Looking at my mother, the telling look in her eyes convinced me that the jig was up.

I knew I couldn't continue to lie to her, but I still didn't want to fully reveal the extent of my intelligence.

My mother looked at me in exasperation and sighed, "Kane, please tell me if you know more than you're letting on!"

I tilted my head at her, "Mama?"

Mother snorted and narrowed her eyes at me, "I'm not buying it, you're definitely way too smart for your own good." she said.

"Ever since you were born you've always seemed to know what was going on. You also never cried, and whenever you do it sounds fake! Do you think I don't know what a baby sounds like when it cries?" she exclaimed, taking a deep breath after she finished.

Just when I thought she was done, I heard her continue.

"This is not to mention that you read books! Kane, you're only 4 months old, it's ridiculous. I've tried to give you pacifiers, dolls, and toys—but you just stare at books all day." she finished, putting her head in her hands.

She sat down on the bed and I could hear her start to sob beneath her arms.

"Maybe I am going crazy. I just want to protect you, but this is so scary. The goddess gave you to me, and I don't even know why I was chosen." she sobbed.

Seeing my new mother in such a distraught state, I realized that I couldn't just keep pretending to be a normal baby.

I suddenly had an idea. My mother had the idea that I was a baby blessed by the goddess.

Well, in a way I was.

Either way, I had made up my mind. I would just have to play into my role as a divine baby.

I suddenly sat up in my cradle and activated my power, gingerly floating towards my mother. I floated right above her, but I saw that she couldn't see me with her head covered in her arms.

"Mama!" I said.

My mother yelped as she raised her head, surprised to see her baby floating in front of her.

"Good Goddess! I really shouldn't be so surprised, you do love to float around." she said, chuckling ruefully.

I smiled at her gently, pointing a hand to the pile of the books on the bed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Gobbesh." I said.

I had intended to say 'Goddess', but this was most I could achieve with my limited faculties.

"The Goddess?" my mother asked, looking towards the books. I was lucky that she understood baby-speak.

"Oh! You mean the scriptures of the Celestial Goddess?" she realized, reaching over to grab the large leather book.

I nodded my little head eagerly, "Gobbes Yesh." I said.

My mother tilted her head in confusion, "What about her?" she asked.

I floated down towards the ground, "Obbesh, breem me." I said as I made small motions at the floor, "Hair".

I really hoped she understood what I was saying, I really didn't want to play charades in a baby's body.

"Do you mean the Goddess brought you here?" she eventually realized, putting my words together.

Nodding my head, I floated back to my mother.

"I knew it! The goddess really is looking down on us!" Mother shouted, tears of joy escaping her eyes.

I pointed to the book my mother held, the one she described as the scriptures of the 'Celestial Goddess'.

"This book here? Oh, of course! You must be interested in the Goddess. Even if you were sent by them, you are still just a baby." she laughed, reaching over to pick up the book.

"These are scriptures said to have been prescribed by the Goddess' own disciples. They tell the tales of the Goddess when she first came to our world, Amaranthine. She bestowed great blessings upon her most valiant and noble warriors, blessings that rival even the most potent of Elvish magics." she explained.

I struggled to follow my mother's words, as many of them were unfamiliar. I got the gist of what she was explaining though.

Clearly, the Goddess sent one of her avatars to this world a long time ago. When she came to Earth she blessed all of the humans, but she evidently had a different plan for the world of 'Amaranthine'.

Mother continued, "Blessings from the Goddess can range from herculean strength, to the power to call upon fire at will. You are also blessed by the Goddess, my love."

She held out her arms for me, and I floated down into them. I was eager to hear the rest of what she had to say.

"Normally, the Celestial Goddess only bestows blessings upon those who climb the Great Spire. However, in the holy scriptures there are depictions of children who possessed blessings without even climbing the spire. These elves are called 'Veilborn.'

As I listened to her tale, I wondered if this Great Spire was that gigantic tower I had seen across the continent. That interested me greatly, but I was more so concerned about these Veilborn.

My god-forsaken father was trying to prove to that priest I was a veilborn, but I didn't understand why that was so bad. Weren't veilborn children essentially divine entities?

My mother seemed to know what I was thinking, "The veilborn children are an enigma. None of the information on them seems to line up either. What scares me the most is that historically, most veilborn end up missing."

My eyes widened when I heard this, wasn't that a bad sign?

"Preesh, bad?" I asked.

"I'm surprised you're able to keep up, you really are a genius." laughed my mother.

She continued, "I'm not sure if the priesthood has ill intentions, but I don't want to lose you. I know they'll take you away from me if they discover you are veilborn."

I was touched, my mother has to really care about me to be willing to go against the church of this world.

Her words were also making me glad that I had been cautious with the priest earlier. It wasn't a good sign that the majority of veilborn children went missing.

It was likely the church knew more about the mission Celeste had tasked me with. At the moment though, it was a can of worms I didn't want to open.

'I don't have the power to protect myself yet, it would be best not to reveal myself until I know more about this world's situation.' I thought.

I then pointed towards the book of scriptures, "Reeb?" I asked.

I was interested in learning more about Celeste, or the 'Celestial Goddess' as it was in this world.

My mother just smiled and patted me on the head, "I will read the book to you later tonight, my dear. First, I want to make sure your father has actually left." she said, an annoyed look crossing her eyes.

The thought of my deadbeat father also pissed me off, and I hoped he would never show his face here again.

Unfortunately, when you speak of the devil, they usually appear.

I sighed as I watched Rolim throw open the room's door. He stomped into the room and turned to address my mother with frost in his gaze.

"Ialantha, do you have any idea of what you've done?" he asked.

My mother held her ground, "Do you have any idea of what you were doing?" she retorted.

My father snorted, turning to walk towards my cradle.

"The reward for turning in a veilborn to the priesthood is enough to set our family up for generations. We can finally dig ourselves out of this hole!" he exclaimed, reaching over to grab me.

I tensed up, ready to use my powers to defend myself.

However, before I could act, a long barrier of water suddenly appeared between me and my father.

The water barrier was several feet thick and almost as long as my father was tall. It stopped the man in his tracks. When I looked at my mother, I saw that green energy was emanating from her hands as she held them up in the air.

"You keep saying we, and us. Rolim, how about you get away from my child!" she shouted, her eyes hardened with a murderous intent.