As Liam ran towards his estate, he was greeted by an aged Butler, whom he also had forgotten the name of, all the faces of the workers inside the Baronetcy, he had forgotten all of them except for a few members, such as his family.
“Sire Liam, is there anything wrong?”
“No, no, there is none, my room.”
Liam said in a scared and hasty manner, his breathing was heavy as if he was gasping for air, his sweat dripped down from his forehead, the Butler saw this and asked a question that was needed to be asked for such a suspicious act.
“are you okay, Sire-“
The Butler was cut off by Liam’s needless yelling, his short temper and mental health got the best of him, although he was an expert in the aspect of politics, economy, and Military and he mostly thought of them as rationally and logically as possible, it was just that sometimes his temper and mental health got the best of him.
Even if he yelled his anger out to his cabinet members and aides, he still acted as logical as possible, but the reason being he was the most senior executive of the cabinet, being a person with the most executive positions in the Empire he held quite the political power, yet he had forgotten his current problem.
He was now currently a child, his memories and soul, got transported back to his younger past self, something he still wasn’t able to comprehend.
“Just tell me my room.”
“I-it’s at the second floor, west wing, the last room of the hallway, Sire.”
“Good, Thank you.”
Liam thanked the butler whilst scratching his head in irritation, he then ran up the stairs and towards his room, he was greeted by his family’s expensive but also humble mansion, most of the decorations inside were just cheap paintings, pottery, and even sculptures, as they had to at least act like nobility.
Soon entering the second floor, he rushed towards the last room of the west wing of their mansion, he pushed opened the door in a hasty manner, and slamming it closed for its thump to echo inside the house.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Liam yelled as he curled up in a ball at the corner of his room, it wasn’t his first time curling up in a ball, even in his past life, he curled up in a ball when his mental health far worsened, it mostly ended him up making several bloody and needless decisions, such as starting a needless massacre or just to torment the annexed populace to vent out his anger.
But he knew he couldn’t do it now, given his current status, body, and current abilities, he knew he was nothing more than a weak and frail child with his current predicament.
“M-Magic!”
He suddenly thought, he then released both of his hands off his head and placed it before his eyes, he saw both of his palms and started imagining any element he could think of, given his title as a Grand Mage and a key figure of the Magical Revolution, he needed to at least have talent or proficiency in magic.
But then it happened, like a small thread of light, a small flame appeared on both of his palms, yet it was small, too small, in his past life the fire he always imagined would at least be the size of a human’s head, yet the flame on his palm was barely a spark of fire.
“No… no…”
His mental health worsened by the minute, his superior, self-taught and original magic, it was all gone, his strength waned, and his pupils shrank, his entire body trembled just by the mere thought of him losing everything he worked so hard to achieve.
The Power, the Strength, his reputation and standing in the past, he did it all with barely little to no help, the mere body of a child couldn’t possibly keep up with his training, his mana pool, and his strength from the past, he couldn’t regain it in under mere days nor months, maybe even several years.
“Shit!... Shit!... Goddamnit”
Liam cursed as he placed his trembling hands on his heads, he closed his eyes, thinking its all a dream, he tried thinking that it was just some sort of experience with death, the part where you relive your past life.
…yes! This is all a dream! Its just my imaginations… imaginations…, he told himself several times, repeating it was all a dream, yet it wasn’t, the body he possessed was that of a young child, his younger self, but he denied it.
“This isn’t true, yes, it couldn’t be true, I was there, I felt It, I remember it, Everything! I remember it! this can’t be true, not true, hahahahaha… Silvestio, is this a magic array you’ve devised?!”
Liam talked to himself in a foolish and insane manner, his body still maintained its trembling movements, out of pure insanity he slapped himself several times in his face, committing several self-harms on himself, yet he felt the pain.
The pain that couldn’t be felt in a dream, he felt it, his cheeks became warm and bruised from the several slaps he did to himself, yet he still didn’t wake up, without anymore way to think of leaving the ‘Array’ he thought he was trapped in.
He decided to use the ‘Suicide Gambit’.
In mind-related magic, such as a ‘Deception Array’ or a ‘Dream Array’, like what Liam thought he was currently trapped inside in, only the mind of the victim was placed inside the array’s main trap, this type of ploy made the victim feel pain whenever they try to hurt themselves to try and wake up from the Array, thus making self-harm futile as a reasons of escape.
