Earth Attacks my Reincarnation World

[Dictatelion]

Earth discovered a way to reach Yrafell, a less-developed world home to many different species. They invaded it, greedy for resources and confident in their superior technology. That was without taking the power of yra into account, as well as Tesh, a reincarnated person from that very Earth.

 

[Dictatelion]

Chapter 1 – For Myself

For others.

If I could summarize my life in two words, that would be it.

When I was young, my strict and traditional parents stopped me from playing with friends to study. And so, I studied for my parents.

After university, right after I found my first job, my parents found the 'best' marriage partner for me. Yes, this was still a time when parents would do that, and when marriage was still a thing, unlike the joke it has become today. And so, I married her for my parents, yet again.

For the first few years of marriage, I tried my best to get to know my wife. I realized that she was a good person. I respected her, and maybe even liked her, but I never loved her. And I could tell it was the same on her side. Nevertheless, I tried my best to be a decent husband, and so I lived those years for her.

Thanks to a great education, I had a good, stable job at a large company with a decent salary. Nothing stopped us from buying a house and having children. Everyone told me, my parents and my in-laws included, that marriage was happiness, and that children were the greatest thing that would happen to me. They weren't. However, I had my duty as a husband and as a father. I dedicated the next forty years to my work, to sustain my family, and to my children, to give them everything they could ever need.

In the end, it was only when I finally retired, had a little leeway for the first time, and looked back on my life that I noticed the truth. I had spent my whole life for others. My youth and my marriage for my parents, my honeymoon years for my wife, and my middle-aged years for my work and my children.

Still, people wanted more of me. Don't relax, they whispered. You'll only get bored and die earlier. Take care of your grandchildren. Volunteer. With your experience in life and wealth, surely you can help so many people. And I did. But even so, I had a little free time left, which I initially didn't know what to do with. I realized I didn't have any hobbies or passions. I never had the time for any of that.

I wanted to at least travel, see the world I never could before. However, my body, old and broken from a life of work, creaked and clanked if I moved around too much. It was asking me for a respite, a well-needed and deserved rest.

I agreed, thinking I could rest for a year or two, and travel later. That later never came. I died from natural causes soon after, leaving this world forever.

Yet, for some reason, my consciousness didn't disappear like I thought it would, nor did it go to some of the many places imagined by the diverse religions. Instead, I found myself in a strange prison, which allowed me almost no movement. I felt neither cold nor warmth, hunger, thirst, or much of anything, for that matter. I also couldn't see, despite trying with all my might. Yet, I felt strangely safe, as if the jail was made to guard me from harm.

It took me some time to speculate on my situation. There were some clues. I sometimes heard sounds that seemed like extremely muffled and distorted voices, coming from outside my prison. There were movements, too, not initiated by me, but as if the whole cell displaced itself.

It was a far-fetched idea and a weird possibility, but my conclusion was that… I might be a fetus inside a woman's belly. That idea had come from the few books I had managed to read during my short retirement, when I was looking for a hobby. One of them had a story about reincarnation, which was getting popular by the time I was old, in a very changed world from the one I knew in my youth. Otherwise, I probably never would have reached such a verdict by myself.

Even if this idea was very far-fetched and unscientific, I couldn't help entertaining it. It wasn't like I had much else to do, anyway, and this was the most thrilling thought about my current condition. All other concepts were too dark for my taste.

If I had another chance at life, what then? I looked back at my first one. Dull. It could yet again be summarized with this single word. For a time, watching other couples around me, I had resented my parents. Why had they forced me to marry someone I didn't love? Wouldn't my life have been so much better if I hadn't listened to them? Look at how happy all the other men are.

That thought didn't last long. I swiftly learned that feelings were unreliable and volatile. The couples that couldn't stay away from each other, kissing in public and making love every night in their home? They were now shouting at each other, throwing furniture, breaking up, divorcing, fighting over children's custody, becoming crazy about money.

Does that mean my parents were right, after all? Not really. Were a few years of passion worth a life destroyed for decades, shared custody of children, feelings and self-confidence never to be found again? Some would say yes. Others no. As for me? I didn't know. I hadn't experienced the other side, and I was no philosopher. It wasn't a question I could answer.

That wasn't all. When I was young, those statistics weren't really revealed, too shameful they were. But with the Internet, nothing could stay hidden anymore. The percentage of people cheating on their partners was simply mind-blowing. I couldn't help asking myself, what about my wife? Now, I know this is extremely disrespectful to her. She was a good person, and she had always treated me well. However, what about me? Was I a good husband in her eyes? Hard to say. Could a dull person such as me be considered such? On top of that, she was a housewife all her life. Anything could have happened during those long days I was at work, the one she had never loved, when she felt lonely and in need of some passion herself. And I wouldn't have known any better.

