Karok blinked, confused as to what was going on. Didn't he die? Why was this human woman holding him with such a loving look? It was disturbing.
At this moment, Karok started to feel that this golden-haired woman looked familiar as her face gradually overlapped with the one in his mind.
Karok "..."
Another wave of shock hit him as he finally recognised the woman; she was the same woman who had stabbed him previously while screaming that he had killed her family.
But she now looked different from her soulless and miserable self that Karok remembered, she looked clean and graceful, her beauty wasn't tainted by the aftereffect of losing her family.
Karok was now more confused. Why was this person holding him, and why did she look so different?
After what happened to him, Karok didn't hold any anger toward humans for attacking him since they had invaded and taken over their home first but he didn't particularly like them either. So, he tried to move away from the woman's hands.
But he realised that his body was too heavy and barely listened to him; it was as if there wasn't a single ounce of strength in his body to carry out such a simple action.
His confusion deepened after he saw his arms. He was a baby, a human baby!
'Did I…get reborn?' Karok questioned in disbelief as he returned to staring at the face of the woman who was apparently now his mother, the same woman who had killed him.
How ironic was it? To be given life by the same woman who took it from him previously.
Karok didn't know how to feel about it.
At this moment, the sounds of footsteps could be heard getting closer.
The sound of a door being pushed open was followed by two people rushing into the room where Karok and the golden-haired woman were. They came to stand beside her and looked at Karok in the woman's arms.
Karok looked at the two as well. One was a middle-aged man of around thirty years old, he had a handsome face and his head was covered with full black hair, his blue eyes stared at Karok and the golden-haired woman with a loving light.
The other was a young teenage boy of around 17 years old, but he had the physique of a 20-year-old adult, a handsome face that resembled a middle-aged man and golden hair like a woman's.
Karok instantly recognised these two after setting his eyes on them. Although they looked younger and different from the version of themselves that he remembered, he could tell that they were part of the human army that he had wiped out when the Skrivas took over Earth.
But now, they were his family.
"He's a healthy baby," The middle-aged man said, his tone gentle and filled with care.
"Why isn't junior brother crying? He's just staring at us instead, is he alright?" The teenage boy asked with worry.
"Not all babies cry after being born. Your brother is fine." The woman replied with a sweet smile as she held Karok closer.
Karok stared at them, a strange feeling swelling within him. He could feel the love from these three and the genuine care.
'Was this how it felt to have a complete family?' he thought to himself.
'Eh? What's happening?'
Karok suddenly felt his mind getting cloudy and his thoughts turning fragmented as a strong wave of dizziness washed over him.
He was losing consciousness again. The last thing he heard before everything fell into darkness was his father's voice telling his elder brother to stay with their mother and the baby(Karok ) while he went to look at the commotion outside.
....
Far beyond the peaceful situation of Karok's rebirth, a play of nature far more intriguing than his past life and even the current one was The Realm
The Realm is a three-layered plane where thousands of worlds exist and dimensional rifts link all of them together. On the first layer of the realm, one would find hundreds of uninhabitable worlds. Worlds that were filled with chaos and natural disasters, lightning striking down from the skies at random, flames bursting out of the ground without warning, and earthquakes constantly reshaping the layouts of these worlds.
The first layer was a plain that every creature avoided as surviving in there was as difficult as hugging a bolt of lightning and hoping to survive without a scratch.
The second layer was filled with worlds that were occupied by beasts. Savage monsters and abominations that one could not think existed until they saw them, these worlds also contained rare treasures that were of extreme value.
While on the third layer were worlds that held intelligent lifeforms. Each planet held its own civilisation and race.
Amongst these hundreds of lifeforms were the Skrivaloks, a battle-hardened race with terrifying talent that they were already able to control the direction of the dimensional rifts to invade other worlds.
A good number of worlds in the third layer of the realm were controlled by them and as their numbers grew, they plundered powerful worlds for their resources and wiped out the planet's former races.
The Skrivaloks had a strange tradition of informing the planets that they wanted to invade, to surrender, or prepare for war a few years before coming to the planet.
Maybe it was due to confidence or madness but they had never lost a single invasion for hundreds of years.
This was the same thing that happened after they discovered Earth. A world with so many resources and treasures that made even the Skrivaloks, who had several worlds under their control, jealous, but the inhabitants of this world were unbelievably weak, with the strongest of them being only a tier 6 dominator.
They had so many resources but didn't know how to utilise them!
After discovering this, the Skrivas were so angry and immediately sent envoys to Earth to request their surrender or prepare for death. But since the strongest lifeforms on earth were only a weak tier 6 dominator (level 5 warrior), the Skrivaloks couldn't send stronger Skrivas, which might cause the order of the world to collapse.
So, to change this, they started to gradually send weak Skrivaloks over to slowly develop Earth to welcome stronger lifeforms.
After a long 37 years of preparation, the limit of force that the Earth could carry finally reached the peak, and the Skrivaloks poured into the planet.
Humanity was massacred, overwhelmed by strength beyond their understanding and lost their planet in a one-sided war that only lasted for a few months.
As for what happened next, the remaining humans were used as slaves by the Skrivas and watched as their former home was reformed while they were forever powerless to change anything about it.
...
"Young master Ivan, it's almost time for the first awakening. Your mother and brother are waiting for you in the main room." The respectful voice of a servant girl came from outside Ivan's chambers.
"I'll be out in a minute, thank you." A calm male voice sounded in response, it was Ivan's.
Standing alone in the large bedroom that was extravagantly decorated, Ivan stood in front of a tall dressing mirror. He seemed to be staring at his reflection but his gaze was distant as if lost in thoughts.
In the reflection, one could see the handsome face of the 17-year-old Ivan. Sharp blue eyes that were the same as his father's and short golden hair, which was a trait from his mother, Ivan looked nothing like a 17-year-old boy, and one could easily mistake him for someone in his early twenties instead.
A tall and strong frame, broad shoulders, sharp jawlines, and a handsome face that could easily win over the hearts of most girls with just a casual glance. Ivan already looked dashing with just his physique and the uniform he was wearing added a look of nobility to him.
But Ivan's mind was not on any of those matters as he just stood in front of the mirror and stared blankly.
After several seconds, his eyes regained focus and he suddenly bent over while covering one side of his face with his right palm that was covered in a white hand glove.
"I understand now," Ivan mumbled to himself while panting, he lifted his head and looked at his reflection in the mirror.
He was now…truly human.
From childhood, Ivan had always felt that something was wrong with him. Like he was missing something or this constant feeling of something not being right, this feeling had lingered in him till his seventh birthday when he was about to go to the Red Star Royal Academy.
On this day, his missing memories were awoken, and he finally understood why he had felt odd for the past 17 years.
He was a former General of a race that was soon to conquer Earth. His past name was Karok, and he had lived 17 years of this life as a human, Ivan Castellan of the Castellan family.
He wasn't a Skrivalok anymore after 17 years, he was now a human with the memories of a betrayed Skrivalok General!