“What?!” My father looks at me in confusion.

“It was me who did this, father.” I feel like my life with the two amazing and caring parents I have, is about to end and I can’t help but feel the deepest and saddening feeling.

“H-how are you talking so well, and more importantly what happened here.” Looking at mom for an answer, father tries very hard to remain calm.

“H-he told me to wait” Both look at me searching for an answer, but I divert my eyes not being able to endure the faces the betrayal or horror when I speak the truth.

“I am...” I start speaking but my words choke in my throat as I watch both their eyes darken. “I was dead, in the void, filled with nothingness.”

Tears start streaming down as realize this will probably be the biggest turning point in my life, these two people who have been my father and mother did nothing but love me and I betrayed them, plain and simple and I feel ashamed by my acts of deceit.

“After I was dead, I thought that was the end, that life was just that. Live, suffer and die, but then ‘IT’ came looking for me, lurking in the dead space of nothingness and he made me an offer, of course, the power it had over me made it impossible to refuse and so...”

I told them everything about my encounter and my reincarnation in this world, the speed at which I progressed and why I was always a bit odd.

“T-this...” Father shakes his head while mother is pale as a ghost, both are finding it difficult to articulate anything. Suddenly I hear a carriage coming our way so I turn my head fearing another attack, but I relax after seeing a merchant caravan pull on the side of the dirt road.

“Hello, strangers!” A fat middle aged man approaches us with a warm smile, but seeing the corpses laying around he immediately retreats with a frown while looking at my parents. “Please, we are just passerby's we mean no harm.”

My father snapping out of his thoughts looks at me and then at the merchant with a flash of malicious intent that only last a second, and I, of course, can probably deduce what he’s thinking. The most probable is for him to be pondering to whether to give me to the merchant as some sort of commodity or not, but he finally sights and at the same time I feel my knees almost lose their tension with a sigh of relief.

“Sygni, come...” He grabs mother by her waist and saying nothing goes to towards the merchant.

“Hello, name’s Orvar.” Without any energy I see my father handing money to the fat merchant, who introduces himself as Nero. They both get in while I'm just paralyzed in place gawking at them.

‘So this is it, how we part...’ While musing words of defeat, I hear mother’s voice who was almost too quiet through the whole ordeal.

“We’re going Ragnar, get in.”

I hurriedly walk with my small body towards the merchant's caravan. Not sparing a single glance at the bodies or our belongings scattered, as father has all the money in his pockets for safe keeping. Awkwardly climbing inside I feel almost rejected by the both of them until mother’s face changes and a determined look appears on her face.

“Regrets...” Doubt filling her eyes she asks. “What regrets are those you spoke off, that made that powerful being so willing to give you a second chance at life?”

I fumble in the wooden floor of the carriage not expecting this turn of events at all. I expected hate, accusations or even scorn, but doubt, that i can manage.

“In my previous world, we only had one race, the humans, albeit with different types of skin colors, view, and social standings. But to me, those didn’t matter, because while the rich and truly powerful made use of our hate to blind us, we would just act like puppets. Of course, there were millions of people who were aware of the strange system created, but on the other hand, there were people who were happy with their life’s being as they were.”

I start to introduce my parents to my worlds differences, like different religions, cultures, and people. When my father hears that in my last world, there was no magic curiously asks.

“So people defend themselves how?” I smile bitterly as I recall firearms and other weapons. Earth was in no way a walk in the park, what it lacked in magical confrontation and superhuman beings, it made up for technological advancement just to kill. Thinking about it now, almost all our advances in the numerous fields of study were to be used as weapons, first tested in the armies and then given to the people.

As I watch the sunset and the birds chirp, not daring to face my parents in the eyes I speak about how my life had been lived with an alcoholic father, the beatings and the misery. All the humiliating moments in my life compiled in a few minutes as I talk about my time in prison and how I died.

I watch in silence, after the monologue of hours on end about all that made up my previous and meaningless life. Then I hear my mother rustle and place a hand on my face, willed by this action I turn to look at her and surprise fills my chest. Small tears stream down her face, mixed feelings conflicting with each other, while also in my father’s face I can see sadness.

“So much grief.” She whispers. “You truly are our son.”

“What?” Flabbergasted by the actions of my parents I can only ask this.

“Your father and I were the same as you, of course for different reasons other than your’s, but our parents were abusive as well, didn't you know?”

I frown, understanding now the hate my father carries towards grandfather. I look meekly at both of them, heart warmed by their words.

“I-i thought that you would hate me.”

“We don’t hate you we just...needed time to understand your circumstances, even if it was your own choice to come back to life we can understand, after all, we’re death fearing creatures that will cling to any opportunity to live and that’s not a bad thing, it only means that you’re human.” Saying this father gets up from his seating position and kneels placing his hand on my shoulder. “You didn’t have a normal childhood, normal parents nor real friends. So to us, you’re just a child with a lot of emotional baggage that needs to know how to grow up relying on others.”

“My darling son, of course, we would love you.” Mother smiles and kisses my forehead, trying to cure my damaged self one bit at a time. “And I know you love us, if not, why would you have risen to protect me from those assassins.”

I look down towards the wooden floor not daring to raise my head, fearing that I will weep into a pool of tears. ‘Thank you Berefte for a second chance at life, thank you mother for being so kind to me, thank you father for being so understanding.'