Three months since I "was born again."
It still sounds strange, even inside my own head.
At first, I thought everything was a delusion…
a bizarre dream from someone who was dying.
But no.
I was wrong.
I'm alive.
In the same world.
But… restarted.
The proof?
My parents.
I remember my grandpa talking about them in my previous life.
He always said my father had a gaze sharp enough to cut the air.
Serious. Intense.
Eyes just like my grandfather's.
And now, when Manuel holds me in silence,
when he believes I'm just another baby…
I see that same gaze.
That same weight.
That same strength hiding behind his eyes.
And my mother…
Johana.
Soft-spoken.
Tired.
Holding me as if she feared I might disappear if she blinked too hard.
No—this isn't a dream.
Neither a broken memory.
Nor a dying boy's hallucination.
I'm here.
In their arms.
Living something I never had before.
Sometimes… it hurts.
Sometimes… it feels unreal.
But it's real.
For a baby, I almost never cry.
I'm very quiet.
Very attentive.
I stare at objects for a long time.
I get lost in the lights.
I stay still when they show me the garden or when Selene holds me near the window.
I'm too aware.
Too observant.
But no one suspects.
Not yet.
At six months old, my world changed again.
Mom took me for a walk across the training grounds of the Arias Estate.
It was huge—an unusual but beautiful blend of the modern and the traditional Colombian style:
Stone paths,
white walls with golden trims,
heliconias and orchids glowing faintly,
small ceiba trees that seemed to shimmer with life.
I thought it was just my eyes…
But it wasn't.
Something was different.
Mom held me closer.
"Do you want to see something beautiful, sweetheart?" she whispered.
She raised her hand…
and a blue spark formed above her palm.
It wasn't fire.
It wasn't light.
It was magic.
The spark twirled, grew… and took shape.
A bird made of blue flames.
Its body glowed softly,
its wings left shimmering trails,
and its song was a soft, tiny chime.
Mom lifted it with a gentle gesture,
and the creature flew around us,
leaving glowing traces in the air.
Then it descended toward me,
hovered above my face for a moment…
and dissolved into tiny lights that sank into my skin.
Inside my baby body,
my sixteen-year-old mind screamed in awe and confusion.
Magic existed.
It was real.
Visible.
Alive.
And a few days later, something even stranger happened.
Selene was holding me carefully,
and my hand brushed against Liora's ear.
I touched it.
Warm.
Soft.
Alive.
A long, pointed ear.
Real.
Liora flinched for an instant, then smiled gently.
"Curious, just like his father…" she whispered, brushing my hair.
Inside, I was collapsing.
She was an elf.
A real elf.
And Selene —my older sister— had the same features,
though her hair resembled Manuel's more.
My father had two wives.
Here, that was normal.
And I was living in a world where:
Elves existed.
Magic was real.
Fire could fly.
Flowers could glow.
And my life was only beginning.
When I turned one year old, I understood even more.
The Houses.
The powerful families.
I don't know everything yet,
but I know I belong to two of them:
Arias, through my father.
Vides, through my mother.
And while no one says it out loud,
I know it's not common.
There are only a few cases like that…
and two of them are my sister and me.
Selene belongs to Arias and Falkenray.
I belong to Arias and Vides.
Even if my body is small,
my mind understands something crystal clear:
In this reborn world,
I hold an important place.
A point where two lineages meet.
A child many will watch closely.
But right now…
I'm just a baby in my mother's arms,
staring at glowing flowers,
fire birds,
real elves…
and a world that gave me back a life I thought I'd lost.
This is my new beginning.
And I won't waste it.