Life seemed more colorful and interesting when there were more opportunities to be outside. In summer, the village was much livelier, with people doing different jobs outside and children running around and playing. Sofra had to keep an eye on her eldest daughter, who sometimes wanted to chase after children running past their house.
Tao was a good boy. He usually stayed close to his mother, watching the adults passing by or talking near, or he sat in the shade with eyes closed and a tense expression on face. Tao did this so often that Sofra even began to worry if her son was having trouble going to the potty.
Of course, Tao did not suffer from constipation, at least not often. He just concentrated his mind so much that it showed on his face.
The guy who had won the target shooting competition, Arwain, began visit Tao houshold when Indres was present. It seemed that Tao's father was supposed to help the boy improve his hunter skills, so Tao sometimes got to see the two of them in the backyard of his house practicing. The boy was already skilled at archery and wanted, above all, to learn how to use the koini (war) bow better. Though Tao's small hands for now could not use even the simplest bow for children, he still learnt something interesting.
The magical energy they used to gain superhuman powers was called sindura. Indres repeatedly reminded the boy not to rush to master asari - attacks or techniques - but to focus on endurance. It seemed that Arwain could not shoot several arrows in succession from a koini bow, because the muscle damage increased after each time.
“Accelerating natural endurance is not easy; you have to concentrate and distribute sindura in muscles every day for many years. You have to properly spread it out, densely enough to get the muscles used to it, but not so much as to damage them. It is constant work, which requires a lot of effort.” Indres taught.
“But sinsura helps, doesn't it? Soldiers usually perform asari along with sinsura.” Arwain asked.
“Yes, but it is not easy to concentrate on two things at once. For many, the sinsura disappears after each asari, and it takes more sindura to maintain it.”
“But everyone uses sinsura...” the boy seemed confused.
Indres sighed.
“Yes, to use asari, you need sinsura, but it will be difficult with just that. If you don't train your endurance, you'll need more sinsura, which means you'll run out of sindura faster. Moreover, even with a sinsura, your muscles can get injured if you want to do a stronger asari. True masters, whose bodies are hardened, can perform powerful asari even without sinsura.”
“I understood.” Arwain bowed his head.
Although Tao was not clear what a sinsura was, he understood what his father meant by muscular endurance. If the magical energy, sindura, rapidly enters the muscles to strengthen them, it usually damages the tissue. Something similar would happen with ordinary exercises that required a lot of physical strength - the muscles would start to ache as the cells died from overexertion. The difference was that the magical energy caused much more serious damage, which could cause not only internal but also external bleeding. From Indres' words, it was clear that muscle tissue could be tamed to sindura by regular and even distribution - not too much, but not too little either. Tao had in fact already begun to try something similar, namely to release the magical energy into the muscles, not in a burst, but gradually, in tiny doses, after which nothing hurt. It was nice to have confirmation that his train of thought was correct.
He would have loved to be present every time Arwain received training, but that didn't always coincide with Sofra's plans, and much more often Indres was training his disciple outside the village or in the forest. Tao had to use all his reasoning abilities and indulge in various guesses in order to form a logical picture from the fragments he heard.
He would also be happy if his mother had an apprentice in magic, as unfortunately there has been little progress in this area. However, Tao had discovered how to use magical energy to affect water a little.
Tao was able to move the energy freely in his body with the power of his mind and had begun to perceive it as something like a liquid, like blood. But when this energy was released out of the body in its natural form, it did not affect the environment in any visible way, as if it became an invisible, odorless gas that simply evaporated. Tao did not think that magical energy was a gas, because a substance composed of ordinary chemical elements does not obey the power of human thought and cannot do all the supernatural things that he observed. Tao reasoned that it would be more logical to consider magical energy more like subatomic particles, like photons or quarks, which are able to affect other elements and atoms. Thought control over magical energy could be explained by the brain's magnetic field interacting with it. But these particles were usually perceived as vibrating units of energy rather than stable matter. Tao came up with the idea of making his magical energy vibrate. What's more, when he invoked magic to freeze water, he had the feeling that something like this was happening. Tao tried to evoke this feeling with his own strength.
It succeeded, at least in part.