The soul was separate from the mind, yet only very few mages know of it since they hadn’t felt it before, the mages only knew in trapping their targets, therefore, committing suicide inside the array wasn’t thought of by many mages who executed it, making several of their targets committed suicide to escape but some died doing it, therefor it was named as a ‘gambit’, since it was based on the victim’s mental health, if they had a strong mind, they could easily use the ‘Suicide Gambit’ and escape the array alive, but if they had a weak mind the ‘Gambit’ wasn’t a gambit anymore but an answer.
“Yes! This could be it!”
Liam yelled in conclusion, he thought that it was just an array Silvestio used against him, ridding Liam of his last ounces of humanity, that was what Liam thought.
In the heat of the moment, Liam tried searching for several lethal objects to use against him, from pointed objects to blunt objects, the problem with the ‘Suicide Gambit’ was that the suicide needed to be as fast as possible for the victim to be immediately woken up, if it was too slow, it could end with the victim being situated in a coma, allowing the enemy to kill him.
As he finally found a lethal enough object inside his sealed room, particularly under one of his work desks, it was a shard of a gem that was seemed to have been carved as something that of an ornament or décor, Liam didn’t question any further and took the shard immediately and stood up in front of the desk he found it in.
As he was about to stab and slice his neck open, he looked down towards the desk and met a sudden revelation, as he looked towards the small, circular plain-white portable mirror, it was made of several cheap materials, yet the reflection was still seen as clearly as day.
He saw the body he was currently in, his younger self, short jet-Black hair, and purple eyes, just like his father, in the midst of the revelation, he lowered his momentum, lowering both of his arms that held the shard just right before his neck.
He then looked down the floor with a depressing look, then walking towards the wall to where he slid himself against on, throwing the shard in anger to where it was durable enough to survive the impact, he then curled himself back in a ball and yelled.
“Impossible! It’s… Impossible…”
Liam Yelled in confusion and mixed emotions as he curled himself in a ball on the wall, because the sudden revelation he noticed wasn’t just a mere ‘effect’ or ‘factor’ for the array.
It was because this revelation, meant it was 'too detailed' to be a deceptive array, as far as deceptive magic was concerned in, it shouldn’t be too detailed, because making it too detailed obviously meant that the caster’s mana was dwindling in a rapid rate.
Such as what Liam was experiencing, such a deceptive Array couldn’t exist, the faces he was quite familiar with, how the people acted, the surroundings being too detailed, the memories being too clear, it was impossible for a normal magician or even a grand mage such as Liam himself, even if hundreds of mages were to help and support the array, childhood memories or sealed memories were hard to break open or even initiate inside the deceptive array, even making it too detailed was impossible.
Because as far as Mages were concerned, deceptive magic was mostly used for ‘Quick’ and ‘Interrogative’ use, meaning that it was used mostly for interrogation and ‘quick use’, it meant that only the nearest memories were needed and used, as it only focused on forcing the victim to remember his orders, his future and past actions, making him confess by making him remember the pain he suffered that brought him up to his interrogation.
There were only two types anyway, [Combat deceptive magic], and [Deceptive Interrogation Magic], what Liam is thinking is the latter.
There was even deceptive magic that increased Fear, Anxiety, and even Insanity, to the point it would make the victim’s mind break to where they were considered ‘Useless’, only a few mages, Liam included, was able to do it.
But what he felt was certainly different from ‘Interrogation’ magic, let alone even 'Combat', deceptive magic was only used for deceptions, making the target hallucinate only.
“Shit… No…”
But that wasn’t all, in Deceptive Arrays, there was an unspoken rule, since the mind was only sent inside the array, the victim shouldn’t be able to see his personal and own body, they were able to see other faces and bodies, but not theirs, they couldn’t see their arms, legs, chest, neck, face, every single body part they own, they couldn’t see it.
Just like a ghost, their physical bodies should be invisible to their own eyes.
Yet Liam saw his entire body, his black hair, Purple eyes, handsome and clear face, he saw his reflection clearly like the back of his hand, he immediately knew it wasn’t an array, because as far as he practiced and trained his magic abilities and skill, this type of magic isn't possible.
“It couldn’t be possible…”
Liam still replied in a rejecting voice, he still couldn’t accept reality, you could even say he was still in his hallucinations and dreams, yet Liam did still have an alternate Theory, it was certainly insane but it was still plausible.
…Is it… reincarnation? or Rebirth?
