“Are you sure about what you just said?”

“Yes! He used a c-class flame protection spell and controlled it even.”

“Do you hear how you sound? That’s a baby. Babies can’t even see aura’s and you expect me to believe this baby was able to cast a protection spell adults struggle to perform with so much ease. Impossible.”

As you’ve already guessed we’re back at the citadel. After my little magic outburst on my birthday Grandall and Petra are convinced there’s something definitely wrong with me and decided to get me checked out, for one I’m quite curious to know the answer to that as well. I had no intention on performing that spell, hell I had no idea what it was I was doing, and I just did it. So I’m here with Grandall.

“Listen, I know I told you your child was a developmental spectacle, but these claims are simply impossible.”

“We know! That’s why we’re asking you to check him yourself.”

“Come on Allie. We won’t just make these things up. I’m telling you we saw it with our own eyes.” Grandall said poking the man’s shoulder.

The man they were speaking with was our family’s medic mage Alistar Greyboyd, a young medical mage—just a few years younger than Grandall—that specializes in anatomical development, his magic is specially catered towards bodily functions—I think they called it body magic. Apparently Grandall and him go way back to when they served in the army when Grandall was seventeen and he’s been the family’s medic mage since then.

From what I can tell no one can possess more than one form of magic. Like with Grandall who can control the wind and Petra who can heal wounds, aside those I’ve never seen them use any other type of magic. So, by that logic I possessed flame magic.

“You better not be wasting my time.” Alistar sighed and made his way towards me as I sat, straddled to a wooden chair—almost like a baby car seat. He pulled a lens from his breast pocket, placing it on his right eye and he looked me up and down. “Bodily functions seem to be working properly, no abnormalities in his heart rate. Development is the same as usual, no danger with the speed he’s growing at.”

I glanced at Grandall and he let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that.

“Let’s see those magic nodes…. A baby using magic they said...” he muttered that last part under his breath and scoffed before placing a finger on my forehead and flipped the lenses to the other side and I watched his expression drop and he fell silent.

Noticing this Grandall stepped forward.

“W-what’s wrong?”

“This isn’t possible.” Alistar wiped the lens on his shirt and looked at me again. “His nodes they’re all open. Like that of a full-grown adult. At this rate his aura would start spilling out.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“I can’t tell. I’ve never seen something like this before. No books or studies on child development has ever written anything on this phenomenon. Your child might just be the first... if that’s a good thing or not, I honestly can’t tell. Would you be inclined to let me have him for a couple of days to run some—”

Grandall stepped in between us and picked me up as his friend rambled. The look on his face wasn’t pleasant as I could tell he didn’t like the direction the conversation was leading to.

“No offense Allie but you’re pushing the line. We’re not leaving our son here to be your lab rat.”

“Aren’t you interested in understanding what could be going on with him. The citadel—”

“As much as I trust you with the life of my son, I wouldn’t trust the citadel to do what’s right. I will not be endangering the life of my child to amuse grown old men who know no boundaries on what is ethical or not.”

“But it’ll be just me.”

“Do I need to remind you of something.” Grandall and Alistar shared a look and Alistar immediately, backed out with his head hung. The mood took a dark turn between them.

“I-I’m sorry. I should have considered your feelings on the matter. I mean you or your son no harm and if you do change your mind, with your consent, I’ll do everything to find the root of the issue without bringing harm to your child.” He said and looked up to me, giving me a weird grin.

He just lied. Looking at him I noticed the look in the man’s eyes, one that made my stomach turn in disgust. I’ve seen men like him before, the ones overly obsessed with the thrill of knowledge that they lose themselves in the process. From the little exchange between them just now, I could tell it’s happened before.

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“In the meantime. Aside the anomaly, his mana regulation seems to be stable enough and once the day comes that his aura starts spilling, you should start teaching him how to use his magic, that way he won’t just spontaneously cast spells. His brain development is astonishingly quick. So I believe he’ll be able to understand the basics of casting spells. Your wife used to teach that right?”

“Yes, she did. I don’t think that’ll be an issue.”

“What about his speech? How’s that coming along? Last time he was sounding a bit fluent.”

Grandall chuckled. “You’ll be surprised to know he speaks very fluently now. Although, he doesn’t say much all the time. He’s a very quiet boy. At this age I was expecting chaos, but he’s been very good. Quite honestly, I don’t know how that makes me feel with him growing this quickly. It almost feels like I’ve been robbed off a special part of being a parent.” Grandall let out a forced chuckle. I could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke.

