I still remember the face that my parents made when they saw me exit the surgery room with Doctor Frost by my side.
It was a mixture of relief, and fear.
Their son, who they had just seen in a near-death-like state, was now walking with a smile on his face, eating a sugared apple gifted to him by the doctor.
My eye was perfectly healed. It hadn't taken long. Perhaps ten minutes?
I could tell that my brain was still repairing itself. When I tried to answer Doctor Frost's questions, the words were unable to form themselves, and left my mouth as a mumble.
That didn't matter. At least I was alive.
"D-Doctor Frost, am I imagining things? Our son... He's..."
My father was stuck in a state of disbelief as he hurried over to me and examined my face.
Everything was fine.
Meanwhile, my Mother lingered in the distance. She seemed to be looking at me with different eyes than she usually did. It was like I was some sort of animal.
Doctor Frost rested his hands in his white coat pocket and shrugged his shoulders. His face was as serious as ever.
"I can't give you an answer. After numbing Leox's face, I removed the knife. Next thing I knew, the boy's injury was healing itself."
No matter what way you spun it, that didn't sound right.
My Father looked at Frost with confusion.
"B-but how? Could it be some sort of magic? Could my son have awakened at the age of five?"
Doctor Frost shook his head.
"No, otherwise I would have been able to see his status. The boy seems to be blessed by some other sort of magic. One that I don't understand."
"Or cursed." My Mother chimed in from behind.
Her words made my father's face scrunch up in anger. He rose to his feet and turned to her, seeming ready to punch her in the face.
"You would suggest that our son is cursed? Leox, our little Leox?"
My mother turned away from him with nothing to say. She didn't seem to regret her words.
Luckily Doctor Frost was there to de-escalate the situation. He walked over and placed a hand on my father's shoulder, helping him relax.
"Do not be stressed, Kyle. My suggestion for you would be to keep raising Leox as you have been, and try to avoid him having accidents anymore. If something occurs again, then take him to the Church of Everhurst and report the situation to the High Priest."
After hearing Doctor Frost's recommendations, my Father's face went white.
He knew immediately that if he explained this situation to the Church, they would surely say that his son was cursed.
Best case scenario, I would be sent to one of the cities to be further checked up on by a religious figure with more power.
Worst-case scenario, I would simply be executed. The Theocracy didn't like taking risks.
With reluctance, my Father accepted Doctor Frost's suggestion, and we returned home as a family, continuing to live our lives as we had.
But unfortunately, ever since that moment, my family's lives had never been the same.
---
Six years passed without me having another accident.
I grew into a fine teenager, working with my parents on the farm, helping them with their produce. However, over the years, my Father and Mother grew distant from each other.
Ever since my freak healing incident, my Mother refused to be close to me. Chores that a mother would usually do for her son were instead done by my Father, who at least still looked at me like I was human.
I made a few friends around the village. Well, one really. A girl named Ivy Graceful. She was the daughter of a Holy Nun within the Everhurst church.
Her hair was blonde, unlike my own dark hair. She was much shorter than me too, and kinder.
One day, as we sat on a hilltop that overlooked our small village, she suggested something that stuck with me.
"Leox, why do you still work on the farm when you have so many other talents?"
Even though I had never seen it that way, she was right. Many adults and children of the village classed me as physically gifted.
I could climb trees that no other child could. I could sprint uphill quicker than anyone else who was even close to my age.
The problem was, in this small village, there was no room for the talented. Talent was not found in villages, it was found in cities, where the children could receive proper education during their childhoods.
Me? I was a dunce who couldn't perform basic maths.
I shrugged my shoulders when she asked the question.
"The farm is where I was raised, and will die. What else is there for me to do in this village?"
Ivy pinched my cheek.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Why must you act like the village is all we will ever know?" She then said with a thrown.
Because it is?
That's what I wanted to respond. Instead, I gave her the clearest answer that my eleven-year-old brain could think of.
"Because I won't awaken. Everyone knows that to awaken, you have to be educated and trained from the age of five. Even then, you only have a small chance of awakening when you become thirteen."
"That's right," Ivy responded, staring off into the sky.
At least she accepts that.
"That would be the case," she continued. "If you were a normal boy."
I simply let out a sigh.
Ivy Graceful was the only other person besides my parents, and doctor snow who knew about my incident six years ago.
I expected her to see me the same way that my mother did. As a cursed freak, but instead, she saw me as the complete opposite.
She thought that I was blessed by the Allfather, the God who looked over the Fourth World, aiding the humans in their fight against the apocalypse.
I never saw it that way. In fact, I didn't even believe in the Allfather.
What sort of god would allow the world to be destroyed three times?
Before I could respond, Ivy rose to her feet and smiled at me as I sat on the grass. She then held out her hand, waiting for me to take it.
"Here, follow me. There's something I've been waiting to show you."
With trust, I took my only friends hand and allowed her to lead me south, away from Everhurst Village.
Where the hell is she taking me? I remember thinking to myself.