Parallel Cosmos

(Volume 1, New Life arc)

(New Life arc begins)

It was a bustling market place during the late-evening, at a time of the day where housewives shop for food, and kids spend time with their fellow friends.

However, this shopping street is different from the ones that we know, for it is designed to look like what some would call 'Traditional'.

This place is not of the modern world.

Two men clad in light armour enters the market, their gaze glances towards another guard sitting by the entrance with a defeated look.

"Hey you, stand upright."

The guard looked up and saw a blonde haired man staring down at him, he instantly recognized that man.

"Captain Buffet!" The entrance guard quickly got back on his feet.

"I know you are tired, but we need to stand proud to scare off thieves. Can't have them stealing from the stalls now can we?"

"Yes... I understand."

"Good. Keep that up, it's only an hour left."

The duo continued their way down the marketplace...

"Hey, should you really be working today...?" The second person asked.

"What's this all of a sudden lieutenant?"

"What about your paternal leave? It's been 9 months for your wife hasn't it?"

"Well, she didn't say anything about wanting me by her side.... and she has a maid to help out as well."

"Read a book will you? Not hard to figure out that she wants you near her, it's just that she doesn't say it."

"Oh.... This is bad..."

"Indeed it is."

"...You think she'll be pissed if I gave her some sweets?"

"God knows."

"Sigh... Being a husband is difficul-"

"Ahh---!!!"

"?!" (2x)

Suddenly, multiple screams were heard from farther down the street. Following that, the people around the marketplace started to run for the exit...

"...Let's go!"

"Ah!"

"Move people, get out of the marketplace!" The duo shouted as they started running for the source of the chaos...

Arriving at the scene....

By the second exit, the other guard lied on the floor bleeding out profusely from his chest.

There was a cloaked man who had just stabbed the guard in the neck.

"Stay... away...!"

What the guard said was not directed to the attacker... it was a warning directed to the captain.

"Oh mother of blood, grant me thy strength if only but temporary... to-"

"What should we-"

The captain rushes in immediately, drawing his sword out in a split second and slashes at the hooded man.

It was a clean cut, the head came right off the attacker's body.

"-do... captain..."

Blood gushes everywhere, tainting the captain and a section of the street in red.

"Heal..." The captain took out a piece of scroll from his back and placed it on the bleeding wound of the guard. "Hold it in place and keep the spell active, I'll carry you to a doctor."

"Captain, was that attack really necessary?..."

"It was."

"You killed him without any warning! What if he-"

"...to..."

"?!" (3x) To their horror, the severed head of the cultist starts chanting again.

"to burn away... the uncleansed..."

The pool of blood grows in size from the blood coming out of the attacker's body... and as a result-

"...Blood Sacrifice..."

"Shit, get off now!!!"

The captain grabs the injured guard and jumped towards the vice, pushing everyone out of the blood puddle.

'Fwuom!' Just a second later, crimson flames bursts out from the blood, burning down a section of the market place.

The cultist's head was caught right in the flames, and burned to a char.

"What in the world...."

"Bastard kept himself alive with blood magic..."

"H-how?! This defies all logic-"

"That is precisely why blood magic are curses! Shut up and help me carry this guy to a doctor!"

"Thomas! What the hell happened here?!"

Another voice yelled out from behind as he approached captain Buffet. An entire squad of guards had came to the rescue.

"You go help the wounded! As for you, go contact the Mage's Guild to send someone to dispel this ccurse!"

"Yes sir!" (2x)

"Buffet, I leave you alone for just half an hour and this is what happened?!"

"Vice-captain. This fucker tried to use blood magic on us... luckily no one was killed."

"Sigh... Regardless, this attack makes the third one for this month. Are we going to do something about the cultists?"

"That's not up to us to decide... For now we need to-"

"Woah woah, before you get carried away we need to talk."

"What's more important than this?!"

"Your wife."

"What---?!"

The vice captain didn't need to explain further, Thomas knew that his wife had called for him because she's giving birth soon.

"That's the reason I'm here you idiot! Go, I'll handle things here."

"Thanks a lot, I'll treat you to a drink later!"

Thomas Buffet immediately took off on a sprint, running towards his home where his lovely wife and his unborn child is located at.

"Hang in there Katherine...!"

__________________

__________________

[???'s POV]

(Present)

'Brr....' The engine from the bus sounds as the driver steps on the gas pedal to accelerate on the high speed lane on a highway.

I stared out the window, looking out to the scenery of Mount Fuji. A familiar looking silhouette appeared in the bus's window, a reflection of myself.

Black hair, brown eyes. No one special, an average 17 year old Japanese boy.

"Hey Taki, what are you doing staring out the window like an idiot? It's your turn!" Said a boy sitting in front of me.

"Hahaha, I guess Taki-kun didn't get enough sleep last night because he was too worried about the trip." Said a girl sitting next to me.

"Amemiya-san, you really do know me well. Yawn...."

Another boy sitting next to the one in front of me handed eight cards to me. "Come on sleepy head, it's plus 8 cards for you! There's no way you are going to get your win-"

"Here's a plus four cards, red colored."

"What?!" (3x)

"No fair Taki! You just gave me 12 cards, over 21 cards, it's game over for me!"

"Sorry Amemiya-san, but a victor has to stand alone. Also, it's my last card before UNO!"

