It has been several months since Theo’s second chance at life. His first name ended up the same as his past life, but his last name became Gaorgon like his new father’s. He’d started figuring out the language over the few months his parents had been on leave, and it was awesome. He could understand most common conversations and knew what several household appliances were. His father had started going back to work a few weeks ago, and he was probably in an intellectual field as he had walked out of the house with books stacked so high Theo was unsure he could see. Theo’s mother on the other hand was picking him up as he tried to listen to what was going on.

“Maeve honey, can you watch the twins while I go shopping? You don’t need to watch Theo, I can bring him with me today. Don’t let those two go crazy okay?”

“Yeah Mom I can watch the twins, Mr. Sinaran isn’t starting my apprenticeship for a few more days.”

“Okay thank you, I’ll find someone to watch the kids when you start your apprenticeship.”

“Thanks, Mom, have fun shopping with Theo!”

“I will Maeve, thank you again.”

After that Elara left the house with Theo strapped to her stomach. This would be the first time Theo had seen the outside world since his reincarnation. It was an exciting day, to say the least. The first glance around showed Theo that he was on the outskirts of a giant city. It was not a city of glass like his old world however, no it was a city of many different materials. Some buildings looked to be normal wood houses, but there were a variety of others. Some houses were made of obsidian, some had doorways three times the size of his family’s, and some were even living trees! It was not what he expected to see when he left his rather normal-looking house. His mother seemed to be walking further into the city. At one point the buildings started to become sparser and it opened into a giant plaza. It was filled with the hustle and bustle of all shapes and sizes. Some people were only a little bigger than him, while others were the size of four grown men. Many had appendages that human beings didn’t have. Some had animalistic features, some had several sets of limbs, and some looked like they were taken right out of a fantasy movie. Just as Theo was about to look around more his mother stopped at a stall and began talking to the old daemon lady running it. A daemon is the race of his father, whose name he found to be Kvical. This lady in particular had horns shaped like a deer’s antlers. It seems that a daemon’s horns grew based on their experiences in life. For people like his father, who seemed to be a scholar of some kind, they grew like tall pointed spires. For those who worked in more physical fields, like his eldest brother, the horns on their head would reflect that of rams. It was a very interesting phenomenon that Theo would love to figure out at a later date. Right now though he was going to pay attention to his mom’s conversation so he could learn more about this world.

“Aww Elara I haven’t gotten to see your new baby yet! He is just adorable, and he’s got his momma’s eyes. He does have some of your husband’s features too though. That obsidian hair just goes so well with his face. You and Kvical make such beautiful babies.”

“I know isn’t he precious? Anyway, Lsaril I’m just here for my usual ingredients as well as some baby food. How much will that be?”

“That’ll cost you two silver. Baby food is getting expensive lately with all the new parents after this year’s harvest.”

Elara passed the old woman two silver coins and thanked her for her time. With that, she left the stall and started making her way home. This world’s currency seemed to run like several fantasy games Theo had played in his teenage years. That was good, at least he didn’t need to learn a *completely* new type of currency. Once they got home Elara put the ingredients away, put Theo to bed, and went to watch the twins. By the time they got back, Kvical was already home for the day and was making dinner for the family. This allowed Maeve to finally get some well-deserved rest from watching the twins as she was left in the living room with Theo. Theo always seemed strange to her. He was always so calm compared to her other younger siblings, and he was always disappearing whenever she turned away. The twins were always crying and wanting attention when they were younger, even when seemingly nothing was wrong. Theo on the other hand had only really cried for food or when someone grabbed him without him looking at them. Even still that was only for a moment. Once he saw their face or was fed he stopped. This confused her, but her parents didn't seem that bothered until he had disappeared without anyone noticing. Well, at least her brother being asleep allowed her to finally get some work for her future apprenticeship done. Right as she decided this Kvical called for the family to eat.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Everyone, it's time to eat. Get it while it’s hot!”

