Chapter 3 - Family
Once their mom had left, Nailah and Lylla came over to where Maxmillan stood with an incomprehensibly dazed expression in his face.
"Maxie, are you sure you are okay now? I don't want anything to happen to you again." Nailah, the older of the two girls, asked in a caring tone.
"I am fine." Maxmillan said.
This time, he didn't say it in the odd way that he said it before.
As a veteran soldier who had been trained to quickly adapt to every situation that he would find himself in, Maxmillan was quite swift in adapting to the unexplainably weird preternatural situation that he unexpectedly and inexplicably found himself in.
Once he gave that reply, Nailah nodded her head in happiness.
But Maxmillan at the moment, was having many thoughts flash recurrently within his head.
Had he just transmigrated to a new world?
Did his soul upon total annihilation on earth, reformed in the void and pierced through the interdimensional layer that separated their two alternate worlds to possess the body of a little child?
What sentient primal force or cosmically intelligent ancient power was responsible for his soul's transmigration to a new body in a new world?
Was it a chance to do better and be more purposeful than in his previous life? Or was it only a gift from anyone of the universe's monarchic gods that oversaw the firmaments and everything else beneath it?
Maxmillan who was one of many that fully believed that there was no other world apart from earth, couldn't help be strongly fascinated and awed.
"Hmm. How wrong I was." Maxmillan said and shook his head.
Then he remembered his family back at home. They would have either turned to zombies or probably killed off by the gigantic explosion that would definitely encompass many other neighboring cities and reduce them to vast barren lands riddled with countless holes, cracks and fathomlessly deep craters.
Although his heart became filled with both sorrow and agony at the thought of his parent turning into zombies or wiped off by the city-wide annihilating blast, he however tried not to show it in his face, or the girls standing before him and were mentioned to be his sisters, could suspect that something was wrong with him.
Huuuu!
He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm his thoughts.
Since he was now in this world and he was sent to this family, then they would be his family. Although it was hard to forget about the family he grew up with, as it was practically impossible to erase the sweet beautiful memories that he had with them. But he knew that with time, while adventuring in this strange new world, he would slowly forget about them.
Not very long, Lenna came in with food. It was rice, vegetable and little pieces of roasted meat. This what they could afford. They weren't wealthy to eat king-class food or anything like that.
As hardworking people, it was the money they got from toiling the soils as farmers and selling their farm harvests that they used in raising money to buy food materials and pay for other things.
The world Maxmillan crossed over to, was a world where there were countless possibilities. People could enter into harmony with Astra Mystralis; a boundless arcane energy that allowed them to perform all sorts of magical feats including invoking snowfall within a room on a bright sunny day, manifesting heavy globular spheres of water around them, changing their silk clothes into lustrous metallic armors, etc.
Virtually everything was possible in this world, but it totally depended on the individual's degree of harmonization or attunement with Astra Mystralis; one's level of understanding and knowledge of Astra spells; and ultimately one's talent and creativity.
The levels of attunement with Astra Mystralis were divided into three stages, with the stages being Low Attunement, High Attunement and Peak Attunement.
Anyone having Low Attunement with Astra Mystralis were called Astra Spellcraft Commanders, and as implied by its name, were people that could lead a company or small army of average Astra Mystralis-effect casters into war against ruthless foreign invaders, havoc-wreaking terrorists, evil-scheming kidnappers, brutal marauders and so on.
High Attunement achievers were called Astra Spellcraft Lords and were people that could become founders or directors of institutions, organizations and establishment that trained Astra Spellcraft Commanders.
Then Peak Attunement were called Astra Nexus Paragons and were highly revered people because they were seen as gods due to their ability to perform astonishing god-like feats, such as instantly casting Astra-powered spells that could pull hundreds of towering mountains out of the earth and cause them to float as high as ten thousand feet above the ground. They were extremely powerful and were the only ones given the rights to become governors of cities.
Anyone that couldn't use Astra Mystralis in this world, according to their belief, was a bearer of misfortune and was totally avoided. In fact, they could be sought for and exterminated, since their aura of misfortune was believed to be able to infect many other people and severely limit their abilities to perceive Astra Mystralis, speak more of entering into a harmonious state with it to evoke things only possible through magical mean.
After they finished eating, Nailah the oldest of the two girls, packed the plates to go wash. While Lenna came over to Maxmillan's side and asked. "Son, about your illness. Please, don't hide anything from me. Do you still feel it?"
She was really worried that his illness might recur.
Once she asked that, Maxmillan pretended to feel if something was wrong with his new body.
But since he felt nothing, he believed that he was alright. He then shook his head and said, "I don't feel anything. I think am fine now."
Lenna nodded her head elatedly. Then she began to sing for him. The other girls immediately joined in and smiled adorably at Maxmillan as they sang, since that was their little brother favorite song.
Maxmillan who was rapidly adapting to his new environment and the situation that he found himself in, nodded his head and rhythmically moved his body to the song that Lenna and his two older sisters, Nailah and Lylla were singing which made them, including their dad, Taryell who was watching them have fun, all laugh happily. The atmosphere was indeed a beautiful one where there was no cause for worry except contentment, gratitude and gladness.
