Then, suddenly—crack.
The void shattered like fragile glass. One moment, I was nowhere, and the next, I was… still nowhere—but with style.
I floated in the vast emptiness of space. My eyes were still shut, but something deep inside me was shifting. I wasn't me anymore. Not the me I knew, anyway. I was no longer bound by form, by rules, by logic.
At that moment, I became something else.
A living anomaly.
A cosmic glitch.
A sentient middle finger to the laws of reality.
And then, I opened my eyes.
The void was gone.
In its place stretched the infinite cosmos—stars burning like tiny gods, galaxies swirling like celestial art projects gone mad, and a silence so deep it made my dreams seem loud.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was so—absurdly beautiful. Like the universe was showing off. I half-expected a voice to say, "Rendered in Unreal Engine 6."
Then it hit me.
Wait... how the hell am I breathing?
I looked at my hand.
Correction—I looked at whatever this thing was that used to be my hand. Glowing, translucent, shimmering with colors I didn't even have names for. My body? Gone. Replaced. Transcended. I was still in that strange form. The one I didn't understand.
Nothing made sense. Everything felt… untethered.
And just as the existential panic started bubbling up, I heard a voice in my head.
A boy's voice.
He said, "Mother is waiting for your arrival."
...Excuse me, what?
I don't know who this "Mother" is, or why she's waiting, or if I'm late and should've brought flowers or something. I couldn't even move. Just float. Hovering in deep space like some forgotten screensaver.
I'm Arsh. Engineer. Fighter. Syndicate prodigy.
Now?
Cosmic jellybean with anxiety.
This is fine. Everything is fine.
...Probably.
Then, far beyond the galaxies, a golden light emerged—brighter than anything I'd ever seen. It wasn't just light. It was everything. A divine tide that swallowed entire star systems like they were snacks. The cosmos folded into it.
And it was coming straight at me.
I didn't flinch. Honestly, at this point, I was so numb to weirdness I half-expected it to sing me a lullaby and tuck me in.
The light touched me.
And then—
I opened my eyes.
Everything was blurry. Cold. Soft.
I was being held by… a woman? Young. Wearing a white uniform. A nurse? No—maybe a doctor? I don't know, my vision was still loading. But what the hell—why is she holding me like that?
I'm in my early thirties! I don't need to be cradled like—
Wait.
I glanced down.
Tiny. Wrinkly. Pudgy. My hand. My freaking hand was the size of a grape.
I tried to move, to reach for my face. Nothing. My body wouldn't obey.
And then I saw it—through the glass she wore on her face—my reflection.
A baby.
I was a baby.
I, Arsh—the engineer, the fighter, the genius, the weapon—had been downgraded to a screaming loaf of skin.
I was so shocked I didn't even have time to panic properly.
Then the woman tilted her head and said, "Why isn't this baby crying?"
Uh… because I'm emotionally numb and confused? Ma'am?
Without warning, she grabbed my tiny legs and gave my butt a slap. Like this was normal!
The sudden sting of betrayal and pain shot through me like lightning.
And just like that—
WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
I cried. Like a proper newborn.
Not because I wanted to.
But because I had to.
Because it freaking hurts.
And just like that, I realized…
Reincarnation?
Yeah. That's real.
And it starts with being smacked in the butt by a stranger in a white coat.