Chapter 3

  Years passed. I learned to read early, and when I had time, I read as much as was available about this world. Like the Earth I remember, there was one ‘intelligent’ species, us. The entire world was under the Emperor. He’s been emperor for so long that no one could remember his name. Thousands of years. No one knew how he did it, as normal lifespans were a little over 200 years. Years here were pretty simple too. 8 days in a week, 4 weeks in a month, 10 months in a year. Days seem about the same as on Earth, but I had to learn a new timing system. 100 seconds per minute, 100 minutes per hour, 10 hours a day. Back on Earth, there’s 86,400 seconds per day, 31,536,000 a year. Here, there were 100,000 a day, 32,000,000 a year. Still, it made the math much easier.

  There were still the 4 seasons I was familiar with. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. But Spring and Autumn were only 2 months each, and not three like Summer and Winter. Still, with the way seasons had been headed on Earth, it was a relief to see normal seasonal weather.

  My family is relatively well off. They were crafters by trade who had become merchants. Now, they own several stores in town for various crafts. We live in a decent size manor, due to their success, and we had a few servants that helped with the normal chores. My parents rarely had to work anymore, so they spent a lot of time with me, during my youngest years. Soon, however, I would have to start what passed for schooling here.

  “Jorth,” Mom looked at me. “You’re four now, and soon, you’ll need to start schooling. You already know how to read, write, and do addition,” she continued, not knowing I had a better understanding of math than that, “so, we’ll start you with history, finances, and governance, and see where to go from there.”

  “Yes, mom,” I said, “I know a bit about history and finances already, from the books at the library.”

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  “I know, son, but you’ll need a deeper understanding that books can’t provide. That, and you should meet kids your own age.”

  “Kids my age won’t understand me.”

  “Then help them understand.” Dad said, coming up from behind me. “Don’t give up on others, without at least trying that much. You still need to learn how to be social with peers your own age.”

  “Why? Sounds like a horrible time to me.”

  “Oh, Jorth, it’ll be fun!” Mom exclaimed.

  “As fun as a hole in the head” I muttered.

  “What was that, dear?”

  “Nothing, mother.” I replied.

  “That’s what I thought,” She replied, smugly, the way only mothers can do properly.

  That night as I lay down, I again attempted to reach a trance-like state. This time, I tried something different. Something I remembered vaguely from my first life. I didn’t empty my thoughts, I imagined a fire, like I was at a bonfire in my teens. Into this fire, I directed all the thoughts that came into my head, burning the thought away and feeding the fire. Every stray thought went into the fire. What if… Into the fire. Why did… Into the fire. Why didn’t I… Into the fire. Eventually, even the fire went into the fire, and a sense of nothingness surrounded me. Stray thoughts still seemed to occur, but this time, they were sucked in, like a black hole. I still sensed myself, and once again, that immense sense of power. It seemed to surround the emptiness that I was in. It did not get sucked in, though. It felt more like it was the halo of a black hole, it surrounded it, encompassed it, but never truly was a part of it.

  As I kept myself in this trance-like state, I tried to reach out with my awareness and touch that power, just on the outside of where my awareness ended. I reached out, and for a brief second, power flooded into me. I dropped out of the trance like a stone in a pond. Gasping for breath. The sense of power vanished. But now, I could feel every inch of my body, inside and out, as if I were concentrating on each part individually. My minuscule muscles (that were developing quite nicely, for a 4 year old). My growing bones, my heart, lungs, and every blood vessel, nerve, and digestive tract. But I also felt a new sense. I didn’t know what it was, but I learned later it was a concept similar to mana. A magic potential, if you will. I didn’t know how mine compared to other people’s, but I imagine none of them had unlocked theirs at the age of 4, so I have some time to work on mine.

  Now it's time to sleep. Tomorrow, I begin schooling. Yay me......