Chapter 3: Chapter 3: My family

The path was dark, narrow, and long. There was no light in it, yet I could see the egg moving. 

‘I wonder how long will this dream go,’ it felt eternal, and the worst was that time went by without me understanding. The good thing was that I was some sort of blue spirit and, thanks to that, I didn’t get tired.

“Almost there?” 

“Almost...” 

He still sounded upset, which was to be expected. However, I didn’t remember the characters in my dreams to be so stubborn.

‘There’s certainly a first time for everything,’ I shrugged, accepting the fact that for the time being I was deep asleep. It wasn’t abnormal to doze for many hours: eight, nine, and sometimes twelve was the typical amount for me. 

A long day of studying or working could easily exhaust me in this manner. Worse even if I had to do exercise. Sometimes I’d skip classes and work, solely because I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving bed.

‘Those warm sheets...’ and that made me recollect my bed companion, my roommate, my soul mate. 

“It is here,” it turned to me, analyzing me with its entirety.

And to match its expectations, I peeked at what laid beyond, “doors?”

“Enter a world of your choice,” it blinked twice, waiting for my decision.

“Which one should I choose?”

“It doesn’t matter, really.”

“Is that so?”

“It is…”

“Hum…”

There was nothing particular about these doors. They had different colors: red, blue, and black; distinct shapes and sizes, things that one would not typically see in such objects.

‘How peculiar,’ I walked towards the squared door, avoiding the triangular and circular ones.

And before I opened it, I reached my arm towards my chest, placing my palm on top of my heart.

‘I hope for a fresh start,’ my family awaited, I believed in it. Be it a dream or not, during this tale I might meet them again. My fingers turned the round handle around, and I entered it without looking back.

“Foolish to the very end,” it laughed as I disappeared, proud of its deed, having avenged its brother in its own vile way, hiding the truth till now. But much to the lack of knowledge of the peculiar creature, this event would give birth to the start of my tale.

“My lord, it is a boy,” the smiling nurse lifted my body for my father to see.

“Congratulations on your seventh, father,” a young man next to him added happily with the news of receiving a new sibling.

He grinned, satisfied with the outcome, “identify him.”

“At once!” the nurse placed me on top of a soft cradle after wiping me clean, leaving not an ounce of blood.

She placed a page of yellow paper on top of my belly, and then her hand rested above it, “talent identification.”

<Inheriting karma fortune>

A golden ring of light spread around my body, showing everyone its brightful aspect.

“A blessed child!” My family shouted, surprised.

And then a second, smaller one appeared without making the other one disappear.

“Oh my,” the maid’s hands trembled. As the rest of them were about to celebrate, a third one appeared with the same aspect.

“This is…” my mother placed a hand on top of her mouth, tearing up, overjoyed.

<Inheriting karma misfortune>

Finally, a blackened fourth circle appeared, bigger than all the others, and then all of them closed in on top of me, entering my body.

“No!” they shouted incredibly loud, unsettling me with noise.

“It was so close to the hero’s prophecy!” My older brother’s hand touched father’s shoulder, patting it a few times.

“We knew it wouldn’t happen father,” they traded glances, but the disappointment rested in his eyes.

“I know,” he clenched his fingers into knuckles. “It was so close…”

“My lord…”

“What?”

“T-this…” she gave him the paper with my information.

“What’s wrong dear?” Tears fell from his eyes as he lost all the strength in his hands.

“F-fo-fool…” he looked at her, terribly sad about my outcome, reminding me of the witch who read my cards.

“It doesn’t matter!” My mother shouted, holding in her tears. “I will love this child as I have with the others!”

The men turned to her, fixing their discontented faces.

“Of course, mother!”

“R-right dear!”

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“What’s my child’s name?”

The maid’s eyes scrolled through the paper, “it is Harlequin, ma’am.”

“Harlequin… what a lovely name,” her mellow eyes befell me, causing me to smile briefly.

Ten years passed within a batting of an eye.

In the lustrous training area, I stood by the grass, sitting, enjoying the sunlight as my older sister practiced archery. Her nimble nocking was relaxing to my serene eyes. The way her posture aimed at perfection through years of training to reach higher heights amongst her peers from her class.

Delicately, she released the wooden arrow, allowing its green feathers to be pushed back, flying precisely to the target far ahead. The sound of it hitting was nothing but clean. A soft bump, causing applauses from some of my siblings who stood close to me watching over her.

