It is a blessing that people don't remember their early childhood. Auren will fight anyone who disagrees with him on this.
There was no freaking privacy at all. People were always all around him. It was like they had a sensor that started beeping whenever he tried to go out of the simple house. There was a woman, he assumed she was his biological mother—who had ears like a cat. She could guess what he was doing from just the sounds of his footsteps. Then there was his grandma—that woman had no right to be as fit as she was.
Damn granny had an old-as-hell face and she still ran like a deer behind him whenever he tried to sneak out. Her age was a scam! She was a bloody actor!
Who knew what they were so afraid of, but they put a lot of energy into not letting him go out of the house—especially after evening. His mother never missed putting clay lamps at the front and back door in the evening. And they were all super obsessive about locking all doors from inside before 7, eating before 8, and sleeping before 9 o'clock.
Then there was his biological father.
Hair same black as the granny—eyes silver. It was a complete contrast from his redhead mother with black eyes. His face had a rough beard—it kinda suited him with his white angular jawline. The mother and granny too were white-skinned—mother was paler compared to the other two. The father too had the crest on the back of his palm—his was orange in color though.
There was a red fox always accompanying the man in his mid-20s—his mother too was similar in age. The fox was really odd, it did not act like a fox at all—it ate with everyone, slept with everyone—sometimes Auren could swear he felt like the fox could talk to the man. It was a really clever one, it too stopped him from going outside many times.
The father, Auren assumed he had to be, only came back in the evening, the fox always accompanying him outside. In the early morning the guy went away, taking a sword and wearing a few pieces of armor on his body. Auren had seen a shiny steel full plate armor inside the big chest once—it was when he tried to use the early morning time when everyone was asleep to sneak out. Unfortunately, his baby eyes just kept closing every few seconds and he had to go back to sleep next to the warm body of his mother—it was too damn cold to go anywhere. Outside was not that beautiful.
His persistent effort had finally resulted in a success though—it had to be the end of a full week since he had gained consciousness.
In the evening, often men—alone or in two or three—came to their house to meet his father. All of them had the crest etched on the back of their palms, mostly blue. Many had black ones too, but none had an orange one. Auren only saw little snippets of them through the open window and door. But today, his father and the two guests were really busy talking, the fox was near his father too. His mother was not at home and the granny too was listening to the three men talk from the side.
It was a perfect chance.
Auren made as little noise as possible and successfully managed to leave through the front door. It felt like he had leveled up in some game—a great achievement unlocked!
Finally, he had closed the distance from the open door to the open wooden gate of the tall fence that blocked his view every time.
In the front of his modest house was another similar house—it was a couple hundred meters away though. There was a green field in between the two houses. Behind the house in the distance was the start of a dense green forest. There was a wooden fence all around it, the same as their own house. On the side were two tall mountains resting in the distance. On the other side was an open green field with many houses spread throughout it for maybe a kilometer or more—their house seemed to be at the edge of the village. The river flowing beside the green field and village houses was quite a big one. There was an open field for some distance on the other side of the river, and then the forest continued. Lush green mountains were behind this forest too.
All in all, the evening glow made the peaceful village scene look like it was straight out of a painting. Auren froze at the gate, seeing the breathtaking scene.
It didn't last for long though, as the fox made a noise and everyone present noticed him—Auren did not struggle though. Running was useless when the fast fox and the demon granny were on his tail.
He let his granny catch him—he did not pay any attention to her and just kept looking at the beautiful view. She probably noticed his awed face and let out a smile—instead of bringing him in, she walked near the wooden fence to the side after closing the gate and let him sit on it. Of course, she was holding him with both hands tightly. Auren really appreciated the high vantage point though and smiled brightly at her. She laughed in her creepy voice—it only made him smile more and more though. He had to admit it was funny.
She said something, but he had no idea what it meant. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued watching the peaceful village. It was so different from the city he had lived his whole life in.
Auren had no idea what to think about this second chance at life. On one side, he was happy he would get to live his childhood and youth and all that again. But on the other hand, he hated the idea of becoming someone's son again. All those responsibilities, all those fights.. All that mess. After seeing how it had ended up once, trying again was simply.. tiring.
Yes, these were different people and he shouldn't judge them. Maybe they were good people.. But so was his last family at the start. To truly know a loved one.. It took years of time spent together. Years.. He could not go through again with the same optimism in life. He was bitter, and as long as he had these memories, he would remain so.
If there was a god and he made this reincarnation happen.. Why didn't the bastard take his memories too?