The last two years have sucked, and that’s an understatement.

Imagine being trapped in a body you can barely control. Sure, I could kind of look around with all the fluidity of a bobblehead, but that was it. Bowel movements? Totally uncontrollable. And I had to hope, hope, my mother or father realized I had just relieved myself quickly, too.

Thought I could control my own vocal cords to avoid crying? Nope. How about moving around? Well, the best way I could describe that was it felt like I slept on all four of my limbs and cut off their circulation. Sure, I could will the main joints to move, but it was more or less flopping them around. So, yeah, I imagine this is what locked-in syndrome would feel like.

It was a complete nightmare.

But not everything was for naught. Despite the initial drama, my mother and father were determined to teach me some basic words. After about a year and a half, I could finally control my vocals! Given the drama I was born into, you can bet I said “Mama” first, just to stick it to dad. But then we were off to the races.

I gradually learned that my name is Siegfried Starsmith, though my parents affectionately called me Sieg. As I started to understand the language better, they explained the significance of our family name.

Apparently, last names in this world were combinations of positive events. For instance, we ran into a family in the market with the last name of Goodharvest, which you’d assume meant they came from a line of farmers.

Starsmith was an interesting one for sure. It took some time, but I eventually understood its meaning. Our ancestors were once extremely successful prophets, using the movement of celestial objects to predict future events. Evidently, they predicted a few important military movements that won them favor in the kingdom we reside in. But alas, one failed prophecy led the family to near ruin. And once magic entered the fray, the family as a whole was outcast as pseudo-science quacks.

This placed our family’s social status as peasants. But worse than that, we were former nobles.

My mother spoke of our history almost like parents telling fairy tales to their children back on Earth.

One day, as she recounted the tales, I interrupted her, “Mama, why did the people stop believing in us?”

My goal here was to try and figure out what that failed prophecy was. Prior to this, she simply alluded to it. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. I mean, I'm just an innocent baby trying to understand the world, after all, so I'm sure the question won't raise any eyebrows.

She looked at me with a mixture of surprise and sadness. “It’s complicated, Sieg. People fear what they don’t understand. And when things go wrong, they need someone to blame.”

Hm… So she doesn’t know what that final prophecy we made was.

I might have to double-back on this later in life, because now I’m curious!

Regardless, I assumed these stories were meant as a lesson to never get into the family business, but how she ever thought a normal two-year-old would understand anything she said was beyond me.

Oh, right, my parents’ names.

My mother is Fyona Starsmith, and my father is Julyan Starsmith—at least, that’s the best way to translate them.

Our maid, Freia Silverbrook, comes from a long line of servants who have attended the Starsmith family since their days of nobility. Her last name, Silverbrook, implies bringing serenity and the precious quality of silver to our family. A fitting name, if a bit on the nose for my tastes.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

On another day, curious as to why Freia's family stuck with us through our shameful loss of nobility, I asked her, “Miss Freia, why do you stay with us?”

Freia paused and smiled gently. “Sieg, my family has always been with yours.”

“But my mama says we’re not important anymore,” I said, confused.

Freia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, Sieg. True loyalty means sticking together, no matter what.”

Freia then knelt down to my level. “Listen, there’s one thing you should always remember: money and power aren’t everything. You should cherish your friendships and loyalties above all else. Do that and you’ll lead a happy life.”

She then smiled, patted me on my head, and resumed her work.

I think I played up the baby talk well enough. And, truthfully, I believed her. The pessimist in me thought that she might’ve had an ulterior motive, but she appeared to be sincere.

Anyhow, onto my newfound movement!

First and foremost, I can confirm that I, Siegfried Starsmith, am unequivocally a guy. The very first time I could control my arms and fingers, I checked if the little dude was down there.

Look, these things are important.

As for our house, it’s nothing special—just one large room with a side room serving as a study. Naturally, I sneak over to the study every opportunity I get. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.

To say my parents were living a peasant’s life might have been an understatement. The study had a few books readily available for review! To put into perspective just how monumental this finding was, even just one book costs a fortune in this world.

While we were in the market one day, I happened to see a store labelled Book Pressings of Fantastical Tales & Learnings run by one Lucian Whisperkeeper. The lettering was made of what appeared to be brass, and kept immaculate. In fact, if you looked at it a certain way, the reflection of the sun would blind you. So perhaps it was too perfect. The shop itself appeared to be made of brick, with more brass being used to line the windows and door. Put simply, this shop exuded excellence. Therefore it’s clear that it catered to nobles, and that was reaffirmed when I saw the cost of the books: 1 to 10 Luminarian gold coins per book.

I guess I should explain how the currency works. I can’t speak for the other kingdoms, but the Kingdom of Lumina (where we live) keeps it pretty simple. There are three types of coins: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Ten bronze coins are equivalent to one silver coin, and ten silver coins are equivalent to one gold coin. I had read that there were such things as bronze, silver, and gold ingots, worth the equivalent of about 100 coins each, but I’ve never seen one.

Most peasant families earned around 2-3 silver coins a month. My family, coming from former nobility, does earn a little bit more through our connections though. I think we sit at around 5 silver coins a month.

Now you can probably appreciate the fact that we own several books. Each of these books likely cost at minimum a quarter of a year’s salary. I haven’t a clue as to how my parents could afford them, given how young they are.

Oh, right, reading! My parents don’t know I can do this yet… or at least they haven’t let on if they do. They see me sitting there, staring at the books, and probably assume I just like how they look.

When I was one year old, my mom got me a fairly rudimentary picture book. It still likely cost a silver coin or two for what it was, so definitely out of reach for most families, but simple by Earth standards. It had some hand-drawn images along with associated written words. This allowed me to start picking up on the written language, and after a year of hard work I think I’ve got a decent grasp of it.

Interestingly enough, the language appears to be a weird blend of Western and Eastern languages from Earth. Most words are written with fundamental characters, similar to the Latin alphabet. However, important words almost resemble Kanji. But when I say important, I mean it. The only words I’ve seen written in this style are the Kingdom of Lumina, the names of the royalty in the Kingdom of Lumina, and the official towns and provinces in the Kingdom of Lumina. In literature, these are often followed by the words in common language so that you know how to pronounce them.

I assume the reason for this distinction is to make them akin to signatures. In many cultures on Earth, families had crests or shortened names that they’d then etched onto stamps for use with wax seals or ink. Likely something similar is going on here in order to simplify the signing of official documents.

But I digress. Now that I can read, I can really begin to dive into the most interesting aspect of this world: Magic!

First, however, I think it’s time for a nap. Frustratingly my body needs something like 12-16 hours of sleep a day. Oh the joys of being a baby again…