Elza was gathering some herbs in the woods, when she heard screaming and shouting. It was coming from her village. She recognized the voice of her mother, so she dropped all the collected herbs and started running.
She knew that something bad happened and that her mother was in danger, along with his little brother. Even though, she had no real sword she would do anything to protect them. Father was absent on this day because of the guard duty. That means that either the eastern border was attacked and the Drovik kingdom has begun it's attack, or It was burglary.
She wasn't religious, so instead of praying she just kept on running, until she left the woods and saw something terrifying.
Bodies of villagers were gathered in the center of their village. All of them dead. Houses weren't broken, but no sound was coming from them. It had to be some kind of silent raid of the village, but there was more to it.
There was human meat and bones everywhere. Puddles of blood were decorating the entirety of village. Some meat had equipment left on them and judging by them, it was definetely bandits, Or what was left of them. Some bodies were torn apart with some immeasurable amount of force, some of them were burned, some were entangled by roots, some bodies had their own bones sticking out of their vital areas.
In the middle of this massacre, there was a young woman holding a small child in her arms while crying and begging.
"KARI! PLEASE WAKE UP, PLEASE WAKE UP!" Elza's mother screamed as she was holding her son. Elza couldn't even comprehend what happened here. She just ran towards her mother, unable to do anything else. She fell right in front of her mother, but she didn't even notice Elza. She was desperately trying to wake her son up.
Elza extended her hand and placed in on top of her brother's head. She chanelled small amount of her own mana into his brother to check his condition, just like her father taught her. She waited for a second and then reverted her hand. Kari was alive and well, despite being unconscious.
"M-M-Mom, c-calm d-down. He is just sleeping" Elza tried to calm down her mother. Kara looked up at her with tears flowing from her eyes. She then started crying even harder, but Elza knew that these were the tears of joy, joy of knowing that her son was alive.
Elza looked around once again. She saw the village and all the gore that was present. The image of dead bodies and remains of them scattered around would forever be carved into her memory. She had only one question.
What happened here?
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Kari understood that something bad was happening. Talking to that Void thingy was too much of a challenge for his new body. He couldn't sense danger around him. In an instant, he extended his psychic sense to a few kilometers.
He sensed over 59 foreign life signatures. From over 138 villagers that he remembered, only 2 were left excluding himself. His mother, Kara and his sister, Elza. Elza was gathering herbs in the nearby forest, but her mother was being dragged to the center of the village where piles of bodies were gathered.
He knew where this was going. He knew that these outsiders were probably bandits, but how did they manage to kill the entirety of the village so fast and quiet? It meant that they were professionals disguised as bandits. Her mother was still alive because their house was far from other buildings in the village. She was going to be killed.
An emotion rised up from the depths of his sub-concious. Emotion that could drive any creature to do acts that they wouldn't normally do. Anger.
The door was quickly opened by a man in the leather armor and fur leggings. As soon as he saw a baby, he approached the cradle to cut open the baby's throat. But he couldn't move his body.
Bandit's body was lifted up and then thrown outside through the window, landing right in front of the other bandits. Kara looked towards the direction from where the body flew from, only to see her own house.
Suddenly their house was completely destroyed and a shadowy figure ascended with incredible speed, before landing right on top of the pile of villager corpses. She recognized the figure. It was her own child, Kari, but something was different.
Instead of beautiful eyes with black pupils, there was only blinding white light. The rest of his body was so dark, it seemed that it was absorbing the light itself.
"Bandit's" quickly reacted by throwing their daggers at the child. Kara screamed "NOOOO!", but instead of blades hitting Kari, they stopped mid-air and turned around, now pointing at the "Bandits".
YOU BASTARDS! WHY THE FUCK DID HAVE TO DO ALL THIS? WHAT DID THESE PEOPLE DO TO YOU? DIE!
Blades were launched with force so big, that their speed excedeed even that of a sound. Some of the attackers tried to block them, but simply didn't have enough time to react. Blades dug deep into their skulls, destroying the brain and coming out from the other side to land in the ground.
Soon, Other "bandits'" bodies were lifted in the air and their limbs were completely torn of from their torso. They were thrown towards other bandits, which were lifted and crushed, just as previous ones.
The chanting was heard and a few seconds after that fire came out from one of the bandit's hand and was launched towards the child. Fire was stopped in mid-air right in front of Kari and then it started growing in size and power. The fireball grew 5 times it's previous size and was thrown back at the caster. Explosion killed the mage instantly, while burning every other bandit around him, but the fire didn't stop there as it "jumped" towards other bandits as well.
Other mage finished his chanting too and spiky roots extended from the ground, entrapping Kari and dragging him back on the ground. As soon as Kari descended, roots let go of him and dug back into the ground. Soon they erupted again, but this time around the rest of the bandits. Instead of dragging them into the ground, roots split the bandits in halves. Some of them were going into the unlucky bandit's mouth and erupting right from their chest.
