Matthew’s laughter echoed through the hallway.

“COME BACK HERE, MATT!”
 

My bare feet struck the wooden floor as I chased him. Everything around me should have been unfamiliar—the wooden walls, the log beams supporting the thatched roof, the faded family portraits, and the military medals mounted beside them.

Yet my body knew everything.

I stepped over a loose floorboard before it could creak. Ahead of me, Matthew raced toward the staircase.

A glimpse through the open window made me falter. Beyond the house stretched a town of thatched rooftops surrounded by towering mountain ranges, their peaks still covered in snow.

Am I dreaming?

It looked like one of those theatrical dramas Avaia used to watch on her phone—the kind where a maid fell in love with her noble master. 

The smell of burning charcoal and heated iron drifted from somewhere downstairs. 

Matthew glanced over his shoulder. 

“What’s wrong, slowpoke?”

I barely heard him. I was busy trying to understand the impossible world outside the window.

“Diana and Kael, sitting beneath a tree—”

His foot caught against the first step, and his body tipped backward.

He failed to notice the first step.

His laughter vanished.

“Kael!”

I turned.

“MATTHEW!” 

A strange pulsed inside my chest, and everything around slowed.

Dust hung motionless in the sunlight. Matthew’s black hair barely moved as his body continued to tip backward. His grey eyes widened in fear.

I rushed forward and reached out with my right hand. My fingers closed around his left wrist and I yanked  him to safety. 

Then once I saw Matthew was safe. I let out a sigh and time began to flow as normal

“Wha…what just happened? A second ago I was there and now I am here sitting?”

I didn't know how to answer.

I stared at my hand.

Is this Kael’s power, like something from those reincarnation novels and comics I had read?”

When I looked back at Matthew, his eyes fixed on mine, still looking for answers.

“I…I…”

Before I could answer, footsteps thundered from below. Two adults appeared at the top of the stairs.

“What happened, Kael? Did both of you get into a fight again?”

The woman rushed towards me while the muscular man beside her, dressed in white shirt and brown trousers, went to check on Matthew.

“Are you alright, Kael? We heard a bang and felt traces of mana here. Did your magic awaken?”

I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Still, two names surfaced from somewhere inside me without bringing any memories with them. The woman was Emily, Kael’s mother. Roger, his father—and a blacksmith.

“I… don’t know.” 

I stared at my trembling hands, struggling to process everything. I had just been in an accident. Now I had awakened in an unknown world inside someone else’s body.

Emily gently took my trembling hands.  

“It’s okay. I experienced something when I awakened. All living things possess mana…

Magic…

A nervous laugh escaped me.

“HAHAHAHA”

Emily stopped speaking.

“This has to be a dream.” I shouted.

I pulled away from her and ran past Emily, Roger, and Matthew.

“Kael! Where are you going?”

I rushed down the stairs, through the living room, and into Roger’s workshop.

The smell of charcoal was too sharp to be imagined.

I shook my head and pushed through the workshop door. Cold air struck my face and sank deep into my bones. 

“The cold feels so real…”

I scanned the town as I stumbled onto the road. Behind me, I heard Roger descending the stairs and calling my name. 

“Kael isn’t my name. I need to wake up. I’m probably in the hospital, and Avaia is waiting for me. I have to return to her and tell her everything is all alright.”

I ran through damped cobbled stone streets on the legs of a ten year old. Tears clouded my vision, and I wiped them away.

After only a few meters, my chest tightened. I struggled to breathe and started coughing.

Why does it feel like I am going to have an asthma attack? Did this body have asthma too?

I stopped at the town square, where an obelisk stood in the center. Coughing against the cold air, I approached the stone tablet at its base and searched its inscription for anything that might prove this was a dream.

“May the Seven Gods honor the fallen. Thy Sacrifice will be remembered for eternity.”

I read it twice, searching for an anomaly.

Everything is…

I looked around the square, bewildered.

Is this real?

I pinched my cheek. Sharp pain answered me.

“KAEL!” 

I turned instinctively. Roger was running towards me, still dressed in his night clothes. He carried a coat in one hand and a small vial in the other.

“Don’t move an inch!”

Without any hesitation I ran towards the crowd, hoping to lose him. Despite my labored breathing, I squeezed between the townspeople, while Roger continued shouting Kael’s name behind me.

But I didn’t care. I wanted to wake up. 

There has to be a way to wake up.

Then I spotted a wooden temple standing atop a mound. A bell tower rose above its roof.

If I jump from that bell tower, I’ll wake up. Heights have never been my best friend.

I changed direction and pushed through the crowd climbing toward the temple for the spring mass. Every few steps, I had to slow down and fight another cough.

At the top of the mound, I slipped around the side of the temple before anyone could point Roger in my direction. I found a wooden door, checked that no one was watching, and quietly entered

An unattended staircase spiraled toward the upper floor.  I climbed until I reached an attic filled with unfamiliar objects hidden beneath dusty cloth. Another narrow staircase led to the bell tower.

