The Enchantress

During Hiro's final moments, he felt bitter and self-contempt. He went to the Rainbow Bridge to end his own live, but after rescuing the little girl, he felt tremendous fear towards the idea of suffocation in the dark lake.

He decided that he would just serve his sentence and die in the prison. However, his resolve was shattered to pieces when an unknown entity grabbed onto his back heel and pulled him down the lake. After moments of futile struggle to stay afloat, he lost all of his strength and got pulled down into the dark lake.

The initial pain was imminent as the water filled up his lung, but after a while, he lost most of his senses and reaction to pain. When he finally closed his eyes, a light suddenly appeared in his vision. After moments that seemed like eternity, he heard a woman's voice speaking some unknown language.

It took a while for the intense white bright light to die down before he could adjust his vision. When he came to his senses, he saw a woman staring at him. Her eyes were like sunken blue diamonds of titanic, cold and crisp. He did not understand what the woman said, a language that was not like any languages that he had ever heard.

After asking the woman where he was, the woman smiled at him and said something else. Before he could ask any more questions, he felt a sudden urge to sleep. For the past three weeks, he stayed awake all nights long, with each minute passed during the night filled with mixed emotions of regret, fear and desperation.

All of these feelings were suddenly gone as he slowly closed his eyes, with his last recollection of memory as the woman's mysterious smile and her silver long hair, covering her pale face like the crescent moon in the sky.

...

The dusk set in, and the creeping moon in the night sky illuminated the town of Efensberg, a place named after the great hero who fought during the Transcendence War. A masked woman stepped out of the carriage that was hauled by a giant four-legged lizard-like creature. She grabbed a sleeping child out of the carriage and placed his head on her shoulder.

In front of the woman was a building with glassed showcase displaying various colored potion bottles and magical devices. The building's exterior red paint still seemed fresh as the sour fragrance of Red Aquaplum lingered through the streets. A sign next to these merchandises read: "Paladin Level Adventure Receives 20% Off"

The woman calmly walked towards the front door of the the building, where it was intertwined by an obsidian uroboros shaped lock. She silently chanted a spell and moved her lips subtly. Suddenly, the eyes of the snake lit up with tiny green flame as its mouth opened mechanically, spitting out its own tail. When the tail completely came out, the obsidian snake hissed, then it slithered down the door into a dark gap between the jagged tiles of the ground. The woman entered the shop and the fir wood door automatically closed behind her.

...

The smell of his parents' herbal shop from his childhood mixed with smell of charred maple woods was the first thing that stimulated Hiro's senses as he slowly opened his drowsy eyes. The soothing warmth from the fireplace and the fur blanket caressed his skin as he moved around on a large dark colored rectangular couch.

Using his hands to push himself up, he glanced around his surrounding--A fireplace, two shelves of books, one shelve storing unknown devices and bottles filled with colored liquids, a desk placed near the window, and a silver haired woman sitting there--the same woman he saw before falling asleep.

All of this was very strange, but the thing that shocked him the most was what he found out next. He stared at his own reflection through a large rectangular mirror which hung on a closet door. What he saw was a skinny boy around the age of five with unkempt dark brown hair, dark green eyes and dirty face.

The boy in the reflection raised his right hand and touched his own face and hair. Then, the boy pinched his own wrist, as if trying to ascertain between reality and dream. Realizing that this wasn't a dream, Hiro concluded that he must have reincarnated in another person's body.

Before Hiro could think anymore about his current situation, the woman who was sitting there quietly the whole time finally turned around and took her gaze away from the night sky. She stood up and smiled warmly at Hiro.

Not knowing what situation he was in, Hiro decided that the best action to take at the moment was to continue faking himself as a five years old despite not knowing anything about this world.

The woman put down a glass of what seemed like wine that she was holding and slowly walked towards the sofa where Hiro had been resting on. She sat at the tip of the large sofa and gently gazed at Hiro. Not knowing what to do, Hiro continued lied there and innocently looked at the woman.

After a brief moment, the woman finally opened her mouth and spoke something to Hiro. Hiro sat there cluelessly and gently shook his head, as if trying to convey that he didn't understand what she was talking about.

The woman paused and looked away from Hiro, as if trying to think of something. After sometimes passed, she gestured a motion at the shelf that stored weird apparatuses. To Hiro's complete inner shock, a pendant flew out of the shelf and landed on the woman's hand.

What just happened? Hiro thought to himself. How did that thing just flied towards her hand? Was it magic or something? Before he can think anymore, the woman pointed her left index finger towards the pendant in her right hand. Then, she made a wearing motion and pointed towards Hiro's neck.

Hesitating for a brief moment, Hiro took the mouth shaped pendant from her hand and wore it around his neck. The pendant's cool steel brushed against his tiny chest.

"Do you understand me now?" Hiro gasped out of surprise and opened his mouth slightly as the woman asked this question. She smiled and was happy with how the plan worked out. Hiro's previous suspicion surrounding magic was completely confirmed when he understood what the she said. A device that allows you to understand others while wearing it is straight out of some fantasy and magical fairy tale.

"Yes, where am I" Gathering his thoughts, he planed to continue to fake his identity as someone who was reincarnated. He was always very cautious when it came to new situations, no matter where, and it had helped him throughout his days leading his company.

However, his only weakness was too trusting of someone once he decided to give them trust. This weakness lead to his downfall as the CEO of Japan's largest pharmaceutical company when his trusted partner betrayed him by intentionally modifying the drugs used in the clinical trials after reaching a deal with his competitor.

"Your name is..Cole, right? My name is Vaness Ainsley, you may call me Master Ainsley or Miss. Ainsley, I am an enchantress who specializes in potion making. From today, you will be my apprentice and help with everything I do. The pendant you are wearing is a special item imbued with the soul essence of a rare Siren, it allows anyone who wears it to understand the language that is spoken by any other races. After wearing this long enough, you will be able to understand and communicate even without this pendant" the enchantress spoke these words with a smile while subtly assessing the boy's reaction.

Hiro quickly gathered a reply and decided that it's the best for now to just go along with whatever she proposed. After getting dragged down the ocean by a mysterious force, he get's reincarnated in another world. Maybe to some people, it's an undesirable situation to be in, but to Hiro who lost everything, he silently decided that he will cherish this new opportunity to live a new life, no matter what this world has ready for him.

"Yes, Miss Ainsley, I will not disappoint you!" Hiro smiled brightly, trying his best to give off a five years old's innocent vibe.

To be continued