Make your story worth it? What did that even mean? It had only been a few moments since he told me that… but he was already gone. With his finger outstretched, the child had tapped the air in front of himself, and some threads of golden light wrapped around me.
At a snail's pace, I watched his face disappear in front of me.
I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything in response.
Damnit, I wish I could have!
I'm not sure how long I spent in the pitch-black void, drowning in my own thoughts, but it couldn't have been that much, because soon enough, I heard a cheerful voice penetrating my silence.
For some reason, it was sweet. Like honey, but as a feeling.
At first, it was just some mumbled incoherence.
Then, there was a light, coming closer to me.
To hell with light!
Just let me stay here in peace…
My prayers weren't answered— actually, maybe the gods were against me, because the instant in which I thought that, I felt hands wrap around my head… my head. It felt different. I couldn't move anything, and I couldn't say anything either.
Also, it felt like I was bald. Just where was my hair?
Crushing silence…
And then an explosion of sound.
It felt like an attack, an assault upon my mind as a chorus of different sounds wholly explored my ears, shaking my brain to the very core. Although unlike a chorus, it was disorganized.
Very gradually, my vision began to repair itself. I tried to open my mouth and speak, but the sounds that came out sounded more like babbles, so I just closed it. Instead of focusing on the people around me like I should have, I tried to move my legs and my fingers.
That was a no-go.
I guess the next best thing was staring at the people above me.
"Iyad, Amina, congratulations! Your baby has been born healthy as well! I hope our children get along with each other… Wait, I've forgotten something. Ah!" The voice paused for a moment, and then started again. "Oh Serynth, goddess of the bloom, please bless our children with your grace and good fortune!"
Pfff… what an overly cheerful voice.
I would know what she looked like, if my eyes worked properly.
Suddenly, the gentle touch of someone's hands wrapped around me, pulling me closer to their chest. Warmth and heat melted me with bliss as I fell into the embrace of the person I instinctively understood to be my mother.
Mother…
I guess I could call her that.
So this is what that child meant.
Hmm…
I'd been born.
Or reborn.
Although it didn't surprise me, I was actually incredibly happy. I just couldn't move my damn useless baby muscles at all, so my expression didn't change. It was strange… Could this be why babies didn't have any reaction to my jokes?
Maybe they just hated me, on second thought.
Taking in and assessing the situation like a rational, cool-headed person, I found that the assault of sounds had ceased, and my vision was fine now. I looked up at the person who was holding me with tears of what could only be joy dripping down her face, and then at the person to the right, who was hugging her.
So these were my mother and father.
Heheh… jackpot!
These two were lookers, that's what they were! My mother's eyes were mesmerizing, a deep indigo with flecks of silver scattered in them. Her hair was brown, long and flowing down to her waist, and she was the perfect description of a "mother" with her soft and gentle features and relatively nice figure. Honestly, looking at my father, who was handsome in his own right— with piercing gray eyes and caramel like honey colored hair, I couldn't understand how this serious looking man had attracted such a beauty. Maybe it was his well-built musculature?
Wow, I sound like a degenerate. Old habits die hard… I guess?
I began to laugh out loud.
Because I was going to be just like them!
"Ermm… should he be laughing like that? It sounds more like a cackle…" My mother— Amina, said in a hushed tone. I immediately took offense and stopped saying anything altogether.
Laughter rang throughout the room at my response, and my father peered into my eyes with a quizzical expression, like he sensed something in me; ooh, could it be my great potential? … I wonder if there's a way to suppress thoughts.
Bringing his face close to mine, he breathed on me.
Opening my eyes a bit wider, I stared at him while repeatedly trying and failing to bring my thumb into my mouth. Drool dripped from my lips. My father's face erupted into a thin smile, and he wiped my face.
"That's our little Amir." He said with a pleased look.
"It sure is! No… we need to decide a nickname for you! Ami, hmm, that sounds like a woman's name, what about Am-Am?" My mother chimed in. I guess this kind of dynamic duo worked together well— the serious and the bubbly type. As they both snuggled me, I turned towards the side to see two more people.
They were lost in their own little world, chattering with each other.
It was only then that I took in the room around me.
Damn depth perception.
I was a child.
An infant!
I still wasn't very good at this.