My lungs burned as I forced myself up the final steps.

At the top, a small opening overlooked the entire walled town. Farmland stretched beyond its walls, with the mountain ranges rising behind it like the photographs I had seen of Mount Everest.

Then I looked down.

Oh boy… that's high.

I hesitated at the opening.

What if this is real…

“Kael?”

A familiar voice called out behind me. I turned and froze.

The girl standing there had a face I knew. A name surfaced. Tania, adopted daughter of a baker on the next house.

But the face I saw belonged to someone else.

“What are you doing here Kael?” she asked.

“Avaia?”

I stumbled toward her and pulled her into my arms.

“Kael, what are you doing?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken that order!”

Tears spilled from my eyes as I held her tighter.

“I shouldn’t have…”

Tania pushed me away.

“What are you doing Kael? Did you hit yourself in the head or something?”

My legs gave out. I collapsed onto the wooden floor and wept, releasing all the regret and confusion trapped inside me.

Three days later.

“Kael?” Emily’s voice came through the bedroom door. “Are you awake?”

I remained seated beside the bed and said nothing. 

She had checked on me several times since the incident at the bell tower. I answered only often enough to convince her that I was still alive.

Her worried voice brought back warmth that I’ve been longing for since my own mother died.

Ma..

“He’s awake,” Matthew said from the hallway. “I knocked earlier and asked if he wanted dinner. He told me to leave his share outside.”

“Did he take it?” Emily asked.

“Well…”

Their voices dropped, but the wooden door was too thin to hide them from me. 

“I waited beside the door to catch him opening it,” Matthew continued. “Then the tray—POOF—disappeared. I was so stunned to speak.”

I stared at the empty bowl sitting on my study table. Hunger had finally settled in; making it the first full meal I had eaten since walking in this world.

I still didn’t understand how I had brought the tray inside. The same pressure I had felt when saving Matthew had gathered in my chest. But instead of slowing everything around me, the distance between the tray and the table had somehow vanished.

Drawing my knees against my chest, I rested my forehead on them.

Ma. Pa.

They were still outside. Perhaps I could return the tray before they came inside.

I closed my eyes and reached for that strange pressure again.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, I lowered my hand.

I can’t concentrate. My mind is still too loud.

The rain.

Avaia’s warm fingers.

Tania’s face—the face Avaia had worn as a child..

Wait… did Avaia…?

I shook my head.

It’s impossible, Avaia was still breathing.

“Let’s leave Kael alone for a while, Matthew.”

“But it’s unusual for him to act this way, Mom. Even Tania was bewildered by the name Avaia.” 

“Let’s just wait for him to explain who that is okay? Come along, you need to sleep early.”

I could hear their footsteps fade. I still couldn’t accept that the world I am currently in is reality. I just can’t believe that reincarnation is real, I thought it was just a story theme to escape the reality of my old world. Especially me who wanted some escape for a while. 

Somewhere in my old world, Avaia might be lying in a hospital bed—or mourning for her brother who had promised always to be there.

Avaia…

A softer knock interrupted my thoughts.

“Kael?” 

My head lifted.

“It’s Heather.”

Knowledge arrived without a memory to accompany it; Heather is Kael’s four-year-old sister, the youngest in the family

I remained silent, despite the urge inside me to go open that door and embrace her.

“Mama, Papa and Matthew are sad.” 

The floor creaked beyond the door as she shifted her weight. 

“I brought Merry.” Heather continued. “You said, whenever I am sad. I just hugged Merry. Maybe you should hug Merry too.”

My heart ached at the innocent child’s words.

I’m sorry Heather. But the brother you once knew awakened as a stranger..

I looked toward the door. For three days I had thought only about Avaia and returning to my world. I had never considered how frightened this family must be by what happened to their son.

Guilt washed over me. 

Maybe I should pretend to be Kael while I search for a way home.

I took a deep breath, pushed myself to my feet, and approached the door.

My hand settled over the latch. Before I was certain and ready, it moved.

I opened the door.

Heather sat against the opposite wooden wall, hugging a lamb stuffed lamb. She had fallen asleep on the wooden floor while waiting for me.

For one painful instant, I saw Avaia waiting outside my room during one of the times I had shut myself away.

I knelt just in front of Heather and carefully lifted her. Her weight strained my ten-year-old arms, but I held her close and carried her downstairs one step at a time.

“I’m sorry Heather,” I whispered, kissing her forehead. 

When I reached the bottom of the stair, I found Emily, Roger, and Matthew seated around the dinner table. All three stared at me.

Emily rose as tears welled in her eyes, but she stopped herself when she saw Heather sleeping in my arms. Matthew stood beside her, while Roger offered me a quiet and opened the door to Heather's bedroom.

Until I found a way back to Avaia, I would try to be the brother and son they needed.