He does have a point but honestly, I couldn’t care less.

Alistar put a hand on his shoulder. “You should be glad. Most parent would envy you. Plus,” he turned to look at me. “I see great things in your son’s future.”

Hm… he truly means that. Grandall sighed and burst into a toothy grin.

“Thank you, I better be on my way before my wife starts getting worried, we’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

“Okay then. It’s a shame women aren’t allowed in the citadel. Its been a while since I’ve seen Petra. Do send my kind regards.

“Will do.”

***

I finally got to know the name of this city. Vale City. For the most part it was like any other big city back in my previous life—missing all the technological advancements of course—the streets were loud and overcrowded. The road side vendors hustled and push their way to our coach as we rode home on horseback, I sat inside while Grandall ran conductor.

I looked outside the window, watching as the streets went by before my eyes one thing that caught my eyes was the armed city guards in their red cloaks and bronze-plated armour that stood at every alley way we passed and many more patrolling the streets. Why would a town like this have so many soldiers. I climbed to the open in the coach where I could see Grandall’s back and I tapped on him and the coach slowly came to a stop. He turned to look at me.

“Hey there buddy. Why don’t you get back inside? Its not safe for you on there.” He said with worry in his tone. I was sitting just on the edge of the entrance. One small bump on this coach and I’ll go splat on the floor so I could understand his concerns but I pointed at the empty spot beside him on the conductor’s seat and he immediately declined. “It’s too dangerous here too.”

“I want to.” I spoke.

I got the same reaction I get from everyone when I speak fluently. Shock. I hardly speak so when I do it’s like a treat to him. He was taken aback and but quickly recovered and eventually caved in.

“I guess if you’re with me it wouldn’t be that bad.” He reached out and picked me up, tucking me in between his laps and the horses started moving again.

Despite how this position made me feel all sorts of uncomfortable I could tell he derived some joy from this so I’ll just let him have it. I took the opportunity to ask some questions.

“So many…”

“Uhn?”

“Shiny men.” I pointed at the soldiers I saw standing in the alleyways. I figured this tone of speech would be better when speaking to Grandall. Seeing as he longs for me to start acting more like a child so much, but I got an expression I wasn’t expecting, I don’t know if it was worry or shock spread across his face, but he replied.

“Kiddo those are called soldiers. They keep us safe from bad people.” Of course I know that. “I’m surprised you noticed how many they were, I don’t think that’s what kids focus on at your age….” he muttered that last part under his breath and continued. “We have so many because this is where the king stays.”

“King….?” You don’t say.

“A king is a powerful man who rules over this kingdom. We happen to be at the capital of the kingdom where the king resides, and the soldiers are to protect us and the king from attacks from bad people—” he paused.

“How much of that you understood, I don’t know but that’s basically it.”

I understood every word thank you. So, they run this kingdom under a monarchy, like in the medieval days. I could tell he was sugarcoating things. In essence all he said was the king is selfish and paranoid that he’s allocating this many soldiers to protect the city he lives in makes one wonder how many people he has stationed in other parts of the country. Of course I can’t discern the country’s military strength, I’ve been here for just a year. They might have more manpower in reserve, but I like to follow my gut. The monarchy is rotten, is what it tells me. Biased I know but I’ll keep believing it until I’m proven wrong.

“Look there.” He pointed at the distance, and I froze smitten with shock and awe.

For a somewhat backwards era that had to be the most magnificent scenery I’ve seen in my entire life, previous and new.

“That’s where the king stays.”

It was a castle towering high into the clouds, so high that it’s peak couldn’t been seen from this distance, but its radiance was unavoidable. It was an elegant structure truly befitting that of a king, it’s walls were coated in crystals which radiated a kaleidoscope of colors under the gleaming sun, it was almost blinding from this distance; I wonder how it’d be up close; it was surrounded by high concrete walls and many more guards perched on top. I say if he were this paranoid about being attacked he’d have a less flashy castle. Just goes to show his confidence in his military. I would probe for more questions but a child asking what I want to ask him would raise brows, so I’ll keep mute in the meantime.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder, and I looked up at Grandall who was looking down at me.

“What are you thinking about so serious buddy? You had this look on your face.”

I zoned out and acted out of character. I realized my mistake and snuggled myself in his chest and closed my eyes, emulating the short attention spans children at this age usually have. I could feel his body tense up from the sudden action. He asked to have more time with his child as a child. It would be wrong to rob a man of that. I can set my pride aside for a little bit.