Concentrating spirit power in his leg muscles, Tao pushed off the ground and shot into the air like a tension spring. The jump exceeded one meter, more than the boy's current height. He was afraid to land on the floor for the time being because it seemed dangerous and it would also be loud. Instead, Tao jumped into his bed, where the mattress muffled the fall and the noise. This was a good method to learn how to use spirit power to strengthen the body. It was also fun.
From the outside, it would look funny to see a baby doing such jumps. If his mother or father caught him, how could Tao explain it?
The spirit power is a pathway to many abilities some are considered to be... unnatural, he pondered the possible answer in his mind.
Unfortunately, there was no one nearby who could appreciate his joke. Not even an invisible spirit. Well, probably not even a spirit that could see into a boy's mind would be able to comprehend what a “meme” was.
Well, what is lost is lost. Tao tried not to sink too much into nostalgia for his past life.
It took Tao several days to regain his composure after encounter with the spirit. He almost accepted that what he had experienced was a dream or a delusion - that's how strange it seemed. After careful consideration, Tao decided that there was no reason to dwell on it too much. It didn't seem like his parents or other adults lived in constant fear of evil spirits and the like. Their conversations expressed more of a concern about monster attacks and robber gangs.
I guess it's enough to train my legs... Tao sat up a little reluctantly after a while and rolled off the bed.
Unfortunately, he couldn't train his arms in the same way.
For now.
Well, even if he ever managed to jump on his hands, he wasn't going to do it in front of others, because he couldn't imagine it as anything other than a clown trick.
The boy took a pillow from the bed and pressed it against the wall with the palm of his hand. He then closed the fingers of his other hand into a fist and punched like a boxer. Just like the first time with feet, Tao concentrated spirit power in the muscles of his arm, making the punch more powerful. But he did not feel satisfied. He had no practical martial arts skills from his previous life, but it was clear that this punch was no good. The boy was also aware of how stupid it looked from the side and how difficult it would be to use this punch in practice.
Maybe I could punch someone in the crotch... Tao considered the options.
The fact was that he didn't feel the power, the resistance in the punch, so he couldn't be sure that the training was having an effect. But trying to push or throw objects would be dangerous and noisy.
I guess that's the only method for now... the boy sighed.
Tao dropped the pillow on the floor behind him and got down on all fours, almost lying down. He leaned his hands on the floor, as if he wanted to do a push-up exercise.
This was partly true.
The boy concentrated spirit power in the muscles of his arms and pushed palms off the ground. The force was enough to pull him to his feet standing up. The hardest part was keeping his balance... which usually failed. Again, the inertia was too great, so Tao fell on his back. This was not the first time, so a pillow was in place to support the boy's head.
Poof!
The cushion kept his head from hitting the wooden floor. Tao's bottom was the softest part of his body, but he still felt the effect. The boy could do this exercise a limited number of times a day until he learned to control his strength and balance better.
After a while Tao heard tiny footsteps coming from the kitchen, indicating that his sister was approaching. He had just made a less than successful landing, partially sliding off pillow and rubbing the side of his head, when Safia appeared in the doorway.
"What are you doing?" she asked, noticing her brother on floor with the pillow.
"Playing." He replied without thinking much.
"Come on, let's go outside! Now!" Safia didn't care about that either and looked rather impatient.
She walked over to Tao and grabbed his hand to take brother with her. Despite the several times the boy had demonstrated his ability to break free from sister's grasp, she still often showed her assertive nature.
"Eh... why now?" Tao asked jokingly, but didn't resist sister.
"The deorgs are coming!" The girl's voice expressed excitement.
Oh! So, it's today... Tao realized.
Now he too felt motivated and actively went along with Safia.
Tao's family were not the only ones gathered in the village square. It looked like many others also wanted to see the deorgs, a group of five men who were talking with the village elders. Who were the deorgi? Tao would call them dwarves or gnomes. People of small stature with different body proportions and blunt ears that resembled triangles. It was clear that these beings were not another human ethnicity or race. They were undoubtedly another intelligent species.
