Chapter 5: New

Bandit’s Home, Unknown

Days flew by and the children grew accustomed to their new lives. The boys would follow Adam and Joran on their daily work as soon as they finished eating so Kai rarely saw them and still did not know their names. He would, however, see Sandy and the girls everyday without fail as eating and other distasteful, yet necessary, actions were handled by them.

The girl that held Kai was called Teresa while the other girl was Cindy. Teresa proved to be very capable as she quickly learned what Sandy had to teach. Within days she learned how to knit and prepare dinner. Cindy, on the other hand, had a more difficult time. Her fingers were entirely bandaged from accidental needle injuries and she often made mistakes regarding the ingredients for soup.

While the girls were fully occupied with the babies, and learning in general, Kai was sorely idle. He was unable to walk and would quickly feel fatigued each time he attempted to crawl. A foreign feeling grew inside of him. Wracking his brain, he diligently searched for the word that described his current condition; then he found it.

Kai was bored. He was bored beyond belief.

In his past life, he did not succumb to boredom easily as for the first few days he was occupied with his thoughts. When he arrived with the rest of the children, and babies, he found it difficult to review his situation due to how quickly it developed, but as a baby he now had more than enough time to do so. 

 I am a baby, so who are my parents? I was obviously not with the rest of the children.

 Why was I in the ocean? Did my parents abandon me out of hate or protection? What if it’s neither?

 Where on Earth am I?

Kai’s thoughts were filled with such questions and he became frustrated, another emotion he failed to develop until now. The frustration further fostered when he realized there was no one to answer his questions and he still did not have the ability to speak. He regrettably set aside his questions before he mentally exploded from frustration.  

Without his thoughts, his days beyond that point were truly boring. Each day he would wake up and see Teresa’s face. Later he would be fed, eventually releasing his excrement, then inevitably succumb to sleep. Repeat the cycle once more, twice a day, and that was the extent of his entire day.

Change did not occur until three months into his life as a slave. On one cold winter’s day, snow began to fall. The falling rate was moderate at first so Kai was confused when the adults started to horde a large supply of food and wood. He was given an answer the next day when a massive snowstorm arrived and caved them in for nearly three days. 

Once the blizzard subsided they went on with their daily routines as per usual. Sandy, however, believed it was the three baby's first contact with snow so she and the other girls brought them to play in the aftermath.

The moment the two other babies touched the snow they squealed in surprise at the low temperature against their bare hands. Laughing at their innocence, Sandy and Cindy quickly put on tiny gloves, that they personally wove, on their respective babies. Once properly clothed, they playfully crawled and rolled on the surface, occasionally falling into the deep cavities of snow

Teresa moved to put her gloves on Kai only to notice him crawling back into the house in a steady manner. She motioned for the other girls to look and together they laughed at the sight.

“Looks like he doesn’t like snow.”

 Who would enjoy such a cold and unpleasant product of condensation.

Disregarding Teresa’s light teasing, he entered the house and crawled towards the warmth of his blanket. He made himself comfortable and drifted to sleep as Sandy and the girls continued to monitor the babies playing in the snow. 

The peaceful days ended when, one spring morning, the short Watcher approached their doorstep with Sandy by his side. “Starting today you two will assist this woman in whatever her job may be. You can take care of the babies afterwards. Understood?”

From then on, Kai saw the girls less often but he knew exactly how he wanted to spend the unsupervised time.

 Now that they aren’t watching, I’ll be able to try walking and talking without drawing their attention.

Months went by and one ordinary afternoon Kai finally achieved a bit of success. He unexpectedly stood on his two feet for a few seconds before his knees wobbled and he dropped on all four limbs. His ability to speak remained stagnate but after months of falling down, he still enjoyed the feeling of success in being able to stand.

Within the next month he stood and walked like an adult! 

 Fast! I thought I would require more time but I feel like I have perfect motor control now.

Putting his body through a test, he performed short sprints and jumped to the best of abilities in the small house. The two babies blankly stared at him but soon wore bright smiles and laughed while clapping their hands. Unknowingly, Kai’s movements became a form of entertainment for his fellow infants. Disregarding their enjoyment, he stopped his test and stretched his body.

 Maybe I improved at this rate because of my past life’s knowledge. However, in order not to shock everyone, I should keep this a  secret. I’ll just imitate the growth pattern of the other two babies.

He nodded to himself, content with his plan; then he thought of an intriguing idea.

 Since I am able to run and jump, could I possibly start practicing Silent Steps?

Silent Steps was a technique that Kai developed during his time as an assassin. His master taught him essential tools for fighting, how to move faster and hit harder, but when he roamed the underworld he realized that he lacked in a certain aspect; stealth.

