When I looked at the massive book that was now sitting next to me, I remarked that it was even larger up close, and it was more apt to call it a 'tome.'

This strange tome reminded me of the bibles from the previous world, but I knew this book was definitely not ordinary.

I strained to sit up in my cradle, which took me longer than I wanted to admit.

Being a baby was tough work, for your body never did what you wanted it to.

It took me a full minute to simply open the book's cover, as I couldn't seem to get my chubby hands to grip the rough leather surrounding it.

I eventually succeeded, but when I opened it up I realized I had no idea where to even start.

The words in the book were made up of strange symbols and lines. I noticed that they looked remarkably similar to the Japanese from my previous world. They were undeniably different though, and I couldn't understand anything within its pages.

Sighing, I began to flip through the book. I was looking for anything that stood out to me.

As I turned one of the pages, I stopped when I saw what looked to be a drawing.

I held my breath, for there was no doubt what I was seeing.

There could be no mistake, because this entire page was filled with a drawing of Celeste!

The beautiful figure looked a little different, but I somehow knew that it was them.

Celeste was floating in the air above dozens of smaller figures. Looking closer, those figures seemed to be elves like my parents.

Interestingly, they were all prostrating on the ground, bowing towards Celeste.

What drew my attention the most was that the drawing seemed to be moving!

The elves in this drawing were bowing up and down, and Celeste had a caring smile on her face as she reached out a hand to them.

'Do the people of this world worship Celeste?' I wondered, taking in the different details of the drawing.

As I continued to flip through the book, I saw a number of different illustrations depicting Celeste.

Each drawing had the same video-like effect, but it felt more correct to describe them as 'slideshows.'

One of them showed Celeste smiting what appeared to be an army of green, humanoid creatures with sharp teeth. Flames escaped from her hands as she floated in the air, engulfing the sea of green below.

Many of the creatures had fear on their faces as they screamed and ran from the terrifying being above them.

It was quite surreal, and it felt like I was really there on the battlefield.

I turned to another page, and I saw Celeste floating in front of a monumental stone tower.

Thinking back to when I was flying over the planet, it looked remarkably similar to that skyscraper I had noticed on the other side of the continent.

Just as I was about to flip to the next page, I heard the door to the room open.

Looking up, I saw my mother holding a stack of various books.

When my mother saw me in the cradle with the mysterious book, she put the stack down on the bed and rushed over to me.

She looked unamused as she addressed me.

It sounded like she was asking me, "Did you do this?"

In response I merely rolled over in my cradle, feigning innocence.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

My mother sighed as she reached down to retrieve the book, placing it next to the stack of books on the bed.

She grabbed a book from the pile and brought it over to me, it was as if she was saying, 'Here, play with this one.'

The book she placed into my cradle was much thinner than the leather tome, and it didn't look nearly as important.

I couldn't resist the temptation though, so I reached over in my cradle and opened it.

When I looked at its contents I saw that the book was clearly intended for children. It was filled with pictures that had words next to them.

'She must have gotten this for me.' I realized, pleasantly surprised that my mother had thought about me.

There's no way they thought I could actually read the book, so they were likely just giving it to me to avoid me taking their books.

Regardless, I intended to take full advantage of this opportunity.

I spent the next hour studying this book, taking in every ounce of knowledge it held.

It was mostly filled with things like fruits and objects, but it was all useful information for me. The only problem was that I had no idea how to pronounce the words I was seeing.

I would have to worry about that next step later, and instead spent my remaining energy memorizing everything I could.

After a while I started to feel a headache coming on. I figured my undeveloped brain could only take in so much information at one time, so I resolved to finish memorizing the book at a later date.

As I drifted to sleep, I saw my mother was still engulfed in her own books.

'I wonder what she's looking for.' I thought, closing my eyes.

***

Over the next few days I continued to read the book my mother had given me. Since it was the only form of entertainment I had, I managed to memorize it entirely.

My mother also seemed to notice my strange attachment to the book. During the nights she would read to me from it, further deepening my understanding of the language.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months as I continued to live my life as a baby.

After only two months I could almost fully understand the language, and after the fourth month my vocal cords had developed enough to say certain words.

One day my mother was venting her frustrations to me, clearly not expecting me to understand what she was saying.

"Your father is pissing me off! He keeps saying he wants to bring us to the church to have your condition examined, but that's such a moronic idea! Once the priest discovers you're a 'veilborn', you'll certainly be taken away from us."

I had no idea what a 'veilborn' is, for it was the first time I had heard such a term.

Nonetheless, my mother was clearly stressing greatly about what to do with me.

Seeing the frantic look in her eyes, I just wanted to calm her down and reassure her.

"Ish okay!" I suddenly babbled out, surprising even myself.

