1 My past life & rebirth

Ever since I could remember, I was alone. My first memory was of someone shouting. I would only years later come to realise that I was in an orphanage. And it's in this orphanage where I spent all 16 years of my life.

Due to the pressure of having no one to rely on but myself, I jumped straight off the deep end into the bottomless sinkhole that was studying. But even then, my protracted study lessons spent in the library day after day away from everyone failed to deter unwanted attention.

As any 'nerd' would face, bullying, turned into my biggest hardship and obstacle. Because my life wasn't shitty enough already. The constant abuse from a certain group of kids forced me to make a choice. Be a sheep or become a wolf.

And that brought me to Leo, the standard popular kid that nobody messed with, and everyone liked. He was heavily into sports and therefore neglected his studies. Evident by the incessant reproaches from the teachers of every single one of our classes.

There are many movies where the nerd befriends the popular kid and they each benefit from the other. I decided to give it a shot. And soon enough my proposition was accepted. He would help me learn MMA and I would do his homework. I didn't really mind since I had long been dubbed as 'the photocopier'.

Why? Because I had a perfect memory. I remembered everything as vividly as possible. If I concentrated enough I could spend my days reliving my life again and again. Naturally, that made learning everything incredibly easy. That included MMA. Leo soon got annoyed or was it jealousy at how quickly I was learning, and left shortly afterwards. but he had taught me enough, so I didn't mind.

I was a… vengeful person. I would prefer if I wasn't, but I remembered grudges and made sure to pay them back tenfold. So I soon locked on to the bullying trio. Let's just say broken bones were involved. Naturally, I made sure to pick them off one by one and make it look like they fell on their own in front of witnesses.

Sure, some might say it was wrong or over the top. 'That I'm exhibiting psychopathic traits', but all I see, is sweet revenge that is best served cold. Plus, if I simply hurt them all at the same time, they would have the leverage to pin it on me. After all, how would I explain that I had nothing to do with three kids being hurt when all three of them are pointing their fingers in my direction?

My way, I can use my good reputation as a hard-working student to get off scot-free. obviously, I couldn't repeat it three times or I would eventually be suspected. So, I made sure to beat the second and third kids outside of school where the teachers had no jurisdiction.

Fascinating how the world works huh? At the first sign of weakness, you are swarmed by others like piranhas to blood. But they all scurry off when they see you're too big to eat.

My peaceful days resumed.

As I walked down the cracked concrete footpath, I would sometimes nick my foot on the slightly elevated chunks causing me to stumble forward. Why would I continue to fall for it again and again? Because I was too busy reading the final instalment of the harry potter books. I was reaching the last couple of pages, and I naturally could care less about the surroundings. It would usually only cause me to walk around several extra blocks. But I didn't mind it and just dismissed it as extra cardio. But today, today was different.

As I continued to walk forward I suddenly felt the absence of the ground beneath my feet. When my foot finally touched the hard floor once again I realised I had stepped onto the road from the slightly elevated footpath. But because of the unexpected change of elevation, my whole body stumbled forward.

And to my abhorrently bad luck, a truck came into view from a blind corner. As my body continued to fall forward, it was like time slowed down. And my life began to flash before my eyes.

There wasn't much I regretted doing. But there was something I wish I could have experienced. When I was young, I would see kids happily jumping around, smiling and shouting with joy as they held onto their parents' hands. Children being kissed by their mothers on their way to school.

That was my only wish. to be in their position. To feel the warmth of a mother's embrace. But that was where that train of thought stopped. Not of my own volition, but due to the front bumper of the white truck ramming into my head at 60kmph.

'At least it was a quick death.' I sighed.

My vision darkened and I soon faded into the empty abyss. Who knows how long it had been, but after what seemed like hours, a warm comfortable feeling crept into my body. Like a hot drink on a cold winter's day.

It surprised me, to be honest. I thought I had died. Did I not? Was God so twisted that he not only took pleasure in my suffering but decided to add the special DLC called 'being crippled from the neck down,' Limited edition?

The muffled sounds of someone talking could be heard. It was like I was underwater. I could also feel a stomach grumble. Was it mine? And this strong heartbeat, why was it almost deafening? like a hard leather drum at a carnival.

As I pondered over these bizarre circumstances a booming voice came into my ears.

[Who are you?] said the voice in a demanding tone. This was getting weirder. But I decided to answer truthfully.

"Thomas" I answered

[you are not the owner of this body! How did you get here?] it asked seemingly angry. But his words puzzled me. What did he mean?

"What are you talking about man?" I asked

[Don't play coy with me boy! What did you do!] he bellowed.

"Mate, listen, I have no idea what the fuck is going on. I was just hit by a truck. So YOU tell ME what's going on." I raised my voice. But I didn't feel my mouth moving. This is all too strange.

[Hm? How can this be? You are evidently a baby, yet you are able to talk.] he said, seemingly mumbling to himself. But his words shocked me. I was a baby?! My shock lasted a while as I tried to process it. after a little longer, I was able to calm down.

There were two possibilities, one, this guy is trolling me to no end. Or two, I reincarnated.

"Who are you?" I asked. based on his answer, I would be able to understand which of the two it was.

[Drakon, a Dragon.]

I stared into the darkness in shock. That… was not the answer I was expecting. THIS DOESN'T HELP! I still don't know if he's trolling me.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

[of course, what do I gain from lying?] he asked in a puzzled tone.

'You gain a lot actually, like me look like a gullible fool.' I thought to myself.

[*sigh* Here, this should make it clear.] he said. I was wondering what he meant when I suddenly felt a jolt as images instantly began to filter into my mind. what was shocking was that they weren't mine. The images slowed down, and one came into focus, a woman who seemed to be heavily pregnant. But it didn't stop, the images got closer and soon phased into the stomach to show a healthy human boy.

I was left tongue-tied. The images didn't prove much, but that wasn't the point. The fact that foreign memories were shown to me gives the voice's words credibility. But if that was the case, then the heartbeat I'm hearing is probably from the woman carrying me. And the faint, weaker one, is mine. This warm feeling is probably due to the liquid I'm currently floating in being heated by the woman's body. And the reason the voices I heard before were muffled is due to the uterus walls.

In a way, it all made sense.

[It seems that whatever brought you here made sure to make it permanent. it seems you became the new owner of this body. And I don't dare use magic since it could kill you.] the dragon said.

I was surprised but understood. if it was reincarnation, then it sure as shit better not be a timed event. but his next words shocked me to my core. M-M-Magic?! wouldn't that mean that... no-no-no, I must have heard wrong.

"Y-Yous just said magic?" I asked while trying to suppress my rising excitement.

[Yeah... magic, wizards creatures all that stuff. what's so surprising?] the dragon asked in a puzzled tone.

It was real! I didn't mishear. and W-Wizards! There were many books I had read and many games I had played that contained wizards but one of them stood out from the rest. The world of Harry Potter. I couldn't be for certain, but I really hoped it was.

"So, tell me, what's your history? How are you connected to my… new family?" I asked, pausing when it came to the word 'family', a sudden sense of joy rushed throughout my tiny body.

[That… you will need to know if you are going to be part of this family.] he said. But I could hear some hesitance and a trace of nervousness in his voice. I was wondering why that would be. But I didn't dwell on it. there were many more important things to focus on.