NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 : Rebirth
My name is Maki, 23 years old. Recently, I've been stuck in what I assume is a time loop, like in the movies, where I keep reliving the same event over and over again. I don't know if it's real or if I'm just hallucinating—maybe it's an early stage of schizophrenia.
Anyway, the last thing I remember is getting hit by a truck while fighting with that old bastard. What did he do to my sister? I hope she's okay.
So, did I really die this time? Maybe I'm in hell. It's so warm in here, and my body feels like it's being crushed. I can't move my limbs.
I can feel days passing by. I can't feel hunger, and I'm slowly getting used to this warm, cozy hell.
Wait a minute, I see some light. Did God give me another chance? Heaven, maybe? Now, that's what I'm talking about... God is real!
Cold air touches my skin.
Hold on—is this heaven? I see blurry shadows, but there's light. It's so freaking cold though—it makes me want to cry.
I start crying out of nowhere, then something touches my skin—a warm blanket. And wait a minute, I suddenly feel hungry.
Is it normal to get hungry even though you're already dead? Weird...
Hold on!! Something's touching my lips. It's soft, warm, and tender... is this heavenly food? Something's urging me to suck on it.
Ahh, yeah... a familiar sensation. So this is what heaven feels like. Thanks, Almighty God, for the meal.
I can't see anything clearly yet, which makes sense since souls probably don't have eyes.
Wait, I hear something. They're speaking gibberish. I can't understand a thing.
—"Ybab, amam yas,"—said a female voice.
Whoa, her voice is so sweet. Is this an angel talking to me?
Sorry, angel, I can't understand what you're saying. Can you speak English instead?
I'm getting sleepy already... so even souls need sleep, huh? It's getting dark here and...
The next day...
/Stretches my body.
Hold on, wait. I can see things now... but this is weird. I feel too weak to stand up or even move.
I move my hand in front of my face... wait, why are my hands so tiny? And my feet? Why does my body look bloated, like a seal? They're fat and huge...
Then suddenly, a woman appears.
—"¿Peels rouy woh os, noel gninromdoog?"—
I still can't understand what you're saying, woman. But why are you so huge? Oh wait, your voice... are you the angel?
The woman carries me. This doesn’t look like heaven—it looks like a huge house, built for giants.
The floor is made of wood, as is the ceiling. I can feel fresh air gushing through the window, and the smell is very relaxing—a smell of grass in the summer...
Every time the woman walks, the wood creaks slightly... I can hear the wind touching the leaves and the grass outside...
This house looks medieval. The walls are made out of shiny stone with wood everywhere, like a villager house in Minecraft.
Oh yeah, I miss playing that game...
Anyway, this doesn't look like heaven at all. Heaven should have clouds, you know—typical heaven, with beautiful naked angels flying around the tree of forbidden fruit.
This seems like an urban house from the year 1300... The woman suddenly sits while holding me. She pulls the upper part of her dress down... WAIT!!! HOLD ON!!! I definitely see two watermelons, with tiny grapes in the middle...
Oh my... Sorry I doubted you, God. This is definitely heaven...
My tears build up.
These are tears of joy. I gracefully suck on the grapes. So this is heavenly food... all hail the Almighty God!!!
While sucking the grapes, I slowly realize that this is not heaven nor hell. This is not a place where giants live or whatever...
I've just finally realized that I've been reincarnated as an infant. This is not how reincarnation should be. After getting hit by a truck, I should have resurrected as an overpowered main character.
But I don't regret being reincarnated as an infant. Look at me now, just chilling, sucking almighty grapes from this beautiful woman. And yeah, life is good so far.
Then suddenly a man opens the door. He’s quite handsome. He immediately kisses the woman, who I assume is my mother, and now I see there’s a man here too, who I assume is my father.
I suddenly feel jealous when my father kisses my mom. I guess this is normal for an infant, even though I retain my adult consciousness. My physical brain is still underdeveloped, so it's normal to feel jealous since my brain can't fully grasp the relationship between these two. But understanding that my brain is underdeveloped feels paradoxical.
I’m being mature for understanding that my brain is still immature.
Meanwhile, I'm not sure yet if I've been born in another world, or if the timeline is just messing up and reincarnated me somewhere in the past. Maybe this is Europe, back then...
The house doesn’t seem odd. The materials are pretty familiar, but there's no sign of electricity, gadgets, or whatever. They still use firewood for cooking, and lamps for light.