Kari lifted remaining 10 bandits and crushed them with each other, forming big ball of human meat and bones and throwing it away.
All of this happened in less than a minute. Kari completely descended on the ground and looked towards the ground where his mother was.
I used them... I had a chance to have a good family and now they will be scared of me...
Instead, he saw his mother running towards him. Even though she saw what her child was capable of, she knew that Kari wouldn't hurt her. Kari soon found himself in the embrace of his scared mother.
"A-A-Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?" Said Kara,while inspecting his child's body. She knew that using too much power would hurt one's body. She didn't want her child to be injured. "Don't worry. I'm okay. Just please don't be hurt."
Kari's eyes returned to normal. His body was now normal too. Kara was relieved that her child was back to normal, but Kari had tears in his eyes.
Even though she saw all this, she still loves me? Just what kind of logic is that?
But nonetheless Kari was happy. If he will stay conscious, he might scare her and make her think that he is some kind of monster. But didn't he already show her that he is a monster? Kari used all his remaining power to put a barrier around his mother just in case. For now, he would give up lucid dreaming and will just be unconscious. He then prepared himself and with a quick mental command he was already asleep.
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Kari woke up to the voice of some man talking about something. He recognized the voice that belonged to his father, Aedus. Soon voice of an old man replied to his father. This voice belonged to Rorsak and Kari understood what would happen soon.
I'm pretty sure they will start asking questions, even though I'm still a baby. Tricking dad will be easy, but Rorsak is another story. Dammit, I still have to speak after all. At least I'll try to sound baby-like.
"It seems that he is almost awake now. Before I say something, Kara, Is the story that you told us true?" Asked Rorsak, with doubt in his voice. This was the first case that something like this happened around a child.
"Y-Yes Rorsak. I saw it with my own eyes and I know that he did that only to protect me. Please don't do anything to him!" Said Kara with worry while holding her child with slightly increased strength. She wasn't sure what Rorsak would do. She trusted him, but her child's safety was a top priority for her.
Kari opened his eyes. First thing that he saw was his father's scared expression. It was mixed with a bit of anger, probably directed at Kari. Right beside him was standing Elza, who was looking at Kari. He couldn't tell what expression on her face meant. It was mixture of worry, sadness, shock and disbelief. Then he looked at Rorsak who was holding his chin with his fingers while observing Kari. He then spoke with a strict tone.
"Who are you?" The atmosphere in the room quickly became tense. Kari knew what he was going to say, but after hearing such a voice, his determination lowered quite a bit. But still he said with his baby voice.
"Kari." He said with his super cute voice. On the earth it was very rare for 1 year old to say R. But in this world it may be different between races. Also mana might play a big role in development of a human body, so Kari just said it, hoping that Rorsak wouldn't do anything.
"Interesting. He can say his name with precision. It is rare, but not impossible. Now tell me Kari, what did you do in the village?" Rorsak asked again. Kari realised that it was going rather well, because Rorsak's tone was a little warmer now.
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"Protect." He said as he hugged his mather back. It was so cute that her mother blushed and hugged him even stronger. Aedus relaxed a little too. It was definetely going well.
"Why did you protect her? Why didn't you kill her too?" Rorsak asked, fully knowing that the child was able to comprehend anything he would say.
"Mom. Mom loves Kari. Mom protects Kari. Kari must protect too." He said, hugging his mother with even more strength. His cuteness was way beyond Kara, so she could only hug him and say " I love you sweetie."
Rorsak understood that this child wasn't lying. Mana could influence everything in different ways. This includes the development of a child. Although extremely rare, there were some cases where 1-2 year olds, had the intelligence of 9-10 year olds, but this was beyond that. He then spoke.
"Kara, Your child is indeed a rare case. He is smart enough to analyse his surroundings, understand us and recieve information. Tell me Kara, have you ever told him some story?" Rorsak asked with curiosity.
"Well, Everytime we were alone I was telling him about my past. He would always listen so closely." Kara said as she looked at her child and suddenly her eyes were wide open. " W-W-Wait a minute. That means tha-"
"Yes Kara. Judging by his speech, he has heard enough words to gramatically form a sentence. I'm pretty sure that he remembers your stories almost perfectly." Said Rorsak as he smiled widely. Kara looked at her son again while blushing and asked.
"W-W-Were you R-Really listening?"
"Yes. Mom once made bad stew and everybody vomited. Then she made a really good one and they gave money. Mom once fell from the ladder, but landed on man and hurt him. When mom met dad first time, she thought that he was "Dummy that can only swing swords." At the last part Kara blushed while holding her hand on Kari's mouth. Rorsak was laughing loudly, while Aedus had a shocked expression on his face. Elza's expression didn't change at all. Soon Rorsak calmed down and said.
