my body for the first time since opening my eyes and was shocked. I saw small legs and hands. I was somehow trapped inside a baby's body. I panicked after realizing this. At this time, I felt someone trying to calm me down. I looked up and saw a tired woman looking at me with kind eyes. I could feel an emotional attachment to her. From this I could tell that she was the mother of the baby I was possessing. For some reason whatever she did was calming me down. After calming down I looked at her again and the way she looked at me gave me a bad feeling.

The woman said sadly, "Charles Daniel Falken. My beautiful baby boy. I am sorry but it looks like I cannot accompany you and watch as you grow. I can feel that my death is near and pretty soon I am going to be joining your father. I know that I am a bad mother, leaving you to live a life of an orphan in this tough world. But I know that you will become a powerful wizard someday who would make me and your father proud. You belong to House Falken and I leave it in your care. I know it will be tough task in this cruel world and you may need me but I cannot live without your father any longer. The last few months were very tough without him. I hope you can forgive me someday. Goodbye."

After that she closed her eyes, I felt something break in my heart and knew she will not open her beautiful blue eyes again. She used her last strength to give her baby a name and then left for her next great adventure. I don't know why but I couldn't control my tears and started crying loudly. I cried for a long time until the tiredness caught up to me and I fell asleep.

The next time I opened my eyes I was in a room with a few other babies. This room too looked like the old buildings in movies. I started to think about the events and started to come in terms with it.

"From what I can tell it seems I died due to my health and was reborn. I knew I had to look after my health but I postponed it till I felt it was serious. Looks like the hectic week was too much for my already week body and most probably my heart couldn't take the stress." I thought.

I hoped that my death would not severely hurt my loved ones. My family would be sad but my siblings can take care of my parents. I was thankful that I was not a single child so they would have help during their old age. I thought about them for some time, prayed that they will live a comfortable life and not let my death affect them. After that I steeled my determination and decided to look forward to my new life. My last life which was full of regrets was now over and I had to make sure that I do not have any regrets in this life.

I thought, "I was always curious about what happens after death. It looks like reincarnation is the answer. I don't know why I still have my past memories and everything as it gives me an unfair advantage over others my age but I was not complaining. I guess the ones in charge made some kind of a mistake."