Lucius was three years old today, and very proud of that fact. His mother couldn’t help but find it adorable that he kept going up to random villagers and showing them that he was,

“This many!” Years old by shoving three fingers in their face. Oh well, she couldn’t get onto him for being proud, Stella was just as happy for her little bundle of joy.

Those first couple of years were hectic, no one made a guide for commoners about raising Magus, and if they did, it certainly wasn’t in this little fishing village on the coast. There were certain challenges she was prepared for, certainly. She had heard of the so-called ‘terrible twos’ and teething hadn’t been fun for either of them, but when her son started setting fires to her cloth kitchen rags with his fingers, she had to admit she was surprised. Parenting books hadn’t said anything about that.

The little mark on the back of his hand had gone from a splotchy incomplete inkblot to a solid red little flame, reminiscent of the tear-shaped flame of a candle. If she remembered correctly, there were a total of Ranks a child had to go through before reaching the next Stage of their development, but it would all come with time. There was nothing she could do to speed anything up.

This early on, besides the color of his Spirit Imprint changing, there really wasn’t that big of a difference between the ranks.

She had tried to explain that to Little Lu, but all he cared about once he heard about ‘Ranks’ was advancing through them. Her little Fire Magus certainly had the passion to be one, but she was pretty sure that was inherent if you got picked by a Fire Spirit in the first place. This magic stuff was all pretty beyond her, but she would be damned before she didn’t at least try to guide her son as best as she could.

If only the nobles had made finding texts on the subject a little easier.

There was nothing for it, though. Best to focus on what you can change instead of what you can’t was what her mother always told her, and she was a wiser woman than most.

Stella set up decorations, all different kinds of fire – Little Lu had insisted – and listened to the background chatter while she did so.

“Look, look! I’m this many years old today!” Lu shouted in his adorable high pitch.

“Very impressive young man! You’ll be a Grand Magus in no time at all! I’ll bet you get your very own tower, too!” Her Neighbor, Gallus, said excitedly.

Lucius’ eyes seemed to almost shine in wonder at the thought. His very own tower all to himself? Only rich people got those! He could be a rich people!?

All Lucius accomplished with that train of thought was hyping himself up entirely too much. He began giggling to himself and running around imagining where he would put up his tower.

“Do you think I could put it there!” Lu pointed at the top of a tree, “That way we can make it more bigger!”

Gallus seemed to think deeply for a moment before replying, “You know, I think that just might work. I don’t know why we didn’t think of that! Good job Little Lu! If being a Magus doesn’t work out, you can be our little architect!” He said affectionately.

“I’m not little.” Little Lu said with his arms crossed. The biggest scowl he could make appeared on his face, It looked so exaggerated that Gallus and Stella had to hold back their laughs.

“Sorry, my mistake Big Lu.” Gallus placated the birthday boy.

“Hmph. I guess I can forgive you.” Lucius’ words were betrayed by the big goofy smile on his face.

— — —

Lucius was turning six today! His dad had even made it back in time for this one! He hardly ever made it on time!

Stella, needless to say, was having a hard time containing the literally bouncing boy. He couldn’t even stay still to drink water and ended up choking on it a little. She was pretty sure she had seen him cough up a little smoke. What she would do for a book… No, that was already declared out of reach by her husband. Apparently, they only sold those to citizens of Vitasia, not merchants or visitors. Family secrets and whatnot. She didn’t really see the practicality, people moved after all, so it wasn’t exactly like those books had secret knowledge. She just put it down to the city-dwellers wanting something the bumpkins couldn’t have.

She wouldn’t let that get her mood down, though. Her husband actually made it on time to something for once in his life, this was a unique opportunity… To make him do some of the birthday preparation for once. Two sets of hands were better than one.

Marcus was a rather successful merchant, so she couldn’t exactly stay mad at him for working hard, but would it kill the man to keep on time better than once a decade? Oh well, she was the one that married him, no refunds.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Dad!” Lucius tackled the brown-haired man’s legs. The little boy's eyes were practically shining.

“I gotcha something!” Marcus said while pulling out a little wooden doll from his bag. Lucius seemed a little disappointed but tried to act as excited as he could. He had his dad here, after all, that was all the gift he needed!

Then the doll started to move.

“This toy is a little special, I got it from Marian Toymaker.” He bragged.

Stella snorted a little. Nobles sure were straightforward when making their last names at least. For a so-called Creative Magus, they certainly didn’t try very hard when establishing their house name.

Lucius was mystified, “How does it move?” He asked.

“Magic. The Toymaker family, as implied by the name-” He pointedly looked at Stella, who was still giggling, “Are Magus that have the Puppet Imprint that they primarily use to make toys. I heard from someone that they evolved it from Earth and Wind originally. Isn’t that cool?”

Lucius looked at the little dancing toy and, while he was enamored with it, thought about what he would do with it.

“That seems kinda dumb. I like fire more! But don’t tell them I said that! I don’t want them to think I’m a meanie like Alex!” Lucius quickly corrected.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them. It’ll be our little secret, okay?” Marc said, holding a finger up to his lip.

