“Amina, where are you?! Amina!” My father called— his voice was raised, though he didn’t sound angry. It was more of a worried, searching tone. Blinking, my mother looked up, disregarding me completely and responding.

  “In the library!” She waved her hand, which did nothing at all.

  Laid out on the floor, I waited to hear the familiar squeak of the door, but it never came.

  Instead, I saw the dust in the room blow towards me, signifying that the door had indeed opened.

  My father walked through, humming a familiar tune with Sophie slung over his shoulder like a backpack. I wanted to shout at him and correct his grip, but I knew that Sophie was probably fine.

  After all, she looked happy enough.

  Strings of drool ran from her little open mouth as she stared at me.

  Lifting her hand slightly, she pointed.

  My father didn’t let this go unnoticed.

  “Sophie, that’s your brother! Come on, let’s give him some love.” Laughing, he sat down next to me and my mother, glancing at the map that hovered in the air, powered by the whirlpool-like energy.

  My father ruffled my hair, placing Sophie in my hands.

  I looked down at her, and was happy all over again.

  “Hmm, The Map? Do you really think he’s going to need all this? It takes away from the mystery of everything out there, come on!” My father poked at the spiraling runes in the air, disrupting them as my mother looked at him sternly.

  “Would you rather him fall and starve in a ditch somewhere?”

  “Hah! Oh, you weren’t joking?” My father waved his hand indifferently. “C’mon Amina, Amir’s son, he’d never do something like that.” Looking at me, he tilted his head and asked—

  Although he was jesting, he felt somewhat serious.

  I shook my head with care, rocking Sophie back and forth in my arms.

  “Why were you looking for me?” My mother asked, yawning and stretching as she lifted her body from the ground.

  “Well, it about lunchtime— and I’m hungry! So ” My father lightly shoved my mother’s shoulder in a playful manner as she glared at him. Within a few seconds of eye contact, her expression melted into a loving one, as usual. I pray this type of love finds me!

  “Where’s Aunt Amina? It’s lunchtime!” Startled, I looked at Millie, who had just walked in, rubbing her eyes. The second she caught sight of me, she avoided my gaze, turning almost a hundred and eighty degrees, facing towards the door again.

  “I’ll… just be at the table.” She stammered.

  How peculiar.

  My father winked at me, making such a weird expression on his face that I ought to have slapped it out of him. Faking a cough and removing his idiotic grin upon my mother’s ice-cold stare, he wrapped his arms around both me and my mother, bringing us all into a big embrace.

  “So… ” He asked with puppy-dog eyes.

  Wait, wasn’t that my technique?

  Damn thief…

  Sometimes, my father was just like a child himself.

  My mother raised her hand, slapping my father upside the head. As my father recovered from his slight dizziness, my mother sighed, lifting herself completely off the ground, obviously tired. She took both and the history book with the long name, placing them on the shelves. They seemed to melt and disappear.

  “Feel free to read the last one, Amir… ah! I’ll teach you how to play the piano tomorrow, hopefully!” Giving me a warm smile, she roped her hands around my dad, pushing him towards the door. Millie was already gone, and Sophie still remained in my hands. For a moment, I simply sat there.

  The dust couldn’t have been good for me.

  Yet it smelled kind, caring, and nostalgic.

  I’m thinking this a bit too much, aren’t I?

  “Bluh! Bluh! Bluh!” My sister tried her hardest to make sounds, but she ended up inflating her cheeks. I laughed loudly, hearing my voice echo throughout the library.

  Poking her nose, I brought her face close to mine, and then tapped our noses together slightly.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “You want to play a little game?” I asked.

  She let her hands splay out, looking at me questioningly.

  Almost like a damn interrogation!

  “Alright, I’ll take that as a yes.” Gently moving her back and forth, I hummed, lifting my right finger.

  Taking it, I tapped her lightly on the nose while smiling.

  She froze for a moment, trying to reach for my finger, yet still unable too. Since she couldn’t do anything else, she burst out into a giggle. I swear, if she continued like this, I’d be doing her bidding for the rest of my life…

  Taking her miniscule finger gently, I placed it on my nose.

  “That’s one.” I said, tapping my nose with her finger.

  She babbled incoherently.

  I tapped her nose again, and then I brought her fingers up to mine— so we could tap each other. After five repetitions, I brought her nose to mind again, and made a little sound effect, mimicking an explosion.

  She seemed to enjoy it.

  We did this a few more times.