Sara’s talent engulfed some of them, leaving me at the very bottom of our family ranking. Since the day I was born, as far as I could remember, they had seen me as someone that needed to be taken care of. The fortune that I received upon my birth meant that I had been born demented.

Father had complained to my mother back in the day, “three blessings wasted on our poor Harlequin.”

“It’s okay dear. I’m sure everything will work out.”

They had hugged one another, showing me that in this family there was love, and that had given me some satisfaction.

My eyes glanced discreetly farther to the side, glimpsing the duel between two of my brothers: Miller and Piko both wielded a sword; father insisted since they were young to adapt their bodies to the weight of steel. Their hard work had indeed proved dad’s request to triumph when comparing their achievements to their classmates and other prosperous families.

Piko, the oldest of the two, remained atop, winning by a thin marge. Their bodies were quite balanced for their age, certainly not the typical ones from fellow nobles that reigned in the lust of food and sweets.

“I didn’t expect you to slip there,” he laughed, lending a hand to Miller.

“Neither did I,” his eyes lowered, checking out something peculiar.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look here,” his hands grabbed the remnants of a monster corpse.

“That’s disgusting Miller. Don’t pick that up,” but it was too late. He was still a child, and children enjoyed playing with all kinds of things.

The four of us were the youngest, born within a five-year range. Thus, the three of them were the capable prospects of the new generation, the seeds that would one day shine in the world, or so my parents hoped.

And then there was me, Harlequin, the fool scorned by others, yet loved by most of my family. We were mostly tight, and they did what they could to keep me safe and healthy.

“Look Harlequin, the leftovers of a slime,” my eyes quickly gazed at it, and I began poking it, laughing crazily at how fun that substance was.

“He’s as weird as you.”

“Shut it, Piko!” Miller smiled as he played with me. I pulled part of it, discreetly checking how far I could stretch this strange substance. And to my surprise, the more I dragged, the thinner the entire ball became.

Noticing the way I was having fun, he too pulled from his own side. The elasticity of it was otherworldly, certainly like nothing my sight had ever put its eyes on.

“Oi, oi, if you guys keep doing that…” A rupturing sound followed, causing both of us to lose balance, him falling to the grass, and me rolling down the hill, laughing, entangling myself with the substance.

Kind arms brought a halt to my body, catching me in their embrance, “are you okay Harlequin?”

“Is he alright?” my brothers approached hastily, finding me in Sara’s custody.

She touched me here and there, looking for any wounds, “I think he’s fine.”

“Harlequin sturdier than he looks,” Miller declared, finding pride in me.

But to his answer, Sara punched his chin, causing him to fall on his ass. Piko, noticing how angered she was, ran before he too received one of the famous punishments she gave them, despite being younger.

“Hey don’t leave me behind!” Miller hurried ran after him, tripping a few times still shaken from the earlier punch.

“These two never learn,” a sigh escaped her mouth, before her eyes returned to me, getting a hold of my hand.

“Come Harlequin,” and after resisting for a bit, she took me off the ground, forcing me to follow her to a nearby spring to wash my hands.

Sara, despite being only twelve, was the most responsible out of us four. Her talent accompanied a considerable prestige, causing the eyes of the other noble families to keep her on their radar.

“Look at your hands. They’re a lot prettier now!” she held them tight, but not enough to harm them or bring discomfort.

“Uuu!” I let out the peculiar sound I used whenever I attempted to answer to them.

And with a wide smile, she mimicked it, allowing me to be part of this conversation.

“Come,” her grip pulled me along back to the grassland. Once she saw me taking a seat, playing with the greenery and pebbles, she distanced herself all the way back to the archery training ground.

In the vastness of these lustrous plains, there were only the two of us spending yet another lovely day under the bright sun. Today was a day for the students to rest. However, to Sara, it simply meant another dose of hard work.

Her arrows kept hitting the round target, a carved circle in one of the large trees, missing only 2 out of five shots. For a twelve-year-old, that was very prominent, causing me to smile at her effort.

While most saw it as a gift of sorts, I took it as an intense effort.

She passed her arm on her forehead, likely wiping the sweat, part from the heat and part from the training.

Then she returned to me, “it’s time to go Harlequin.”

Her hand reached out for me, taking hold of mine once more.

“Food awaits!” She shouted happily.

“Uuu! Uuu!” And I replied earnestly, looking forward to it.

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