A week had passed since the incident with Rhea. Their mothers laughed it off at the time, although the evil look the girl sent his way after promised further torment.
Not much had happened in that week apart from him working on building up muscle at every chance he got with some success, as he could now roll over onto his sides and move his head around unsupported for longer.
Eleni and Rhea had come back a few days after the first visit for another one, but the girl decided to follow his father around to mind the farm instead, much to his relief.
He had also been taken around the farm by his father on various occasions over the week to pet the animals. Still, it could have been more interesting as he had already seen most of it from his mother's afternoon walks.
Being a baby was probably fun for one, but being an adult stuck inside a baby's body was a special kind of torture at times. There wasn't much to do, and crapping yourself randomly got old quickly.
The most exciting thing happened a couple of days ago as he was sitting on the front porch with his mother as usual in the morning. An older, gaunt-looking woman dressed in black and purple had come to the front of the house to chat with his father, allowing him to get a good look at her.
She was pretty tall for a woman and very thin. She carried a gnarled-looking walking stick and a wicker basket full of flowers. He wasn't sure why she had a walking stick as she seemed to be able to move around fine without it.
The strangest thing wasn't with her directly but what sat perched on her shoulder. Kayne wasn't too close to see it entirely, but it appeared to be some skeletal bird with featherless bony wings tucked in its sides.
As he checked it out, the undead-looking bird glanced at him with burning green eye sockets. It was impossible to know, but he almost felt a deep sentience within that searching gaze.
Today, he was out enjoying the evening air with his mother and father as the sun dipped toward the horizon in the distance. His father had been out with his light crystals, fitting them into place for the coming night.
He had managed to get a better look at them a couple of days ago to see that they were plain-looking yellow crystals with unique runes painted onto them. The runes were a mixture of interlocking basic tiny shapes that shimmered depending on the angle from which you looked.
His father left them outside during the day, and it seemed they would gather and store sunlight for use at night. This evening, they all sat around a small circular table at the end of the porch that had been there since he had arrived but never used as his mother usually sat on a bench next to the door.
To the left of the doorway were a bunch of cupboards his father used for tool storage. The porch ran across the front of the house, surrounded by waist-high wooden railings with a gap at the top of some short stairs leading to the doorway.
A new highchair his father had brought back a few days ago sat alongside the table and chairs, and this is where he was now as he listened to his parents talk as they sipped wine from plain wooden cups.
"I saw Lykus today when I went to the village to chat about fixing my tools with Ajax. He said that they should be with us tomorrow to make a start on the expansion," Marcus muttered through a mouthful of bread.
"That's good. At least we will have more room for this one. The boy must be tired of listening to your snoring," his mother teased as she took a sip of wine.
I wish it were just snoring. What I wouldn't give for earplugs.
Kayne was glad to hear that he would finally get his room and some privacy away from his parents' late night 'activities'.
"My snoring isn't that bad. Anyway, the twins agreed to do the internal doors and wall at the end, so we can still use the front of the house until it's all ready." His father said as he tried to steer the conversation away from his snoring with a short cough.
Not that bad? I'm pretty sure we don't live inside the village because they all kicked you out.
Kayne preferred the snoring to the other late-night actions, but Marcus' snoring still sounded like someone had taken a chainsaw to his eardrums.
"If you say so, it's a good job that you tire me out most nights, or I would have kicked you out to sleep in the barn long ago." His mother winked as she grinned into her cup.
La la la, I can't hear this. Oh, it's getting nighttime, look, everyone.
Kayne unsuccessfully willed the flirty couple to stop and pay attention to anything else. He tried his best to tune out the innuendoes and flirty banter as he watched the sun finally drop behind the mountains that sat like massive stone guardians around the village.
He couldn't see the sunset entirely from down here, but he could tell it had when the nearby mountains lost their halo of surrounding light. Looking out across the landscape, he could see the main road between the fields was also lit up with hanging lanterns, creating zones of light that pushed against the darkness.
In the distance sat the brightly lit village wall and now closed gates. His farm seemed to be the most prolific for light pollution as he struggled to spot anywhere that wasn't well-lit.
Kayne wondered how the animals inside the barn ever got any sleep with how bright the outside of the barn was. He guessed inside was free of these magical light sources but had never been inside after dark to confirm.
He had never been outside during the night before either and regretted that he couldn't drag himself out here every night with how magical it looked. The daytime was busy with humans, animals, birds and bugs all moving or flying around, but the world seemed to come alive at night in a wash of colours.
He hadn't seen a moon when he arrived here, nor had there been one in the sky during the daytime, so he suspected even if this world did have one, it wasn't affecting this side of the planet. This lack of a moon made the night much darker, and it reminded him of Earth out in the countryside at night when the sky was full of clouds.
This darkness didn't make the night stand out to him and was more of a contrast to what did. Looking out across the area past the farm lights, he could see myriad creatures lit up and flying around, glowing with some form of bioluminescence.
