The last thing I remember was getting stabbed while chasing a masked guy. Who stabbed me? No idea. How to find out? I don't know yet. Am I alive? If so, where am I? I can only see darkness. My overly underwhelming life may have come to a close. I have so many regrets. I could've at least lost fighting, but now Viktor will win by default, without having to fight. I wanted to win at least once and stand at that place, defeating him. I got so close to it, yet it had to end this way. I refuse to accept it. I gave up on so many things to raise my family's standing and worked for it my whole life. I cannot digest this ending. If there is any entity called God, I want justification!
Suddenly, I saw light. I took a sprint towards it—I wanted to get out of this darkness as soon as possible. I opened my eyes and saw a dingy room. The ceiling was made of stones, and it was mossy. The air was suffocating, and the stench in the room was so bad. I tried to move my arms, but I could not. I felt restricted. I couldn't get up or make any noise whatsoever.
"Oh, you finally opened your eyes! I thought you didn't make it," I heard the voice of a woman.
I tried to look around and saw a woman who appeared near my bedside. She moved my arms, and that's when I realized my arms were so small. It then dawned on me that I was a baby. The woman was wearing raggedy clothing. She had a relieved expression on her face. She had icy blue eyes and jet-black hair. She looked fairly young but very malnourished.
"You take after your father a lot! I hope he can meet you soon. I don't know how long I can be near you, but I want you to find freedom and happiness," the woman said, wiping away her tears.
I realized that my mother and I were trapped somewhere; she wanted me to find a way to free myself from this place and be happy.
To evaluate everything I know now—I am a baby again. For all I know, I might be living a new life in some other world, or I might've been reborn as a baby in another country in my world. The latter is so much more likely since I can understand the language. The woman has an accent of someone from the southern country, Meridon. Her features are very regal, and her pattern of speech is also refined; she might be from an influential family in the South.
In my past life, I was from the North. The North and South did not have a good political relationship at the beginning, but then it got smoother over the years. It was made smooth by Viktor, to be honest—by questionable means, of course!
BANG!
I heard an iron door opening, and a few footsteps followed closely after it.
"You are done here. Get out of this place. We will keep this tiny thing elsewhere. It will cry and create a nuisance!" a gruff voice told the woman while grabbing her by the arm.
"I want to stay with my baby! You monsters will kill him if I leave!" the woman cried out in agony.
The guards were not having it, so they dragged her away as she protested and closed the door with a slam.
The chance of me surviving even a week in my second life feels slim. I feel I took all my blessings in my past life. Now I am suffering this horrible fate.
I was born in an elite family of the North in my past life. The only thing my family didn't have was the right to make laws directly. We had money, we had influence, we had everything a family could ask for.
In my past life, the classes were divided into common folks, the elites, and the ultra-elites. There are sects and hierarchies within each social class as well. The only thing that will elevate your status in society is the elemental power you are born with, which comes genetically.
The iron door opened again, and a burly man came into my field of vision. He grabbed me roughly, carried me through a murky corridor, and put me in the smallest room I have ever seen. The surface was hard, and the surroundings were covered with mold as well.
The days passed just like that. I was mostly occupied with my thoughts and the regrets I had in my past life. I was fed some powder once every day, and I never saw my mother after the first day. I hope she is fine; the last thing I want is to grow up an orphan.
Life was as gloomy as it could get until one night—I heard my iron door open.
I was startled. It was my mother rushing to me, trying not to make too much noise. But she was unsuccessful; the alarms went off loudly, alerting all the guards present. She quickly grabbed me and made a run for her life.
I had a really bad feeling. I could feel the bile rising in my throat. I could hear her heartbeat at an inhuman speed, and she was running out of breath. She still held me tightly in her lanky arms.
I heard a bunch of footsteps reaching us at a quick pace. My mother tried to hide in the niches she could find and tried to deceive the guards as much as she could. I prayed that we could make it out safely—and that we could live long enough for me to call her "Mum."
The gods who listened to me when I said I didn't want to die the first time turned a deaf ear to me this time.
I heard a zapping noise ring through the walls. I heard my mother fall with a thud, and I flew from her arms and started crying from the impact.
The last thing I remember about that day was seeing all the blood oozing from my mother's limp body. I was shoved back into the room I previously occupied.
Just like that, I lost the first and only family I knew of in this life.