Seren remembered dying.
It was strange memories of fluorescent dorm lights, the glow of a computer monitor, textbooks stacked like miniature towers on his desk, and the bitter taste of cheap instant coffee swirling on his tongue. He had been studying for three exams at once, pushing himself far past exhaustion. He remembered gripping his chest, the world tilting, a metallic taste in his mouth, then darkness.
But the darkness did not stay.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the arms of a crying woman in a tiny wooden room illuminated by candlelight. A nun. Soft wrinkled eyes, gentle hands, and faint hymns echoing from her lips.
"Poor little one… alone in the night… We'll take care of you," she whispered.
And just like that, Seren's second life began.
He had spent four years quietly trying to understand this new world a world filled with magic, kingdoms, knights, mages, and beasts lurking within vast forests. A world where his past-life memories gave him the mind of an adult inside a child's body.
A blessing… and a curse.
---
The Awakening Ceremony
On the morning of the ceremony, the orphanage buzzed louder than a beehive in summer. Children dressed in their cleanest clothes lined up outside the old chapel. Wooden banners painted with swirling sigils hung from the posts, marking the importance of the day.
Today, children who had reached age four would undergo their Awakening, a ritual revealing the type of magic if anythat slumbered within them.
"Seren! Fenwick! Hurry up, both of you!" Sister Helena called, flustered as always.
Fenwick barreled past Seren like an overeager puppy, his brown hair unkempt and his grin confident.
"She's calling for you, slowpoke! Try not to embarrass yourself today."
Seren raised an eyebrow. "You tripped down the stairs literally ten minutes ago."
"That was strategy," Fenwick declared proudly. "I was warming up my reflexes."
"You face-planted."
"A tactical dive."
"…Right."
Fenwick puffed out his cheeks. "You always talk like you're older than everyone else."
Seren shrugged, because well he was.
Even in a child's body, his mind was twenty-one. The others often called him "weird" or "serious," but he preferred that to pretending he was actually four.
The village square had gathered a sizable crowd. Parents, guards, farmers, and wandering mages watched as the priest prepared a faintly glowing crystal about the size of a melon. The Awakening Crystal pulsed with soft warm light, filled with ancient runes.
One by one, the children were called.
Some lit the crystal dimly evidence of minor mana.
Some made it spark brightly sign of a potentially strong attribute.
Some caused nothing at all.
A boy in front of Seren touched it, and the crystal flickered.
"Wind affinity," the priest announced politely.
Next, a girl placed her hand. The crystal glowed green.
"Earth affinity. Congratulations."
Fenwick stepped forward with puffed-out chest.
When he touched the crystal, it flared brightly with golden light, shining far brighter than the others so far.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"A rare talent… Enhancement magic," the priest declared, stroking his beard. "Not ordinary body strengthening. True magical augmentation. A promising path."
Fenwick grinned victoriously and turned to Seren, mouthing:
"Beat that."
Seren stepped forward next.
And the moment his fingers brushed the cold crystal
BOOM.
A sound like a deep bell rang across the entire square.
The crystal vibrated violently, then pulsed with ripples of transparent waves, as if sound itself was escaping from within. The priest stumbled back. Several spectators gasped. The air trembled around Seren's hand.
The crystal turned completely colorless, yet shone brighter than any before.
A strange resonance hummed from it, vibrating in the bones of everyone present.
The priest stared, stunned. "T-This… I have never seen this type of resonance before…"
More runes lit up. The crowd whispered.
"What attribute is that?"
"Is the crystal broken?"
"No… it's reacting just differently"
The priest composed himself, voice trembling.
"This child… has awakened a rare attribute. One that exists beyond the elemental cycle."
He placed his palm over the runes, reciting the name slowly.
"…Sound Magic."
A hush swept over the crowd.
Sound magic barely recorded in history. A branch of dimensional magic. Elusive, unpredictable, and extremely powerful in the hands of prodigies.
Seren stepped back, stunned yet calm. Inside, he felt something shift. A new sense blossomed vibrations, faint echoes of movement, footsteps, heartbeats, whispers. The world was suddenly louder, clearer, more detailed.
Fenwick stared at him, open-mouthed.
"That… was cheating."
Seren smirked. "Tactical resonance."
"…I'm gonna punch you."
---
Reactions and Whispers
After the ceremony, the orphanage children flocked around Seren.
"Seren, what was that sound?!"
"Is sound magic strong?"
"Does it mean you'll become a mage-mage?"
"Can you make your voice louder?"
Seren answered awkwardly.
"I don't know. I've never heard of it before either."
Which was true.
In college, "sound magic" did not exactly exist. But his rational mind knew: sound was vibration, frequency, waves. In a magical world, that could mean anything.
Sister Helena pulled Seren aside later that evening, kneeling to meet his eyes.
"Seren… that magic of yours is special. But special things attract danger. Please promise me you won't do anything reckless with it."
Seren nodded. "I won't."
He meant it.
At least… for today.
---
Night Thoughts of a Reincarnated Child
The moonlight spilled through the orphanage window as Seren sat on his bed, small legs dangling. His mind was still buzzing not from fear, but excitement.
I reincarnated… and I got magic.
Sound magic at that.
He curled his fist.
He would train. Study. Experiment. Become stronger.
Not for glory.
Not for revenge.
But because somewhere inside him lingered the regret of a young man who had wasted his life cramming for exams instead of living.
"Not again," he whispered to himself. "This time… I will live."
He closed his eyes.
And in the quiet of the night, he began to hear it again.
Footsteps downstairs.
Wind brushing through cracks in the wooden walls.
Fenwick snoring two beds away.
Sister Helena's slow breathing in the next room.
The world was a symphony.
And for the first time…
Seren felt like he belonged here.