Everything was pitch black. Nothing could be seen except the feeling of being submerged underwater.
There was not much to do besides being able to move the body slightly—a real body rather than a transparent ghost.
But the concept of time has vanished as the brain soon fell into hibernation.
After who knows how long, a light appeared, piercing through the darkness.
---
In a small little house, a young woman was lying on the bed, with a young man standing by the bedside.
An old-looking woman stood near the end of the bed, a blanket covering her arms and the young woman's leg.
"Congratulations, it's a boy..." the old woman announced as she cut the cord with a pair of scissors.
"I knew it! I told you this one is going to be a boy. I told you." The young woman pointed out as she gently punched the man's chest.
"Yeah, yeah... We can finally stop here. No more babies."
As the young woman reached for the baby, as tradition dictated, the old woman froze still, holding the baby in her arms.
"Um, is there something wrong?" The young woman curiously asked.
"I might need to take my words back. It might be a she... Or a he. I don't know which one."
"What?"
Both parents looked a little confused by what the old woman meant until she handed the baby over to them.
"It's a boy. What do you mean it's a she?" The man curiously asked, as there was a clear male genitalia in the front.
"Honey..."
As his wife lifted the baby, the husband instantly realized what was wrong.
There was a small entrance right below the male genitalia. It was the female genitalia on the baby's body.
"This doesn't make sense——"
"Actually, now I think about it, there have been cases of this happening in some text I had once read."
Hearing the old woman mentioning it, both of the parents looked much more hopeful.
"Really? Is this a bad thing or a good thing?" The wife asked in a concerned voice.
"Well, it's obviously a bad thing. It's probably going to cause them a lot of trouble in life.
But you have to look at the bright side. At least they aren't the only ones in the world that have this issue."
"What should we do? Is there some sort of surgery to fix it?" The husband asked, looking a little desperate for solutions.
"Well, there is some magic that can change one's gender temporarily. But I'm afraid there is no permanent solution.
It's probably up to them if they want to be a woman or a man when they grow up or whatever gender indicator is more obvious.
If you guys really don't want the kid, I can take it——"
"No, we'd like to keep it." The wife declared, not hesitating a single bit compared to the husband, who still looked a little hesitant.
But he didn't speak up, respecting his wife's choice of accepting it.
"Very well..."
---
After everything was dusted, the old woman left the house.
As soon as they left, a little girl excitedly ran straight into the room, her face full of excitement.
"Mom! Dad! Do I have a new brother or sister?" the little girl asked the two parents curiously.
"Um, well, you have a new sibling named Alex... Right, babe?"
Seeing her father looking a little awkward, the little girl jumped up to the bed to have a little herself.
"Your sibling is still not fully developed yet, okay? You should just call them Alex."
The wife gently lowered the baby so the little girl could see its face. But to her disappointment, she couldn't see anything beyond it.
"Ahem, Sophia, you wanted to learn about magic and sword fighting, right? I think it's the perfect time for me to teach you how to use a sword."
"Yay! Let's go!"
With her husband and daughter gone from the room, the wife felt an inner peace in the bed.
Especially after seeing the baby smile for the first time, her heart just melted from its pure innocence.
"Do you want to be a boy or a girl?" The wife murmured as it tickled the baby's belly with her finger.
The baby suddenly started crying, and the wife realized she had just tried to ask the baby for an answer.
"What am I thinking? They can't even talk yet... Okay, okay, calm down. It's time for your nap."
As the wife swung the baby a little in her arm, the sobbing soon stopped as it fell asleep.
---
One year quickly flew by, and Alex could finally stay awake without falling asleep after using their brain too much.
At first, he couldn't understand any of the words his parent spoke, but after listening in for a while, he was able to understand a few words.
As his body developed, his old memories also started to reappear.
Although he couldn't remember his old name or previous family and friends, he at least knew his previous life was a man and his dream.
This soon became a massive problem as he quickly the 'bug' that was on his body, or her body.
"God damn it... I knew my life wasn't just going to be easy."
Besides that major issue, his baby life was pretty easy. All he had to do was cry to get his mom to come over to take care of his needs.
He was initially a little hesitant to do it, but his body didn't allow him to hold anything in.
The hardest challenge was making himself drink someone else's breastmilk, but he quickly overcame it after seeing his mom's beauty.
However, after a while, he began to feel repulsed from even attempting to think of her other than as a mother.
It was almost as if his body was starting to treat the person feeding him as his real mother rather than just another woman.
He soon came to acceptance, as he had no one else in this world to call family besides the people who were around him now.
---
Time continued to fly by as Alex began to learn how to walk and even speak in complete sentences.
Soon, he was two years old and was able to walk around the house with his mom or dad nearby.
"Hey Alex, come here. I want to show you something."
A little girl two years older, or a giant if someone was to compare it to Alex, waved for him to come over.
"Hm?" Alex hesitated for a second as he looked over to his mother.
"You can go play with Sophia. Don't hurt yourself thought."
As Alex quickly ran to catch up with Sophia, the two walked straight into their parent's room.
"What are we doing here?" Alex asked curiously.
"You're about to have another sibling! Aren't you excited?" Sophia pointed out.
"Why would I be excited over that?"
Alex knew his mother had been pregnant again, as she had been sitting on the sofa most of the time rather than bringing him to the outside world.
"Come on, Alex, you don't want a little sister or a little brother? We'll have another person to play with at home."
"Eh, I don't really care."
Seeing Alex looking uninterested, Sophia went over to the toy box to take out some toys.
"Hmph, you sound like dad more and more every day."
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
Alex's question made Sophia fall into silence, but she wasn't just going to let that slide.
"How dare you talk back to your sister."
As Sophia grabbed the toy sword from the box, Alex immediately bolted out of the room.
"Mom! Sophia is trying to hit me!"
---
Soon, Alex reaches four years old.
The whole family's attention was on the little sister, Mary, who was now two years old.
Even he was forced to play with her, despite his wish to read books from his dad's shelf.
Although he couldn't understand a single word in the book, the pictures inside show him living in a fantasy world where magic existed.
It was further backed up when, one day, he walked past his mom in the kitchen, having fire coming out of her fingertip.
He immediately started pressing his parents to teach him magic, but the only answer he got was that he was not old enough.
Instead, he was sent to be with Sophia, where he learned how to swing a sword back and forth every day.
Even though it was extremely boring and tiring, the existence of magic made him pull through it every day.
Soon, his chance of becoming a mage finally came true when his mom invited a mysterious woman wearing a pointy hand and a giant cloak.
But much to his disappointment, it was meant for Sophia, who had finally reached the age to test for magic capability within her.
As the mysterious woman disappeared, Alex knew he would just have to wait two more years for her to return.