Deorgs also appeared in the fairy tales my mother read, sometimes as allies of the heroes, sometimes as petty adversaries. Usually they made magical weapons, armor and devices that helped or harmed the hero. Sometimes, too, deorgs were described in stories as mountain-like giants. Given these contradictions, Tao was not so sure about their existence until now.
His encounter with an invisible, intelligent spiritual being made him look differently at his mother's storybook. The Deorgs were not the only intelligent beings mentioned. Who else lived in this world? There were beings in the storybook that resembled dragons, elves, mermaids, beast-men and other creatures that could be found in stories on Earth. Tao didn't think it was just a coincidence, he was convinced that there was a connection between the two worlds.
If I migrated here, maybe it works the other way too? He guessed.
Deorgs in Tao's mind was associated with dwarves from Norse and Celtic mythologies. True, those who came to the village were not sturdy, dressed in armor, with helmets and battle axes or hammers. They were dressed in human-like clothes, with shaved faces, one even had tiny glasses on his eyes.
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"So tiny... will they really be able to build a new wall?" Tao heard the voices of neighbors nearby.
"Who knows... they're supposed to be masters, right?"
"Patres and Ether hired them through the guild in the city, so they must be legal."
"Still... not only to feed and take care of them all this time, but also to pay 100 small argus a month..."
"That's 20 each. Compared to the prices in town..."
"If you say so."
As far as Tao understood, the village meeting decided to improve their protection against monster attacks, so they hired masons to build a stone wall around village instead of a wooden fence. The boy did not have a strong opinion on the matter, he was not opposed to the security improvements. More than that, Tao wondered if these beings knew any interesting magic.
***
About a month after father returned from the monster hunt, a harvest festival was held, including a wedding. The wedding ceremony took place in the village square and everyone was free to watch while they feasted from the laid tables. Tao thought it was a bit funny, but it was probably a local tradition.
"Not the best a girl could ask for, is it?" a woman's voice whispered softly beside him.
Next to Sofra stood her friend, a young woman named Reyte. Tao was in his mother's arms, so he could clearly hear the two women talking.
"Don't be so harsh." Sofra replied.
"I heard he's 40. How old is Asarate? 15?"
"16... two months ago."
"Almost a child..."
"I was 16 too when I married Indres."
"You lost your parents, so it’s understandable. Besides, your husband is still young and strong. This one looks already dried up and lame to boot."
The groom, though dressed in white, was indeed haggish, with sparse hair and walked with one leg dragging. The girl beside him looked young, with a round, childish face and uncertainty in her eyes. Tao had to admit that she didn't look very happy.
"He's a war veteran, Rey. And he's limping because he was wounded in battle. We didn't have anyone who knew battle magic here."
"Yeah, yeah, everyone keeps saying that... I don't think it's much comfort to the poor girl."
"Maybe they'll get along fine, give it time."
"Maybe... a veteran mage has to be wealthy, right? I heard the girl's parents are already planning to buy a flock of new sheep and cows for the groom’s gift. Hopefully he didn't give it all away, otherwise, the only one who'll be left to lose will be our poor bride."
"Give them honor! This is the day of their wedding..." Sofra expressed indignation.
"Yes, yes, I'll hold my tongue..."
In Tao's previous world, older men also occasionally married younger women, but not among his acquaintances. It was strange to see this in front of his eyes, especially since the bride was 16. Tao knew beforehand that his mother also married young, but did not know the exact age.
Safia was born a year after the wedding... She will soon be four years old. That means... so mother is 21 or close to it, he calculated in his mind.
Sofra didn't like to discuss the circumstances under which she got married much with others. Tao hadn't known that her parents were dead either. The boy did not think his parents' marriage was unhappy, though, as his mother usually greeted her husband warmly when Indres returned after a long absence.
Tao had hoped that the grey healer would come to bless the young couple. If he summoned the spirit of light, the boy would have another chance to strike up a conversation. Unfortunately, this did not happen, one of the village elders presided over the ceremony and showed nothing supernatural.
Fortunately, however, the wedding was not a complete disappointment.