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His master taught him how to be stealth-like by minimizing the amount of noise he made to a bare minimum but it was not good enough. When he faced against true experts, they were able to pick up the faint noises he barely made. To erase this flaw, he used an incredible amount of effort and created his own technique.

He named his technique in the simplest manner, Silent Steps. Maximizing the control over each muscle, each joint, from the very top of his legs to the tip of his toes, he was able to move in complete and utter silence while being able to move as fast as he desired.

To accomplish this, he brutally disciplined and trained each muscle in his body equally so his body would maintain a sense of balance that allowed him to easily control his movements. The core specifics was simple but he knew if it weren’t for his talent, and perception, it would be nearly impossible for him to accomplish this task. This made him slightly hesitant in beginning his training at such an early age.

 Am I being too arrogant?.. What if I heavily injure or cripple myself from overexertion?.. No! There’s no point in hesitating! If I fail then I  fail, but if I succeed then I would achieve a huge head start in becoming strong.

Kai steeled himself, extinguishing his hesitation, and began to train. Beginning with light exercises, he performed simple drills with push-ups and squats. His body reached fatigue within a short five minutes but his capabilities surpassed his expectations.

 When I was training under master I was five years old and at that time I also only lasted five minutes. That means this body that’s not  even a year old is on par with the five year old me in my past life? At this rate I can’t even foresee my limits…

Kai roughly counted the days ever since his drifting in the ocean and he was almost positive that, if he was born around the time he regained his memories, he was only one or two months off of being a year old.

The thoughts of his future achievement left him with a rare sense of excitement. The only other time he felt relatively excited was the day his master agreed to train him. From then on, however, he learned to abandon his feelings, leaving no chance of experiencing it again. 

 -Bang-

The door rapidly opened and a pleasant sweet fragrance filled the house. The other two babies snapped around, startled, but the mesmerizing smell halted their desire to begin crying. The children entered first and cleared a blank space on the floor, moving Kai and the babies in the process. Jordan and Adam entered next carrying a large pot that was the source of the fragrance. Sandy brought the rear and closed the door behind her.

 They must have killed something today and turned it into stew

Kai was familiar with the event unfolding before his eyes. During his life as a baby, this occasion only occurred twice and each time the adults caught and killed a wild animal then turned it into stew.

Normally, the contents of their food only consisted of grains and wild plants. On better days there would be soup and porridge. The children would eat with the adults before bringing food back for the babies.

The stew, however, was larger than their typical meals due to the fact that they could not preserve fresh meat so they had no choice but to cook the entirety of the game, having no desire to waste any of their meat. The excess stew was placed in the adults house leaving no room for them to eat so they would bring it to the children’s house.

Teresa picked up Kai and placed him on her lap while Cindy and Sandy did the same with their respective babies. Together, they all chose a comfortable place to sit. Jordan carefully poured the steaming stew in small bowls and Adam passed them to each person. The girls fed the babies, making sure they do not spill and waste the food. As usual, Kai played along and accepted his fate.

During the middle of their feast, Cindy raised her head and quietly asked, “Um… Can we hear more stories again?”

Sandy looked at Joran and Adam, they returned the look and smiled altogether.

“Sure, I’ll tell you a story this time”, Jordan laughed. “Let’s see… we’ve already told you many stories from the Jade Empire, how about stories from Tao Empire this time?”

The children’s eyes gleamed and they eagerly nodded their heads. Clearing his throat, Joran began to weave a tale of a fearsome yet benevolent hero that destroyed mountains and split apart an ocean during his fight with an evil dragon.

 Jade Empire… Tao Empire… Ki…

Joran continuously spit out foreign terminologies and Kai was unable to make heads or tails of them. This was the first time he had heard such a ludicrous story but from Joran’s previous words he knew that this was not the first time the children heard of them. When Jordan wrapped up the story, Teresa, her eyes shining with curiosity, immediately inquired, “Was this story really real?”

Sandy answered with a laugh, “It is most definitely real. This was a well known incident that happened nearly a thousand years ago.”

 What? Real? Are they crazy, what are these people saying… 

They continued to talk but Kai zoned them out as he lost himself in his thoughts. 

 Vintage ships… raids and harvests… the primitive home…

While running the oddities through his head, a bizarre idea spawned in his mind. The idea stupefied him and, with his mouth agaped, he unintentionally released the stew inside his mouth and it fell onto Teresa’s lap.

“Hey! Even if you don’t like it you don’t have to spit it out!”, she scolded.

Kai snapped back to reality and tamed his wild thoughts. The idea, however, festered throughout the night, becoming more and more believable to him. When he was put to bed he thought about it once more.

 Could it really be… I not only obtained a new life but I’m in a new world as well…