A year passed, and the child didn’t awaken. His body is oddly in a healthy position despite not being able to eat or drink anything. Appearing as though a well-preserved corpse. Save for the fact that his breathing seemed steady, his red hair had grown a lot for a baby, having reached his back multiple times. Having to be cut quite often.

If there was a bright side to the tragedy, he didn’t produce any waste, as mana seemed to be the only thing sustaining him.

Six more months passed as they began to lose hope until one day.

“Mom… Did you finally give up and throw him out?” Jr yawned, trying to keep a straight face.

“No. Why? Shouldn’t you be watching him?” Cordelia asked from the kitchen.

Jr. had been watching him, but the boy had been asleep for more than a year. There were no signs of him waking. He was sure that the boy wouldn’t have minded if he had taken a brief nap. Yet the bed Kyrion had been laying on for more than a year now lay empty.

Jr looked around the room to see if he missed a baby falling off the bed. Finding that there was no missing baby on the floor. He did find red hair that hadn’t been there earlier. Jr sent mana into his eyes and searched the area, finding nothing that seemed out of place.

“Odd…” He heard the door behind him open as Cordelia entered the room.

“Where did he go?” She was confused.

“Did dad move him?”

“Weren’t you on watch?”

“I may have nodded off.” A frying pan hit the young man upside his head.

However, due to his physical enhancements as a spirit master, it did no physical damage. His pride, however, did take a hit.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect him to just up and vanish. I wasn’t out very long.”

“Well. If your dad didn’t move him, then chances are he woke up.” Cordelia had a ray of hope in her eyes.

They scoured the house before looking for Bill on the farm. He was currently harvesting cabbages as they became popular in the kingdom and were in high demand.

“Bill. Did you pick up Kyrion?” Cordelia asked.

“No. Why would I pick him up? Shouldn’t…” Bill started

“He isn’t in the house. Do you know what that means?” Jr added.

“He isn’t in the house… He moved. Who, how. Is he awake?” Bill asked

“Not sure. Hopefully. Help us find him.” Jr answered.

“But my cabbages….” Bill looked longingly at his harvest.

“Damn the cabbages! We need to find our son.” Cordelia decreed, so it should be.

They looked all over the farm and nearby area, yet they couldn’t find the boy. Returning to the front of the house, they noticed that a large older man had been examining a tree. On his shoulders were two girls of a similar age and appearance.

“You didn’t come back so I thought you had forgotten about them.” Said an old boisterous voice.

“Dad? What are you doing here?” Cordelia asked.

“I just said. I’m dropping off your two girls and checking on the grandson you said was sick. How long have you been making him sleep outside?” Alexander asked.

“He just up and vanished about an hour ago. How did he even get out the door?” Jr asked.

“I was in and out around that time but I wasn’t looking out for a child at the time.” Bill realized his incompetence.

“So that newborn crawled out here on his own and took a nap under this shady tree. What’s he holding?” Alexander motioned to clasped hands.

“That or Curella is messing with us. We walked past that tree a few times already, he sticks out like a sore thumb.” Cordelia eyed the boy’s hands.

She reached down to open them up. Inside rested a red and gold egg. The sound of pecking could be heard from inside.

“Hmmmmm. Mind If I take that off the boy’s hands?” Alexander said.

“What is it?” Bill asked.

“Some Phoenix Egg. Looks like Imala is trying to recruit him herself.”

“What are you going to give me for it?” Cordelia asked.

“I doubt a Pheonix egg would do him any good, though something of equal potential. I’ll pay for his spirits.” Alexander’s left eye shifted color as a red spiral began to form inside the pupils.

“Mom? Isn’t this the tree she struck?” Jr said, examining the blue markings left on the bark.

“That sick bi….” Cordelia started as a storm cloud appeared overhead in moments.

“What are you going to do with that egg?” Bill squinted.

“I have it on good authority that a descendant of mine will need it.” Alexander said with a stoic expression.

“Great. More cryptic stuff.” Bill picked up his son and sighed.