"As I said, He is indeed a genious, but i have something to ask him. My boy, Can you show us that power again?" Kari looked around and only now he found out that he was in one of their neighbour's house. Probably because he destroyed their own. He felt awkward for a second, but then he did as Rorsak asked.
The sound of rumbling was heard from kitchen next door and soon spoons along with some broken dishes floated into the living room, where the family with Rorsak was. The objects were floating along with Kari's hair. His hair was floating, as if he was underwater. Then he carefully placed spoons in the hands of Rorsak while concentrating on the broken plate. The plate that was divided into dozens of parts came into contact with each other. The broken plate was whole once again and kari carefully transported it near Rorsak, who then grabbed the plate. Everyone was shocked by the display of the unknown power. Only Rorsak was able to talk again.
"Truly magnificent. New unknown power. There is no record of power such as this. I didn't even fell the currents of mana shifting or air changing it's direction. My boy, What power is this and how do you control it?" Asked Rorsak with obvious interest in his eyes.
So there isn't a record of psychokinesis? It is true that when those mages attacked me back then, I didn't feel any kind of psychic energy from them. That means that everything here is indeed controled with mana.
Kari didn't want to say anything suspicious or stupid. He knew that if he would give wrong answer, Rorsak would know immediately.
"Don't know. Can not explain. It's like I always had this power. Please don't tell anyone. Please keep it a secret." Kari didn't want anyone to know of his power outside his family and Rorsak. He knew that someone would eventually come for him and his family, if the information about his powers would leak. He could only hope that Rorsak would keep it a secret. Otherwise, he would have to kill him.
"Although It is a shame that I can not research this any further, I won't tell anyone about this power. Nor will I spread the information about it any other way. I believe that you understand what would happen if the information about such power would reach ears of dangerous people." Rorsak looked outside for a few seconds, then turned back towards Kari and said. " My boy, Please do not use this power for evil. When you will grow up, Please consider participating in Aptitute test. As for now, All of you will move to capital. I will give you enough money to buy your own house and have food until your father finds work again. I will record the event that took place in Reketh village as accident, so be at ease when you will arrive at the capital. I'm going to prepare the teleportation spell. We will arrive nearby capital and from there you will have to walk by yourselves."
Before Rorsak would leave the house, Kari blocked his path with a spoon, thus making Rorsak turn around towards him.
"Why do you help so much?" Asked Kari. He was interested in this for all the time he spent in this world. His previous life taught him that anyone could be a traitor, he tended to see bad side of people first, he didn't believe that people would do something good for others, just because they are "good".
Rorsak understood that Kari was cautious so he just smiled widely and said while pointing at Aedus.
"That brat over there saved my daughter few years ago. I know why you asked me this, so don't worry, I will not do anything that will harm your family. And besides, your father promised me that you'll take aptitude test and will study under my wing, if and when you pass it." He said while winking at Aedus and leaving the house.
There was a short silence in the room after Rorsak left. Kari looked at his mother, which returned his gaze.
"Hungry." Kari said and making her mother blush while murmuring something about cuteness. She handed him over to Aedus and looked into his eyes for few seconds before going in the kitched.
Aedus looked at his son. He wasn't sure about this whole situation. How could a child bring such terror upon his enemies. He was scared even now. Suddenly, Kari hugged him and closed his eyes. Aedus just smiled when almost all of his fears were erased from his mind. This was most definetely his son.
Elza just stood there with worried expression, still frozen on her face. Just what was that power? How did his brother kill all of them without realising that they had friends or even families waiting for them? Maybe despite his high intelligence, he was still a child in his heart. Elza didn't have friends in the village as she was spending her time either training or with her family. Playing with her brother always felt natural, but now she was scared of him.
She looked towards her brother and saw Kari looking at her with a sad smile on his face.
"Please don't be scared. I didn't want to scare. I don't want you to hate. I love you, big sis." He said as he extended his arms towards her, indicating that he wanted Elza to hold him. Aedus complied to his son's demand so he gave Elza her brother. Kari hugged his sister with even more strength, trying to calm her down.
Shit! Of course she will be scared shitless! Even for someone as mature as her this was too much.
Soon Kara came in with delicious looking stew. She looked at the table that was broken in the corner. She sighed and wanted to bring the soup back into the kitchen, but there was no need for that anymore.
Broken parts were flying towards the broken table, reassembling into a normal table. Then the table carefully floated in the center of the room and descended on the ground without a sound. Whole family was amazed once again by this amazing display of power. All of them looked towards Kari and saw him smilling.
"I can help mom. Just tell me and I will." Kari said as he kept hugging her sister. When Kara heard this, she blushed and placed the pot with hot stew on the table while picking up Kari and whispering "So cute!" over and over again, while feeding him. Soon Rorsak came back and family invited him to join the feast.
