Author's note: Hey all prospective readers! This is my first ti writing a story, that isn't for school purposes. So be rciful. I would like so constructive criticism though. I know I need work on my perspectives, and I can tell you beforehand that the whole story will not be from the perspective of the main character. That perspective just happens to suit the first few chapters. I'll try to fix any mistakes and typos ntioned. That's all for now I think. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
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When I finally gained so semblance of consciousness, I was in a place that felt very warm and safe. I could feel, rather than hear a heartbeat that was not my own. It didnt take much to figure out I was still yet to be born, and thus still inside what I presud to be my mother. That of course was assuming, that the Lord of the Jade Palace that conducted my Judgent and presided over my reincarnation didnt decide to have born as so being, with a wildly different thod of carrying their progeny to term, than I had assud. The Judge, nad TianZun incidentally, was obviously unhappy with the extra work my reincarnation had given him, so I wouldnt be too surprised if hed done a little sothing to show his displeasure. He knew better, than to really blow it though. Even if I was to be reborn as soone rather weak and never rise up again, I used to have so good friends in my old life that could give him trouble.
Oh well, might as well enjoy the warmth and safety while it lasts. I idly mused. It was interesting though, how the feelings of warmth and safety were similar to the beginnings of my previous life. Even with my excellent mory, I had very little mories of my childhood, let alone the ti of my birth. Living a long ti does that to you. I did have a vague feeling, of a faint recollection, of the feelings of warmth and safety, mainly because those feelings were in very short supply after my birth on my previous go around. Part of the reason why I have so little mories of that childhood, was that I didnt want to rember. There was no heartbeat of another last ti. Of that I am sure.
It wasnt too long though, before the ti of my birth ca. Births are a ssy business no matter what race you are part of, unpleasant both for the child and the mother. Its rather surprising how much just the feeling of air on your new skin and the light in your eyes can sting. I suppose that, and the feeling of being ripped from your safe place, is why every healthy child cries almost straight after birth. Unsurprisingly it didnt cause much more than slight discomfort for , seeing as how Id had much, much worse in my previous life. My lack of crying seed to be causing so worry to the woman that was handling after the ssy part was over.
The woman looked to be so sort of combination of a midwife and a healer, from what I could judge of her clothing, with my still sowhat goopy eyes. The woman was also clearly of so sort of elven heritage, with the typical pointy ears pointing backwards and slightly outwards from her head, among her long, light auburn hair. Rather long ears at that. Id seen so different types of elves in my previous life. So had ears just a bit pointy, while others had rather long ones like this woman. She was saying sothing to a person I could not see, the worry fading from her face as she looked at , and I assu saw no obvious issues, and that I was in fact breathing. I wouldve liked to look around to see who she was talking to, but babies arent exactly known for the mobility of their necks, which she was supporting very gently by the way, so I had to make due at looking at what was shown to .
The language she spoke was very lodic, almost like singing. Just what you would expect from an elf. My souls ability to absorb languages automatically was starting to work, and I was beginning to understand what she was saying. I had known getting that particular ability imprinted on my very soul would be a good idea, when I was considering the whole reincarnation thing.
your child seems to be fine sir and madam. Most children do cry out when born, but Ive seen a few occasions before, where they simply didnt feel like crying. Different temperants and all that. The midwife/healer was saying.
I knew I probably shouldve had made a small cry or sothing. Just feels weird to cry out with no reason. I thought.
You have a very beautiful daughter. Perhaps the most beautiful newborn Ive seen, and believe Ive seen plenty! And she seems perfectly healthy. She continued.
Wait, what?! Maybe that language ability isnt working so well after all, because I must have misunderstood that part! I thought with a little panic, getting stuck on the word daughter and missing pretty much everything after that.
The midwife/healer handed to tall and very muscular male elf. So feeling inside told that this golden haired man was my father. He took gently into the crook of his arm and looked down at . His eyes shined with obvious warmth and love. There was a little sothing else in his eyes that I almost missed, while still reeling from what Id heard just before. A hint ofslight disappointnt?
You are right. She does look healthy. And maybe shell grow up to be gentle and mild mannered, unlike so of her sisters. The man said with a slightly amused smile. I can at least hope, that one of my daughters gives so peace and quiet.