Of course, this is all speculation. It is just my imagination going wild, having nothing else to do in my prison. However, all these thoughts had an ultimate focal point. If I really had another chance at life, would I live it the same as the previous one?

Never. At the very least, I wouldn't live for others anymore. If I lived again, it would absolutely be…

For myself.

 

[Dictatelion]

Chapter 2 – Prison

A few more elements came to support my theory. First, I was definitely growing. After some time, I became able to move my legs and arms, which I couldn't before, whether they were too short or non-existent. I could even kick the walls of my prison, which I only did once, just in case those walls truly happened to be a woman's belly. Not that I had much strength, but well, no need to take any unnecessary risks.

The second hint was something much more abstract. If I hadn't lived a whole life in a healthy body beforehand, I probably would never have noticed anything. In fact, maybe others wouldn't realize it, since they would always have felt like this and this would have been the norm their whole lives, but for me, it was simply obvious.

There was a strange feeling inside me, one that I never sensed in my previous life. It was hard to describe, though. If forcing myself to put it into words, it would be like a warm fluid… or gas… or mist, maybe, in different parts of my body. While I initially dismissed it as nothing, or a sensation related to my current condition, I was soon proved wrong. If I willed it, I could move that mist around my body and manipulate it to a certain extent.

I wasn't stupid. If this really was the start of a second life for me, I might be reincarnated in a different world, just like in the books I read. If coupled with a strange feeling inside my organs, the first idea that came to mind was mana, ki, chi, prana, or any similar concept.

Having nothing better to do, I had all the time in the world to test different things. At the beginning, I was very clumsy. I could barely move the feeling around my different limbs, using all of my attention. I noticed a few things. If I moved it to one of my newly formed arms or legs, I felt like I could exert more strength into it. Also, it exhausted itself very quickly. After moving it once or twice, it was gone, leaving me tired all over. When that happened, I had no choice but to go to sleep and try again later.

Speaking of later, it wasn't a lot initially, but its quantity was certainly increasing. Curious, I wondered if it was a natural increase or one related to usage. Time was hard to estimate in my prison, but I ran tests related to it. For what I believed was a long time, at least internally, I didn't use the mist inside me. Then, whether it was hours or days later, I measured its quantity again. The results were clear. It wasn't increasing by itself, but through usage, just like training a muscle, in a way. How interesting.

Besides all my small fun with that unknown energy, I also worked on the mental side of things. Because there was indeed an obvious problem. If my hope was correct and I was currently a fetus, my mental age wouldn't match my physical one.

The problem is, I wasn't super confident in my acting. I, a dull manager, hadn't had much need for acting during my previous life. I had nothing to hide, no great secret, and certainly nothing thrilling that shouldn't be known to others. I had always acted as myself, certainly boring from an outsider's point of view, but without any weight on my conscience.

That wouldn't be the case anymore. What sort of baby had a whole lifetime of memories in their mind? No matter what, there was no way I could act similarly to a true baby. How did I know? Because I was a father myself. I had seen how real babies behaved. Those poop factories were the most illogical and unpredictable creatures in the universe.

That's why I wanted to work on my mental world. At the very least, I wanted to do something to get closer to a youthful feeling, unlike the 'wreaked by a whole life of work' mentality I had before passing away. I remembered my wife and children watching some hypnotist shows on TV, when TV still wasn't almost completely replaced by the Internet. I had never believed any of it, but well, it wasn't like I had much else to do, especially while waiting for the mist to regenerate. It didn't hurt to try.

I started simple. I simply told myself who I wanted to be. No matter what, I wasn't confident in being a baby, but at least a dynamic child… that might be possible.

'I'm a child. I like running around, laughing while playing simple games, doing stupid things, getting into trouble, and competing with my peers.'

Of course, there wasn't much effect at first. Yet, I soon learned the terror of self-inducement and self-indoctrination. Progressively, after repeating those words an infinite number of times and imagining myself doing those things, I began thinking it might be possible, and perhaps even believing it. It might also be because my brain was still flexible due to not being completely formed yet.

It was hard to judge the ultimate effects of all of this. Only two things were certain. The mist inside me was growing at a decent speed, and my inner mental world was becoming a mess.

Time passed as I occupied myself like so. I continued to grow, feeling the different parts of my body more and more clearly. And then, all of this was finally interrupted by large shakings of my jail.

I heard several voices from outside, more than usual, and much closer too. As the trembling increased, some form of pressure was applied to my small form. All of this was soon replaced by incredible, piercing pain. It wasn't something that could be resisted. My mind went blank from the agony I had never felt before. I wanted to shout, but couldn't, and the shivering was increasing.

I only vaguely sensed, through the ache, that I was moving in a certain direction. It lasted for a long time, until, eventually, someone grabbed me under my arms and slowly pulled me further.

And then, I was out. Now, I felt I could finally express my soreness fully. I opened my mouth for the first time and released a loud cry of pain.

Thus, I was reborn.