Even though it might not seem like it, I had only met these three people last week. We really do get along well despite our short time span of knowing each other.

As for the card game, any teenage boy with a sense of ego will be obsessed with victory in uno, there's no way I will lose this battle.

"Damnit, our plan to sabotage him backfired.... Here's a red 8."

"Hehehe.... I can see through your move, Taki!"

"Oh? What is my move?" My final card is a red colored 8.... I had set up the plus four card to red colored because of this.

"Your final card must be red colored, why else would you deliberately put your plus four cards to red? So here's a Green 8, I won't let you win so easily!"

"Tsk!... You saw through my plan."

"Now you have no more cards to play, so go ahead and take new ones-"

"But you underestimated my luck. My final card is a red 8, it's UNO!" I said as I threw the final card onto the stack of card on the table.

"What?!" (2x)

"Hehehe... There's no way you three can even compete with me in card games, I have always had a good luck!"

"Urgh what a failure.... Here, Amemiya." Said the boy as he pushes the pile of cards onto the girl.

"What?"

"You clean and cut the cards. You're the only loser here afterall."

"Fine...."

As she is arranging the cards, I peeked out the window to once again look at Mount Fuji. Something appeared on the sky right next to the highway.... a light blue colored light floating in the air.

"Hey, what's that?" I said as I point towards the blue light.

"Hmm? Probably just a drone."

"But I don't see any rotors or wings, it can't be a drone.... And it seems to have a pattern?"

The blue colored light is made up of a pattern which appears to be a crest, forming into a beautiful circle with runic words.

But wait, a crest? Appearing out of thin air?

"Is that a UFO or something?"

It was then, the light started to glow brighter and brighter, until a purple colored flash of ray shined down on me.

It wasn't a UFO.... it was thunder. A thunder that is far stronger than any natural thunder I've ever seen before. It's not something that can appear out of nowhere, someone must've manipulated it.

I am not gonna make it out of this alive I think....

'Boom!!!'

"Ahh!!!" (?x)

.....

....

Hmm? What is this darkness that I'm seeing here?

I tried to open my eyes but quickly realized that I can't feel my eyelids, nor can I actually see anything at all.

'Brrr...' If I pay close attention, I can hear a muffled ambulance siren and a car engine driving on high speed.

'Beep.... Beep....' But what's more alarming is the repeated beeping noise that happens at abnormal speed. It sounds like a heart rate monitor.

I tried to move my body but my entire body feels numb and I was paralyzed. Each beat of my heart feels painful, almost as if my chest is having a cramp at the moment. Each time my heart jumped, it felt like someone had jammed a sword into my chest.

"He's having a heart attack! Inject him with 300 milligram of Aspirin or else he'll die if his heart gets clotted!"

"Yes!"

Heart attack? Me? I'm having a heart attack?

"Wait, the patient's eyes are moving!"

"Really? Let me check!"

What the hell happened to my body?... My eyes are moving? How come I can't see?

"Hey boy, can you hear me? Do you remember your name? Satou, pass me the flashlight."

I tried to respond to his questions but my voice won't come out, I could only grasp for air desperately as I open my mouth.

"Hah....! Hah...!" Was the only sound I could make.

"It's no use, he's blind. His organs are also failing one by one, there's just no way his lungs can sustain oxygen to his brain with this much damage whilst he's having a heart attack, he'll be a goner at this rate!"

"No way, I'm not giving up on him! He's the only one who survived out of all of them, it's a miracle that we even found his body intact!"

I'm the only one that survived the thunder?....

Shit.... I'm not feeling too well....

Father.... Mother.... I've failed you once again....

________________

When I came to, dizzying lights pierced my eyes, forcing me to narrow my eyes. Once I had adjusted to the brightness, I finally opened my eyes again.

The first thing I saw was a woman with long red hair and hazel eyes hugging my head with one of her arm.

Why is her face drenched in sweat?

Wait what happened? I no longer feel any pain now, is this the anesthesia? Or have my nerves finally died and went numb from being struck by thunder?

As my mind was racing with questions, the woman opened her mouth.

[Author's note : Brackets, () is translated version of the sentence.]

"(Thomas...it's our child... our girl!...)"

What is she saying? I can't understand it, is she speaking German? Or Russian maybe?

"(Yes Katherine... It's our child!)"

A man's voice was heard, his hand reached out to grip her's.

A blonde guy to the brunette's side... Why does he have armour and why is he covered in blood, what the hell is going on?!

"(Madam, sir. Your child is born without any complications, she's a healthy baby.)"

Another voice sounded from behind.

I tried to sit up properly and survey my environment but my body feels weak and weird... am I paralyzed? No, I can still move but it feels really odd somehow.

"(Ah, she's moving!)"

"(My... My girl...)"

The blonde man reached his finger towards my face, but it's so large. I reached my arm out to try and grab it, but they don't feels right either...

WHAT?! My arms! They are so short and chubby!

"Ahhhn-! Ahhhhhnn-! "

Wha?! A baby's cry came out of my mouth!

"(Oh how cute...! From now on, your name will be Kyrielle, Kyrielle Buffet. What do you think?)"

"(Mm, it's a great name... But I am really tired now.... I need a little rest...)"

My name is Fujiwara Taki... and I'm reborn as a baby?!

(Chapter end)