Pride of the Fanalis Clan
.
.
By Angelbloodlover
.
~ One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.
–
Albert Einstein
.
.
Chapter 1: Unraveled Mysteries
It was until many months passed that I understood where I was, and who I was with.
The so-called psychopaths as I had dubbed them were in reality my parents, which was strange since I already had parents. But that didn't even matter to them, I had tried talking to them, but only gibberish baby-talk left my lips. That was another aspect that confused me to death-the moment I had realized that I was turned into a baby again, I was baffled and shocked beyond imagination. At first I thought I was crazy and hallucinating...
I mean, really, who wouldn't question their sanity when they would be in my place?
But gradually on I accepted that I had been reborn into another body, a baby's body to be precise, but that was far from the strangest. I hadn't even accepted my situation, nor did I understood it, when a third aspect hit me like a bus. The people who called themselves my parents had an oddity that left me with more questions.
Red hair, that was a normal occurrence, nothing weird about that.
..and with it, they had red eyes, which wasn't normal at all. I had thought that it could be contact lenses, but I scratched that option out when I saw more people with red hair and eyes. Everywhere I had been taken to, everyone had the same physical appearances, well, the hair and the eyes, that was. And most of them also had piercings under their lips.
To make matters even worse, they seemed to wear very strange clothes, tunics, strange dresses and whatnot. This wasn't something that the people from the modern time would wear. That wasn't even all of it, literally everyone had weapons on them, ranging from sword to spears. It felt as if I would be skewered by one of them at any possible time, however the contrary happened. Most of the women cooed at me, much to my horror and the men scrutinized me like a hunter judging whether I was capable of being one of them.
To my relief, they all accepted my presence within their clan of red-haired warrior.
My mind supplied me with many valid arguments, but I stuck to one of them; this was a tribe of warriors, probably from the Amazon or something.
Of course I somehow felt familiar seeing all these fiery-haired people together, but my doubtful thoughts would be confirmed a few years laterI had been reborn into this healthier new-born body.
"May, what did I tell you about following me?" The giant red-haired man spoke in annoyance.
I stubbornly kept my gaze on him, crossing my arms and keeping eye contact with him. This kept going on until the person I referred to as father sighed in defeat. "Fine, you can come, but don't get in the way."
Happily nodding, I trotted after him with my little feet. Father always walked like a mighty and proud man, his strides quivering the earth underneath him. I really felt sorry for whoever dared to oppose him-he could be ruthless, I could see it in his stormy eyes that would narrow like a hawk whenever one would say something he disagreed with.
A frown marred my face when father suddenly stopped, making me bump into him. He turned around to face me with his calculating eyes, "Hmm...maybe I should start training you instead of letting you roam around like a wild monkey." He scratched his cheek, "Four years is a nice age to start your training."
Puffing my cheeks out in defiance, and ignoring his amused look, I glared at him, "I'm no monkey." But I was wondering what this training could entail since I had always dreamed of getting trained by father.
"No?"
"No." I repeated firmly, "I'm more like a lioness!"
He chuckled warmly and crouched down in front of me, the coldness from his eyes disappearing and a warmth that was only preserved for mother and I took its place. "How about we turn you into the Queen of the animals?" It was more a question than an answer, but I really wanted to learn how to fight like the older boys.
This new life that had been given to me was amazing. I had no problems with my lungs, and my blindness was no blindness at all, but a temporary lack of sight. Sure, at first I had been quiet, not talking to my parents, but slowly on I accepted them and the sincere love that they felt towards me.
Parental love was something that no one could fake and I fell victim to it, willingly so.
Their sincerity and worry towards my secluded persona made me question my behavior. Here they were, a husband and wife, who had wanted to have a child and they got me; a reincarnated mess of confusion and lack of social skills. None could blame me though, I had been scared to my wits, I still was, however these people didn't deserve this.
Sure, I missed my old family, in fact I thought daily of them. And somehow I knew they would want me to live this life to its fullest, to broaden my skills since I couldn't do anything strenuous in my old life, not even running, or swimming, or anything fun at all. I had been a prisoner within my own body. And that crushed my Will to survive. I had nothing but trouble for my parents and sister. Begrudgingly, I was glad that I had died-I couldn't help it, but dying had refreshed and blasted all the worries away. Wow, I sure as hell sound like a masochist. Who'd want to die?
If people could read my mind they'd question whether I was becoming crazy or not.
I blinked my eyes when I felt someone poking my forehead. "Huh?"
"You're spacing out, May," was my father's reply.
Blushing, I mumbled an apology and focused my attention on my father.
