"Could you spare this beggar a second to listen to the story of ▇▇?.
They yearn to be a legend, dreaming of a beautiful, magnificent adventure.
One dreams to be a great hero who slays the dragon.
One dreams to be a great scholar who teaches the poor.
One dreams to be a maiden who protects the lowest.
One dreams to be the greatest weilder of the sword.
And Another who wishes that they will all be together."
_____
I don't know how or even why.
But all I know is that this situation cannot be more... Bizarre? Is that the right word to use? Or maybe ridiculous is more fitting?
But anyway. The way this could have started could have been less flashier, less destructive to say.
My breath didn't take any air, more smog and smoke replacing the oxygen that should have been in my lungs.
Bright both forcefully taking my touch and sight. Ridiculous that everything is like this, I just got here!
I can't move, with the exception of my head, being under rubble made of wood. With wood being flammable, it's just time that needs to wait before I become a human torch. But somehow, the fire that's slowly creeping to me isn't painful, it's warm actually. Weird.
I'll say that this is tragic, for the others I mean, they don't even know how and why this simple and small village just combust to flames. Their home and life are fading away just like the flames would after all this.
I just got here, thrown and placed here by some unknown bored? Mischievous? Entity or force that decided to deny my death for some unknown divine plan. Literally opened my eyes just a few seconds ago, already under all the wood.
This is disorienting. Dying by some unknown guy then placed here by some unknown transcendent being has got to be more inline with those shows I watched when I was young.
Anyway with that, how do I get out of my situation? That I don't know, nor I care actually.
I already lived my previous life, I don't think this reincarnation would be different. Even if I would have some motivation, I doubt a child could free themselves in this oh so laughable situation of hundreds of kilograms of wood crushed beneath.
This new childish body isn't even fully developed, it's somewhere between a toddler to a preschooler. It isn't even o' so conveniently blessed with disproportionate strength or with mystical ability that came with reincarnation, according to my young self's exposure to those literatures and shows.
Damn, thinking about it, I guess this child is already dead? I was thrown into this body after its premature death? How merciless, I could only pray for its passing and reincarnation.
I clasp my hands to give this poor child's soul and other victims of this fire to peacefully pass away.
"Oh? Praying for a god to save you? Are you desperate to survive, child?"
A voice spoke in front of me, old and feminine if I could guess, the distant crackling of wood's union with fire and crumbling of houses isn't helping, the distant screams are distracting more and more.
Without any energy for the task of lifting my head, my eyes are the only moving part that can see the soil, orange from the fire's hue. The shoes and robes? Impractical when in the middle of a fire.
"Child. Do you wish to live?"
Actually, no thanks, miss unknown saviour typically appearing in tragic situations of a major or side character's tragic backstory, I think your mysterious supernatural appearance could be used on the other people so they could survive via plot shenanigans.
"Save... them..."
Ah, my voice sounds so hoarse. The smoke indeed does make my lung a smoker's trophy.
"Such potential. As your parents left you after seeing your fire, doomed you to be forsaken in this inferno."
Are you a poet? Why are you speaking like that? Well, not like I'm the one to talk with my hobby.
From what little movement I saw, the person before me seemed to fully look at me, silence took over that person contemplation seemingly radiating from my deteriorating senses.
"...But I must deny your request child. The people here have already abandoned you, so discard your sympathy for them. I shall save you, nurture you, and make you stand without any complications."
Light that differs from the orange hue of flames came from above, beyond my vision. The weight at my back subsided, free from any force that pinned me to the ground.
"Rejoice, boy. I am Augusta, the Witch of the East. I shall take you in under my care and build you to become a magician beyond compare, better than her ice doll."
Oh, did I reincarnate to a children's book? I don't think there is a scene like this in any shows or books I read. But maybe it's just that the memory being covered. You can't remember everything unless you want to explode. I don't have hyperthymesia.
[Conditions have been met]
My thoughts are interrupted by a static in my vision. My eyebrow twitched.
[Individual's memory has resurged in a new body. Reincarnated via memory and soul replacement is successfull]
A screen, specifically futuristic with the color of blue. This specific appearance in this specific situation is something that I know very well from my consumption of various media. This brought a headache that hurt as much as everything in life. I'll vomit at the rate this will come.
A golden finger... That is a word I won't say ever again. My exposure to too much fanfiction has corroded my brain to incurable degree.
[Welcome to the System Group Chat]
Ah. So the other one.
But that doesn't diminish my immediate and immense disappointment I felt this very moment.
This is, greatly, mortifyingly, and cringe, something that by my chagrin, a very predictable event that I would heartily wish with all my might that it would disillusion itself.
But alas, this is the most useful thing my life would need at the moment.
["It is a pleasure to have you on board! Let's have a merry time together!"]
The opposite can be said for me.
But well, I can't answer by my mouth, this body's consciousness is already fading. Though I feel sorry for the previous owner for getting caught in this fire. But it is what it is, I can only hope for their next reincarnation to be happier.
Ah, what a start. Disgusting.
_____
I found something that took my admiration. Something magnificent, amazing and beautiful.
From my years upon years of study, the creation of constructs dubbed as Sacred Gears took my undivided attention. Although as a magician, my pursuit of magic was as vast as my admiration and interest in the Sacred Gears.
From my whims of going outside my tower, I encountered the most accursed yet so divinely breathtaking flames. Yet this surprise does not simply end with that.
My decision to be the new owner of this flames was halted after my encounter with its owner.
Frail was the image of the boy's figure to my eyes. But that is not the thing that took my attention, it was the sheer waves of mana the boy gave to the fire around. This fire was not as destructive as it should be with the amount given, it was the boy's desire to recede this flames that its destructive was merely a village's inferno.
The boy's wanting did not stop this fire's advance as the mana giving was too much that it was necessary to be released. Truly an independent Gear, a consciousness was unlike others of its kind, with the exception of Sacred Gears with beings sealed, of course.
I did notice that The Witch Of The South brought a girl of the same league of Sacred Gear this boy has, I have already given a letter to Glenda meet this girl.
That enormous mana and the curiosity of Glenda's action did I bring to the decision of being the mentor of this will be newborn magician.
Yet after I discarded the rabbles the boy was under in, my surprise has yet to cease.
That immense potential to be a magician and the Sacred Gear was the two of the three. Runes that I have never seen, not from the runes the Norse use, nor the Celtic, Hindu, Buddhist, or even the Hungarians use. It did not exist on any system that I have seen, a new system of runic language.
The surprises never ends with this child. Truly splendid.
I shall study this child as I teach him the world.