Reincarnation of Nikola Tesla in another world

Darkness. Endless, crushing darkness everywhere.

Tesla floated in nothing, barely aware he existed at all. No sound, no feeling - just the weight of emptiness pressing in from all sides. Time meant nothing here. He just... was

Then something shifted. A weird vibration, not quite a sound but more like energy pulsing through the dark. It started weak but grew stronger. The nothing around him rippled like someone had thrown a stone in a pond, and Tesla felt something beyond the emptiness.

First came pressure, formless but there. Then warmth, and a steady thumping near him that anchored him to reality. He didn't understand what it was, but it felt familiar. A heartbeat.

His brain felt foggy, like trying to think through thick mud. He wasn't the genius he used to be - his thoughts came slow and simple, like a candle fighting against the wind. All his knowledge and brilliance felt locked away, just out of reach. But there were flashes - electricity crackling, white hospital walls, the heavy weight of regret crushing him. Then that final moment. His last breath. All that anger. That wish...

Light broke through, dim at first, then harsh and bright. His vision was blurry, but he could make out shapes moving around him. People were talking, their voices tired and routine. Rough hands picked him up, and the air felt cold on his skin. He cried out without meaning to - a weak, pitiful sound. The voices barely noticed.

Time passed. Tesla didn't know days anymore, just light and dark, warm and cold, hungry and full. His world shrank to small spaces and people who mostly ignored him. He learned things without realizing he was learning. He started recognizing faces, knowing what people would do before they did it. They were always working - hands rough from labor, eyes dull from doing the same things over and over.

Braelor's orphanage wasn't exactly a warm and fuzzy place. The walls were old but strong, built on land some dead noble had given away years ago. This "generosity" had gotten pretty thin after all this time. The people running it weren't cruel - they were just tired. The caretakers worked as hard as the kids did, spending their lives doing endless chores. Some worked for rich families, doing all the jobs they didn't want to do. Others got sent to work in the fields, earning money they'd never see. It wasn't great, but it kept them alive.

One caretaker stood out - Marga. She was older, with broad shoulders and eyes that had seen too much to be soft anymore. She didn't talk much, and when she did, she got straight to the point. Unlike the others, she didn't look at the kids like they were either pitiful or annoying. She just worked, like they all did, taking care of them without making a big deal of it. Her hands were rough but careful. She never hit anyone, never made empty threats. To Tesla, she was the closest thing to steady ground in this place. A constant amid variables.

Some of the other kids caught his attention too. There was Aldric, older than most, always watching everything with sharp eyes. He'd whisper things, always trying to learn whatever he could. Lirien was younger and small, always collecting stuff - pieces of cloth, broken things, anything that might be useful later. Then there was Mira, who used silence like a shield, moving around like a shadow no one noticed.

Even as a kid, Tesla could feel it - something running through this world like a hidden river. It hummed in the ground, hung in the air like a whisper you could almost hear. He didn't know what to call it yet, didn't really understand it, but it was there. Something beyond what eyes could see or ears could hear, woven into everything around them.

Magic.

He saw it before he knew what it was. Candles that burned longer than they should. Whispered words that seemed to have real weight to them. People who could heal wounds with just a touch, or call fire with just a thought. It was as much a part of this world as breathing, but it felt just out of reach.

For now.

Tesla didn't talk. Not yet. He watched. He listened. He learned. His thoughts were simple, but they were growing stronger every day. He wasn't just another orphan at Braelor's orphanage.

He was waiting....