Chapter 2: My New Family

Listen While Reading Recommendation: from sunset to sunrise (piano & strings ver.)

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Darkness.

Darkness was all I could feel.

No color, no warmth, no cold—just nothing. The eternal void of absolute nothingness.

But does true nothingness even possess the color black?

No, there would simply be no color at all. Yet how can a human mind possibly process the complete absence of color?

Still, my consciousness persisted. I was alive, trapped in this endless black expanse. No matter which way I looked, it remained the same. I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were open or functioning.

My senses felt numb. I could barely register anything else. I felt utterly lost…and, quite honestly, terrified.

I don’t know what happened. I met someone, and then…they sent me here? At worst, I thought I would simply be logged out.

But nothing like that occurred. That man was no Game Master, no Developer arriving to congratulate me or thank me for playing.

No. He was…something else entirely.

Oblivion.

What a strange name, yet he was so handsome that I lowered my guard. Goddamn it.

…

Time seemed to stand still in this black void. No matter how long I counted, it felt as though no time passed at all. I was forever stuck here.

For eternity.

…

Eternity. Eternity. Eternity.

…

When will it end?

…

I had begun to feel strangely tired. My consciousness faded in and out.

…

My memories slowly blurred together.

…

It felt as though I were melting.

…

…

…

…

Warmth.

After what seemed an immeasurable span, I sensed my very existence dissolving into nothing.

Then…I felt an incredible warmth. It was so relieving, so welcoming, so comforting, so cozy. I wanted to sleep in it forever.

I felt cradled, carried gently in this warmth. Sometimes I even sensed a hand softly caressing the membrane that enveloped me.

Days, weeks, months passed.

I began to hear her voice.

“Grow big and strong…”

A voice I could never mistake for anyone else’s, yet one I could scarcely believe I was hearing.

Was this a dream? Was I dreaming right now?

Could dreams stretch on this long? Could they truly be this strange?

I no longer knew, but her voice…I recognized it instantly, and an overwhelming wave of disbelief and awe crashed over me.

If I could cry right now, I would be sobbing like an infant—because I had finally begun to understand where I was.

And what had happened to me.

Merely thinking about it flooded me with an all-consuming emotion.

This can’t be real.

No, it can’t…right?

This is…

…

I passed out for a long while, drifting into sleep as I felt something forming around me. Once I had felt nothing; now I felt something.

A body. I had been formed, cell by cell, with a beating heart and a functioning brain.

The moment of my birth had arrived.

I could sense it, this space had grown too tight for me, and even now, I could hardly believe what was happening.

That familiar voice…it couldn’t possibly be hers, right?

Maybe…maybe this was still a dream, and when I woke I would return to my dead-end office job, killing myself for a miserable salary, enduring mistreatment from everyone, dragging myself home exhausted only to work more before collapsing into sleep.

Or maybe…maybe things were different now. Maybe I could finally…

Could I finally have a second chance in this cruel game of roulette called life?

“The baby’s coming…! Please make space!”

A young man’s voice echoed from outside. Footsteps filled the room beyond. I heard many other voices, and then—

As I wrestled with countless thoughts and the dawning realization that this might truly be real, I was pulled into the world.

Being born with full consciousness was a jarring, disorienting experience—one I would never recommend to anyone.

“Almost there! Keep pushing, dear!”

“I-I am…!”

“She’s almost here, be strong…! I am here for you.”

A cold hand seized my tiny head and drew me out before I could even cry. My eyes opened to blinding light and vivid colors everywhere.

I stared in silence, gasping my first breath, and looked up at the one holding me: a handsome man with long cascading white hair, golden eyes, horns, and a gentle smile.

“Welcome to this world, little one.”

“A-Ah…”

My lips trembled as I gazed at his face.

It was him.

It was really…

“Let me have her.”

Before I could process anything, someone else took me—a beautiful young woman with long black-and-red hair and gentle crimson eyes.

A third eye rested on her forehead, and her red horns were even longer, yet despite her demonic appearance, her smile radiated pure tenderness.

A mother.

The “perfect mother” I had once conjured in my own delusions, my own fantasy.

“Hi…”

She cried, tears streaming down her face as she hugged me gently and kissed my forehead.

“You’re so awfully calm. What’s wrong?”

“Aren’t babies supposed to cry?”

My father wore the same tender expression. He was my “perfect father”—deeply flawed yet deeply emotional, with a real heart.

Someone who never saw me as a mistake, but as a blessing. Someone who could love me the way I had always longed to be loved.

I could scarcely believe what I was experiencing. Maybe I had died and this was my final dream, my last fantasy playing out inside my mind?