There it is again. The D-word. I thought. Did TianZun really have reincarnate as a woman? Son of a bitch! I always had sothing of a problem with harsh language, as it happens. I rembered imdiately that I had forgotten to specify male as one of the conditions for my reincarnation, when he had asked for my input. Id also had a habit of pushing peoples buttons, and I certainly had not made an effort to be courteous to TianZun when he was judging .
Oh shush, dear! I heard a beautiful and lodic voice, bringing back from my thoughts. Daughters are supposed to give trouble to their father. Now let look at our baby. My, now confird, father handed gently yet again to another person, which I knew to be my mother. When I got a look at her from her arms, I was a bit stunned. Elves tend to be a beautiful race as a whole, but this one was definitely one of the most beautiful Id seen so far. An ebony black hair with a slight sheen, that I later learned to be long enough to reach her knees. Sharp and fine facial features with dark blue, almost black eyes. Her skin was also decidedly paler than my fathers, though in a refined way. Currently flushed though, what with giving birth and all. I idly wondered if she was a different type of elf from my father and the midwife/healer. She reminded of the Moon Elves Id seen in my previous life, while my father looked more like a High Elf variant. I must have given her a smile, because she smiled broadly back at with obvious joy and love.
She really is beautiful girl. And she has such a nice smile for her mother. I really hope you arent too disappointed and will still love her. I know you want a son, my love.
I heard the voice of my father reply: I could never do anything, but love any child you have given Asheara. And you know I absolutely love having daughters. But you also know we need a son to carry on the family work.
Cant get much clearer than that. I really had been reincarnated as a woman. Or girl as it were for now. This was going to be a bit of a problem. I had absolutely nothing against won, and I certainly wasnt under any silly ideas about one sex being superior to another. I had even taken the form a female from different races a few tis in my old life, when the situation called for it.
Having my true form as a woman was a bit of a problem though. Mana and Ki both flowed differently in wons and ns bodies, because of obvious differences in their internal structure. Their bodies also moved different, were balanced differently and also had differences in muscle structure and flexibility. Id have to re-learn everything! The problem wasnt even learning the ways to handle my new body when I was a little older; I was after all a quick study. The real issue was unlearning everything I had done by pure reflex for centuries in my old body. Imagine trying to cast a spell on pure instinct, making the mana flow in your body without a conscious thought, and then being forced to not do it the way you had done it a million tis before.
There was also the fact that I had rather enjoyed the company of a few females from various races in my old life. Id not call myself a ladies man though, owing partly to the brutal and bloody upbringing in my old life. Challenging to form loving relationships, after spending the first century of your life battling with your own kind, not even knowing if the next one you killed was your sibling or even your mother. My original race had not been big on family. I was kind of hoping to change that with my new life. To live a life filled with warmth and love, and forget most of my original one. To really have a family this ti, instead of only striving to be the strongest. I suppose I still can do that, but this was going to complicate things a bit.
I had almost forgotten the midwife/healer, while I was snuggled in my mothers arms, lost in my thought, while trying to maintain a smile. That is until I heard her speak.
Co now. It is ti to have the child tested. After that I can leave you to your happiness with your new daughter.
Uh-oh! I was hoping they wouldnt have any tests of ability or potential on this world, until I had learned a bit more about their world. Theres little chance I can hide anything when Im just born and have absolutely no control over myself. I had lost my imnse magical powers as well as my internal power, often called chi, ki, qi, kei or sothing similar when I died. That said my soul was still stupidly powerful when compared to other newborn, and theres still a significant connection between a persons soul and their source of magic and their inner strength. More specifically even though my newborn body had a ager amount of inner strength, the power would grow much faster and earlier than it should, thanks to my soul. And although I had actually no clue yet as to the amount of magical power this new body had, I was pretty sure it would be exceptional, and would grow even faster. Out of the norm, as it were. I didnt want to stand out, at least not yet. I wanted to at least start out as normal as possible.
My whole previous life I had been what could only be described as exceptional. I hated that word. I had suffered because of it. Jealousy, rage, fear and the desire to own or defeat. Thats what it brought out in those around . Never anything positive. Even the fact that it made strong only brought more battles.
