Cesar

“Thank you Magus Erli. Now I have a different question, why is his growth rate so irregular?” Empress Senna asked after Crown Prince Nil was sound asleep.

“I suspect he has some that is causing his staggering growth. Crown Price Nil’s growth rate can only be explained by him possessing a .” Magus Erli replied, looking a bit exhausted.

I rubbed the ridge of my nose. Nil’s growth rate was nothing short of prodigious; it was problematically fast. Part of me hoped he would grow up and give some karmic retribution to his father, but his growth was unprecedented. We were getting concerned that his would overwhelm his body and slowly shut it down at its current rate. Just last week, his growth rate seemed to bottleneck out of nowhere, which we had mixed reactions to. Typically, babies grew at a consistent, predictable rate. Not Nil; his rate only seemed to get faster and faster. Today had to take the cake of his just absurd growth. Normally, using the ambient in the air for took a lot of practice, and with some guidance and instruction, a talented person would learn how to in about six months. Nil was just over three months old. As a baby, he overcame what was normally the first hurdle encountered.

It was mind boggling; there was something off about him. I swear sometimes when I look at his eyes there is something going on in that head. It’s like he understands what’s going on around him. Originally Azzeck wanted to have his son at the bare minimum of a year to start preparing teachers and gathering resources his son might need to grow, but now a lot of us were anxious to have him to try and figure out why he was so outside the norm. Senna would never admit it, but it clearly bothered her. I could only imagine how it was seeing such frightening talent mature in a baby. He easily could cast a or use a to such a degree it was lethal. The he used today had severe, but thankfully still classifiable as minor, . It was only a matter of time before he encountered the cruel world of what was categorized as major at his current pace. It is part of why they wanted to increase his , to reduce the chance of him hitting major .

The kid currently caused me nothing but headaches as we were dedicating resources to try and figure out why he was growing so rapidly. By demonkin standards, his talent was prodigious. By beastkin or human standards, his talent was undefinable. Then having to constantly rework Azzeck and Senna’s schedules to fit in time with their son. The instant I stopped watching one of them, they shot off to spend time with Nil. Is it hard to blame them? That kid is already a problem child and he’s not even a year old. Is being problematic as a kid just a Crowthorne family ? Would I be like the Imperial Highnesses when my child was born? My wife and I were expecting in the next month or so our child would be born. I hoped they could take my position as Chief Advisor. Part of me wanted to keep my child as far away from Nil as possible. Growing up next to that level of talent could do a lot of damage to their self confidence. Training and being near Azzeck as a kid was soul crushing at times, and his son put his talent to shame from what we could tell. It was something that troubled me deeply. Azzeck and Senna always asked how my wife was doing and if there was anything they could do to help. Their kindness is suffocating at times. Why can’t you two just be terrible people once in a while? Would make me feel a lot less guilty about my apprehension over our children meeting.

I pitied any siblings Nil might get. Succeeding Azzeck was not guaranteed because Nil was the firstborn, but if his talent continued at its current pace however, surpassing him for the seat of the Emperor was an impossible task. The two combined all but guaranteed Nil being the next Emperor. Currently him being called Crown Prince Nil was due to him being an only child. The title Crown Prince/Princess was reserved for the current heir apparent; something I doubted Nil was going to ever lose. I pray for Tenebrae his temperament is good. I have been in my head long enough. Azzeck and Senna were doting on their son. Man I hated this part of my job, but they still had to rule.

“Your Imperial Highnesses, you have duties you must attend to. The maid Helga should watch over the Crown Prince now.” I informed them. I felt a few tiny daggers hit my heart as I saw their faces.

*

Nil

When I woke, my entire body tingled as pins and needles seemed to fill me. So still required some of my when using ambient as the main source. I took a quick glance around and realized my mom fell asleep while holding me. She didn’t have a blanket, nor was there a fire. I don’t want her to catch a cold or something. Thankfully, we were in my room, so there were several blankets on standby. Except I am a baby with no way of grabbing one. My cloth prisons were a bit looser nowadays, but I still couldn’t walk. The nearest blanket was at the edge of what I would currently consider a safe distance to . Who knew a large room could have downsides? Now that I was thinking about it, where was Dad? Or Helga? Maybe Cesar. Someone to get Mom a blanket. Wait, I could bring myself to locations I visualized. What about the other way around? Bring something at a location to myself? I looked at the blanket, and the familiar anchor sensation was near immediate now. I focused on my breathing, this time carefully limiting the range grew to. It fluctuated horribly around the length I wanted it to actually be. Just got to practice this more I guess. I could feel and sense all the details of the blanket; this was the really soft one that gets a little too warm. Perfect. Currently however, the felt like I was going to cast . What was I missing?