  “Hmm… should we read the last book? Oh, you can’t read, can you? Then why don’t you just… yeah. Just listen to me.” I placed her head in my lap, trying to keep her comfortable. Then, I reached out as hard as I could to the last book— The three oldest families, as my mother had called them, seemed to have written these books separately.

  They didn’t seem like books that would go together. Each one had different covers— even though there wasn’t any art on them, the materials made and the font used for the lettering was drastically different, ranging from loopy cursive to straight print.

  This last book seemed very technical.

  The opposite of what I was expecting for the title.

  “Buhhh…” Sophie pointed towards the book, slapping her fingers on it. Immediately retracting them, she snuggled my arms until I assumed that she felt nice and warm, like she was by the fireplace.

  I laughed inside.

  Grunting, I tried to open the huge book.

  And… I failed.

  Even if I put all my strength in, the damn pages just separate!

  Screaming in frustration, I picked it up and shook it, causing my sister’s eyes to tear up. Immediately dropping it on the ground, I went back to comfort her.

  Just stopping her on the brink of wailing took a few minutes.

  Taking a few deep breaths, I prepared myself again.

  Slowly, my fingers danced over the cover, methodically prying it open. I felt something click inside the book— like gears of some sort as it began to open by itself. Slowly, the page turned over, as the cover thumped to the ground.

  The title page revealed…

  Hah… what a waste of—

  Wait! Wait, didn’t mother do something? Yes, was a blank book as well, and all she did was place her Mark on it, and it opened! Hushing my sister, who was already sound asleep, I smiled, lifting her off of the ground and placing her next to me on the wooden floor.

  She cooed silently.

  My eyes turned back to the book.

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my shirt awkwardly. The Mark bulged underneath, oozing bits of Am out into the atmosphere. It pulsed like a beating heart, and I would have called it disgusting, but the Mark itself actually didn’t look that bad. At worst, it was an eyesore.

  I didn’t really feel much from it anymore.

  No pain, no nothing.

  Lifting the book, I brought it closer to my chest. A humming sound emanated from the book as it glowed slightly, forcefully trying to pave its way to my chest. Gritting my teeth, I groaned, trying to hold it back from snapping to me like a magnet. Slowly but surely, I brought it close.

  Like a suction cup, it stuck onto me fast.

  I heard the sound of teeth gnashing as the book lit up in a golden glow, almost blinding me. Sophie instinctively turned away from the light, but I didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief before the book began to crumble in front of me. Ashes ran through my fingers as I gawked.

  What…

  Fuck!

  Lifting my hands into the air and cycling them rapidly, I tried to salvage any parts of the book, but most of the pages had turned to dust already. As I bit back my depression, I watched as the once thick and majestic book had turned into a single-paged one, surrounded by a thin cover.

  But..

  As I wiped the dust off the cover, I saw a name written in golden words.

  Instantly, my blood chilled as I felt ever more aware of the darkness surrounding me. The smell of food didn’t even render in my nose as my throat closed and I keeled backwards, trying to crawl away from the book.

  Yet it still dragged me in with an invisible force.

  My sister was unaffected, sleeping soundly as tears built in my eyes— they weren’t tears of sadness, or fear, but just inexplicable reactions that my body was going through. I felt my feet tremble as the piles of ash blew away in a spiral, banished to the corners of the room.

  Like it was natural, I laced my fingers over the book.

  I it to seem foreign to me. Unfortunately, for someone like me, things didn’t usually go my way. If I wanted something, I had to fight for it— only now, it seemed like I was doomed to this fate.

  Still, some curiosity tinged me.

  Obviously, it was some fuckass artifact related to “Him”, the “false god” who had given me His ‘Mark’, since my apparent past life’s name was inscribed on it. But what did that mean? Why did my family even have books like this lying around the library?

  Or could it be…

  Just thinking the name brought me down, trembling in an unknowable fear. I just couldn’t bear the burden of his existence, even if it was a fleeting thought in my mind. Fighting through the pressure, I brought myself to open the book.

  The single page in it had words inscribed in black ink.

  Suddenly, emotion exploded in my brain as I almost dropped the book, losing my train of thought. What emotion I felt… I couldn’t exactly tell. I watched as the words melted off the page, soon disappearing completely, leaving before me… another blank page.

  I heard the sound of a quill on paper coming from the book as words began to slowly write themselves onto the page. Feeling fatigued, I realized that I had used too much my muscles were starting to hurt, and my brain could no longer think properly.

  Also, I noticed that had disappeared.

  With my eyes barely open, I saw the words upon the paper.