“Is that our new brother?” One of the two girls asked. Observing the baby slung over his shoulder.

“Yes he is.” Replied Cordelia, who did not want to get her two daughters mixed up at the moment.

Alexander placed them both down before poking the small baby. “He’s got the hair. His father’s skin, and your nature. He’s definitely going to be a handful.”

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“What do you mean?” Jr asked.

“A normal baby wouldn’t just decide to go off on their own after waking up from a nap. They would at most look around and then start crying. Did you hear any crying? Any loud thud from a baby falling over?” Alexander asked.

“No. I did not.” Jr answered.

“This tree probably called towards him. He isn’t as asleep as you may think. It’s closer to being comatose, he mindlessly approached because it was pulling the mana out of his body. She then gave him something that would indeed her to him as it drained mana from him.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s essentially bleeding mana at the moment and mana tends to naturally spread slowly, stagnating is bad for him right now. I recommend taking him on strolls around the farm to help ease some of the burdan.” Alexander eyed the tree with suspicion.

“So working the farm will actually be good for him.” Bill stated.

“Exactly. It seems nature has decided to lay claim on this child.” Alexander sighed, raising his prosthetic right arm to the eyepatch over his left eye.

“You ok father?” Cordelia asked.

“Yeah, just the thought of someone with my blood working on a farm to survive feels off.”

“I have no intention of raising my children to be dogs in this empire. No offense dad, but while I want them to be strong I don’t want them to be bound here. Make sure the schools keep up their test in this general area. Consistency makes situations like this easier to hide.” Cordelia seemed irritated.

“Fine fine. May I?” Alexander motioned for the child.

“Sure, try not to drop him.” Bill said with a straight face. Passing the baby to the older man.

He held onto the baby, whose eyes seemed to open. Glaring at something curiously. His tiny hands slowly and methodically moved into a blind spot.

“He’s awake.” Alexander said in surprise, holding the baby above his face.

Cordelia moved to take her baby back lest he imprint on the old bearded man.

She didn’t have to worry for long as Kyrion did something no sane man, woman, beast, or deity would do willingly.

He pulled off the old man’s left eye patch. Waving the item around like a trophy, the baby soon found himself upside down. Looking into green eyes, which made him laugh, his victory achieved.

“Dad…Can I hold him now?” Cordelia said.

“Hmmm… He’s a quick one, all right. Watch your words around him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had woken up minutes ago and was just being quiet.” Alexander’s eyes followed the patch

“Where did you get that charm?” Cordelia asked as she held out her arms.

“A promise made is a promise kept, my dear.” Alexander handed the baby to his daughter.

Cordelia cradled the baby in her arms and watched as his emerald green eyes stayed open for a brief moment. Before they rolled back into his head and he passed out again.

He didn’t wake up for another six months after that. Though the eyepatch was carefully removed from the child’s grasp.

Kyrion opened his eyes and looked around. The red-haired dude was sleeping again. So he climbed off the bed and slowly crawled to the room’s exit.

Suddenly he was in mid-air, suspended and trapped. The baby kicked, thrashed, and cursed his oppressor. Though the cursing came out as incoherent babbling.

“Not going to get me twice little Kyr! Good morning!” The straw man said with a smile on his face.

The baby did not understand a thing he said and continued to thrash.

“Kyr stop that your going to take an eye out. Hey!” Jr held onto his brother.

Kyion grabbed hard on his straw opponent and pulled with all his strength.

The hat came off with ease! The child held it up for maybe half a second and then dropped it to the floor.

Jr went to put the baby down so that he could put on his hat. But decided against it as he noticed a grin on the baby’s face paired with a glint. “Devil baby indeed.

Sadly Kyr didn’t give up the fight, and Jr had let his guard down, thinking he’d won. A stray hand had latched onto his hair, and the baby started pulling.

It didn’t hurt, but it was an annoyance. Not doing any physical damage but messing up its style.

“Geeze. Kyr. I’ll go let mom deal with you then.” Jr said.

