The Reincarnation of Alysara. Chapter 2

AN: Again, sorry for the long wait. The next few should be a lot quicker, 'm going to aim for next week.

AN2: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K3Xqv8Y54ETl7twOwYBCeD8MqzC3QqbTGBjTAG0ts-0/edit?usp=sharing

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(AN: In regards to the Runalymo language, the “a” and “á” are two different letters (because despite using anywhere from 14 to 25 vowels depending on the dialect, english—the crayon-eating language that it is—only recognizes 5 of them). The “a” is pronounced how you would say it in Apple, the “á” is how you pronounce aw, as in awe. The diaeresis, the two dots below ( ̤ ), denotes that purring is used when speaking the syllable. The line ( ̅ ) either above or below denotes the pitch used, either high or lower pitch with the absent of the line being neutral pitch. Also the “c” is the ‘ch’ sound so Cuej is pronounced choo-ej. “x” is the ‘sh’ sound)

The next day Mom and Dad takes me out into the village again, and while we do get a lot of people wanting to see me, it isn't as many as yesterday. We go to the baths and Mom holds me close to both of them, while they seem to be purring—I didn't know we could do that. Seeing them side by side, Mom is easily a head shorter than Dad. 

After bathing, we part ways. Mom takes me back home where I'm put into my crib while Mom moves to another room to do whatever she does.

I take this chance to meditate to try and learn magic or something. I focus on opening my soul but only manage to sense the wall preventing me from doing so. I push against the wall, but it doesn't even budge. 

Hmm, maybe I'm going about this all wrong, I ponder. Why is there even a wall here? What do walls do? They keep things out, or inside, so what is this wall keeping out? I'm probably going to regret it, but I kinda want to know, the only problem is that I have no idea how to get past it. Ah, well, not like a baby like me can do anything about it.

Instead of metaphorically banging my head against the wall let's try another way of sensing mana or magic or whatever. Maybe if I try to push my awareness beyond my body to actively feel for the magical energies instead of feeling them passively, it might work? And if I can sense mana, I may learn how to use it like Mom does!

I slowly open my mind again, clearing all distractions. I focus on expanding my awareness, feeling for the magical energies. My whole body begins to tingle, but instead of stopping, I focus on pushing that feeling outward, millimeter by millimeter. Suddenly, pressure like the bottom of the ocean presses against my mind, and I think I hear some chiming sounds. It's too much! I immediately retract my mind as a headache pierces my brain like a hot needle.

“AHHH!” I cry out in pain.

In a rush, Mom runs in and picks me up, trying to calm me and looking me over to see if I'm hurt. She says something, but my head hurts too much for me to listen. She tries all sorts of things to see what's wrong, and eventually, she settles on holding me tightly and gently patting my head while purring to soothe me.

Eventually, my headache becomes bearable, and I quiet down. Mom sighs in relief and takes us out to bathe. Mom probably complains to the other women, but I don't care. I think about what happened but get surprised when raw information floats up to my consciousness as if it was my thoughts but not.

You have gained the Sense Mana Quantity (Minor) general Skill!

Sense Mana Quantity: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.

Sense Mana Quantity has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling to level 20.

1st Breakthrough: You have sensed an overwhelming pressure of mana, letting you sense mana in high quantities and better see slight differences in mana quantity.

You have gained the Pain Tolerance (Adept) general Skill.

Pain Tolerance: You have been subjected to great pain; this will help you tolerate such pain again.

Pain Tolerance has obtained level 1-2!

It isn’t as if I am seeing any of this information, it’s just that I suddenly know all of this. It’s not an omniscient thought, I don’t suddenly know everything. I still don’t know what these Skills are or how they work, just that I know what they do. But now I think I can guess what happened based on this information. I live right next to a place of power, so the mana density here must be insanely high. Trying to sense mana here would be like staring at the sun, which is why it hurt. 

It also seems like the Skill has a soft limit, and you need to prove yourself or accomplish some sort of achievement to progress further—sensing such dense mana was enough to meet that requirement.

Now that I think I have a basic understanding of what happened, I am left with the question of what this information means. Is it simply a recording or measurement of my abilities or does it give me new abilities?

I think it’s a measurement, seeing as I had to have sensed mana before getting this Skill. There’s still a lot I need to know and I don’t know how to get the information myself, so I’ll have to ask. Guess that’s another motive to learn the language.