The room was actually very simple. While rather small, it was homey, like a cottage. There were two large beds with cotton sheets piled over then, and my dad's head almost touched the ceiling. Well, he was rather tall. A wardrobe lay on the wall, connecting to a closet, and one bedside table was shared by both beds.
On the table, there was a little lamp.
It was flickering a bit, with its amber glow filling the room.
"Here, meet your friend!" My mother's sweet voice penetrated my skull once again… and I realized that I had been so focused on looking around the room that I had forgotten all about my parents. Hell, I couldn't even hear them at all!
Wasn't this sort of scary?
Lifting me up, my mother hung me in the air.
Wriggling my little soft baby feet, I squirmed around until my mother held me in a more comfortable position, and only then did I notice the thing in front of me. Well, it wasn't a thing.
It was another baby.
Ahh… so that's why the other family was here.
Were my parents and them perhaps good friends?
Makes sense.
Quickly, I memorized the looks of the other small family, since I felt like I would be seeing them around a lot. With a baby brain, it couldn't hurt to try and internalize some things.
The woman had pale white skin that positively glowed. I was almost completely and utterly entranced by her appearance— like a biological response. Her eyes were a shining emerald green, and she wore a silk dress. Like my mother, her hair was white as well, but it was a different, more creamy shade.
What stood out to me the most were the ears.
Long, fragile ears that paled out at the ends and seemed incredibly soft to the touch. They twitched and trembled in miniscule amounts as the woman stared at me with loving, caring eyes. Hahh… did the concept of ugly not exist here?
The father, unlike my own, seemed very cheerful.
Almost like a baby himself— not in looks, though.
His face was very sharp, and his body very lean and muscular. He wore loose white robes and his arms were currently around the baby in front of me. He was also very peculiar, since his eyes were golden, and horns protruded from his head, dark and stonelike.
Hmpph… I shouldn't worry about this too much. It seemed very familiar.
Struggling to lift my hand, I opened my mouth.
"Words" spilled out.
"Ababbagabba!!" I cried, trying to make my face seem happy.
Well, I was indeed happy.
My hand… my hand… Yes, my hand!
It moved! I waved it!
The baby however, burst into tears.
"WAHHHHHH!"
She— yes, it was a "her", wasn't like me, I guess. She was a mix of both the mother and the father, with long ears and short little stubs that could only be considered horns in her head. Her eyes were wide and cute, but there were little slits in them that kind of made her seem like a cat.
Hmm…
"Come on, Am-Am! To be a heartbreaker like your dah-dah over here, you've got to curry her favor first!" My father showed me wide, exaggerated hand motions as his face twitched curiously.
Did I call him serious?
Scratch that.
He was downright stupid. I shudder to think of his young self.
Why would you say that in front of your wife?
"You… Iyad, you idiot!" My mother scrunched her face up, lifted her hand, and smacked my father across the nose, knocking tears into his eyes. Rubbing his now red nose, he bowed down repeatedly, apparently no match for my mother.
Well, I couldn't blame him.
"Should we have tea together after this with the children, Sara?" My mother asked the long-eared woman— Sara. Turning, Sara nodded delightfully, clapping her hands together like she was about to burst.
"Of course! Yes… yes.. Of-" She paused as the man rocked the baby in his arms, bringing Sara in and kissing her atop the head. Immediately, Sara blushed to the tip of her long ears, and she quieted down.
My father winked in his direction, and the man gave a thumbs up.
Ahh… I could already tell.
Hell, they were best friends!
Nothing else could explain this!
No… my future… Was my father incompetent? I would be alright regardless, but I feared for the infant girl. Her life could only be secured by her own mother! In fact, me as well! Look at me, being so caring even though she cried at my voice!
Maybe I should take her under my wing.
After all, we would grow up together.
Grow…
Up…
This is reality, isn't it?
I really had been reborn.
Stop, stop.
Less thinking, more action.
I'm drowning myself again.
I don't know what's going on.
The other family has already left the room.
Shit…
"Well, let's get you all ready, Am-Am!" My mother said, humming a delightful tune under her breath as my father walked over to the window blinds. With a single movement of his hand, he opened them up to reveal a sprawling forest.
My eyes… my eyes sparkled at the sight.
The world really is beautiful, isn't it?