My mother looked at me as if she had seen a ghost.

"What did you say?" she asked, probably thinking she misheard me.

I immediately realized my blunder. A four month old baby should definitely not be speaking so soon.

"Kane? Can you understand me?" she asked again.

I figured it was too soon to tell my mother that I knew everything she was saying, so I merely tilted my head innocently.

Seeing the innocent look in my eyes, my mother sighed to herself.

"I must be going crazy. There's no way you know what I'm saying." she said, chuckling to herself bitterly.

I heaved a sigh of relief, 'I need to be more careful. If my mother knew I could understand her, she would likely stop telling me so many things.' I thought.

My mother rubbed her temples in consternation, "I really don't know what to do with you, Kane." she muttered to herself.

Suddenly, a green light flashed in my mother's eyes, snapping her out of her dejection.

"Someone's triggered my wards!" she exclaimed, turning away to quickly throw on some more presentable clothes.

"Who could be at our door at such a late hour?" She mumbled to herself, leaving the room in a hurry.

She was gone for a long few minutes, causing me to worry.

However, she eventually returned back to the room. To my confusion, when she returned there were two figures following her.

One of the figures was my deadbeat father, who I hadn't seen in literal months. The other person was unfamiliar though.

Judging by his clothes, he seemed to be a priest of some sort. He wore plain, white robes, and his long ears were hidden by a hood.

"Rolim! What is the meaning of this?" My mother asked, fear apparent in her features.

'Rolim? Is that my father's name?' I wondered.

'Rolim' said nothing though, and the strange priest stepped forward to stand in front of my cradle.

"Is this the babe? You said that it was veilborn." The priest said, his dark grey eyes staring towards me, gauging me.

My father stepped forward with an awkward smile on his lips, "Y-yes, your holiness! The moment that he was born he had fallen, but miraculously, he started floating!"

My eye twitched hearing this, 'That bastard. Didn't you drop me?!'

Mother stepped forward when she heard this, "You must have been mistaken, Rolim. You've been acting so strange since you left." she said, acting coy.

I picked up on the mood immediately.

The priest scratched his long, grey beard.

"Hmm.. the historical records do describe pre-puberty powers as a characteristic of a veilborn." he said, leaning closer to get a good look at me.

He moved some of my hair, looking at my forehead.

"He doesn't bear the mark though, just this strange white hair." they said, turning back to my father.

"Rolim, what proof do you have to back your claims?" he asked him.

Rolim laughed nervously, "The proof? The proof is the child himself." he said, walking up to my cradle and reaching down for me.

I wanted to punch him in the face as I felt him grab me, lifting me up into the air.

"What in the goddesses name are you doing?!" exclaimed my mother, angrily rushing towards me.

"Just watch, your holiness. The baby can float!" Rolim exclaimed, abruptly letting go of me.

I was a few feet in the air at this point, and I figured that the drop from that height would do little more than jostle my bones.

I plopped back down in the cradle with a thud, and to add to the effect I started crying loudly.

"Waaah!" I shrieked, thrashing my limbs around wildly.

"It can float, you say?" the priest asked, clearly unamused.

While this unfolded, I saw my mom still had a worried expression on her face, and that she was looking towards the bed off to the side.

Following her gaze, I noticed that she was looking at a stack of books. I recognized the book on top as the one with the drawings of Celeste in it. She was evidently worried the priest would see these.

I hadn't had a chance to read the book myself since I had learned how to read, but I knew that it was somehow important.

Sensing that I had little time to act, I quickly flexed my mental muscle.

I could feel my brain tingling as I lifted a single book to the top of the pile, blocking the one that was there from the priest's sight.

When my mother saw this she looked at me in surprise, clearly seeing what I had done.

"J-just let me try again, I swear that I'm not lying!" Rolim exclaimed, pleading with the priest.

The priest merely shook his head, "I've seen enough. Stop this insolence at once! Rolim Dorran, I understand that your family has fallen upon dire straits, but to mislead the church is a serious offence." he said.

"You are mistaken! The boy is definitely not ordinary, just look at him." said Rolim.

The priest was growing angry now, "I'll be taking my leave. Thank the Celestial Goddess that I am not pursuing this further." he said, turning to walk out the door.

He took a glance at the bed, noting the stack of books sitting here. However, when he saw the children's book sitting atop the pile he paid it no mind.

Promptly exiting the room, the priest walked down the hallway without turning back.

"Your holiness, wait! Let me show you out!" Rolim shouted, rushing after the priest.

Before he left he turned towards my mother, "Ialantha, I'll be back to have words with you." he said, his tone scalding.

My mother rolled her eyes as he slammed the door shut. She then turned back to face me.

I watched as she walked up to the cradle with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Kane, you have some explaining to do." she said, her hands on her hips.