He accepted my apology and spoke up, "From today on we'll start you training. If you accept this, you'll have to finish it until the end. Only after agreeing this condition will I train you. What shall your answer be?"
Without hesitating, I replied affirmatively, "I accept, Father."
A tiny smile present on his face, "I didn't accept anything less from you, May."
I couldn't help it but his praises were really heart-warming. And not able suppressing my childish actions, I hugged the person who I addressed as father. After a few seconds, he patted my head fondly and took a step backwards. "This won't be fun at all."
"I know."
He continued, "You'll have to wake up early."
"I don't care." I replied stubbornly.
Chuckling, he ruffled my hair and crossed his arms, "Today, we'll only start with the basics, like running."
And so I followed after him, through the wide, vast land filled with multiple, dangerous animals and large birds. This was how I started my training, this was how I started to acknowledge my life as May.
A bird screeched loudly, and somewhere far away a lion roared. This had somehow became my alarm clock. So, I snapped my eyes open and got up, doing small stretches to shake the sleepiness off. Soundlessly, I walked out of my small tent towards my parents' tent. This had been an idea of my father, who had recommended that I should get my own tent to learn and live independently.
At first mother had been adamant against it, but when I sided with my father, she reluctantly agreed, though she occasionally visited me. It was really adoring how she fussed over me, saying that I was growing too fast for her liking. Her gentleness reminded me of my real mother and i was glad that their resemblances were the same, well, their personality. Physical appearances not so much.
I was grateful for that fact, since this way I had a memento from my real mother within my second mother.
..somehow it was confusing to take them apart since they had many similarities, which wasn't the same for my father. My real father had been a goofy man who laughed a lot while my second father was more reserved. But all in all, I was happy to be reborn into this new life. On occasions I did miss them, nostalgia hitting me, but instead of wallowing in despair I put more effort in pleasing my new parents. This was both of my parents would be proud of me.
"Morning father, mother." I greeted them with a wide smile. When I saw mother huddled close to my father my smile widened. And the small blush that adorned his cheeks didn't go unnoticed.
Mira, my mother, returned the gesture, "May-chan, there is something we have to tell you."
I tilted my head to the side, but understanding came to me when she touched her flat stomach. "What do you think of having a sibling?"
"Err..?" I was left speechless-a sibling, another addition to our loving family. I glanced at my father, noting how silent he had become, and then my mother, who was biting her lip in worry. Smiling warmly, I nodded, "A little sister would be great."
Their reactions were simultaneous; father smiled at that reply and mother giggled, responding with a, "Really, May-chan, you gave us a scare."
Inwardly, I was congratulating my father for his sneaky idea of teaching me independence while in reality he wanted some alone time with Mira. Sneaky bastard, but one that was a good father. "When will I get to see my little sister?" Even now I still loved having a little sister, protecting her from all the evil in the world. I wanted to be an even better sister than I had ever been.
"What if you had a brother?" Father questioned me, ruby-red boring into mine.
The smile plastered on my face never disappeared, "Then I would still love him, be it a brother or a sister. But my preference goes to a little sister."
Mother giggled and stood up, "Well, let's wait and see what'll happen in the future, ne?"
With a nod, I followed after her, helping her with the food that she had prepared.
Excitement at the thought of having another sister made me even more fired up. I had to become even stronger in order to keep her safe, at all costs.
Training had become rougher and much difficult than I had predicted. And then came the day that I questioned my father about our clan after witnessing something inhumane, something that left me shocked, just like the day I had been reborn.
"Father, h-how..?"
Said man sighed softly, patting the spot beside him, the one that was broken or shattered into oblivion.
Obeying him, I sat down next to him, shivering when I looked at the ruptured ground that surrounded us. "As you have noticed all of our clan member have red hair and red eyes, just like you." This was something I had accepted, so I nodded, "But that isn't all that we possess. You see, we are no normal tribe."
...that much I had figured out.
He leaned slightly backwards, observing the sky above him. Mimicking his movements, I looked up-really, the sky here was much cleaner and prettier than in my hometown. And the air... I inhaled deeply, enjoying the comfy scent that I had associated with home. When father started talking again, I averted my attention back on him, "We are the famed hunting tribe from the Dark Continent-" "Dark Continent?" I interrupted him in confusion, the nae ringing warning bells of in my head. He nodded, glaring at my interruption, "Don't interrupt when someone's talking."
"I apologize, father."
I hated it when I'd get scolded on, one of the drawbacks of being reborn into a baby's body.