He could see a dozen flying creatures a little larger than moths fly past the house, all glowing bright pink and light blue as they spiralled through the air, fluttering around each other.
The mountains and fields lit up slightly with glowing multicoloured plants and flowers matching the insects that danced about the air. If this were the only thing, that would be enchanting enough, but the sky was awash with blues and greens as an aurora borealis dominated the sky and lit up the land as far as his eyes could see.
He got so drawn in by the beauty that he didn't even notice his parents watching him with a knowing smile as the otherworldly scenes stole his attention. He wasn't sure how long he had observed the nighttime brightness, but he eventually snapped out of his trance when the lights in the sky faded away, leaving only the luminous wildlife behind.
He was starting to feel tired and let out a yawn that must have been a cue as his mother reached down to scoop him up. As they walked towards the door, a horrible hissing noise that sent primal shivers down his spine came from a nearby dark field outside the light zone surrounding the house.
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A split second later, more hissing and screeching came from the same direction, along with sounds of movement and struggle. Kayne wasn't sure when it had happened, but their father had arrived in front of his mother and himself with a small dagger in hand, placing himself in the way of any possible danger.
Kayne watched with a thrill as his father pushed out his left palm towards the direction of the disturbance, firing out a cone of light into the night that lit up the area and revealed the hideous creatures lurking within the shadows.
A sense of terror pulsed through him as he saw darkened scales, fangs and teeth before the two inhuman creatures vanished into the night. One looked like an oversized snake with four eyes and a crest fanning out from its head, reminding him of a frilled dragon lizard from Earth as it hissed at them.
The other looked like a sloth had auditioned for a horror movie and got a makeover. It was all hardened carapace with outstretched claws extending from its arms and razor-sharp teeth set in a frothy mouth. It did look like it was injured as it limped quickly away with a loud screech at the interruption, leaving behind a trail of black blood.
This explains my parents' love for nighttime lighting and all the luminescent creatures and plants. I'd want to glow if light-hating nightmare fuel like that came out after dark.
He heard his father grunt as if the monsters were not worth his time before they entered the house, with his mother wisely bolting the door behind them. The night was uneventful after that, although he couldn't sleep as soundly as usual, even with his parents taking a night off from their reproductive studies.
Another couple of weeks flew by as Kayne increased his control over his young body. Whilst doing his best to work out his muscles, he also worked on his mind-to-muscle connection. When trying to train his fingers so that he was able to grip his toys better, he struck upon an idea to train as if he had suffered a massive injury.
Much like those injury patients back on Earth, he had to work on that connection between his mind and what he wanted his body to do. This new approach allowed him to make significant gains, and he felt he was ahead of the development curve for a baby his age.
Kayne could now roll over and back at will, slightly grip his toys and move his head around unassisted for a long time. The increased control wasn't confined to his motor skills as he could now choose when he went to the toilet or even do something simple like smiling.
The twins had arrived to start construction on his house a day after he had seen those two monsters scuffling in the darkness. Sometimes, he watched them work and was surprised to see how fast the construction was. The work was completed within a week.
Both of the brothers seemed to be skilled in what to him looked like wood and earth magic. On the first day, he watched in awe as the brothers channelled some spell with their hands that forced the ground to rise level with the rest of the house.
This magic created a solid foundation for the expansion. The brothers had placed some measurements using wooden pegs and string into the ground beforehand, and the new surface was strictly within those bounds.
Little things like this surprised him as he kept thinking that this world was less advanced than Earth, but that didn't mean people couldn't use their brains. He had just expected them to throw it all together at best effort through experience without much planning, but that wasn't the case.
Before carrying on, the brothers excavated a bottomless hole in the ground, and it was apparent from the metal grating inside it that this was for the toilet. The whole foundation then solidified with some other type of magic, making the Earth look brown stone-like.
The toilet wasn't like the ones he knew back on Earth with inbuilt plumbing but more of a circular hole cut out of a wooden bench for a person to sit on and go. He had been taken to the outhouse toilet with his parents sometimes, but unlike what he expected, there was no tub under it to collect the waste for removal. It just seemed to drop down into the Earth.
Valeria used her water magic to hose it down after use. Although it didn't smell great, it wasn't debilitating. He knew they also didn't have a bath in their house, and his father would typically clean himself in a dedicated water trough in the barn. With her water magic, his mother would wash in there, too and hose his father down if he was around and needed it.
He watched much of the construction as his mother had eventually worked out that it kept him focused, so she had allowed him to do so. It helped that the two twins liked to show off and be flashy with their powers, allowing him to get a more detailed look at things. He had no idea what other people without access to magic skills like his mother.
The wood arrived in a cart pulled by a massive horse the day after the foundation's creation, and work started first thing in the morning. The stripped-down wooden logs were laid out on top of each other. He noticed that one of the brothers had cut down opposite sides of them so that instead of being circular, they had two small, flat edges.
