The wind blew against me, and I jolted awake. As I opened my eyes, a blinding light flooded my vision. It wasn’t the soft glow of my bedside lamp—it was the sun. Above me stretched a vast, endless blue. No ceiling. No walls. Just open sky.

  Where am I?

  I tried to speak, to give voice to the question forming in my mind—but what came out was something else entirely.

  “Bwaa… ahh… gaa.”

  I froze.

  That was… a baby’s voice.

  Panic surged through me, and I forced myself upright in confusion. That wasn’t my voice. It couldn’t be. My heart pounded as I stared down at my body.

  My hands were tiny. My fingers short and soft. My legs—small and unsteady. My upper body was wrapped in a white cloth garment with long sleeves, and a skirt-like covering draped over my lower half. The fabric looked simple, almost primitive.

  “No… no way…”

  I tried to slap my own face, but my arms felt weak, barely lifting halfway.

  This isn’t a dream.

  The realization struck me like a blow.

  I’m… a baby?

  "Bwaa…!”

  The sound that escaped me only confirmed it.

  Have I been reincarnated?

  But how? Did I die? I tried to remember—tried to grasp the last memory I had. I knew I had gone home exhausted and collapsed straight into bed. After that… nothing. A blank slate.

  Worse, I couldn’t even remember my own name.

  It was strange. I remembered fragments of my life—being male, twenty-two years old, a student, single. I remembered liking games and watching anime. I remembered the feeling of holding a controller, staying up too late, skipping sleep.

  But my name? My family? My friends?

  Nothing.

  It was as if someone had erased the most important parts of me.

  Then another thought hit me.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Why am I outside?

  I looked around properly this time. Tall trees towered in the distance. Grass stretched around me, and beyond that was a flat expanse of land leading deeper into what looked unmistakably like a forest.

  A forest.

  Of all places.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

  “Gaa…”

  My own baby voice mocked me.

  Is this another world?

  If it is, couldn’t I at least start in a house? With parents? With a roof over my head?

  Instead, I was alone. Completely alone.

  It didn’t take long for the obvious conclusion to settle in.

  I’ve been abandoned.

  The thought made my tiny chest tighten.

  Trying to steady myself, I looked down at where I was sitting. It was some kind of elevated surface. Stone. Cold and hard beneath me.

  A stone table? or a tomb?

  Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a crib. The chill seeped into my legs and backside, making me shiver.

  “Brr… ah…”

  Driven by unease and curiosity, I began to crawl. My movements were clumsy, slow, but I managed. The surface beneath my palms felt flat and rectangular—carved stone.

  I inched toward the edge and carefully peeked over.

  It was a drop of about three feet.

  Three feet.

  For my current body, that might as well have been a cliff.

  “How am I supposed to get down from here…?”

  “Bwaa…”

  How did a baby end up alone in a place like this?

  If I can’t even get off this rock, what was the point of being reborn?

  I would have accepted anything—even a poor family, even hardship. I would have worked hard. I would have endured it.

  But a forest?

  Alone?

  Of all places… why here?

  I began to survey my surroundings, finally noticing what had been looming behind me this entire time. I turned, my small neck straining, and saw a massive statue. It was carved from smooth gray stone, worn by what must have been generations of devotion. The figure was a chimera of sorts: the sturdy, muscular body of a warrior topped with the sharp-eyed head of an eagle gazing into the far distance.

  Its eyes were inset with shining gemstones that danced in the flickering torchlight. Engraved upon its chest was a family emblem—a circle gripped by waves and fire. The statue’s hands were outstretched in a dual pose: one palm open as if offering a silent blessing, while the other gripped a spear thrust firmly into the earth. Protection and providence.

  As I stared up at the monument, a cold realization settled in my gut. I looked down at the flat, rectangular stone surface beneath my tiny limbs.

  If there’s a statue here, where exactly am I?

  The truth was unavoidable. I wasn’t just on a platform; I was lying on an altar.

  My mind raced. From what I knew of history and fantasy tropes, these structures were used for one thing: sacrifices. Offerings to deities to beg for favor or ward off disaster. That led me to a chilling conclusion.

  Does that mean the body I now inhabit was meant to be a living sacrifice?

  "Seriously?" I tried to mutter, but it came out as a soft babble.

  I couldn't think of any other reason to abandon a helpless infant in a place like this. As gruesome as the thought was, this child had been brought here as a grand offering. It was dark. Oppressively dark. In my entire previous life, I couldn't imagine anything more inhumane. Just thinking about the hands that must have placed me here made me feel terrified and disgusted.

  A chill crawled down my spine, but I forced the dread away. I slapped my tiny cheeks with my hands to snap out of it.

  ‘You're not here just to die,’ I told myself.

  ‘You're here to live.’

  That was the very reason I had been reborn. I clenched my small, uncoordinated fists. Back in my old world, life was a constant uphill battle. I grew up with nothing, learning how to endure, how to stay quiet, and—most importantly—how to survive. I didn’t quit then, and I won’t quit now.

  "Okay, enough drama," I thought, shaking my head. "Time to move."