"As I said before, we are a hunting tribe, more precisely the best hunting tribes there is." His eyes narrowed, "The fact that we are special isn't because we hunt on animals, or because we all look-alike. No, it's because we possess something far greater, something that no normal human possess."
This was starting to creep me out, what was he trying to say. Above all, what did he mean by not being normal humans? Did it have something to do with the way he had shattered the ground into dust?
"As you have noticed our senses are way above that of a normal human." I nodded in agreement, this was something that had bugged me non-stop when I was little. And very uncomfortable, everything that I smelled felt as if it had been stuffed into my nostrils. So, at first, I was obliged to stuff some cotton into my nose, breathing through my nose. Slowly on, I started taking my nose plugs out, starting with a quarter a day until I didn't need the plugs anymore. Unfortunately it had taken me a year or two to get accustomed to my abnormal high senses.
"But next to that, we also have great physical strength, as you have witnessed before. We can jump to extraordinary heights. Our kicks are like lightning and if I wanted to I could take down the mighty king of beasts in one blow, or even break metal. To top it all off, we also have enhanced speed. But unfortunately, due to our great physical strength we have low quantities of Magoi. But that's not such a bad thing since we pride ourselves on our herculean strength." After each word my face became paler and paler.
Red hair.
Red eyes.
Most names starting with an 'M'.
Piercing under their lips.
Herculean strength.
Inhumane kicks.
...Magoi?
With a shaky voice, I asked him, "W-what's the n-name of our cla-an?"
"Fanalis clan. May, is everything alright, you look pale?"
I scrambled upwards, away from him, and ignored his hurt look. This wasn't possible, what kind of sick person was this. Did he really think he was a Fanalis, to be precise the one from the manga called 'Magi'. This was not possible, these people were a freak show. All having mental, unstable problems. To make matters worse, the rational side of me was actually believing them.
Who wouldn't after witnessing their father killed a roaring lion with one, measly blow, even breaking the ground with it. A normal human couldn't possibly do this, and yet my father achieved it. It looked as if he was gardening, the calm face, the way he had avoided the blood from the dead animal.
I took another step backwards, my wide, frightened eyes set on the crazy man in front of me, "D-Don't come c-closer.."
"May, what is going on?" Father asked worriedly, taking a step forward, "This isn't you, what's wrong?"
The worry was genuine, these people really loved me, but that didn't explain the fact that he saw himself as a Fanalis. That was a manga for God's sake! I couldn't believe this, I couldn't. I had hardly accepted being reborn into an infant's body, and now they were adding a giant pile on top of it by claiming themselves as a the hunting tribe from the Fanalis tribe.
Turning around I ran away from my father, ignoring his shouts. When I looked back, my heart skipped a beat. Even running on full speed, I couldn't outrun him, he was catching up to me. And fast.
Cursing my luck, I forced my limbs to run even faster, desperation and adrenaline pumping faster and faster within my veins. These people were no normal cosplayers, they were into their roles to the point of thinking like one. It couldn't be true, I couldn't be sent to a another dimension where the world of Magi was recreated. i absolutely refused that. This didn't mean that I hated the mange, on the contrary, I adored it.
Since I couldn't do any normal sports, I was forced to rely on books. So, I swallowed many books, becoming the popular geek of the school, afterwards I found myself falling in love with the world of manga; Fairytail, Naruto, Magi, Sekirei and many more. But this was absurd, unreal and bordering on the brink of insanity, no, these people were already insane. And I was in the middle of it.
"May!"
I ignored that shout, he wasn't my father, he was a crazy lunatic. Keep running, don't look back. Unfortunately luck wasn't on my side because at that moment a horde of growling saber-tooth tigers appeared out of thin air. I was stuck between a psychopath and man-eating, correction, child-eating tigers who resembled an animal that I had only seen in history books and the manga itself.
At first I thought that it might be a dream, but it had been too real to be one.
But my doubt was slowly disappearing as I saw my father jump in front of me, and right on time too. He kicked one of the tigers away, a loud crack resonating through the air. Another one lunged at him, but yet my father kept calm, waiting.
"No! Father!" I screamed loudly and without thinking, this shocked me to no end. My entire body was shaking and trembling as I watched with bated breath as my father slaughtered them one by one, without having an ounce of blood on his warrior's tunic. He somersaulted backwards and opening his mouth, he shouted in rage and let out a battle cry, which scared off the rest of the tigers. Whimpering in defeat, they ran away with their tails between their legs.
At that moment I couldn't possible deny the truth that was in front of me.
..I had really been born into the world of Magi, and my father and mother came from the famed hunting tribe, the Fanalis. The one that would be enslaved and chased after by slave merchants.