Awareness detected.]
The voice cut through the emptiness with surgical precision.
Jasper froze.
It didn't come from ahead. Or behind. Or above.
It came from everywhere—and nowhere at once.
Flat. Emotionless. Artificial.
His thoughts jolted violently.
"What—? Who said that?!"
There was no answer.
For half a second, he wondered if his mind had finally snapped.
Then—
[Subject confirmed.]
[previous Species: Human.]
[Life Record: Verified.]
[Previous Name: Jasper]
His panic spiked.
It knows my name.
"Where am I?!" he demanded. "Am I dead?!"
The voice didn't react to his tone.
[Physical body: Terminated.]
[Cause of death: External impact.]
[Status: Deceased.]
His words landed with brutal realization.
So… I really am dead.
His thoughts shook, scrambling for something—anything—to hold onto.
"Then what is this place?" he asked. "Why am I still… thinking?"
There was a pause.
Not silence—but processing.
[Current state: Transitional Void.]
[Soul integrity: Stable.]
Soul?
That word sent a chill through him—one he couldn't physically feel, yet somehow understood.
"Are you… some kind of god?" Jasper asked cautiously.
[Query irrelevant.]
That answer unsettled him more than silence ever could.
[Life Cycle Summary Initiated.]
Something shifted.
Not visually—there was still nothing to see—but Jasper felt as if invisible text was being laid out before him, engraved directly into his awareness.
[Total Lives Allocated: 3]
[Lives Completed: 1]
"…Three?" Jasper echoed. "What do you mean, three lives?"
[Clarification:]
[Existence operates under a multi-life framework.]
[Current progress: One life expended.]
His thoughts raced.
So… I'm not done?
A fragile hope flickered—small, but undeniable.
"What happens now?" he asked quietly.
The voice answered without hesitation.
[Proceed to Second Life?]
[Reincarnation Available.]
Reincarnation.
The word carried weight. Possibility. Fear.
"…If I say no?" Jasper asked.
[Outcome: Permanent dissolution.]
[No further consciousness.]
The void suddenly felt much closer.
Much heavier.
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes," Jasper said. "Proceed."
[Consent acknowledged.]
The nothingness moved.
For the first time since his death, Jasper felt direction. Pull. Momentum.
[Selecting Destination…]
[Finding Host...]
[Reincarnation Process: Initiating…]
The void began to collapse inward, folding around him like space itself was being rewritten.
[Second Life—Commencing.]
Jasper felt himself pulled.
Not through space—through existence itself.
His awareness stretched, thinned, compressed, as if being forced through something far too narrow to pass through whole.
Thoughts fragmented. Time lost all meaning. There was no up or down, no forward or back—only motion and pressure, relentless and absolute.
Something wrapped around him.
Not darkness.
Not light.
Something new.
And then—
Sensation returned violently.....
Warmth.
That was the first thing Jasper felt.
Not the suffocating nothingness from before—but something gentle. Enclosing. Real.
Then sound followed.
Muffled voices overlapped one another, distant and unclear, as if he were underwater.
"…What shall we name him?"
The words reached him slowly, distorted, but unmistakably human.
Jasper's thoughts jolted.
Him?
His awareness sharpened, and light flooded in—too bright, too sudden. His vision blurred, shapes melting into one another before slowly settling.
Faces.
Several of them.
They loomed above him, enormous and unfamiliar. A man and a woman stood closest, their expressions tense but warm, eyes fixed entirely on him. Off to the side was another figure—a girl, slightly older, peeking over with open curiosity.
A family.
He felt… cradled.
As if his entire body was resting in someone's arms.
"What about Ceadar?" the man said after a moment. "It's a strong name."
The woman looked down at him, her lips curving into a tired but joyful smile. "Ceadar," she repeated softly. "Yes… I like that."
"Ceadar, Ceadar, Ceadar" the girl echoed, testing the sound, then grinned. "That's his name?"
The woman nodded. "That's his name."
Jasper's mind reeled.
They're talking about me.
He tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
Confused, he tried to lift his arms—only to feel them move far less than he expected. His fingers twitched weakly, uncoordinated, brushing against warm fabric.
The movement drew attention.
"Oh—look," the woman said softly. "He's moving."
Jasper's heart pounded.
Why can't I control my body?
He forced his eyes downward.
What he saw made his thoughts seize up completely.
Small hands.
Tiny fingers, curled clumsily into fists.
Short arms. Soft skin.
His legs—barely visible—felt light, unfamiliar, weak.
The world around him seemed impossibly large. The faces above him seemed distant. Too tall.
"…Wait," he thought, panic rising fast. "No—no way."
His breath came out in a shaky, instinctive sound—not words, just a soft, helpless noise.
Am I…
The realization crashed down on him with terrifying clarity.
"…Am I a baby?"
The woman laughed quietly, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "He's awake."
Jasper stared up at them, trapped in a body that wasn't his—yet somehow was. His thoughts were his own, sharp and intact, but everything else felt wrong. Rewritten.
Reborn.
"The voice didn't lie to me, it seems I really got another life"
A new voice entered the haze around him.
"You still need to rest, madam. Your family will be more at ease that way."
There was a brief pause, followed by a soft sigh.
"Yes," the woman replied quietly. "I will."
Her arms shifted slightly, holding him closer.
Jasper…no, Ceadar felt the movement and the steady warmth that came with it. His thoughts slowed as the tension eased from his mind.
She must be my mother, he realized. And from the looks of it… I was just born.
The woman looked down at him, her expression tender. One hand gently brushed over his head, slow and careful.
"Ceadar," she whispered, as if testing the name again. "My little Ceadar."
The sound of it felt strange.
Foreign.
Yet… not unpleasant.
His eyelids felt heavy, far heavier than before. His body—small and fragile—responded to the exhaustion naturally, without resistance.
Well, he thought drowsily, there isn't much I can do as a baby.
A faint sense of acceptance settled over him.
Guess I'll just get some rest.
[Reincarnation Completed.]
The words surfaced quietly within his awareness.
"Oh… that voice thingy," Jasper remembered faintly. It was the one that told me I could be reborn.
There was no fear now. No panic.
Only a calm gratitude.
I'm just glad I got another chance at life, he thought. Even if… I'll miss my old one.
The memories of his previous life—work, games, familiar faces—felt distant already, like echoes fading into the background.
Jasper…
No—Ceadar—
finally drifted off to sleep.
And with that, his second life truly began.