  *

It's been a few days, and I'm now ten days old! I've learned a few phrases. “Láeso” (Lá-es-o). It's a greeting used in the morning, and during the afternoon, it's the same word, but the “e͞s” is pitch accented, so its spoken in a higher pitch. In the evening, the greeting is “Láe͞so̤” with the “o̤” spoken with a purr; it's nuanced and was hard to figure out at first, but it clicked, so I'm now able to get it. Lastly, “L̤á̤” with a purr is used when parting. In short, those roughly translate into “good morning,” “good afternoon,” “good evening,” and “goodbye.” But laziness shows up everywhere, and many people just say “Lá” or “L̤á̤” when greeting or saying farewells— that was the most confusing part.

Other than language, I've learned that these people bathe three times a day. After they wake up, after work, and all together in a special bathing area after the bonfire. Bathing in the special bath without everyone else isn't allowed, though it's allowed to forgo bathing with everyone else, but probably frowned on.

I've not tried [Sense Mana Quantity] since I first used it. I know I should practice, but every time I'm about to do so, I remember the pain, and that discourages me from doing it. So, every time I am put in my crib I meditate on whatever the wall is when I focus on my inner self. I haven’t found a way past it, but I haven’t really tried, it was just something to pass the time and procrastinate on sensing mana. I do want to use magic, but I also don’t want to feel pain, so when I can, I’ll just ask Mom how she does it.

Speaking of Mom, she takes me everywhere she goes, especially when visiting friends—she likes to show me off. That's where I met the bane of my existence. A jealous child who looks to be around three years old and the son of a woman who looks similar and even has the same eyes and hair color as Mom. I remember her; she was there at my birth.

I'm pretty sure she's my aunt, which makes the bully, Nyam, my cousin. Ever since I've been introduced to the group, all the women have been gushing over me, and poor Nyam has been left out. He's thrown quite a few tantrums, pulled my ears and tail three times and hit me a few other times. I've nurtured quite a grudge against the little devil.

We are currently in a midsize house at a social gathering with about a dozen other women. There are several children, but they are off playing somewhere else; only me and Nyam are stuck with our parents for being too young. The house is quite nice and well-made and paintings decorate the wall with the hosts' family, and curtains hang bunched up to the sides of the windows to let light in.

Nyam is running around and generally causing a ruckus and annoying the other women as they talk around a table.

“Nyam! Faun!” Aunty says sternly. She says “Faun” numerous times whenever Nyam is acting up, so I assume it means to “stop” or “cease.”

Nyam ignores his mother and continues throwing things. When Aunty stands, Nyam scampers off. The blue-haired woman sighs, sitting back down, and mutters something while burying her hands in her face. The next thing I know, I feel a tugging on my tail.

“Whaaa!” I cry out in surprise and mild pain. Mom is holding me, but my long tail hangs out from the blanket I'm wrapped in, making it an obvious target for Nyam. 

Nyam laughs impishly and runs away, chased after by Aunty. I still cry as Mom tries to soothe me; I know it's petty to continue crying even after the pain subsided, but I don't want to be here if Nyam is going to bully me, and I'm hoping I'll be left behind next time.

Soon enough, Nyam is caught and brought to us to apologize, but he throws a tantrum instead and cries. The group breaks up early today as Nyam has to be disciplined.

Serves you right for pulling an innocent baby's tail! Sure, a three-year-old doesn't have much strength, but I'm a baby!

We return to our hut after that, looking rather small after being in a proper house, and Mom goes back to doing whatever she does. Meanwhile, I meditate; intending to improve my [Sense Mana Quantity], but I know it's going to be painful—eh, I'll do it tomorrow. For now, I go back to the soul wall. I probably shouldn't mess with it, but what's the worst that can happen, really? Figuring out some cool new Skills?

I halfheartedly poke and prod the wall, trying to go around it, but the wall does what walls do best and keeps me out. Soon enough, we're off to our after-work baths. We meet Dad there, and they do what they usually do and snuggle up for a bit.

The next day we, including Dad, visit a different house after the morning baths. This is a large two-floored house where Aunty waits, and standing next to her with an arm around her stands her husband. He's the first person I've seen not wearing a dress—instead, he wears pants. I can easily see his toned abs and defined arm muscles, he looks like a professional swimmer. 