Releasing a huge amount of energy through the palm of his hand above the drop of saliva, it suddenly flattened. The inside of Tao's palm began to stir, indicating that the amount of magical energy was close to the permissible limit. He repeated the experiment, and was convinced that it was no coincidence - the drop of saliva flattened each time. This greatly pleased Tao. If someone saw it from the outside, they would probably just smile - a one-year-old boy enjoying his own saliva on the floor.
Later, Tao repeated the experiment with a puddle in the yard after rain. He managed to bend surface of the water under his palm. The water did not seem to cool, let alone turn to ice, so it was clear that he still had a long way to go to achieve the desired effect.
***
In mid-summer, a new change happened - Sofra started expecting another child. Indres was happy, and other adults came to congratulate the family. Tao didn't really know how to feel. On the one hand, his parents regularly indulged in nocturnal activities, so the result was not something unexpected. But it also meant that his mother would pay less attention to her second child in order to care more for the infant. Even though Tao had voluntarily given up breastfeeding, he still enjoyed nights in mother's arms. Now someone else will take his place...
Stolen novel; please report.
This is so stupid... Despite this body, you're an adult, Tao condemned himself.
He resolved to be a good son and not to cause trouble for his mother, but to make life easier. Although Tao couldn't do much, he at least tried to keep an eye on his older sister and the family dog, keeping both of them out of trouble. Controlling a three-year-old energetic girl and a dog that had grown impressively in six months might have seemed impossible, given Tao's body. Wisdom had to be used.
And magic.
Indres had gone out on business, leaving Teru at home with his family. Tao's mother had been working for a long time on the herbal medicine until she felt tired and sat down at the dining table to rest for a while. Perhaps noticing that her mother wasn't looking, or simply out of boredom, Safia decided to try grab the outside door handle. Of course, it was too high for a three-year-old girl, so Tao, who was sitting next to mother, didn't think anything needed to be done. Unfortunately, Safia found a helper. Teru leaned against the door with his front paws and opened the door handle with his mouth. Safia didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to get out, and the dog followed her.
Little rascal! That certainly deserves a spanking! Tao shook his head.
He wanted to wake his mother to draw her attention to what had happened, but thought better of it. Sofra's pregnancy was not yet readily apparent, but Tao noticed that mother was resting more often and playing less actively with the children. He did not want to disturb mother's sleep if it could be avoided.
The boy carefully got out of the chair and walked out of the house. It was a hot summer afternoon, so few people were walking around, most were relaxing in the shade of their houses or indoors. The gate in front of the house was still closed, so Tao didn't think that Safiaa had left the house. Of course, Teru would be able to jump over the low fence, but he doubted that his sister would ride on dog’s back.
Tao heard a noise around the corner of the house where the garden was. He went there and found his sister trying to pull off the leaves of a vegetable plant, the dog- burglar was by her side.
“Safia, let's go home.” Tao said, coming closer.
He didn't see any neighbors nearby, but still felt uncomfortable speaking to his sister with lot of grown-up words outside the house.
“No, I don't! - Safia said stubbornly, without even looking at little brother.
“Mummy wouldn't let us go out. We need listen to mummy. - Tao tried to invoke mother's authority.
The girl seemed to consider his words, but then shook her head.
“No! Mommy is sleeping. No go home!” Safia announced and went to the yard behind the house.
Tao rushed after her and grabbed the back of the girl's shirt. Safia struggled to break free, using strength. But Tao wasn't as weak as before. He released a small dose of magic into his muscles - not in one quick pulse, but slower, steadier. The one-year-old boy was able not only to hold his older sister, but even to pull her to his side. Safia looked at little brother with surprise and confusion. Tao then grabbed sister's hand.
“We're going back to the house! You listen to me, otherwise it will be bad!” he declared firmly, despite his delicate voice.
Tao took a step back, and, once again concentrating the magical energy in his muscles, pulled his sister with him. Whether because of the physical superiority, or the serious tone of his voice, she gave in and followed without objection.
Teru followed the two to the door, but remained outside, sniffing the threshold of the house wall.
Children and animals... and I still wanted a dog... Tao felt his patience beginning to wear thin.