After dinner the whole family went towards the big circle on the ground, with runes written all over. Kari deduced that this was magical circle responsible for activating teleprotation spell. He wasn't sure about it's safety even though it was made by Rorsak, so he put barrier around the family and Rorsak. It seems that barriers made by his Psychokinesis was invisible even for Rorsak.
"Okay. When the circle will start glowing, breath in deeply and don't exhale until we are teleported. When we will be teleproted you may feel dizzy so don't worry." Rorsak instructed as he lead the family to stand in the center of this magic circle.
He chanted something in some weird language and then the circle started glowing. Everyone did as Rorsak instructed and then in a few seconds, the terrair around them completely changed. Instead of empty village with gore scattered around, they were in a green field surrouned from 2 sides by trees.
Kari exhaled, but he wasn't feeling dizzy at all. Her mother and sister were the same, but Aedus wasn't so lucky. He quickly ran towards the nearby tree and started throwing up. Rorsak just chuckled and then pointed towards the gigantic city surrounded by 40 meter walls.
"Welcome to the capital of Drakas kingdom." Rorsak said proudly. While Kari's baby mouth was wide open.
A gigantic city filled with houses and towers. The sound of people talking and shouting. The guards that were patrolling the walls. The dogs that chased after cats. Sound of orphan children playing. The farming fields that surrounded the walls of the city. Farmers working in there and the sound of livestock. Every part of this lively city was scanned by Kari's Psychic sense. There was too much information and he had a slight headache, but it was definetely worth it. He loved everything about this gigantic city that was capital of Drakas kingdom.
When Aedus returned, Rorsak started talking.
"The city is divided into 13 disctricts. Districts from 11 to 13 are slums. That is the most dangerous are in the city, so please avoid going in there. Disctricts 8 to 10 are trading districts filled with traders, auctioners, blacksmiths, tailors, bazars and etc. Districts 4 to 7 are where commoners live. The district 4 is for commoners who do no have a noble bloodline, but are rich. That is where you will be living. It is consider safest place in the city excluding the noble districts and royal district. Second and third districts belong to nobles, whereas First district is where royal palace and it's possesions are." Rorsak briefly explained about how the city was divided. He then gave father a pouch of golden coins and told him. " In this bag there are 20 Yurzs. I already bought your house, so use that money to buy products or eat at the inn. This spirit will guide you there."
As soon as he mentioned the spirit, small blue light emerged from his back and floated towards Aedus. It was bouncing happily and was waiting for Aedus to follow him. Rorsak sighed and then continued.
"I am sorry, but I have matters to attend to. Goodbye Aedus and meet me at the royal palace as I said before, the guards will let you in. As for you my boy" Said Rorsak as he took out another pouch and threw it towards Kari, who caught it with his Psychokinetic powers and put it in his mother's pocket." Use all this money to buy books. I know that you want to know even more about this world and there are amazing book shops in the 4th district too. Elza. I know that you want to learn swordsmanship, but trust me, no one can teach you better than your own father. Goodbye."
But i don't know how to rea- Aaaaand he's gone.
Rorsak disappeared leaving family alone. Aedus took the other puch and counted money in there too. It turned out to be 5 Yurzs. Now Kari knew what kind of currency was in this world. He looked at her mother and shyly said.
"Don't know how to read. Only can speak and hear." Kara smiled and kissed him on forehead.
"Don't worry sweetie. Mommy will teach you how to read and write." Kara said to her son, which in return hugged her even more, making her blush and say "SO CUTE!" loudly. Aedus smiled too and said.
"Okay. Let's go. We must not be suspicious, so let's go straight home. Please lead us." He said, while looking at the spirit. Spirit bounced around once more and started floating towards the gigantic gates of the city.
Kari was happy that his family survived and was given a second chance. He would do anything to protect them in this city too, even if it meant erasing the city from the existence. But he was still worried about something.
Back then I could control fire and roots with psychic abilities. That means that I somehow got Pyrokinesis and Botanokinesis. Dammit. So I did get even more powerful after being in that shitty void.
More power meant more responsibility. In previous life he wouldn't give a shit about being even more powerful and destructive, but now he had a family to protect. Now he actually had something to live for and he would try his hardest to protect something that he truly loved. He smiled and thought to himself.
Haha. Less than a year ago, I destroyed a whole planet and now I want to live life peacefully with parents who are mentally younger than me. Just how ridicilous can this whole thing fucking get?
He looked at the capital again. He will grow up here, so he needed to see everything. But in this body it'll be a little suspicious, so he will probably just ask his mother to show him around. Life as a kid would come to an end eventually and then he needed a plan on how to live on. But was not revealing his powers to the world really a right thing? Well, Time will tell...
Time will definetely tell...