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After a few seconds it hit me. Honestly, if I could slap myself, I would have. If the anchor is set to the blanket, why would it come to me? I tried envisioning myself. I felt the anchor sensation inside me. Wait, what if it goes literally inside me? I’d die a pretty pathetic death. I imagined the anchor a foot above me. Now, how did I move the blanket to the anchor? I sat there, practicing my breathing as I pondered how to. Grab the blanket. Warp blanket to anchor. Mom gets covered by the blanket. That was the way the events needed to go, but now how to use to accomplish it? So far, seemed dictated by visualizing the effect, manifesting the necessary , then expending the to perform the desired effect. Maybe the anchor was me marking the location with some type of ? If I tried visualizing them both, and moving the blanket anchor to the anchor over my mom, would that work?

Using , I envisioned the center of the blanket and at the same time envisioned the location of before. Nothing happened. seems to be much easier to use when I let it flow through me; that more blank state seems better suited for . After about a minute of trying while keeping myself more open, I felt two anchors form. It was taxing, trying to keep my mind clear while forming the as desired. I also had to keep track of because it seemed to grow all on its own if I didn’t monitor it. My control definitely needed practice. I need to simply focus on the breathing and when trying to use it. Keep myself open to it. I was not sure if that is the proper way to do it though. Was it a crutch? I pulled the blanket anchor to the other anchor I had made. After a second, the blanket appeared and draped over us. I was a bit warm, but still able to breathe fine while a sense of exhaustion hit me. My was near empty after simply moving the blanket.

That used more than . Is it lack of practice or just requires more ? I wondered as I fell back asleep.

*

I was woken up when my mom suddenly shook. The motion of her ripping the blanket off me was a lot rougher than she intended. My reserve felt nearly fully restored and my body was doing better overall. She looked around confused, and eyeing the blanket as her face seemed to be annoyed. Did I do something wrong?

“Who placed this blanket like that?” she growled to herself.

She set me in my crib, and gently placed the blanket down on the nightstand in the room. I envisioned the anchors like I did last night, before draping her with the blanket. I don’t know who she’ll blame if I don’t show it was me. Mom gets really protective. When the blanket went to drape her, a sword materialized out of nowhere as she sliced it in half. She let off an immense amount of killing intent and that was near suffocating; some sort of barrier was around me in the same instant. Helga burst through the door sword in hand, ready to help fend off whatever my mom was about to slaughter.

“Empress Senna, I don’t sense any attackers. Where did they run off to?” Helga questioned while thoroughly scanning the room.

“I did not sense or see any either. Someone used on this blanket and put it over me. I assumed they were after either I or Nil.” Mom answered in a tense tone.

“What did they hope to gain from that? A blanket would barely slow you down your Imperial Highness.” Helga replied, clearly confused.

“That’s what offsetting. When I woke up the blanket was haphazardly placed over me and Nil as well. Is it some sort of threat?” Mom inquired with a bit of confusion in her voice.

“I do not know Empress Senna.” Helga stated.

The two of them relaxed slightly, but were still searching vigorously for the source of the blanket moving. So it’s called . My mom walked over to me, undid the barrier, and tucked me close to her with her free hand. She still had the sword at the ready in the other. Let’s try this again. I used on one of the blanket halves, this time aiming to drop it in front of her. As I activated yet again, I could feel my was near empty. Slightly less than last time; I definitely need to practice . She noticed the , then looked directly at me with an expression I didn’t recognize. Is that, fear?

“Helga, you saw that?” Senna asked, with an odd tension to her normally sing-song voice.

“Yes your Imperial Highness. It looked like Crown Prince Nil was trying to cover you with the blanket.” Helga replied as my mom’s face was twisting between a few different emotions. I couldn’t recognize which ones.

“When did he learn ? Did anyone use in front of him?” Mom inquired, as the tension in her voice made me uneasy.

“Today as far as I am aware your Imperial Highness. To my knowledge, no one has used in his presence.” Helga answered with a similar tension in her voice.

“Go fetch Emperor Azzeck, Magus Erli, and Cesar. Tell them this is a summons from me and to meet me in Nil’s Room.” Mom ordered as she sat back down.

She rocked softly while singing to me. It was my normal feeding time, so that occurred as well. What did I do wrong? I felt oddly guilty, like I had done something horrible. It was a new feeling, something I don’t really recall feeling in my previous life. Strange. I thought it over a bit as I fell asleep as being full and using up my tended to knock me out pretty well.