There wasnt anything I could do about it at the mont though, as the midwife/healer brought what looked like a crystal ball towards . Have your daughter touch the crystal. If the crystal glowswell you know the drill, weve done this with your other daughters before. She said.
Might as well get this over with I thought and reached to touch the crystal. When my hand touched it, the crystal started glowing a rather bright golden color. Nothing else happened though. I had expected sothing a bit more in depth.
Oh, excellent! Your daughter has been blessed by a god or a goddess! And judging from the brightness, it is a greater blessing no less! The midwife/healer said excitedly. Maybe I should add priestess or sothing to that list. It was obvious that she had been blessed, from how beautiful she is! I knew it! She had to be touched by the Goddess of Beauty and Love Aphrodite!
She was definitely excited. Im guessing greater blessings arent very common. Also, Beauty and Love? What? I suspected that TianZun was planning to have blessed by a local god to mask so of my growth-rate. But the Goddess of Beauty and Love? What the heck? He really was trying to get his moneys worth from this being born as a woman thing! Also as a side note: Aphrodite? Im pretty sure Ive visited at least one world with a Goddess of Love with that sa na. Is it like a trend among the gods?
The midwife/healer/priestess wasnt finished it seems. At age 16, when you have her tested for magical abilities, we can also find out the exact details of her blessing. Ah, its been a while since weve had anyone with a greater blessing from a god other than the protector of the Elves, Elune. The greater gods tend to be so territorial, blessing only their chosen race and the lesser gods rarely go out of their way to bless mbers of the chosen races.
Im guessing a greater blessing qualifies going out of their way. I wonder if the gods of this world make all their blessings consciously, or is there so automation involved. I had known a few gods in my old life where they just set things up where children with certain traits would get blessed automatically. Either way, I was rather glad the test had been just for that purpose. Also now I knew there was to be a more precise test when I turned 16, so I had ti to prepare.
My parents seed happy with the result. Father was smiling happily and thanking the midwife/healer/priestess and mother was whispering so baby talk at , with the general content of Thats my girl! while lifting up and giving kisses. At least the kisses felt nice, even if the conversation was lacking. Oh well. Being a baby cos with good sides and bad sides I suppose.
Seeing my father again reminded of sothing, I hadnt really taken notice before. What kind of work does my father do that would require a son that badly? I an we are elves, inherently magical beings, and I can sense that my father is strong enough to know, that physical strength is only sowhat related to bodily strength and muscles. Most of physical strength cos from the application of inner strength, so there should be no problem with a woman performing most work that is generally considered mostly for n. So of the best warriors and craftsn Ive known have been female. In fact, Im pretty sure mother is stronger than father.
It would take a long ti before I got a proper explanation for that question.
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I was right with there being good sides and bad sides to being a baby. Theres a kind of cultural shock with going from a being that can make gods afraid to a baby that needs help withshall we say waste managent. Also while I can appreciate the female form, being breast fed sort of takes the luster out from that. Luckily that part didnt last very long. Apparently elves wean their children after only a couple of weeks, or at least my family does. I do appreciate the closeness with my family though, especially my mother and my sisters. Father tends to spend most of his ti working. Its quite frustrating when people around are talking about him working as if its obvious what he does, and I cant actually ask any questions for clarification. Not only because it would be odd if a baby this young suddenly talked, but also my vocal cords arent quite up to it yet. Fancy that.
I did however learn a few things both about his work and about our family in general. My mothers na is Asheara and she apparently really is a Moon Elf. My father, Elluin is also High Elf as I suspected, but here on this world theyre called Eldarinwe. From what I heard, there are other types of elves, but I didnt hear anyone specify them. I will learn about that later, Im sure. I had four sisters, Delia, Selene, Selvaria and Elsaria. Elsaria, the youngest aside from , had inherited more of my mothers Moon Elf blood, while the others were clearly more Eldarinwe in their looks. I still had no idea what I looked like. I could finally turn my head properly, but there wasnt a surplus of mirrors in the parts of the house Ive been in. Speaking of, we were part of House Khalidor. The irony of my last na including the na of the Queen of Inferno, Khali, was not lost on , and, I suspect, neither was it lost on TianZun. I had known Khali in my previous life, and shed get a real kick about my new last na. If she ever found out, that is.