Kyrion continued to play with the hair in confusion as his oppressor finally took the hint and brought him out of the room.

“Mom guess who’s up and active again.” Jr asked his mother.

Jr passed the child to Cordelia’s open arms, and Kyrion began to reach for her hair. An instinct resided deep inside his bones, and he stopped. Not sure what that feeling was. Just eying the woman who was now holding him.

Kyrions stomach growled, and he smacked his lips, revealing a perfect set of baby teeth that had grown while he was out.

“Guess we can skip straight to solids.”

Kyrion did not understand those words, but something deep in the pit of his stomach told him that everything in the room that could fit into his hands was food. On the table, he saw this bright orange ball of deliciousness. He wanted to eat that ball. He began reaching toward it.

“Oh, baby wants the tangerine?” Cordelia sat down and started peeling one. By the time she looked up to give him a piece, he had taken a bite out of a second one. Though the peel as though he was eating an apple.

He devoured said tangerine whole with no trouble whatsoever.

“Ummm… I don’t think he cares about the peel.” Jr stated.

Kyrion eyed the man with the straw hat as though he had just been insulted.

“He doesn’t speak the common tongue yet does he?” Jr seemed a bit curious.

“No but he may have picked up on your tone. You’ll need to be careful.” Cordellia joked.

Kyrion made an uh oh face as he swallowed a bit too quickly. Clearly not chewing it enough. After a brief panic, he seemed to get the whole thing down. Oddly enough, not a single cry came from his mouth as he studied the people around him. While the family relaxed, he moved towards the rest of the basket on the table.

Again an oppressive force lifted him off the table. This man was bald, dark, and mean-looking. He had this curly black stuff stuck to his chin, swinging back and forth.

“See, I got this. He loves me.”

Kyrion didn’t know what was said. But he did know that the thing on his chin showed an opening.

Boom!

Both hands latched onto the parisite, and he started pulling. After five seconds of pulling, the creature didn’t go anywhere.

The boy soon became bored and then went limp as weakness overtook him.

“He is going to be, trouble when he gets older… He can’t pass for a toddler yet… but he already has a full set of working teeth. His growth is bizarre. If anyone asks, he’s six months old and just an early bloomer in this case.” Cordelia announced.

“Can’t walk, can’t talk, can bite. We can just say he got his teeth early. It’s not unheard of.” Bill sat down, relieved that his ropelike braided beard was still in place.

Kyrion slowly eased his way out of the man’s grasp like a noodle before falling to the floor. He slowly started crawling away from the loud giants.

“He’s smart for a baby.” Thalia said, butting in.

The five-year-old watched the baby who had slipped away unnoticed by the grownups. Slowly making his way towards the door.

Both father and son panicked as the boy seemed to vanish out of thin air.

“Like I said, trouble.” Cordelia walked over, picked him up, and looked at him with a discerning eye.

That sensation of fear waved through him again. He did not budge when she held him. The angry red-haired woman was in charge.

“Where is Curella?” Cordelia asked aloud.

“Well, she is convinced that Kyrion is some sort of possessed demon baby sent to set off the apocalypse.” Jr stated.

“Is she wrong?” Cordelia raised an eyebrow.

“Hopefully.” Jr shrugged.

Kyrion was giving his captor puppy dog eyes. Which seemed to cement his captured position. He saw the little giant with the even smaller little giant and came up with a plan. He began reaching for them as though he wanted to play.

“Mom. I think he wants to play with us!” Dwen said excitedly.

“Don’t fall for it. I know that look in his eyes. He has that glint.” Cordelia stated.

Both Bills went pale as the two youngest didn’t seem to get it.

Curella entered the room, looked at Kyrion, and noticed the active baby.

The baby tried his puppy dog eyes on Curella to get her help.

Curella responded by backing out of the room and maintaining eye contact with the baby as she left.

With no way out and all hope dashed. Kyrion actually took a nap.

“And so it begins.” Cordelia sat down on a rocking chair, the child in hand, looking out a window. To the sky and the two moons above.