Later, when the celebrations were in full swing, some drunken men began to encourage the groom to demonstrate his battle magic. Despite protests from the more sensible minds, including the bride, the man stood up and walked out into the middle of the square, accompanied by applause and shouts of encouragement.
"Regda! Ugne qure!" The man exclaimed, after raising open palm in the air and holding his wrist with other hand.
A light flashed in front of the palm, which began to rapidly fly into the sky, dragging tongues of flame with it. Several tens of meters up, the fiery light exploded, spreading flames all around until it was extinguished.
“In the name of the Eternal Father, who casts fire magic in the middle of the village...” Sofra expressed her indignation and pulled booth children closer to her.
Again, there were shouts of encouragement from the drunken men, but many other villagers also seemed impressed. Someone asked to do it again and the groom, smiling contentedly, obeyed. He called out the fireball again, but this time something went wrong.
BAH!
Kiih! Kiih!
Tiny, black creatures in the sky above the village scattered in all directions fleeing the blast. Probably bats or something. Unfortunately, some did not escape the flames and one burning torso fell on the roof of a building, which also caught fire.
People raised their voices, some men grabbed water and rushed to extinguish the flames from the roof. Fortunately, everything ended without fire, although the groom had to hear some harsher words from the village elders in front of everyone. Others, like Tao's father, looked veeery disapproving.
"A good start, right? Let's hope the village doesn't burn down before spring." Reyte chuckled.
Sofra had nothing to say.
Tao felt sorry for the bride, who hid her face and tears in shame. He could not, however, deny his personal interest in fire magic. Physical skills were limited by his tiny body, magic was not. If he was attacked by bandits or monsters, Tao would not be able to use fist, bow or sword, but he could certainly summon a fireball. He carefully memorized the spell words and the position of hand. Unfortunately, it was clear that this magic was too dangerous to learn in his own house, so another solution had to be found.
***
As usual, Tao slipped out of sister's grasp, crawled out of bed and crawled underneath. The floor was cold at night, but this was the best place for what he had in mind. Summoning the magic of light, the boy could see several large tree barks - thin, dry and white - had been stuffed between the bed frame and the mattress, suitable for replacing paper. Tao stole them from the wood pile behind the house when his parents weren't looking. Instead of ink, he used the magic of flame. The boy had discovered how to reduce the size and intensity of a burn; only leaving a tiny black dot on the bark. By moving his finger, lines could be formed. Tao had never seen anyone else use this technique, so he felt quite pleased with himself. He did have to maintain two magics at the same time, but it wasn't too difficult.
Why was Tao torturing himself lying on the hard, cold floor in the middle of the night? He hoped to learn how to modify the spell even more during its casting. If he succeeded, it would be possible to practice fire magic without fear of becoming a mass arsonist.
True, if his parents found the drawings, they would certainly have questions. Officially, Tao could not even dress himself, so he could not expect his privacy to be respected. He hoped that his mother would not think of changing the mattress of his bed until spring, while she was pregnant. What would happen next, he would see.
"Eh..."
Tao heard a noise above him.
Did Safia smell smoke? He frowned and let the light go out.
"Tao?" The girl cooed sleepily.
Damn! the boy hid the bark of the tree back in its place.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like Safia would go back to sleep without her brother by her side. Tao crawled out from under the bed and got to his feet.
"I'm here." He announced to reassure his sister.
"Tao, where have you been?" she asked.
"I... I wanted something to drink." Tao lied. "Shall we go to bed?"
"No, can't... bed... bed's wet." Safia's voice grew quieter as she said the last words.
There was none of the usual spirit in her voice.
"A wet bed? But... ah!" Tao understood the reason.
His own urine control had been great for at least a year, even when no one was taking him to the potty. But his sister still had accidents from time to time, though not as often as before.
"You have to tell Mom." He said the only, right solution.
"Let's go... together?" Safia asked.
It occurred to Tao that this might be the girl's attempt to shift the responsibility onto her younger brother, but he didn't think she was capable of such a devious act.
"Aye, let's go." He agreed.
It wasn't a big problem. Even if his parents thought that Tao was the culprit, he was willing to make that sacrifice for his sister. It was nice to know that someone was counting on him.