The screams fill the hall of the school as one by one everyone is incinerated by the lights. I watch as my classmates hold each other in desperate hopes that they can avoid their deaths. Although I am unfortunate enough to be living long enough to see their bodies being torn away layer by layer exposing first their muscles then their skeletons before they are left as an imprint on the walls. It is not long before I start to feel my skin burn with such intense violence that I could not resist the urge to scream.
Everything went dark, and all of the remaining voices slowly faded to nothingness. I feel nothing but chilly emptiness, I can see nothing, yet I still feel like I am being watched, this new state of being felt odd and irregular, but at the same time felt calming and familiar, I no longer felt as though I was a human but part of this void itself, I felt lonely as well reassurance. I have all of these conflicting feelings and senses as though I am nothing and everything all at the same time. Is this what death is? Is this the end? What happened and why? I had so many questions but no answers and no one to answer them either. There is an odd effect of being like this, and that is I no longer have any concept of time. It does not feel like I should be aware but a minute feels the same as a second and all of the nothingness that occurs all exists at the same moment. I feel as though all of human history was just a blink of the eye compared to that of all existence and even existence itself exists only briefly. I could never even in an infinite amount of time figure out or explain where this knowledge or experience could ever have been bestowed upon me from.
It is now my fifth birthday, and it would seem that I have been reincarnated. I was born into a noble family and they are filthy rich. I can't believe I am this lucky; for the first time I get everything I want when I want, and I will say it is a wonderful feeling. My parents don't bother me ever, and the servants have to do everything I say. Even though this is a completely different world I still have memories from before I was born. I still have no clue what happened that day, but the image of everyone there is burnt into my mind after that I remained in a void-like place for a time which I have no clue how long it was, but then suddenly I was opening my eyes and I could see people again. These people were new and completely different people whom I had seen before. The first person I saw would be my family's midwife. Next, I saw the doctor and my mother. These people oddly enough spoke English which I thought was odd and while I don't dwell on that fact much now, it is a mystery to be sure, but I was never much of a history buff so I don't know what time frame I was reborn into, although this world may not be Earth anyway. But even weirder are people's names. My mother's name I figured out in passing when I was younger; my mother is the lady of the manor Lady Elizabeth von York, and my father who didn't even come to my birth is lord Derrick Mark York. Even if my Father did not attend my birth he is still a good respectable man; Even if I don't spend much time with him he still treats me good and with respect. My mother is the kindest woman I have met so far; She makes more of an effort to interact with me than anyone else. I also have three older brothers. My oldest brother Alex is going to be the one to inherit my father's title of Barron. It is a shame I won't have that title for myself but I can still live quite a comfortable life. My other two brothers are not anything much different; They are twins and mostly just get caught up in mayhem. Dominic is super energetic and always trying to find something new to do, and Darrel is quiet, but is fond of pulling pranks on people.
Even though I am still adjusting to my new life, and still have a lot of unanswered questions I am pretty content with how things are. Later today my mother and Alex are going to be taking me into town since it is my birthday after all, and we are going to eat at the finest dinner in the capital. In fact, I should probably get ready because we are leaving in about ten minutes.
As we all sit at are table I am already looking at what to order.
"Marcus," Alex says, " have you decided on what to get"
"Yeah, I want a ground drake steak"
"I meant as a present"
"Oh, I haven't really thought about that, I guess I would like a Mythic Beast Encyclopedia"
"Are you sure? You can ask for more."
"I honestly just want to learn more about the world, more than anything"
In this world, it is quite common for monsters out of fairytales to be found, although I don't suppose they are much of a fairy tale here. One of my favorite creatures here is the ground drakes. They are used for transport and adventurers use them to assist in combat, they are very versatile, but most of all they taste great and are a delicacy around the world.
"How is the food?" My Mother had asked
"It is great" Alex responded, " I am quite impressed with how well they drew out the flavor in these dishes"
"I know what you mean, it is extraordinary"
I am too focused on how good my food is to pay any more attention to what my mother and Alex are blabbering about.
"Marcus," My mother told me, " It is time to head back home"
It was not a very long journey back home it only took about twenty minutes by carriage. We all get out of the carriage and head to the manor, but we stop. For some reason, the doors are wide open and I could hear some rustling inside. Before we could react I heard a scream and when I looked behind me all I could see was my brother on the ground covered in blood not moving, and my mother who had fallen onto her knees facing the attacker. This man was tall but besides that, he was covered in a dark cloak preventing me from seeing any further details. He faces my mother and in one quick motion slits her throat leaving her lifeless on the ground.
"Boss!" He calls to someone in the manor, "What do we do with the kid?"
"Tie him up," A voice answers, " we can sell him to pay off our debts, a noble child is worth a lot especially now that the rest of them are dead"
The cloaked man moved to gag me and put a bag over my head. The next thing I know I am thrown into what I believe is a wagon they used to transport people.