Or…

Maybe…

“Uwaah… Uwaaaaahhhhh!”

Before I could think further, I cried. I wept—not from fear or sadness, but from overwhelming happiness. Joy and sorrow collided inside my heart in a torrent.

“There it is,” my father said softly, caressing my head with a light smile.

“She was a little scared maybe!” my mother chuckled. “Did you scare her?”

“M-Me?! I just held her for a second…” my father muttered, looking guilty. “I’m sorry…”

“No, I was joking, haha,” my mother laughed, kissing his lips. “I’m so happy right now… Thank you so much, Louis… Thank you so much for giving me a daughter.”

“No…I have to thank you, Mirai. Thank you,” my father said, tears slipping down his cheeks as he sat beside her and hugged us both. “Thank you for always being there for me… Thank you for helping me build this together… After so long, we finally… are a proper family.”

I felt overwhelmed by their tender love—something I had never witnessed in person, at least not in real life. A true love forged through countless tragedies endured side by side.

After watching the world end thousands of times, these two, my parents, had saved the universe, defeated impossible foes, all to secure a future for their daughter.

…Me.

If this was truly real, if my creation, my world, had somehow become reality and I had been reincarnated into it…

Then…I didn’t know what to think. How could something so absurd ever happen?

Then one word surfaced in my mind.

Oblivion.

That man.

Had he done this? Had he done it for me?

Could he have been some god-like being all along?

But another question burned even brighter.

Why?

Why me?

Why my world?

Why my fantasy?

Why not anyone else?

…

I couldn’t understand. I might never understand. But if this was truly real and not a dream, I had to find the reason.

Why I was here, why my ideal parents were real, and why…

“Shall we call her Elizabeth like we planned?” my mother asked.

“Sure, it’s a nice name,” my father nodded. “For her second name, I want to follow the tradition of my family.”

“What tradition?” my mother asked, breastfeeding me as she spoke.

“By mixing our two names to create a new one,” Louis explained. “My mother did the same, allowing my father to name me as a human, then granting me my dragon’s name, Benstafriel.”

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“So a fusion between Mirai and Louis?” my mother wondered. “Umm…I don’t know. What about… Miralis?”

“Miralis sounds nice and simple,” my father agreed. “But let’s think of a few more…”

They kept discussing names—something that had never happened in my old world. That alone confirmed I was no longer inside a program, no longer in a game. This was real life.

When I looked around, I saw I was inside a vast, regal palace of pure white. The room was filled with beautiful golden furniture, paintings of dragons, and portraits of my parents.

I must be in the Celestial Ashen Palace—my father’s castle in the rebuilt Frostbane Kingdom.

Through the far window I could see the bright blue sky, the sun shining above, drifting white clouds, and the immense capital city below.

What had once been wasteland around the capital was now vibrant green grassland teeming with life—rivers, lakes, and forests.

Farther still, snow-capped mountains framed the horizon, and beyond them the vast Glass Desert with its towering Glass Pyramid, a massive Dungeon brimming with challenges and treasures.

I could even glimpse the blue oceans and the Twisted Dream Continent—an area merged with the Dream Plane—and wait a second.

How could I see so far?!

Was this my dragon sight? Holy moly, it was incredible!

Ouch.

But it gave me a sharp headache. Better not overuse it.

Still…

I had truly been reincarnated.

As…my own character, no less.

“I guess that’s a good name, right?” my mother asked.

“Yes, let’s go for that one,” my father nodded.

They had finished deciding my second name—my “Dragon Name”—after giving me my human one. Both parents looked down at me with warm smiles.

“Elizabeth, from here on, I shall grant you your True Dragon Name,” my father said. He glowed with bright white light. Intangible, ethereal ashes drifted down from the ceiling as he spoke.

Suddenly the world turned black. I found myself cradled in my mother’s arms in this darkness.

“Your true dragon’s name is Loumirayael.”

A white sigil appeared before me, glowing with golden light—a coiling dragon spreading its wings. When my father named me, the sigil settled onto my forehead.

“Once you reach adulthood, you will be crowned as a True Divine Dragon and inherit half of what we own.”

“I hope that you grow strong and healthy, my dear, beloved daughter.”

“By merely being healthy, you already make me the happiest man alive… I love you, Loumirayael.”

His words overwhelmed me. I cried again—my parents mistook it for fear of the strange event.

“Hahaha, calm down, it’s okay,” my mother chuckled. “Louis, that’s enough, right?”

“Ah, yes,” my father nodded. Suddenly I was back in the normal world.

That space he had taken me to—what was it? I didn’t remember writing anything like that… But then again, the game had been a game. Powers were simplified into skills with special effects.