With that, another night in the Gaorgan household came to an end. For all except one that is. Theo opened his eyes and began to crawl from his crib. He hadn't shown his family this ability yet as he wants some privacy in at least a few of his endeavors. It's one of the many things that are hard to come by as a baby. Thankfully his crib is on the floor and has a few gaps that he can squeeze through, otherwise, this entire idea would have been useless. He makes his nightly rounds around the house to see if he can spot something interesting. These last few months have been nothing if not boring. For once he managed to find something that caught his eye. On the corner of the table was an amulet. It was shaped like a tree with different colored symbols on the ends of its branches. He stared at it for hours. It was mesmerizing with the level of detail that was put into it. In certain lighting, the tree even looked as if it was shifting and twisting its branches. It was something that he had never seen before, sometimes he could even swear that the symbols had physically moved. It was a wonderful time staring at the pendant until his father walked in to make breakfast the next morning. His father was rightfully frightened as his son was supposed to be in the crib. He loudly whispered at him, so as to not wake his family.

“Theo how did you get out of your crib?!”

Theo just sat there with the amulet in his hands. He hadn't thought that it was already so late in the morning. After a moment he decided to just play dumb and sit with the amulet in his lap. Kvical saw this and looked at the amulet in question. It was what marked him as a member of the Church of the Gods. Of all the things he expected a baby to take an interest in he hadn't expected his religious marker.

“Theo buddy, we should get you back to bed,” Kvical said as he picked up Theo and placed him back in the crib. “How did you even get out in the first place? You shouldn't be able to fit through any of the gaps.”

Theo just looked at his father while holding the amulet to his chest. Kvical eventually gave up on trying to figure out how and just made breakfast. When the rest of his family woke up Kvical told them all about his morning. Elara heard about Theo getting out and got up to check on him. Luckily for her, he was right where her husband had left him. She immediately picked him up and looked him over. He looked the same as normal except for the amulet in his little hands. She brought Theo back into the dining room with the rest of the family.

She then proceeded to ask some questions like, “How do you think he got out,” and “Why does he have your amulet?”

Kvical was slightly bemused at this as he was about to answer those questions right before she took off to get Theo. Despite the want to tell her that if she had waited a moment he would have said the answers, he instead answered her questions calmly.

“Well sweetheart, though I have no clue as to how he got out of his crib, I do kind of know why he has my amulet. When I got up he was sitting under the table holding it and staring at it in wonder. I have no clue how he got it off of the table, but he seemed to like it so I let him keep holding it.”

Elara thought it over for a moment and decided that she couldn't blame her husband for putting the baby back in his crib with the amulet. If it kept him calm and got him safely back to sleep until they could discuss the problem, that was for the best. This entire time Maeve was convincing Aegira, her younger sister, to eat her food instead of playing with it. Her younger brother Wolc on the other hand was silently eating his food while watching his baby brother in his mother's arms. He watched as the baby opened one eye to look around. No one else seemed to notice as they were busy with their conversations, but he saw it. He made eye contact with the infant and held it for a few moments. After making eye contact, the baby shut its one open eye and acted like it was asleep. If confused Wolc that the baby was hiding the fact that it was awake, but he liked to watch others as well so he wouldn't say anything.

Theo on the other hand was thinking about how he was just caught not once, but *twice*. Not only was he caught outside of his crib, but he was also caught peeking while pretending to be asleep. He was starting to think that the secret life was not for him. Luckily for him, Wolc was a quiet child and probably wouldn't tell anyone about his fake sleeping. After this contemplation, Theo decided to tune back into his parent's conversation.

“Perhaps we can just make a crib with smaller gaps between them?” Kvical asked as he had no other ideas.

Elara immediately shut that down as she stated “I doubt that he got out through the gaps, those are already smaller than his head. How about he starts sleeping with us? Amaya started sharing a bed with her daughter at five months, and it will probably also help me keep up with his feeding times. Even though he doesn’t cry that much he still needs his food. Me waking up every few hours and walking all the way to the living room is probably not helping my sleep.”

Kvical thought about it for a moment and didn’t think it was a bad idea, so he agreed and Theo stayed with them in their bed starting that night. It seemed that Theo’s nightly escapades were coming to an end. Though he had less freedom at night he may have gained something overall, as the next day his father said that he was going to take Theo to see the local Church of the Gods.