“H͞e tl ed Nyam” He says, and presents a detailed ribbon.

“Uc pl áo” Dad responds and takes the ribbon.

We enter the large house that I thought was my aunt’s but turns out to be my grandparents’ on my mom’s side—if the near-lifelike paintings of my mom and aunt as children are any indicator. The house sports a large community room that can easily fit dozens of people and has a kitchen nearby where it seems several people are already making food.

We gather in the lounge, and it isn’t long before the rest of the extended family arrives. More aunts, uncles, and cousins, the family is larger than I thought and...yup, that’s Nyam.

Upon seeing me in Mom’s arms, Nyam’s face sours. 

Great, the trouble starts now.

Nyam surprisingly doesn’t cause too much trouble, but I guess he’s still getting attention with how many adults are around; although I’m getting much more. I hear a lot of people mention “Myrou” and “Cuej” but I still have no idea what they are talking about. 

Once everyone has arrived, we sit in well-made and chairs arranged in a half-circle—well, I’m being held, this time by Dad. The chairs look to be made by bending a single long branch, rather than one cut and jointed together. Because of how it’s constructed it has many curves, the wood bent in an artistic and stylized way. The backrest has a large round hole with blue glass embedded in it. All chairs had glass in their round section of the backrest, but some are of a different color. The armrests on Mom’s chair has etching of waves, while Dad’s has etchings of fire.

I am sure it means something, but I’m not sure what, although… I’ve only seen Mom use magic in relation to water, and this chair clearly represents water, so does that mean Dad has Fire magic? What Kind of magic, if any, do I have?

My thoughts are interrupted when someone steps in the center and prompts Mom and Dad to stand. They walk to the center and present me to everyone. 

“Láhoky” the group says. 

I’ve heard that word before, and I’m starting to get the feeling that it means something special. It must be a type of greeting since “Láeso”, or “Lá” is how they greet each other and the use of “Lá” in láhoky appears to be no coincedence. I havn’t heard it much after the first few days after being born so it must be a way to welcome a newborn to the world.

I feel a tugging at the sides of my mouth as I learn what the word means. I try to say it, but I have difficulty forming the word, and all that comes out is “baao”.

Squeals of delight echo around me, but the moment soon passes. With everybody lined up in a neat half-circle, I can easily get a clear picture of the entire family. At least half of the family has the same royal blue hair color that Mom, Aunty, and I have. The others all have different hair colors, from brown to purple.

Mom and Dad talk for a few minutes, probably about me and some other stuff. Some things make people laugh, and I hope that isn’t something I’ve done. After introducing me to the family, we sit back down, and Dad passes me off to Mom. I watch as more people go to the center to talk, show off a talent, or something they made. 

Once show-and-tell is over, we begin the main socializing event. The few children run off to play; thankfully, Nyam does not harass me. A few people go into the kitchen to finish cooking food for everybody, and a surprising number of people move off to the side to play music. They must have rehearsed or something as they all quickly start following the lead. Occasionally, more will join as others leave to take a break from playing.

There’s some dancing, and I’m passed off to my aunt as my parents dance together—they are graceful in their moves, like many. It dawns on me that these people are artists, taking pride in learning music and painting, in dancing and crafting. Probably everybody has been forced to pursue more than one art.

Considering they probably worship Myrou, the Goddess of Beauty and Creativity, it should not have been surprising that they take beauty, art, and crafts seriously. Hmm, if I have to choose... Well, I’ve always wanted to be an artist—at least I get that feeling about my past life. Maybe I was one? I dunno.

Usually, I’ll be put in my crib to rest by now, and admittedly, I’m about to fall asleep. But today is the family gathering, so I’m being passed around from person to person, and I must have passed out at some point. The next thing I know, I feel pain and a tugging sensation on my ears.

“WAHHH!” Fuck you, Nyam!

I hear the scampering of not one but two little bodies as I wail. It takes Mom a long time and a lot of soothing for me to stop crying. I soon fall back asleep, crying being surprisingly tiring. I would have kept crying because if Nyam wanted to be my problem, I’d make him everyone else’s problem too.

I wake up around the time for an after-work bath. The whole extended family crowds a bathing area and takes longer than usual to get out. With how many bathing areas there are, I doubt anyone is really inconvenienced. After the bath, everyone goes home, and finally, I can rest without worry of some brats bullying me.