These edges allowed the logs to be stacked on each other, creating stability. The brothers applied a layer of wet mud between each one, which acted like cement with the application of a hardening spell. The duo used metal tools here and there to cut things down and work on the joints, but magic was also used liberally with breaks between casting.
Windows were created by placing shorter logs in the correct places to allow for gaps. These were then shuttered with crude metal hinges, allowing them to be closed so perfectly that they nearly blended in. He now realised that's why he didn't spot any on first arriving here, as they weren't open.
Once completed, Lysias performed some magic by rubbing his hand over the wood, causing a brown bark-like covering to grow, reminding him of the wooden palisade that protectively wrapped around the village.
The upgraded house looked quite charming. They expanded the roof outward, but it was still the same triangle shape with small wooden tiles to protect it from the elements. Overall, it was a functional design of decent quality, but no decorative touches were taken that he thought would benefit the look.
The major boon he had received with the house came in the form of his new room next door to his parents, who now had a kind of on-suite toilet attached to theirs. His parents placed a new door between the two rooms so they could come through faster in the middle of the night than walking around.
From a bird's eye view, the house's layout was a large rectangle. Walking through the front door into a large room area that doubled as a kitchen and eating area. This held an area for cooking and a large table and chairs, with some storage cupboards dotted around. Pans and the like hung from metal hooks above the fireplace.
Turning to the right after walking in the main door would lead you to what was his parent's bedroom before the work, but it was now his as it was smaller. The extension to the rear had added a larger room that mirrored the living area and was accessible through that room as well. This room was where Marcus and Valeria now slept.
The toilet was in the opposite corner of the house from the main door and attached to each bedroom, giving anyone in either room access to do their business at night.
He also had managed to get much better sleep without being held hostage to his parents' biological desires. It was now nighttime, and he was enjoying the light show in the sky again as it had become a family tradition once his mother and father realised how much he seemed to enjoy it.
The lights in the sky never seemed to last more than an hour, but he thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. In his old life, he had always meant to go somewhere he could see the aurora light up the sky but had never gotten around to it before his untimely demise.
No, I can't think about that.
He forced his mind away from the subject of the attack and his death at the hands of those men. Each time his mind wandered there, he would get the urge to go and get revenge and something inside him tried to rip its way out to do violence in his name.
He knew he could not do anything to his killers and didn't even know if it was possible to return home. He had seen ships flying around in orbit of this world, so there must be some way of traversing space, but even if he could get a spaceship, he had no idea how to get back to Earth.
The thoughts running around his mind faded as he was picked up by his father and bundled into the man's strong arms. He noticed the lights in the sky fading away, leaving behind a sea of stars in their place that, while not as beautiful, were still worth looking at.
Once inside, he opened his bowels, the lack of communication forcing him to act as a baby typically would. He had tried to speak alone at night, but his undeveloped vocal cords ruined his plans to blow his parents' minds by asking politely for more milk.
After being changed and put to bed, he stared at the ceiling of his new room, trying to empty his mind so that sleep would arrive. His cot was in the centre of his room, with a few small cabinets and shelves hugging the walls.
His father kept one of the glowing stones wrapped in a blanket on a nearby shelf. That created a soft night light, leaving the room dimly lit. He liked to look up at the shadows created by it at night as it allowed his wandering mind to have a point of focus.
Just as he was drifting off with his eyes fluttering between open and closed, he noticed a new shadow blocking a large section of the ceiling in darkness. He opened his eyes and turned to his left to see a familiar faded figure backed by the nearby light.
Why don't you come at more sociable hours, don't you know I'm sleeping?
He sighed at the ghost. The usual fear he felt at the figure wasn't as intense anymore. Knowing that the man had appeared a few times, he decided there wasn't much he could do to defend himself and that if it meant to harm him, the washed-out male figure probably would have done it by now.
He could have cried out for his parents and perhaps forced it away in the disturbance, but how long would he survive if it truly meant to hurt him? He had already died once and found that even though he wanted to live this new life, he wasn't afraid to cross the veil of death again if he had to. With his
determination set, he just looked at the man, who seemed to stare down at him calmly without saying anything.
The man's eyes seemed to be the only thing that stood out with colour, but even they seemed more suppressed tonight. His eyes looked more like an average person's, with the irises the only real difference as they slowly spun with a blend of colours flowing around. He didn't feel as drawn into them as he once did, but they still possessed a power of attraction when looking into them.
Well, go on then, get it over with. I'm tired.
He mentally psyched himself up, allowing his fatigue and annoyance to mask his fear as the phantom slowly reached out its hand towards his head again. The raised arm moved incredibly slowly, as if the man had to push through the air as he moved. Eventually, the cold hand came to rest on his bald little head and the world as he knew it faded as he drifted into darkness.
The room spun as Kayne felt himself get hit by a sensation of sinking into his blanket as the world elongated above him. It felt like he was looking up at the man from the bottom of a deep well in the ground as the darkness closed in.