He saw that mother, fortunately, was still asleep. Leaving his sister inside, Tao went outside again and put his hand on the dog's forehead, drawing attention to himself.
“Inside! Now!” he said commandingly, pointing to the inside of the house with his hand.
Tao tried to repeat the gestures and words that his father used when training the dog. Although Teru looked at the boy's face and followed the movement of his hand, the dog stayed outside. When Teru was still a puppy and refused to obey, Indres grabbed him by the back of the neck and brought animal inside by force. Tao would have found it difficult to grasp the same place with his small stature, so he clung to the dog's hair at the side of neck.
“Inside! Now!” Tao repeated the order and the hand movement.
Then he concentrated the magic energy in his muscles and pulled the dog towards the door. Fortunately, this time it worked; Teru stepped over the threshold of the door. Tao then closed the door, although he could not close it completely.
All the walking, the effort and the use of magic was tiring, so the boy wanted to rest for a while. Unfortunately, it was not safe to leave his sister and the dog alone to their mischief again. Sighing to himself, Tao went to play with both adventurers.
Take care, mother! You'll never know about my sacrifice... he thought to himself, a little too dramatically.
***
At the end of the summer, the mood in the village changed, apparently bad news had arrived. It turns out that another village had been attacked by monsters, and had been thoroughly devastated. A group of experienced warriors and hunters from all the nearby villages was organized to destroy the monsters. Naturally, Indres was one of those entrusted with this duty.
“Don't worry, I'll be back soon, just like before.” He comforted his wife before leaving.
“Yes, I'll wait. We both will.” Sofra replied quietly.
Although she didn't sound angry, Tao could sense the anxiety in mother's voice. Perhaps Indres noticed it too.
“This time I'll be back before the birth. It won't take more than a month. Believe me.”
Please, don't trigger the flag, Tao thought to herself.
Of course, this was just superstition. Indres had missed Tao's birth earlier because of a similar situation, but came home alive. The boy, however, watched his father's face warily. Indres did not look smug or careless. His eyes were determined and serious. Tao did not yet understand much of the local social structure, but it was clear that Indres was leaving not because he wanted to, but because he had to.
Noticing Tao's gaze, the father squatted down and stroked his head, then hugged his daughter as well.
“Dad will be away for a while. Listen to Mommy, yes?” Indre said to Safia.
“Yes.” She responded.
Tao didn't know how much his sister understood of what was happening. He would have loved to say something encouraging to his parents, but he knew it would be inappropriate for his age.
Tao had heard that monster attacks were more frequent in the past. The last two occurred at the time Tao was born and several months afterwards. Nothing had happened for more than a year, so people had hoped that the attacks on the villages would stop. Tao's family, along with many other villagers, accompanied a group of hunters and soldiers when they left the village. Teru, an adult hunting dog, walked with Indres. The mood was serious, even somber, and Tao saw some of the women's eyes redden. Sofra did not cry, her face expressed courage, but fingers pinched Tao's sides nervously, while holding him in arms.
“Mummy, n...” the boy groaned, but fell silent when Sofra looked at him.
Don't be afraid, trust me! Tao wanted to say.
It was stupid. Even if Sofra knew about his true mental abilities, his small body would not allow him to take care of a pregnant woman and a little girl. Tao was actually not even capable of taking care of himself. He maybe was more capable then normal one-year-old boy, but that was not enough.
Even in modern Japan there were dangerous jobs - fireman, police officer, lifeguard. Their families also had to live in a certain fear.
In this world there were monsters that threatened not only individuals in the depths of the forest, but even entire villages. Thankfully, this attack had taken place in another place. What would happen if Indres didn't come back from this quest or a normal hunt? Or if the next monster attack happens in Tao's village?
At a loss for words, the boy touched mother's cheek with his hand.
“Mom is here, everything is fine.” Sofra smiled reassuringly at son and patted his back.
Her mood seemed to improve a little, but soon woman’s gaze returned to the backs of the men who were moving away from the village.
I have to get better. Not for myself, but for them, Tao thought of his mother and sister.
Even if other people didn't expect anything special from a one-year-old boy, he didn't want to live like that.
A little boy, or a grown-up mind - it didn't matter.
He would protect his family.