I can see swords displayed on the wall, paintings, and a lot of old stuff here, like wooden chairs and vases. Nothing seems out of place.
It looks like I'm the firstborn child. My parents look like they’re in their early 20s, and there are only three of us in this house.
This seems a lot better than my past life, but I need to go back. I just can't leave my sister alone. I'm the only thing she has right now.
So I must find a way to control this power. If this is a power to travel through time, I would stop my previous parents from being together. It’s probably better for my mom not to have been with my shitty dad, even if it means I was never born...
Another paradox!! So that doesn't seem possible... Ugh, my head hurts...
I’m just going to close my eyes here and let my dreams take me...
Days pass by...
/ Stretches my body...
Good morning, new life!!!
I never see my dad whenever I wake up. I assume that he's working early in the morning. He often comes back in the afternoon to eat, then goes out again.
My mom doesn't leave the house. She prepares everything for me and for my dad. A typical family, if you ask me.
But what surprised me the most is how my mom cooks the food. I just noticed—the ingredients are almost the same as my past life. They use veggies like potatoes, cabbage, carrots—very common. Meat, maybe pork or beef, sometimes chicken. Everything seems normal with how she cooks and so on. But what I find weird is how she starts the fire... Listen and watch carefully...
She just pointed her finger at the firewood... — "Etingi" —
A fireball just shot out of her finger... A FUCKING FIREBALL JUST SHOT OUT OF HER FINGERS!!!
What in the straight-up Harry Potter bullshit is going on here...
I'm not living in the past or whatever. The universe just threw me from Earth into another fucking world with MAGIC!!!
Do you know how exciting this is?! A straight-up isekai! I should write a manga about myself after this...
The title should be, "The Moment I Reincarnated as a Piece of Shit That Can Shoot Fire in Another World."
Sounds heroic, right? A story of a former bastard who had a depressing previous life, brought by God to another world to kill the Demon Lord!!!
But before that, I should ask my mom how she did magic...
Hey, mom!!
Of course, she can't understand me. So this is how Stewie felt... anyway...
She just pointed her finger like this...
*/Points finger
And said "Etingi."
Eti...n...gi!!
My vocals aren’t fully developed yet. I can't say the exact word...
How about just imagining it...
Red, fire, heat, ball, Miami...meteor...ball with fire...
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I can feel my finger warming up... and then... a short spark just forms at the tip of my finger...
Let me try again...
A ball made of fire...
A small flame just appeared on my fingertip, burning my skin...
This is a lot harder and more painful... I feel like I'm going to cry.
/Leon (Maki) cries...
My mom rushed over as soon as she heard me crying. Her eyes were wide with concern, her movements hurried and frantic.
"What happened, Leon?" Her voice trembled, filled with worry and confusion.
For the first time since I was reincarnated, I felt real fear. Her sudden shift in mood—it was overwhelming. This must be why infants cry when their parents show unexpected emotions. The sudden unfamiliarity, the uncertainty... it's terrifying. I couldn’t tell if she was angry or just scared herself. I felt helpless.
Even though I still couldn’t understand what she was saying, I wanted to show her that her son was no ordinary infant.
With a deep breath, I pointed my tiny finger forward.
Imagine fire. Fireball. Flame. Warmth.
I focused hard, my imagination flowing from my mind to my fingertips. And then, like magic—no, it was magic—a small flame flickered to life at the tip of my finger.
For a moment, everything was still.
And then, my mother’s face lit up, her eyes sparkling with an intensity I hadn't seen before. She gasped in astonishment, clapping her hands together as if she couldn't contain her excitement. Her joy was infectious, childlike—she laughed, not like a composed adult, but like a carefree child experiencing a wonder for the first time.
Her laughter echoed through the room, so wild and genuine it reminded me of someone dancing in the rain, carefree and full of life. She spun around, her long hair flying, and kept looking at me as if she had just discovered something precious—her son, capable of magic.
“Oh my God...” she muttered between her bursts of laughter, her voice cracking with overwhelming happiness. Tears of joy welled in her eyes as she crouched down beside me, her hands gently cupping my face.
"My son... you... you really are special," she whispered, her voice soft and trembling now, full of pride.
For the first time in this new life, I felt warmth, It was love, the kind of love only a mother could give. In that moment, I knew that, no matter what happened next, I was safe with her.
And though I couldn’t understand her words, I could feel it in my bones she was proud of me. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad start to my new life after all.
As I gazed up at her, my tiny flame flickered out....