Mortal

The cries of a newly born child rang out loudly in the large room but were unnoticed by all but two, the first a young maiden, a servant dressed in a simple light blue dress covering her neck, arms and the rest of her petite form. Her brunette hair jostled slightly as she hurried to take the newly born baby from the quickly slipping mother's arms. Meanwhile the other women in the room hurried to the mother's side, casting what diagnostic and healing magic they could to try and find the cause of the woman's lack of breath. Her once beautiful, clear green eyes now having grown dull and vacant.

The only other one to hear the crying of the newborn was his father Earl Losler, and while he cared deeply about his newborn son and heir his focus was now on his beautiful wife who was no longer reacting after naming their baby boy. The young brunette remained by Lord Losler's side his height of 5'11" towering over her 5'4" form. His usually neatly combed hair was more than a little tussled, his usually calm, perhaps even stern expression replaced with one of panic as he watched the other nurses and midwives. He wanted to rush to her side, to hold her hand and be there but he knew he would only get in the way of those trying to save her life.

Only after a half hour of trying different techniques, spells and medicines of all kinds, did the nurses and midwives stop. Their heads bowed deeply in shame before both the now deathly pale and cold body on the bed. The head midwife turned to Lord Losler slowly and looked him in the eyes as calmly as she could as she spoke the words "We were unable to save her my lord." Her voice was low, and her words slightly stuttered.

At those words the Lord Losler walked over to his wife's side, his knees giving way to his muscular but slim frame as he took her now cold hand. Removing his half-moon glasses, tears rolled down his cheeks as he held her hand. As if to agree with the sorrow of his father the young baby Jien Losler cried even louder than he had been previously. Though coddled and checked by the nurse repeatedly with spell and eyes the nurse found nothing wrong with the babe and yet it wailed as if it was a banshee. Many thought these wails were simply due to the loss of his mother but there was so much more.

"Jien" was not a simple babe, though his mind was not fully grown and his thoughts fuzzy, he remembered. Flashes of plains covered in tall grass lit by the blinding red orange light of a sunrise, flashes of a man several times his size, only a shadow but oh so real to his vision. Words mumbled in the darkness before he entered the place that he was now. Though he did not necessarily comprehend these "thoughts" just as a child may not comprehend the written laws of a kingdom, a feeling that he did not understand and could not comprehend welled up in his small chest. So, he wailed his heart out, he cried and screamed making his presence once more known to those in the room and continued to wail until his tiny vocal cords gave out and his small form began to fall asleep.

Lord Losler spent another hour by his wife's side crying, letting the baby cry and letting the nurse care for it before he finally let go of her cold hand. His pale face rose to meet the eyes of the one remaining nurse who had tried to calm the new babe before it fell asleep and motioned for her to bring his heir forward. As he took the young child in his arms, watching its sleeping form curling into his chest brought a subtle but warm smile to his sharp facial features, despite the despair and misery he felt at the loss of his true love and wife.

That night Lord Earl Losler and Jien Losler both slept like proverbial babies, one sleeping as he sat in a large well-padded maroon armchair with gold accents, the other resting gently in his strong arms. Though their bodies rested heavily and their minds empty due to the strain of the days events, neither of their souls rested as easily. Lord Losler still felt the pain of his loss as one would expect. His heart ached and if he was conscious he would have undoubtedly been mourning heavily for his wife. Jien however was restless in the concept of his soul for a different reason. Though vague he still held the soul of the one who had been cast from a higher realm. While the brain of a baby could not comprehend the vicissitudes of such a soul, the soul itself was still present.

The feeling that had burgeoned in the baby's chest, causing it such a fit that it tired itself out, was pure unadulterated rage. Rage over being killed, rage for being cast out like garbage by those that should have maintained order and finally rage at himself for not being able to protect or avenge his love. Of course, a baby's mind could not interpret such deep concepts so all that came of it was wailing and screaming. Now that the mind and body were truly resting deeply could the soul be felt in the depths of emptiness.

The soul of a being at least thousands of years old now stirred in the depths of darkness. This being fully understood his predicament, having been cast out into a different realm. The larger issue was that he did not fully understand which. Though the body and soul were joined along with the mind, the mind would need to understand the soul's wisdom and the body's sensory input to be able to attain new information. If one piece was not up on par with the others, then the entirety of what was gained would be equal to the lowest of the three parts.

If the mind was too young to interpret the knowledge or wisdom from a soul, then at most it may get images but not a full understanding. If the soul was somehow damaged, then the person may be well learned and strong of body, but the damage would likely lead to emotional weakness but more likely coma or death by the body's most vital energies slowly slipping through the wielder's fingers. If one could not sustain the very energy that kept the body able to move and muscles active then how could one expect to remain alive. After all the heart was one of the most important muscles the body had. If it would not beat then the life would inevitably end. Lastly if the body lacked a way to interpret input, then how was one to be able to understand the world around them. For now, Jien's mind was just too young to understand his soul and thus all that was left was the wait until his mind had developed enough to do so. 

One would question what good such reincarnation would do if the one reincarnated could not understand everything from the previous life right away but how would a newborn babe be able to put all that knowledge to work. Though magic existed one could not just use it. A baby that could speak in full sentences would be considered haunted by spirits or possessed by demons, likely leading to being ostracized or worse killed while still in infancy. Not to mention that reincarnation itself was not common, though it did happen more often than people were aware of.

After the first night, exhausting and heartbreaking as it was, things at Losler Manor in the city of Afrem began to calm down. Though the loss of his wife was dreadful, Lord Losler could not abandon his duties and so he mourned her as he continued to watch over the city. Meanwhile Jien was cared for by the same young nurse who had held him the day he was born. His father though constantly busy did not leave all of the work to the nurse. He consistently took part in the raising of his son and heir. He would spend time in the gardens resting with his son in his arms, read to him both scholarly texts and fairy tales and did his very best to ensure that his son, knew that he was loved by his father. In this very way five years passed.

In that time Jien had grown into a young boy, his mind developing quickly with the help of his fathers' teachings and body well cared for by the food carefully and lovingly prepared by the staff of the manor, the moments of play and the resources that a middling lord was able to gather to help his son become the best that he could be. It was in these five years that though Jien's mind could not comprehend the extent of his souls' knowledge he came to understand one of many things fully: He was now one hundred percent mortal.