I always knew my little sister's sense of fashion was a bit... different, but I still allowed myself to believe that I could do something to change it for the better. After all, I got the shivers every time I imagined cute little Cassandra becoming a macho woman wearing an armor fit more for a Demon King than a lovable princess.

Thus, I was determined to make her like frilly things and dress up cutely even if it was the last thing I did! That was her destiny as dictated by her older brother! By no means was she going to become a copy of our aunty Eliza, who was a half muscles and half armor creature most of the time.

Two years went by in a flash, and now I was a healthy five-years-old boy who was currently on his way to Briston together with his family. The carriage was moving at a regular speed of around 15-20 km/h, so it wouldn't be long before we reached the small town. There was no special meaning behind our trip, just a regular visit to the shops in the hope of finding something interesting to buy. Only our maid was planning on restocking some of our supplies, like spices and such.

What could I say?

The 'ritual' was indeed something that took me completely by surprise and dealt a serious mental blow. Seeing my own mother, aunt, and even our maid hop around us while pretending to be bunnies was mentally devastating for me, but not so much for my little sister.

The horror... I thought.

“I think we broke him.” aunty said as she poked my left cheek with her finger, and I wobbled like an elastic band when she released the pressure.

One evening when we were practicing our Magic Energy control inside because outside was raining cats and dogs, our aunt suddenly got up and left us there alone without saying a single word as to where she was going and when she was coming back.

This wasn't the first time when she did something like this, but usually she would tell us to stop and wait for her to return. We took that time as a break. My guess was that she went out to hunt something or someone, seeing as she more than once returned with a few drops of fresh blood spilled on her armor.

I haven't seen my older sister, Melissa, for almost four years now, but we would send each other a letter every two months or so. Unlike me, she was what many would call a Perfect Noble Woman. Beautiful, kind, generous, cunning, smart, talented with magic, elegant, well-mannered, and with an overflowing aura of authority surrounding her.

Three weeks have passed since aunty Eliza came to our house.

Strong, determined, beautiful from certain isolated points of view, a proud warrior, and a bit of a mage, she was the human(?) woman who took up the role of both a devoted tutor and a bodyguard until we were to reach the blessed age of ten years old, when we would be sent off to different schools.

“So when your mother asked me to be your teacher, how was I to refuse?” said our giant aunt with a smug look on her face.

I was narrowing my eyes at her, who was casually stuffing her face with our food like some hungry predator that was set loose upon a herd of helpless sheep. Meanwhile, mother was calmly drinking a cup of tea, father was writing a letter, and Cassandra was admiring her with big sparkly eyes.

As days came to pass, it was finally time for me and Cassandra to meet our famous no-good aunt, or how our father used to describe her: a high-spirited adventurer with a tendency to attract trouble.

Even our slave maid, Luthecia avoided my gaze when I asked her if she knew this strange person. Our aunt's reputation and impression of her was getting worse by the minute. My sister, on the other hand, was listening with big eyes as if they were talking about some great hero.

[Binecuvântarea a 118 Zei]: 118 different Gods of different worlds in different Universes have merged their individual Blessings into one to offer it as a gift to a single soul. The effect of this Blessing differs depending on the situation, but it guarantees the wellbeing and happiness of the individual as long as they will it to happen.

After we received our Blessings, mother and father had to complete some paperwork, while we waited patiently on one of the benches inside the church. Not far from us were several people who were praying with their eyes closed at the statue of goddess Sapherya.

I didn't see any reason in this separation from our parents, but at the very least the High Priest made sure we weren't left alone over here; one of the priests was diligently watching over us.

While things were going South for my Little Sister Pampering hobby, father brought me over to the altar and placed me on the same spot. The letters vanished when the High Priest released the spell earlier, and he was now preparing to give me the same ceremony. Since we were twins, I had a feeling they had high hopes for me too.

“Let us begin!” the High Priest declared as he started to chant.

A Blessing, huh? I thought as I was looking at the altar, while mother was preparing Cassandra.

As far as I knew, Blessings were often the gifts offered by the gods of a fantasy-like world to the heroes destined to save it from some unfathomable evil. However, judging from what the priest just told us, in Sapherya's world, anyone had a chance of receiving one, no matter their destiny. The tone of the priest's voice suggested that it wasn't such a big deal if we did. At the same time, if I understood this properly, then every child was going to receive a temporary Blessing that was going to increase the chances of them reaching adulthood.

While being carried by our parents, we entered the church. The inside was just as impressive as the outside. There was a big statue of the goddess Sapherya at the other side of the room. In front of it were countless rows of benches for the pious believers who came to pray. Both to the left and to the right were several smaller statues of the other gods in the pantheon of this world.

We didn't move from the door, and not long afterwards, a priest similar to those outside came over to greet us.

The age of a three-years-old was a magical one for any boy or girl living in this kingdom, which name I had yet to learn. Or maybe when mother told us the name, it entered through one ear and flew out the other, leaving nothing behind, not even an echo.

Anyway, this age could be summarized through one major event: the visit to the church in order to be baptized in the name of the Goddess of Love and Creation Sapherya.

Out of curiosity, I asked mother once if that was her full name.

After I reached the age of 1, my Telekinetic power started to kick in. I discovered this when I accidentally stopped a very 'dangerous' blouse from falling on top of my little sister while she was crawling around on the floor.

To be fair, I thought it was something far heavier, spiky, and... explosive. The flowery pattern should have been a clear sign that it was not an item of such... characteristics. Even so, I was thankful for this silly event that went completely unnoticed by Cassandra.

Because of my many accidents back on Earth, I often found myself scrolling through numerous medical articles or research papers on various subjects. Not that I understood a great deal from them, but like any other patient lying on a bed in a hospital, I was concerned with whether or not the injuries I suffered were going to have any lasting effects. This and the fact that I had a lot of free time were the main two reasons.

All that was left to do now was to choose my new life and have another take at my abilities, but to be honest, while I had some ideas about that last part, nothing crossed my mind for the first one.

“So... a family...” I said as I pondered about what I wanted.

This was the eight time already when I repeated myself. Some of the gods returned to playing board games and doing other stuff until I made up my mind. The only one who HAD to pay attention all the time was Sapherya.

The world I wanted to go to, eh?

Normally, that was a rather difficult question to answer, one that wasn't supposed to be taken lightly. Given the diversity of all of these gods in front of me and having seen at least one Fantasy and Sci-Fi movie in my life, I had a general idea of what I didn't want to encounter. I wasn't unfamiliar with games or written stories of these genres either. Hospital life can get very boring very fast.

This was an unexpected turn of events. Initially, I thought they were just going to send me off to the afterlife without troubling themselves to see this through. Thinking about it, reincarnation or a straight ticket on the Heaven or Hell express was the only end for me given my current no-body situation. However, what truly came as a surprise was the gods telling me I was granted the power to customize my next life on top of receiving some blessings from them.

Thus, I began to seriously think about what I wanted them to offer me.

There was nothing that could be done now after my body had been turned to dust alongside all those unfortunate people who had the bad luck of being near me at that time. As for the ones responsible for this whole mess, they did say they were going to reflect upon it, but I had my doubts because those were some rater insane ways to take out someone, no matter their sin. Besides, I was a human... there were far more simpler ways to kill me than dropping a meteor or nuke on top of my head.