As for Maxmillan, he was quickly accepting this people as his family. Since he had crossed over to this world, then this people that loved him would be his family in this world, even though he wasn't their true child. Therefore, he would definitely love them as they loved and marvelously treated him.
Besides, that overwhelming feeling of strangeness and bizarreness that instantly blossomed within his heart when he first opened his eyes to see his new world, had dwindled greatly and was at the verge of entirely fading away. Since he felt accepted by these people, then he would accept them too and enjoy the treatment he was given.
- Night -
Maxmillan was in his room with his mom, Lenna who sat by his side on the bed and held his small hands in hers with an inexplicable expression written all over her face as she gazed adoringly at him.
"Maxie, if you start to feel anything, please don't hold back in telling me. Know that if you have any problem that you won't be able to tell anyone else, you can always come to me. You know I love listening to you. Okay?"
Maxmillan nodded his head with a broad smile emerging from his small lips.
"Yes, Mom. I definitely will." He answered.
Lenna smiled back.
"Alright. Go to sleep now. We'll see in the morning. Good night son. Sweet dreams."
Lenna then stood to her feet and made way for the door to leave Maxmillan's room. And as soon as she walked out through the door, she gently jammed the wooden door behind her before walking off to the large room that she shared with her husband, Taryell.
Maxmillan's eyes were fully open. There was no hint of sleepiness in them. Instead, they shone with full perplexity. Earlier, they were filled with strangeness. But that had now been replaced by curiosity, which was a characteristic that could be attributed to him. He was simply a curious individual.
What exactly was this world? He wondered.
He still couldn't understand or figure out why his soul leapt from earth into this alternate plane of existence. And from the look of the world at several thought angles, it seemed like it wasn't a technologically driven world. He could see no electrical or electronic equipments anywhere. Neither could he hear any buzzing, humming or whirring mechanical sound.
He put this particular thought away and went to sleep, as he felt that he would discover more things about his new world tomorrow.
- Morning -
Tap! Tap!
Someone suddenly knocked on the door of his room and caused Maxmillan's eyes to immediately snap open.
He then hurried down from bed to go open the door for whoever was knocking.
As soon as he did so, he saw Nailah standing before his door with a smile in her face. She then entered without invitation after brushing him to a side.
"So, if I didn't knock on your door to wake you, you would still be fast asleep, right? You tiny sleepyhead. Anyways, it's time for your bath. I have fetched water for you. It's time to go have your bath and be sparklingly clean for the rest of the day." Nailah smilingly said.
Then without waiting for any reply from Maxmillan, as she felt that his opinion wasn't important, she dragged him by his small arm to where the bathroom was.
"Alright Maxie. Take off your clothes. It's time for your bath." Nailah said authoritatively. She was the big sister and her orders couldn't be questioned by any soul lower to her in rank in this house.
"No big sister, I can bath myself. There's no need for that." Maxmillan hurriedly said.
This was damn crazy. He was twenty-seven and this young girl in front of him that looked fourteen or fifteen would be bathing him? When he was not a cripple or someone paralyzed. So Maxmillan thought with shame encompassing his whole being.
"What? You think you are matured enough to bath yourself? Oh, you have started developing consciousness about your body, right? Mtcheew! I don't want to hear any more word of your silly utterances. Take off your clothes now or I would spank you." Nailah said in a serious tone.
She could be really sweet, likable and approachable when happy or glad. But when she was serious, she could be really mean.
Maxmillan's face twisted due to embarrassment. This was really embarrassing. But he had no choice than to remove his clothes. Then when he pulled down his underwear, he quickly put his hands on his private region to conceal it.
Nailah's eyes widened with astonishment.
Why was her little brother behaving like this?
She had always been the one to handle his bath. But now, with the behavior he was intentionally exhibiting, he seemed strange.
However, not thinking too much about it, she grabbed him and poured water on him. Then she began to scrub his body with a soft silky sponge soaked with liquid body wash.
***
"See my son, looking so cute and striking." Lenna said with a smile when Maxmillan, accompanied by his oldest sister, Nailah came over to the dining table.
Maxmillan greeted his mom before seating on a chair that he pulled out from under the table to eat any of the steaming, pleasantly smelling delicacies served in numerous dishes and placed on trays.
"Mom, where's dad?" He asked sometime later after looking around.
"Son, have you forgotten? Your father leaves so early to the farm to water the plants. He has gone since, but he will be back anytime soon." Lenna replied.
"Oh. Okay." Maxmillan replied with the slight nod of his head.
Of course, he wouldn't know all that since he didn't inherit the memories of the previous owner of the body he was currently inhabiting and had become his.
Immediately he finished eating, he left the dining table and headed towards the door.
"Maxie, where are you going to?" Lylla, his second sister asked curiously.
"I am going outside to play with my friends." Maxmillan quickly replied in a smart way that won't blow his cover or ruin his scheme.
"Alright love. You can go out to play with your friends. But remember not to go too far with them, okay?" Lenna inputted hurriedly.
"Yes mom, I will do well to remember that." Maxmillan obediently nodded his head and instantly dashed out of the house to appear outside.
He just couldn't wait to see how his unprecedented new world would look like. His only hope was that it was an exciting world full of enthralling voyages and long adventurous journeys, like in relatable movies that he saw back on earth in his previous life!