Chapter 8: Identity
In this new world, Axel's parents were named Hilda and Tom. He was their third child. His older brother, Tim, was ten years old, and his sister, Anya, was five. Axel (Also named Axel after the rebirth) was four. He was born into the Blair family, a noble family governing a secluded fiefdom. His parents were strict and busy, leaving little room for intimacy within the family.
Axel's father, Tom, was a cliche orthodox (family head) character who would always prioritize the family name over everything else. Hilda, a devoted wife, considered birthing healthy and talented next-generation of Blairs as her sole duty and purpose in life. And because of the incident that happened during Axel's birth, he was born with many deficiencies.
For the first four years of his life, Axel had no memory of his past life and existed in a constant state of flux, where he would randomly lose consciousness at any moment. The right side of his body was paralyzed and unable to move at all. Speech aside, Axel had trouble even producing normal sounds.Due to the mentioned reasons, he was labeled as a waste and a blemish on the proud and otherwise esteemed Blair's name.
Although his father, Tom, did not banish or kill him from the get-go, still owing to his massive disappointment on the issue at hand, Axel was treated as a third-rate citizen within his own home. No proper servants were allocated to him (to help a boy with special needs).Tim, his older brother, was distant and aloof, groomed to become the family head. He saw Axel as an obstacle and ignored him, although he was glad that there was less competition for him. Hilda saw Axel as her life's biggest disappointment and disgrace. Even though Tom allowed Axel to live under the same roof, Hilda was very much against the idea and wanted to get rid of the child once she came to know about Axel's poor health (quite the unorthodox situation in an orthodox family).
The only solace for the shell of a man (or baby!) that Axel had become was his sister, Anya. Anya was a short girl with fair skin, large, oval-shaped green eyes, and long, black, curly hair. She was quite adorable, with a bit of baby fat on her face. She found her parents and older brother stern and distant, so she spent most of her time with Axel. Axel, in turn, cared for her deeply.And thus ended the first four, mostly forgettable years of Axel's life.
Axel was jolted awake by a system message: "[Host's memories are returning to the Host. System will now start the healing of Host's body. Expected time in full recovery: 5 years]." Axel felt like the past four years of his life were like a dream from which he had just woken up. The only difference was that he could remember much about this dreadful dream of his.He quickly came to realize the state in which his body was in. He tried moving within his room and came near a mirror. He could see his reflection, a boy with jet-black hair, deep blue eyes, and pale, delicate skin.
Axel was aware of the treatment he had received over the years and his status in the family, although such treatment was a result of his unfortunate condition. He was in no hurry to alleviate his status in the family. Firstly, even with different circumstances, he knew the nature of his parents, so he didn't expect much. Secondly, he now had a chance to learn about this new world away from prying eyes and make strategies for his survival.
So thus began Axel's plan to utilize the next few years to study and understand the situation he was in. Before beginning his plans, Axel wished to know the extent of the system's power."'System, what are you and how can I use you?' asked Axel."[System is the gift/spyware attached to the Host's soul by the enlightened being who the host refers to as The Old Man. Host can think of the system as his personal navigator in this world and can ask about things he wishes to know. System will try and help him to the best of its abilities.
System was reprogrammed the moment host's soul entered the world, thus many of the things about the system are unknown to the system itself.]Axel was dumbfounded to know that the system was unaware about itself. What kind of a system was it? But then he remembered that the system just called itself a spyware. "'Firstly stop referring to yourself as system, let's call you Gizmo from now on. Now coming to my second question, what do you mean when you said you are a spyware, try and explain in the best possible way to me....'"