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.
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.