Ours was not a noble House, from what I understood, but I got the feeling it was sothing similar. We had, from what I could see, a rather large manor ho, with nurous servants, soldiers and the like. Yes an actual manor, not one of those hippy tree houses so elves inhabited. Though the architecture was very detailed and beautiful, with lots of open space, white pillars with carvings and arching wide windows. The whole building had a very airy feeling to it, and I suspect winters werent really a thing here. I got the sense my father was respected as if he was a noble of high rank, if not more, yet it was for his work and not his position that garnered such. It was as if soone had combined the wealth and authority of an important rchant with the respect for a great warrior.
My sisters spent a great deal of ti with , more that I had expected in fact. My family seed to enjoy the fact that I was a rather calm and happy child. Apparently my siblings were quite fond of their new baby sister, and every ti my mother put down, one of them was there to try and pick up, with mixed success. The youngest, Elsaria was only two years old, and as such didnt really have the strength required, as light as I was. The second youngest Selvaria was only four years old, but rather strong so she had no trouble with it, although she preferred to mostly just play with and do the baby talk everyone seems to love to do. I suppose I can live with that, even if it didnt make for a stimulating conversation. Selene and Delia, six and eight respectively, were the real baby carriers. I did enjoy it though. Closeness with my family had been an important goal for my new life as I ntioned.
Mother and Father really tried for that son every two years, or thereabouts. Im guessing theyll try again and Ill have a baby brother or sister in about two years again. I thought, as I considered that my family really seed rather child rich for elves. Whatever my fathers work is, he really seems intent on passing it on to a son.
Related to that, I had made so initial tests to the nature of my inner strength and magic. As you might expect, the physical side of my inner strength was rather low what with being a newborn and all, and my Ki pathways were actually rather diocre, even for soone this young. I would have to do sothing about that, when I got to a point where I could walk around without raising suspicion and could spend so ti alone. I knew so body modification techniques that would work just as well for a girl, even if wasnt yet familiar with my new body. That would get jump started. I had no desire to seek strength in the sa intensity as I had in my previous life, but I would rather have enough to protect myself and those close to . Also life was just a lot easier when you had high inner strength. For example, when you can run faster and longer than whatever this world used as steeds, traveling beca much more simple.
Inner strength had a fairly large ntal component though, which was heavily influenced by your soul. That part I had in spades, but you cant run all that strength through my current body. Hence the need for improvent when I got a bit older. I could however run it outside my body, as sothing called Touki. Touki was sothing that protected the body like armor would, except it also worked against so magical effects in addition to blades. So Im a pretty well protected baby against external threats like knives and scissors, and whatever else kids could hurt themselves on, but if one of my sisters were to drop , Id still get hurt inside from the impact like a normal kid would. Funny how that works.
As for magic, I ran into a surprising problem. My plan was to test out the magic of this world one night, when everyone was asleep, but couldnt actually do anything. I could sense my mana inside , and I could also sense there was quite a large amount of it, but it felt like there was sothing missing. Like there was a gate in the road that the mana was supposed to take, but the gate was closed. I could affect the mana on the other side, but not actually do anything with it. During the last weeks I could see magic used a couple of tis for normal tasks, and I could sense much more being used in the manor, so the ability to utilize magic to at least so degree wasnt rare. I wagered a guess, that this barrier was sothing that either needed to be removed by soone already capable of magic, or it was sothing that would dissipate with ti.
This might have sothing to do with the test that was supposed to be administered at age 16. If I had to guess, the gods had made it like that so that the children would not kill themselves before being old enough to learn proper usage. Kind of annoying, but I could live with that. I could still use the ti until then, to ditate and refine my mana, so that when the ti actually ca, Id be at my best. Being a baby tended to boring at tis.
I didnt think it was all that likely that I would have to use my magic to protect myself as a baby anyway, with the guards around the place, and I did have a couple of tricks up my proverbial sleeve if sothing really did happen. As it turns out, thats not quite how things worked out
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