"Must we go down—continue our quest?" The figure spoke, though it knew the answer. Dissipating, it seemed as though it had accepted.

***

A surprising scene could be found in a cabin, deep within a forest of beasts. A woman, who had beauty that made the hearts of men squeeze, and had such a brilliant mind the world seemed to be hiding its secrets from her gaze... stood giggling and laughing with a small baby.

Max looked at his mother intently, the adorable curiosity of his red and blue eyes glinting, making it difficult for her to focus.

"Aa." Althea slowly enunciated the noise, making sure Max got the pronunciation down to a T, or rather, an A in this case.

"A... Aa!" Max let out a coo mimicking his mother, getting it right after only a few tries.

"Good — Great job Max!" Althea's eyes widened, surprised at the sheer speed Max could learn.

"I think my little son might just be a genius!" Althea picked Max up, spinning around with him in her arms, then hugging him. His high-pitched giggling filled the ears of Althea.

Step. Step. Step.

Noises of footsteps filled the room, as Althea and Max both stopped what they were doing, to look at the man who had just walked in.

"Hmm... I hear two people playing... Without me?" A husky voice resounded through their small house. His icy blue gaze seemed to put an illusory frost over everything. This man was obviously Max's father.

These two people were monoliths where they were from, beacons of strength and nobility, yet they had given it up. For love. The hate between Mages and Swordmen was ubiquitous, yet they had broken the mold.

"Leo! You're back! What took you-" Althea tried to speak but was silenced by a kiss.

"Thea... can't this poor man just have some time with his family after going out hunting?" Leonhardt spoke as if he hadn't brought back a beast able to level a city.

"Leo... You've been hunting for 5 hours. It's a little too long." Althea said, but was blushing as she did, things like this were a little new, given their fresh marriage.

Life went by quickly in the Bifrost household. Leonhardt would go to hunt in the woods, getting a variety of meats and plants.

"Mmh. I thought I would get tired of this scenery, but it really is great." Leonhardt sniffed at the air, tapping his sword on the ground, in sync with his footsteps.

As he walked back, he noticed Althea squatting down, near the side of their house. Her delicate hands gently handled the plants, assessing their condition, and fixing any problems they might have.

'Gods if I love her. Who else could take care of plants like they were equal to us?'

Leonhardt was certainly head-over-heels for his wife, her gentle, yet passionate personality spoke to him, on a deep level.

But later, Althea had to help teach Max his alphabet.

Mimicking what his parents did, Max was a quick learner.

"Huh." Althea sounded the letter H out, and Max followed.

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"Hah!" Max exhaled, though it wasn't perfect, he was on the right track.

"No, Huh." Althea opened her mouth, slowing down her pronunciation.

"Huh." Max followed well and had already mastered yet another letter.

"Good job!" Althea clapped, and picked up Max, spinning him around, one of his favorite activities.

The first few letters were slow, but as he went through them, Max gradually learned faster. At 7 months old, he had already learned the alphabet and was moving on to small words.

"Alright, Max. I've been trusted to teach you your words for a little. Don't make me lose this privilege." Leonhardt talked to Max normally, as if he could understand.

"Oh, Kay!" Max replied, but Leonhardt was a little scared about how he interpreted his words.

"So Max, M is for..." Leonhardt quizzed Max, expecting him to say mana, which he taught.

"Max!" Max, being a silly child, chose the word his mother told him.

Leonhardt chuckled heavily at his answer, as it wasn't what he was expecting.

"Great answer Max. But do you wanna know about mana?" Leonhardt asked Max.

Max then looked as if he was thinking...

"No!" The mind of a child could never be known.

Max then crawled away giggling.

"How will I manage this child..." Leonhardt shook his head.

Eventually, Althea returned. Her aura seemed to drive anything into submission before its radiant presence, however, a single man was at the center of it.

"Why does Max not know what mana is...? Leonhardt Bifrost, did you not teach him because you wanted him to learn Aether?" Althea spoke in a dreadful voice, and Leonhardt, despite being taller than her — a full head and some more at that — cowered away, his icy persona seeming to melt under her wrathful fire.

"I swear! He just didn't want to learn and ran away!" Leonhardt's voice seemed to rise by an octave, as it really was true the woman was the leader of the house.

"Max, is your father telling the truth?" Althea asked Max, her aura going from a forest fire to a warm, nurturing campfire in a split second.

"No!" Max said. Sadly for Leonhardt, Max hadn't been taught yes or no yet and had only picked up on No.

In a slow turn to Leonhardt, Althea seemed to look at him with a look that could stop a heart.

As a swordsman, Leonhardt was quite fast, and as a dad, he was great at leaving.

Leonhardt frantically looked around, noticing a window was open. Perfect.

He used his powers as a swordsman to imbue aether into his body, performing his sacred art... Fleeing!

Leonhardt sped out the window, with Althea quickly reacting and activating a flight spell to follow behind him.

A flurry of earth spells sent cracks to the ground, as pillars popped up, blocking his path. Yet Leonhardt didn't even change path, the pillars freezing over, and shattering as he crashed through them.

"Come back here! If you stop now, you won't be losing your teaching privileges!" Althea shouted behind him, and Leonhardt quickly obliged.

"I lied."

So, after an hour of lecturing, and losing his teaching privileges for a bit, Leonhardt had learned his lesson. Or... Learned how to lesson?

As the days went by, Max even started stringing sentences together, and by the time he was 9 months old, nearly every time he talked it would be a full sentence, albeit broken.

"Mama, change please," Max told her, and although he spoke in a serious and commanding tone, his high-pitched voice betrayed him, only making him cuter to speak to.

"Alright, Honey!" Althea had taken to calling Max honey, as his yellow-orange hair resembled it.

Althea took off his makeshift diaper and cast a simple cleaning darkness spell.

"!"

As a simple utilitmancy spell for everyday life, it didn't require more than two words, only a few hand signs.

Max didn't actually need his diaper changed this soon, he just liked to see magic happen, as it was different from everything else.

By this point, He was also allowed outside, but only if both his parents were with him, and he was being held above the ground.

because of this, he could now watch his father train the sword. His choice of sword—befitting his size—was a great sword. He slashed, in a way that seemed to be simple, yet seemed unavoidable. As if any move was futile. And be shattered into a million shards of ice.

Like a blizzard, one would be frozen, helpless, only able to watch as it approached.

He then practiced a blocking stance, making his sword glaze over with an icy coating. Every time you could conceive an attack, it would seem as if his sword would be indifferent to it, sliding off his sword, like it was nothing.

His parry, like the biting cold of winter, would sap away your strength, and with its subsequent riposte, would be the frostbite that could take a limb.

Althea and Max would watch for a long time, as the complexity of the art was akin to a dance. Althea especially wished mage training was this exhilarating, as it was simply meditation to loosen, expand, and strengthen one's mana organs.

It produced a beautiful aura and felt great to do, but it was in no way as exciting as watching a swordsman practice.

Speaking of, It was nearing Max's first birthday, and his mana organs would be formed soon.