Sophia, Alex, and Mary

Alive.

It's a feeling that no one could describe exactly what it meant. But for a certain individual, it was pitch black.

Nothing could be seen except the feeling of being submerged underwater, unable to move a single bit as they lost the ability to think.

The concept of time has vanished, and the brain has fallen into hibernation as it is unable to sustain itself.

After who knows how long, a light appeared, piercing through the darkness.

---

In a small house, a young woman was lying on her bed with a young man standing by her side.

An old-looking woman stood near the end of the bed with 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 scissors.

"I knew it! I told you this one was going to be a boy. I told you, " the young woman yelled in excitement.

"Yeah, yeah... We can finally stop here. No more babies."

As the young woman reached for the baby, the old woman remained still, holding the crying 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 girl. I don't know which one."

"What?"

Both parents asked in confusion about what the old woman meant until she finally handed the baby over to them.

"It's a boy. What do you mean it's a girl?"

The man asked in confusion, noticing the baby had 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, indicating the female genitalia on the baby's body.

"How could this be? It doesn't make sense," the wife murmured as she checked the baby's back.

"Actually, now I think about it, there have been cases of this happening in some ancient text I had once read."

The old woman's answer reignited some hope, knowing they weren't the only outlier facing this.

"Was it a good thing or a bad thing?" The wife nervously asked.

"Their life is going to be extremely difficult when they grow up... I heard some churches might view the baby as a deviant or curse."

"What should we do? Is there some sort of surgery to fix it?" The husband asked, his face looking a little desperate.

"Well, there is some magic that can change one's gender temporarily. But I'm afraid there is no permanent solution... 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 to deal with the weird baby.

But in the end, he remained silent, respecting his wife's choice of keeping the baby.

"Very well..."

---

After everything was dusted, the old woman left the house.

The moment she left, a little girl excitedly ran straight into the bedroom before being carried up to the bed.

"Mom! Dad! Do I have a new brother or sister?" The little girl curiously asked.

"Um, well, you have a new sibling named... Alex. Right, babe?"

Seeing the man scratching his head as he put Sophia next to the woman, the little girl quickly crawled a little closer to have a look.

"Alex is a good name... Sophia, what do you think about Alex?"

The wife asked as she gently lowered the baby, allowing the little girl to see its face.

"It's ugly!" Sophia answered bluntly.

"Hey, don't call your sibling like that." The wife warned as she quickly held the baby back into her arms.

"Ahem, Sophia, you wanted to learn about swords, right? I think it's the perfect time for me to teach you how to use a sword."

"Yay! Let's go!"

With the man and the little girl 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, causing the wife to realize 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 into exhaustion.

---

One year quickly flew by.

Alex was mostly asleep the whole time, only waking up to eat and sleep as his brain became overcapacitated, trying to remember everything.

Although he couldn't remember their old name or previous family and friends, he knew his previous life was a man.

After noticing the changes in their bodies, he finally remembered the 'bug' on his body, or her body.

Yet, this wasn't the biggest issue he was facing.

He had to cry to have his needs taken care of constantly, especially when his body was unable to control the urge to pee and poop.

All he could do to comfort himself was that the dignity lost here was necessary for a baby like him.

However, the hardest challenge for him was getting used to suckling a woman's breastmilk straight out of her nipple.

At first, Alex felt shameful every time he did it, even though he knew the woman before him was his mother.

But with more and more time spent with the woman before him every day, she was no longer just a beautiful woman.

It was his real mother who was willing to sacrifice all her time to take care of him and meet all his needs.

---

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!"

---

As Alex reaches four years old, the entire family's attention is focused on Alex's little sister, Mary.

While Sophia became old enough to go outside to play with the neighbor, Alex remained indoors, acting as his little sister's playmate.

The only free time he was given was when Mary fell asleep, allowing him to pick up the books off the bottom of the bookshelf.

Even though he couldn't understand a single word inside, the pictures next to the words gave him an understanding of the outside world.

He was clearly living in a fantasy world where swords and magic existed to fight things like dragons and monsters.

His suspicion was only further confirmed when, one day, he walked past his mom in the kitchen.

Right before his eyes, she cast some sort of spell that made a flame shoot out of her finger.

There was no single fuel source or ignition—just open flames that appeared out of thin air.

When he asked her about magic, she didn't bother hiding at all as she confirmed magic existed in this world.

She even repeats the magical flame right before him and tells him that she is a mage herself.

It planted a seed inside his mind, a sense of direction for his new life that he could aim for.

Unfortunately, when he started asking her to teach him magic, he was told, 'You're too young for this.'

Still, both of his parents could tell Alex wanted to do something other than be Mary's playmate.

The next day, his dad handed him and Sophia a wooden sword so they could be trained in the art of sword fighting.

Even though it was exciting at first, it soon became a mundane task. But living in a magical world was enough for him to endure anything.