Lucius seemed to visibly deflate from relief. Marc was just laughing internally that his best friend was considered ‘the meanie’ by his son. Served the smug bastard right. He couldn’t wait to tell him that over drinks tonight.

“Besides, the Fire Spirits picked you, so it only makes sense that you like fire more. You’ve got fire in your soul!” Marc explained while picking his son up.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“I’m taking you to Uncle Alexander, I gotta see his face when you call him a meanie!” Marcus said, chuckling. He decided he couldn’t wait until drinks, it would be funnier now.

— — —

Lucius was turning seven tomorrow! His Imprint had already gone through four ranks, White, Red, Yellow, and now he was on Blue! That meant that was almost an adol- Adolesce- Adol- Big kid! That’s what other people said at least. Once you got to Contempla- Contemp- Second Stage, you were a big kid! Lucius was pretty certain that he was basically already there. He just needed to reach the final rank and then evolve!

He couldn’t help but wonder what color that would be. So far blue was his favorite, his flames had never been so pretty, and his imprint on the back of his hand almost seemed to glow now! His mom told him that as long as he kept eating his vegetables, he would reach the next rank in no time. She even said that he should slow down and stop growing so fast! Little did she know he always ate all of his vegetables. He’d be a big kid in no time.

“Lucius! Your friend is here!” His mother called.

As he ran through his house, he could smell his mom was already making him a cake! He barely ever got to have sweets! Ignoring the injustice of that, it did make them all the sweeter when he did get them!

“Lu! Come here, we gotta show you something!” His friend Titus shouted from outside.

“Huh? What is it?” Lucius asked.

“There’s a beached tuna on the coast! We’re going to be rich!” At almost eight years old, Lucius considered himself to be very wise. Wisely, he scrambled through the door and raced off to reach the tuna first! He would share some of the wealth with the peasants, but he needed money for his tower first!

“Huh? Wait!” Titus ran off in chase after he realized he had been betrayed. The horror!

Stella, hearing the whole exchange from the kitchen, only sighed. That would probably cause a fight, and whether it lasted four hours or four days depended entirely on them. She would have to give Lu a lesson on thievery when he got back. The first lesson was to not steal from your friends. The second lesson was that, if you were going to steal from your friends, make sure they weren’t right in front of you when you attempted it.

Lucius rushed through the thin and wiry brush until his little lungs could barely keep going, but there he saw it. On the rocky coast of the Expansa Confederation, the largest tuna he had ever seen lay. Granted, it was the only whole tuna he had ever seen, but it was still large!

If Lucius had to describe it, he would say it was, “Thiiiiiiiiis Big!” Which roughly translated to his current wingspan of around four feet long. It was here that he realized the flaw in his plan. That tuna looked like it weighed at least eighty pounds, and Lu could barely lift twenty with both hands.

Titus came running up behind him, panting just as hard as Lu himself.

“The reason I told you was so we could ask for help!” Titus shouted.

“I- I thought I could use the money to build my Magus Tower. I would have invited you inside first! What do you even need the money for?” Lucius said defensively

“I found it! It doesn’t matter what I want it for, idiot!” Titus shouted venomously.

“That was mean! ‘M not an idiot! You’re an idiot! Idiot!”

As all childish fights tend to end, they both stormed off in opposite directions. Lucius headed deeper into the forest away from the coast, and Titus headed back to the village.

As he walked, he grumbled, “I was gonna share. I just wanted to have the money first, so I could… Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m not an idiot.”

His mother always told him to not head too deep into the forest without an adult, so when he stumbled upon the markers that signified the end of the village's borders, he started to think twice about storming off any further. They had consecrated salt infused in bright white paint that they put around the borders of trees that prevent Daemons from entering. Well, the weak ones at least.

Bestial Daemons were the most common and were basically just rabies but stronger. Flawed Daemonic spirits crossed into the world and took over various small critters and made them more aggressive. These could be spotted by their deep crimson eyes, though Lucius himself had never seen one personally. He had heard that there were four more ‘Tiers’ of Daemons, but he didn’t know them very well.

The worst that ever invaded near Marcil were Verum Daemons, or True Daemons in the modern tongue. They could possess just about anything that wasn’t human and possessed intelligence that rivaled human children. Sometimes hunting parties of villagers had to go out and kill them before they wised up and attacked the Consecrated Border.

Knowing all this, Lucius, who thought himself very wise, finally did something that lived up to his own self-perception. He started heading back to the village. Or, he was about to…

He heard drumming in the distance. The ground began to shake, and he could see torchlight bleeding through the forest in the evening light of the setting sun.

There had been no hunting party sent out today? As they got closer, Lucius could make out that they were wearing vermillion vestments with flowery orange embroidery. On the back of the lead Rider, he could see a half-moon made of brilliant glowing silver.

Finally, he could see what they were riding. They weren’t horses. No… No, those were wolves. Wolves with deep crimson eyes.