Shards of the Broken Heart

Days passed by as my mother and sister took care of me.

When I turned three, I started to speak and write properly. I got to know that the name of my mother was, Sylvia Thenan. Consequently, my sister’s name was Alice Thenan, and mine was Lucas Thenan.

Also, I could do my chores on my own. Gradually, Alice and mother started to spend less time with me. Sometimes, I couldn’t even see Alice for a few days. After asking my mother, I got to know that Alice was training.

The absence of Alice for long durations made me feel uneasy, but my mother said that Alice was always nearby. She was away from us to concentrate on her training, especially me.

I accepted that fact readily, as whenever Alice finishes her training, she sticks to me like glue and plays with me all day. Either it was a withdrawal syndrome, or she really was that clingy. Whatever the reason, I loved Alice, so her presence always made me happy.

One day, when we three were having dinner together, I asked my mother.

“Mom, I wanted to ask something. I don’t know if I should ask?”

My mother was a little startled by my serious tone. Even Alice stopped eating and focused her eyes on me.

“Sweetie, you can ask whatever you want. I will always try to answer them according to my capabilities.”

“I read in a book that there are children and parents in a family. Then, where is our father?”

By the end of the question, my voice was just a whisper.

I always thought this topic was sensitive, so I did not ask before. But I couldn’t contain my curiosity this time. Even though I was a small child, I didn’t know how, but I knew things only adults would know, like how babies are made.

But from the day of my birth, I had never seen any other male besides me in our house. Even the servants were all maids. Hearing my question, mother avoided my gaze a little and answered.

“I am sorry, sweetie. But you don’t have a father.”

I sneaked a glance at Alice. She did not have any reaction, which meant that she already knew the answer.

After processing her reply, it made my heart bleed. All sorts of scenarios flashed through my mind regarding the reason for the conception of Alice and me. With every scenario, I felt unimaginable sorrow and anger.

(Not again! Not again. Why my mother? What crime did she commit?!)

(…huh? Again… Why did I think that…)

The confusion suppressed my anger and grief. I rushed to my mother and hugged her. I wanted to cry, but I held my tears in. Mom was surprised for a bit, but she still embraced me tightly.

After a while, I calmed down and decided to discuss this topic properly after a few years. I was embarrassed by my outbreak and shyly returned to my seat. Mother coughed a little to help me out of the situation and said.

“Lucas, from tomorrow onwards, you will also start your training. I will give you introductions and teach you various things. It would be a whole new world for you. Alice can also join you tomorrow, and you can learn from her.”

“Really, mom! Yayy!”

Alice was very excited at the prospect of teaching me.

“Lucas, big sis will teach you many wonderful things. It will be our new game.”

After finishing the dinner, we went to sleep together. As I was lying on the bed between my mother and sister, I suddenly wanted to drink milk. I was still a baby, so I had childish impulses dictating my mood. I hugged mother and asked.

“Mom, I want to drink milk.”

Hearing my words, Alice’s eyes snapped open. Although she was six years old, she was just a bigger baby compared to me. Thus, she also had the urge to drink mother’s milk. But because she was older than me, she tried to curb it from becoming a good older sister.

So, I grabbed her hand and lifted her up from the bed. Seeing as such, our mother just smiled gently and shed the upper part of her clothes, revealing her pretty breasts. We both placed ourselves near one breast and started sucking for milk.

Our mother gently caressed our hair while we were eagerly drinking her milk. After having our fill of the sweet, nectar-like milk, we held each other close while falling asleep.

The following day, mother woke us up to get ready for breakfast. After washing ourselves up, we ate breakfast, and then mother guided me and Alice to an empty training ground. She then asked us to the grass cross-legged. There were dews on the grass and a gentle breeze rustling through my hair.

“Lucas, from today onwards, you will walk a new path. This path may sometimes be exciting or sometimes tedious. It requires hard work and persistence. This path is gentle as well as cruel. This is the path of cultivation.”

At that time, my gentle mother had a dignified aura around her. Hearing her rousing tone, I felt goosebumps all over my body.

“Cultivation is the path in which one fights against the natural way of living. One cultivator lives longer than the average mortal. His strength is superior to the average mortals. The very base of cultivation is to defy the general order.

This is why there are multiple paths of cultivation. Some absorb the energy required for cultivation through their nature, while some steal the life of others to cultivate. Thus, this cultivation world is filled with bloodshed. So even if you want to live peacefully, you should have sufficient power to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe.”

“Today, I will teach you how to start your cultivation. You can ask me for guidance. Even your sister's ideas can help you understand it more clearly. First, you close your eyes and feel the earth beneath you, the wind passing by you, the sun's warmth shining on you, the blood flow in your body, and the tension in your muscles. Feel everything you find in your surroundings and observe them.”

I closed my eyes and focused on my mother’s words and focused on everything around me: the earth, the wind, the sun, my blood, my muscles, my mother’s voice, my sister’s curious gaze, their care and my determination to be strong enough to protect them.

I suddenly felt enlightened. I felt the warm stream of energy that entered my body when I was in my mother’s womb, swirling inside my body. I felt the same energy present everywhere around me. In the air, the earth, in my mother and sister. I opened my eyes and still could feel the presence of these energy streams.

Seeing my excited expression, my mother smiled gently and placed her hands on my back.

“Good. Now feel the flow of the energy inside you and try to guide the energy just the way I do.”

Mother inserted a stream of her energy inside my body and made the energy swirling inside me follow a particular set of directions. I followed her guidance, and after a couple of hours, I got the hang of the correct flow path and could even make my energy follow the same.

“This will do for now. Now I will teach you about the various parts of your body through which the energy flows and what are their significance.”