"Ah… he's finally awake."
Deneuve heard a voice, a voice that reminded him of his grandma. He wasn't very close to his grandparents in his past life — neither his father's nor his mother's.
His mind felt heavy, and it gave him a phantom headache. He couldn't think properly — heck, he couldn't even feel his arms or legs. He should have died in that accident. There was no doubt about it.
'Was this what they called the afterlife?'
The strange change in the atmosphere made him overthink.
"Thank God! I was so worried he wouldn't survive. It reminds me of when we had our first son, doesn't it, honey?"
A man's voice? An old man's voice. Deneuve must have been going crazy by now. The voices kept coming out of nowhere. If this really was the afterlife, where would his place be — heaven or hell?
He questioned the possibilities that could explain what he was experiencing. He remembered the novel he had read; almost the same thing was happening to the protagonist. He snapped out of it. Happiness? More like a fleeting feeling of relief.
'A flashback!'
"Look how cute he is... so handsome."
Deneuve felt the vibration and shaking as if someone was carrying him. After a while, it finally stopped. But the atmosphere changed quickly; it got hotter and brighter. Deneuve felt his skin slowly becoming warmer. A sudden change in the atmosphere made him slowly open his eyes.
'Bright!'
It was the first thing that came to his mind.
Heaven? Finally, a reward for being a good son to his mother. Or so he thought; the scene in front of him automatically objected to his thoughts. The green scenery stretched endlessly before him, giving a peaceful yet nostalgic vibe. A breeze of cold wind flowed softly, birds chirped in the distance, and clouds shaded the land from the warm sunlight.
The scenery almost felt like a kid's fantasy world. Deneuve was stunned, his eyes were locked onto the view without realizing something more shocking. Deneuve realized after a while that something was holding him tightly, yet it didn't feel suffocating. An old lady had been carrying him this whole time, smiling like never before and talking in a strange language.
She turned her head toward the old man, full of joy and gratitude. Then she started to talk again, "Honey, I named him Deneuve Satone. It's a good name for such a cute baby, right?"
Deneuve stayed silent. He had trouble trying to figure out what they were talking about. However, even without understanding the strange language, he knew that somehow this was their happiest day. The realization was enough to calm his heartbeat from earlier.
The old man started to talk while undressing his brown leather jacket.
"That's a fine name. I hope he grows as a brave and kind person." His face showed a hint of emptiness.
"You're our new family now. Grow up strong and clever; he will be our first grandson, right, honey?"
Walking straight to us, dragging a wooden chair, the old man sat beside her. She responded with her head resting on the old man's shoulder, showing comfort and peace. The old man's hand slowly moved towards the old lady. With a gentle movement, his left hand hugged the old lady. It looked like the old man's emotions were about to overflow, his tears gathering and almost spilling from his eyes.
"Yeah!" quietly but confidently, the old man responded.
Yet of course, Deneuve had no idea what they were talking about, but he heard them say his name once. At least, his question about where the voices were coming from had been answered. Sure, they were giving Deneuve comfort and a sense of calm, but a ton of questions were ready to be asked by him.
From earlier, Deneuve had already tried to speak, but all he did was make a baby noise. He knew this wasn't his normal life. Deneuve wanted to go back to his past life; he didn't ask to be here or participate in a weird contract.
Or was he? Deneuve started to connect the dots in this strange situation. Suddenly, his eyes widened. If what he thought was true, it would be a living hell to him.
'Kidnapped! I've been kidnapped!'
Deneuve thought he was brought here by the kidnappers after the incident. He was forced to join a deep web kind of show. That's what he thought, even though there was nothing to prove his statement. Out of nowhere, a strong feeling of sleepiness struck him. The combination of sleepiness and tiredness from the incident was too much for him to resist. Deneuve's eyelids got heavier each time he blinked.
As she looked down at him, her face knew what kind of trouble Deneuve was facing at the moment.
"Come here, it's nap time. Oh~ who's a heavy sleeper?"
***
That's when Deneuve learned the hard way — the truth behind this strange world. It wasn't a deep web show or some kind of prank, even after he looked at it from every angle. This was unlike anything humans had ever achieved; he had been reincarnated into a new world. What made it even more shocking was the fact that he had been reincarnated as a newborn baby, and magic existed here.
The dream of every mankind — a world where magic exists alongside humans. Deneuve's first encounter with magic was when he was three years old. It was winter at the time; the cold easily seeped through the wooden house. At the moment, he was wandering around the house just like any normal baby would do. But the cold certainly disturbed his comfort. Deneuve looked at his grandpa pointing at the chimney to light it up.
Somehow, his grandpa understood what he was trying to show. Deneuve's understanding of this new language had developed slowly throughout the past three years. As Deneuve kept pointing at the chimney, suddenly the grandpa bent down and lifted him up with one hand. The grandpa's right hand started to move toward the chimney.
"Fireball."
He calmly cast a spell.
Truly majestic — the hot orange-red fire that lit up from his bare hand started to move slowly. It floated, gliding straight to the chimney filled with firewood. By the time it touched the wood, the fire grew bigger and bigger with every passing second. Deneuve's face could not tolerate what he had just seen. Deneuve sat in front of the chimney, the hot burning feeling touching his soft baby skin. He was amazed by his first encounter with magic.
Since that day, he set his mind on taking this opportunity to learn and train magic. But until then, he couldn't find any information about magic in this house. No books, no notes — it wasn't like they were poor, but he guessed books must be expensive in this world. Everything was very limited here. He had tried to ask his grandpa to teach him magic, but his current state and the lack of communication held him back for a couple of years.