His Family

The street lamps lit up the streets that were submerged in the shadows of the night. Despite being a medieval world, the technology used in domestic life seemed more advanced than that of the historical period of the Crusades.

It seemed that people had access to indoor illuminants that weren’t candles, as I saw small light bulbs.

I felt the pressure around my hand tighten as the little girl, my daughter, Aelius’s daughter, walked beside me. His wife and son walked in front of me. I pondered whether I was to live with them from now on. To replace their father? Her husband? Did I have the right?

Before I knew it, we had entered a residential neighbourhood inside the city and were standing outside a two-story house, which I assumed was to be my home from now on.

His wife ushered me into the house after opening the door. The kids followed suit, running inside as children do, familiar with their habitat. Compared with their familiarity, I walked in slowly, apprehensively. Looking around, scanning the furniture, which, if my general consciousness of history isn’t failing me, is more akin to the 17th to 19th century. Everything I’ve currently seen in this world has cemented my belief that it was a fantasy world straight from fiction.

I feel a hand pat me on the shoulder. “Aelius, are you alright?” His wife shot me a look of concern.

I forced a smile, nodding. “Yeah. Sorry, just… Long day.”

“Oh, believe me,” she said, letting her hand slip from my shoulder as she walked deeper into the house. “The kids wouldn’t stop pestering me all day…” She chuckled, “But, I had also been restless thinking if you were alright since two days ago. The hunt must’ve been hard, huh?”

“It sure was a one-of-a-kind experience.” Though I imagined this was only the beginning for me.

“Oh, have you eaten yet, dear?” Just as she asked, my stomach rumbled. She smiled at my reaction. “I guess not. I’ll prepare your dinner; the kids have already eaten.” She walked deeper into the house, setting down my weapon, taking off my boots and following her as she led me to the kitchen.

Time passed quickly. She prepared my food. I sat down and ate vigorously as she watched me with a smile, proud to see her husband savouring her handiwork.

I felt like a stranger in what was supposed to be my own house. As she took the plates from me to wash them, I rushed to her. “Let me wash it.”

“Are you sure?” She asked, “Let me do it, honey. You must be tired.”

“No, please. Let me do it,” I said, hesitating to add something. But I thought if I wanted to play my role, I had to complete the sentence. “Honey.”

She smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek as she handed me the plates. “Oh, since you’ve been kind enough to offer, would you also tuck Carys and Cassian in for the night?”

I nod hesitantly, smiling awkwardly. I was going to be testing my fatherly skills despite never having been a parent in my past life, not even knowing how to be a father since that parent never existed for me.

After I washed the dishes at the kitchen sink, which again reaffirmed my belief in the blend of 15th-century medieval Europe with 17th to 19th-century technology, I headed upstairs and found their kids’ room, which they both shared. It seemed the boy, whom I assumed to be Cassian, was already asleep; however, it appeared I woke up Carys, as she whispered to me. “Dad,” she called.

“Hm?” I answered.

“Will you tell me a story?”

“Uh… a story? Why not just go to sleep?”

“Please,” she said, her emerald puppy eyes staring at me.

After hesitating, I gave in and nodded. I entered the room quietly, so as not to disturb Cassian. I sat on her bed, and she watched me, the bangs of her short blonde hair swept to the left, eagerly awaiting her story to be told. She looked to be about seven years of age.

I sat on the bed, thinking of a story, though most I knew of came from my past life. It wasn’t like she would know, right? I thought.

“Alright, I’ve got a story for you.”

She smiled excitedly, and I began to whisper.

“Once upon a time, there was a planet called Earth.”

Not two sentences in, she cut me off to ask a question. “What’s a planet?”

“Well, you know our world that we live in? It’s actually round.”

“Oh, Mom told me about this. She said, The world is a sphere, but how do we not fall off?”

“There’s this thing called gravity that holds everything together. You know when you jump and it feels like something is pulling you down as you fall, or when you drop an apple and it doesn’t float. That’s gravity at work.”

I continued my story. “So, on this planet, this world called Earth, there lived a rat in a country called France.”

“France?”

“Yes, it is famous in the world for being a romantic country, romanticized as such. They have many arts and foods known all over the world.” Her eyes were fixed on me as I told the story, laughing as I told her about a croissant as she tried to imitate the pronunciation.

Time flew by quickly. There was a sentimental emotion that arose as I recounted a movie I had watched that I could never see again. As far as anyone knew, all the fiction I knew, even the real history of Earth, was all the creative imagination of a man called Aelius in this world.

A couple of minutes later, as I wrapped up the story with how the rat had his own restaurant in the end, I glanced at Aelius's daughter, and I hadn't just realized she had already been asleep. I don't know when she did, so I guessed that the real audience of my storytelling was myself all along.

I smiled at the thought and the little girl who slept peacefully beside me. I stood up slowly, taking extra care not to wake up the children, and sauntered out the door, looking back one last time at their peaceful slumber before finally closing their door.

I searched for my bedroom, and when I found it, I entered and found a well-lit, spacious room, brightened by two lamps beside a king-sized bed. Aelius's wife was nowhere to be seen. My ears then picked up a noise. As I walked around the bed, I found a door at the corner of the room. I placed an ear to the door to discern what the faint noise was. It was the sound of water. I hesitantly brought my knuckles to the door and knocked.

"Aelius? Is that you?" Aelius's wife called out.

"Y-yeah. It's me." I answered hesitantly.

"Okay, if you need to use the bathroom, I'll be out in a moment."

"No, it's fine. Take all the time you need." I said, walking away from the door.

"Okay." She said, her voice muffled through the door.

I wandered the room, exploring it. I walked to a vanity on the other side of the bed, and I scanned the wooden mahogany surface where a hairbrush sat atop. I turned around, my eyes falling to the bed automatically as I did. Its comfy appearance called to me like a siren's call. The allure of the bed was simply too irresistible, for I hadn't even noticed I had already walked over beside it. I ran my hands on the silk blanket, duvet, and cotton-filled pillows. It was a cloud asking to be slept on. My body dropped like a sack on the bed, and as if someone turned off the lights, the world went dark as my eyes closed right after and I instantly fell into a deep slumber.